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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1981-07-29, Page 8is Ik Paw b-Laclmow Sentinel, Wednesday, July 291 I981 The •The Sepoy 'ow&' E ts*llahed 1873 rarmers'voice important The Ashfield Township Federation of Agriculture is in danger of folding unless the members show enough interest to come out to meetings. The executive has been experienc- ing xperienceing poor involvement from the members of the organization and for .the'past two years the annual meeting has been unable to elect new officers to the executive because, of a lack of interest in the positions. The present executives served a two year term and wishes to step down so the positions can be replaced with new blood. This year's annual meeting saw only eight members show which made elections impossible. Murray Elston, MPP. for Huron -Bruce, who attended the meeting, commented that pressure on a majority govern- ment can only be effective if local organizations such as the township federations remain active and strong. He observed that with the introduction of the Ontario Con- solidate Hearing- Act, organizations will have to become in- creasingly better coordinated in their efforts to make • government listen, because there will be only one chance to voice objections. If the Ashfield federation does fold, it would be a serious loss to the farmers'. voice in our area. The problem of absentee foreign ownership in the township is still cause for great concern and the proposed power routes to take hydro power from the Bruce Nuclear Power Development to southwestern Ontario will almost certainly run through this The federations' participation in lobby groups who went to Ottawa and Toronto during the past two years have played a significant role in the assistancefarmers have I received. While everyone has not been .satisfied with the' government programs, they have been announced follow- ' ing farmers' visits to Ottawa and Queen's Park. As Elston said pressure on a majority government can only . be effective if the local organization is well co- ordinated and strong. The farmers in this area should not lose the opportunity to bring this kind of pressure to bear on our federal and provincial governments at a time when farmers' concerns are of major importance. The Ashfield federation should -be growing stronger. It has a role to play in these tough economic times. Lobster Anyone? Some foods are more difficult to eat than others. Can you imagine the first person to eat a lobster? He must have been brave. Even today — millions of years after that first taste -- some people can't bring themselves to crack open the bright red animal on their plate. Pity the white meat hiding underneath is delicious. Lobsters are .difficult to eat because their bones are on the outside — they. have what's called an 'exoskeleton. Imagine how difficult it would be to move if your skin. were made of bone' Lobsters have 10 legs, so they get along just fine. People who eat lobster need special tools to get through the hard exoskeleton; You could say that lobsters are left handed -- their left claw is .much larger than their right: If you're ever handling a live lobster, this is the claw to watch out for. It's called a "c'rusher" and that should give you a fair idea of what it can do. Many people wisely tape this claw shut.1 • There are several types of lobsters. just as there are several types of dogs. The lobsters We eatare called "itmarus Americanus" and.are found in he salty ocean water off the east coast. This type of lobster is the St, Bernard of lobsters. The. largest Homarus in the world weighed 10.25 kg and is on display in the Boston Museum of Science. Fishermencatch lobsters in traps, or pots that are .dropped over the side of Cape Islander boats. The lobsters crawl in and are kept alive until just before eating. Lobsters can last up to 24 hours out of the sea if they're kept cool. Many lobster restaurants have salt water aquariums to keep lobsters alive in. Despite their unusual appearance on a plate. lobsters are delicious, Go to your nearest lobster restaurant and get cranking! ' (e) Canada Wide Feature Ser'riices Limited by MacKay Fairfield 'Tate OM[Wag ?f ,. t C C eafC +240 _10,14. SHARON .i. MElZ • Editor ANTHONY.N, JOHNSTONE , (Advertising sad General Manager. PAT'LIVINGSFQN •.Office Manager MERLE ELLIOTT -r Typesetter . .JOAN HELM - Composition Business and Editorial Office Telephone' 5282822 Mailing Address P.O, Box 400, •tucknow, NOG 2110 Seeend Clnis Mail Registration (Number -084? Se,. bacrlptlsa rate, lfI13.50 pea yen to advanFe• S.nlor Clem n t., $11.80 per year 111 adveace U.S.A.; amid Parelgq,.02a1.00 par yam. ln advance Sr, Ch. U.S.A. and PorsIgn, $21.08 *yea la advance redtrees Two. `Lucknow area children, Meagan, left, and : Catlin Clarke, centre right, are participating in the Blyth Summer Festival's children'stheatre workshop, Second Stage. The group presentedplay,. Free to Be You and Me, on the afternoons of Ju1�21 and the evening of July 21. The girls are daughters of Ian and Sheila Clarke, Kinloss Township. (Sentinel staff photo) by Don Campbell William Blake lived with the memory of the wife who did not live long enough to share his prosperity. The Georgia style house, built in ac- cordance With her wishes, was just as much a monument to Dora Blake as was the little white tombstone on the rising ground beyond the barn. The, house, sarcastically named "Blake's Folly" by William's envious neighbours, seemed to hold the last precious memories of .Dora. Many times, Blake had theught about retur- ning to the warmer clunes of the south land, but the ghost of Dora would not allow him to say goodbye to Rich- mond trill. There was a much softer side to appearance Blake than his outward _ . would have people believe. His long, lonely hours spent with the whisky jug did little to ease his inner grief and the apparent hatred for those who did not share his dogmatic religious beliefs was, in reality, only a faI a front of the real William Blake. One day ass Chippy Chisholm and Hamish Murdoch worked in the bush Blake paid them an unexpected visit. "You need a team of horses, chains and a wagon," Blake said. "The way you are goin' you ain't wantin' to help Bechard, but it is a pity to see you struggle with the logs. My team ain't Join' no good standin' idle in the barn. You are welcome to 'em until I need 'ern again," He walked away, then as an after- thought he paused and called out: "I don't suppose either of you gave. o thought to the sawn lumber you'll be wantin' - the shingles for othe roof or the glass for the winders. Get what you need in the village and put it on my account I guess Bechard will pay me in the spring, even if he is a Catholic!". • This unexpected twist in the at- titude of Blake came as a surprise to Chippy and Hamish. Later, when they, became more used to pioneer living,: they discovered that "neighbours" in Upper Canada were people whom you were obliged to help, whether you lik- ed them ikk-edthem or not. Even after dark, Chippy and Hiunish trimmed the logs by the light of the lantern. On the evenings when Neil Ma � finished his chores early he would come to help and by the time the first few flakes of snow brought the coming of winter, they were laying sawn planks on the roof rafters. What little time she could spare, Flora alsogave in labour on the cabin. Once when Neil saw her on' the root, hammering nails into the shingles, he, trilled her to come down ' at once and "hae a little mare respect fine the wee bairn." Flora laughed back at him and tapped her abdomen in jest, "Dints worry about ye laddie. Maybe he'll take the ,notion tae be a carpenter and no a tootin' shepherd like his dad- dy!" The builders concerned themselves with enclosing the "wee hoose". There would be lots of time during thi winter to work on refinements to the interior. One essential item occupied Chippy u1 the evenings. From rough field stone he fashioned the masonry for the chimney. The hearth and fireplace was large and deep. It would have done credit to a "laird's castle" Chippy said, but even a Scottish laird could not boast a fireplace so colour- ful in natural stone. Early' in December, the cabin was at last closed against the ravages of the coming winter. With the temperatures dipping toward the freezing point, it was time to think of gathering food for the winter. ailppy borrowed a musket from William Blake and set out into the bush in h ofd. workcould do little of the interior required the skilled hands of a carpenter like Chippy. So it was back to the chopping of frees and the burning of branches and brush. Choppy had not come back by the time an angry looking sun had set in the west. Hamish waited for hint in the firelight of the cabin, whilst a hardwood log crackled and spluttered in the hearth. He waited so long that Flora came to see what was keeping them from supper but Hanish would not leave the cabin until Chippy returned. Flora went back to Blake's Folly and told Neil and William Blake about her conceal for Chippy. Neil wanted there and then to find the old seaman, n,aman, blit Blake restrained hin . "Net let your heart rule your head," Blake advised. "You .will never find"hien in the bash after dark. It would be like trying to find a needle in haystack." They waited in vain. Even when the clock in Blake's Folly chink mid- night, Chippy had not returned!