ustxtxb_obs_1956_07_04_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

FINSON Your Democratic Candidate for LT. GOVERNOR “HONESTY IS STILL THE BEST POLICY”. Reduce high taxes State utility commission $75 monthly pension at 65 HDQRS.: 1 901 RALEIGH AVE., AUSTIN Sick Leave Plan Protects You On AND Off the Job! available to small groups of employees from 5 to 50 and to individuals! to large groups, up to thousands . . Western Indemnity Life Insurance Company Affiliated with Home Office : 5011 Fannin, Houston, Texas AGENCIES THROUGHOUT TEXAS 11L The Texas Observer On Fiddlers and Pioneers Too late the Phalarope ,Too Late the. Phalarope,. Scriber This is the story of a splendid youncr 6 Afrikaner whose wife does not satisfy him and who takes a Negro girl in the open brush. It is the story of how this destroys him and his clan in South Africa. The author of Cry, the Beloved Country builds his book without haste. fiy his grace and candor he involves the reader in. the man’s guilt and anguish. \(Remorse. would be the wrong explicit but is expressed instead in the soft, suggestive responses of the religiously devout story-teller, who is the man’s aunt. The work was received well by the critics but did not sell.Scribner’s is offering it now in hard covers for $1.49. One supposes it did not sell because Americans are not in the mood for a tragedy. \(They prefer bullets in bellies during lovemaking or tips on how to feel great when you should feel types, not people, and some of its vital actionand the most dramatic relationshipare held at arm’s length by the aunt. These may be faults, but the do not defeat the book. R. D. 1.INDEPENDENT. The working editorial staff of the newspaper have complete authority and control over everything in the paper, with-no interference from any source. 2.LIBERAL. It is dedicated to critical, independent-Minded editorial liberalism and is committed against the service of any group or party. 3.STATEWIDE. It is read by subscribers in 248 of the 254 Texas counties _,\(as well as in about 35 states of the union and various foreign Whom Do You Know .1.0 + + .. a Ap. AP .0. . TEMPLE An old fellow made his way down the sidewalk stiffly, leaning his shoulder into his cane each other step. He carried a black fiddle case with a string tied around it. His white shirt was buttoned to the neck, but he wore no tie, and you could see a smudge on the inside edge of his collar the color of pool cue chalk. Brown tobacco juice ran down, from the lower left corner of his mouth along a contour . wrapping around his lower lip. A paper ribbon pinned to his shit gave his name : “R. B. Evans.” “Well,” he began, pausing in his slow progress. toward the fiddlers’ contest s at the municipal building, “since you ‘re a newspaperman I’ll tell you who I am. I’m the champeen fiddler in this state. Yessir. Three years runnin’ over at Crockett, in Houston County, I won it. Puitt-tuh ! Now over on the tenth a June, I . lost out to this fella, it uz close ! The man on the geetar moved an’ I looked up at him a secont, an’ my finger slipped on my E string. A point an’ a. half ! Thomas his natne was, from Arlington. I can outfiddle him any day; anybody has developed: t h e third largest weekly circulation in Texas. 4.RECOGNIZED. It has been remarked upon favorably in FIarpe . r’s, Look, The ReporterThe Nation, and Coronet magazines. Observer articles have been widely reprinted. 5.GROWING. But it will grow faster if each friend of the Observer will seek to obtain one new subscriber from among the many people who are interested in public affairs and need a ‘ steady source of-‘ light on Texas issues. Who Should Subscribe? -A. 99-Year-Old Gent Honored and Encouraged knows it. I been fiddlin’ since I uz ten years old. It’s just a gift a God,. I can’t tell. you -nothin” about it. Put , an almanac up in front a me, I couldn’t play a note. I play by air entirely. But.I ‘can play anythin’, a waltz, a polka; a .shottische, anythin’ you want!” The reporter Offered him a ride to the contest. . “Oh, no, I’ll jus .’. _hobble along on over there. I’m lookin’ for a good geetar player. There’s a good little band over there, an’ this fella he promised. he’d be. here. He’s a good geetar player,. and he’ll play with me. ,Puitt-tuh !” . A BOUT 200 old . folks were gathered in the auditorium on the second floor of the Temple municipal building.. The community was celebrating its 75th anniversary,. and Harry Blandings, editor of the Tentple Telegram, was presiding in a white palm beach suit. \(He took. off the coat every time he went, backstage, Principal item on the program,. apart from the fiddle contest,’ was the annual meeting of the Pioneers Club. Mi r. Blandings announced that the club had conducted a contest to discover the oldest living Temple native. They found Mrs. Cantrell, .born in 1869 outside the city limits ; Mr. Dennis,. born in 1872, also_ outside the city limits ; and Mr. Jackson, born in 1874 over by Cedar _Creek. They hadn’t been able to decide between them, so they added $1 to the $20 prize and split it three ways. The secretary of the cluba small, active old man came to the microphone and cleared up a misconception. Some ‘folks had refused to join because they didn’t live in Temple. He wanted it clear that the club had members north, east, south, and west \(he pointed in each direction, approxififty-mile radius of Temple. Then, without, any warning, for apparently this is an annual procedure, he announced : “Now, since June 29 of last year, 759 have died.” He went and sat down. Mr. Blandings came back and. said : “We will now have one minute of. silent prayer for those .who are no longer with us.” In one minute th6T disposed of that item of business. The speaker, Mr. Yarborough, was late, and Mr. Blandings observed, “Well, there’s very little sense in in. trOducink. Mr. Yarborough when Mr: Yarborough isn’t here.” This was well taken, so. the people on the stage were introduced instead; One of them was John Thompson f-oni Troy, “suburb of Temple;” said Mr. Blandings. After the introdtictions a man intruded on the mike and announced that “John Thompson is prepared to prove that Temple is a suburb. of Troy” Mr. Blandings snapped back : “I’m afraid to let him get up herehe might do it !” Laughter ensued on the stage. SINCE the speaker had been delayed, apparently, Mr. Blandings announced that we would have a little entertainment. A couple of old fiddlers stood up. and shook their legs off while. fiddling on their fiddles. Then Elwanda Driver and Ruby Hod-. on the Texas Plains,” to wit.: “Du da layee hee Du da layee hee ! o layee hee! Du layee he hee hee ha! These City. ways are drivin’ me insane ‘ 0 } want to goback, please take me back, Back to my TeXas Plains.” An. encore was demanded, so they sang “In the Slenandoah Valley of Virginia, There’s a Girl Who Is Wait,. ‘ing for Me..” Then Mr. Blandings presented the awards in the contests. Mr. and Mrs. McElroy were the oldest couple present \(together they had lived 170 jug ,donated by Gordon MacKay. W. H. Stubblefield’ of Belton, aged 99, was pronounced the oldest man present. \(“Say, that’s. the oldest we ever had!” said Mr. Blandings. “Mr. Stubblefield ; I sure hope you make next year, we never had a 100-year For his 99 years Mr. Stubblefield got “a handsome new billfold, containing a five-dollar bill.” won “a beautiful potted plant.” . Mrs. May had come all the way from California, so she won the prize for having come the greatest distance to the meeting: She strode to the mike firmly and began reciting a poem. she had written, of which, unfortunately, she did not have a copy. \(“… fought side by side … our freedom our land a name … sacrifices we’ll never know … but We lOve the blood they spilled gone but not forgotten victory but not death The next contest was, what mother present had the most children -living. Mrs. Edgar had ten. Someone spoke up in front that she had eleven. “Eleven ?” asked Mr. Blandings. “Goodness. Eleven still living?” Well, Mrs. -William Schwakie \(or some back. “Whoop !” said , Mr. Blanding. “How many ? Twelve!” That won. Mrs. Schwakie rose to claim her prize ings proclaimed her “the, winner and new champion in that category.” Nfr; Yarborough arrived and made his address, which was billed as nonpolitical. Not once did he sav, “Elect Ralph Webster Yarborough Governor of Texas.” Instead he told the old pioneers.: “You people stayed on in. spite of savage. foenten.” RONNIE DLTGGERELECT SAM A. LaRUE State Representative PLACE NO. 1 I voted Democratic in 1952 and shall vote Democratic in 1956 Your vote and support Trill be APPRECIATED Subject to action of Democratic Primary July 28, 1956 THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 6 July 4, 1956 THE TEXAS OBSERVEEZ SUBSCRIPTION BLANK Please enter the following name for one year’s subscription: Name Address Mail the subscription to Texas Observer, 504 W. 24th Street. Austin, Texas P. S. Should you get more than one new subscriber list them on separate sheet of paper ; careful to give name and address.