HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1977-08-04, Page 4PAGE 4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1977
Whatwethink
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Room for compromise
Canada as a nation has been con-
stru,cted �n many founding races, and
tithe country has been peopled With
citizens .of rnany diverse beliefs,
nationalities and creeds.
We have prided ourselves on 'our
sense .of freedom and fair 'play, .and
that is why we are such ' a great
country, despite some internal
quarreling among regions.
• But our willingness to let everyone
live their own lives seems to be
disappearing lately, and a graphic
example was presented last week with
the Amish of Huron and Oxford
Counties pitted against the Ontario
Milk Marketing Board.
The OMMB has ordered that the
Amish who have dairy herds convert
their operations to the bulk tank
system from the age-old can system,
and that would mean the Amish would
have to put electricity into their farms
to cool the milk which they consider to
be against their religion.
Now whether you agree or not with
the Amish people's more simplified life
style or not is besid)the•point. We have
always practiced religious freedom
here and have never tried to impose
our value`s' on one another. .
The Amish have always milked by
hand, 'doing it as a family affair., and
�ve never taken stibsidies, welfare or
u+nemp,foyment. Where once their
conservative life-style was laughed at,
many are now taking a second Zook at
their excellent attitudes towards
energy con§ervation in these energy
short times.
In all,, the Amish have been model
citizens in our country, and we would
do well to emulate some of their habits.
It seems ridiculous then, to force
them to move out of Canada just
because they won't conform to our set
of values.
Surely in a country as diverse as
Canada, some room can be left for the
Amish and Mennonite sects.
Because the Amish are pacifists,
they have chosen to pull up their roots,
sell their beautiful farms, and leave
the country rather than fight the
government.
Surely some accommodation can be
made. Canada has been built on
compromise, and without it, our future
is a slim one'indCed.-
Sugar and Spicc/By Bill Sm
Iey
The ball game
Drove about 200 miles the other night
with a couple of other idiots to watch a big -
league double-header baseball game: New
York Yankees vs. Toronto Bipe'jays.
"How can you just sit there for six hours,
watching a group of grown men do
something we used to do in public school, at
recess?" my wife asks, with amusement
and not a little scorn.
Well, , it's a little difficult to explain,
without sounding childish. In the first
place, these are not grown men.' They are
professional ball. players, Secondly, they
don't do it quite the way we did it at recess.
Thirdly, baseball, once you get it in your
blood, is like a low -burning fever, and the
only anti -biotic that cools it out is watching
a ball game.
Baseball players, like hockey players,
are not grown men, They are overgrown
boys, who are highly paid for doing
something they'd rather do than eat.
And they do it superbly, with a skill and
grace and ease that make the game as
thrilling as any ballet. There's an extra
charge in the knowledge that one of the
dancers is going to make a misstep at any
time and come up with egg on his face,
instead of the baseball.
Finally, I played baseball in a baseball
town, from the time I was abouteight until
I was sixteen or so, often for hours a day.
My ,heroes, in those days, were the
members of our local professional team,
even though it was Class D ball. They were
tall and bronzed and lean, college boys and
coal miners from the States, many of them
with unpronounceable names that sounded
exotic in that small Anglo-Irish Scottish
community.
They weren't great ballplayers ; few of
them Went up to the major leagues; but
they were pretty good: To us kids, they
were Hercules and Achilles rolled into one.
To the girls in town, they were Adonis.
They chewed tobacco, and we imitated
them with licorice. They spoke with a
variety of Yankee ;drawls and we tried to
copy them, much to the dismay of our
mothers. They ambled and slouched, and
we did the same.
We couldn't afford the admittance price
in those Depression days, but we never
missed a game. Th?re were ways: over the
fence; through a hole in the fence; carrying
in players' equipment; tending the water
bucket; shagging pop or beer bottles and
turning them in for the refund.
It was always summer", in those summers
long ago. It never rained, or blew, or turned
cold. The sun always shone, the pop was
always ice cold, the popcorn was crisp with
real butter; the hot dogs were red hot.
There. was no night baseball then. We
didn't have lights. But about five o'clock on
a summer evening, the merchants began
rolling up their awnings, kids were gulping
down their early suppers, and everybody
headed for the ball park.
Everybody knew practically everybody
on every team in the league. Everybody
knew that the umpire, Pete O'Brien was
blind as a bat. Everybody knew that Izzie
Mysel, all six -two and 280 pounds of him,
would go for the fences every time, and
probably strike out four times in a row.
There was no fancy electronic
scoreboard, but everybody knew exactly
how many balls and strikes there were on
the batter, how many strikeouts the pitcher
had made, and how many hits each player
had.
It wasn't so difficult then. Usually, nine
men played the entire game. Pinch -hitters
were a rarety, because, naturally, all your
best hitters were already playing. When
you had, and could only afford,' a rotating
pitching staff of two, the pitcher was
seldom pulled.
There was no artificial turf, with, its exact
bounce. There were pebbles and tufts of
grass that would give a ball a bad hop and
put it over the fielder's head or through his
legs, and make a single into a triple.
And — this is one of the grand things
=about baseball — there was always a
chance, even when it was 15-3 for a
hometeam rally in the last of the ninth, with
all its wild excitement.
That's. where baseball has it over other
spectator sports. If the score in hockey is 8-
2 with two minutes• to go, it's game over.
Not even the Lord could score that many in
that time. Same in football. Score 30-10. and
a minute and a half left, there is no way.
But in baseball, the game is never over
until :the last player is retired. A real
baseball fan never gives up. In those days,
you didn't see the fans filing out early -'if
their team was away behind. We sat tight,
waiting for the miracle.
Greatest humiliation of my life was
taking a called strike With - the count three
and two and the winning runs on second and
third, two out, last of the ninth. And I still
swear that ball was low.
And maybe those are the reasons I.,went
to that double-header. Never mind the four
hours driving. Never mind the horrible
traffic. Never mind the rip-off prices and
the claustrophobic feeling of being in a mob
of 40,000 trying to get out of a stadium.
The game still has some of its old magic,
on a mid -summer's eve. The players still
boot that crucial, ball, The coaches .still
make all the wrong. decisions. The umpires
still have myopia. And the music of the
crowd and the smells of the food and the
sight of that little white pill sailing off into
the blue, headed for the fence, make for a
great evening of nostalgia.
Member, Ontario Weekly
Newspaper Association
The Clinton News -Record is published each
Thursday at P.O. Box 39, Clinton, Ontario,
Canada, NOM 1LO.
it Is registered as second clads mall by the
post office under the permit number 0817.
The News -Record Incorporated In 1924 the
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Odds 'n' ends,- by Elaine Townshend
Remembering Old 1057
On a Sunday afternoon in July, a piece
of history rolled into the CPR station in
Goderich. As part of the town's
sesquicentennial celebrations, a steam
engine made an historic runt between
Guelph and Goderich.
Hundreds of spectators milled around
Old 1057, and each of her cars was filled
with passengers. While the out-of-
towners visited Goderich, Old 1057 took
the local residents on short excursions.
At every crossroad, people waited to
catch a glimpse of the train, to wave at
the folks on board or to snap pictures. A
few boys laid coins on the tracks - the
way their grandfathers used to do. •
For the older people, the steam engine
rekindled memories; for the younger
ones, it gave life to the stories they had
heard from their parents and their
grandparents. —
My mother, brother-in-law, niece and I
arrived at , the station• in the early
evening, just in time to watch the crew
prepare Old 1057 for her return trip to
Guelph. Of course, I'm too young to
remember steam engines, but my
brother-in-law explained some of the
things that were happening. It was a
learning experience for me.
The passengers were already on
,board, but the eight cars were separated I was impressed by the skill of the
on three tracks. The engineer backed up crew. Many of them looked too young to
Old 1057 until she gently nudged the first remember anything about steam
car. When it was secured, the engine engines. They must have rehearsed for
chuggeszL forward, changed tracksand they functioned like a well -greased
backed up to the second group of cars, machine - if you'll pardon the pun.
again barely touching them. The skillful When the train was intact, the crew
engineer maneuvered as though he had a lugged the bags of coal from the storage
load of eggs. car and dumped them into the furnace,
"That's not the way it used to be," my while Old 1057 built up steam. When she
brother-in-law chuckled. "You could get let it off; the people- standing nearby
whiplash !" plugged their ears.
Then we heard ,a 'slow chug -chug -chug
sound. The rhythm picked up as the
steam engine 'began to move.' With a
billow of smoke and two blasts of her
whistle, Old 1057 pulled away from the
station.
During the procedure, black smoke ,We rushed to the car and drove to the
billowed from the stack, and soon a bluffs to watch her cross the trestle over
pungent cloud hung above the onlookers. the Maitland River. For 'a few minutes,
On that nostalgic day, though, no one our eyes were able to follow her trail of
seemed to mind the pollution. *id'ole-.abaxe the.. trees, and we could
Among the crowd, engineers' caps of hear her whistle occasionally. But
all sizes and colours were prevalent' but gradually the smoke and the whistle
the crew members were easy to faded.
distinguish. They wore the traditional Old 1057 disappeared among the trees.
greasy coveralls that were blackened Her brief nostalgic fling almost over,;but
with coal dust; some of the outfits looked for many of us, she brought history alive
as though they could stand by them- and gave us a once-in-a-lifetime ex -
selves. perience.
On the third , hook-up, the engineer
rapped the cars a little harder probably
to let the passengers know he hadn't
forgotten them or just to remind them of
the way it used to be.
From our early files .
• • •
• • •
10 YEARS AGO `"'°r been made more difficult this
August 3, 1967 week due to heavy rains received
It is possible that Public Health at the beginning of the week,"
Units. from Huron and Perth John D. Butler, assistant
Counties .. will be amalgamated agricultural representative for
into one district unit by next year, ' Huron reports.
although the actual decision on "Yields of both fall wheat and
the matter will not be made until other cereal grains are average
later this fall. in comparison with other years."
Medical Officer of Health for "R'ecent rains have definitely
Huron, Dr. P.A. Evans said in an holped fall pastures although a
interview Monday that he and Dr. number of farmers are con-
R.M. Aldis, Perth MOH would be ten plating on sowing fall rye,
compiling reports on the patterns rape and kale for some additional
of public health services in their
respective counties for presen-
tation to their own councils in
September. The doctors will also
be commenting in their reports
on the likely. trends in health
services to the two counties
should the amalgamation take ,
place.0
With luck, roller skating will
begin in the Clinton Community
Centre tonight (Thursday),
reports recreational director,
Doug Andrews. One hundred pair
of boot type roller skates have
been purchased in Kitchener, and
just as soon as final preparations
are made, the first evening of
skating will be enjoyed.
The 80 by 180 -foot floor in the
arena segment of the new
building is covered With three -
eighth's of an inch of taprock, a
tough finish for roller skating
enthusiasts.
25 YEARS AGO
August 7, 1952
Jim Day had a nerve-wracking
experience on Sunday afternoon
about four o'clock when his eight
foot red sail boat which he had
built himself, went adrift in the
rough waters about a mile from
shore at Bayfield.
The -rudder come off -and while
reaching back to try and rescue it
a huge wave broke over the craft,
turning it over and knocking Jim
out. He tried to right it, but being
made of plywood it wouldn't stsnv
afloat, and sank. He kept diving
down to release screws which
held the guy wires and finally
managed to float to the mast but
he still couldn't right the craft.
He became exhausted and his
wife, who was watching him
.through binoculars, heard him'
cry for help. •
Dr. William Tillmann Jr.,
Gordon Hammill and J.
Tillmann, who were playing
croquet, rushed to the harbour
and gave the alarm. Ed Sturgeon
went to the rescue with his boat
pasture.
50 YEARS. AGO
August 4. 1927
The Doherty Pianos Limited,
Clinton held their annual picnic
at" Bayfield on Saturday. The
event proved to be a most en-
joyable one, a large number'
being in attendance and the
weather all that could be desired.
A fine program of sports was
run off, everyone joining in to
make it out by the ladies, and the
-affair,was wound up by a bon fire
on the beach in the evening.
Each lady present was
presented with a box of
chocolates and the men had their,
smokes, `Twas a great day and
much enjoyed.' "
Mr. Wm. Hill, Jr. of Colborne
Township, purchased a new, Star
sedan last week and Mr, Edward
Fisher a new Ford coupe. ,.
Fine weather has favoui'd the,
Centennial Celebration in
Goderich this week. A little
Shower of rain on Monday,
followed by a sharp drop .in the'
temperature made the crowds
shiver .on the grandstand that
evening, but it was warmed up
again and Tuesday, Wednesday
and today have been, as fine as
could have been imagined. All
roads have been leading to the
county town this week and the,
new highway has been kept hot
with traffic.
The reunion of old boys -and
USS No. 5, Hullett township and
Auburn vicinity Held here on
Friday was a huge success. Well
over two thousand people
gathered. from far and wide and
the day was spent in sports,
renewing old acquaintances and
recalling fond memories of
school days.
Men's oxfords in all the latest
styles, in either black or tan from
$3.85 to $5.120. These are ex-
ceptionally good values. Come in
and look them over at Barry's
Shoe Store, opposite the Postai
and also John M. Atkinson. Office.
"Threshing and combining 75 YEARS AGO •
grain and fall wheat is general' August 1, 1902 .
throughout tl"ie , County but has' A black eye is generally
w '
suggestive of a fisticuff en-
counter but in the case of Robet.
Cox, he is able to give a
satisfactory explanation for his
discoloured optic. One of his
horses got caught in a wire fence
and in endeavouring to release its.-
the
t -the horse struck him in the face
with his foot. It was fortunate
that he *as not more seriously
hurt.
Mr. French says the inmates at
the house of refuge are kept busy
just now, harvesting the crops on
the farn-r of Rev. Mr. Manning
who took the religious services on •
Sunday last for the first time..
They are taken by Mr. Geo. Rork
next Sunday.
Perry Couch, who a short time
ago laid very low from an attack
of appendicitis, but recovered
sufficiently to be on his feet and it
was hoped would regain enough
strength to be operated on, un-
derwent that trying ordeal last
Tuesday. On Monday evening his
temperature ran up to 103, and
the doctor thought it advisable
not to delay on account of his
none too strong physical
strength. The appendix .was
removed and a number of
adhesions broken up, which
would sooner . or later have
produced pus formation with
serious results. Percy stood the
operation well, but it will be some
time before he will be on his feet
again.
We mentioned last week that a
young lady 18 years of age had
never been on a railroad train,
That statement does not hold
good any longer, as the young
lady went on the S.S. excursion
and thought the experience was
delightful.
It is said that potatoes which
now sell at 50c per bushel, will be
so plentiful that they won't be
worth more than about 15c a
bushel in the fall.
The government 'refrigerator
car took a full load of perishable
goods from here on Monday.
John Howson who has been in
this section for, the past six weeks
visiting .his mother and buying
horses for the North West trade,
leaves Monday with a car load for
Manitoba.
100 YEARS AGO
August 9,18771Y_
Funerals Furnished. With
every requisite on the shortest
notice. The uhdersigned begs
leave to return his sincere thanks
to the inhabitants of Clinton and
vicinity, for the liberal patronage
bestowed 'upon him since he
started business ant. 'also to state
that he now has on hand, a large
stoc:c of coffins, caskets, robes
and trimmings of •the very best
quality, imported from one of the
largest manufacturers in
Ontario. Society trimmings kept
in stock and he is now prepared to
furnish and attend funerals in
first-class style.
At fully 50 per cent less than
prices formerly charged in this
town. Coffins trimmed in city
style, Funerals furnished in 30
minutes after the order is
received, if required. A Hearse
kept for hire. A stock of furniture
always onhar d.
Remember the place - Nearly
opposite Fair's Mill, A.A. Ben-
nett, Cabinet Maket', Undertaker
and Unholsterer. \ -'
One day last week, on a wager
of $5, two men named Jas. Jordan
and Jas. Baker, on the farm of
the latter, near Bayfield, bound
1,200 sheaves in two hours. This is
very good work. If any of our
rural friends beat it, we shall be
pleased to record the fact. •
Joseph and William Ritchie of
Blyth were this week fined $8 and
costs, for letting their pigs out of
the pound unknown to the pound
keeper.
Addressed.
Dear Editor:
Re: Insufficiently and
improperly addressed mail.
The Clinton Post Office
receives a large percentage
of mail which is insufficiently
or improperly addressed.
Mail received by the post
office which is improperly or
insufficiently addressed will
receive slower service.
Please ensure that all mail
is properly addressed with
your box number, rural route
number or G.M.B. number
and the postal code. The
postal code for Clinton Post
Office patrons is NOM 1LO.
The Post Office will be
pleased to code any mailing
lists free of charge. If
everyone starts using their
proper mailing address, it
will enable the post office to
provide you with much better
service.
, Thank you for your attention,
K.R. Dobney,
• Acting Postmaster.
•
What you"
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Dear Editor:
My wife and I, along 'with
our two children, were in
Clinton on Monday, July 11.
We were ori vacation taken up e
partly with a search for
of the ne n
activitietracess of a forepiobeareoil imgy
wife on the Maitland Con-
cession in the 1830s,
My wife was born in New
Zealand' and her ancestor,
Alexander Barclay, left
London, England, to farm in.
' the Huron Tract from 1833
untij 1836.
According .to a book i
possession, Barclay's Upper
Canada experiences were
marked largely by disap-
pointment and frustration,
starting _ with a fire which
destroyed the home of *the
Betts brothers with whom he
was staying over Christmas
J833. Late in 1836 Barclay left
for St. Louis and sub-
sequently achieved some
prominence as a trader and in
the development of the
American southwest in what
is now New Mexico.
A member of the staff of the
Clinton Public Library
showed us the map of Huron•
County published by Mr. Nick
Mika's firm here in
Belleville, but that had to do
with a later time. She also
gave . us the name of Mr.
Elmer Potter who farms on
the Maitland Concession ne
Holmesville. We spent a m `
interesting 20 minutes dr so
with Mr. and Mrs. Potter and
Mr. Potter was familiar with
a number of the family names
on an 1834 map of th.
Maitland Concession area
contained in our book.
The names include Read,
Mountcastle, Atkinson
(according to•Mr. Potter, this
should read, Acheson),
Rumbold, Hicks, Holmes,
Proctor, Mathews, . Cook,
Ford, Jones, Fisher, and
Harris. Mr. Potter's farm
apparently stands apt
proximately where the Bed's
brothers (who also went to St.
Louis), farmed, while Bar-
clay's place was farther down
the road, a short distance, we
estimated, past what is now
the Alexander farm and on
the other side of the road.
Other names on the map,
near where Barclay lived, are.
Morley, Kerns and Leighahile
(the latter name is difficult to
make out and, I may have
misspelled
In Goderich we were also
fortunate to have • the
assistance of the librarian of
the public library, as well as a
lady we encountered there
from the staff of the County
Courthouse, and Judge Frank
Carter.
We would like, in addition,
to thank the lady who was
conducting the children
story hour in yot<ir library in
Clinton and who invited our
Seven-year-old daughter and
four-year-old son to par-
ticipate while we were there.
The book in our possession
is a limited edition work by
Dr. George P. Hammond, of
the University of California,
and published by Fred A.
Rosenstock, Old West
Publishing Company, D* #
ver, Colorado. Its title
"The Adventures of
Alexander i Barclay --
Mountain Man", with the
following, legend beneath:
"From London corsetier to
pioneer farmer in Canada,
bookkeeper in St. Louis,
superintendent of Bent's
Fort, fur trader and mountain
man in Colorado and New
Mexico, builder of Barclay's
Fort on the Santa Fe Trail,
New Mexico in 1848. A
narrative of his career, 1810
to 1855. His memorandum
diary, 1845 to 1850. By George
P. Hammond."
Barclay, incidentally, was
a talented artist, and a
number of reproductions of
his paintings appear in the
book. The American sou
west of that time of cou
' was' a tough and tough e
vironment and Barclay twice
found himself. involved in
duels in .Which apparently no, -
one was hurt but honor was
satisfied. On another oc-
casion he grabbed one of two
men who had shot a young
attorney and held him until
others came to his aid. Raids
by Indians were also com-
mon.
' The book's contrasting
images of pioneer life in
western Ontario and the
American southwest are of
unusual interest and we
thought this glimpse of its
contents would interest your
readers.
A
'0
Yours tnlfy,
W.L.B. McCullagh
RR 7, Belleville, Ontario e