Who's wearing the Evening In Paris? Pangburn 9th graders pose for the class picture in 1929. From left, seated Oren Shearer, Gene Hughen, Elbert Haile, Anderson Daily, Harold Waite, Carthel Brooks, Vernice Nowell, Harold Crook; second row Paul Spear, Meredith Mitchell, Winnie Goodall, Daisy Gray, Pauline Coffey, Earline Jenkins, Marie Howell; back row Hubert Epperson, Pellie Howell, Lois Stahle, Ruth Spear, Wilma King, Lois Norman, Oleta Marsh, Christina Doyle, unknown, Avaline Wallace, Avanell Hardcastle, Ruth Woodall. That same year, 13-year-old Alice Taylor was chopping cotton at nearby Holly Springs when she found a pretty rock. It wasn't until 1942, after she had married Pellie Howell and was a mother, that she discovered the stone was a 27-carat diamond.


Hasn't Scratched Yet!




This was the slogan for Bon Ami, which was used to clean and polish mirrors and windows. On washday P&G laundry soap, Argo laundry starch and Red Cross bluing were used along with the rub board and washpot to clean the clothes. Later when washing machines were available Super Suds or Rinso washing powder was used.

People ate MotherÆs Oats to collect the pink or green glassware that came in the boxes. Clabber Girl baking powder was sure to make the biscuits rise. Watkins Vanilla sold door to door by the Watkins peddler was simply the best. Every medicine cabinet had GroveÆs Chill Tonic, Syrup of Pepsin, Watkins Liniment, Lydia Pinkhams, CarterÆs Liver Pills, and if there was a baby in the family, a bottle of Castoria.

Women had round tins of Cloverine Salve with its rose fragrance, a tube of orange Tangee lipstick and a blue bottle of Evening In Paris perfume. These are some of the brand names of products of my childhood in White County in the 1920-30s.

--CHRISTINA DOYLE SPEAR