Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1935-05-24
Lissen Fellas!
(The Pioneer

~ In CoSN !
saw a sight that made me laugh
and then stop and wonder. It
was a ridiculous looking ~scarecrow
Just a crude figure. An upright
pole with a shorter cross stick
At the top a battered straw hat.
On the arms a ragged old coat
fluttering. l~udicrously in the
breeze. Why" I exclaimed
that's the clumsiest kind of a
bluff" We stopped the car and
all the fellas got out to take a
good look and a good laugh. To
every one of us it seemed ridicu-
lously inadequate. Butt fools
Mr.. Crow. .tt,t ."l..>
As we drove off one of the
fellas asked about my kid brother
in prep school, and that recalled
to my mind an incident when he
was quite a youngster. He just
simply wouldn't go out the back
door in the dark toward a brook
and some trees that were down a
beautiful slope below our garden.
One night l was making fun of
him and asked, "What's the mat
ter?" sT'se 'ftaid of bears!''
"Crazy-you know there aren't
any bears down by the brook" II
know they amt, but I think they
is, and that's why Pm 'fraid."
"His scarecrow," I mumbled.
"Whose scarecrow?" asked the
|fella beside me. "Oh, anybody's,'
I replied YEARLY. But I couldn't
help thinking of the scarecrows
you and I and all the rest of the
fellas are afraid of, and which
brighten us away from much
better things than seeds to eat.
But we're worse than crows, at
that-sometimes we actually con-
struct and put up our own scare
crows, and then are scared green
at the sight of them. What fools
we mortals be! (quoted).
Remember how you used to be
told that "the DOGGY man" would
get you if you didn't take your
medicine, or go to sleep, or stop
crying? Scarecrows!
And a little later-ghosts!
Cemeteries and haunted houses.
Or even just darkness and still
ness. Can you remember when
you woke up in the middle of the
night, when it was so still that
you could hear the earth squeak
On its axis, and skeleton fingers of
fear. tolled off your vertebrae like
the beads Of a rosary, and you
peered into all the spooky corners
of your little room and ducked
your head under the covers?
Scarecrows!
Why I know a fella right on
this campus who senses all kinds
of baleful influences on Friday.
And when the Thirteenth comes
Or worse still-Friday the Thir-
tenth, all his s%pontaneity, initia-
tive, and free impulses are held
in check. Scarecrows!
lust last week l saw one of you
fellas turn around to keep a black
cat from walking in front of him.
Did you hear hat Freshman wall
ing Thursday because she broke
the mirror in her compact? Our
cook has an innate fear of spilled
salt. An attractive lady on our
campus can tell you the tragic
error of looking at a new moon
over the left shoulder. There's a
fella sits near me on Ed Class who
keeps his fingers crossed during
tests and exams-for luck, so he
tells me. l know a fella here who
has a swell looking opal ring with
a tiny pearl on either side. He
never wears it. Being free of any
control whatsoever over my cur
iosity I asked him why. With a
look of pity he replied-"Lissen,
Fresh, are you still SO dumb you
didn't know that opals are I'M
lucky, and pearls bring tears?"
And how many of you fellas have
boasted of some achievement and
then knocked on my head with
explanation that you were just
knocking on wood to play safe!
But there are some more real