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From the Friends --Wanda Gregory, President
Endowment Fund
The Friends have established an Endowment Fund. Interest from the Fund will be used to support programs, speakers, and the performing arts. The Endowment will be composed of monies from donations, gifts, memorials, wills, etc. This is a wonderful way to honor or remember someone. Anyone giving $500.00 or more can have a name engraved on a plaque and all others can have a name printed in the Endowment Book.
New Books
The Friends have purchased a new set of books for the History Room. These books cover the dates of records that were destroyed by the fire in the court house. If you do family research, this will be very helpful. The Friends purchased these books in honor of the library staff during National Library Week. Visit the History Room and see all of the resources we have available. If you are doing a family history, we would like to have a copy, even if it isn’t finished, for our files in the History Room.
Programs
July 27th, at 2:30 p.m. Mr. Cotton will be talking about keeping, copying, and restoring old pictures. Bring old pictures from Harnett County and learn how to care for them.
North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives - Developed by Jerry Cotten and his staff. Each county has at least one historic photograph. Visit Harnett's to see ours! http://www.unc.edu/lib/ncc/photos.html
October 19th, 2:30 p.m. Mr. Robert Morgan will present "Formation of Harnett County."
Gifts to the Library
The Friends have just framed a picture of Mr. L. M. Chaffin, of Lillington. His daughter, Helen C. Byrd donated his Webster’s Dictionary and a picture of Mr. Chaffin for the Meeting Room. John Hairr looked up some information about Mr. Chaffin in the Local History files. Mr. Chaffin served as Clerk of Court for Harnett County from 1922-1938. He was elected to the State Senate in 1943 but resigned in 1944. He was elected again in 1947.
The Friends have a number of new books about the county that are available at the library. The Friends also sell used books in the lobby of the library. If you have good used books (for adults and children) you can bring them to the library or call and we can pick them up.
Join the Friends Today
Remember to join the Friends, $2.00 a year of a life membership for $50.00. Mail your membership to the library. Members don’t forget that memberships are due the first of January. Thank you for all of your support.
Internet access is available at the Library—three terminals, no waiting!
The library webmasters are working diligently on the library web pages—and we can’t wait to put them out for all to see. If you are working on web pages, for yourself or even your office, or even if you’re just thinking about it, the library has some readable instruction books on the subject.
HTML Publishing on the Internet by Kenny Chu and Francis Chin. This book includes a CD-ROM with software that you can use to begin building your pages. (005.75)
HTML3 Manual of Style by Larry Aronson (005.75) (My favorite, easy to read and understand)
Instant HTML Web Pages by Wayne Ause (005.75) This book also includes a CD-ROM for developing web pages.
It’s fun, it’s easy, it’s virtually addicting.
Have you heard any good books lately?
Stop listening to so much talk radio and give yourself a treat. If you haven’t had time to read the last two or three best sellers, never fear, books on tape are here! On your way to work, just pop Robin Cook’s Contagion into the tape player. This book on tape is read by Arthur Addison. It is 10 1 ½ hour cassettes. (From the jacket) Dr. John Stapleton loses his ophthalmology practice to a giant HMO, then his family in a plane crash. He feels like starting over, and he does—in the anonymity of New York City. There he retrains in forensic pathology and buries himself in work. But when a deadly, rare flu wipes out hosts of people, he can’t ignore his suspicions. Is that HMO behind a plot to kill off its more costly subscribers?
Getting to the truth leads to Stapleton’s unusual paring—professionally and personally –with Theresa Hagen, art director at a hot ad agency. Together they expose the truth behind the killer contagion –a Machiavellian plot of sabotage." B-O-T editorial review board calls it "a terrifying, cautionary tale for the millennium."
The library has a variety of titles to choose from—stories for the whole family on that long vacation trip to a book just for you as you commute to work each day, so stop by the library on your way home for something to hear.
Survey Results -- Jackie Frye
I would like to start out by thanking Personnel for all the great work they did organizing the County Employee Benefit Fair. It was great; nana nana to everyone who did not stop by.
We found out last year that if you want everyone to stop at your table you need to give something away. This year we gave away 15 prizes. Congratulations to all.
The catch to the give away was everyone who signed up had to fill out a short survey. I say everyone very loosely, some people did not fill out the survey, you know who you are so I will not call names. Thanks to everyone who took the time.
Now we get to the good part. This is what county employees think of the library and how we could improve.
Out of the 181 who participated in the survey 145 have library cards at the Harnett County Public Library. This is a lot better than I expected. People kept asking if they needed to have a library card to fill out the survey. I was getting pretty discouraged.
We were pleased to find out that all the libraries in the county are being used, some even wrote in out-of-county libraries. Here is the breakdown: Lillington 141, Dunn 17, Erwin 3, Angier 3, Coats 4 and the looser None 10 L .
County employees use the library a lot; this is great. When asked how often monthly was the top answer at 51. This makes sense because books are checked out for 3 weeks. The rest of the answers follow: Only for special projects 32, Every 6 months 24, Bi-monthly 21, Weekly 12, Bi-weekly 11. Never 13 L ,
People have different needs and it is our job to meet the needs as best we can. It is helpful to know the reason people come to the library when we order materials. County employees use the library mostly for Research (95) and Fun stuff coming in second at 62. For the kids (49), programs (22), and School work (20) follow. A couple write-ins were: reading, and books. It is good to see the library used for so many different things.
The last question on the survey was pretty broad, "What can the library do to help you?" This question is open at all times. Call, mail or e-mail (mcollins@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us) any time with suggestions. We got some pretty good ones on the survey, too. I would like to share a few suggestions along with my responses.
More movies - we get new movies in all year, if there is something special you would like us to buy let us know.
Keep more best seller list books - we currently buy from the best seller list, sometimes it takes a few weeks to get them from the publisher.
Extend check out times - books are checked out for 3 weeks with a 9 day grace period and can be renewed, this give the patron 2 months. Of course this does not apply to books on hold for other patrons. It really wouldn’t be nice to keep a book for 2 months with someone else waiting to read it.
Move with the courthouse - We actually and more than one request for this. They have reserved a space for a new library at the county complex but we have to wear this one out first. To quote Melanie Not in our lifetime.
To learn about taxes - this was our second year to have Campbell University to help people with their taxes at the library. They came every week for 2 months and actually filled them out and mailed them.
Have more computers - We currently have 3 internet access computers and 3 microcomputers in the computer lab and we are planning to add a 4th to the computer lab for word processing. This is 7 computers for the public to use.
Your services are excellent now. - Thanks J
Stay the same - we hope to continue to expand and offer more.
It’s sufficient for me - We are very pleased to meet your needs.
The staff is always helpful & knowledgeable! - awe shucks
Getting me on the list for John Grisham books - Be glad to, give us a call and let us know which ones.
Not ask for budget items - very funny, Tony.
Thanks to everyone for you participation and always let us know what you think. J
Stories from around the County
George of Raven Rock
-- Story written by Clara Page who got story from Lizzy McKay. McKay sold the land for Raven Rock State Park and parts of this story appeared in the Daily Record before the park was opened.
Many years ago a farm family found a young chicken snake. They kept it and protected the snake so that it would stay around their barns. The family members called the pet snake, George, who grew bigger and longer year after year. Chicken (black) snakes are harmless although they do like to eat small animals and chickens for lunch. They also rob the hen’s nests for eggs. So George stayed around the barns and outbuildings eating rats, mice and stealing eggs from the hen’s nest and grew bigger and longer every year.
Finally George found a mate and started a family. Naturally he brought his family to the barn where he was petted and protected. Soon there were black snakes all over the place. They loved to lie in a warm sunny spot to sleep and before long they found a back door with wooden steps that was the perfect place to sun. It is said that when they became possessive of those steps that the woman would take a small peach tree switch and switch the sunning snakes to make them leave the back door. Time wen by and finally only one family member lived in the old farmhouse where George had grown up. This was a small elderly lady who was not afraid of black snakes and would not let anyone kill one. As the old house deteriorated the snakes would sometimes get into the house and lie around in a warm place. The old lady really didn’t mind, after all black snakes are not poisonous, so she names some of them and was very nonchalant when neighbors or visitors noticed them.
Now George had reached a ripe old age and he was huge! I saw him once and I thought he was a small black log lying in the woods near a cart track, but later realized that it was George.
George hibernated (underground) during the winter and no one knew where he was during the cold months. But one winter a man came with a bulldozer to push down some trees at the edge of the owner’s field. The man went to work about eight o’clock one morning and came back to the house about ten o’clock with a very strange look on his face. He went in and sat by the fire with the old lady. She told me that she thought he might be sick but he soon began to talk about a huge black snake and asked her if she had ever seen such a creature around the farm. She replied that she had and told him it was George. Then it dawned on her that maybe the bulldozer had hurt George so she asked the bulldozer operator if he had killed George. He declared that he had not harmed the snake, but she never saw George again so she really believed that he had uncovered George as he pushed the trees back with the bulldozer. Later on part of a big snake lodged against the pillars of the bridge at Erwin and everyone wondered and talked about it. It even got into the newspapers and some folks thought that a python had escaped from a zoo from somewhere and ended up in the Cape Fear river. Now this is of course merely an assumption of my own, but knowing that most animals seek a wet place with mud to wallow in when hurt and knowing that George was hut if not killed outright by the big machine. I wonder if George made it to the river which was only a mile from where he was hurt, did he die later from the injuries. Did he wind up in the Cape Fear where parts of his body came to rest against the Erwin bridge?
Walking to School -- Clara Page
From 1923 to 1928 I attended a two room school in Harnett County located about one fourth of a mile from old highway 421 between Mamers and Lillington. This school served a large rural area between the town of Lillington and the village of Mamers. The whistle stop on the A and W railroad near the railroad nearest the school had been named Luart by a French engineer who worked on the railroad during its early years so the school was naturally called Luart as well. It was also called the Collins school because two earlier schools in the area had been called the Collins schools. This school was one of the last two room schools build in Harnett County so that it was in excellent condition when I went to school there. It had two large classrooms two good sized cloak rooms and two separate entries. Each classroom was well lighted by a long row of windows along one wall, a cast iron stove in one corner furnished heat and a big water cooler set on a shelf in each vestibule held water for drinking and other needs.
The rooms were connected by one door which was kept closed and by a sliding partition that was opened only for things like commencement or community meetings or entertainment. The school building was painted white, one of the few buildings in the community that was painted at that time. The playground was covered with wire grass growing in big bunches in the sandy soil except for a small area around the building. We used this part of the grounds for games that did not require much running or space.
We walked two or three miles to get to school in all sorts of weather, rain, sunshine, wind, cold or hot. Only in extremely rough weather were we allowed to miss the daily walk to and from school. Living as we did in the last house with children in school we seldom walked alone but were joined by other students as we passed their homes. This meant that we would have a large group of fifteen to twenty children of all sizes before we reached the school, the group would separate into smaller groups according to age and size with the big boys in a bunch, the big girls in another bunch with the little ones in the rear trying to keep their bigger sisters and brothers in sight. There was the usual amount of bickering and name calling and sometimes snatches of bawdy songs or forbidden sexual insinuations, but for the most of the time we walked along quietly and peacefully. When trouble did occur the older children could take care of it in a matter of minutes because they were used to taking charge of the younger children at home whenever their parents were not around. As an example, one morning we started to school as usual when someone suggested that we check out the frog pond to see if the tadpoles were hatching so someone could catch some to take to school. It was nearly spring and someone always brought a jar full of tadpoles to school for a science lesson at that time. Most of us had no interest in the tadpoles, but we tagged along behind those who were in front, leaving the road to cross a cornfield to the frog pond which was simply a large spring near the edge of the swamp. One look at the thick green scum that covered the spring told us that the tadpoles were not hatched. So after throwing a few cornstalks and sticks into the scum we started back to the road, skirting the edge of the swamp by going through the woods, and up a small slope that was covered with dry brown leaves which had fallen from the trees the past fall.
Suddenly a small lizard darted out from its hiding place in the leaves and ran up the leg of the boy walking closet to it. Although the boy screamed and danced, jumped up and down, shook himself and tried to get rid of the unwelcome creature clinging to his clothes it was in vain. The harder he shook the tighter the lizard clung. By the time the child was almost hysterical with fear and frustration, help came as soon as the older girls became aware of his plight. Three of them quickly whisked the overalls and shirt off the boy and began to shake them vigorously. Good-bye little lizard. As soon as the overalls and shirt were back on the boy we resumed our walk to school, finding the road and continuing on to the school without further incidents.
All of us carried our lunches, some had small tin lard buckets, one or two had boxes bought in the local stores, the rest had brown paper bags or newspaper wrapped bundles of lunch. These various boxes and bags were placed on the shelves in the cloak rooms upon arrival at school and sometimes a lunch would get gone, but this was the exception rather than the rule. Without refrigeration there was not too much variation in our lunches which usually contained homemade biscuits with ham, sausage or egg filling. Boiled eggs with a paper twist of salt and pepper was one of my favorites things to find in my lunch. We carried apples as long as they lasted, the fall apples were always wrapped in newspaper and put into wooden barrels for us to eat during the winter. There were also fried pies made from dried apples or plain sugar pies. Sometimes there would be a special treat, a slice of homemade cake or a few sugar cookies. Not all lunches were alike some contained only bread and fat back and cold baked sweet potatoes. It depended upon whatever was available at the students’ homes each day. We ate on the playground when the weather was good, in rainy or cold weather we were allowed to eat in the cloakrooms where a couple of benches for us to sit down on as we ate our simple lunches.
After reading this story for the first
time I thought I needed a picture of Luart school. Mrs. Page told me that the school was
torn down, so I knew I had to find an old picture. The first place I went was to John
Hairr, our very own Local History type person. This seemed the perfect place to go since
he is on the Board of Directors of the Harnett County Historical Society and all. He just
chuckled and said there was not a picture of Luart school to be found. Well, that sounded
like a challenge to me. I called the Board of Education, it took me three people before I
found one who ever heard of Luart School. They gave me a couple of leads that lead to dead
end. To say the least I still do not have a picture of Luart School.
If anyone has a picture of Luart school we would like to borrow it to have a copy made. If you are not sure if the picture of Granny or Pa standing in front of a small two room school close to Mamers, bring in by and let John have a look at it. We would really appreciate any help you can give us.
We have a Local History Room full of all kinds of stuff. Stop by one day and have John show you around.
PS…Melanie called her father-in-law, Arnold Collins, who lives in the Luart Community, and also went to that school, to see if he had a picture. He did not, but also added to Mrs. Page’s reminiscence. He remembered that because the school was the center of the community, there were two special gatherings during the year--Christmas and Commencement. Even though he was a very small child, he remembered the year that Mac Thomas gave Mamie McAuley a beautifully wrapped gift that turned out to be a box of mice one year. He said that really caused a riot. Or perhaps it was just riotously funny to teenage boys. According to Mr. Collins, the school only went from the first to seventh grades; one room was for grades 1-5 and the other room had the sixth and seventh grade combination. He recalled that the people of the community would cut the wood for the stove and the students "toted" it in to keep the building warm. There were no light bills, phone bills, and the teachers received very little pay and they boarded with the families in the area.
To the teachers—let us know when you have special assignments and
we will help with whatever materials you need. Send us your special assignment sheets and
we will keep them and a bibliography at the desk. We are also especially interested in the
Accelerated Readers lists that the school staffs put together each year. We have
many moms and dads and students asking to see the accelerated reader lists for their
schools.
To the moms and dads—bring your students to the library! We are open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday during the school year. We have reference books galore, PCs for them to type their papers on, and the Internet to above and beyond the books.
To the students—bring your mom and dad to the library with you when you have an assignment. Don’t send them! And if you have to send them to get you a book or some references, please let them know exactly what your assignment is…not something like, "oh by the way, Mom, stop by the library on your way home and get me five sources on Aschelminthes for a biology paper I’m writing." I’m not saying that Mom doesn’t know everything there is to know about mostly everything, but it may have been a few years since she took biology. Give her a break and help us, too, by making your request as specific as you possibly can. There’s nothing worse than coming home from school, getting ready to write a paper, and finding out that Mom brought books on Youth in Asia instead of euthanasia. Believe me, it happens. If you can be specific, then we can completely answer your questions. And we’ll all have a great school year!
Dumb things that happen to people who love books, or Encyclopedias are From Mars, Dictionaries are from Venus. -- Melanie Collins
Since this newsletter will be distributed at the beginning of the school year, and I write this at the end of the school year, I have dictionaries and encyclopedias on my mind--dictionaries because I always give them to graduates, and encyclopedias because when they get old we withdraw them and people buy them, even if they are old because surely at least thirty per cent of the information is still correct.
"Back in the olden days, when I was your age," we didn’t buy a lot of books. We went to the library. But my parents did buy our family a set of World Book that came with a two-volume dictionary. We thought that set of books was the best thing we had ever owned. My brothers and I and even Mama and Daddy, would each take down a volume, (I started with "E" because I liked short books even then) and read through it. Not every article, we picked ones with special interest, but the whole family read article after article in that World Book.
And because of these fond encyclopedia memories of the of my childhood, when I had children of my own, my husband and I bought some World Books, too. We still sit around and skim the volumes for items of interest. They were especially handy when I was on the Quiz Bowl Committee and had to write questions for the competitions. My favorite questions included those whose answers could have been "Ty Cobb" and "I think, therefore I am."
However much I liked the encyclopedias when I was a child, I loved the dictionaries even more. I would look up the most difficult words I could find and use them as often and creatively as I possibly could
My favorite words were those with many syllables, like obstreperous (noisy), insoucience (nonchalant) and ultra-antidisestablishmentarianism (33 letters) which means "extreme opposition to the withdrawal of state support from a Church" and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters) that invented word, but now is eligible as one of the longest words in the English language, because it has appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary. It means "wonderful."
And isn’t language wonderful, after all? . As an adult, returning to college, I found the American Heritage Collegiate Dictionary to be thorough and not so bulky as to render it not worth carrying to class. In fact, that very dictionary that got me through undergraduate school, graduate school, and now it is taking our children through high school; it resides at our dining room table, it has its own chair. You just never know when you might have to look something up—like the preferred spelling of catsup or ketchup or how do you pronounce soufflé?
And for all of you word mongers who love words we have the following information: The longest word that has appeared in print, in the English language, and which I will not repeat here for the sake of brevity, has 1,909 letters and is the scientific name for tryptophan synthetase, a protein, an enzyme made up of 267 amino acids. And then the second longest is the word for the Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain.
This wealth of information comes from the book, The Top 10 of Everything, 1997. The section on Word Power also tells us that the top 10 most common words in English include: the, and, I, to, of, a, you, that, in, it. And as a parent of teenagers, I was surprised to find that "and uh" or "like" were not on the top 10 list (grin). This is a fascinating and thought-provoking reference work, which I may have to add to my encyclopedia and dictionary collection.
Today with the convenience of technological tools--the spellcheckers, dictionaries and thesauri on our word processors, on CD-ROM, and even online. However, nothing beats having a book that you can use just to look up words. It’s not to say that I only like to use multisyllabic words. I also think that when a short three letter word will do, there is no need to use a longer one. In closing, I would like to share some recently received sage advice. "Get a dictionary and learn to use it." Amen.
Pet Memorials -- Cathey Clifton
In recognition of the unique bond that many of us feel for our animal companions, The Harnett County Library has established the Pet Memorial Book fund. This program is sponsored by The Lillington Veterinary Clinic. By sponsoring this fund, a lasting part of the love you and your pet shared can be passed on to the children and adults of our community.
When you donate to this fund in your pet’s name, the money will be used to purchase a book about animals and their care. A bookplate will be placed in the book with your pet’s name.
You can also contribute to this fund on behalf of a friend who has lost a pet. A card will be sent to the owner acknowledging that you have made this kind gesture.
Contact the Harnett County Library (893-3446) if you are interested in this program.
In Memory of :
"Patton" Gupton
"Brutus" Klemz
"Savannah" Garner
"Chin" Liller
"Buddy" Marks
"Trista" TurlingtonBy Dr. Sarah Hagler
Lillington Veterinary Clinic
Memorials & Donations -- Cathey Clifton
The Harnett County Library acquires a number of books and other materials through tax-exempt gifts. Such gifts can be given as a memorial to someone who is deceased or as a tribute to a living person you wish to honor. These gifts are noted with a name plate, listing the person to be memorialized or honored and the person making the donation.
In Memory of:
Bobby L. Wicker
By Tom MeeceJoseph Vail
By Mrs. Ruby Lanier & Carroll LeggettBobby L. Wicker
By Harnett County Library StaffDorothy H. Kelly
By Denise Kelly
Donations:
In Honor of:
The Tea and Topics Book Club of Lillington
By Martha Layton WinstonHarnett County Library Staff
By Friends of the Harnett County LibraryBy Monica Bland
Broadway, NCBy John Hairr
Lillington, NCBy Stephen Williford
Lillington, NCBy Denise Knight
Lillington, NCBy William A. Johnson
Lillington, NCBy Beaman W. Kelley
Lillington, NCBy Barbara Carol Ballard
Lillington, NCBy Harnett Correctional Institution
Lillington, NCBy Central Carolina Community College
Harnett County Campus
Lillington, NCBy Dr. Eric Brodin
Buies Creek, NCBy Sandra Thomas
Lillington, NCBy Revco
Lillington, NCBy Judith Lashley
Angier, NCBy The Beehive Foundation
Savannah, Ga.By Carolyn B. Matthews
Lillington, NCBy Sprint
Wake Forest, NC
Burns and Company Cook Up Some Fun!
The Summer Reading Program kick-off party sizzled this year with a first rate performance by Burns and Company! This husband and wife duo combines magic, mime, and ventriloquism to cook up summer fun. The ingredients of this year’s show "Leroy’s Reading Recipes" included flying Italian pizza, a mischievous monkey, and a sticky peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Chef Leroy’s menu consisted of outrageous concoctions such as possum pie and road-kill stew. We were all delighted to welcome this talented team to our library this summer.
Thanks to all of our generous Lillington Summer Reading Program sponsors:
Burger King, Dairy Freeze, Dairy Queen, McDonalds, Peggy’s Hallmark, Pizza Hut and Subway.
Special thanks to all of the guests who made this year’s Summer Reading Program a success: The Jr. Friends Puppet Troupe (Curt Collins, Sommer Collins, Tiffany Clayton, and Rachel Godwin), the Raven Rock Rangers, Smokey Bear, Rita Gregory, Kimberly Johnson, Reba Clifton, Jo Ennis’s Clown Three-O, Gary Blackburn, Paul McKenzie and Clinton McRae from Cooperative Extension, San-Lee Park, Burns and Company, and Mark Daniel.
Sunny Side Up -- Jill Bowen
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost time for "back to school." It seems like the kids no more than get out of school, only to return a short time later. This didn’t always seem the case. When I was a child (don’t I sound like my grandmother?), summers seem to last a long time, for there was much to be done during the summer.
I waded in a nearby creak and caught "crawfish." I picked maypops and in accordance to their name, I stomped on them. We had a tent outside for camping, a radio in the trees for listening, and stacks of library books for reading. (I preferred biographies at that age and read every juvenile biography that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library owned. I also joined the Summer Reading Program.)
My country cousins were a little more endowed with the work ethic than I, as they gardened and worked in tobacco. I have memories of my aunt picking and shelling peas every evening, or so it seemed. They, however, enjoyed their time off when they swam in the nearby pond and fished for the joy of it. Summer was long, hot, magical days and nights filled with extraordinary treats (?)
Perhaps it is that as childhood passes, time takes on flight and all of the seasons rush by so much more quickly. At any rate the summer has been a good one this year, and I’m going to try to seize it tightly and hold on to it for just a little longer.
Photography Exhibit Draws crowd!
More than two hundred friends, relatives, and art lovers viewed a photography exhibit of works by Clayton D. Bain, of Albany, California. The show, entitled "The Freeway Series" is what he calls an abstract social commentary. Mr. Bain is the son of Ed and Faye Bain of Lillington. Music was provided by Curt Collins. Refreshments were served by Sommer Collins, a member of the Junior Friends of the Harnett County Library. The exhibit was on display for two months–hope you got to see it!
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