Novelist Editor

Historical Novelist James Boyd (Drums Marching On, Long Hunt), who once said he would not write about the present because "things are moving too fast," last week jumped smack into midstream of present happenings. He bought and became editor of his local paper, the Southern Pines, N.C. Pilot ("a guaranteed circulation of 1,200 and I count a man a subscriber even if he pays with a sack of potatoes").

Never a newspaperman, lean, 52-year-old James Boyd owns a 3,000-acre estate m Southern Pines (pop. 3,225). He is known to the natives as a right smart hunter and horseman, a fine poker player, a friend to plain citizens. Several years ago at his gardener's funeral, when the preacher failed to appear, he preached a sermon that is still remembered.

Aiming to run his paper at a profit and not just for fun, Boyd hired the Pilot's ex-publisher, Nelson C. Hyde, as its news and business manager. Boyd will devote himself to writing the editorials. Says he: "I am a sincere believer in the importance and influence of the independent small-town paper in American life."

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