HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1971-02-04, Page 2Picking Convention Delegates
Theres.-been 'very
little interest shown. to
date locally on the up-
coming convention of the
ProgresSive Conservatives.
Who will name their new
leader and our 'new Premier.
7be, convention would
appear to afford,the PC's
an excellent opportunity
to stimulate new interest
and activity in politics, -
and particularly their own:
party - but they have as
yet failed to do that.
From across Ontario
come complaints that rid
'inn executive Members are
hand-picking -their dele-
gates and alternates
out giving the party faith=
--qui any say' in who will be
in. Toronto to pick the new
leader.
Even more discouraging
are the reportS that dele- .
gates' ai,e.peing picked on
the -basis 15-f beina•persons
who riding executives or
sitting members know will
support their .choices for
the, leadership.
'Wh-ile politics is a
dizzying game, at times, it
appears strange that those
who-have supported the
party-over the 'years will
have no say in picking
Aelegates,let alone any
say in picking the new
leader..
A riding meeting,to,
name delegates would have
stimulated considerable
interest in the proceed-
ings and possibly brought
new vigor to the party.
when many are now serious-
ly considering alternate
choices.
(Exeter-Times Advocate)
From My Window
Some readers of this column are vex*
faithful. Others are even more faithful
than that because they are the readers
who not only enjoy (or say they do) the
column each week,. they often send along
suggestions for future columns. This kind
of reader is most appreciated, believe
me.
The other day I was in touch' with
one reader who winter!, to tell me about
an episode she -had had with a chain
letter. She, told me she hadn't received
one of these cursed things for years and
years, and' she had even begun to faintly
hope that chain letters were a thing of
the past.
Not so. She- told me she was the
recipient of .a rather brutal kind of chain
letter. It promised good fortune if its
contents • was copied 10 times and sent
on to 20 other persons, and it forecast
dire results if the chain was broken.
Wel*, this reader doesn't believe in
chain letters . — at least, she doesn't
like to think -she .believes in chain let-
ters.. She's -a bit superstitious, mind
you, but she made up her mind there
was VO chance thatithe would copy the
:letter- 20-times and send it onto compound
the-Misery of others. --
• A few days after 'the chain letter
Was ignored, things began to happen.
tinpleaSes4 things they, were, My reader
clevelopea sore back. She also had a
Medical check SAW- discovered she would
have . spend some time in hospital.
'Oat :Wetild 'Mean delaying a trip She
iii4,ibleittied to Plerida, And to' top it
all off, she was nearly killed (or badly
injured) when‘ she was almost hit by a
car!
When she let me know about her
plight,' she wasn't just sure whether
she was due for some bad luck and was
simply jinxed for a few days . . . or
whether that chain letter, that idiotic
note which prophesied disaster if she
ignored it . . .was to blame for her
problems. •
'filVion't care if I die," she said,
indicating just a little bit that she
wondered if -there• was any truth to the
promise of the chain letter. "I., will
not be a partner to passing chain letters."
Well done, friend. I do not approve
of chain letters and what's more, there
is absolutely no doubt in my mind that
your present problems would exist for
you today whether you had receitied that
letter or not. /•
I've had similar chain 'letters . . .
the kind which torten hideous happenings
if you don't send them on in triplicate.
And I'Ve had problems, too . . . but not
because of the silly sheet of paper with a
few ink. Scrawls on it. Why, I have
problems the year - round, every year ...
and I Just don't get that many chain
letters.
So I'm convinced, dear ,yeaders, there
is nothing to this .busineSS of superstition.
As for chain letters, I'd banish them
from the face of the earth U) had my
Way . . and their Writers With them,
sadistic lot that they are.
n the Teal*
Agorae
Since 1860, Serving the Community First
OPIglithed at SEAFORili, ONTARIO, every Thursday morning by McLEAN BROS.. Publishers Ltd.
ANDREW Y. MCLEAN, Editor
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SEAFORTli, ONTARIO, February 4, 1971
Sugar and Spice
Nature Makes
As we have continued to
develop and make use of our
modern inventions we-have
become pretty well satis-
fied that there is little
we cannot do; and when man
landed on the moon we were
sure of it.
Yet it has taken just,a
few days storm to put our
thinking into persoective
and tomake us realize
there--are-elements still
to.be conquered.
Here we are stranded,
practically in our kitchens,
by a few days snow, When
nature decreed snow our
htchly mechanized society
ground to a halt.
The trouble is, of
course, that we have be-
come so accustomed to'our,
.carefully' tailored way bf
life that when -a bit More
snow. than usual arrived we
weren't•prepared.
We had become accustomed
to-moving from our comfort-
ably heated•home to our
-heated _cars. to our work be,
it in factory, farm or .
store that when Prie element
in the carefully r6lat d •
structure failed,ou
way of life seemed to col:,
' lapse.,
Our cars were stranded,
our hydro failed, 'our pumbs
were useless., our furnaces
went out and we didfr't like',
itat all,
14-inter always
the Decision
have been a problem but as
our standards of living in-
creased so do the diff ticul-
ties that accompany storms.
In those,days, not so many
Years. ano,' the fact that
the roads were blocked for
a time was• an inconvenience
but rarely a hardship.Farm
units were self contained
wi-th lots of fueLana food
at hand to last throuohout
the winter, Schools., even
in the rural areas, were
'within easy reach. Even
if the roads became clogged
there were lots ofhorses.
avaflable.for necessary
trips. '
It's different today
where our economy and our
education are neared to a
degree of mobility that -
grandparents never dreamed
was Possible and where' We
depend on hydro for, water.'
and heat and on the nearest
town for -food.
True we have evolved
substitute's such. as snow-
mobiles tharfin. some cases -
made —the.differencebe-
tween tragedy and-ftere
Wa'rdship.- Faced with block'-
d roads tweilty years aoo
we'depended.bn the horse,
today, we look to the snow 7
mobile.
And certainly the 'events
of recent days have Proved
how effective a replace-
ment they have been.
There's nothing like a solid stretch
• of really cold weather to remind you ,
that Nature still packs a mighty wallop,
despite all man's • ingenuity in trying
to keep his chin covered. ,
We've had a dandy around here - day
after day „of below-zero ,temperatures.
Even though they have been bright, the
sun had about.' as',,,muCti' effect on ,the
atmosphere -as a fried egg' tinny-side up.
••Everyone enjoys the first couple of
days of such a spell. We all feel like
hardy pioneers when we stomp in out of
the cold, eyes and,,nose's running, and
exchange such. inanities as5 "That's a
real snapper" and ',cold 'nuff fer ya?"
But after a week or so, it begins to
get to you. You begin to remember those
stories abdut people who go mad' in the
rainy season, or whew-the, sirocco is
blowing. •
It doesn't affect the kids. They love
it, bundled to the nose and full of warm,
red blood: Most of, the elderly hate it,
and visibly shrink. It doesn't bother the
outdoor enthusiasts, because they' keep
warm doing something. They can't lick
it, so they join it.
It's the ordinary, simple, every-day
householder like me who begins to feel
the pinch, and. develops a deep gloom.
When you turn the' key in the car and
it just groans like a wounded buffalo,-
before expiring. When you , look up at
the ever-thickening ice on the roof and
remember you've just had your living-
room, redecorated, and know it's, going
to cost $30 to have it chopped off. And
finally, when your downstairs facilities
don't work, and you realize with horror
that even in this day of oil furnaces,
inside pipes can freeze. •
And the oilman cometh. And 'cometh
and cometh.
This is the time when- you ' should
stop and realize how lucky you are,
, instead of bending everybody's ear
your petty woes. You should remember
how it used to be.
Like most Canadians, I was brought
up on cold winters._ Earliest recollections
are of midwinter Sunday mornings.. My
mother would take my kid brother and me
-into bed with tier where we'd help ,our-
To the Editor
Sir:
May I take this opportunity of thankinF
all the people who provided • so many
services and assistance in and around
Seaforth during the past week.ks usual
the public responded very welt didn't
panic and we were able to ride out the
storm.
Seeing a storm perform makes one
feet very humble because in spite of
man's great inventions and tripS to the
Moon, etc., Mother Nature comes along
and makes a shambles out of eVerytifing
in just a few short moments. 'Her power
is awesome.
As I said before everyone responded
nobly and I would like to thank some 'in
particular. Councillors George Hildebrand
and Betty Cardno instituted an-Emergency
plan and called on the Snowmobile Club
for assistance. They in turn-did a yeo-
'Man job running a 24 hneervice that
made over 125 trips in a few --days
delivering food, fuel, people , medicine
and even a--calf. ..With the PkU.C.-they
alio helped, the Ontario Hydro restore
power' to vlstirreundifig Some of
these trips took as much Re4A hours.
I must not forget the people who are
always called upon and more or leSSj-
taken fort:granted. They are the Police
:selves to the breakfast-in ,bed she always
got Sunday mornings, and listen with fear
and fascination to her tales of winter on
Calumet Island, in Ottawa River. The
best was about the. tinie'Lady; the dainty
little mare, went through the ice and the -
dreadful time they spent trying to rescue
her. I-think she--died.
• Then there, was my 'Dad. ' He hated .
winter and 'Made no bones about it. It,
was Depression times , and the coal bill
was an albatross around his neck. He
was a mild, gentle man, never known to
say anything stronger than ',shoot". But
inside him was some of the wild despair&
his Irish forefathers."
When he'd go down to fire up the
furnace', I'd get ply ear, up against the
furnace-pipe and listen with delight 'to
language that should have given, me curly
hair, interspersed, with the occasional
clang, when he'd belt the furnace with
his shovel out of sheer rage. •
spent a winter in nothern England,
with archaic and often non-existing heat-
ing equipment, except in the pubs. Sheer,
clammy misery, except in the pubs.- I
spent another in Germany on the Baltic
Sea, with very little food and almost
no heat. Not much joy there.
. Then I got married. Our first place
had two wood stoveS. I'd hop out of
bed, plunk 'my freezing baby in with
his warm mother, and rustle up two
fires. Then I'd take a roll of news-
paper into the cellar, set fire to it, and
,unfreeze., the water pipes which froze *
solid every night. Then off through the
zero to the newspaper office, which
boasted one of the last wood-burning
furnaces on the continent. You could
see your breath. in the place ,until about„
11 a.m.
We graduated to a coal furnace, which
did nothing 'hilt produce in me the same
violence and frustration my father had
felt twenty years before.
When I think of thoSe days, and step
out of bed into a pleasantly oil-heated
house, I realize what- a piddling little
cold spell we're having now, and almost
feel like going out in the snow in my
pyjamas and doing „some push-ups. Al-
most.
and our Town Roadcrew.
'The local Police and Constable
Primeau of the O.P.P. had a 'very cold
and uncomfortable job to perform in
directing traffic throughout the. storm
and trying to keep people from creating
more problems by attempting to go down
roads already plugged with' cars. They
did it well.
Town foreman Harold Maloney -and
his crew worked all during the Storm
trying to keep roads open so that at
least the people in town were able to
move about. Without their• efforts• our
streets would have been impassable. It
hardhit as some other Owns who weren't
Pressiolk.that we weren't as gave the im
plowed but I assure you that we were id
the thick of it.
There are, no doubt, many-more
people who made an extraordinary effort,
such as the ones who took care of all
the school children and ether stranded
people. • I think "you must admit that
all such efforts gave a gresit,'SPirit of
camaraderie and a 'nice warm' 'feeling.
To one and all may I express the
appreciation of the Town of Seaforth
for a job well done.
,February 1,1971. Fr 'nk Sills
M yox
FEBRUARY 7, 1896.
It will be 30 years on tice— 9th of
Raeh seeth hilitiaofrd twas called t ceren: the frontier the
Fenian Raid. J: J. Wright of Point Farm
intents to ,celebrate the occasion right
The ice harvest has commenced _and
D. D. Wilson• has a number of teams
hauling it iron) the Egrnondville. dam.
Solomon J. Shannon, treasurer for
McKillop for a number of years, has.,
sent in —Irts- resignation on account of
ill health.
. Wm. Graham of Stanley, left Bruce..
field en• route for the old country. He
took with him two double deck car loads
of lambs.
Peter McGregor of Brucefield is having
the necessary material prepared for
putting stables under his barns during the
summer.
T The - snow falls of the past week at
Hensall have helped the roads running
east and west, but there is scarcely
enough for the teaming of loads. •
As on previous occasions the minstrel
show under the Beaver lacrosse club, was
well patronized, the hall being full.
During the auction sale of furniture
at Dr. Campbell's residence, ,Seaforth,
a valuable gold watch was stolen. It
was left on a dressing case in one of
the bedrooms and after the. crowd had
left, no trace of it could be found.
A young man named Brennan hired
a horse and rig at Forbes Livery stables
in town to go a few miles out in Tucker-
smith. He was discovered later in London
and St. Thomas, and was finally brought
back to Seaforth.
Still another break has been' made in
tlie ranks of Huron's pioneers. Mrs.
Duncan McDonald of the 'London road,
passed peacefully at the age of 85 years.
She was Mary McCowan and was born in
--Inverness, Scotland.
A meeting of the shareholders Of the
Brucefield Cheese factory was held for
• the purpose of letting the milk routes.
A large quantity of square timber is
being laid down at the G.T.R.Station yard
for shipment.
MISS Berry, of Leadbury, who has
been nursing in Clinton for snip time,
has been offered a position in Hibing
Hospital, .• near Duluth, at a salary of
$21.00 a week.
FEBRUARY 11, 1921.
Mrs. Jelin McKenzie of Brucefield
had the misfortune to fall and break her
A very pleasant social evening was
spent at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thos.
O'Rourke of McKillop when 100 neighbors
and friends gathered to spend an evening
before they leavefor their new home in
Logan Township. Mrs,- ;Webster read an
address and Messrs:' Gordon Webster ,
and Joseph •Brevister made them the
presentation of a purse of money.
A pretty wedding was solemnized at
the home of Mr. and Mrs. James S.
Smith in McKillop, by Rev. Ferguson
when Leila Margaret Isabel was united
in marriage to Adin Forbes, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Sam Forbes.
Mr. John Clark of Walton has bought '
the Snelling farm and Mr. 'Snelling intends
moving into the village.
44 The hard times dance held in the
G.W.V.A. hall was a decided success in
every way. The costumes worn • were
most apprepriate for the occasion —Mid'
afforded' mucliarnusement to the members. '
We understand that Mr.• A. Davidson'
of town has purchased a lot from James
Beattie on West Street and intends erect-
ing a home.
Thos. Stephens of the Queens, Hotel,
celebrated his 80th birthday.
At the February meeting of the MC-
_Killop Council, John McNay was appointed
clerk of the township to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Michael
Murdie.
A joint meeting of -the directors of
the U.F.O.,, clfits surrounding Dublin was
held to. consider the advisability of
purchasing Mr. Looby's Creamery and
running it as a ';joint stock company.
Chas.• Hagan of Varna 'has disposed
of his farm on the Parr Line to John
Love of Hillsgreen. Hagan Bros.
be much missed here having lived here
all their life. •
A, number around Varna are busily
engaged cutting wood asp this has been
a grand winter for the Job.
FEBRUARY 8, 1946.
Mr. and Mrs. Davidb/IcLean celebrated
their -25th wedding anniversary in the
1.0.0. F. hall where many friends gathered l•
to honor theta. puring the evening they
were presented with a chest of silver, a
purse of money and other pieces of silver,
Roy McMane doing the honors.
Rfmn Floyd Charles Pinkney arrived
at his home in Stratford after serving with •
the Queen's Own Rifles. He was born in
Seaforth, the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. W.
PinFkneey.
Five S eaforth residents met with a
nasty accident when the car in which they
were riding crashed into thi). rear of a
stalled truck at St. Coliiiiiban. W. C. Sutherland had his nose almost severed
and Messrs. J. G. Wallace, Hareld•Jack-
'son, Chartqrs and Don Dale' Were more
fortunate.., The party was en route' 'for
Tavistock 'where Seaforth was playing an
O. H. A. game.
br. Frank S. Hogg has been appointed,
by the Board of Governors of the Univer-
' sity Of,,,, Toronto to be Professor of
Astronbiny and Director of the David
•Dunlop Observatory.
Dr. J. D. Colquhoun, Aylmer Physician
is among the It C.A.F.' personnel g gmelVt
Honed in dispatches", in the Kings New
4 Year's honor list, He was recently dis-
charged from the R.C.A.F. with the rank
of Wing Commander. He practiced in
Seatorth before the, war.
Mail Boxes Winter StOrm,
Expresses Appreciation