The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1961-01-27
DOWN
TO
EARTH
By
CARLTON
MORRIS
Editor, The Index
Gotesville. N. c.


Editors Note: u Is with much regret ihot
we note the retirement from active news
pcper work of Carlton Morris, for more
thon ten yeors editor of the Cotes County
Index. When this editor wos looking Ground
for part-iime writer for loeoi news IN the
Scranton. Hyde County oreo, Rev. Frank
Forfeseve recommended Mr.. Morris, ond u
wos with pride that we noted the qVoiity
Of his work once he had accepted the as:
sisnment. The earthly. homespvn qualify OF
corlton's writings from his Old Country
Store in Ponzer community, quickly, won
favorable interest ofor. u wasn't long before
he wos offered the editorship Of the Gates
County pepper. He closed his store. and es-
tobIished his family end occurred q home
in Gotesville. He was accorded notionoI re-
nown. ond mode the index prize winning
Paper. His now limited activity brings
qreot loss to thousands OF readers. We print
here his comment Of the week on being re-
qvired 10 Felinqvish the editorship OF his
most interesting Popsr.
Cleaning up desk has never
been my long suit as hundreds
of people will be willing to tes-
tify. For it has been a standing
joke in Gates County that there
is bound 10 be a desk some
where beneath the stack of papers
that has confronted me for the bet
ter part of eleven years.
am now able to announce that
there was a desk. An old rusty
piece of tin, but still desk and
while it has been Uttered, and hid
den from sight by a pile of letters,
addresses, pictures, unsharpened
pencils and paper clips, it is still
desk. And it has seen a lot OF
living.
Why if that old tin desk could
talk, it could really write book.
l remember how l once followed
story from four o'clock on a
Saturday afternoon until 2:30 the
next morning before I was able to
wrap it up completely. BY that
time / was so hepped up with the
thing l simply had to go to the
office and get it all on paper with
pictures and words, while it was
still fresh in my mind. I've al
ways belonged to that particu-
lar breed of newsmen that wouldn't
take a note, but relied on memory
for hard news. Well, / developed
my negatives, hung them in front
of a fan to dry and started my
story. Pretty soon the negatives
were partly dry SO 1 made prints
of them all, then back to the old
desk and / wrote the story COM
plete with outlines for all the pic
lures.
After a while my news story
was finished and so I wrote a
sidelight, human interest story
that my readers have approved so
heartily over the years. Then l
edited the whole thing and wrote
headlines and l still felt wide
awake, though I was about as hun
CRY as l had ever been. l propped
my feet up on the old desk and
lit my pipe. Then / Suddenly re-
membered that / had forgotten to
eat. Imagine my surprise when
cut out the light over the old desk,
to discover the sun peeping in the
dusty front window. had been on
the move since seven o'clock the
day before and l couldn't imagine
what had gone with all the time.
Then there was the time I ar
rived at the old desk at sunup.
l was all flushed with victory for
l had just returned from a tri-
umphant week in New York and
while there were other winners
with me in New York, I am not
even family boasting when l say
/ was the man of the hour for my
country drawl and obvious sincerity
seemed to fascinate all the people
I met. Now l was back at the
old desk faced with the monu-
mental task of getting out a news
paper after a week off. Thus sat
down and typed a couple of para
graphs and someone walked into
the office to offer congratulations
'on my little accomplishments.
] stood up and reached across the
old desk and shook hands with my
well wisher. / sat down and stood up
and shook hands over and over
again as the day wore on. Peo-
pie came from far and near. People
had never even heard of came
to see me that day and the old
rusty desk was just as proud as
! was.
After a while, the day ended
and the people stopped coming
in to shake my hand and so I
settled down to the old desk and
began to work on the next days
edition. At 2 am. the next morn
ing, / called it a day and went
home.
Then there have been snowy,
sleety nights, scalding summer
nights and soft, balmy spring
nights when the frogs could be
heard from the creek bottom. I
number the nights in the hun
dreds, that l have left the old tin
desk and walked out into the
streets of the sleeping town. Before
our little town installed street
lights, ! have often had the feeling