HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1972-12-14, Page 7Now Featuring
GRANDMA
(11 LEE'S
ASSORTED FRESH CAKE DONUTS
ilants tell secrets for science
John D. Baker
MEMORIES OF PAST
CHRISTMASES
Every Christmas mankind re-
joices at the birth of the Savior,
and in so doing pits on the mantle
of tolerance and generosity.
Even in the heat of battle
during the Christmas season men
become more loving toward their
fellow men, and no sacrifice is
too great.
Christmas (1939) was a mem-
orable one for Canadians. The
world had been plun •d into a
'war, thousands of families were
being parted, the men on their
way over to the United King-
dom thinking of their wives and
children, and the younger men
thinking of their mothers and
fathers and sweethearts. There
were a few more fortunate as
"" their families lived in the U.K.
and' they were looking forward
to being reunited.
I remember one particular
troop ship, H.M.T. 'Ormande"
ploughing through the 'cold grey
maters of the Atlantic. The men
w on board were mostly from rural
areas and were used to rough-
ing it, but on Christmas day
their spirits were low with every
passing hour taking them far-
ther from their loved ones.
Guard duty was ally con-
sidered an unn essary hard-
ship, but at this particular time
men were gladt stand their
lonely vigil to e alone with
their thoughts.
The ship's cooks did their
best to prepare a Christmas
dinner which helped to bolster
the men's spirits.
After this first Christmas
w ' day away from home was a
thing of the past the men star-
ted to look to the future and to
wonder with excitement what was
ahead of them.
The Christmas days of 1940 -
41 - 42 were lonely for the men
of our regiment, but nothing like
• ,.heir first one on the Atlantic,
• for now the regiment hadbecome
their, home -away-from -home,and
the , cam radeship'friade their lone-
liness more bearable.
Christmas day (1943) was
spent in the bloody battle of
Ortona. For the men in the front
• ther e was no time to think of
being lonely - just survival,Many
were killed and many were
wounded.
On one attack against a
German machine-gun nest, Major
Alex Campbell led a sectiOn of us
across an open field void of cover.
w Major Campbell was killed and
all the men in the, section
wounded; however, the machine-
gun nest was captured, the Ger-
mans surrendered knowing that
their position had been exposed
and that it was only aatter of
time before artill.ery'lfre would
¤ be'brought to bear.
Major ' Alex Campbell was
a big man. He gave one the im-
pression that he was afraid of
nothing, and he would never ask
his men to do anything that he
would not do himself. He was a
aedicated soldief.
His father had been killed by
• the Germans in the First World
War on a Christmas day, and
ironically Major Campbell was
killed on this Christmas day in
1943.
Afterwards in the pocket of his
uniform there was found a poem
O in the form of a prayer.
Prayer Before Battle
When 'neath the rumble of the
guns
I lead my men against the Huns,
'Tis then I feel so all alone and,
weak and scared,
And oft I wonder how I dared
• , Accept the task of leading men.
I wonder, worry, fret and then I
pray
Oh God; who promised oft
To humble men, a listening
ear,
Now, in my spirit's troubled
state
▪ Draw near, dear God, draw
near, draw near.
Make me more willing to obey,
Help me to merit my command.
And, if this be my 'fatal day,
Reach out, Oh God, Thy Guid-
ing Hand,
And lead me down that deep,
dark vale.
• These men of mine must never
know
How much afraid I really am,
Help me to lead them in the
fight
So they will say, "He was a
man".
q Major Alex R. Campbell of the
Hastings and Prince Edward Reg-
iment, had written this poeln one
night in the line while he was
waiting to do battle with the
enemy.
His prayer was answered.The
men in the regiment would agree
that he was a man.
PAST rtmos
Last Friday, Dee. 8th, Bingo
attracted seventy players. Prizes
to the value of $310.00 were won.
COMING EVENTS
Thurs.,Dec. 14th - General meet-
ing commencing 8:00 p.m. A
film will be •?t hown entitled
t'The Canadians are Coming".
Fri.,Dec.l5th - Bingo as usual
at the Legion Hall.,
Sun.,Dec.17th - Christmas party
for the children. Any member
whose children wish to par-
ticipate in the entertainment
should get in touch with Mrs.
Barbara Scott as soon as pos-
sible. Phone 527-1787. -
Don't forget the Early Bird
Campaign for Membership. All
members are urged to help their
Branch to win a plaque by paying
their membership fee for 1973
before Dec. 30th, 1972.
Morris
Council
Morris Township Council
met Wednesday with all members
present, except James Mair.
Reeve Wm. Elston presided.
Council requested Huron
County Board of Education that
in the year 1973 there be two
dates for payment of rates,
namely June 30 and December
15.
Possibility of Morris par-
ticipation in a proposal whereby
area municipalities would pay
$25 for each hockey player par-
ticipating in a Brussels hockey
program was 'eliminated by
motion by councillors Ross Smith
and Thomas Miller "that a
letter be sent to Mr. Jas. Prior
stating that we cannot grant the
request for $25.00 for each
hockey player from Township of
Morris playing hockey in
Brussels."
Road Accounts paid included
$10,749.44 and General Accounts
$42,141.11 totalling $52,890.55.
Fashionable at "budget"' prices
Whether a woman prefers to
shpp in the fashion boutique or
in the budget department, she
can still be stylish. For in
many stores, what's "hot" in
upstairs fashions has been put
together at 20 percent to ZO per-
cent less for the woman who
shops downstairs.
There are some differences
between thee traditional budget
market and this newer contem-
porary budget' market. Unlike the
traditional budget market, which
Concentrates greatly on polyes-
ters, the contemporary budget
market offers a wide variety of
fabric selections. The contem-
porary market zeroes in onmany
of the styles that are selling well
in fashion boutiques, bringing
them out the same season, but
cutting costs by eliminating ex-
pensive designer fees.
Contemporary upstairs and
budget departments may be
sisters in fashion, but there are
still marked differences For
example, in budget areas there
are fewer labels, and budget
styles are a bit more conser-
vative.
Being an informer can be.a.
noble profession--for a plant.
Regardless of any stigma
attached to the,"rve got a secret
to sell" game, hundreds of green,
growing plants try out every year
for the role of informers, or
indicators to be polite.
The waiting hopefuls line up
in greenhouses and gardens in
research laboratories around the
world, patiently looking for their
chance to become a star in
science's cloak-and-dagger fight
against thriving plant viruses.
The big break can propel an
unknown weed from some remote
jungle into international fame--
with its picture in proper scien-
tific journals, important men
clamoring for seed, and a cozy
nourished life in comfortable
growth rooms or well-watered
plots.
All that's required is to pro-
duce the goods at the right time.
There are hundreds, probably
thousands, of different plant
viruses hiding in valuable crops
1'a/wing from citrus fruits to
potatoes. These micro-thieves
.are robbing growth vigor from
crops and profits from the
world's farmers. What we need
is someone to put the finger on
the culprits so they can be put
out of the way.
That's where the informer--
indicator, that is -- comes in.
Many viruses don't produc e
visible symptoms in the agricul-
tural crops they infect, or if
they do show signs the patterrro
several infections at once is often
too confusing to identify a single
virus from the appearance of the
plant.
But when juice from an infec-
ted plant is rubbed or injectod
into an indicator plant, the virus
is transferred and the indicator
blows the whistle.
It tells all by developing
clear-cut symptoms ranging
from spots, streaks and off-
coloring to dead patches In its
leaves and stem.
Whatever the signs, in a true
indicator they are highly specific
for an individual virus. A truly
accomplished indicator can be-
tray several viruses by simply
coming up with an exclusive sig-
nal for each one.
For example, one indicator
plant specializes in three dif-
erent potato viruses. It can host
infections from all three and pro-
a diffe t symptom for each
one. '
If any or all s • ptoms show
Up in the leaves, t virus or
viruses bothering the original
potato are spotted_ as su ely as
an eyewitness spots a criminal's
photograph in a police file.
This test method is the back-
bone of identifying plant viruses
in Canada's seed potatoes,
making it possible to eliminate
them and guarantee ',clean"
stock for domestic and export
markets.
Indicator plants are the
heroes again in virus isolation
and identification research which
is helping the nation's fruit
orchards stay healthy. Elsewhere
in the world, including the United
States, they are major identifica-
tion experts in battles against
virus infections in citrus trees.
To be a star in the indicator
business, a plant doesn't need to
be related to the patient. Toma-
to plants can spot an apple tree's
virus PiOblem, for example,.
Members of the tobacco
family also show an uncanny
knack for ferreting/ out virus
pests, One such plant has re-
cently blossomed forth from
obscurity because of work at the
Agriculture Canada Research
Station at Fredericton.
About a year ago, Rudy Singh
and Mery Clark, two potato virus
specialists at the station, identi-
fied a new disease-causing agent
in potatoes with the help of some
indicator plants, of course.
They call the agent a meta-
virus becai.se it acts like avirus,
has a similar chemical make-up
although it is 'many times
smaller, and lacks the usual pro-
tein coat that wraps around a true
virus. Their find caused quite
a stir in the scientific world,
but at the moment the two scien-
tists are more concerned with the
stir this 'potato' spindle tuber
metavirus' causes in plants that
have it.
"There are two strains of this
metavirus,"said Dr. Singh.
"If an entire field of potatoes
were infected with the severe '
Wain, about 60 per cent of the
crop would be lost. With the
mild strain, the loss would be
between 15 and 25 per cent."
"The situation isn't that
serious because no more than two
per cent of our table potatoes
are infected and the metavirus
almost never shows up in seed
potatoes. However, it is imp"or-
tant for trade to prove it's not
in our seed potatoes."
The scientists would also like
to be able to spot it quickly
in table stock to work on ways
of eliminating the meta-virus.
"The problem is that most
inf tttions are of the mild strain
and it doesn't produce strong
symptoms in potatoes," he said.
That's where the new indica,'
tor comes in.
"We looked at about 300 dif-
ferent plants before we found
the right one, and then when we
realized we had our star per-
former
'
we had only six seeds
Of it left," said Dr. Singh.
The winner is Scopolia sinen-
sis, a member of the tobacco
family. Emergency measures
averted using its six remaining
seeds by taking plant cuttings to
grow new plants. Now, the
Fredericton station haS a healthy
supply of the indicator.
The plant had no particular
role before, except that it con-
tained a few alkaloids of medical
interest. But now its picture
is headed for the scientific press
and its laboratory popularity is
bound to soar.
Besides hoping his new indi-
cator will help solve questions
surrounding the true identity of
the metavirus, Dr. Singh suspects
it may help researchers on
viruses of citrus trees who have
been searching for more than a
decade to 'find an indicator for
something that seems similar to
the metavirus.
"They have an indicator that
shows symptoms in about three
months but Scopolia sinensis will
do the same job better in about
two weeks," he said.
And now that S. sinensis has •
made the big time, Dr. Singh is
planning to cross it with other
species to see if he can develop
offspring with a whole series of
indicator' chips off the old herbs-
.cious block.
INSURANCE
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Donald G. Eaton
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EVAPORATED MILK
Allen's —
FRUIT DRINKS
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Schneider's
THURINGER SAUSAGE 8-oz. 590
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GREEN GRAPES 2 lb• 690
CELERY HEARTS ea. 290
HEAD LETTUCE ea• 290
Christmas Shopping Holm:
December 18th to December 22nd—Open• 'til 9
WEDDING INVITATIONS
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COMPLETE LINE of WINTER
OVERSHOES for DRESS
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"Ace Garage') Please send someone right away
who can fix a fiat and an overtime parking ticket."
RONNENBERG INSURANCE
AGENCY
TUESDAY• — FRIDAY
PHONE BRUSSELS 887-6663
Other Days. Monkton 347-2241
Auto Insurance — Snowmobile Package Policy
-- Before you buy give us a try --
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We can 'budget your premium for 12 months
Investment Certificates Available
INTEREST PAYABLE MONTHLY ON $5,000.00
PAY 7 3A% for 5 YEARS
Christmas Suggestions
from
"READ'S"
STYLISH COMFORTABLE SLIPPERS FOR
THE WHOLE FAMILY
VARIOUS STYLES and COLOURS
LEATHER Washable
ROMEO "SNUGGLE BUGS"
STYLE - By Lyons
Canadian Made
SNOWMOBILE
BOOTS
for the `Snow Fans' Extra liners
available
IF YOU CAN'T DECIDE, GIVE
A GIFT CERTIFICATE.
OPEN DECEMBER lath DECEMBER 22nd
9:00 a.m. to 9 p.m.
CLOSED DECEMBER 23rd at 6 •p.m.
12-oz. 1.93
32-oz. SSO
f°1" 1.00
3 fm* 1.00
OUR SELECTION IS ALMOST ENDLESS • • • •
' If an evening appointment is more convenient just call us
AAAKF4 IT A SPARKukr
t. ST Ma gliq