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Home My WebLink AboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1947-02-27, Page 8/ . THE TIMES-ADVOCATE, EXETER, ONTARIO, THURSDAY MPRWfc, FEBRUARY 27th, 1947 Turnip Waxing Is Big Business Local Plant Boasts Automatic Dry®? WINCHELSEA week-end the snow .. Agatliq Le Qlaire sipped her cof- ft?e slowly before the fire in her green drawing room that Novem ber night. .The room with its dark er velvet furniture made an excel lent setting, she knew, for her jade evening ■■ Mie looked up tian carefully Cramed mirror piece. What feshe I that she was known by that name I felt now that life would stretch : out before her gray and cheerless. •There was nothing in it for her. There had never been—love. . She was back in .Montreal again ‘ living in retirement in the beauti- ■ l’ul home on the mountainside left I to her xby her mother. It was Nov- ! ember, seventeen years after the • armistice had been signed, and „ ■ she remembered it for the forty- thougli she was too wise to let her-1 second .time—she, Agatha LeClaire self frown over Li jw _ _ 2 £*2 wrinkles must be discouraged. ; $he saw an oval face, ivory tinted With fine, dark eyebrows over ^ray-green eyes that were rather almond shaped. The mouth had its fine of camine, skillfully applied. That was necessary, for the whole face looked tired and spiritless. If only something would happen Howard, her butler, had drawn Ute curtains tightly and she was too lazy to get up and peer out in to the November night again. Af ter a morning pf rain the day had fcettlecl down into a chill grayness prophetic of snow. She could only fait, too comfortable ,to move, be fore the fire and look into it or above to the mirror and think. ,It was too much qf an effort even to get up and find a book. She thought suddenly irrelevant ly, of the face of another divorcee a, good deal younger than herself, whom she had met at the seaside the previous summer, an wife recently divorced, wife was still young, attractive, but at times _ __...______ ____ fe’rew cold and her blue eyes wild.; Things read songs sung and One feared a sudden nervous break i esting people to meet—not to things to only just she knew, gown. Now and again to study the reflec- in the long, gold4 above the mantle-! saw disturbed her, • i the Middlesex-Huron dis- handle the 35o.000 bushel These are at the Scott at Lucan; C. W. McRob- Granton; Russell Doherty PONTIAC ' J Raising of table turnips for ex port has increased approximately 3300 per cent in the past 10 years among farmers in the northern part of Middlesex and all of Hur-, on County, according to J. J: Johnson Dominion Govt, fruit au<| vegetable inspector in Middlesex. Huron and Lambton Counties, About 500 farmers are produc ing turnips as a Cash crop, with an estimated 2,000 acres produc ing 35o,000 bushels of first grade turnips. Yields of 1,000 bushels per acre are not uncommon. One peak yield of fl’,082 bushels was re ported and another of 1.032. The average 1946 price to growers was 30 cents per bushel at farm. Turnips have been grown exported to the United States the past 60 years, but it was ing the past decade that the great est development came in this in- dusry. Laurentian, a purple top, Swedish variety, now is grown ex clusively for this export trade. They are shipped to all points in the Eastern and Southern Unit ed States where they are known as “rutabagas” and their popular ity as a table vegetable is increas ing each year. Majority of these export tur nips are drawn in bulk from the farm to shipping points, where they are graded, packed into bags plain or put through waxing plants. Dominion Government In spectors J. J. Benn, of Lucan and E. W, Stanley, whose headquarters are at Clinton keep an ever watch ful eye on the process. Six waxing plants are in opera tion in trict to harvest, elevator erts at at Bly th, and three plants in Exe ter, operated by the Rutabaga Co. Canada Packers and E. Cudmore. Exeter now boasts the only waxing plant with an automatic drying machine which has reduced to only nine minutes the stage from washing machine to the bag. storms of the blocked al] roads until plow gets through. Messrs. Robt. Vance fred Hudson, of London, week-end with Mr. and Walters. Miss over the week-end with Hern. The weekly^ euchre was held at the home Mrs. Colin night. Mr. and Wednesday Mrs. Kenneth Duncan of Plugtown. Mrs. Harold Davis, of Kirkton, spent Wednesday with Mr. and Mrs. George Davis. Mr. Ed Johns and Master Bobbie Glenn, of Brinsley, spent the past week with Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood Brock. Miss Helen Hern, of Zion, spent a couple of days last week with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. George Davis. and Wil- spent the Mrs. Fred Margaret Walters visited Miss Philis Gilfillau oil club party of Mr. and Wednesday Mrs. Garnet Johns spent evening with Mr. and it. When one is‘was now 42. There was an unexpected ring at the doorbell and to her faint surprise Howard ushered in Fanny Wetherall, a woman Agatha some times mentally classed as her solq surviving friend. Fanny had been, like herself, an unhappy wife but was now at last a widow. Gay and debonair, Fan ny was constantly striving in spite of her fleshiness to be tremendous ly young again. Fanny summer . ally the I Hatless, manent, her head, dress emphasizing too cruelly her plumpness, she bore down upon Agatha in a warm embrace.I “You poor darling! Here all by | yourself moping ovei" your fire? I Even though it is a superlatively * cozy fire. Listen!" Fanny seated | herself on an ottoman with quick j fhitter of skirts. “I have an invit ation for you. It’s the annual re- ! ception of the Women’s Press Club inter- m en eat, have blew in now like a strong breeze, upsetting irration-t dull November weather, her short fair curls—per one concluded rumpled on in sky-blue evening dur- artist’s j The ©x-: blonde and her face! down, a hurricane of tears. Every one said what a nice chap her band had been. The pity of it! Thinking over her own disastrous marriages, as she done a thousand times before, atha wondered why she had hus' Caven Auxiliary The regular meeting of Caven Auxiliary, Women’s Missionary So ciety, was held on Thursday eve ning, Feb. .2 Oth, at the home of Mrs. A. Laing. The president, Mrs. Strang, opened the meeting with the singing of the 8 6th Psalm. Mfrs. Norman Stanlake was in charge of the program, studying the second chapter of “Towards a Christian India.” This land of religions was represented by Mrs. Wliilsmith for the Hindu, Mrs. Laing for the Bihl, Mrs. Moir for the Moslem, and Mrs. Millar for the 'Christian from South India, telling of these religions and hoping for the day when the Christian religion will influence and guide the people, not only of India, but of our land. The worship serv ice closed the meeting. ; tion interesting Come on! We’ll time to make it.” Agatha couldn’t whether she or Fanny had ed the car. Certainly it had been ordered, they had arrived, shed their wraps in the ladies’ dressing room, and been welcomed upstairs in the viceregal suite, where thq Press Club was foregathering—all surprisingly short time. "Al- late, they had to slip quickly two far too prominent seats the front, the back chairs all i remember two had, Ag- — ------I — — ------ had feo much to endure. The daughter of a wealthy Montreal family, Agatha Simmons had been happy enough when she had married the man of her choice, Gilbert Lester, pf a family even more wealthy and prominent than her own. All had promised wonderfully well, but it had not taken her ,two weeks to discover the violence of her hus band’s temper. Neither was to giving way. They had Stormy scenes, even in the fence of the servants. When Cfta had tried to suppress semipublic outbursts she had mocked at by Gilbert for her ocrisy. The wap had done much to patch up, for a time, their straining ro tations. From the first days of his Lieutenancy in the Canadian Gren adier Guards, Gilbert had won dis tinction. He was a born soldier. Agatha’s pride in him had helped to, gloss over their terrible incom patibility. She had followed him Co England and seen him there on leave. unions later order- used had pres- Aga- these been hyp inevitably their re-But had ended in quarreling. Finally he each time- main in Paris. And once, in knew he was coining she ran to spend several days with a jaarty at a country inn in Surrey. In the party was Horace Wedder- burn a divorced man who had been her friend for some time. Her husband had seized his chance. It was when she returned to Canada to visit her mother that the divorce papers charging her and Wedderburn with misconduct had been served on her. She had. fought the action tooth and nail (she could smile faintly now at the had had had the tables on him and won a div orce in Paris. Her second husband, Capt. Mau rice LeClaire of the French flying Corps, had been of a strangely difJ ferent caliber. Gay and irrational as a boy, he had captivated her by his charm and humor. For ten months she had lived an ideally happy life Then one ,had -had ceased to- come preferred to angei- when re- she off gay with unusual interest. Her brown eyes and warm, gold-colored hair were set off to advantage by the old-gold gown, square cut, reminis cent of a renaissance portrait. The fold of brown velvet edging the neck lay against a healthy skin still wearing some of last summer’s tan. An old topaz necklace com pleted the costume. ___ “Excuse Fanny Where most from a renaissance portrait!” Enid, laughed. “But all my gowns are renaissance, Mrs. Weth- erall. I resurrect them all one af ter the other. Yellow is the favor ite just now—that’s all.” "Cerainly that necklace heirloom,” Agatha inquired. ' “Yes,” Enid laughed, quite a long story it.” Meredith came cups of coffee and wiches. As studied him sing glance frank gaze, ly in return. Now that she was nearer him, Agatha could sge that Meredith was a man of about 37 years. Even! 38. While they finished the re freshments they conversed. He had been in the royal field artillery during the war, had come to Cana da after the armistice, found herself talking with more animation than she knew she still possessed to Meredith about post war Paris. He apologized once for making her repeat a sentence. “I’m afraid you’re on the side of my deafer ear,” he explained. “The big guns put them both more or less out of commission.” He said it with such a disarming smile that Agatha felt a sudden, rich surge of sympathy. He was, she observed, not one given to self pity—no more than she herself., And his manners were .charming. The effervescent Fanny had com pletely monopolized the attention of Enid Walters with a discussion on what types of short stories not to write, and as Agatha conversed leisurely with Meredith she gave herself up to a half-conscious study of his face. His eyes, constantly on her, twinkled with humor, but al the corners of his mouth his upper lip lifted in a barely visible twist that was almost understood that, of her generation illusionment. Often she had erratic war period bitterly with men women like herself, ed it, but now she Hugh Meredith’s face was written, if one only looked closely enough, a. whole history Agatha knew had driven personality, habit of strict mental honesty, she faced the problem frankly with a little twinge of that A well dressed man was shopp ing for* a shirtwaist for his wife. “What size and color, please?’’ the salesgirl asked, “It doesn’t matter’’ he answered “Whatever size or color I get, I’ll* have to come back tomorrow and change it!’’ in a most into near being occupied. Fanny loved that. She piloted Agatha forward im pressively, bowing to her friends right and left. A free lance who knew most of the writing folk, about her, Fanny adored promin ence. She would probably make a speech of some kind before the evening was over. It was this love of prominence that had very likely riled Fanny’s husband Agatha reflected. She had not known him but she had heard Fanny say how much Mr. Wetlier- all had grudged her any fun or prominence. Agatha knew that he had been of the professionad type shy and retiring. That sort of ambition in a wife never- appealed to men, of course. And yet she herself, who had nev er wanted more than a man’s love and protection had been no more fortunate. What was it that com manded a man’s faith and respect something in him or something in the woman? Must a woman al ways make a game of it, hold something back, as some of the wise woman writers asserted? Oh. for a haven where no pretense was possible! Agatha thought with sudden passionate hatred of a man called (L'eClaire. How safe she had felt in his love!—Fool! She forced her thoughts back on the girl was her Little bursts of laughter" now and then greeted the reader, pleased smiles played on the faces near Agatha. She must listen, one could revert one’s thoughts during the singing. Suddenly she noticed a man with clear-cut handsome features seated two seats to Fanny’s left. His arms were folded comfortably, his posi tion—that of extreme ease—one which only an Englishman can as sume at a moment’s notice. His dark eyes, bent on the girl, were at once pleased, possessive and a lit tle teasing. “He’s engaged to her,” whis^ pered Fanny, noticing Agatha’s glance. “Clever girl. Her name is Enid Walters.” It was, suprisingly enough, t» these two young people that Fan ny gravitated when the program came to an end and conversation became the order of the day. She might leave them alone! Agatha thought with some irritation. But perhaps there was method in Fan ny’s obtuseness. One could never tell about her, really. Certainly Enid Walters could hardly restrain a Start of surprise when Agatha was introduced. And Agatha realized for the first time, with something of a start, too, that every press woman in the city, no matter how young, must know her name only too well, must even have formed some judgment of her by this time. But Enid’s manner was cordial and disarming. While the English fiaxice, who had been introduced to her as Hugh Meredith, foraged for coffee attd found herself program. A pretty, dark-eyed in a dull gold evening gown reading some clever article of own on “The Snob Market”. a classified will sell it! tremendous anger the charge stirred, in her) and Gilbert lost the suit. Later when she- had time to think she turned with him in day Paris, she was offered proof that he was unfaithful. So romance ended. Agatha Le Claire—she hated most .the fact Doan’s Kidney Pills Help Back Ailmenb Backache is frequently caused by disorders of the kidneys, Conse quently, if you suffer from backache, Doan's Kidney Pills may be helpf ul to you. Because of their stimulat ing action on the kidneys and uri nary passages, Doan’s Kidney Pills assist in the elimination of wastes from the body. Safe, dependable and quick-acting, Doan's Kidney Pill3 can be used by both young and old. Backache and rheumatic pains as well as minor urinary and bladder ailments may be quickly relieved by this time- proven treatment. Sold at all drug stores. The T. Milburn Oo., Ltd., Toronto. Ont. my frankness, Enid,” said, “but that gown! did you .get it? It is the charming thing’ Straight is an “there’s connected with back, balancing a plate of sand- he served her Agatha in turn. The little, tea in his eyes caught heii and he gazed as frank- Agatha a sneer. Agatha It was the mark the stamp of dis- the so wondered if had dealt as it had with She had doubt- wasn’t sure. On of shattered ideals, herself well; trag- her deep into her had forced her in edy own to a •Now and excitement that had been so long denied her, She Hugh Meredith, thing more than (Continued Agatha’s interest prompts her to make expected offer, aiid _____ beginning of a welcome friendship. was interested in Perhaps .... some- interested. next A PRODUCT OF GENERAL MOTORS lertfs picture for ’47! •We are proud to present for 1947, the finest car Pontiac lias ever produced. In the new 1947 Pontiac, now in production, all of Pontiac’s traditional quality, dependability, stamina, trouble-free operation, ease of handling and downright goodness have been retained. These are the qualities that have made mote than a million friends of more than a million Pontiac owners* Added for 1947 ate appearance changes to en hance Pontiac’s beauty; mechanical refinements to uphold Pontiac’s known reputation for dependable, trouble-free performance. 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