Painters were renovating

a Peachtree City house for a couple in their 80s.

The wife ­ a

new bride despite her years ­ was bent on erasing every trace of

her recently deceased predecessor, and insisted that the workmen carry

out truckloads of odds and ends, much of it the collection of a lifetime.

She didn't care what they did with it so long as it was out of her house.

The painting crew,

recognizing the value of some of the stuff, was marveling over their curious

windfall at the Waffle House one Wednesday when we came by for our weekly

infusion of melted butter. "Look at these newspapers," said

one, unfolding a brown copy of the April 13, 1945 New York Times with

its giant headline: President Roosevelt is Dead.

I begged to borrow

a few to look through at home, and one of several plastic bags full of

56-year-old news was passed along the counter. Let me dip into this fragile

time capsule and share with you what I found.

News of the war, not

surprisingly, dominated as events began to converge on victory for the

Allies. Headlines in the Panama American of April 4, 1945 ­ from

the Panama Canal Zone ­ spoke in terms and locales then unfamiliar

to American readers: Yanks Sweep Through Central Reich. Japanese Concentrate

For Battle On Okinawa. Troops and Tanks of Soviet Armies in Vienna Outskirts.

Some of the headlines

sounded like today's: Chaplin Paternity Trial Opens Today, datelined Hollywood,

as Charlie Chaplin is charged with being the father of the baby daughter

of Joan Barry.

Inside, diamond engagement

rings were advertised for $50 to $225, and Armour's Cloverbloom Butter

was "Fresh as All Outdoors ­ builds sturdy bodies." Benrus

watches sold for $39.75 to $55.

On the editorial pages

Walter Winchell, Ernie Pyle, Bob Hope and Drew Pearson hold forth. A new

movie opens ­ National Velvet ­ and in the classifieds: "Wanted

­ young lady, white, as secretary to American executive. Must have

fluent knowledge of English, Spanish, and be a good stenographer. ..."

This grisly story

appeared on the front page, under the headline, Decapitated Body of Nazi

Sympathizer Found Near Paris. "A trapper prowling through a thicket

today in the Bois de Neuville stumbled on the nude, headless body of a

woman about 30 years of age. 'Do not waste pity on this woman,' a note

on the body read, 'who during the five years I spent in a concentration

camp behaved herself badly, and was gratifyingly kind to the Germans.

I am not a criminal but a dispenser of justice. You bury the body. I am

keeping the head.'"

A week later, the

President died, stunning a nation that, in those days, was not privy to

its leaders' medical records. The stories filled the Times, of course,

which published no ads in that issue. There were also brief pieces attempting

to introduce to the United States its new, virtually unknown commander-in-chief,

Harry Truman of Missouri, and word came that the Ninth Army had crossed

the Elbe and was nearing Berlin.

And this: Queenie,

a 6-year-old Doberman Pinscher, had received an honorable discharge after

serving two years with the armed forces as a sentry. She became the first

member of the K-9 corps to receive a free lifetime license under a new

state law for issuance to dogs honorably discharged from the army. Queenie

was owned by Mrs. Jeanne Wasserman's 19-year-old son Stanley, who saw

action in Italy, Africa and France with the Coast Guard.

Stanley had had the

dog since she was a pup ­ a dog that was vicious when she went into

service, but after retraining had become docile. Queenie did not recognize

Mrs. Wasserman at first but after the woman spoke to her in Yiddish, the

dog realized she was home.

In the Atlanta papers

as elsewhere, sacrifices for the war effort were common topics. The Atlanta

Journal of May 8, 1945 ran a quarter-page ad: "Bring your band instruments

to Rich's ­ the US Army will pay cash for them. ... Our fighting

men are asking for musical instruments! But the musical instrument industry

is engaged in making war essentials. Your idle band instruments are the

only answer. ..."

Another headline said

New Hearses, Steel Vaults Unavailable, as industry focused on the war

effort.

Two obituaries, with

pictures, of sergeants killed in France and Germany, were placed, regrettably,

above an ad headlined "Women with PILES get Doctor's tip." Under

Georgians on Casualty List was the name of Robert L. Grubbs, Private,

of Tyrone, son of Mrs. Sara Grubbs ­ wounded in Europe.

Farm land for sale:

400 acres, 34 miles south of Atlanta; 4-room house, good barn, fencing,

bottoms and much timber. $5,000.

Other properties included

"good outhouses."

Furnished room with

kitchen privileges, electric refrigerator, gas range, hot water; rent

$20 a month. Settled business woman preferred. ...

Near Fort Mc. Share

newly built home, attrac. Furn. Couple only. Army officer's wife, husband

overseas. ...

There's lots more

­ we'll save some for another day.

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