Thursday, May 25, 1949
Jeanne Sheets, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Sheets, has been chosen as one of the two girl delegates from West Virginia to attend the National 4-H Camp at Washington, June 15-20. This is the highest delegate recognition a 4-H member may receive. The young lady is a student at the University.
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W. S. Palmer, of Douthards Creek, raises the question with this editor, how big did I ever see a white thorn tree? Well, 15 inches in diameter was the largest I ever saw measured. Friend Palmer more than doubled that. Full three feet in diameter is the size of a white thorn on his farm, two miles above Minnehaha. This tree has limbs as large as any thorn trees I ever saw.
4-H Field Day
Approximately 270 4-H members, leaders, parents and friends were in attendance at the Annual 4-H Field Day Saturday at Marlinton High School. Fifteen of the 20 clubs of the county were represented.
FIELD NOTES
Neighbor Bert Smith got himself a half hundred of fine tomato plants the other afternoon. He hurried to get them all nicely planted just before a nice shower of rain. The next morning, exactly one half of the entire planting had been dug up. The sign showed that a pole cat had systematically gone along the rows and dug out the plants as he came to them. The holes average about the size of a quart measure. There were no other such holes in the garden. The plants were left by the holes. All this just beat my time. What, besides an evil and perverse spirit, would prompt a dumb brute to such an act of malicious destruction?
I was telling all this to Uncle Tom Cashwell, who has been in this world better than a century of years. He is still an active gardener. He said skunks; what for and how come, he could not tell. Only this year, one of the pesky things had worked on his tomato plants. A visit to his big garden patch at daybreak with a shotgun resulted in staying the digging paws of the devastator.
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Neal Alderman, of the Beaver Creek, tells me he has the proof that Pocahontas rattlesnakes do attain the length of six feet and better. He has the skin of one which now measures a full 64 inches, with more than a foot of the skin missing. This snake was caught alive in Buckley Mountain by Ulrich Alderman. It died on the way out of the woods. The Alderman brothers tanned and mounted the skin.
In this connection, let me say these gentlemen have taken courses in taxidermy, but have been most too busy to work at the art systematically. However, they have discovered and perfected a process by which they can tan a snake hide and preserve the scales intact.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. James Parker Gibson, of Marlinton, a son, named Stephen Douglas.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Randall Dice Fertig, of Marlinton, a son, named Wayne Randall.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Elden Smith, of Marlinton, a daughter, named Martha Jo Smith.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. John P. Lane, of Marlinton, a daughter, named Barbara Sue.
DEATHS
Mrs. Eva Welch Little, aged 80, of Durbin, widow of the late Dr. L. L. Little, died Sunday, May 22, 1949. On Wednesday, her body was laid to rest in the family cemetery near Greenbank.
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Henry Milton Vaughan, aged 93 years, of Hillsboro, died Friday, May 20, 1949. On Sunday afternoon his body was laid to rest among his people in Emanuel Church Cemetery near Lobelia. He was a son of the late Burrell and Mary Anderson Vaughan. Thus is noted the passing of one of our oldest and best citizens.
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James Gilbert Wilfong, aged 72, of Buckeye, died Wednesday, May 18, 1949. On Friday afternoon, his body was buried in the Ruckman cemetery near Millpoint. The service was conducted from Marvin Chapel. He was a son of the late Eli and Mary Wilfong.
Prays for Rain
The pious, but cranky, old lady was put out because her neighbors had not invited her to their picnic.
On the morning of the event, one of them called to ask her to go along.
“It’s too late,” she snapped, “I’ve already prayed for rain.”
