HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1973-10-11, Page 2Aura fxpositur In the Years Agorae
Last week I was talking of the fun of
meeting people when you are travelling.
It's'not that your friends at home are dull.
They're probably more interesting than
some of , the types with whom you become
bosom buddies on short acquaintance, But
the people you meet on holiday are a
refreshing affirmation that the earth con-
tains an infinite variety of creatures of
the human species.'
This week I'd like to finish these
thoughts by introducing you to three greatly
different people we met in England; a Bob,
a BarnAid, and a Brigadier. -
Hurtling from Edinburgh to Chester on
a train, we picked up at the ancient and
bloody old city of Carlisle, near the
Scottish border, an addition to our
compartment.
I didn't mean that Carlisle is bloody
in the sense of bloody awful. But it did
change hands several times in-the bloody
border wars. And it was there that William
Wallace, the great Scots rebel, was put on
public view in a cage, before he was
hanged, drawn and quartered, at his
parts affixed on various pikepoles about
thetitjr,"0"0„:IeWtt.t e Snot8 “rebels";
In the tourteelifth'cenfil'i-y.
Anyway, Boli-LiViitchell proved, an
agreeable travelling companion. He was
interested, interesting, and affable, we'd
been in the same war, he on corvettes
in the navy, I in the air force. we
nattered about taxes, housing costs, com-
parative incomes.
As we rattled through the Lakes
District, he went to pains to point out
things and sights of interek. He suggeked
a good restaurant in London. A veritable
gentleman, in this age of boors.
He proved this when we stopped to
change for Chester. I started wrestling
with our luggage and an incipient coron-
ary. Before I could say, "Bob Mitchell",
he had whipped the two big suitcases off
the overhead rack, nipped out and put them
on the platform. You'd have to be a
basket case for this to happen to you in
Canada.
• Bing our earlier conversation, he
told me he had a-cousin in Neepawa, Man..
I told him my column was in the
Neepawa Press. So here's his message
to his cousin; "Ask if Fred Crook remem-
bers his visits to the Roman Wall area
of Cumberland and Vorthurnberld and
his walks along the 17Aach at Southboruner'
There you are, Fred Crook. "
The Barmaid. I'd been telling my Wife
for years about the barmaids of Britain.
They are NOT the busty, blowsybarmaids
of fiction. But, they are a breed of their
own, and their, "wot'll it be, ducks?",
and "Ta, luv." Ta means thanks.
But they seemed to be a vanishing
breed, supplanted' by young women with
too much make-up, wearing slacks and a
bored expression'.
I was beginning to despair of finding
a real English barmaid, But we did. She
was Heather, in the Tudor,, Westminster
Hotel, Chester. She was 100 per cent
proof of everything I'd been telling the
Old Lady..
She ran that bar like the ringmaster
of a three-ring cirblis. Excellent service,
a ke or a personal word' for all the
ulars. No play for tips. Peanuts or
potato chips for anyone who •looked as
though he needed it. And all the time
humming- a• song, pirouetting behind the
bar, actually enjoying life. A delight-
ful person.
• And nobody,' but nobody; got out of
line in that pub. It was not a matter of
rules , or threats, but of personality.'
Then, there was the Brigadier. He
was another kettle of fish, a horse of a
different colour, or, rather, of a number
of different colours, like a chameleon.
He was either a Scottish lord or the
biggest liar in London, and I lean toward
the latter.
" 'We`had a etstral eirbik together; and he
was friendly. k swiftly learned that he
was 58 (he looker 4801ad)4ertati);•the3T
Cameron Highlanders , was a retired
Brigadier, had been with British intelli-
gence, "But we mustn't talk about that,
of course." •
That's when I began to suspect. When
he told me he spoke Hungarian, Rouma-
nian and Polish without ,an accent, my
suspicions deepened.
When I- said, in my blunt Canadian
way, "How come?", he answered airily,'
"Part of the job, old boy."
When I asked his name, he said,
"Just call me Cameron." It seemed he
was the Lord of Lochiel, and he muttered
about the CamerOns and their feuds with
the McDonaldsand others.
He had an unnerving habit of drinking
six Pernods while I was worrying through
two half pints. Then he'd get quite stoned
and mumble on and on, "I'm drunk. I
'say, I'm drunk. I'm as drunk as a lord.
But of course, I am a lord, so it's all
right."
We parted after several encounters,
and I asked for his address. He wrote
down, "Cameron" and an address in
Edinburgh. Then he thought better,
and above "Cameron" he wrote, "Lord of
Locheil". Then he thought again, and
in front of that wrote, "Rt. Hon.", Only
thing, he couldn't spell Lochiel.
Later that week, in Edinburgh, I was
tempted to check at the address he'd given,
but de'cided against. Didn't want to spoil
a beautiful myth.
Well, there you are. A Bob, a Bar-
maid, and a Brigadier.
building for the child , . . so I gritted
my teeth and proceeded.
But my older children were not so
passive as I. They had never heard my
mother expound on her theory about such
matters. They probably remembered
back to their childhood days to the terror
which can fill the heart. of a child as he
steps onto the schoolyard alone, waiting
to be attacked.
My two eldest took matters into their
own hands. They advised our youngest
son to show his adversary that he wasn't
really alone in this big world. 'They
suggested that they would just happen to
'walk along to school' with their little
brotherl They thought that if they Just
• happened to be nearby when any trouble
developed, our youngest son could point
' to his tall' and sympathetic supporters
with a warning to "Watch out or they'll
get you".
The relief which flooded over my
youngest'ag-ffice was a joy to behold. His
teak-clouded eyes squinted with pleasure
at the thought of such triumph and he
soon was restored to the happy, bubbly
little boy we all knew so well.
To be sure, my older children were
taking a step with which my mother would
have heartily disagreed, but' somehow it
made me' very proud to know that my
children, were sticking together like that -
all for one and one for all. Somehow I
couldn't bring 'myself tocargue with their
approach to this problem. In fact, I said
absolutely nothing and waited eagerly for
the after-school report that evening.
When 'No. 2 son arrived home from
school that evening, he was self-ass
again. He had warded off his to erntor
with the mere preserice of his big brother
and sister, and he was now able to Walk
safe and unmolested on the playground
again. What a tremendous life it was after
all.
At that point I wondered - I really
wondered at the wisdom of my mother's
advice and the system I'd been following
in raising my family. Maybe character
building could be taught another way.
From My Window
By Shirley J. Keller 141444..4,44~MIONV
••••••••••.....#4,,...#.....###########.4.444,04•44
Since 1860, Serving the Community First
Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, every Thursday morning by MCLEAN BROS., Publishers Ltd.
ANDREW Y. McLEAN, Editor
Member Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association
tario Weekly Newspaper Association
and Audit Bnreau of Circulation
Newspapers
Subscription Rates
Canada (in advance) $8.00 a Year .
Outside Canada (in advance) $10.00 a Year
SINGLE COPIES — 20 CENTS EACH
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0696
Tr‘leptipni , 527 0240
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, October 11, 1973
Slow down
of'news. But the news that
we small town papers print
ddes effect peoples fives
and very immediately.
In a small town, even
more than in a city like
St.Louis where there are
other media covering the
local scene, reports of
births, deaths, marriages,
and area meetings Is an
important part of our ser:-
vice to the public. The
information contained in our
ads helps'merchants to get
their message across to
potential buyers and lets
the customer know where the
best'buys and sale features'
are. A St. LdOs shopper
is quoted as 'Saying "It's
Murder, you can!t tell
where the sales are."
As the-1970 Mass Media
report said, the weeklies •
;are caught in a cost.price.
squeeze not entirely' of
.their own making. The .net
return to the average weekl
newspaper owner is less than
the average bank loan charge.
And bank loan interest
charges ..have, risen .consid-
erably since 1970. The
Mass-Media report contt4!aSts''''
,,,,01m,y,,,situatfon wtth
the'posit
1
ion of Canada's
daily 'papers where owner-
ship is comRared to. having
,a licence to print ;your
own money.
#000,00,mwtowft
OCTOBER 21, 1898..
George Sill's had the misfortune to
cut , an artery in .his left hand with a
chisel, he was using at Bell's Furniture
factory in Wingham.
James Mulholland of Kippen has grown
a jumbo pumpkin. It tips the scales at
'12 pounds.
Messrs. James Cooper & Son ship-
ped 'a pair of prize sheep to the State
of Iowa.
Wm. Aberhardt Jr. of Egmonclville
was unfortunate as to break his leg while
picking apples.
Geo.. Murray of town has again started
the buying and shipping of fowl and ship-
ped a carload of geese to the United
States.
The 'first snow of the season fell on
Tuesday-evening October 17th.
John Dodds of town is erecting a new
pop factory on his property en Goderich
Street West.
, The rains during the past week, while
much needed for fall ploughing and root
crops, at Hensall, retarded the gath-
ering in of the apple crop.
The popular cooper shop has turned
out an immense number of barrels this
fall and still the good work goes on.
Messrs. ,Wilis & White of Hensall,
made another shipment of hogs from
this station.
Nearly every available space in and
around .the railway station is taken up
with barrels of apples.
Miss Maggie McLean of Hensall has
been engaged as teacher at the Lakelet
Public School near Clifford.
John Finlayson of Hensall ,has his
neat new frame dwelling nearly com-
pleted.
H. K. Moorehouse of Bayfield assumed
charge of the River Hotel for the winter
months, Mr. Miller returning to Clinton.
q.
•~4,44~4Thve.......#.44•••••••~•~#44w4~~4,44 14•••••4
Suppose that all of a
sudden in Seaforth auction
sales were cancelled, the
Lions Club and the Opti-
mists, Boy, Scouts and
Brownies ha,4 to ppstpone_
their meetings. Suppose
everyone stopped applying
for jobs and no one could
find out'when new babies
were born and local citi-
zens got, married.Suppose
real estate sales:drama-
tically slowed down
It all saunds like
Seaforth has been bit by
a major snow storm or a'
great hurricane. But all
that would have to happen
to slow down Seaforth's
economic and social life
considerably would be. for
the local newspaper to
close down.
The ab
accordin
is,curre
out in S
where wo
major da
out on s
Dowbtown
suffered
sal,e.sab
going be
cants.
ove scenario, •
g to Time Magazine,
ntly being played
t. Loui.s, Missouri
rkers from both
flies have been-
trike for,5 weeks.
.:,businesses have
a large drop in •
d good' jobs ane,,
ggin4.-for
a5 4
People miss knowing
what's happening in their
community and in the world.'
News hungry St. Louis citi-
zens line up for hpurs to
buy out of town.newspapers
as soon as they hit the
stands. Scalpers sell papers
from Chicago and New York
at twice their regular
price and they are snapped
up. A black wee kly .news-
paper, suburban -weeklies
and local tv an d radio '
stations. are ex panding news
coverage and pi cking up ad-
vertising and c irculation
increases..
We don't pretend to
offer our readers news of
international and national
scope,like these larger
dailies do. The loss of a
small town weekly wouldn't
deprive anyone of that kind
My mother, bless her, used to say
there was little point in neighbors fight-
ing over their children when' their kids
became 'embroiled in the little spats that all
youngsters seem to have. She said that
very often parents were fighting In the
front yard while children were making
up in the backyard . . and I've alWays
believed this philosophy to be sound.
Thus it was that my two older chilth.-
ren learned quickly there was no point
in coming home to moth6r to complain
about a playmate. I simply told my kids
to stay away from the troublemaker until
the feud blew over. I didn't even attempt •
to find out who was right and who was
wrong.
But our youngest son is growing up
with a big brother and a big sister who
make the fatal mistake of shielding and
protectihg their little brother . . . and
sometimes it makes for problems which I
find difficult to resolve.
A long time ago, my little son came
home &mil school almost every day with
his pants dirty. his face scratched and
Some weeklies are clos-
ing and nany others are
being bought up by the'big
newspaper chains.
Being bought up by a
chain at least means that
a weekly newspaper will
sttrvive acrd .t'h'at -small
town,will not .be blacked
out'dompletely from local
coverage. But some local
involvement and commitment
to a town is invariably
lost 'Wben a chain buys out
a small'o.peration.
We're probably giv-i-ng
ourselves a pat Pn,the
back, but as a St. Louis
cab driver 'said; "You'don't
know how much you miss the°
papers until they're gone."
his eyes swollen from crying. When I
asked him the reason for his plight, he
told me that some big guy on the play- ,
ground was beating him up.
Now I know that's a serious problem
when you are a little fellow. There's
probably'nothing more upsetting than a
bully on the playground, and it isn't an
easy matter to put one's finger on the
root of the matter either.
And although it pained me dread-
fully, I used the tried and proven method
from the, childhood days of my older
kids. I told my little boy either to find
a new area of the playground 4b which to
iliang, Out or to stand his ground with the
bully and use any means, deviobs or
otherwise - to hold hirri off.
- It hurts to send a frightened little
lad off to' school with that kind of advice
in such a situation, but I was determined
not to become an interfering mother,
finding ways out of my son's problems
so that he would not have to take his
lumps. It hurts, but ft is chdiacter-
. -OCTOBER 19,, 1923
For the firs t time in its history,
SeafOrth and the surrounding country, were
in the throes of a bank scare on Mon-
day afternoon and Tuesday morning which
caused a small run on the local branch
of the Dominion Bank: The trouble started
in Toronto, when two foreigners presented
a cheque at one of the branches and Are
refused payment because it was/after
banking hours.
Geo. Dundas and Chas. Boyd of Walton
have returned from the west a Week ago.%
To an audience which packed the spac-
ious church to the doors, the Brucefield
ehoral 'society gave a splendid concert,
conducted by Prof. Anderton. There were
between 70 and 80 voices, in the chorus.
The secretary of the Ontario Curling
Association made the 'announcement from
Toronto that the gold medal in the
associations point competition had been
won by Thos. Johnstone of Seaforth with
a score of 47 points.
'The euchre held in 'the G.W.V. A.
rooma'l was, exceptionally s,'Wellt attended., re '10 crn P. RW
I 1. '1 6 &reside r lrigiethe at at* ratc ti6hgiaphittysafourrii bs 9 bienott
tables' were Occupied'. bat-tent" waS 460"
.joyed and a scotch reel conipleted the
evenings entertainment. Abe Forsythe
and several of the ladies supplied the
music.
Mr: and Mrs. Jas. G. Mullen and Miss
H.I.Graharn motored 'to London, 'to hear
Dame Clara Butt, the celebrated English
contralto.
James Davis of town is ' erecting a
handsome verandah and making other
improvements on the residence he re-
cently purchased on Goderich Street. '
Mr. and Mrs. Milne R. Rennie, of
London, acted as choir leader and or-
ganist in First Presbyterian Church.
Mrs. Wm. Hopper, North Main St.
gave a shower in honor of Miss Henrietta
Cash, prior to her • marriage to W. D.
Bright Jr.
About the finest potatoes- we' have
seen in McKillop Twp. were grown' on
the farm .of • Geo. Munn. They were
large and smooth and yielded over 100
bushels off half an acre. '
The Seaforth Lawn Bowling closed
the most successful season with a euchre
and 'smoker in the Town Hall. The
winners were: First prize, Ross J.Sproat;
second, Montgorriery Davis; lone hands
James Dick; consolation Adam McKay.
'OCTOBER 23, 1948
Rev. D, Glenn Campbell, was in-
ducted as minister of First Presbyterian
Church, Seaforth. Mr. Campbell is
a native of Rodney.
An interesting and pleasant evening
was spent at the home of Mr. and Mrs.
Nelson Reid, Walton, when 65 neighbours
and friends of Miss Marjorie Hackwell,
gathered to honor her and present her
with a miscellaneous shower. Among those
who contributed to the program were,
Mrs. Nelson Reid, Audrey Hackwell, ,
Phyllis Cuthill and Mrs. Mildred Traviss.
Miss Shirley Bennett also 'entertained
for Miss Hackwell to a dinner party.
Mrs. Leonard Leeming and Ethel Dennis
were hostesses at a gatheririg of 50
friends of Miss Hackwell. She was
presented with a large mirror.
when farmers in Saskatchewan de-
cide to have an auction sale, they don't
hesitate to go all out. J. M. Govenlock,
Seaforth, received a poster that measured
three feet by two feet, advertising a
clearing sale being held by Mr. and Mrs.
Norman Ireland.
Graduation ceremonies for five nurses
assistants at Scat Memorial Hospital
e:0 were held at the nurses residence. The
graduates ware, Mae Baker, Durham,
Agnes Sutherland, Waterloo, Ruth Man-
ning, Clinton; Leona Smith, Walton, and
Joyce Diegel?' Waltoia Mrs:J. B. Russell
presented them with their pins, Dr. J.A.
Gorwill gave them diplomas and Miss M.
Gringer pinned on the caps.
Mr. Wm. Berry, well kriown horseman
of Brucefield, marked his 88th birthday._
The snow • of the week end in Eg-
mondville, made one feel that old man
winter was rapidly approaching. The
blanket of . snow was as heavy that the
trees, with their autumn foliage, were
weighted to the ground.
Repairs which during recent weeks
have been underway at the Public Utility
Commission stand-pipe at 'the rear of
the Town Hall, advanced to the point
when it was possible to turn writer Into
the tank.
Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley
41,1*•••••••###14.~1~4,4141.####4,44,•#######
Evening
(Photo by Haley)
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