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This Week's Story

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GEORGE'S LAST DAY AT THE BANK

© 2000 James D. and Rebecca P. Pearce

Louise Matthews came into the bank just a few minutes before closing time.

When he saw her come through the door, George, the teller, turned away and tried to busy himself at the big desk against the back wall.

Louise rapped her walking cane a couple of times on the floor.

"George!" she said. "Pay attention to me! I want to deposit some money!"

George mumbled something, but didn't come to the teller's window.

Louise rapped again.

"George," she said, "Come on over here now and give me a deposit slip. I've got a hundred dollars here that I want in the bank today."

George moved reluctantly to the front counter.

"Louise," he said, "it's almost closing time, and I really don't feel like making out a deposit slip right now."

"What? What are you talking about, you don't feel like making out a deposit slip! Don't you get paid for making out deposit slips? Isn't that your job?"

"Well, yes," said George, "but right now is really not a good time to be making out deposit slips, and it's almost closing time anyway."

"George, quit talking so dumb. I'm not taking this money back home with me, for somebody to knock me in the head and run off with it. It's the last hundred dollars I've got. I want it in the bank where it's safe, right now, this day, this week, this month, this year ~ 1933 ~ and you had better take it and give me a deposit slip if you know what's good for you, young man."

George took the money and made out the deposit slip.

He followed Louise to the door, pushed it shut, and pulled down the shade.

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After supper, George said to his wife, Christine, "I've got an errand to run. Over to Louise's. I'd like for you to come with me."

Christine went for her coat, and accompanied him to Louise's house.

At George's knock, Louise asked: "Well, what on earth are you doing here?"

"Ask us in," said George. "Ask us to sit with you at the table."

A surprised Louise acquiesced.

"Louise," said George, "here's your hundred dollars."

"My what? Why isn't my hundred dollars in the bank, where it's safe? What are you doing walking around with my hundred dollars in your pocket? I know that's against the law! I have a deposit receipt right here, that says it's in the Farmers Bank.

"If there are any other hard-heads like you working at the Farmers Bank, I'll just get myself down there first thing in the morning and take it out, and put it somewhere else like over at Franklin or Ahoskie.

"Louise," said George, "you can't take it out in the morning."

"What on earth is the matter with you, George? I've got the receipt right here saying I have one hundred dollars in the Farmers Bank! But with you acting so strange, I sure don't think I'm going to leave it there."

"Louise," said George, "take the hundred dollars. It's yours. I didn't put it in the bank. That's why I'm bringing it to you."

"Well, I never," said Louise. "I'm going down to the Farmers Bank first thing in the morning when it opens ~"

"Louise," said George, "you can't. The Farmers Bank isn't going to open in the morning.

"What's more," he said, "the Farmers Bank isn't going to open again ever ~ not tomorrow, and not ever."

Louise, stunned into silence, took the hundred.

~~~

W. Gary Parker's job at the bank in Murfreesboro
was an early casualty of the
Great Depression.

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This Week's Quote

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"What, then, happened during the last few days of February and the first few days of March? Because of undermined confidence on the part of the public, there was a general rush by a large portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold ~ a rush so great that the soundest banks could not get enough currency to meet the demand. The reason for this was that on the spur of the moment it was, of course, impossible to sell perfectly sound assets of a bank and convert them into cash except at panic prices far below their real value.

"By the afternoon of March 3 scarcely a bank in the country was open to do business. Proclamations temporarily closing them in whole or in part had been issued by the governors in almost all the states.

"It was then that I issued the proclamation providing for the nation-wide bank holiday, and this was the first step in the government's reconstruction of our financial and economic fabric."

(Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Fireside Chat, March 12, 1933)

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This Week's Verse

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They used to tell me
I was building a dream,
And so I followed the mob.
When there was earth to plow
Or guns to bear
I was always there
Right on the job.

They used to tell me
I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad. I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower,
Now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits
Gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum.
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!

Oh, say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Oh, say don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Brother, can you spare a dime?

(1932. ~ E.Y. Harburg and J. Gorney)

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This Week's Wisdom

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WHEN IT COMES MY TIME TO DIE
© 2002 Valerie Horne Sumner

Folks are passing out defibrillators like they're giving out Halloween candy. Trick or treat.

A defibrillator provides electrical impulses to stimulate a heart that has quit beating.

There was a story in the news last week about an 89-year-old man. He dropped dead as a doornail in his tracks in a doughnut shop all of a sudden from a heart attack. The way most of us pray to go ...... suddenly ...... no suffering ...... no lingering death ...... especially when we are at the age to go.

But two police officers, or firemen, I forgot which, were cruising by with their new defibrillator. They stopped, hooked up the old man, jump-started his heart, and now he is lying comatose in the intensive-care unit on life support ...... IVs running out of both arms, and round-the-clock nursing care.

The two police officers, or firemen, are being hailed as heroes. "They saved a man's life."

Lord, when it comes my time to die ...... please don't let some hero with a defibrillator happen by.

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The foregoing is an excerpt from "Emergency ~ Diary of a Triage Nurse," a new book by Valerie Horne Sumner that you would enjoy reading. Valerie grew up and graduated from high school in Ahoskie. You can eMail her at fograker@yahoo.com

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This Week's Mailbox

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To the Poor Town News ~ I am thoroughly enjoying your write-ups, and I can identify with so many of them. Keep them coming. ~ Ina Harrell, Northeast NC.

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To the Poor Town News ~ The picture of the Chowan (in The Poor Town News) certainly brought back memories. I grew up on the Wiccacon. It circled Cotton's Island, the farm owned by my Grandpa Cotton. It was the first farm you came to if you crossed the Wiccacon on the old Harrellsville Ferry. The old ferry in later years was run by a man by the name of Mr. Wright. Don't know his first name or whatever happened to him. He is deceased by now I am sure. I have water-skied and done some boat riding and fishing off the point which is in (Lucy Daniels') picture of the Chowan. Had friends who lived near Mount Gould, and we would run over there by boat. Could get pretty rough on that river at times. We are located near El Paso TX. These people in West Texas think the Rio Grande is something. The Wiccacon makes (the Rio Grande) look like a joke. They don't have any idea what it was like to grow up with water like that all around you. Am going to make it back there one of these days. Not too far off I hope. I sure do miss that river. ~ John Taylor, Texas.

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To the Poor Town News ~ I enjoy The Poor Town News. Being from that neck of the woods, I find everything you write to be entertaining, and in many cases I have done what some of the others have reported to you ...... (My name) is Hersey Gatling Sumner, and I reside in Columbus GA. I married a young lady from Columbus over 51 years ago while I was stationed at Lawson Air Field, on the Fort Benning Reservation. We have two children, a boy named Hersey Gatling Sumner Jr. and a daughter named Leigh. We have two lovely grandchildren, one of whom recently graduated from college and the other a rising junior at U. of Ga. ...... Rebecca is correct in remembering that Carolyn and Lil (Sumner) are my sisters. Grady is the oldest of the five siblings. Albert, the youngest, passed away in September 1987. I came along right in the middle ...... Your recollection of the homeplace of Richard J. Gatling (inventor of the Gatling Gun) is correct, and they still have an historical marker displayed between Murfreesboro and Como, but I believe the house has been torn down. I also believe my mother's father and Richard J. Gatling were first cousins. Anyway, we are kin to those Gatlings. In 1990 we had a Gatling reunion in Murfreesboro, and (descendants) came from many of the states. I have hopes of another reunion one of these days, but it takes time and patience to have one ...... (PS: Would you believe my wife's maiden name was "Gunn"? Everybody said we should have named my son "Gatling Gun Sumner," but we didn't. He is known as "Gatling" to his friends.) ~ Hersey Gatling Sumner, Georgia.

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To the Poor Town News ~ I was thrilled to find your web site, which I did by a Google search for "Annie Maria Salter." She is my great-great-grandmother. (Her son) Walter John Pearce and Jeanette Felton were parents of Horace Lee Pearce Sr., whose son Horace Lee Pearce Jr., is my father. My interest in the Pearce genealogy was piqued in the process of clearing my father's house. He is now in an assisted-living situation with dementia, but I plan to show him photographs etc. to get more information. I have some letters between Walter (who was called John, perhaps?) and Ernest Pearce. Ernest's is especially touching, as in it he declines a trip to Ahoskie and Beaufort because he can't find enough work during the Depression. I hope to hear from you to get more information about the family. My father will be thrilled. We always had some kind of family story about someone who didn't get along with a step-parent and joined the Union Army, and I am so, so delighted to have the facts. Thanks so much for providing all this rich information. ~ Elizabeth Wilkerson, Northwest VA.

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To the Poor Town News ~ Hello again. It's been a long time since I have written but I have been busy trying to find "W.O.," my "Uncle Will." Yep, he has been here under my nose all of these years. (Editor's note ~ This letter refers to the late W. O. Saunders, editor of the old Elizabeth City Independent. A story about him, entitled "The Independent Man," can be found in the Poor Town Books, under "Tales the Old Folks Told.") ...... I called a funeral home in my area to find the locations of some cemeteries in Elizabeth City. The Twiford Funeral Home is family-owned. Boy, did I hit the jackpot. Mrs. Twiford had what I have been looking for. Her mother was good friends with Columbia Saunders (the wife of W.O.). (Mrs. Twiford) told me what happened to W.O. There was a car accident but he died from drowning. It seems that his car went off the road into a canal. I was always told of the accident (which happened in 1940) but thought it happened because of a diabetic seizure. I suspect that the seizure caused the accident and (the drowning). ~ Linda Sessor, Northeast NC. ~

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To the Poor Town News ~ The OVERTON-SKINNER FAMILY REUNION was held at the Aulander Community Building on Saturday, July 27. Attending were descendants of Cornelius and Aurelia Frances Overton, and Levi and Ioma Overton Skinner, and members of their families. There were approximately 85 people on hand for the occasion, from Alabama, Florida, Virginia and Oklahoma as well as North Carolina. In some families there were as many as four generations present ~ and four or five new babies ...... Lunch was served at noon, with a great spread of good food enjoyed by all. This reunion has been an annual event now for 20 years ...... J. E. Skinner related that the Pearce Cemetery near Trap had been tended again. He said they do this twice a year. Cornelius and Aurelia Frances Overton are among those buried there. He also said that the only trees visible in the area now are the ones in the cemetery itself, because the land all around has been cleared ...... (After attending the reunion, my sister and I visited a cousin in Aulander, Russell Pearce, and then another sister, Mildred Overton Horan, in Chesapeake.) ~ Gerri Overton Abrahamsen, Southeast NC.

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