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The Citizen, 1987-05-13, Page 5West Wawanosh auction Going back in time PHOTOS AND STORY BY TOBY RAINEY When Old Order Mennonites Bill and Mary Shetler and their son George, all of St. Helen’s, decided to quit farming because of the pressure of other commitments, they called in Wingham-area auctioneer Brian Rintoul to con­ duct their sale, the first one of its kind Mr. Rintoul had ever handled, although he'had helped auctioneer Dave Carson of Listowel with a similar sale near Milverton. It was all in a day’s work for the 200 or so Mennonites who came from as far away as the U.S.A, to bid on the horse-drawn machinery and livestock, but for most of the other two to three hundred people who came and went throughout the day, it was like going back in time to a gentler and slower way of life. The machinery, neatly laid out in rowsbeside the still farm pond, included such pieces as a Dion thresher/shredder and long feed­ er, a John Deere 4-row corn planter, an International Harve­ ster corn scuffler, several wooden­ wheeled carts and wagons, and a bob sleigh, while a number of the Belgian horses to be sold were shown to harness before the bidding began. Mr. Rintoul said that the prices bid were excellent, far surpassing his expectations: the horse-drawn thresher went for $800, a two­ wheeled cart for $700, and a corn binder for $500. Prices on the working Belgians were good, too, with an older mare in foal topping the list at $1,900, while a yearling colt sold for $1,400. All 10 horses went to Mennonite homes to continue their lives in harness, with several of them staying in the St. Helen’s area. The Shetler’s cattle and pigs were also sold, as was their butchering equipment, small equipment and hand tools, team and single harnesses and a saddle, along with 890 kg. of cream quota, 325 kg. of it unused. Mr. Rintoul said that antique dealers from far and wide were also on hand to bid on the several pieces of fine antique furniture and smaller items offered, all of which fetched excellent prices. George Shetler is now working at a local sawmill, but Bill Shetler will continue to operate and expand his machine shop and small engine repair at St. Helen’s, while Mary Shetler and the rest of the family will continue to run the small store on the farm which deals basically in THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1987. PAGE 5. An array of horse-drawn farm machinery was the top attraction at the St. Helens auction on Saturday, but many of the crowd of 40(F-500 that attended came for the old-world atmosphere of a Mennonite auction. bulk foodstuffs, but also has a far-reaching reputation as the best bakeshop in the county, with home-made pies, breads, cinna­ mon buns and even fresh-churned butter, such as most of us can only dream of, available every Saturday afternoon. A number of fine Belgian work horses sold for good prices at the Shetler auction, but horse-trading was going on in other parts of the West Wawanosh farm as well. their way from the farmhouse kitchen to the Shetler’s small store, where they are sold, along with other home-baked goods, every Saturday of the year. 1987 - the year of the left hand BY RAYMOND CANON To start things out, a skill-test­ ing question. What do I have in common with such illustrious people as Charlie Chaplin, Danny Kaye, Charlemagne, Harpo Marx, Babe Ruth and Harry Truman? Give up? Well, we are all left-hand­ ed and over the years we have come in for more than our share of abuse. For this reason I am hereby declaring 1987 the Year of the Left Hand and, stealing a line from Karl Marx, I am moved to say, “Left-handers of the world, unite You have nothing to lose but your chains.” How many of us are there? I recall that one class I was in could count on no less than 25 per cent as writing with the left hand although that was admittedly an exception. In the United States there is calculated to be about 6 - 8 per cent while one report out of England claimsthatno fewer than lOper cent of the kids in school in that country are southpaws. Frankly, I doubt that few governments know or really care, hence my decision to establish 1987 as a special year for us. I’ve got tired of waiting for governments to act. From what I am able to find out, early man was even handed and a trend toward letting the right hand do things only seems to have started a few thousand years ago. Even at that it was a bit touch and go and, with any luck on our side, we could have been the majority. Understanding as we are, I can assure you that we would have beem much more tolerant and kind to any right-handed minority. There was a time when the left hand was in the ascendency. The Greeks had a word for it; they still do in fact. The word ‘aristera’ like the word aristocracy, contains the idea of best. The Latin word ‘sinister’ originally meant fortu­ nate, because Rome’s soothsayers faced south and looked to the east, (or left) for auspicious signs. It was only centuries later when they started looking north that sinister came to mean ‘ill-omened.’ Maybe the thought of all those Germanic tribes such as the Vandals, Ostro­ goths and Visigoths coming down from the North did the trick. The first alphabetic scripts were written, all of them, from right to left and some of them, such as Hebrew and Arabic, still do. Greek and Latin writing was also in that direction until about 400 B.C. Fora while many people in these countries went from right to left along one line, left to right along thenextandsoon, justasif they were ploughing a field. Until recently the Chinese were writing and printing in vertical columns ranged from the right to the left. It was only when Chinese govern­ ments came under the influence of Karl Marx that this century-old practice was changed. There are a number of theories why societies switched from left to right. Strangely enough, the one which is the most logical is also in a way the most appealing is that north of the equator, where most people have always lived, there is the question of sun-worship. The sun always seems to move to the right or clock-wise. Sun worship has permeated a great many religions and so Buddist prayer wheels came to turn clockwise, pilgrims at Mecca started to walk clockwise around the Kaaba and the right hand was exalted above the left in the Bible. Christian priests came to give destral blessings and any old women who were found wandering around in a counter-clockwise direction were burnt as witches. Muslimswere told that God had two right hands since the left hand was considered to be unclean and associated with death and the devil. Even Christ went up to sit at the right hand of God, the Father. With things like that stacked against us, how could we win? I would hate to tell you what all the words in the languages I know and which have to do with left-handed also have unpleasant connotations. Even the Russians have got into the act. To get something naleva in Russia (on the left) means to get it on the black market. We can’t even win in the workers’ paradise. Whenlcameto Canada, Iwas toldthatifleverwanted tobe a ball player, 1 had better learn how to pitch since left-handers could, it was claimed, throw a natural curve. I took that as ultimate truth and during the next three years I practised pitching by marking out a space on a nearby factory wall, measuring off the distance that existed between home plate and the pitcher’s mound and then throwing at a space 17” across and whatever distance it was between the knees and the shoulder. I practised throwing my “natural” curve, change of pace, fast ball, drop and upshoot. I then announc­ ed to anybody that would listen that I had become a pitcher. This brought forth universal bursts of laughter which only subsided when I was able to persuade them to let me pitch. 1 proceeded to strike out the first six batters. This also has afinancially happy ending. My ability to pitch paid for about half of my university education. Included in this is the goal of every pitcher - a no-hitter. I can only wonder just how many left-handed compliments I was paid during this time!