HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-05-30, Page 2-SerVing Brussels and the surrounding )community
published, each Wednesday afternoon .at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros, Pu6lishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley - Advertisin2
Meniber Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.'.
Subscriptions fin advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others
$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each.
Second class, mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
End experiment
We're "going back to basics" de-
clares the Canadian Statesman of
Bowmanville in speaking of the trends
in education today. Says the Bow-
manville editor:
"It's been a long time going full
circle, but there are indications
that even some of the professional
educators and school trustees who
have had a wonderful time experi-
menting over the years, are realiz-
ing that some of the old mundane
school subjects, such as English,
may be worthwhile. Joy to the world!
Can it be that graduates are again
going to be able to spell, read and
write instead of wandering through
life without quite ,knowing what the
English language is all about? Un-
heard of:
It seems to us that there have
been so many changes in the curricu-
lum since the age of permissiveness
began, that part of the reason why
students are leaving school in ever
increasing numbers, is because they
are confused and disillusioned.
We can only hope that the trend
back continues, that students will
be taught how to read and write. A
few years ago there was quite a panic
program when 'it was suddenly discov-
ered that reading was rather impor-
tant in learning almost anything.We
have't heard much of remedial read-
ing in the past couple of years, but
do hope that it is still being stres-
sed. We'll never understand why it
was neglected.
A return to compulsory basic
subjects in our opinion is highly
desirable and overdue; we've been
fooling around far too long."
Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley
"What's the password?''''
One minute you are a Dad, in your
prime, just a broth of a boy taking a
breather after raising a family. The next,
you are a Grandad, doddering, heading into
the lean and slippered p antaloon stage.
That's what happened to me this week.
Over the phone,, long-distande, a familiar
and dear voice asked with a giggle, "Hi,
Dad; how'd you like to be a grandfather?"
Immediate reaction was, "Oh, nor'
Followed at once, as I realized the enor-
mity of my mistake, by, "Oh, yes!. Great!' '
The kid then talked to her mother, but
for some reason, didn't mention the main
item on the agenda. She left that to me.
When I'd picked the Old Lady off the
floor, fanned her back into consciousness,
and wiped away the tears the whole thing
Struck me in its bleak truth.
Here we were. Not even middle-
aged, except by the calendar. My wife
still attracts whistles. I still have an
eye for a thigh at the beach. And we're
about to be plunged hack into a world
Of bottles and nappies and colic' and
constipatiOn and talcum powder.
At firSt it seemed AS though someone
Was playing a practical joke. But for-
tunately, the resilience of human nature
came into play and we bounced back to
not only acceptance, but anticipation.
"That girl should be right here with
me," announced her mother.. “if she's
as sick as I always WAS ," And Was.
She sick! 'She threw up every day, all day,
until you could see the insides of her
hee18. This lasted for about four months,
with each of them, It runs in the family,
Her mother was the sane.
I Used to bring my wife tea, and
sbiip, cold drinks and het, and everything
cattle tip. think the babies would
appear looking like something Out Of
Nelsen or 'Buchenwald But then she'd
Settle down, eat like a hyena for three
itionthS, and produce a little fe.tSt),
however, maybe the child will escape
this, 'Modern girls don't seem to do
anything the way their mothers did, test
night she was eating beef as thoUgh the'
last steer in the world had been
slaughtered, and today she was out raking
the lawn,
Anyway, I'm' new leoking at the positive
side, I can hardly wait for the kid to
arrive, I've been watching the television
commercials for those diSpOSable dia.perS,
and am keen to have a go at theft,
I've told everybody so often about
how I won the war praCtically single-
handed that all I get now when I casually
mention the Normandy campaign and the
Falaise Gap is a. rolling of eyes, which
then become utterly apathetic. Here
comes a new listener,
And then there are the bed-time stor-
ies. There's nothing finer in life than
to blow and burble in the stomach of a
fresh-bathed child, bundle it into its
nightwear, then launch into a story, with
its eyes wide, the occasional chuckle,
then the eyelids falling and' the gentle
breathing of deep sleep.
So I must dust off some of my dandies.
They were a mixture of Mowgli and Tar-
zan and Kaa the Snake and
the oldest and wisest monkey in
the whole jungle.
They might have been a little confuS-
ing to the adults who had read the books,
but the kids loved theM. Geography got a
bit iniXed. Tigers turned up in Africa,
and Wines in India, but nobody cared.
Sometime I must tell you about how
Mowgii, the wolf boy, after seeking the
advide of MUnkle-Unkle-Unky, scattered
a band of marauding elephants by swing-
ing through the tree-tops and sprinkling
.the ground with thumb-tacks, It Was a
real gas to see those elephants hopping
around on two feet, trying to piCk" Out
thumbtacks from the other feet With their
trunks.
Then there's going to be the, fun of
teaching the little blighter . all sorts of
thingS, if it's a boy, teach him to
fish and swim. If it's .a girl, teach.
tier to swim and fiSh. Their grannie can
teach them all the other things, every-
thing from playing Mozart sonatas to
making out the income tax return. She's
much betWr at practically everything
than L SO she says anyway„
Maybe it'll be 'tWinS, I have a vision
of the Old Lady and me, she sitting with
the boy on her lap, I with the girl on
mine-
'
burping theiti oh a Saturday 'night
While their Mother is out On the town,
One thing worries Me, What kind of
a 'world is the little stranger going to
&OW i nl. I hope the general ti
improves by about 866 per dent in the
next ten yeas s, or, it's not going, 'to be
pretty place- to be young In,
there's- only 'Seven and a halt months
to go„ Wouldn't it be a real bummer,
Alter Vve adjusted so' Well and Made all
these planS4 if it 'turned out to be a 'false
alarm?