Thursday, December 30, 1920
We read a powerful tale the other day. It was about a lawyer who was in a big practice among very rich people and was able to buy an estate and keep house with nine servants to wait on his family. He got overworked in the fall of 1919, with one partner sick, and the other pretty consistently drunk. His son had been killed in the war. His wife and daughter and their friends met every night to play cards and gamble and drink and smoke cigarettes. Prohibition was now on, and his stock ran low and he refused to buy bootleg liquor at twenty-five dollars a gallon, and his family made it unpleasant for him. Finally, there came a break in the routine work at his office, and he took a sneak to the country and found a farm where the cooking was most excellent, and he hired out to the farmer and picked apples for three weeks and came back feeling much restored in health.
His family then had him arrested as a lunatic, and all the time he thought that they were crazy on the subject of cards, liquor, cigarettes and automobiles.
Prosperity destroys fools and endangers the wise. Happiness is to be found only in unexpected places.
It seems that when a man has had a successful career and made a good living and saved some money and wakes up finally to the fact that he is becoming old, that he is in a deplorable condition, if he cannot enjoy his old age. It is up to him to take a little thought and see if he cannot recover some of his lost youth.
In nine cases out of ten, his only chance for a few years of robust health is to model his life after the manner of the man who labors out of doors. This is the thing that has given such a vogue to golf, which is about the nearest thing to working on the farm that the mind of man has been able to devise for the aging rich…
GORILLA ON DROOP MOUNTAIN
The following narrative comes to the News from the borders of Pocahontas county:
At the extreme eastern summit of Droop Mountain, where it begins to droop toward the Greenbrier river, is a wild and almost impenetrable jungle covered with large boulders, so large and so arranged as to resemble the houses and streets in a town, hence its name – “Bear Town” – long since given it by hunters.
For natural scenery, it is doubtful whether there is another place in the state that will surpass it. From its eastern prow you can trace the meanderings of the Greenbrier for at least one half of its length and on a clear day you can see the top of Spruce Knob in Pendleton county and also Keeney’s Knob in Summers county. From this point you can see the main chain of the Alleghenies for miles and miles. Looking to the southward, the beautiful Greenbrier valley spreads out before you to beyond Lewisburg, and to the northeast you can view the entire Little Levels of Pocahontas, one of the garden spots of West Virginia.
Bear Town is often visited in summer by picnic parties, because of the fact that there is still plenty of ice to be found among the rocks as late as the middle of August, and in the fall and winter, it is the great local center for fox hunters, being the natural habitation of the fox and wildcat.
We understand that about two weeks ago while Robert Cochran and Joe Hollandsworth, two of the veteran fox hunters of that section, were indulging in their favorite sport in Bear Town, their pack held something in abeyance in the thickest part of the jungle. Nothing daunted, the hunters rushed forward with all possible speed to the scene of action, but to their great astonishment, instead of a fox they saw a large animal somewhat resembling a man in appearance, except that it was covered with brown or yellowish hair, standing some six feet in height, with its back to a large rock.
The dogs were attempting to close in (what were left of them) when the animal – gorilla, ape, wild-man or whatever it was – would grab them and either crush the life out of them or dash them to the ground with such force as to kill them. The hunters were yet undecided whether to shoot or not when the animal saw them and made for them.
Cochran and Hollands-worth turned and fled with all possible speed with the animal close upon their heels, its progress being impeded by the dogs. This permitted them to clear the jungle and get away.
“Daddy” Wilfong says that when they reached his house, they were pale, excited and almost exhausted. They related their experience, declaring the animal was a gorilla, but absolutely refused to return for further investigation.
H. C. Rapp, postmaster at Julia, made a desperate effort to organize a company of men to surround Bear Town and capture the animal for the benefit of science, but in spite of all his efforts, he failed to get enough volunteers for the expedition.
Cochran and Hollands-worth lost six out of eight of their fine pack of hunting dogs. ~ West Virginia News.
WEDDING
ROBERTS – MOORE
On Christmas Day 1920, Mr. Roy Roberts, of Huntington, and Miss Marjorie Moore, of Marlinton, were united in the bonds of holy matrimony, by Rev. Dr. J. H. Light. The ceremony was performed at the home of Ira D. Brill, the brother-in-law of the bride and where she has been making her home.
Miss Mabel E. Moore, sister of the bride was maid of honor, and P. F. Judson, of Covington, Virginia, was best man. Little Miss Frances Brill carried the ring and a lily.
The groom is a well known business man of Huntington and represents the Western Electric Company in this part of the state. He has been making Marlinton his headquarters for some months and, while here, carried off the prize.
The bride is one of Marlinton’s most attractive young women. She is a daughter of the late John S. Moore. She is extremely popular and is of singularly sweet and charming disposition. She was dressed in a suit of duvetyne. The wedding was attended by those of the bride’s immediate family and near relatives…
