The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1959-02-05

OuSly donated ana W1Ln QTd-
matte gesture denounced it, fin
atty throwing it to the floor with
the statement that he was going
to cancel his subscription to my
paper. Having a desire to be of
service to subscriber, I check
ed my files and found his name
had been dropped from the. list
some nine months before for non
payment. l felt it only fair to re-
port the fact in the following is
sue of the paper. And, you know,
to date he's not renewed that
subscription! Following the serv-
ice l rendered in behalf of the
citizens councils, there were a
few telephone calls 4. I seem to
remember; too, l seem to recall
cancelled subscription, perhaps
two or more.
And those telephone calls were
interesting, especially the several
from unidentified ladies. One
lady advised my wife Il had
stopped answering the telephone)
to tell me not to stick my head
out of the house, else her hus-
band would knock it off. Anoth
er lady said to me: "You niger
loving, connie, son-of-a-bitch.
Somebody ought to kill YOU" I
found it to be such a pleasure to
talk with ladies. One day I was
en- route from my home in Hat
tiesburg to my office in Petal
and stopped for traffic light by
the post office in Hattiesburg,
and a gentleman of the old South
walked from to curb over to my
car and said to me: "You no-good
bastard, if you'll get out of that
car I'll mop up the street with
you" Being a natural born cow
ard, it seemed quite natural to
me to reply, sWell, now, you'll
have to offer me more induce
ment than that" While wonder
ing what additional inducement
he might offer, I drove away.
In spite of the fact that I have
given, and with a glad heart, the
citizens councils considerable free
advertising, there"af few mem
bers who seem to fail to appre-
ciate it. An acquaintance of mine
once had the extreme good for
tune to interview one of t h e
founders of the council, Mr.. rob-
ert patterson of Greenwood, Mis-
sissippi. Upon being asked about
me, patterson replied: L don't
know P. d. East I've never met
him; I have no opinion. I only
know what I've read about him
in the Daily Worker" Frankly,
I was hurt by that sort of ingrat-
itude, especially since subscribe
7nly to Harper's, Time, and The
Reporter. while I've never seen
a copy of the Daily Worker, I've
been told they have quoted
Jesus, Lincoln, Jefferson, a n d
others. However, were they still
in business l might sue them for
having quoted me, if they really
did, which / doubt.) Still, and !
confess IN this weakness. I'm hurt
because robert patterson has
never seen fit to write me fan
letter. Perhaps I'm letting my
emotions get the upper hand; at
ter all, there are those wo dc
write, like just the other day {
letter read: 81 read your niggel
loving paper. I'm glad to get it
1t saves me $4,000 year OF
toilet tissus." Now frankly, j
makes me all warm inside t.
know that I'm of service to m,
fellowman. Another gentleman
wrote recently: ut is my homes
opinion that you're crazy as 90l
bells" Naturally, I was offended
by that letter.. and / was in dis
agreement with the writer of it
| felt compelled to set straigh
the number it should have
been a mere $50, not 900.
With an inward feeling o