HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1976-02-26, Page 4�� .r. ftlttAt�f� by t)ru•r► Syk es .
The Jack Scott Co
umn
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Brogan's syndrome
While we were resident in England it was my pleasure t�
be onla of the guests at a dinner in London where a lively
little man of astonishing erudition amused and edified his
listeners.
The speaker's name was D. W. Brogan. He was a
professor of political science at Cambridge, famous in
Britain as a walking encyclopedia, a vast warehouse of
knowledge and wisdom displayed regularly on countless
BBC programs. -•
You can imagine my shock, then, whenI chanced this
week on the professor's autobiography and learned to my
surprise that, all his adult life, he's been a victim of a
disease that can be said to be a part of our civilization.
Professor Brogan never learned to relax. That, simply, is
it. The man who had the answer to every question had no
answer for this one. "I could once upon a time," he writes,
"but now 1 seem to have lost all idea of how it's done. I have
tried all kinds of treatment — massage, electrical shocks,
drugs, tranquillers. But once you lose the art of relaxing, re-
acquiring the trick is a very slow job."
This, added the professor. is the occupational disease of
his time and. as is his custom, he's dead right. But what
would appear to be the peculiar problem of a genius is. in
fact, the problem of millions who are not.
For a variety of reasons we seem to be a hopped -up.
tense, fast -living. driven breed. We go at life earnestly. We
chase the buck as if it had wings. Many of us, especially
those at the executive level, appear to be motivated by a
feeling of guilt that allows no time for anything but the
pursuit of success.
--£�elaxatidn: as w�-on<:e-knew-i.t. n' longer. -racists. instead.
we've the cult of 'the fast flight, the swift release. the instant
tranquillity. I know men whose only concept of getting away
from their problems is to imbed themselves in the physical
violence and the contagious excitement of professional
sports. Or, there's the two-week vacation offer to Europe by
Pan-American, there and back by bullet speed. that so
typifies our new concept of balancing the weight burden of
modern living with ounce of escape.
Many chroniclers o r time have noted this phenomenon
of the widening opportu 'ties for leisure and the incapacity
of our civilization to makc use of them except by hunting
restlessly for diversions.
We have, in Professor Brogan's words, lost that art and
all that went with it. Conversation, itself, is one of the
casualties, replaced by the glow of television screens that
seldom soothe. 'And contentment seems as rare as the
vanishing curlew.
It was Anatole'Franee (and don't think I didn't look it up)
who observed, "Man is so made that he can only find
relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another."
The professor, I'm sure. would recognize the quote though
perhaps, from his own evidence, he might not recognize the
truth of it.
Those who seem to escape most completely from the
vicissitudes of their work and that larger insecurity that's
been with us since the fateful morning at Almagordo, are
almost always those with the gift of plunging themselves
into some activity that erases the irritations and pressures
most of us know.
A classic case is the friend of mine. a whirlwind in the
business world, who periodically retreats to a backwoods
shanty where his single activity is on the business end of a
cross cut saw. He invariably returns to the wheel refreshed
and revitalized.
This therapeutic effect, I'm convinced. comes not alone
from the fury of physical labor. but more from the fresh
perspective. There's nothing so healing as a brief episode of
_independence and self-reliance, of removing yourself
voluntarily in mind and body from all the responsibilities
and hypocrisies of society.
The cross eut saw is just one man's method. Others are
able to do it with stamp books or gardening tools or aqua -
lungs or fishing rods. Any one of them. I'm sure. would
serve the tormented professor better than all the pills in
Christendom.
From our early files
0
10 YEARS AGO
March 3. 19611
At the meeting called by
Clinton town council last Thur-
sday evening. it was the feeling of
the 40 persons present that
Clinton should build a community
centre type recreation centre.
Previous meetings of the new
arena committee and council had
tentatively planned a new arena
building only.
Henry Carter retires today
after 46 years in the employ of the
Canadian National Railways. For
the past ten years he has been
station agent here. Mr Carter
began work in the express
division of CNR at Lucknow in
1920 at the age of 19 and remained
on the job there until 1940.
Clinton Hospital Board has
taken no definite action con-
cerning acceptance of the job of
operating an ambulance to serve
the town and area. At the
February meeting. Joe Murphy
informed the board that Coun-
cillor N.F. Noonan. chairman of
council's special committee in
the matter had inquired whether
the hospital would be interested
Details of the first Huron
county Agricultural Conference
are fairly well laid down now and
the all -day affair will be held in
the South Huron District High
School in Exeter on Saturday
March 12. The Agricultural
Conference replaces the Seed
Show which has been held con-
tinuously for the past number of
years, and was sponsored by the
Huron County Soil and Crop
improvement Association.
Slaving succeeded in scoring 97
out of 100 on ten targets set up in
the month of December. Sergeant
Gordon Albert Shoard has been
presented with the Distinguished
Markman award, an award
which is held by only six ether
personnel at Station Clinton.
H. itartley. chairman. Mayor
Don Symons. arid C W. Brown. A
Caron. and secretary John W KO,
the five eonimissioners of Clinton
Public Utilities Commission were
among 1 400 delegates attending
the 57th annual meeting of the
,._Ontario „ unicipal Electric
Association and he Association
. of *Murkiest Electrical Utilities
He
We, like to think that wig tits ve in the
..era of the common l tan" that all
POWs are worth` of equal re Ct fond ,equal drakes., . But we'' also live ,
in a time of excesSlve adulation of
certain types of persons --. or Per-
sonallties. With a capital "P" as it is
riow fashionable to call them, says the
United Church.
Many," of those who receive this
adulation are, of course, persons of
authentic distinction. But some are of
questionable distinction. Not all the
stars of entertainment and sport are
cast in heroic moulds. We sometimes
let ourselves be excessively impressed
by celebrities who seem to be well-
known mainly for being well-known.
And thereare those big -shots among us
whose big»shottery is, by the skills of
the' communications experts,
magnified all out of, proportion.
Our adulatians, quite silly though
some of them are, tend to engender in
many of us feelings of inadequacy and
even of failure. Very few of us play
starring roles in life. eminence and
greatness -- as we generally. judge such
things -- evade all but a handful of us...
We find that life's selection -processes
are often capricious - and sometimes
cruel.
When Bernard Shaw wasa drama
critic he was impressed by an actor
playing a minor role in one act of a"
play. In his review Shaw described this
actor as ,."a great artist in small ,
things." The best that most of us can
hope for is that we alas .be 'great artists
in small things -- and that can be a very
good best.
Let us rejoice in the achievements of
those who ''make it big" in the things
that make life better for all of us. But
let usremember that personal
greatness isnot limited to those who do
the big things and get the applause and
the admiration of the many. Greatness
can also be a quality of those .who daµ
unexciting things, routine things, small
things which contribute to the good life
for all.
Sugar and Spicc/By Bill Smilcy
A winter tale
This seems to be one of those winters
that simply must be "got through," like a
serious illness, or a bad marriage.
Now, as a Canadian of a couple of score
years andthen some, I know there's no use
whining. We have to pay a price for living
in the finest country in the world, and
winter is the price.
But there is, surely, a limit to the in -
chaperoning.
From son Hugh, in the desert. -like Chaco'
country of°Paraguay. comes a cry from the
other end of the stick. "Oh, for one, just
one, white cold Canadian winter day! The
temperature here ranges from about 106 to
130 and just to keep yourself cleaned- of.
sweat and dust requires almost all the
energy you can summon.. I wish j would
flation of that price. This time arqund, it's trade him one of ours for one of his.
getting a bit ridiculous. Whoever, is in
charge of the weather up there has got to be
point where he's just showing off. trying to
dazzle us with the virtuosity of his (or her)
performance.
d'ne day you are running around mopping
up water because the, pipes have frozen and
burst. The next day the temperature has
soared 40 degrees and you are down in the
basement mopping up the melted snow that
In the midst of this wild winter, my
second grandson chose to make his ap-
pearance at the usual hour. 3:30 a.m. He
was a healthy eight -pounder, and resem-
bles quite a bit, so the ladies say, his big
brother Pokey. I can't really tell at that
age. To me. they all look like tiny orang-
outangs.
I hope. for my own sake. that he has a
little less energy than .his older brother.
has runt ire __ _� - Tlwmr-rnore-steatre-iii -da
A third day you start walking to work in than Ali Muhammed does in a 15 -round title
sunshine, are caught in a blizzard howling fight. And when I try to keep up with him
down from the Pole, get hopelessly lost. for an hour.' I come out feeling like Joe
and wind Alp in a supermarket or funeral
parlor instead of your place of work.
We don't have any in our town. but I'm
told that in the city, some guys have been so
badly lost in some of our storms that they
have •wandered inadvertently into one of
them there massage parlors.
As I write this, at school, we have just
sent the kids home early on the buses
because the roads were blocking in quickly
As soon as the buses left, out came the sun,
down dropped the wind. it's a perfect
winter day. and we're sitting here with egg
on our face, and no students.
But just the other day. we kept the kids in
school for the full day, even though it was
storming, and wound up with two busloads
of students on our hands for overnight.
We got them all bedded down in the
homes of teachers and plirents.
I was batching it, had lots of room at
home, and offered to take five girls for a
pyjama party, or five boys for a poker
party. They turned me down. The ad-
ministration, not the kids.
This week, some of our history students
are going to be involved in a live-in at Fort
St. Marie, a replica of a lith century Jesuit
settlement. Theoretically. they will ex-
perience the actual winter living conditions
of those times. No modern aids to beat the
cold, such as oil furnaces. pocket heaters or
booze. Just lots of clothes, lots of proximity
(it's a mixed group). and open fires.
Good luck to them. They should have
taken a dog team. They'll probably bring
out the frozen bodies in the spring.
On the other hand. knowing students and
the precocity of youth. 111 venture to say it
will be one big party, and an experience to
be savored for life. But I'm glad I'm not
Frazier.
The kid is a week old, and they don't even
have a name for him yet. Maybe it's just as
well. Maybe this time reason will prevail.
Last time, my daughter was reading
Dostoievski. a Russian -novelist. and my
son-in-law was dabbling. in I Ching, A
Chinese pseudo -philosophy. Poor little kid
was named Nikov Chen. That's why I call
him Pokey.
This time, my daughter is studying music
and my son-in-law architecture. Don't be
surprised if 1 announce. one of these days,
that the latest addition to the family has
been named Ludwig Johann Sebastian
Arthur Lloyd Wright Sieber. Poor little
fellow
()r Sibelius Kauarinnen Sieber. That would
put the Finnishing touch to his ,future.
Irridgine going through life being called
Ml)y S ieher•
if tht"y commit any such abomination, I11
revenge myself in the usual way.
Remember that silly old song -dance,
"Doing the Cokey Okey".r
1 11 nickname this erne Okey And he and
his brother :and 1 will join hands, dance
around in a ring. and sing to his disgusted
parents. "W'e're doing the Pokey-Okey, and
that's what it s all about " That'll fix them.
Aside from al! the rigors of the weather.
.1anuaa:-y and February are going to be
expensive months rn the future. Two
grandsons hirthdays in January. wife and
daughter's birthdays in February All that
on top of the fuel bilis
However However 1.et it snow. let it
blow What nicer midwinter gift could a
fellow get than a fine. healthy grandson?
Maybe a granddaughter? Nothing less.
Member. Iletarle Weekly
The Clinton owes -Record it publisried
eat b Thursday al c linton Ontario Canada
it is rrgivterrd as second class mail by the
prim entire under ihr pertntt number 0117
The %rot lirrerd incorporated in 1924 ttie
!foram Nwrs Ftesmmd faaindc9!"rti 1011. and
the i ianinn Neu Era founded m I36S Tatar
rtrralai sem is 2 :311
1+,•tnay adi retinas reset
asaasb$v an request Ash ter
Not i y Vis. trtfrclkr ott. t.
alit.
Editor James E. Fitzgerald
Advertising director . Gary L. Heist
General Manager • J. Howard Aitken
News staff - Bev Clark
Subscription Rates:
Canada • Si t per year
U.S.A. • S12.S0
Single copy • .25c
in Toronto this week.
Fire last Wednesday destroyed
the barn and implement shed at
the farm of Ross Lovett. RR 1.
Londesboro. Lost was the stored
gram. hay and farm equipment
as well as more than 20 head of
cattle, some sheep and hogs.
CHSS won the Huron -Perth
Senior Boys' Basketball
Championship held at C.H.S.S.
Saturday It was a real thriller'
Clinton won after two three-
rnrnute o'. erttme periods. beating
G.►dertch District Collegiate
Institute 52-50 for the Huron-'
Perth secondary schools senior
hays' basketball championship at
C MSS auditorium. Saturday night.
25 Y E ARS AGO
March 1. 1951
[I until County was well
represented at the annual con.
ention of the Ontario Good
Roads Association in Toronto lasi
week, with good delegations from
the Troa.n of Clinton.' and the
Townships of Tut kirrsmith.
t;oderich, t•iulier; and Stanley
\1.ivnr C, W Nntt and Rees e G S
L Iltol represented the tow n
Joseph Ferrand took over his
new duties ,t. Chief of Police of
latah today' A former con-
stable in Li%erpool. England, Mr
1• errand has been a guard at the
Ontario Reformatory. Guelph.
since last May, and has wide
experience in pollee work
The men from the Cnmstaack
('nrnpany. London. were in
1-Iensal1 last week taking in-
writory of the e'er trical equip•
meat of the business places This
is a prelude for the 60 -cycle
changeover
Jimmy Carter. eight-year-old
sem of William Carter and the late
Mrs Carter had his left hand
badly injured Saturday afternoon
when it came in contact with a
r ircular saw whet h was being
turd to cut wood on his father's
firm
As part of Canada's huge
tie. (ruse effort, Clinton RCAF
Stat inn now IS to the throes of a
large expansion program. in-
cluding barrack blocks. messing
tcc c'mmodatlnn. etc Announ-
cement was made of tike awar-
ding of a ciwitraet for eon.
struction work at Clinton RCAF
Station to include the modern
barrack block which will be
situated in that section of the
camp, do the northern side.
Contractors are Johnson Bros.
Co. Limited, Brantford at a price
of $387,800.'
"i take lessons on the tuba. '
said the first cousin "What on
earth made you pick a harp'
"Pure logic." replied the
second little music tan solemnly
'You don't see any parents
lugging a harp around to the
relatives just to show off the
children's progress •
The fishermen aren't looking
for any flooding at the ri%er this
year as there is a channel of open
water about twenty feet is ide nut
to the lake There was :c small ire
jam alio.e the new bridge nn
Monday but it brake and w ant out
quietly
So YEARS AGO
March 1, 1926
Mrs Farnham is ha% inf: her
large cottage on Rattenhtiry
Street made into a double house
which will add another residence
to the number available for rent
We understand Mr Lucas. ac
c'nuntant in the Bank of Montreal
will occupy it when ready
the first carnival of the season
was put on in the local arena ern
Tuesday evening under the
auspices of the Hockey Club The
evening turned out very stormy
but a goodly number came in
costume
Mr Abe Brandon purchased a
Percheron horse ftom Mr Fred
Watson to use on the Bayfield and
Brumfield stage.
Mr. ,Frank Glew. our genial
patrolman, has been re-engaged
for another year by the Ontario
Department of Highways.
Miss Edna Wise has been
successful in passing her ATCM
examinations.
N W. trewartha is on several
Important committees of the
Ontario Legislature, including
being chairman of the Committee
on Agriculture Other corn -
minims on which our townsman
is serving include• Standing.
Orders. Private dills. Municipal
Law, and Privileges and 1 -
tions
The Town Council have decided
that the Collegiate By-law }will be
presented to the ratepayers again
as soon as possible.
McKnight-Giiddon-At the
Oritark) 5t. United Church
Parsonage, on Wednesday March
3. 1926. by Rev. C.J. Moorhouse.
Grace Fedora. eldest daughter of
Mr and Mrs. Samuel Gliddon. to
Glen Miller McKnight. elder son
of Mr and Mrs. John T
McKnight.
cues
Dear Editor:
In regard to the closing
Clinton Public Hospital I, AIL
writing this letter on bebaifot
the citizens "of the 'town 41
1.3
community an
rI
also' myself. 1 stand to ' las!
my 'home.' which. I rent from
the hospital.
I am speaking, for those
thousands of.men and women'
like myself who volunteered
to lay down our lives, also
those who did just that. We
fought against a man and his •
dictatorship for the .freedom
of speech and a democratic
way of this country.
I urge this matter be
reconsidered so we can keep,
our well equipped hospital
and highly trained medical
staff, who serve us so well.
Yours truly,
A medical disabled Veteran,
VW Emerson J . Gloor &
family
Struggle....
Dear Editor:
I am certain all the readers.
of the Lo dein Free Press,
February 16; edition noticed
the article regarding'' Mr.
Gordon Duern's efforts to
restore the downtown area of
Clinton. This will serve as an
open letter to Mr. Duern and
all the residents of Clinton.
Mr. Duern, we fully sup-
ported your architectural
dreams to restore dowiatown
Clinton.
• As a former resident, I
immediately noticed, during
a recent visit, the vast im-
provement to the core area
due to your hard-working but
little appreciated effort to
improve the town's main
street.
The struggle you. are ex-
periencing with the Clinton
merchants is true to form.
The merchants resent any
change from their ancient -
business habits and consider
change as a threat.
I sincerely, trust, Mr.
Duern.. that you are prepared
to receive from the--- mer-
chants. not financial
assistance, but a simple old-
fashioned pat on the back if
you complete this project as
you plan.
I wish you every success
Mr. Duern and sincerely hope
you can open the merchants'
.tale tp.
T YEARS AGO
March 1, 1901
J W Hill has had the Intention
of going west as soon as his
grocery business was disposed of
l,.tst week he sold out to a Mr
Kerr. of Barnsley: who takes
possession on the first of March.
W+• are sorry to lose Mr Hill. but
as he is determined to go west. we
u i.h him every success
wherever he may locate.
Harland Bros has bought out
Johnston Bros' hardware stock at
Seaforth Part'of tt will be run off
there to avoid trouble of shtp-
ment'
The past week has been one of
stormy weather and show is
about four feet deep on the level
Sleighing is admirable although
there are a number of pitch holes
in the country roads.
Mr A Hooper. general agent
for the Manufacturer's Life. has
given us good evidence that he
has come to Clinton to stay as we
learn he has purchased a very
pleasatrt home from John
McCool
Recruiting for the Sooth Africa
police takes place in London on
March 4. 5 and 6. The recruiting
officer will be district com-
mander. medical officer. C.W.
Belton Candidates must be
unmarred. strictly temperate.
physically fit. recommended by
two responsible persons. age
between 20 and 35, not under 5
feet 6 inches or weigh ov'er 135
pounds . - minimum chest
measurements. 34 inches: pay
win be 24 cent per day till
arrival in South Africa. after that
date. $1.20 per day: men enrolled
'at London will be mobilized at
Ottawa by Friday, March itth.
Regards.
B.i Brandon,
Seaforth
Nursery
Dear Editor :
I would like to comment on
the article that appeared in
last week's paper concerning
the Early Childhood Living
and Learning Centre in
Clinton.
On the whole. I found the
article to be very good. but I
do feel that your reporter
must have misinterpreted
some of the facts explained to
her by the staff members.
I am mainly concerned
with the stated differences
between day care centres and
nursery schools it is true
that day care centres tend to
cater to the working mothers.
but day care centres,
especially in smaller com-
munities. do offer a nursery
school program as well as
their full day care This s4 the
case at the Tuckersmith-
Vanastra day Care Centre.
where several children are
enrolled in our nursery
-program. attending either on
the full or half day basis but
not attending every day as
the working 'mothers'
children do.
As stated in last weeks
article. tic day care centre
does proVide a hot nourishing
meal at lunch time plus a
morning snack and an af-
ternoon snack all prepared by
our cook. After the noon
meal, the children sicep on
their own cots up to two hours
as they require it. .We are.
also open longer hours than
nursery schools are
presently we are open 7:30
a.m. - 5:30 p.m.. but will open
at f:' 30 a. m if the need arises.
Our age range is different
than most nursery schools, 2-
6 years.
A day care centre.
especially ours, is just as
stimulating and at 'least as
educational as any nursery
School. 'Our program is
carried cut in a very similar
manner. During the day we
try to give the child a variety
of experiences to stimulate
continued on page S