HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1962-05-03, Page 3•
High School Tests
Much Overrated UNDAY SC11001
LESSON
a Garden" purchased for An.
unnamed collector w hp: was
tabbed, despite his denials,. 44
1NeW York businessmen. Daniel, •
Maggin. In all, the '26' Parntingi
fetched $1,406,804, most ef which
will pass to Maugbarn's fund for
needy writers, At his Iliviera
home, ,British Author Maugham
88 years. old, and divorced
since 1828 -- said of the lima-
pickings: 'It's a terrible lot of
money for a single gentleman to
get rid of.:"
se- • liesees-„,
FIRST IN 43 YEARS — Belle the elephant gave birth to a 34-inch baby at the Portland,
Ore., zoo. It was the first elephant birth in this country in 43 years. Jack Marks, right,
the zoo's director, collapsed from physical exhaustion after thee birth.
Easy To Hear But
Pjfficult To See
On the evening o:f the twenty-
sixth (of March) I hear a, high,
shrill sound, whirring and spin-
ning, suggesting proud activity;
Ip r es enc e set free., The spring
peepers are making it known
that a time has arrived, and I
take joy in the news, having
failed to make any definite as-
surance of it myself. Their sound
embraces all this changing land,
rising above the whispered roars
of the sea,
Now the perpetrator of this
chorus is a tiny tan frog with
a smudged, cross or X on its
back, named Hyla Crucifer.
The male of the Species has
been speaking up on behalf of
spring openings for 'millions of
years. In that capacity it is
authoritative enough. Its voice,
almost incredibly loud and
shrill for an animal that is. not
much over an inch long, is am-
plified by means of a large
bubblelike, pouch which acts as
a resonator.
For all their vast population
in the bogs, ponds, edges,
swamps,. and other wet areas of
the . Cape, indiyidual spring
peepers are very hard to find;
During a cool evening, as the
stars begin to declare them-
selves, I hear theepeepers' donee-
tive voice rising, up around me,
passing into, the sky. On the
banks of 'Berry's Hole, that. deep,
swampy hollow nearby, there is
a pulsing, piercing, deafening
chorus. e The ',wind, suddenly
blows over in :a loud torrene•but
the peepers keep on. I walk
farther. down and'they stop; then-,
they begin again, after I sit
till for a minute or two. The ,
.,;.`banks areeevet„ after a lighteafea,
..ternoon .rain and they `must be
Zecovered by frogs,• judging by;theer
eksound; but I search eyery?..4$itea;
of ground with a flashiightsand-
, am unable. to find a single one'.
A wild, moist spring wind
flings around the rim of the
hollow, which is gray, dusted '
with fog, and in the 'clear open-
ing overhead the stars fling but
and away. Wtear stands dark.
and still where the banks . end.
Grass hummocks ,and ehrubs
choke the wet areas beyond. I
sit for many minutes concentrat-
ing on one area with my flash-
light. The peepers' cry is deafen-
ing, Then at last, I see one. It
jumps onto my shoes. And then
another, on, a low lying branch,
moving along in the light — it
displaces a third, which is top-
pled down into the leaves. They
seem, limp in action. A peeper
is minute, almost weightless in
my hand.
Nearby footsteps will silence
them. They react spontaneously
like tadpoles and eninnowS that
dart off into deep water from a
pond's edge when you approach.
Yet they are not bothered by the
beam of 'a •flashlight.
Such a tiny thing, this animal,
this cool, moist, anonymous am-
phibian, for so proud a message!
I can see that a peeper's whole
body pumps as it calls. It is
like a bellows, and the• yocal sac
blowS out like a blister, bluish-
green the light, 'Peep-peep-
peep," and thee, whole night is
filled with an insistent, stirring
cry, No human statement can
rival this simple, triumphant
mode- of revelation. The earth
begins again. -- From "Nature's.
Year: The Seasons of Cape Cod,"
by John Hay.
4s:
Iii y Rev ,Bate 1a4 Wartim.
Suffering' for Christ's Sake
7.1:t 9 any
man suffer as a Christian, /et
him not be ashamed; but let b.: 's
glorify (10d on this behalf
Peter' 4:16
The problem of suffering is al-
ways with us. In our lee -s to
Peter distinguPhes between suf-
fering for Christ's sake and 4:1-
feting as an evil doer. Ho says
"If 'ye be reproached for the
name of Christ, happy are ve;
for the spirit of glory and of G;4
resteth upon you." Christ is an
example of suffering for rignt-
eousness' sake, lie "bath once
suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us
to God," We should rejoice
when, we are partakers' of
Christ's sufferings. Some of our
missionaries know what this
means. Even in so-called Chris-
tian lands, some suffer for talc-
lag their stand for Jesus Christ.
Peter reminds his readers how
they used to walk in debauch-
ery, drunkenness, tippling and
reckless dissipation. Much of to-
day's suffering results from
wrong living. Youth, rebellious'
against the guidance of parents,
sometimes get to such an emo-
tional impasse that they 'need
psychiatric care. One 18 - year -
old was treated in a clinic for
alcoholism.
I was called, to ,see a man in
jail. He' wanted me to visit his
family and ask them to come
and visit him and convey to them,
his message for' sorrow for his
misbehaviour. I found his wife
had been too badly beaten to
come. He had been so drunk
that he hadn't realized what he
was doing. A picture on the wall
showed-his wife in happier years.
Now, in abject poverty, she has
all but given up hope. He. start-
ed on the free drinks provided
while he was serving in the army
during the war. Finally he be-
came an alcoholic, 'What the
children have missed in ordi-
nary necessities of life and the
sense of security! This is suffer-.
ing. I know a teenager in jail
for misdeeds following a 'drink-
ing party. He •had a comfort-
able home, but, alas, has gone
astray.
Many are suffering as a result
'of their 'own skis, Jesus Christ
can save us from our sins if we
will repent of them and entrust
our lives to Him. Then,- if we
suffer, we can endure in the
spirit of our Saviour who suf-
fered so much for us,
Yatt can 040 laugh like a hyena,
bay like A , donkey, or slog an
aria front La Traviata --- it
doesn't matter, If you make some
kind of a noise, a crow will
come, often in curious flocks,
and he will 'wheel about over
the pine trying to figure ota
what kind of a crow you are
and if be knows you.
It's good the spring crowf is fat,
for he has a lean month affdr he
gets here. They are scavengers,
but there isn't much to sravenge
on the snow. Ducks and song,,
birds aren't back yet and there
won't be any eggs for a while.
Cornfields are Still unplowed.
But the crow makes out, some-
how, and soon they'll have their
nests refurbished in the spruce,s.
Back when I was a barefooted
boy I had a tame crow. He was
a lot of fun, and since we fed
him in the winter he didn't fly
with the crowd. It was my job to
take the cows to pasture every
morning, Eager for feed, the
ladies would step from the tie-
up and parade quietly up the
lane, for ,,cows are creatures of
habit and they knew the way.
The grass would be wet from
dew, and cool, and some morn-
ings a summer fog or mist mull
would hang over the countryside.
The sun would, burn it off later,
but in the early hours it gave
the pasture lane something of a
magic roadway into fairyland.
The stick I carried, which stood
by day at the pasture bars and
by night in the tie-up, was to
touch up, laggards, but it also
helped as a wand to conjure the
numerous miracles that took
place along the way -- and a
morning Jane is practically beset
with miracles. ,
"Well, about a hundred yards
from the bars stood a sentinel
pine where the ground was cov-
ered with needles. It was, like a
tunnel. Almost every morning
we'd surprise, an old crow who
was guarding his hearthside up
there. I guess he sat looking far
off to discern marauding hordes
at the horizon, and neglected his
cellar window. All at once he'd
realize the enemy had sapped
him, so he'd squawk and fly
away in a sky-rending caco-
phony of raucous discord.'
One morning I heard small
voices up there,,so I climbed the
pine and got me one: 'With
skinned knees arid elbaWs, for it
was a lofty climb, I came down
with the youngster inside my
shirt, and we became fast
friends. Of all the useless things
in all the world, I suppose a pet.
crow is the most useless, but he
was sort of fun and he probably
kept me from adopting worse
hobbies. So, this may be news
for lovers of bluebirds and or- °
ioles, but I lean toward the black
old' crow as a harbinger and song-
bird friend — by John Gould ,in
.the Christian Science Monitor.
FARM' FRONT
lssell
-- •
It ie .clicering to note that the
U.S. nation's sehool etltninietra-
tore have at, long laet struck tack
at that growing and insidious in,
fluence• in the high schools.— the
standardized tests.
In the post-war years, with
mounting earoilments and in-
ereaeed competition for pieces in
college, secondary sehools have
relied more and more each year
on aptitude and college entrance,
examinations as a means of sepa-
rating, with the. least possible
mental anguish on the part of the
.teacher, the intelleetuai sheep
from the ignorant goats. Last
year, an estimated '123,000 U.S.
high school students took one
such test, that prepared by. the
College Entrance Examination
Board and used by many colleges
es a gauge to awarding scholar-
ships and granting admissions..
The report released this week
at the national convention of
principals and superintendents in
Atlantic City, NeT.—appropriate,
ly named "Testing, Testing, Test-
ing" — gives these bad marks,
among others, to the testing pro-
gram as it has been and is ad-
ministered:
(1) Control of curriculum has
been passing to the testers, as.
teachers seek to prepare their
studeleAsto make good test scores.
(2,,isO much credence is put
in the'scores as accurate meas-
urements of a student's ability.
The tests require one "right"
answer; alternate answers fre-
quently given by the brightest.
students are not acceptable.
(3) Although even the test
makers recognize the limitations
of their product,. the tests have
eome to mean academic life or
death, to the college-bound stu-
dent. The mass-produced: tests
can rate students only in tasks
that can be performed with pen-
cil and paper,
(4) More and .mote school time
is devoted to • testing, including
much duplication. There is a vast
waste of time and money.
The school 'administrators. do ,
not advocate abolition of the
tests. After all, they do serve an •
essential purpose. There must be
some statdardized testing, &vete:.
when imperfect, to help in ideneSs
Sfying students' capacities:. But
there is a. 'great need for
reevaluation Of testing programs
and realization among teachems
Students and their parents that e
the tests—including the LQ. tests
—are but one means of measur-
ing a student's aPtitudesor level
of knowledge,' and an imperfect
one at that. The school admin-
istrators at Atlantic City have •
helped to that end merely by the
publication of their report..
—(Portland) Oregonian
Bought Cheaply —
Brought Big Drices DRIVE CAREFULLY — The
life you save may be your own. ISSUE' 18 — 1962
CROSSWORD
PUZZLE
IS, Expand
29, Essential as, Hedge plants
36. Smart slaps
38. Help 39. Syllable of
hesitation
41 Delighted
42. Feminine
name
43. Opzo
44, Legume
45. IneNper14
enced
46, Choler
4'7. Tip
lit,
8, Means of
passage
9, Draw off
10. Crease •
11, Seaweed
17. Taro paste
19, Carried over
(rtb.)
22, Young
women
23, Eng, painter
24, Specialist in
planning
meals
25, Fancy
26, Eagle's nest
27. Food fish
DOWN
1. Incarnation
of Vishnu
2, Death notice
3, reduction
4. A household 5, Duty
6, Curve
7 Oihhon
• . .
At Sotheby's auction house in
London, a half-century's accumu-
lation of modern art was' knock-
ed down in less than an hour.
Reason for the sale, as explained
by emeritus collector Somerset
Maugham in a preface to the. ca-
talogue: "Even if. I were only
going out to dinner I could not
be sure that a thief would not
take the opportunity to steal one
or two of my pictures. For many
years they had given me great
pleasure; now they were an
anxiety. I decided to sell them."
Top price: $224,000 for a 'twin-
sided Picasso — "Death of a Her-,
lequin" and "Woman Sitting in
Upsidedown to Prevent. Peeking
4 2. iiiiim, II 7 fl 51 .7 10 Cl
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ill IlltaillilliMill . 1111
A Small town is one where
'someone chats on the phone even
if he has the wrong ritimber.
ACROSS
1. Prowl
5. Soaps,one
9, Overmuch
12 cleric
13, Trish
exclamation
14. Tune
1fi.,1”ster, India
16 Penn, 'Dutch
dish
18. Encounter
20 Not es
21. Self
22. nhicrophy114
hearing cell:,
in lichens
2'7 Habitat
29 Mellow an salmi fish
31 Anthropoid
nangrr
33 Ever bred
3 I Field of
vision
35 Brea th I ng
sound
in ltnstri,ln
37 Ner ,ssitate$
35. Spire
ornament
40 Four
41 Adonis
44 Hhvg-hty
49 Pole green
co l or
51, Auricle
51„ Tap. Buddlo.
monastery
62 artery et
cabbage
its Reverence
Si Transtnit
55 Cracicle Answer elsewhere on this page
A Word About,Crows
From An. Old Friend
The crows returned to Maine,
this year, on the 14th and 15th
of March, which may or may not
be on schedule. The 14th was a
lovely day overhead, but still
snowbound b e 1 o w, and the
warmish southerly breeze
brought the crows back in great
swirling flocks. On the morning
of the 15th, they' had settled in,
and I was roused in the first
glimmer of morning by an old
veteran whose salute from a
pine on the knoll gets just the
right leverage to start the •wall-
paper in my bedroom. Winter's
back, they say, is broken, and
from now out we're on the down-
hill side.
The crow has always inter-
ested me, for he is a bird that
hardly fits the definitions of the
Auduboners, yet he does just
about anything that is done by
the robin, bluebird and finch He
comes and goes with the chang-
ing season, he sings -to me pleas-,
antly from yonder bush, he is
friendly and industrious,, ,end he
is as good a harbinger as we need,
That his voice is uncultiVated,
even unharrowed, is perhaps not
his fault, and that 'his plumage
is undecorative is unfortunate.
If he isn't as cute and as perky
as the warblers, at least there is
more "of him to love. In the
" springs'Azpon his return, he is al-
ways fat,
In the fall, when the day has
arrived and a brisk northerly
wind is forecasting the time to
come, the crows assemble for
their flight south. It isas if they
had a meeting place and an ad-
vertised call from the secretary.
We see them winging in, pur-
poseful and direct, to join the
flock that is making up, and
then they all take off at once•
and go. They come back the
same way. On the 14th the sky
was filled with crows, on the
15th they had fanned out into
what the surveyists would call
the population density. Until fall,
again, the vicinity wilt have just
about so many to the acre, or
square mile, and their congrega-
tions will be local.
It always amuses me to see the
advertising in the catalogs for a
"crow call." This item, listed
postpaid at $1.95, is made from
extra quality black cherry, and
is said to be ".an important step
in duck conservation" because
crows destroy a large amount of
duck and songbird eggs. Spelled
out, this means that• sportsmen,
so-called, tootle on these gadg-
ets to attract the crows and then
shoot them. This conserves ducks,
It amuses., me, because the
crow isn't that sophisticated. As-
suming that you want to attract
crows, you can save $1.95 by
standing under a clump of pines
and yelling caw-caw-caw. Crows,
who are not wise old owls, will
come a great distance to find
out what yoti are trying to do,
FEARLESS Ernst Ahrens-
takes a close look at one of
the 20 poisonous tarantulas
which' he breeds in- his home'
in Duesseldorf, West Ger-
many Ahrens isn't o bit.
afraid of the spiders, but:.,his
fellow tenants are scared to
death of them.
start easily.? Will ,,you have, a
breakdown in the middle of
spray season just because a
pump or engine needed an over-
haul? " • . "-eel
Remember to drain the water
from the spray outfit after-you
try it out the first time and again
every night if you are applying
early dormant sprays on fruit
trees. As long as we have freez-
ing temperatures at night there
is danger of the pump being
cracked when the water freezes
in it.
Does orchard spraying take too'
long? Before you buy a bigger
outfit take a careful look at your
equipment for filling the spray
tank. Is the water supply close
'to the orchard or do you waste
a lot of time driving back and
forth from a distant supply?
Perhaps you need more than one
place to fill up? Or you might
haul water by truck direct to the
sprayer or to a supply tank. Have
you thought of a large catch
basin -on a main tile drain as a
water supply, or a farm pond?
Is there lots of water or do you
run out before noon? Is the sup-
ply tank large enough and will
the water pump keep up with the
demand? ,,
Does the job of filling take too
long? Is there a large outlet
valve on the supply tank ;so that
you can fill quickly? Is the out-
let arranged so that you can
drive tinder it easily and not
have to do a lot of jockeying to
get into the right position?
Where do you keep your spray
materials, measures, and scales?
Right beside the water supply?
Cr do you like ng?
Are there wet spots in the or-
chard where you get stuck, The
answer may be an underdrain, or
do you need larger tires on the
sprayer?
The sugar maple, famous for
syrup, candy, and autumn beauty
is undergoing dramatic changes
little noticed by the• public.
The traditional spring "sugar-
in' off" was not 'as abundant as
it was 20 years ago in New
England:
The sugar maple industry as a
whole has suffered'a general de-
cline since. 1950, says Linwood
Leshure, of Ashfield Mass.; a
'recognizedauthority on the sugar
maple. Some, of the reverses have'
been economic, some natural,
some man-made.
.1. • •
'The sugar maple itself has
other .evoes• than just that of eco-
nomic slowdown. Existence ,of
-the:, tree, itself is threatened by
indiscriminate cutting in 'some
areas for use of the lumber in
bowling and,• house-building in-
dustries and. by.. blight. .
Production of maple .syrep,.
'which is used as sYrup. Oils'pare:
cakes or as candy, has. become
impractical for the small farmer.
• S • •
The latter, once the basic pro-
ducer for the industry, has found
that he cannot make a profit
when the market price fox:a gal-
lon of maple syrup is $6, and a
laborer receives $12 or more a
day.
Through the 1920's, a gallon of
syrup and a day's enrages would
be about the same, and, the farm-
er could hire outside help for the
maple tapping. Now, with the
wage twice as great, the farmer
must leave his sugaring for other,
more economically sound fields.
• *
Mr. Leshure points out that
modern methods of organization
and tapping, such as central boil-
ing camps, direct connections
between tree and: evaporator, oil
heating for, the boiling-dawn
vats, new 'agents to, heal tap
holes, and modern transportation,
have helped, to reduce posts,
Buteincreaeed use of cane sugar
as a sweetener ands, poor sap
flows in recent years, have tend-
ed to depress the industry.
• ,. •
Sugar maple wood is hard and
durable, able to withstand con-
stant and' heavy use, For this
reason,. says Mr. Leshure, the
bowling' and house 'building in-
dUstries consume a great amount
of Wood for bowling pins, alleys,
and flooring.
The small farmer, tillable to
'exist by the syrup market, is
attracted by the' $60 a cord paid
by bowling and building inter-
. lasts for' maple. The fanner al-
loVes these ceriberne to cut his
trees. The Currentpopularity of
bowling and the high turn-over
in product (a bowling piri lags
only three, months) have encour-
aged' thinning of the maple
forests. ,,,
Other problems include the
construction of roads through
stands Of maples, indiscriminate
use of weed sprays, unusual
Variations in Soil and air temper-
atures, lowering water tables,
and the spread of a
Organizations such as the
Berkshire Pine and Maple. Asso-
ciation, the Thepartments of Pa-
thology of Vermont,. Cornell, and
Pennsylvania *Universities, and
the United States Oovetrimbnt,
have been. studying the situation,
but nothing ,eonclUsive as to a
definitiVe cause' for• the blight.
These ideas from C. B. Kelly,
O.A.C. botanist, May help you' cm
betted - job spraying orchards
this allinftiet.
Have you had your 'Orchard
sprayer bid yet to see' if it needs
SOine repairs t' replacements
Better check the nozzlea, edreeriS,
valves, pressure regulator, hose
and Connections, if .Yati haVen't
done ite already. Will the etigino
Otoi•48 TALE —These poniOs take (IMO out' to eat lunch and
take a drink from their bathtub style fountain Leave::
Worth, Kon. OWIide Leo A. Well aet Watering tub. Skowt titiitY• SlOrii Ottill Org.-Ohl" itialtlif *lilt photo of 04 Lai Ah§dItii C:ify He'd 16\0 titifiipiefil iti
•