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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-11-30, Page 4P4ge 4 aa Wingham Advance-Times, Thursday, NOY. 30, 190? Two More Signs of Progress SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley Armpits and Yanks Just a few observations on life in general, this week. I have no particular theme in mind, but it will probably have emerged by the time we've fin. ished this chore (me writting, you reading). It's fashionable to attack the Yanks, so here goes, I think they're giving us a bum deal in merchandise. If I were a politi. cian, my platform would be, "Let's fortify the border!" Every year, we send them about 50 percent of our best people: artists of all kinds, uni. versity professors, engineers, Better known as the Brain Drain. And every winter, we send then our rich people, hundreds „of thousands, to bol, ster the sagging economies of Florida and California. And what do they send us? Draft dodgers. Deer hunting. A lot of peo- ple are against it. Not me, In fact, if I weren't a teacher, I'd take a week off every fall and join the great slaughter of the deer. Slaughter? There are 10 times as many people killed on the highways as there are deer in the bush. If I thought the species would be wiped out (deer, not people), I'd fight it. But the deer population is in- creasing, chiefly because there are so many lousy hunters, I admit that no completely sane man goes deer hunting. Why would anybody go into the woods in the worst weather of the year, wind and snow, rain and blow, to wander through miles of swamp and slash, swale and burn, drag- ging a dirty great musket and straining his heart to the bursting point, when he could be sitting at home watching a football game on TV? Why? I'll tell you. Because it's the only place in the world where he can escape from com- mittee meetings, a nagging wife, a shrilling telephone, and rotten kids with personality defects. It's the only place in the world where he can get back to the primitive pleasures of man: rude jokes around the fire; a sense of companionship that has nothing to do with money or position; the feeling of battle against the elementsp the absence of all stress except the physical: the eating of half-burned meat; the belching' and breaking of wind; the dreamless sleep of an animal after a day of exhaustion, The killing of the deer is unimportant, He has proved to himself, by George, that there's a little juice in the old carcass yet, that he can take it without whining, and that he's liked for himself, not because he can do something for some- body. This brings us, by a logical association of ideas, to modern theatre. It's concerned with the very same thing; a man trying to prove himself. The deer hunter would laugh at the playwright, and the playwright would laugh at the deer hunt. er. Each would think the other was emotionally crippled, I saw a play last weekend that would have made my little old mother's hair stand on end, Even though she wouldn't have understood it. It is called For- tune and Men's Eyes. Some of the language was straight off the walls of a public lavatory. It's a play that will shock and sicken some people. And perhaps this is not a bad idea, It has pathos and a macabre humor. But lavatory walls are a part of life. There's no sand to put your head in. Only the toilet bowl. And, while this is one way of washing your hair, it is not highly recommended.- This, again by a logical asso- ciation of ideas, brings us to hair. Hair on head is good. We'll agree to that. The bald- ing man suffers, The balding woman dies a thousand deaths, Hair on legs is good if you're a man, bad if you're a girl. Same with arms, Chest? No question, How about armpits? Armpits take us back to deer hunters, and deer hunters to draft dodgers, so the circle is almost complete. And my students, when I give them an essay to write, say, "But sir, what can I write about?" Answer: if you want to be a writer, write. The reason I'm a hit misan- thropic this week is that it's snowing. I hate snow, 00014041 .. oo I oo 01 o 01 . 0 THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at Winghein, Ontario, by Wenger Breit, Liknited W. Barry Wenger, President - Robert 0, Wenger, Secretary-Tress:Suter Member Audit Bureau of Circuits-Mon Metnber Canadian Weekly Newspapers AatiociatiOn, Authorized by the Pest Office bePartinO.nt Ai Second for paynient of Postage In daah tuhicription Rate. 1 year *5.66; 6 itiontlit, $2.15 in advance; (IBA. $1.60 per yr.; Poreign rate, $7.00 per yr, Advertising Bitten on aPPlidillett cirne Christmas gifts build up the body. World Book boil s up the mind. than 7,300 in color—and 1,900 maps, they make learning come alive. World Book gives students invaluable help for homework, writ- ten reports and science projects. This Christmas give your youngsters World Book. Good thinking; Childcraft is the unique gift for younger children. Childcraft The How and Why Library, is the brid betWeen toddlers' toys and school. Its 15 veurnes intro- duce yOur children to literature, history, sci- ence, mechanics and the world in general. Childcraft is the only set of books in the world expressly designed this way to awaken their minds and pre- . serve their curiosity —one of childhood's most valuable assets for mental growth. SEND COUPON TODAY for free reprint of the article "Exploration and DiScovery" froM World Book. Discover for yourself how interestingly World Book presents information for students and adults, T. E. MOSZKOWSKI, P.O. Box 10, Wingham, Ontario. Please send Me, without obligation, your tree reprint of the "Exploration and Discovery" article, CI Give me full details on how to order The World Book Encyclopedia and/or Childeraft,The l-low and Why library, forChristmas delivery, OCEPTONAE EARNING OPPORTUNITY O The rapid growth of our Canadian company has created profitable opportunitiei far responsiblemen and women to represent World Book—part time or full time—right in your own Community. Check thit box to receive full detallt. NAME ADDRESS CITY PROVINCE A Merry Christmas to you from T. E. MOSZKOWSK1 Box 10 Wingham Phone 3574572 It communicates what man has learned .„ 4 into language students can understand. The World Book Encyclope- dia engages your children in mental exercise ... thinking, imagining and problem solv- ing. These activities will continue throughout their education. And lead them on to success. 'To keep up with the changing world, students need information about things that didn't exist when you were in school. World Book makes sure they get it and understand it. Through a national survey of school cur- riculum requirements, World Book's editors know what is being studied in every grade. And, using a national program of actual class- room testing, they make sure World Book meets your children's needs. But the 20 volumes of World Book do more than give a lot of information. They organize facts into the most interesting and usable form. With 25.000 illustrations—more 1•Xt!s,e,r, News Items from .0Id. Files Last week this column mentioned the encouraging indications of progress provid- ed by two housing projects in town. This past week both the Royal Canadian Legion and the Golf Club have announced that they will proceed at once with the con- struction of new buildings to provide pub- lic facilities for the improvement of com- munity living. The Legion's plans include a three hundred seat dining room and appropriate kitchen facilities to handle banquets on a large scale, The Golf Club's new quarters will contain a lounge and some eating fa- For several years there has been a great deal of talk about forthcoming changes in the patterns of local govern. ment—and with Premier Roberts' recent announcement that 1500 school boards will be abolished within the next year, it is plain that the changes are indeed upon us. Provincial Treasurer Charles MacNaugh- ton made it plain at a meeting in Tees- water that we may expect the same sort of change in municipal government, where even county councils are likely to fall in a sweeping overhaul, The Premier's announcement carried the information that the present 1600-odd school boards, both elementary and sec- ondary, will he replaced during the next year by about 100 regional boards which will be responsible for all educational problems within areas roughly based on our present counties. These boards will have charge of both public and high schools. (Regional Separate School Boards seem to be indicated in the plan). There are, of course, distinct advan- tages for our children in the new plan. Chief among these will be the availability of special classes and teachers for those who need them. As one example, consid- erable delay and difficulty was experienced in setting up an opportunity class in the Wingham public school, largely because the number of pupils in need of such a class was small. Under the new plan special instruction of this kind will be provided in a central location if necessary. The same will apply to the use of specialized equipment and teaching aids. Local autonomy, of course, wiil be completely lost—for whatever it has been worth. Frankly, during the past ten years we have come to the conclusion that it isn't worth a great deal, for it has already ceased to exist in all but name. This applies to most local boards—school, hos- pital, town council, etc. The fact is that these boards have become so edged in by In football you can't win games with- out a good defensive team. In an auto- mobile, defensive driving will help' you stay alive. With attention centered on Safe Driving Week, the Canadian Highway Safety Council explains defensive driving like this: "It is learning how to recognize acci- dent-producing situations and how to avoid them. You have to assume the other driver is going to do something unexpect- ed and be ready for it. You have to be alert at all times." As an example of defensive driving the Council mentions the driver who was about to pass another car on the left. The car had its right turn signal on, so passing on the left appeared safe, but the defensive driver noticed there were two farm roads The recent devaluation of the British pound has already had repercussions around the world — and the next few months might well see the onset of the worst recession since the end of the "dirty thirties." Edwin Roth, writing in the London Free Press from London, England, says that it was not world economic conditions which led the British to their woeful and costly decision, but the attitude of the British people, He says, "It is much less a finan- cial and economic crisis than a moral crisis, Britain's sickness is the collapse of industrial discipline, apathy and national demoralization." The writer explains that wage increases have been enforced by strikes or strike threats, even when these increases were neither justified nor earned. In Britain all strikers get very high welfare state pay- ments for their families while they are on aides. Both will fill a need which has been felt here for some years. It is, not the intention of either of these organizations to compete with private en- terprise in the normal course of business, but rather to provide facilities for extra large crowds, in the case of the Legion, and for special customers in a semi-private atmosphere at the Golf Club. Both of these new buildings will add a touch of the modern to our community and help it to keep pace with a rapidly changing world, government regulations that they no longer mean much. True, some have more free- dom of choice than others, but at best they serve largely as handy rubber stamps for the higher levels of authority. If you think we are mistaken just con- sider what happens when a township coun- cil decides to discharge a road superin- tendent, or a town council wants to ter- minate the services of a policeman, or a school board wants to let a teacher go. In every one of these cases firings are dependent upon agreement of some official of government. Can these same boards spend money as they see fit? Of course not. Approval must be had from the Municipal Board or the Department of Education or the On- tario Hospital Services Commission. Why then, continue the election of local boards? Frankly, it's a good ques- tion. They do, of course, relieve the senior governments of a great deal of time-con- suming and costly work. Where could civil servants be found to spend hours and hours every month, usually in the evenings when other people are watching television, working away at the solution of public problems — without any recompense in most cases? The board members are per- mitted to make minor decisions but when- ever the question in hand is of major im- portance the board must await the approv- al of Toronto or Ottawa. The greatest single purpose served by local boards today is in their position as buffers between the taxpayers and the sen- ior governmental bodies. When things go amiss ,they are right there, available to take all the blame and the criticism. The upper levels of government can then step into the breach and assume the role of justice itself with no loss of reputation. Little wonder that it is becoming in- creasingly difficult to persuade men AND women of intelligence to take on the bur- densome tasks of local government. ahead, one left and one right. He waited and his caution paid off. The car he was about to pass turned into the road on the left, although his signal indicated a right turn. If any driver doubts the need for this extra caution he should consider these facts: Nearly 50,000 Americans died on the roads in the United States last year. Traf- fic accidents took more lives among men of military service age than did the fight- ing in Viet Nam. The example comes from the U.S., but Canadians should heed the warning, for there is good reason to believe that the average American driver is now consider- ably more careful on the roads than is his Canadian counterpart. strike. Since the war a unique attitude of laziness, apathy, negligence, unscrupulous- ness and indescribable impudence towards superiors and customers has grown in Britain. To understand why Britain suffers its disastrous and humiliating economic crisis you need go no further than London post' offices, where young clerks with shoulder- length hair wearing hippies clothing, talk with each other while the customers wait —without anyone objecting. The British have become a very resign- ed people. Shoddiness, dirt, bad service and impudence are accepted by most Britons without comment, This particular writer may be biased; he certainly is pessimistic. But in Canada we would do well to heed the warning which is implicit in this view of life in Britain. IT is beginning to happen here. NOVEMBER 1918 George, five-year-old son of Mr. L., Young, president of the Wingham Salt Works, met with en unfortunate accident.. While with a couple of friends the lad was playing at the C. - P, R. turntable Sunday after- noon and he in some way caught his foot when the turn- table was shifted and it was badly smashed. The marriage of Miss Vict- oria J. Bell, youngest daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam Bell to Lance Corporal C.R. Johns, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Johns of Wingham, took place quietly at the home of the bride's sister, Mrs. L. Bray, in Montreal last Wednes- day. She was gowned in white silk crepe de chene with a veil and orange blossoms, and carried a bouquet of white roses and a Union Jack. Did you ever wonder about some of the strange Christmas customs celebrated in other parts of the world? Or how the more usual ways of celebrating Yuletide came into being? The Swedes and Danes make a Christmas practice of baking a loaf in the shape of a boar- pig: the Yule Boar. In some parts of Sweden, a man is wrapped in a skin, and he carries wisps of straw in his mouth s6 that they look like the bristles of a hog. According to the Shulton Queen Elizabeth I really made the most of the custom of giv- ing Christmas presents; she de- pended on gifts from courtiers to replenish her wardrobe. In fact, ladies of the court pre- sented her with the first silk stocking worn in Europe. To make sure that their crops grew, Polish peasants used to drive harmful spirits away during the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany. They 'burned pine resin all night to rout witche's from their homes, and on Christmas Eve, they wrapped cloth around the base of trees to keep spirits out, and fired shot into fields to prevent supernatural beings from harm- ing the land. While Christmas can mean many things to many people, the world itself has some pe- culiar slang uses. "Christmas" can mean a sparkling article of clothing or jewelry. In the Second World War, flyers used the word to describe a shower of metallic foil dropped by an airplane to jam enemy radar systems. And a "Christmas tree" in the slang of drillers means the derrick of an oil or gas well. Called Noel by the French, Navidad by the Spanish, Natale by the Italians and Weihnach- ten by the Germans, Christmas in our part of the world is de- rived from the Old English term Cristes maesse (Christ's Mass), a term first used in the 11th century. The earliest known Christ- mas hymn is Jesus Refulsit Omnium (Jesus, Light of All the Nations), written by Saint Hilary of Pontie,rs in the fourth century. However, the first Christmas carol with the tradi- tionally lighter tone was born in Italy among the early Fran- ciscan monks, The large part children play in Christmas is legendary. If he was lucky, the 16th century child got a ride on a huge Yule log when it was dragged into the manor house or castle. While caroling and feasting went on during Christmas Eve, the youngsters played Snap- dragon, a game in which the players tried to snatch a raisin front a bowl of burning spices and spirits. During the heyday of clip- per ships, in the 19th century, American seamen used to bring their families rare and costly presents gathered from the Orient: spices, silks, china and teakwood. Appropri ately enough, St. Nicholas was the patron saint of sailors as well as children, While American youngsters are putting their gifts under the tree, Slavic children go to sleep on a bed of straw and hay on Chlistmas Eve. to share id Christ's humble birth. St, Nicholas EVe,• Dutch thilifreri fill their wooden shoes with; straw for Old St, Nick's NOVEMBER 1912 A special meeting of the liowick Fire Insurance company was held in. Wroxeter Saturday afternoon for the purpose of appointing a secretary, Mr,. Howard. Wylie being chosen for the position. The appointment was made necessary by the re- signation of Mr. W.S. MeKer, Cher, through ill health, whose resignation is regretted by all concerned with the company. Mr. McKercher has given 43 years' faithful and efficient service. Mr. Wylie, who will take over January 1, is well known in the community hav- ing several years' bank office experience he is equipped for the office. NOVEMBER 1942 On display in Art Adams' window is a pumpkin that is attracting a lot of attention. It weighs 75 pounds and is well shaped for such a large pump- kin, It was grown by Sgt. Malcolm McCarnmOn in his garden in Port Credit. His wife, the former Frances Lock- ridge. gives Malcolm all the credit for producing the large pumpkin hut we understand that she should have some of the credit. On Tuesday evening at the hospital the hospital staff enter. tained one of their members, Miss Laurine Miller at a pre- sentation and shower. Miss Miller was presented with a beautifla lace tablecloth and a number of miscellaneous shower gifts which she received in a treasure hunt. Mervyn, eight-year-old son of Roy Mann ,fell striking his head on a brick and re- ceiving concussion. He is now resting at his home and is ex- pected to recover soon. NOVEMBER 1953 Miss Lois Cruickshank was the guest of honor, prior to her marriage last Saturday, when Mrs, Jack Gorbutt enter- tained the girls of CKNX and wives of the staff at a shower. Lois was the recipient of a blanket. Refreshments were served by the hostess, assisted by Miss Louise Flach, Mrs. Elmer Purdon and Miss Mar- garet Brophy. On Friday the management and staff of CK - NX presented Lois with an el- ectric mixer. Bob Carbert is leaving on Thursday by TCA for Chicago where he will attend three ev- ents; The annual convention of the National Association of Radio Farm Directors; Nation- al 4-H Congress; and the In- ternational Livestock Exposi- tion. He also hopes to attend the National Barn Dance show in Chicago. Prov. Const, Bob Lewis re- ceived a jolt in an unexpected quarter last week and the cruiser received damages to the tune of S75.00. P.C. Lewis had pulled a motorist to the side of the road for tail light trouble. Just as he vas getting out of the cruiser the motorist behind him inadvertently (he says) took his foot off the clutch, jumped, jabbed for the brake and hit the accelerator. Big Changes in The Making Stay Alive with Defensive Driving They Did It to Themselves white horse, hoping to have them filled in turn with candy and toys. In Italy, children set out their shoes for the fem- ale Santa Claus, La Befana, to fill with gifts. Central Ameri- can children enjoy the pinata game. An earthenware jug is filled with candy and a child is allowed three tries to break the pinata with a bat -- when he does the candies are shared by all. Happy parents and children owe a vote of thanks to King Henry V11, who popularized gift-giving in this part of the world. An American resident in China remonstrated with her houseboy for taking her linen into her bedroom without knocking. "That's all right, Missy," said the native. "Ev- ery time come, lookee through keyhole. Nothin' on, no come int" Oddities around the world Straw in mouth? It's a Yule custom, too •e• •••• •••• '11••• `' ''••••• • • • • • •• IF • iv F. • •!•.,0.• J