HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1943-12-09, Page 7THE. TIMES-ADVOCATE, EXETER ONTARIO, THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 9th, 1943
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CHAPTER VIII
The arrival, of Minnie Davis and
Halsey Kenneth set Andy to mixing
highballs and a few minutes later
Muriel Wright rang the doorbell,
She was alone and looked pinched
and cold, “Isn’t Hugh here?” She
gazed nervously around the room
after the introductions. "He was to
meet me—I gave him the address,”
Her husband, she murmured, had
gone uptown to see an old friend.
“Give him time, give him time,”
Andy’s placid voice advised her.
“Here’s your warmer-upper, Muri
el. It’s all right to call you Muriel,
Dace said, if you don’t mind-”
Muriel Wright was rather large,
pleasant-faced and looked older
than the other women ,perhaps be
cause she wore glasses. Every
thing she had on, dress, shoes, even
her too tight permanent, appeared
to be new—Candace surmised that
she had spent money, perhaps
saved with difficulty, to make her
self attractive for her husband’s
return.
They had had one round of high
balls and Zither was manifesting
uneasiness about' the dinner, when
the house phone rang. Someone
asked to speak to Mrs. Wright on
the outside phone, Sarah Daffodil
said. She had just locked her door,
ready to start for her dinner en
gagement, when the ringing bell
had called her back.
Andy took Muriel down to the
first floor, waited, for her in the
hall. When they returned, the girl's
embarrassment was evident.
"I don't know what you’ll think,
Dace—Hugh isn’t coming.” She
sounded close to tears. “These peo
ple he went to see have asked, ulm
to stay for dinner and go to a
show. I told him we’d already ac
cepted your invitation and that we
were waiting dinner for him, but
he—well, he wants to go to the
show. I don’t know what to say,
Dace, there isn’t anything I can
say to excuse him.”
But after they were seated, with
the silver at Hugh’s place hastily
removed and the colorful fruit cups
before each guest, Muriel made one
more attempt. It was because Hugh
was a soldier, she declared, tn.e
Army did nothing to foster unself
ishness in the man in the service. “I
supose when they have to sacrifice
so much, nothing should be asked of
them. Hugh has forgotten how to
be a husband—he’s so used now to
having a fuss made over him that
he thinks he can get away with any
thing he chooses to do.”
The yellow candles burned stead
ily, their shining light reflected in
Candace’s great, soft eyes. “I think
that thousands of men who see
service will find it hard to settle
down to normal, ordinary living,”
she agreed.
“Sure.” Halsey Kenneth put down
his fork. “You take the Air Corps.
Aviators get a dozen thrills a day,
every flight is a gorgeous, pulse
racing adventure. Those fellows
won’t be able to settle down to a
humdrum existence, once they’re
discharged. They’ll be restless, al
ways wanting to be on the go, ini;
patient of drudgery, eating their
hearts out for the spectacular.”
“What are you trying to do—•
scare Dace?” Leila Orton chal
lenged belligerently.
She didn't scare worth a cent,
Dace smiled as Zither brought in
the turkey. “The secret is to marry
your man first—'ahead of camp, or
ahead of war. If he’s a husband
before he’s a soldier—well, I think
you both have a greater chance of
being happy when he comes back.”
After dinner, when the living
room had been restored to its sin
gle function and the brightly blaz
ing fire drew the group to sit in a
semicircle around the hearth, Min
nie said that her brother would soon
be called for selective training. “It’s
all right to say for a year—call it
a year’s training, if it makes you
feel any better. He’s lived through
a depression and maybe we will
live through a war.”
“I wonder if ours is the lost gen
eration you hear about.” Halsey
Kenneth lighted a cigarette for her,
avoiding her eyes,
Muriel Wright, her face turned
from the fire, laughed cynically,.
“Generations have beep lost for the
last thirty years, haven’t they? It’s/
an old story.”
“No—Minnie’s right,” Andy said
and ter all his calmness he man
aged to gain their attention. “We—
the ones who got out of high school
between 1930 and 1935—have play
ed out of luck, That’s not a wine,
just a statement of fact. We
tramped our feet off looking for
jobs, and those we got were poorly
paid and led nowhere. We couldn’t
marry, bcause we had to heli) out
at home, for no one had much work.
Between our dependents and our
small wages Dace and I had to stay
engaged three years. Nobody’s fault
—we just didn’t get the raisins
when our cake was sliced.”
CHAPTER IX
“Then when you did see the way
clear to marrying, they passed the
Selective Service law,” Leila re
minded him.
Candace put in, her cleai* voice
Insensibly relieving the tension of
their nerves, “And so we were mar
ried. A year earlier than we might
have been except for that.”
The only reason there were wars,
Leila , Orton pronounced shrilly, was
because of money. “If no one had
any m^ney, we’d all be equal and
everything would be all right.
Kurt’s beginning to think the way I
do—-aren’t you, Kurt?,”
“You must have been losing mon
ey, Kurt,” Halsey suggested with a
grin.
The young German laughed, re
vealing his attractive teeth. “I tell
Leila I am not a refugee—I am an
immigrant,” he said.
“We have to educate the people.”
Leila, who couldn’t keep her eyes
off Kurt Hermann, made a pre
tense of hunting for caramels in
the candy shell at his elbow. “I
had my hair done at Dexter’s yes
terday. And the operator said to
me, ‘What is Communism? Do you
know, I’ve never found out what
Communism is?’ Fancy that—a
guy working for only twenty-five
dollars a week and he doesn’t know
what Communism is.”
Dace, Andy pointed out, made
twenty-five dollars a week. “She
doesn’t know what Communism is,
either.”
“When you come right down to it,
Leila,” Halsey Kenneth said skep
tically, “do you know what Com
munism is?”
She made a face at him . At least
she was interested in the problems
of the submerged, she snapped.
“Now last week I demonstrated a
mangle for a woman who has never
done anything but wash and iron.
She and her mother have taken in
washing for thirty years.”
The woman’s feet had given out,
Leila explained, that was the rea
son she worked in the market for a
mangle. “She can sit at it and
iron, you see. But her mother is
still ironing on her feet. And what
do you know? The only day they
have to sit down and rest they go
to church and like it!”
Kurt Hermann had been listen
ing with puzzled attention. “Ate
they Communists, then, Leila?” he
inquired politely. A shout of laugh
ter appraised him of his mistake, but
he continued to look bewildered.
“That’s what burns Leila up—
they find life worth, living,” Halsey
Kenneth told him and Kurt nodded,
not understanding yet, only fearful
of ridicule.
Leila said heatedly, “No one
ought to work as hard as that.
Things have got to be evened up.”
Andy, cross-lgged on the floor,
shifted his position so that, he rest
ed his head against his wife’s knees.
“You predict your brotherhood of
man theories on the promise that
the human race can be leveled off
and graded like a flat field. Roll us
together to remove the individual
bumps, sow us to grass and we’ll
be one verdunt, smooth, smiling
law to cover the world.”
“And the lawnmower will snip
off any upstart who dares to grow
after his own pattern,” Halsey Ken
neth suggested.
That was it Andy agreed. “Why
shouldn’t a laundress go to church
and be happy? Leila has a much
better paid job, she never goes to
Eczemaj or salt rheum as it is commonly called,
fa one of the most painful of all skin troubles.
The intense burning, itching and smarting, espe
cially at night, or when the affected part is exposed to
heat, or the hands placed in hot water arc most un
bearable, and relief is gladly welcomed.
Emilia or Salt meum
The relief offered by Burdock Blood Bitters is based on the knowledge
that such ailments as eczema, and other skin troubles, are caused by an
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Bring about inner cleanliness by using B. B. B. to help cleanse the
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Ask at any drug counter for B. B. B. Price $1.00 a bottle.
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church and she’s anything but
happy, To my way of thinking it
proves that the individual makes
his own hell and disproves the
theory that bis heaven must be a
cooperative."
Leila said bitterly, “Oh, you and
Dace think you know everything.
Just because you’re happy.”
“Happiness,” Andy instructed her,
not intentionally cruel, “is educa
tional,”
On the seventh of December the
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,
“We’ll drop a few bombs on that
rice-paper set-up in Tokyo and the
place will go down like a pack of
cards,” King Waters said.
His wife scurried to buy soap.
A1P the countries abroad had been
short of soap for months now and
probably American supplies were
low. A few dozen, cakes of toilet
soap and a box of laundry soap
could be kept in her storeroom.
Candace Thane met ToniFitts in
the first-floor hall, “My dear, I’ve
been thinking about you!” Toni
backed Candace against the flower
ed panel between the table and the
mailbox on the wall. “I said to Bert
that I knew you must be lying a-
Wake nights, sick with, worry, but
you have no real call to fret. Y(?ur
husband will get a deferred classi
fication on account of the baby.
He’s lucky the Selective Service
drawing’s hadn’t already taken
him.”
Candace was cold and tired after
standing in the bus all the way
home. “Andy won’t ask for exemp
tion—it’s never been a part of opr
plan.”
“Not ask for exemption!"
Candace dropped wearily on the
hall bench. Her beautiful face above
the small fan of large fur on her
winter coat glowed with lovely
color, the cold had deepened the
inscrutable depths of her enormous
eyes. She said very quietly, “Mrs.
Fitts, you believe every young wife
who’s expecting a baby is planning
to keep her husband out of service,
don’t you?"
“Well—” Toni smirked self-con
sciously. “You must admit it looks
a little suspicious, all these babies
coming now. A couple of years ago
all young people thought of when
they married was how they could
pay for a car.”
“We didn’t.” Candace slipped off
her gloves, straightened them pains
takingly on her knee. “Andy had to
help his father and stepmother—
there were children younger than
he. I had my mother to support.
Neither of us earned much. It took
us three years, both saving, to get
three hundred dollars together.
That’s all—except there are thou
sands like us who were ready to
marry when the selective training
law was passed. So we married
anyway and now there’s a war and
the babies are on the way—but lots
of us aren’t dodging anything.”
Toni Fitts pressed her thin, angu
lar hands downward over her care
fully whittled hips. “If you’d waited
till afer the war to be married, or
at least to have a child, you’d know
the worst and could plan accordirfg-
ly. We may all be better off dead,
before this war is over.”
The girl on the bench shook her
head stubbornly. “Don’t you see,
that’s what we’re afraid of, Mrs.
Fitts? We’re not afraid of marriage,
or of having babies, or even of
death, but we’re scared we may die
before we can live. There are some
things you can’t postpone and your
youth is one of them.”
“But for the duration—”
“Andy and I won’t be young then,
We are now. After the war we don’t
know what we may have, but we
do know what we have now—young
love.”
Toni Fitts, meeting Candace
Thane in the hall a few days- later,
spoke triumphantly. “Has Mr.
Thane heard anything from his draft
board?”
“Not yet.”
There was such a difference in the
way the various draft boards han
dled their quotas, Mrs. Fitts observ
ed. A great many young men pre
ferred to enlist, ratlfer than wait
their board’s action. “I hear the
boards are going to adopt a ruling
that once a man is classified, ne
can’t enlist. I wonder if your hus
band’s heard that.”
“If he hasn’t, I’m sure someone
will tell him,” Candace declared,
laughter bubbling suddenly in her
brown eyes, as the telephone sum
moned Mrs. Fitts back into her
apartment.
The last week In January a bad
cold and high temperature put Toni
Fitts flat on her back, as she ex
pressed it, in bed. to be accurate,
she wag not flat, but propped up
with pillows and fuming, when
Sarah Daffodil came up to see her,
Sarah thought she looked ill, but
made no comment and set to work
quietly to put the room in order.
Wof No. 26
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V
CHRISTMAS SPENDING
CAN BE PATRIOTIC
We all like to remember our
friends at Christmas, But if we
spend too much money buying
gifts, we risk making scarce
things scarcer and perhaps even
depriving people who really
need them. By putting a lot of
our gift money into War Saving
Stamps we make sure our friends
will be able to get just what
they want after the wax when
goods are plentiful again.
JOHN LABATT LIMITED
London Canada
“I wish I knew something I could
do about the income tax.” Toni had
been ordered to rest her throat, but
it was impossible to persuade her
not to talk. “I’m more than willing
to do my part, but it does seem as
if a little consideration might be
shown me, after all I’ve done.”
“You ought to gargle,” Sarah in
terposed, wondering if there was
any medicine at all in the medicine
cabinet.
The doctor had promised to send
her something from the corner drug
store, Toni said indifferently. “You
know everyone is so selfish—it’s
everyone for himself, first. I met
Mrs. Thane coming out of the bank
the other noon—they must use tile
midtown branch of the Farmer’s
Trust, because she was on her lunch
hour. She had just had their income
tax returns made out by Mr. Yates
who’s made mine out for years. I
asked her if she did’nt think it was
terrible, the way we’re being goug
ed and she said they didn’t have
much to pay. Probably they both
make small salaries. Next year, of
course, they can deduct for the
baby. I reminded her of that.”
“You did?” The words seemed
jerked out of Sarah.
“Oh, yes, and I mentioned ,too,
that when her husband lands in the
Army he won't have to pay—income
tax I mean—until six months after
he’s been mustered out. The rest of
us, I told her, will probably be pay
ing half our income in taxes to keep
the Army equipped and fed."
“Well?”
“She looked at me with those big
eyes of hers and she said, ‘Mrs.
Fitts, you remind me of the people
who cross the street to avoid meet
ing a disabled soldier selling pop
pies the week before Memorial Day
—or forget-me-nots the day before
Armistice Day.’ Now did you ever!
I didn’t get the connection and I
told her so.”
Sarah rose as the buzzer sounded.
“That’s your medicine from the
drugstore," she said.
“Just how,” asked Mrs. Waters,
“would you expect me to support
myself, if you went into the serv
ice?”
King Waters grunted. “If I got a
commission, I could take care or
you. I ought to be a major at the
very least, with my experience in
the last war.”
“It won’t do you any good in this
one.” His wife frowned.
“When’s that Thane baby due?”
he asked crossly.
Mrs. Waters murmured, “This
month. No—let me think. This is
February. Next month. March.
Sometime toward the end of March,
I believe. Why?”
“Here’s a case of a man who was
deferred-—put in 3-A because he
claimed he had a dependent mother
and sister. Then he got married and
the board reclassified him. Put him
in 1-A. I-Io’s appealing. His wife
works, but he claims his mother
and sister are still dependents.”
“A guy of military age hasn’t any
business getting married, especially
if he has been classified by his
board.” King Waters made up in
firmness what he lacked in logic.
“Now you take young Thane*—ho’d
never be deferred, because his wifn
works and can take care of herself.
So he decides to have a family,
figuring that will give him depend
ents. The draft board, if they’re on
their toes, will throw out his appeal.
He's just trying to outwit them.”
Andrew Thane hadn’t appealed
for deferment, Mrs. Waters suggest
ed, his wife told everyone that he
had no intention of doing so,
“All a blind. He ‘hasn’t been call
ed yet, had he?”
(To Be Continued)
fA COUNTRY
WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THE
. WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS OF CANADA
EDITOR
THE
. WttnUT ncvvsrnrtnj v>r ‘.Annwn (ru JIM GREEHBLAT, Editor of the SUN
‘ SWIFT CURRENT SASKATCHEWAN
AT’THE CAPITAL: Princess Ju
liana recently got back from a trip
to the Netherlands West Indies . . .
to keep the 2 00 odd government
buildings trim and clean there is a
staff of 195 3 women and 262 men
who do the job between working
hours . . . bulldozers have been at
work taking the top soil off five
of the nine sites for the new Pen
sions and Health Rehabilitation
centres for service men in Ottawa
. . . five buildings expected ready
for occupancy by Spring ... a
Madame X bought $150 worth of
tickets for concert at the auditorium
for distribution to service men . . .
there will be no night shopping in
Ottawa this pre-Christmas because
of shortage of help and to econom
ize power . . . long lineups still
prevail at the beer warehouses here
. . , one man got fed up after wait
ing an hour in line, heaved a rock
through the window, caused in
juries to two women . . . got fined.
* * * ,
With the Dominion government
bearing costs but provincial govern
ment co-operating, Ontario is get
ting two new trade training courses
where men will be trained as in
structors to be available for trade
training of members of the armed
forces after discharge. Over 300
will be trained this ^winter. In
cluded will be courses in cheese and
butter making and as dairy men.
Courses will be given in Ontario,
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
and Quebec, all told.
* » *
To answer a query: Charitable
or religious organizations may sell
gifts of jams and jellies providing
these organizations first get per
mission from their local ration
board. Permission may only be
granted with the understanding
than anyone buying them will not
have to surrender coupons. This
concession, the Consumers Branch
W. P. T. B., informs me, only ap
plies to gifts of these rationed com
modities received from consumers.
Merchants or others who are
consumers will not be allowed to
make gifts of any rationed com
modities to these organizations.
* * *
The Dominion Bureau of Statistics
says that the supplies of feed grain
in Canada, in terms of supply per
grain-consuming animal unit, are
more than enough to keep the exist
ing livestock population during the
crop year 19 43-44. Because all tne
surplus is in the three prairie prov
inces, the distribution problem is
not as satilfactory as the volume.
Hay consuming animals are well sup
plied with hay and fodder, but wife
respect to high-protein supplements
the supply is not so good and may
affect adversely output of certain
important products. The govern
ment is looking ahead by establish
ing a “food bank” in eastern Can
ada in case of emergency and if ter
rible weather conditions like last
winter should hamper transporta
tion. Besides, several schemes in
cluding freight assistance and re
vised drawbacks on Western wheat
for livestock feeding should help.
* >>• #
An interesting item gleaned from
-
A
«3
'?
the 1941 census of Canada is that
87 per cent of Canadian occupied
dwellings had radios, 40 per cent
had telephones, 24 per cent owned
vacuum cleaners and 37 per cent
had automobiles. About eleven per
cent had all of these modern things
while in 17 per cent of the occu
pied dwellings they had none of
these. These figures will probably
really jump in the post-war period
when war savings go on a spree.
* 41 *
The Agricultural Supplies Board
has done considerable in a new
field, the production of dehydrated
vegetables. It was in the late sum
mer of 19 42 that the British Minis
try of Food intimatd they were in
terested in the purchase of quite
large quantities of dehydrated vege
tables, particularly potatoes. Be
sides they were needed for the Cana
dian armed forces. Before this our
Board did some experimental work
equipping five Canadian dehydration
plants, and thus it was possible to
meet the request from Great Brit
ain, although the total quantity re
quired was not met because of delay
in getting processing equipment for
two extra plants. From the 1942
crops, however, processed vegetables
were supplied to Britain and our
own armed forces got potatoes
(1,158 tons dried weight), cabbage,
carrots, onions, turnips. In addition
about 30i0 tons dried weight onions
were dehydrated by one plant here
under direct contract with the Bri
tish Food Ministry.
* * ♦
Interesting bits from here and
there: established under Dominion-
Provincial agreements 25 day nur
series are now located in Ontario
and Quebec . . . they provide day
care for children 2 to 6 years, but
in addition agreements provide care
before and after school, as well as
noon day meal; agreements are
pending for similar projects in Al
berta . . . more supplies of steel
for civilian uses coining, says W.P.
T.B. . . . production is likely to be
stopped up for baby carriages, kit
chen untensils, nails, fences, farm
and building equipment . . . res
trictions also removed in width of
hem for children’s garments and
fuller woolen skirts for children
allowed . . . infant mortality in
Vancouver has been cut in half in
past 20 years, reason given being
better methods of pre-natal care^
closer medical attention to mothers
TUNE IN
Old Fashioned Revival Hour
7-8 p.m.,
E.D.S.T.
PILGRIMS’
HOUR
2-3 p.m. E.D.S.T.
Mutual Network
SUNDAYS
Local Station
CKLW
WINDSOR
E. FULLER
— Los Angeles
California
. . . milk consumption in Ontario
shows a 54% increase over 1939
. . . shipments of Canadian wheat
and flour to Greece (a gift and
handled through International Red
Cross) to the middle of November
totalled 7,930,030 bushels valued
at a million dollars . . . Canadian
crude oil and natural gasoline pro
duction for first eight months of
1943 was 6.710,1'05 barrels, exclud
ing the North West territories, a
drop from last year of nearly
3 00,000 barrels . . . Alberta’s pro
duction aggregated 6,51)0,458 bar
rels . . .* * *
Things are picking up as thn
United Nations’ position improves
in all respects. For instance it is
possible to provide tinplate for con
tainers for products for which tin
has been prohibited for some time,
information is given out. Corn
syrup, maple syrup, edible oils, lard
and fattening have been added to
list of foods for which tin plate is
okayed for processing. There is
also an increase from 50 to 100 per
cent of 1941 in tinplate allowed for
meat sandwich spreads and potted
meats for the consuming public . . .
a considerable additional supply of
meats.
A milk truck driver had enlisted.
He was home on leave and had met
one of his former customers. Ex
Customer—How do you like the
army? Ex-Milkman—It’s a great life!
I don’t have to get up till five o’clock
in the morning.
At Present We
Are Short on most
Stock.
YOUR INQUIRIES WILL
STILL BE APPRECIATED
A. J. CLATWORTHY
We Deliver
Phone 12 Granton
1
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