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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1931-12-31, Page 3•QUAKER '.SET L’P P’lRST WI4)NY • ON BIDDULPH MW * ^Fretleil’ick Stover Established Home i oil 300 Acres secured in 1830— Was formerly Part of Huron Co, Toivnship Has Been Birthplace of Mon who Won Distinction {(By Mrs, Warner S, Hudson in the London Free press) ■The earliest history of Biddulpli township, Middlesex County, dates {back to the year 1830, when Fred erick Stover, a Quaker from Nor* \wich Connecticut, bought 300 acres •of land, from the Canada Company at {$1.50, an acre and made a settle ment of colored people, most of ivhom were refugee slaves who were 'drought, or broke away from their masters. ■The friends from Connec ticut established a school and sup ported the colony until they were ;;able to support themselves. At one time Biddulph formed part bf what was known as- the Huron tract and belonged to the Canada •Company, It was detached, from the ^County of Huron in 1865 and nam- •ed Biddulph after one of the direc tors, John Biddulph, of the Canada Company, The first white ’settlers .were from Ireland1 and' afterwards fpbm England alxd Scotland. When ■ithe first settlers came to Biddulph ’they., found it an unbroken forest ■^omposed of maple, beech, elm, bass-4 ^wood, birch, butternut, ironwood '.and hickory, The forest was lxewn dowxx by the ind'ustx’ious andl hardy settlers to tmake a space to grow grain, and ;year fy year the miglrty trees) gave ■J>lace to a larger tilled area. . . The first trails were blazed thro’ ■the forests. These" were later de veloped into roads made by cutting •down trees, rolling tlie trees to gether with ox teams into big piles, Which were burned, and let me say the ox teams of oldexx d'ays in. no •.way resemble the quiet steers who graze in oux’ field's today. They were ’huge animals yoked together • with Targe woodeix collars and trained to do the work ox* horses. The water- Tioles were bridged with logs latex* by wooden culverts ‘bridges. and and Discovering Red Ears Yet in this crude way of living 'the pioneers found much enjoyment Many were the apple-paring bees and Wood-cutting bees, the singing class es and the corn-husking bees, wheii •all the community joined for an ev ening’s fun. There was an old- cus- -tom for the youth who discovered a red ear to have the privilege of 'kissing, the prettiest girl and it was surprising the number of red- ears .found. Those were the days of (butter- rnaking, when the churn was a wooden barrel with a wooden dash- •er in it, and many a youth calling on his girl was not afraid to show Tipw strong he was by dashing the •dasher up an down in the churn till the yellow butter appeared, or going to the well for water, the bucket fox* which was let down 'by a windlass, -.and as the long rope wound' up by :a crank the cool, sparkling water was slowly drawn to the top. It was truly the time when “the old wooden bucket hung in the well” The education was crude as well as being limited to the three R’s, ;and. many the half-grown up youths and lassies sat on long- benches in 'the Wintex* time to grasp what little they could of what the schoolmas ter had to tell them. Biddulph, however, produced hex’ share of famous men and women, ;among whom have been S. J. Rad cliffe, B.A., a former principal of London Normal School; -John Dear ness Ph.D., at one thne inspector of public schools and principal of Lon don Normal; Prof. Fred Langford, •of Toronto; R. A. Thompson, B.A., *Ph. D„ who held the position of -principal of Hamilton Collegiate; Dr. James Rollins, superintedent of jOTilla Asylum, and. scores of others Who have occupied high and honor- .-able positions. ,And s-b no history of our town- islxip will ever be truly written that ■does not do full justice to these pio neer men and women who, while .suffering privations and loneliness, .yet laid the foundations of th'e civ ilization we are all enjoying and are $o proud of today. KMTMI OLD KIRKTON PAYS- Mr. S, J, bp town, who has been a reader of the St. Marys Jour- nai-Argus for well ovex’ fifty years? in renewing his subscription to that paper) writes some very Interesting reininiscences of the old days around Kirkton and. Woodham. He writes of some of tile interesting things he reads in the Journal-Ar- gus and goes on to say; “Then there is Wess Jefferson with his. Retrospects which causes me to wonder why some of the old timers of Woodham ana Kirkton do not give some of the history of those two villages- back in the 70’s and 80’s. When all the Woodham- ites travelled to Kri^ton for their education up to 1'878 when the school was built in Woodham. The Kirkton school as I remember it in the 70’s is the same old school ex cepting it then had two rooms, Jun ior andl Senior, aixd supported two teachers. Many amusing and inter esting accounts could be written- of those days as great rivalry existed between the two villages, I notice in some of Mr, Jeffer son’s writings he is an! enthusiastic sport. I remember w#ien lxe wore a suit in the Alert Lacrosse team of St. iM.arys and generally gave a very good account of himself. But for athletics, the two above mentioned Villages, were on the athletic map also with -baseball, football and .Kinkton could boast of one of the greatest athletes of that day. Mr, Amos Doupe, present Siecretary- Tre’a'surei’ of the Kirktoir Agricul tural Society, who some fifty years back, was known from coast to coast as a general al'l around) ath lete and I doubt very much if his record for th© winning hop, step and jump has been materially bet tered. Will conclude with best wishes to you and youx* efficient staff for a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. * Yours Very Truly, S. J. Elliott Exeter, Dec. 18, 1931, SIMPLE SEED CLEANING APPARATUS MAY PROVE GREAT BOON TO FARMERS A new system of cleaning wheat, which may prove of tremendous val ue to farmers, has been discovered by Professor F. C. Dyer and H. L. McClelland in the new mining labor atories at the University of Toronto. By recognizing and making use of a physical characteristic of seeds, apparently overlooked previously, the two men have been able to re duce weed seeds in alfalfa, sweet cl.over, red clover and alsike to an infinitesimally small number. Under the new process, Professor Dyer and .M’r. McClelland have been able to take alsike containing 800 catch fly seeds to the ounce, and clean it until there remained only four of the noxious weed seeds. iSimiliarly they have 'extracted blad der campion and white cockle from the above types of fodder. Observation in connection with the experiment revealed that the wetability of clover was not so great as that of the weed seeds. After the fodder seed was wetted to a slight extent, its wetability had attained the maximum, while the weed seed continued to be wetted, and means the two. were -able to arated. The apparatus utilized was they said. It was little more than a rotating band and. a tub of water. < by this be sep- simple, HURON COUNTY O.H.A. INTERMEDIATE DATES The following schedule has been adopted for .the Huron County in termediate group of the 0. H. A. The first and second teams will play off, goals to count. Jan. 1 Jan. Jan. Jan. /Jan. Jan. Goderich at Exeter. Jan. 15—Exetei’ at Mitchell, Sea forth at Clinton. Jan. 18—Mitchell at Goderich. Jan. 19—Clinton at Exetei’. Jan. 21—Goderich at Seaforth Jan. 22—Mitchell at Clinton. Jail. 25—Exeter at Goderich, Sea forth at Mitchell. Jan. 28—Seaforth at Exeter, Clin- forth at Mitchell. Feb. 1—Goderich at Clinton. -Seaforth at Goderich 41—Goderich at Mitchell. 5—Exeter ac. Clinton. 7— Exeter at igeaforth. 8— Clinton, at Goderich. 12—Mitchell at Seaforth, -X. Eczema Itched and Burned So There is no remedy like B.B.B. for giving relief, ho remedy that Can do mote for those Who are driven to distraction with the terrible tortures of eczema. Blood Bitters I F«r th® past 52 year® MANUFACTURtD ONLY BY THE T. MILBURN CO., Limited Toronto, Ont. Mrs. Cecil MacKay. Nashwaak Bridge, N.B., writes:—“For a num ber of years I was troubled with eczema on my hands and they Would itch and bum So at night I could not rest. I tried different remedies And ointments, but Of no avail- At last I Was advised to take Burdock Blood Bitters, and after taking three bottles my hands were completely healed, and I havo not had a sign Of the eczema since.'* THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE w 21 * * Folk who did their Christmas shopping in Exeter are smiling as they think of the fine bargains they made with the local mer chants, They feel all the better because they helped out the men who pay their taxes in this good town. • * * ♦ * ♦ Christmas, while not sunny nor severely cold, was blessed with sufficient nippy weather to help us enjoy our Christmas goose, ' • • * • * » • • Here’s to pur visitors for the holiday. May health and’weaith be theirs gs they return to their useful labor, • * * • w • • • The small boy and his sister foi’ whom Santa provided skates ox* a sleigh lor Christmas had our sympathy. Cheer up. There’s1 New Year's just ahead. E DI TORI A L We Thank You Here’s ter making 1932 the best ever, ♦ * * * ♦ ♦ ♦ Already" Exeter merchants are offering afteMhe-holidayg bar- * #. * * # Folk driving through our town on Christmas Eve missed) the Christmas tree. It was not want of thought still less was it want of heart that caused the absence of this thing of festive beauty. The time was to put the cost of the tree into bread and flour. Still we’re quite sure that our council will not think us carping or the friend of extravagance when we say that the tree was greatly miss ed, We hope to see a tree next year. The tree with its myriad lights is one thing; benevolence is another matter. Those who like the light-giving tree don’t forget the poor. ******** ON THE JOB Oh, yes, that man with something to sell is out along the concession lines offering all manner of merchandise. He is an expert salesman, as a rule. He knows all the prices from Ailsa Craig to Johnny1 Groats and he can prove to your entire satisfac tion that you’ll save anywhere from twenty dollars to fifty dollars by purchasing your coat from his supplies. He can prove to you, too, that your local merchant is charging you too high a figure for your outfit of comfortables. Of course the money in your jeans is your own. You can do with it just what you deem best. Qnly this, remember that when the ■•salesman bids you a fond adieu that he is gone forever. Re member, too, that you are not an expert on a great many articles of merchandise, particularly furs, -while the well spoken gentle man discoursing to you is an expert in salesmanship. Remember, too, tliat when you have paid: over your cash that.it is gone forever and that the article you have just bought, ten to one, is a poor af fair for which local merchants would not provide shelf room. • * « e * * « • CONFUSING Plain folk are puzzled regarding Germany’s plea that she can’t pay the price of the last war. For decades she had all ^sxe money she wanted for perfecting her; mfilitary machine. When the* war was on she had plenty of cash to provide the poisoned gas to des troy Canadian and British soldiers. Before the war broke out wherever her sons foregathered' they had money a plenty to toast “Dex’ tag.” iFrom-.i a bottomless treasure she drew money for the development of the submarine wherewith to destroy the lives and shipping of the nations in whose veins ran the blood of a common ancestry. Fox* scores of years she spent the money wrung from the peasantry of France undei’ the threat that she would “bleed France white” put now that she is called upon to pay the debts that hex- owxx lust of powex* incurred, she suddenly becomes poor and arrogantly threatens not to live up to hex’ treaty agreements. iShe refuses to restore the plowshare and pruning hook her own cannon and poisoned gas destroyed. Plain folk are puzzled, are not disgusted, with her present attitude. * * * * * « * ♦ when they BETTER THAN EVER Never osince benevolence first was practiced have the folk in this district proven more liberal than they have proven during this season when gaunt hunger ^nd biting cold have been abroad. Thou sands of folk have given to the limit. True, there are a few who of whom better things were rightfully expected, who1 made every penny go as far as it could.—that'is, into their own pocket, but these people are known and appraised accordingly. One feature of this year’s distribution of good cheer has,, been’ the determined effort to have the cheer handed out tjy those who devote their Jives to that very work. The dead beats have been dealt with those who know dead beats value to society rather than by those who are unfamiliar with their devious ways. The man who would work if he could but find it but is unwilling to accept food or raiment or fuel that he does not earn, lias been help ed out as what he is, a brother in distress whom it is a pleasure to assist -over the present unlooked for business stringency. The tender heart loses no whit of its benevolence when it is guided by a hard head. Organized society has done her relief work splen didly. ZION The annual entertainment and Christmas tree was held on Wed nesday ' evening, December 23 with good weathex’ and godd a Crowd. The progranie consisted of songs, recitations, instumental. duets-, mouthorgan selections, and two can tatas. The frst cantata “Seekers aftex* Chrstmas” was put on by the intermedate class of girls and boys. The second cantata “Ready fox’ San ta Claus” was put oil by the Junior class of boys and girls and the prim ary class. At the close of the last selection Santa Claus came to dis tribute the bags- of Jcahdy to the children which had been provided., by the Sunday School. The little folks thanked him and asked him to .come again next year. During the evening home made candy was passed to everyone. Mrs. Wes. Archer, spending a few days er, Mr* John Batten, ill at the home Of his daughter, Thomas Morley at Whalen. Mr. and Mrs. Garnet Miners and WE APPRECIATE THE SPLENDID PATRONAGE YOU HAVE ACCORDED US DURING THE YEAR AND SIMPLY COULD NOT THINK OF LETTING THIS OCCA SION PASS WITHOUT EXTENDING TO YOU THE BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY NEW FILLED WITH WELL-EARNED PROS PERITY AND HAPPINESS Phone 52 EXETER, ONT. GRANDSON OF REV. J. W. DOWN IS WINNER IN ORATORICAL CONTEST Wm. McLaughlin, aged thirteen, son of Rev. and Mrs, A. McLaugh lin, United Church minister at Graf ton, and grandson of Rev. J, W. Down, town, was the winner of the Central Ontario examination pub lic speaking contest held in Cobourg recently. His address on “Alcohol ism” a remarkable piece of oratory is to foe translated into Japanese for the children of Japan. The address was as follows: Mr. Chairman, Honorable Judges, Ladies, and Gentlemen:— I wish to engage your attention fox* a short time on the subject of “Alcohol, Why’it should not be used* as a drink.” I am reminded of a story: A young man was about to make his first appearance as'a pub lic speaker on the same subject as I have chosen. He stood before the audience but words refused to come. Where was the carefully prepared address? Ah, yes! The first line I Ladies and Gentlemen,-If you never! drink strong drink you will never- become a drunkard. That was all he said, but let me tell you, Ladies and Gentlenxen tl^at is all there is to say—If drink y.ou drunkard. The man second glass, of nevex’ expects to become a drunkard, but alcohol is a habit-,forming' drug, those who start to drnik it find they -crave it more and more till finally the habit cannot be broken. Alcohol affects. the brain. Men who hold positions of .responsibility must be able to think clearly. In the field of athletics alone this is true. A maxx in training for a big game never drinks alcohol in any form. He knows lxis. eyesight will not be as clear, his heart action will not be steady, his control .of lxis muscles will be lessened, he will not be fit. Listen to th^>sfpinions of famous men. .Sir Robert Falconer, who- hap been president of Toronto Univers ity for twenty-four years, said I have always been a total abstainer from- alcohol, therefore it is only natural that I should think it best for young people not to use intoxi cating drinks. It is a fact of great importance that the head of this University should be convinced that the use of alcohol is injurious to all who want to think clearly and act wisely. Dr. Charles Mayo, who has charge of a famous hospital in Rochester says: “You can get along with, a woodeix leg, but you cannot get along with a wooden head. It is the brain that counts and in order to keep the brain clear, you must keep youx- body fit. That cannot be done if one drinks liquor. Dr. Mayo goes on to say: If there ever you will who never drink strong never become a takes the first and intoxicating liquor was any great man who occomplish- - ed anything through tlxe use of al cohol, I would' like to have, that fact -pointed out." Keep yourself free froxn all ha® habits, remember it is the brain that counts, Alcohol lessens ones pbnr- er of resistance and endurance an® weakens the digestive organs. Nansen, the great Arctic explorer, said: “My experience leads me to take a decided stand against the use of narcotics of any kind. The idea that alcohol helps men to endure cold is foolish and mischievous," Drinking of liquor is an expen sive habit. When we think? that $1,000,000 per week Is. spent in On tario alone for d-rink, and just how when we hear of many people who- must be fed and clothed, could wo not use this money in a better -way than buying alcoholic drink? Not in money alone is alcohol ex pensive, its use causes, untold) mis ery and suffei'ing, crime, accidents and sorrow that cannot be counts® in dollars and cents. There is anotliex* great reason I why we should abstain from the evil of intemperance. Every boy should have a purpose: “To guard my health and keep my •body fair That I may stronger be, to do an® dare To keep my mind unsullied, pure, and free That truth and beamy may abide with me." We cannot have this, purpose if we allow our minds and bodies to be ruledi by bad habits. Ladies and Gentlemen: I have •tried to prove -to you that alcohol , should not be used as a drink be cause: It is a liabit-forming drug. It keeps people from thinking clear ly and acting wisely. It is injur ious to health. It is expensive. It causes suffering. It keeps people- from doing their best. And so in conclusion let me ask of you that you do all in your pow er to make this Canada of ours a. Dominion safe and rail’ fox* those who must carry on in the future, and we shall strive in our day to-' keep sacred the trust yon have- given us. I thank you.. Side Shows Just been to see the curiosities at one of Ontario’s Agricultural Exhi bitions. The gaint had a sort ofx superior air. Looked as if he’d al ways moved in high society. |An® when he spoke it was sure tall talk. The fat man seemed to be just waisting away. He had a 98 waist. Like Tennyson, he could safely say: “I’m part of all that I have met/* Yes, and then some. The bearded lady was sandy-com- wonder, with so She was beautiful “There is a garden, the poet says. Sort garden. plexioned. No much spinach, as a hay field, in her face.” as of hanging gu_J Funeral Director E. R. HOPPER Furniture Dealer I family spent Christmas at .the home of the letter's sister, Mrs. Thomas Morley. Mr. and Mr. J. T. Hem and fam ily spent Christmas at the home of their daughter, Mrs. M Dobson, of Kirkton. Mr, and Mrs. Batten and babe spent Christmas at the home of the latter’s sister, Mr. and Mrs. R. Flet cher. Mr. and Mrs. Ephriam Hem and family spent Christmas with Mr. and Mrs. M. Culbert, of Lucan. Uliknoi\Vn persons attempted to enter Stewart Btos., store in Sea forth last week. They succeeded in getting into the millinery work shop but could) not reach the store on account -of a fire proof door, IT GIVES US GREAT PLEASURE TO EX TEND TO THE CITIZENS OF EXETER AND COMMUNITY THE GREETINGS OF THE SEASON AND AT THE SAME TIME THANK THEM FOR THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY DEMONSTRATED THEIR APPRECIATION OF THE SERVICE WE RENDER. of London, ia With her i Who is fath- iqujte Mi’S. Mule in a barnyard, lazy and sick, Boy with a pin on the end of. a stick Boy jabbed the mule; mnie gave a lurch-** Services Monday at the M« K, Church,