03/29/2024
Thoughts While Shaving
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When I see a tobacco patch, my thoughts go back to the days when tobacco was ‘king” … Most farmers had a ‘patch of tobacco’. It was the #1 cash crop for years … And many farmers sold their ‘golden weed’ in Clarkton … others in Lumberton, Fairmont, Whiteville. Tobacco warehouses were everywhere…

Remember when Belks was in Elizabethtown? Belks and Leinwands on one side of the street, and Fowler Simmons and Mann’s on the other … Could outfit the family and purchase the needed items for the home…

Ever wore a home-made shirt or blouse? Most mom’s were good seamstresses.

Remember purchasing patterns and the fabric at several locations in the county … Clarkton, Bladenboro and Elizabethtown … and many merchants sold thread, thimbles and buttons … no big name stores, except Belks, others were home owned and operated…

Only food chain store in the county for years was A&P … a half dozen or more mom & pop food stores in Bladenboro, Clarkton and Elizabethtown … and Melvin Bros. in Dublin … had a little of everything…

My back still aches when I see a tobacco patch … Today, harvesting is done by equipment … no need for youngsters in the field or at the tobacco barn, no more grading and tying tobacco and no more trips to the warehouse … Never dreamed of so many changes…

Weather forecast … A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 p.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92 … calm wind becoming southwest 5 to 7 mph and a 20% chance of rain. Tonight, mostly clear, with a low around 72.

One more thought … North Carolina is second only to Virginia in a recent poll for attracting new businesses … Poll info is an annual effort by CNBC … To see more, Google America’s Top States for Business…

“When things change inside you, things change around you.” Unknown

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” John F. Kennedy

“You cannot shake hands with a closed fist.” Indira Gandhi

robert g hester
rgh4612@gmail.com
910-876-2322

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