County Court met in special session on Saturday for the purpose
of contracting construction of two stone piers for the bridge across the Little
Kanawha River at this place.
The contract was awarded to J.V. Tulley, well-known Braxton
County contractor, at $7.50 per cubic yard. It is estimated there will be about
800 yards.
There were only two bidders, Tulley and Hugh Prother of Wirt
County. The other bid was $8 per yard.
The court has not received the Government’s permit to build the
bridge, but it is thought that it will be forthcoming at once.
Tulley will not commence work until next Spring. It will be
necessary to put in considerable machinery in order to handle the stone at the
height the piers will be built, 52 feet, and, as nothing could be gained by
building the piers now on account of having to wait for next year’s levy before
the iron could be put on, it was thought best to wait until the machinery and
supplies could be shipped in by boat.
The badly needed and long tried for bridge is to be built at
last. We are assured of it, and the people rejoice that it is so.
Too many of us tend to follow the crowd and “conform,” but much
of the world’s progress has been made by men and women who refused to conform
when they thought the crowd, or majority, was wrong.
It is very easy in life to accept gossip about those one has an
inclination to be jealous of. It is a common fault for us to try to pull others
down to our own level--if they have outperformed us in life in some way.
The tendency of too many of us is to belittle things we do not
understand, dislike those with whom we disagree, and close our minds to learning
after we have reached a certain age.
There is usually a high price to pay when one bucks the
majority, or when one refuses to follow the crowd. If everyone around us idles
away their afternoons, that is no reason why we should idle away ours.
If a certain type of work is frowned upon by the so-called
social set, that is no reason why some good, honest sweat should not be expended
by any man or woman who puts commonsense ahead of pride.
It is good for all of us to evaluate our lives and our
philosophies and give some thought to standing on our own two feet. It is easy
to follow the crowd, but remember the crowd is very often wrong.