Before dropping off to sleep one night recently, I began thinking about the fact that Christmas is fast approaching and I have here in our apartment and at the Randolph GUIDE office the exact one-stop shopping location for gifts for friends and loved ones.

Of course I’m speaking of two wonderful books that yours truly has written in recent years. The first one is “Dancing with pretty women.” No, this book does not give you how to become a wonderful dancer. It just gives you some important facts about Randolph County, our heritages and the people who made the county what it is today.

The book title is swapped from an old redneck saying that could have originated at a hoedown at New Hope, Hog Slide or perhaps Black Ankle. It goes something like this: Let me cite some of the contents of this book. And I truly believe that life is too short to dance with ugly women. But let me cite some of the tales included in this book – my first of three in fact – that will whet your appetite for reading:

Boy orator comes to Asheboro – William Jennings Bryant, Public hanging attracts 3,000; Thomas Bowman; Randolph’s first general, Alexander Gray; Turning clay into success, George Black; He overcame the odds, Bantly York; A leader of men, Alexander McAlister; Who shot and killed High Sheriff?, E.A. (Benji) Moffitt; Dixon Post 45 formed: Randolph claims first female postmaster, Elizabeth Dayton Balfour, How Randolph lost Trinity College to Durham; Glorious Days of wealthy hunters, including FDR; Secrets of the Uwharries, Lost Cave; A man of integrity, William Penn Wood.

Chapter 2 is filled with such good reading as Hanging around pretty women, All men are born deaf, Ingrid Bergman stood me up, Things are not as they seem, Not living on fat of the land, Asheboro Kiwanis Club formed, Chipman goes to church, Sartorial splendor, Hitch your wagon to a hammer, When dancing was evil, Getting to the tips of roots, The night I won a beauty contest, Having a ball at Tuxedo Junction, Helping Sheriff raid liquor still, I enjoyed myself at ladies’ socials, I dated Imogen Coca, Kid in eyeglasses has it tough, Governor Hodges models Stedman underwear.

Chapter 3 deals with people in Randolph you should know about. The list includes B.B. Walker and Audie Murphy, O.J. (Skipper) Coffin, N.C. Newbold, Guy B. Philips, Simeon Colon, Dr. Johh Wesley Long Jr., Sen. Jesse Helms, D. Wescott Moser, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, Mary Pickford, Sen. B. Everett Jordn, Frances B. Griffin, Reynolds Price and Gov.

James B. Hunt Jr. You’ll learn a lot about Randolph County and the people who inhabited these hallowed ground. And the price is only $15. Wow, what a bargain!

The next book is the one written by my Mother, Elizabeth Pickett Mills. For 24 years, from 1955 until her untimely death on June 23, 1979, my mother wrote a most popular and often quoted garden column each week. It was entitled, “Come Garden With Me.” It is probably the most quoted and a book often consulted by gardeners to learn more about flower gardening, vegetable gardening, shrubs, bushes, trees, yards, greenhouses, propagating plants, soil, enrichment, house plants, pest control – plus much more.

Mother’s gardening column appeared each week in The Randolph GUIDE and in The Laurinburg Exchange newspapers. Among her many accomplishments, Mother organized many garden clubs across the state. She organized a number of garden clubs especially designed for men to get interested in vegetable gardening, flower gardening and keeping up the premises!

Mrs. Mills was a charter member of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at Chapel Hill. In 1962 she was presented a life membership in the Garden Club of North Carolina Inc. in recognition of “devoted service.” The speaker making the award praised Mrs. Mills as being “known by her friends as a living encyclopedia of gardening information and largely responsible for the thousands of Dogwood trees which have been planted across the Tar Heel State.”

And this wonderful book will be available at the Randolph GUIDE office during office hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday). And the greatest thing is you get all of this gardening information for the measly price of only $19.95. Checks or cash is accepted. No credit cards, please.

Isn’t it wonderful that you can go to The Guide at 431 South Fayetteville Street in Asheboro and solve your Christmas shopping in short order? All you have to do is wrap her up and put on a pretty bow!



Barron Mills is a former editor and publisher of The Randolph Guide. He lives in Asheboro.