Thursday, November 3, 1921
The great drought was broken Sunday and Monday by glorious rain. The streams were all flushed out and there was a rafting tide in the Greenbrier River. Local Weather Observer S. L. Brown recorded 3.58 inches of rain. In the nearly thirty years he has been local observer, four inches of rainfall in 24 hours is the record, according to his recollection without referring to his books. That made an immense flood, while the rain on Monday only made a comfortable tide in the streams. According to the recollection of Squire G. M. Kee, streams were lower than any time since the dry year of 1881. An average month’s fall of rain came in 24 hours this week, and soaked the ground for the first time since last winter.
– – –
A few weeks ago the community of Stony Bottom was comparatively unknown to fame. Today, it is as famous as Auburn, the loveliest village of the plain. Some gifted citizen of Stony Bottom was inspired to write to The Pocahontas Times, recounting the blessings of that community, and ignoring any possible defects, if it had any. It proved to be a liftable stick for editorial writers, and the fame of Stony Bottom as a happy and contented neighborhood has covered the nation. It lifted itself out of the curse of an unpropitious name that ranked it in the eyes of the stranger with Hardscrabble and Needmore. What is in a name anyway?
A place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth is called Sing-Sing.
The story of Stony Bottom is the story of human life. It is all in a state of mind. There is no community that is not a haven of peace and happiness, if the people have the faculty of thanking the Lord for their blessings, and of bearing their trials with fortitude. They love their land because it is their own. There are acres of diamonds in every settlement in this blessed broad land of ours. The thing to do is to show an appreciation for the comforts of life.
MISSIONARY DEAD
Word has been received of the death of Mrs. Absolom Sydenstricker at her home in China on October 21. Her maiden name was Caroline J. Stulting. She was born at Hillsboro sixty-seven years ago. Upon her marriage to Dr. Absolom Sydendenstricker forty-one years ago, they went as missionaries to China under the Presbyterian church. Few missionaries have done work which has been so signally blessed. Mrs. Sydenstricker is survived by her husband and their three children, and by her brother, the venerable Cornelius Stulting, of Hillsboro.
WRECK AT CASS
Clyde Nickell and Hunter Adams had a narrow escape from being killed last Saturday night when a Ford car which was driven by young Nickell jumped over the road at what is known as the Bar turn, about one mile east of Cass. Adams jumped from the car and managed to catch to some bushes some 30 feet below on the bluff and escaped with a few cuts and bruises. Nickell was thrown from the car and landed on the railroad grade about 100 feet below. Adams worked his way back to the road and after calling several times and receiving no answer, ran to Cass for help, which was speedily obtained. Nickell was found in an unconscious condition and terribly bruised. He was carried to his home and medical aid was rendered by Dr. Hannah. At first no hope for his recovery was entertained, but at this writing strong hopes for his complete recovery are entertained by his many friends. The car landed about 150 feet below the bluff and was completely wrecked.
OBITUARY
John G. Luke
(Paper Trade Journal)
John G. Luke, for many years president of West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, died at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York, October 15, following an operation for appendicitis.
In the death of Mr. Luke, the book paper industry has lost one of its most splendid ornaments, for he was indeed one of God’s own noble men. He was a pioneer in the book paper industry. It might truthfully be said of him that he was born and reared in the environment of a paper mill, for his father and grandfather before him were engaged in the same occupation.
Mr. Luke was born in Springfield, Mass., April 29, 1857. Like many successful businessmen, Mr. Luke was thrown on his own resources early in life. His first effort in the paper industry was at the age of 16 years, when he was employed in the mill of the Jessup & Moore Paper Company at Rockland, Del., of which his father was superintendent at the time. Later he became superintendent of the paper mill of the Mead & Nixon Company of Dayton, Ohio; then of the Morrison & Cass Paper Company of Tyrone, Pa.; later of the Bremaker-Moore Paper Com- pany of Louisville, Ky.; and later still of the Richmond Paper Company at Providence, R. I. In the aggregate, he served for some 15 years in these several mills. During these years of service and hardship, his splendid character developed; his active and thirsty mind absorbed an intimate knowledge of the paper industry, and his ambition to do something big in the paper industry intensified – an ambition splendidly realized in the later years of his life…
Of Scotch ancestry, Mr. Luke was clear-minded, forceful, industrious, determined, successful, yet no man was more generous, more modest, more gentle. To have known him intimately was at once an honor and an inspiration. He had a splendid confidence in human nature. He trusted his friends and associates with a faith that could not be shaken. His friends trusted him without reserve…
Mr. Luke is survived by his wife, Mrs. Grace B. Luke; three sons, Allen L. Luke, Manager of the plant at Piedmont, W. Va.; Chas. W. Luke, Manager of the plant at Cass, W. Va.; William G. Luke, connected with the Sales Department at New York; and two daughters, Mrs. Rose Luke Nelson and Miss Virginia Luke, both of New York.
The funeral services were held at his late home, “Guthrie Hall,” Irvington on the Hudson, New York, and the interment at Woodlawn Cemetery, New York, on October 18, 1921.