"Rounds & Squares"

In tiny Hampton (pop. 800), stiff-backed Thomas Estey Ryder, a retired World War I colonel, tramped up & down the elm-lined main street on a one-man job survey. Prospects for Hampton's returning veterans, he discovered, were dim. But chatting with townfolk, he got an idea.

To announce it, he called a meeting in Hampton's grey agricultural hall. Farmers drove in from miles around. Villagers turned out by the score. Colonel Ryder told them: Hampton should erect a factory to turn out "rounds and squares" (chair rungs, desk legs) from nearby stands of spruce, cedar, pine and birch. The factory would serve as a memorial to 18 Hamptonians who had died in World War II. It would provide jobs for about 50 of Hampton's 187 overseas veterans.

Snowy-haired Thomas William Barnes, 85, who runs the little Red Brick Corner Hotel, offered a free site. Bill Cook, who sent four sons off to World War II, gave $25 out of his World War I Army pension. Sergeant Billy Brown, just back from overseas, chipped in with the comment: "It's a great idea." Within an hour 100 Hamptonians had subscribed $9,700.

This week Hampton Industries, Ltd., with a charter and a five-man board of directors, was rapidly nearing its goal of $50,000 in capital. Soon Hampton's veterans will have their war memorial--and, what is more important, a job.

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