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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1975-05-14, Page 5Sogar.and: Spice by Bill Smiley s Did you ever go around feeling good all' the time, and have to stop and wonder why? That's been happening to 'me all week. I find myself whistling, tossing cheery salutes to colleagues and generally feeling as though I'd just won a lottery. "Settle down, boy. This,isn't like you," I admonish me. I am, not normally a gloom-pot, but neither do I go around . grinning like an idiots. My wife, early in our acquaintance, nicknamed Me "Stoneface." My average expression could probably be described aS saturnine. That's why I was a little alarmed to find myself breaking into broad smiles -this . week, When I actually found myself being jolly with the boss, I knew it was "time, to stop and pull myself together. "'Look, Bill,' I said to myself,"you have not been drinking; 'You are riot senile; nobody has left you a large sum of money. Pull yourself together. Why are you going around all hummy inside like a little old humming-bird?" And then it struck,me. Pokey is in'town. Pokey, if you came in late; is Nipov Chen. Sieber, my grand-babby, all rosy, satin cheeks and huge brown eyes and golden hair and little white teeth and twenty-two pounds of hellery of him. Some of you will. remember an old. song that went, "Sugar in the morning, sngar in the evening, sugar at supper time.,." Those ancient, spavined ladies who were once the fabulous Andrews Sisters, made it ' a hit. • Well, that's what it is like when,, my grandbabbyls around. It's sugar first thing, in the morning; when I get down for breakfast. The sugar consists of a little lig of glee, two big eyes, a tiny white grin, and two wee arms thrust up, demanding a pickup, a dozen or se kiSses, a. dandle, a song, a little soft-shoe shuffle, and , anything else that the old man can muster for the early service,. = , Of course, it's all a plot, me this. The kid has been trained from birth to • know who has the monekiii the faMily, whom , is the softest touch, the biggest sucker., ,. But reason is washed away by the floods of emotion when the downy head snuggles into one's neck, or the tiny finger goes into the air, pointing it a suri-refiection on the wall, or the sturdy little body, proceeding like a bishop on ;roller. skates, marches to the fire-irons, picks up the poker, and gravely hands itto one; ignOririg everyone else in the room. .. So. The hell with reason. I'm making a new will. My wife has practically everything else tied up: but the kid is getting.my rubber waders and fishing rod, my golf clubs, my 25 shares of mining stocks, and the beautiful foot-:stool that his great-grandfather, on his father's side, fashioned with his own hands . That's all I won, but it should set him up pretty well for life, And that may be only a start'. We took him to see his other great-grandad on the weekend. It was quite a symbolic, touching meeting, their first. There was a little more than eighty years between them, but they were close buddies from the start. Great-Grandad was waiting, arms open. Great-Grandbabby stuck out his arms. Great-Grandad's eyes got all red around the edges. Great-Grandbabby grinned. It was as simple as that. For the rest of the weekend, there really wasn't anybody else around of much account. There was only one clock-of-the- walk, all 15 months of him. This despite, or because oftlie fact that' Great-Granclbabby, had no less than the following heeding his every wish: one great-great-aunt, two 'great-aunts, two great-uncles, one gran, one grandad, one mother and four assorted' cousins, young enough to be .his brothers and sisters. Talk about a spoil-rotten kid! To my mind, this is the Way a baby should be brought up, amidst a veritable horde of people who love him because, he is a beautiful baby, and love him even more because he is theirs r with all that fine blood This -` still happens among a few primitiVe tribes, but has 'almost Vanished from our vaunted western society, where even grannies and grandadS,let alone the "greats", are neatly tucked away into nursing homes where they are lucky to get a'perfunctory visit once a month from their own children, let alone ever 'have:a chance cuddle and kiss the tiny ones, who bear . their blood and boneS and spirit. • No child in this world has ever been `spoiled by 'a surfeit of love. And 'who has 'more time and love to give• than the "grands" and the "greats"? At-any rate, as I told my daughter after she had come in from pacing off her grandfather's land, "That boy obviously knows which side his bread is buttered on. You have trained him well. He has me hooked. He has his great-grandfather ' hooked: If he plays his cards right, he might wind, up as, a member of the landed gentry, as well as the owner of a 15-year-old pair of hip waders." iii do iet It1 111 r. OPNOTCH TOPNOTCH FEEDS LIMITED Ontario is the first province Canada. to include an organ donor section on drivers' licences. according • to Minister • of Transportation and. Communica- tion John Rhodes. Mr, Rhodes .said the • licence form has been redesigned to include a legal declaration which. allows drivers to donate or allow transplantatien. of human organs. after death. . • "A driver who has. reached the age of majority (18 in Ontario) has only to indicate his-wishes, then sign the declaration," Mr-Rhodes explained. .. The Minister. went on to - point BOB THOMAS out drivers are not obligated to sign the organ donor section of the licence. If a driver doesn't want to become a donor, lie can detach and destroy this section of his licence, "We sincerely hope that those, among the more than four Million licensed Ontario drivers who are eligible will consider taking advantage of this declaration," Mr. Rhodes said. 'Outside the. Legislature, Mr Rhodes preserited the first of the • new licences to Dr. George A. deVeber, chairman of the Organ Donor Program; Committee,. the. Kidney Foundation of Canada, and director of 'the. Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation Program at Toronto . Western. Hospital. He praised Dr, deVeber who, played a vital role in, bringing the idea of a donor declaration to his„. attention, The new - licences with the attached donor declaration will begin to be distributed this week as part of the normal renewal' process based on drivers'. birth dates at a rate of -about 60,000 licences a week. Those drivers whose' licences have recently been renewed and who would' like to obtain a separate donor declaration, 'may contact any driver examination centre, district or regional office of the Ministry's Drivers arid Vehicles Division. Ontario drivers orga ns .. can .donate:, Son of Mr. and Mrs.CharleS Thomas of Brussels, Ontario recently graduated from Centralia You only look College of Agricultural. . ' Technology in the Agricultural ' as 'good . Business Management program. • Bob plans to work for Nu-Teck as you feel. , Farms 'Ltd., Brussels. Hoppe For Values WEEK-END SPEtIALS PATIO BROOMS — MAGNETIC BROOMS . ..... .99 Lawn & Garden RAKES — HOES — -2.29 GARDEN SHOVELS — 5.29 HOPPE HOME. HARDWARE Phone 887-6525 Brussels •••••=10..."- . --"\111111 SPRING REQUIREMENTS STILL AVAILABLE Funks Seed Corn Seed Grain Grass Seed Fertilizer Farm Chemicals 4 Also Fencing 'Needs Brussels, 887 6011 tHt :'BRUSSELS. Oar; MAY o the Edithi .Soaforth students • . • to* public to Centennial play . To the Editor: - - The students and staff of Seaforth Public • School wish to take' this opportunity to extend an invitation to the• public to join us in celebrating Seaferth's 100th birthday by attending Mir produetion of "Salute to Seaforth" - To dispel any misconceptions, "Salute to Seaforth" is an ORIGINAL stage production written and produced at Seaforth Public Scheel as A Centennial tribute to the Town of Seaforth. The for the musical history' WAS sparked by the 1985-56 "Crossroads" production Written by Prof. James Scott of Seafottli,The CONTENT is . based on Miss Belie Campbell's boa "History of Seaforth", "Salute to Seatorth' is Written in nine scones and a number of intethideS Which ontlhie a develointientai history of the area: It begins in the ISJO'S just after the death of Col. Anthony Van tgitiond and concludes with the return of Van Egmorid, Dunlop, and. James Dickson (The first M.P.) in 1975. The east totals 125 characters. They are assisted by two Choirs totalling 90 OUrigaters from Gr, 3 8, and the 'production Wain itiVOIVeS. most of the School';; students from Gr, 1 to 8. Where' possible, stage sets have' incorporated items dating back to the 1800'S. The production nights are Wednesday, May 21, Thursday 22, and Friday May 23 st 8..60 P.M, Tickets are $1.00 and are available froth the school. We want the public to join with its as we roll back the years td the days of "dtridebeard Swamp' and the thriving hamlets of 8giTiotidville and Harptirhey. Yenta truly, Publicity. and Tickets Seddon SeaferthPilblic School