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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1961-12-07, Page 14sfgual,5tw, l4 Y. Pecsmbox 4. 1,4e1 _MET 'CLASS MATE HERE New ¥ork State Visitor bumf- ._m, Goderich Friendly And Pleasant Do you know something? We haven't any natiotral character. There's no such thing as a "typ- ical Canadian." We're just a vague, unformed glob of human beings who happen to live in the same vast hunk of geo- graphy. Isn't that a fine state of affairs, with Christmas com- ling-lar,-,and-e- ertthing' r * * 1 learned this_ while.. reafl.ing a couple of new books about Can- ada this week. The authors seemed not only disturbed but displeased because they were unable to put down a list of adjectives, point triumphantly and say, "There you are! A typical Canadian!" * * * This search for a Canadian identity has become a regular parlor game .among writers and intellectuals. I find the whole' problem remarkably undisturb- ing. I'd rather be a typical hu- man being than a typical Can- adian. Have you ever noticed - that when people say, "He's a typical American" (or English- man, Frenchman, German), they -don't mean -it as a compli- _m..eat? ., * .k UGAR and SPICB By Biq Smiley However, in the interests of pure truth I thought 1'd look back through a number of friends and acquaintances and see whether I could come up with a typical Canadian, after more than 40 years of consort- ing with the species. - ; ere was a huge, happy, .lively -tongued, quick-witted fel- low with whom I once trained as a pilot, in the dead of a typical Canadian ,winter. He didn't have fffiy special 'advant- ages advant-ages of wealth, schooling or social position. But Jake Gaud - aur, president of the Hamilton Tiger -Cats football club, is do- ing all right these days. A typical Canadian? * * * 'There was a skinny, starved - looking little guy at college wlio was so shaky, physically and financially, that 1 didn't 'think he'd graduate. But he had a wicked wit and a wonder- ful way with words. His name was Jamie. As Professor James Reaney, poet, playwright, novel- ist and editor of a new maga- zine, he's doing all right. A typical Canadian? - * * • There was the French-Can- adian kid who worked with me as bellhop on the lake boats, before the war, When he start - ed that summer, he knew only three words of English, all of -them bad, iI couldn't help hooting when I saw his name in the paper the other day— a distinguished member of the clery in Quebec. A typical Canadian? * * There were a,couple of young ,serewbeils-who-wrote and -pray' ed in comedy at 'university. them was in a seas. They had improved° 1 saw them on television the Every now. and then 0 letter comes along 'from someone who has visited Q .erfeb, likes it, and says so in written form. The latest one was addressed to Mayor E. C, Fisher and came from Mrs. P. E. (Mildred E.) Ricketts, of Sky Hill !toad, West Branch, New York. It read as follows: "We have just returned from a week -end in Canada, having spent p �# Friday night and part of Saturday in your beautiful little city of Goderich. "We arrived at 9 p.m., and stopped in at the Bedford Hotel. There. we were received so graciously by Mr. 'Frank Clark and felt of home at once. He located my nurse class trate, by phone, whom I had not seen in 25 years. (Editor's note: The class mate was Mrs. Olive Mas- kell, Hamilton street, Goderich, wilo 45 years ago went into training as a nurse with Mrs. Ricketts at New York Medical Hospital, New York City.) "It was such, a friendly and pleasant visit that we felt we must tell you about it. "We were so interested in your salt industries and your beautiful Presbyterian Church. You should, indeed, be proud to be a part of your city, in- cluding that fide new bridge. Congratulations and best wishes for your'future progress." skits when I wash —VEST WAWANOSHF®F-k w troop show, over- � other night. They're getting by, as Wayne and Shuster. Typical Canadians? * Then there's Dutch. Once a wild and woolly Australian, he taught me to fly Spitfires, in England. He came here after the war and is happy as a trout, hotly pursuing his first million in Toronto. A typical Can- adian? ,;< •And Chuck. His old man was a Ukrainian. We were in prison camp together and when the Russians were getting close he taught me to say, "Don't shootL", in Russian. ° He was a first-rate cartoonist and last I heard he was in. Vancouver. A typical Canadian? And three Georges. One was a quiet student, who bought a Belgian pistol from' me after the war and paid me $10 more Oen it was. wexth,,,because aging these days, between dir- ecting plays at Stratford and on television. A typical Can- adian? * * * Another George repaid the Yanks for burnind'xYoi "in th war of 1012. He went over to Wall street, made a'milllon be- fore he "wes forty,' and carried it gleefully back to his north- ern lair. A typical Canadian? * * :, The third George used to be a Czech. He was in a concen- tration camp during the war. Now he's a dentist in Canada, has a split-level home, a two - car garage, and a real aversion ' to paying so much income tax. A typical Canadian? * * * I can think of a dozen others. The country is full of charac- ters, but there's no suds thing as a "typical Canadian" - any more than there is an "average man." 1, for one, am heartily glad of it. Who wants to be a "typical"? Do you want to be ANNUAL BANQUET AT 'NILE NILE.—The United Church at Nile was the scene of the an- nual baniquet of The West Wa- wanosh Federation of Agricul- ture on the evening of Novem- ber 23rd. - An attendance of more than 125 enjoyed the turkey supper. The W.A. ladies were thanked by Tom Webster and Mrs. Harry Matthews re, plied. At the head table were: Cyril Boyle, president; Murray Gaunt, guest speaker; Douglas McNeil, past president of Duron County; ?Xi. and Mrs. Graham 1,/ cNee, Mr. and Mrs. Charles .-MacDon- ald, Mr. and Mrs. Bob 4 cA1- lister, Mr, and Mrs. Albert Tay- lor, Mr. and • Mrs. Tom Webster, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Culbert, Mr. and Mrs. Elroy Laidlaw, Mr. and Mrs. George Hallam, Howard Thompson, Bill Caesar, Mr. and Mrs. Allan Miller. Two_y musical_ cumbers .were 1 *%br; bd- sit , E e' Taylor accompanied by Mrs. Bob Phillips, of Auburn. Cyril Boyle, president, pre- sided for the evening. Bill Caesar introduced Mur- ray Gaunt, associate farm direc= 'totem 'of 'CKNX ' and a native b West Wawanosh. Murray told of his trip to Bermuda in Oc- tober and had slides of agrict'd- tural scenes and activities .on this small island in the At- lantic, first settled in 1609. Robert McAllister' thanked Murray and wished him every success. - `a typical farmer, or typical 'merchant, or typical laborer, or typical house*lvife? Or even a typical millionaire? Not a bit of it. No more than 1 want to be a typical school teacher. * * •, * The only thing the characters above have in common is that they live in this country and love it. And that goes for me, too. How about you? George Hallam gave two hum= orous readings. Douglas McNeil conducted election of officers for 1962, as follows: Past president, William Caesar; president, Cyril Doyle; lst vice-president, Robert Mc- Allister; secretary, Mrs. Bessie McNee; cream producers, Elroy Laidlaw; hog producers, Bob McAllister; beef producers, Tom Webster; poultry produc- ers, Albert Taylor; `wheat pro- ducers, Howard Thompson; lady director, Mrs. Robert _McAllis- ter; directors, Mrs. William Wiggins, Mrs. Charlie MacDon- ald, Allan Miller, William Wig- gins; George Hallam, Nelson Culbert and Bill Good. Harvey Culbert made brief remarks on behalf of West Wawanosh Council. GIFT SUGGESTION Many Christ/1111S Gift °p12 - nal -Star have already been ar- ranged for and many people in the Goderich district will be receiving same. Why not ar- range to send a gift subscrip- tion to your friend? _ Drop into the Signal -Star office today and speedily take care of several persons on your Christmas gift liat.- BUYS NEWSPAPER Frank McEwan, formerly with the Clinton News -Record and The Zurich Citizens News, has purchased The Bothwell' News, of Bothwell, Ontario. He will be joined in the business with his son, Murray McEwan, who has been on .the printing staff of The Clinton News -Record. Mrs. Murray McEwan, the form- er Janet Reder, graduated from Goderich Business College last spring. Give a year's subscription , to The Signal -Star as a gift for Christmas. CJ when youteed PIONEER -CAFETERIA DAIRY FEEDS Supplements or Complete Feeds Pioneer -Cafeteria Dairy Supplernents and Com- plete Dairy Feeds have what it takes to get EXTRA pounds of milk out of your cows... from the end of the first, week of feeding to the end of their lactation periods. Here's why. Pioneer -Cafeteria dairy rations give cows a high level of Vitamin "A ", which improves herd health..' . and healthy cows make more ,milk than cows that are slightly "off color." Also, Pioneer -Cafeteria dairy rations give cows an extra - high level of Vitamin D-2, which assures proper assimilation of minerals, and is your best form of insurance against milk fever. Cows on -Pioneer -Cafeteria rations don't "milk themselves thin," even though they are producing extra milk ... because they get all the necessary nutrients in their feed and don't have to draw from their bodies. Even at regular prices, Pioneer -Cafeteria dairy feeds are the "best buy" on the market. At today's reduced prices, they're a BARGAIN. FOR A GREENER THUMB a BY G• MecLsbd Roil Mainly On ,Research Touring the garden is -a bleak business these days. Not that we have not enjoyed a superb fall and are still snowless. How- ever; there - have been frosts and planting the.. premium cro- cuses has not been easy. Rose buds which lasted tilt Ngyvem- ber 18th have now bent their heads. The late chrysanthe- mums, especially those in shelt- ered spots, s ill show color. Carnations we ther the cold well, but their uds will neyer open. Snaps have stood up w l I carna- tions, arna tions, are perennials and if you can nurse them through the winter, as several members do, they can easily surprise you with their vigorous , bloom next spring. The geum is a very early bloomer and a pretty flower withal, especially the orange shade. oday it is in bloom again andseems quite unaffected by the cold. * * * ..0 Let us take .ar look at some of the things which the scien- tific world has been doing in its ivory lab this summer whilst you were laboring' so diligently in your garden. Mention of ivory demands a pausy - io re, mark the Hall of Ivory in which a local bank has recently en- sconced itself. And now that French conversation classes have been so avidly taken up by the citizens of Goderich it is only natural* to intersperse these notes with a few phrases in that language. So, revenons a nos moutons forgive the ab- sence of the accent grave on the "a" but our type font is strictly Anglo -Saxon.. -.-Research! Ah, there we, go again. Using a word, the meaning of which engenders hours -of acrid dis- cussion and debate. Well, the worst that can happen is an- other letter from "Purist." En- core, a nos moutons. Did 1 hear someone murmur: For the love of Mike get to the point? Any more interruptions and yju ill all. a ask up and state your. telephon numbers in French! Enfin, mes enfants, the bees have been busy at the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. Drs. Roberts and Struckmeyer have extracted blossom - stimu'lating hormones, called anthrogens, from various plants. Anthro- gens are fatty substances which belong to a group not generally credited with having physiolog- ical activity..Three separate anthrogens were isolated from plants in various stages of blooming. .The' hormones wer • Mixed with water and sprayed on the leaves of young plants. African violets came into full bloom before buds hppeared on untreated violets of the •same age. The leaves also grew rap- idly on the sprayed plants. , Suc- cess was obtained with the use of hormones on 70 varieties of plants, including azaleas and chrysanthemums. Such early 'fowerin ,,. is a et'ed' to reduce' xpen$e in growing l�reenhouse. tants. Now a. word of WOO: mg. Whilst it is possible "that the door on the Ryan emporium is strong enough to withstand your united onslaughts, it is also probable that these hor- mones will not be commercial- ly -available for a season or two. Pace! Then, too, the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture did more than spend the summer bathing seven times in the waters of Potomac. They ex- posed alfalfa seeds to electric energy in the radio frequency range and increased germin- ation 35%. Red clover was in- creased 12% but unhulled crown yetch was almost doubl- ed. For those who wish to re- peat this experiment for them- selves, the frequency used was 39 megacycles per second and a field density of 3000 volts per inch. It is not yet known whe- ther improved germination is -s r .su of chemical er ply i 'changes though it is known that exposure to electric energy changes the sugars of certain varieties and increases the cap- acity of some hard seeds to absorb water. And so to Oak Ridge, where several thousand seeds of dif- ferent trees and plants were irradiated in a nuclear reactor there. The only survivor of this fiery furnace treatment was the European alder but within this one f.eed a mutation occurred " which made it more hardy than its progenitors. The tree, whip- is now thriving at the Holden Arboretum in Men- tor, Ohio, is resistant to leaf miner, which causes brown, blistery foliage. The tree has glossy, deep foliage and is more ornamental than its ancestors. The seed was planted in 1957 and the tree is. growing at normal rate and is expected to reach 30 to 35 feet at maturity. f lan cuttings have been taken and studies of the Tree's chror a artvUnder way to de• tern dt a just how irradiation changed the plant. * * * Consideration is being given to the idea of having one of the French class students write next week's column in the...,bi- vernacular- - t fli. cERTIRICA1E r - Ac 50 -year 3tleltlbe certificate was presented to Sam Courti*e r at the annual meeting and turkey supper or L.Q.I.; 1328 held at the Orange Hall at Amberl,ey. An ideal gift — a year's sub- scription to The Signal -Star. GETAN NFC HOPPER'SLOAN .Make the season more enjoyable for your family and friends, and for yourself as well. With cash from HFC, d you buy just the right gifts to please everyone on your _list.... make. leiter'_buys...-shop.-.--_.s�hnp. ,at any,,BlQig.,-,yslu- wish ... and avoid a mailbox full of bills. Simply re- pay HFC one low monthly amount after this expensive season is over. Life Insurance available at low group rate.. AMOUNT, OF ' ion MONTHLY 12 months PAYMENT months PLANS nt!» mo3 months $100 $ 9.46 $ 6.12 $ $ 500 46.73 30.01 750 69.21 44,13 31.65 1000 91.56 58.11 41.45 1600 146.52 94.11 68.81 2200 201.46 129.41 94,62 83.71 2500 228.93 147.05 107.52 95.12' Abdve payments inc uds principal and Interest, and are based on prompt repayment. but do not include the cost of lite insurance. - _ HO SEHOLD FINANCE G. N. Crawford, Manager 35A West Street' Telephone JA 4-7383 GODERICH „I'9• tic%" .(JGO!/J!r'Jt DUCED PRICES. for CASH for. VOLUME for BULK DELIVERY Come in and talk over our new pricing arrangement for Fall, 1961. Cattle Feeders .. a, Ask about today's favorable prices on Pioneer -Cafeteria 32% Beef Cattle Supplement with Stilbestrol and Tran -Q tranquilizer. Also Warble-KiI and Cattle Puritone They're GOOD. JA 4-8662 46 'and 48 t The first new taste1 • e only light fu//strength beer! BREW FORTHE HOLIDAY SEASON With the holiday hospital4 season coming up, you'll want iota of Light Holiday $yew in the house. terve Holiday. Its. extra lightness will please your visiting friends. And yourself. Order Light -Holiday Brew -at yourfavowrite'Hotel or Tavern. You'li find'Holiday at your Brewers' Retail Store listed under • O'Xeefe. Ct ORDER IIOHT