HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1972-06-22, Page 2From Aly Window
By Shirley J. Keller
urou fxrpositor
, Since 1860, Serving the Community Pint
PizblIded q SZAFORTH, ONTARIO, every Thursday morning by MCLEAN BROS., PUblishens Ltd.
ANDREW Y. MCLEAN, Editor
Member Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
and Audit Bureau of Circulation
Newspapers
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Telephone 527-0240
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, June 22, 1972
An opportunity to help
Nursing Home Week,
which.is being observed
across Ontario at this
time, provides an oppor-
. tunity, to visit nursing
homes in our area and to
inform ourselves of the
service which the homes
provide.
At the •same time by
our visits we perhaps can
contribute something to
the lives of thaSe who
are the guests in the
homes.' It is inevitable
that despite the great
concern which most home
operators exhibit on their
behalf and the extent to
which they go to provide
variety,there is a re.-
4
petitivepness in the r o u -
tine,which these elder
citizens experience. The
presence of a stranger
and the contribution cif
visitors to the conver-
sation.is excellent ther-
aPy to them.
While the nursing home
presence is emphasized
during Nursing Home Week,
the need for concern and
co-operation on the part
of those of us more for-
tunate is something that
shtuld continue through-
out fifty-two' weeks of
the year. I,t is' not '
enough that we show our-
concern during only one
week each year.
-The Canadian West
4
,Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley In the Years Agone
JUNE 25, 1897
It was the Queen's weather, a perfect
day for the celebration of Queen Victoria
jubilee. From , early morning people
streamed into town. At the corner of
Main and Goderich Streets was a large
evergreen arch resplendent with flags.
The 33rd Battalion, band was .in atten-
-
dance. In a chariot was seated Her
Gracious Majesty and represented by
Mrs. Edward McFaul. The prize ,for the
largest number .oepupils was won, by
No. 2 Tuckersmith• with T. Forsythe as
teacher.
Wm. Westcott, Usborne, met with a
painful accident. He 'was engaged in
drawing gravel and in some manner fell
,from the wagon, breaking two ribs.
Henry Gibb, of this town, carriage
-maker at Lewis Macdonald's establish-
ment has just completed a novelty in the
shape of a chair, the, frame work of
which is compoSed entirely of bovine
horns. It is solid and durable. -
,D. Johnson of Seaforth has the con-
tract of-'putting new glass in the windows
of Egmondville Church. The side lights
will be of Cathedral glass and the centre
-plain glass.
A very nice matrimonial event took
place at the residence of James C. Reid,
of .this town when third daughter,Miss
Elizabeth, w,as united in marriage, to
Wm. G. %Edmonds. Rev. A. D. McDonald
performed the ceremony.
There was quite a heavy frost on
Sunday night, but no damage was heard
of.
A young man who is employed at the
eledtric light station narnedJohn Darling,
fell from the arch in front of the Royal
Hotel and was pretty badly shaken up.
Geo. McGonigle of Tuckersmith° is
working on the new city of St. Joseph.
A total of 74 inmates are in 'the
. House of Refuge at present.
'
Geo. Stewart of Seaforth, has been
busily engaged for some days baling
and shipping hay. He has already
loaded a number of cars for the 'Old
Country.
JUNE 23, 1922.
The Ontario Government, through the
Ontario Savings Office, hes announced the
opening of several offices, among them one
in Seaforth. The Seaforth branch, which
is situated in the Sills block and is one
of the finest banking offices in the country.
The local manager is J, M.- McMillan,
a Seaforth boy, who needs no introduction
to the public.
What might have been-a seridus acci-
dent occurred at the home of Hugh Aiken-
head, Brucefield. Earl Collins was put-
ting his new' depirefor in the barn. and a
storm was, coming up. They were run-
ning it on planks and the separator slipped
off and it went through the floor, taking
Mr. Aikenhead with it.
Austin Wheeler of Brucefield, who
graduated from Clinton Business Cellege,
has secured a position in Detroit. -
Two large trucks have been employed
by the O.D. H. to haul gravel and are
marking east of W.J.Cleary's, St. Colum-
ban.
Michael Downey of St. Columban
reports one of his valuable hens to be
very ill, owing to the shock when a four
legged duck was• hatched from the eggs
she had been sitting on.
A great number of persons, mostly
ladies, are seen driving to the Canada
Company lands, east of Walton, where
wild strawberries are plentiful.
Road work has commenced in Tacker-
smith froth a new gravel pit which
was opened on the farm of F'red Petsper.
Wm. Strong of Kippen, the popular
teacher et No. 2. Tuckersmith is at
Blyth presiding over Departmental exams.
The motor for the pipe organ of
Carrel Presbyterian Church at Hensall,
was installed which will prove a great
convenience.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bennett of Walton, •
have moved to Winthrop and intend living
with their son, who has bought the Cuthill
store.
A concert of an unusual standard of
excellericN was given in First Presby-
terian Church. Mrs. J. G. Mullen opened
the concert introducing the choir and by
a medley of Scotch airs delightfully played,
gave a, welcome to the Seaforth Highlanders
Band in their new Kiltie uniforms. Wm.
Freeman is leader of this band. Messrs.
Harold Coates and 0. Elliott assisted
in the Anvil chorus. , Those taking solos
in the aethems, Mrs. Mullen, Harriet
'Murray, J. G. Mullen and Dalton Reid.
The Seaforth male quartette also sang
and Mr. Livens gave an organ solo.
Miss Florence Welsh and James Scott
also sang solos.
wm. Edmonds of town is in Quebec
attending the Grand Lodge, Canadian
Order of Foresters.
. JUNE 27, 1947.
• A three-legged gosling was hatched• at
the farm of wni, Koehler in'McKillop.
A short time after tching the gosling it
picked off the extra 1 g.
Two ladies fro Chitago were in
Seaforth seeking to locate the birthplace
,of their mother. Some one, directed
them to Robert Scarlett, Church St. who
was able to give them. all the necessary
information- and he remembered their
grandfather, the late “Chas. Davis •, of
L eadbury.
Nelson. Govenlock, son of Mr. and
Mrs. J. M. Govenlock, Seaforth, was
elected President of the Waterford Lions
Club at the chib's election. A
Ross Rennie, son of Mr. and Mrs.
M. R. Rennie, Seaforth, won a lasting
place in the golfer's Hall , of Fame when
playing recently at the Seigniory Club,
he made a hole-in-one.
' Enroute . to Seafort from Clinton, J.
J. Byron, 32, Ottawa , d Handirer sales-
„man, was instantly kil ed early Tuesday
morning when his car left the highway
at the corner 1 1/2 niiles west 'of Sea-
forth and crashed through a fence.
About sixty neighbors and friends
gathered' at the home of Mrs. Thos.
Hodgert, Tuckersmith, to present her
daughter, Miss Janet, with a shower of
kitchen graniteware and aluminum ,pribr to
her marriage. Misses Betty Ann Lane
and Marjorie Papple brought in the gifts
while Mrs. Roy' Alien read an address.
W” V. Jefferson'_ has sold his farm
"Fairview Lodge" in TuCkersmith to
Mr. Hilmer of SeXsmith, Alberta.
During Assenibly at the Seaforth
Public School presentatiOn of music
certificates and shields was carried out
and at the same time the pupils of room
1, 2 and 3 presented Miss M. Hartry
with a lapel pin. Kenneth Willis read
the address and the presentation was
made by Sheila McFadden.
Damage which may run into several
hundred dollars, resulted when - a gang,
believed to be 1136.1 youths, afterbreaking
into the Palace Rink, ran amuck and
smashed quantities of building material
stored there pending construction of an
addition to Scott Memotial HOspital.
Members of the Seaforth Lions Club,
meeting in the Commercial Hotel, elected
James M. Scott, president for. the coming
year,
Large congregations were present at
First Presbyterian Church marking the
re-opening of the church, follCwing the
installation of a new organ.
About one more birthday party and they
can include me out. Last Friday -.;:as my
birthday, and I arrived home exhausted
to discover that friends of ours had invited
the whole gang to dinner, td celebrate.
My birthday. I was overwhelmed. I didn't
think anybody cared anymore. Even though
Kim gave me a kiss and a big hug and
two golf balls when I got home.
Yes,' the whole gang included Kim and
her husband, Don, the artist. But maybe
I'll get around to them later. My accounts
of their wedding have tripled my fan mail
to three letters a week.
The party was a roaring success. A
roaring success is when everybody is
roaring at everybody else over some
idea that, examined the next morning,
seems about as exciting as a biography •
of Mackenzie King.
A good time was had by all and Rap,
their •massiver Labrador retriever who,
when.he is happy, can knock you right off
your feet with one wag of 'his tail. I was
wined and dined and punched in the ribs
into the small hours,
I didn't mind the wining,and dining,
but got a little sick of the pokes in the
ribs. My wife kept smashing me with her
elbow and hissing, "Get up and make a
speech. Express your appreciation.",
Every time she did it, I, like one
of Pavlov's dogs, got' up and made a
speech. They were all one-sentence
shots, such as, "I hafta go to the bath-
room", or "I'd...like to make 'a toast
to me." •
My speeches seemedto go over pretty
well, though drawing no thunderous ova-
tions, but my wife was hitting me so hard
toward the end that she dislocated her
elbow. It was just as well, because by
this time I wasn't even getting up to
make My spee'Clies.
A mother is like a rose . . . plenty
of sweetness but with a few thorns here
and there.
And there are times - like in a rose
garden . - when mothers lose their "frag-
rance" and give off only sharp barbs.
We've just gone through one of those
days at our house . . . one of those
horrible days ( or was it weeks) when
mother comes out feeling like a dishrag
and the kids are left on the sidelines,
.bent but hardly broken.
I'm not going to bore you with the
details of our problems. It'is enough
for you to know that some of. our troubles
were small, some were large, some were
easily solved, others were more dif-
ficult to resolve.
All I want to do is to talk to mothers
(and fathers) who are having similar
difficulties . , and want reassurance
that they are not alone with their head-
aches. „.
If there is anything I've learned about
motherhood since becoming a mother, It
has to be that children will test your
endurance to the outer limits of your
Mind. That's true. And the only defence
you have against your children is a deter-
mination to withstand their barrage until
they are at the age of reason.
In the last few weeks I've talked with
parents who believe it is their duty to
spy on their children. That may sound
unethical but when you have kids who •
Three nights later, last night, to be
exact, a, friend and his wife asked us to
come down and celebrate his birthday.
should have known better. At least, after
the first birthday party, I was. able to
sleep in a bit on Saturday morning: But
this one was on a Monday night. we got
i'Iome at 3:15 ..and the alarm went off
at '7:15.
My ,tali lady, who is down on the
:voters' list, as ',housewife", didn't stir.
I stirred, and stirred, and stirred one
more magnificent. time, and made it. It
was not one of my most inspiring dayson
the job . I'm afraid I didn;i make many
young minds flower. But I pulled through
on sheer dedication.
However, it was a dandy party. Our
host was a captain in the German army.
His wife is a Scottish Belgian. Another
couple dropped in, 'in fact, it was the,
perfidious couple who had held the first
birthday party. His, Wife is S.n.English
war bride. And us. My wife is a nut,
And Of:Course, Courvoisier was there.
In large quantities. No„ he's not a French-
man with a' big famityl He's a liqueur
that looks like water and tastes like
burning coals.
But we had a great time, and sang
songs in German, French, Scottish, and a
few old English music-hall numbers
"My Old Man Says Follow the Van, and
D'On't Dilly-Daily on the way." .rer-
We put a terrible dent in that French-
man and ate about four pounds of highly
aromatic cheese, and would probably still
be there belting out "Lili Marlene" and
'"I Belong Tae Glasgie", had not our
host, with that German dash that makes
them win battles but lose wars, sprung
to his feet and announced that he was
going to bed.
, That's what he thought. My wife couldn't
spend every waking moment trying to
devise ways and means by which' to
confound their parents, it becomes the
only sensible thing to do.
I've had parents tell me that the
only safeguard the y liave is to run a
check-in service with the mothers and
fathers of their children's associates.
If daughter says she's going to, Mary's
house for a sleep-out, mother picks up
the telephone and checks with Mary's
mom. If son says he's off to the city
for a gala night out with the family
car, .,lather checks to make certain that
the name of the band and the ovation of
the hop correspond with mation
in the newspaper. He e en go so
far as to run a ' check on the speed-
ometer before' and after the ()ding' or
conveniently arrange a few checkpoints
enroute with a few clued-in friends who
will keep you posted of the trip's pro-
gress.
Sneaky. parents have to be just' as
sneaky as kids. There's no other way.
And when things ge wrong? What do
you do? Do •you listen to the experto
who claim you risk hostility in your
children .1f you punish them by such an
obvious means as a sound spanking or
the loss of privileges? Do you really
take to heart the philosophy of so many
people these days who insist that parents,
must keep the communication lines open,
even if the communication you're getting
:find our car keys. He had to drive us •
home, after which she found them.
So, enough of birthdays, for a few •
days. I wound up with two golfballs and
two headaches. My German friend was
luckier. His invitation was rather a spur
of the moment thing, so we had no chance '
to buy him a gift, not even a ball for
golf, which he thinks is a silly game,-
which it is when you play as I do.
My wife bought him a:three-quart "
jug of milk and a tie she bought at
'the milk shep, (it WA"' a real' beauty, '41'ee‘e •
as you can image), and a hamburger,
which she ate herself.
,I was rather nonplused, but dived into
my tool box (he's a great carpenter, for
a doctor of philosophy)" and came up
with a beautiful, rusty key-hole saw Which
I had inherited from my father.
As I hadn't sawed any key-holes rec-
ently, I didn't figure I'd miss it. And it
really is a beautiful little thing. A fam-
ily heirloom, you might say, It has the
blade which retracts and suddenly pops
out. A sort of 19th century switchblade.
I can tell you there were tears in
Karl's eyes as he ran his finger over •
the teeth of that little rusty, dull beauty
and murmured something- like "Lieber
Gott urn Himmel." -
I think' that, tri English, means sonle-
thing like,, "Dear God, it's heavenly."
Never did I think that I'd see a captain
from RommeN desert troops break,
•down like that over a simple little senti.
mental thing.
In fact, he was so touched that he '
offered to come up and 'fix my picnic •
table. And I suppose we'll' have to have
a birthday party for the blasted picnic
table, which is three years old this
week.
Oh, well, maybe I can hack it' for
one ,more birthday party.
from your kids is something less than
an honest appraisal of the situation?
I admit that mutual trust is great ..
but it has been my experience that
mutual trust for many kids means hav-
ing mom and dad believing just what
the yOunger set would have them be-
lieve.
And you may think that I'm talking
only about teenagers. Not so, Little
children are_becorning• more ,and more
adept at the art of parent triC'kery. In
fact, many of them, are 'able to twist
mom and dad into knots of 'discord at
a very early age. . It seems to be in-
born in modern children.
No parent's. You are not alone in
your misery. Raising children was
always a hassle, but' the trouble now is
that parents are having such a rough
time with the everyday business of home
building and moneymaking, that they
have few hours left 4n -which to build
a strong fortress against the wiles of
a better infortned, healthier, more afflu-
ent high-risk and eager generation, their
children.
I urge you to remain strong. I have
a feeling that if we prevail throughout
the next few years we'll reap dividends
in the future of our children.
And what's more, I'll wager the very
children who fight you today will rise up
and call you blessed . , sometime,
somewhere.