The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1959-12-22

CHTlSt was DOTn across the sea.
Sunday afternoon l heard the
Dunbar High School Chorus Negro
singing the Battle Hymn Of the Re-
public at dedication ceremonies for
a Wondrous new Elementary School
for Negores in Besseme. Alabama.
"As He died to make men holy,
let us die to make men free
that was supposed to make this
an anti-South song in Civil War
days But freedom for modern
Americans is 70 be lived, worked
and qualified for. Nobody has to die
<or it, And the qualifying begins
at educations elementary bases
in knowledge. character, intelli-
gence. manners, taste.
Calm on a hill which overlooks
the wide world of Bessemer and
vicinities, the new Negro school is
almost "out of this world in ultra
modern facilities. equipment and
the fine arts Of architecture and
landscapting. Spacious spick-and-
span class rooms and corridors, a
public address system in each room.
wall heating, supermodern lighting.
kitchen deserving pictures IN Life,
and twenty five Negro teachers i'm
pressively first class. Superintcnd-
ent Robert Chambliss, coal black.
has an MA from Columbia Uni
versity where he studies education.
but he is gained-in-the-wood South
ern. with ideas nlercifully post
dating Columbia's Progressive"
era and sins.
Bessemer's pride in this splendid
modern school was eloquent in talks
by Mayor Jess Lanier, City Schools
Superintendent Knuckles, President
W. N. Payne Of the Cit yBoard OF
Education and others.
Sitting beside me Superintendent
Knuckles wept little when the
?. T. A. President spoke Of the
colored peoples appreciation Of his
work, understanding the good sense
In their behalf. I wept little my
self. guess - it was so good 10
have Southern white and colored
together like this. prospecting TO-
gether. growing together, appreciat-
ing together, aware together OF
infiniues in a common Southern
and American homeland
No force on earth could int
CRATE them 50 deeply and truly.
WHAT'S IN A WORLD" 1t isn't
fair but may an individual loses
out on a Job, promotion. friendship.
romance or some other acceptance
because he says inn surance.
"cigg -aret, 'hoe-tel.' accents the
ice" in ice cream" or says
presy-dent.' Or pin for pen"
and a thousand other IL or "e'
saying. But how about the cor
poration which tells us by tele-
vision that its product tastes good
like cigg-a ret should Name
withheld for lack of payola.l Grant
ed that the meter would be wrong
if the accent were right. poetic u
cense on 50 large scale can Just
about eliminate the fiat Of Mr..
Funk and Mr.. Wagnalls. There's not
much hope Of having cigaret pro
nounced correctly with accent
on the ret" any more ever.
Perhaps this is the way the
| language changes.
But let no mortal in these states.
thinking to right his pronunciation,
60 Yankee with them! Northern
excess with the final g. for ex-
ample. is far worse than Southern
letting CO. TO drag the last decibel
Of sound out Of that "g' is simply
ugly. while gentle partial lapse
of 'g" is both pleasing and cor
rect.
| The "g' a. III going isn't
meant 10 be continued all the way
| to the end OF the nose Father II
Is meant to be halt sounded. half
! implied
Just as the French do With their
final ~
You can't hear 1t but It's there.
Alone upon the hcusetops. TO the
North
| I turn and watch the lightning in
the sky.
The gIamor Of thy footsteps In
the North ~
Come back to me, beloved. or !
die.
REMINDED THROUGH IKE Of
midas capacity for tanatical en-
thusianls. we could use reminder
Of her other capacity - for putting
body and soul together, mind and