HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-12-23, Page 2Yes, Virginia, there is
(Some things never change s The follow-
ing was published in the New York Sun at
about this time of year in 1897).
It is a powerful piece of writing and one of
the most famous editorials ever written.
although the journalist who wrote it
remained anonymous and wasn't acknow-
ledged until more than 40 years after his
death, when the newspaper went out of
business in 1949.
It was written by Francis P. Church. a
veteran newspaperman who had covered
the Civil War for the New York Times then
worked for the Sun for 20 years. described
by peers as 'a sardonic man whose personal
motto was: "Endeavor to clear your mind of
cant." He was married, had no children.
and died in 1906.
Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon first
asked her father Dr. Philip F. O'Hanlon, a
consulting surgeon to the New York Police
Department, for the answer to her perplex-
ing question. For the "real truth", on his
suggestion, she wrote The Sun. Miss
O'Hanlon grew up to become Mrs. Virginia
Douglas, had children of her own, got a
Master's degree from Columbia, and spent
47 years as an educator in the New York City
school system. She died in 1971 at a nursing
home in Valatie. N.Y. at the age of 81. •
"Dear Editor:
lain 8 years old'. Some of my little *tide ,
say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If
you see it in The Sun, it's see Please tell me
the teeth. is there a Santa Claus?
—Virginia 0-Hanlon
ems a.
Virginia, your little friends lire wrong.
They have been affected by the skepticism
of a skeptiesil agee They do not believe
except theyste. They think that nothing can
be Which is not comprehensible by their
little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether
they be men's or children's, are little. In
this great universe of ours, Man is a mere
insect, an ant, in his Intellect as compared
with the boundless world about him, as
measured by the intelligence capable of
grasping the whole of truth andenowledge.
Yes. Virginia. there is a Santa Claus. He
exists as certainly as love and generosity
and devotion exist, and you know that they
abound and give to your life its highest
beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be
the world if there were no Santa Claus! It
would be as dreary as it there were no
Virginias. There would be no childlike faith
then, no poetry. no romance to make
tolerable this existence. We should have no
enjoyreent, except in sense and sight. The
external light with which childhood fills the
world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as
well not believe in fairies. You might get
Your papa to hire men to watch in all the
chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa
Claus, but even if you did not see Santa
Claus coming down, what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign
that there is do Santa Claus. The most real-
things in the world are those that neither'
children nor men can see. Did you ever see
fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not.
but that's no proof that they are not there.
Nobody can conceive or imagine all the .
wonders there are unseen and unseeable in
the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see
what makes the noise inside, but there is a
veil covering the unseen world which not
the strongest man, nor even the united
strength of All the strongest men that ever
lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry,
love, romance, can push aside that curtain
and view and picture the supernal beauty
and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah,
Virginia, in all this world there is nothing
else real and. ahiding.
No Santa Clime! Thank God! he lives and
lives forever. A thousand years from now,
Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from
now, he will continue to niake glad the heart
of childhood-"
(biographical information from The
People's Almanac )
Tiuron fxpositor
Since ma, Serving the Community First
12 Main St . 527-0240
"Oky,INA
Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO every Wednesday atternoon
by McLean Bros. Publishers Ltd .
Andrew Y McLean. Pubitsher
Susan White. Editor
ktliamber Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario
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(Rein)deer run tree in this seasonal scene at Les Jervis' sanctuary near
Holmesville. (Photo by Rimmer)
known cattle exporters of Toronto.
DECEMBER 25,1931
George Bethune of Port McNicoll and Alex
Bethune of Kamloops, B.C. are spending the
holidays at their home in Seaforth.
Col. R.S. Hays. Mrs. Hays and George
Hays of Seaforth left TuRsday for Toronto
where they will spend Christmas.
Alvin Sillery of Queen's University.
Kingston is hoMe in Seaforth for the holidays.
_ Greta Broadfoot and Violet Tyndall were
successful in passing the' A.L.C.M. piano
examinations at London with first class
hentra.-Miss.Tridait teachesin Egmontiviile
andiMis:itroailf9ot in Brucefiehl district
`Ryan SeaforthIspentliinday
'with her mother Mrs. P. Ryan of Dublin.
DECEMBER 28,1956
Contributions totalling approximately $450
were received when the Mayor's Committee
ie doesn't give a
Sugar and spice
By EiII Smiley
ll
appears in more than 150 papers across
Canada." It sounded great. Like those
November Christmas carols. But I cannot
say. "That's a lot of crap. John."
Little do the kids know that I was a reporter
because everybody else was doing something
useful; that I was an editor because nobody
else wanted to take the blame; that I was a
publisher only because I owed half of a
530,000 mortgage; apd that I am a household
word across' Canada, almost inevitably
preceded by the prefix "full".
My colleague didn't mention that I wrote
stories about nothing happening in town that
week, just to fill up a hole on the front page;
that I infuriated merchants and township
reeves and little old ladies, and had to bear
the brunt: that I personally carried the
Behind the
scenes
by Keith Roulston
In reply to Mr. Michael Meidinger's
comments on cable T.V., our comments are
as follows:
1. We are sorry he was disappointed on the
lack of chinnel 7 on the American Thanksgiv-
ing weekend but when mechanical and
electronic equipment is involved it will break
down. On that particular weekend the
microwave equipment for channel 7 did break
down and by working all day Saturday and
Sunday we got it back on the air by Monday
morning.
2. He compared our rates with Clinton and
referred to Clinton as also being a small town.
This is true but Clinton is part of a cable
system that includes Goderich and Exeter.
He might have mentioned that A) The
Goderich, Clinton system was built about
eight years prior to ours at probably SO per
cent our ‘ost per subscriber, and 8) that
Kincardine's rates are SO cents per month
Second class mail registration number 0696
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, DECEMBER 23, 1981
Simple song sums it up
And so this is Christmas
That simple line from a John Lennon song sums it all up for us, a
season of joy and more important of hope. It's a bleak Christmas 1981 for
many Canadians, for children in refugee camps in San salvador, for
people living in fear in for political prisoners and those who go to
1„ bed hungry every night all over the world.
''But this is Christmas, a tifrie when we renew hope for a better world for
all. Trite words perhaps, but there's something about this time. which
brings out generosity, the best in all of us, that allows us to think our
hopes might just eventually come true.
We have to.--work at it. Those of us, who like the majority of Seaforth
and area residents have more than we need, have a duty to remember the
• rest of the world, with out..prayers if we are so inclined, certainly with our
money and our actions.
We have a duty to bring up our chidiren to care about others, to
understand that they-are blessed by being born in this time, in this land
and that they can share those blessings with the less fortunate.
At the time we owe it to ourselves and our children to keep a spark of
joy in living alive, to enjoy the wbnder of life and its possibilities.
And so this is•Christmas., For a short time all things, even peace on
earth and goodwill to our fellow humans wherever they are seem
possible.
Remember that, keep it in your hearts, your words and your deeds all
year long. •
And maybe, just maybe, Christmas 1982 will be a better time for at
least some of the human family.
To the editor:
What's with merchants?
• On Tuesday evening December 15. 1
travelled to Seaforth to enjoy one final
evening of Christmas shopping before the big
day. I would be able to shop quickly and not
be bothered by.three tired and uninterested
children.
They would be home fast asleep and
tended by their father who would not be
waiting patiently for his supper. This is often
the ease when I try to' do my- shopping
afternoons with our three small children.
After juggling a routine and rushing-many
things a good part of the day with the
intentions of getting to Seaforth as early as
possible that evening, I realized as 1 drove
down Main Street that my attempts were all
in vain. The only stores that bothered to stay
open for the evening were the same stores
that extend the courtesy on Friday evenings. I
couldn't believe it! According to what I had
read And understood in this paper, the stores
were to be open for business until nine
o'clock. Nothing was mentioned in the ad.
which was sponsored by the local merchants,
'to the effect that only four or five store's would
be open (other than the stores usually open
evenings).
My 15-minute drive and rushing most of
that day trying to get ahead on a routine
resulted in absolutely nothing being gained.
Many other people were pushing on locked
doors and walking away disgusted.
The only thing that I found the least bit
humourous was the signs displayed in many
store windows: "Shop at Home This
Christmas." For myself, and probably many
other people, I do not have the time to waste
shopping in Seaforth this Christmas. I cannot
shop during the hours which seem to suit the
Seaforth merchants. I prefer to drive to any of
the nearby towns where the merchants have
been promoting Christmas shopping, sales
and longer shopping hours, for quite some
time. These area-merchants seem to want and
appreciate the extra business at this time of
year.
Sincerely,
Wendy Murray
R.R. 4 Walton
DECEMBER 23,11381
Robert Wilson, who has been in the employ
of Messrs. Robertson and Company of
Seaforth for about 10 years has been engaged
as traveller for Messrs. Crathern and
Caverhill of Montreal, one of the oldeSt and
best hardware firms in Canada: •
Messrs. A. G. McDougall and Company
have disposed of the dry' goods and millinery
petit of their business to Edward McFaul of
Staffs. They still retain the Oak Hall clothing
business.
James Hillen of the 1 I th 'concession of
McKillop a few days ago. sold in the SeafOrth,
market a pig for, which he: received $35.17.
This pig was two years old and of her stbck
Mrs. Helen sold this fall $71 worth, thus
making over $106 from the one animal.
Wm. ,Finlayson Tuckers0Rh. teeentleke,
sold ,a very fine three yealeold heavy dreughey
colt to T.A. Sharp 9f Seaforth for $200.
Thomas Ryan of Seaforth has sold his well
known grey trotting horse, "Lord Lorne." to
a gentleman in Goderich for the sum of 5175.
He is to go to Winnipeg, where it is likely he
Old
Some old fogies get all het up every year,
and write letters to the editor, deploring the
increasing.' commercialism of Christmas. I
used to do this when I was a young fogie, but
I've quit.
What's:the difference? Well, a young fogie
gets all upset about things that should upset
only old fogies. As he gets older, he really
doesn't give a diddle. They ran play
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on the
first of JUly. and it doesn't bother him.
An old fogie, on the other hand, is a young
fogie who has molded his ideas early. and left
them there to moulder. Or increased the
rigidity of his early opinions until they are
molded in iron-He likes "I'm Dreaming of a
White Christmas", but doesn't want if
played until there is some snow. and
Christmas is imminent (not eminent, as my
students insist).
I prefer to be a middle-fogie. This is a
person who listens to young fogies, old
fogies, nods solemnly in agreement, and
wishes they had buried "White Christmas"
with Bing Crosby, its perpetrator.
In other words, the young fogie dances in
the latest, frenetic style. because he doesn't
want to be called an old fogie. But he thinks it
is decadent. He'd like the return of the waltz
and the schottische.
While an old fogie shakes his head at the
modern, openly sexual dancing, knows the
dancers are all going tp the hot place. and
would like to see the return of the waltz and
the schottische (polka. what have you?)
The middle-fogie says, "Jeez • there but for
the gra.::e-of God. Go I." Or "Holey ole mole,.
I wish my arthritis -Would ease up. I'd love to
try it. especially with that girl who's just
kicked off her shoes and displayed her
navel." He'd like the return of the waltz, but
never learned to count past two in the
one-two-three of the waltz, and gets tangled
up. and falls on his face, in a fast polka or
schottische.
This brilliant analogy, gentle reader. if you
are still there, represents my attitude tots and
the commercialization of Christmas. I can
turn, ,off the commercials and ignore the
town's brave decorations. Or I can crab when
they commence. or are erected (sorry, that's
a dirty word now)
Or I can say. "Cheeze 'n rice. I wish 1 were
back in business again, pulling in all those
dollars that should be going for food and
fuel."
Asa middle fogie. I choose to shut out the
carols that begin Nov. 1st, ignore the
drooping angels on the town decorations that
were erected (there it is again) on Nov, 8th,
and merely set my teeth, grit them a bit, and
try to get through the Christmas season,
bearing in mind that the Minister of Finance
wants a little piece of every action going on in
town, out of town, and across the country.
The aforementioned gentleman, if you'll
pardon the euphemism, after preaching
budget of equity and restraint, went. out to
erry Christmas? How can we have a
me Christmas?
Isn't the interest rate so high people are
worried about losing their homes? Aren't
peiiple losing their jobs everywhere because
of 6neinesses going under? Aren't farmers in
danger of losing everything they've worked
for? Don't we have the feeling that the people
in control aren't in control?
The magnificence of the human spirit has
often come out at Christmas. We've heard
tales of both sides in war setting down their
weapons for the day and celebrating the birth
of the prince of peace., We've heard of people
withivery little food stilLsparirig some of what
theyhad with others who had even less. The
number of heartwarming stories bring a lot of
the tive meaning of Christmas into our lives
eat h year.
Yet if humans have the capacity to make
the best of a bad situation, they also have the
ability to make the worst of a good situation,
an infinite capacity for feeling sorry, for'
themselves. They see only what they don't
have, not what they haye. So this Christmas
fot many the Chriitmas spirit will be badly
bruited, if not broken, by the pressures of a
modern Christmas. The Lord's name will be
used many times, more often in crushes of
Christmas shopping and nerve-jungling
traffic jams than in retelling the' Chtrstmas
story. We will complain about the high prices •
and our shrinking dollars and the rip off that
Chrietmat has becomes while we heard
television interviews with merchants who
worry that Christmas just isn" as good from
an income point of view as usual and what are
they going tei keep going whit with costs the
in providing for refugees who come to the
Seaforth district.
Gerald H011and of Dublin was honoured in
London when recently at a gathering of Great
West' Life Insurance Company. Mr. Holland
headed the London branch in sales in 1956,
having sold insurance totalling more than
$500,000.
Mr. and Mrs. D.L. Hoover of Windsor and
Ken Keating of New York spent Christmas
with Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Keating of Seaforth.
Announcement was made last week of 'the
appointment of Donald H. Scott as full-time
assista* qv/n-04:1w in WeHanit CoiiittrP‘
Ssott....ihr...4otir,of Mrs. H.$,_.-Scott,.
Seaforth.practices law in Niagara Falls.
Mrs. G. Wanless and Rhia, pirogue, Wis.
are epending Christmas with relatives and
friends in Tuckersmith, McKillop. Hullett
and Seaforth.
diddle
newspapers to the post office in bags
weighing about 280 pounds; that I helped
stamp and roll up the out-of-town papers; or
that I am neither rich nor famous.
However; the show must go on, whether
it's "Good King Wenceslau" in November,
or yours truly talking a group of youngsters
into adopting the glamorous life of journal-
ism, at 60 hours a week, and basic pay a little
below unemployment insurance.
But I must admit, the Christmas spirit sc rt
of grabs you. whether it's by the pocket-book,
or the short and curly.
Just this week, I wrote a letter of
recommendation for a student. If somebody,
checked-it out, I would be on the stand for
perjury, mopery and gawk. But, what the
heck. a commercial is a commercial, even
though it's a tissue of lies, half-truths and
exaggeration.
Those Christmas commercials don't bother
a middle-fogie. I just wish I were being paid
for writing some of them.
newest one, we have taken these gifts for
granted.
One of the gifts we have that we forget is
the gift of just being able to celebrate this
holiday without fear. There are parts of this
world where 'religion has been banned as
dangerous to the state, where people have to
go to all kinds of subterfuge to practice their
religion, meeting in the dead of night, afraid
Please turn to page 3
Yours truly
Mitchell Seaforth Cable TV
Per. T. Ward
will distinguish himself like all the other
Seaforthites who have gone there. •
DECEMBER 28,1906
Louis Reinkie, who has been weigh master
in the big mill in Seaforth for nearly 23 years
has resigned his position and intends taking a '
rest for- a time,
:Misses Dalina and Nettie' Wilson, dau-
ghters of John A. Wilson are: home for the
holidays. The former was teaching school
near Hensall, and the latter_ has been
attending the Collegiate Institute at London.
J.G. Crich who has been engaged all
simmer palming dee Reef-station :buildings,
kb the Guelph and Goderich Railway -was
Oine'sientliniThe'holidayi-With "firs faiiiiljr:
George Chesney of 'Goderich street.
Seaforth received es a:Christmas present, a
brace of beautiful, plump partridge from
' Messrs. Mabee • and' 'McDonald, the wete
lurch with a few of his ilk, and ran up a lunch
bill, of between $600 and. S2,000. depending
on which version you read.
That, to me, is the real Christmas .spirit.
His boss. King Pierre the First, has
expressed similar sentiments. "If they
afford filet mignon. let them eat boiled sumac
bushes". Very tasty, by the way, and a true
' national dish, along with pumpkin soup.
I don't really know where I'm going with ahis column , but I have to live up to the billing
nother teacher gave me this week, after he'd
arm-twisted me into talking to his creative
weiting club:
"Wednesday afternoon, we are going to
have a seminar on writing, headed by Bill
Smiley, former reporter, editor, publisher
and author of a syndicated column that
'Well known grey trotting horse"
for Hungarian relief sponsored a one night . In the years' agone blitz Thursday night. The money will be used
to provide for day-to-day expenses involved '
"-^
Magnificence of human spirit
To the editor:
Cable TV responds
more than ours with fewer channels and 50
per cent more subscribers to service.
3. In the last 18 months we have spent
5115,000 in system improvements and
adding a channel. We will readily agree that
we will never be perfect, ind we do regret the
inconvenience caused by an interruption, but
we are trying.
4. We have always asked,that subscribers
phone us 'if they have a problem. We never
charge for a service call and we are prompt.
Naturally it hurts to see someone complain-
ing through the newspaper when we do feel:
A) We are doing a good job. and B) There
isn't *cable system of our size in Canada that
can touch the quality of our pictures and the
variety of channels offered.
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