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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1939-03-30, Page 6PAGE SIX THE SEAFORTH NEWS ' THURSDAY; MARCH 30, 1939 I am called," answered the young- er stranger, "the Earl of Menteith, and, I trust, ycu will receive my hon- or as a sufficient security." "A worthy nobleman," answered the soldier, "whose parole is not to be doubted" With one motion he re- placed his musketoon at his back, and with another made his military salute to the young nobleman, and contimung to talk as he rode forward to join him—"And I trust," said he, "my own assurance, that I will be bon ratuerado to your lordship, in peace or in peril. during the time we shall abide together, will not be alto- gether vilipended in these doubtful times, when, as they say, a :nazis head is safer in a steel cap than in a marble palace." "I assure you. sir," said Lord Men- teith, that, to judge from yonr ap- pearance, I most highly value the ad- vantage of :our escort; but I trust w•e shall has,: no occasion for any ex- ercise uercise of valor, a. I expect to'condttct you to good and friendly quarters." •'tic ,d quarters, toy lord," replied the soldier, "are ctiways acceptable, and are ,nil. tr, he postponed to good pay or good booty—not to mention the honor of a cavalier, or the needful points of commanded duty. And truly, my lord, your noble proffer is not the less welcome in that I knew not pre- ceesely this night where 1 and my ;,,.nor companion" (patting his horse) "were to find lodgments." "Maly I be permitted to ask, then," said Lord Mentieth, "to wham I have the good fortune to stand quarter- master?" "Truly, my lord," said the trooper, "my name is Dalgetty—Dugald Dal- getty—Ritt-master Dugald Dalgetty of Drtun thwacket, at your honorable service to command. It is a name you may have seen in Gallo Belgicus, the Swedish Intelligencer, or if you read High Dutch, in the Fiegenden Mer - coeur of Leipsic My father, my lord having by unthrifty courses reduced a fair patrimony to a nonetity, I had no better shift, when I ,was eighteen years old, than to carry the learning whilk I had acquired at the lfaresch- al College of Aberdeen, my gentle bluid and designation of Drum thwacket, together with a pair of stal- warth arms, and legs conform, to the German wars, there to push my way as a cavalier of fortune. My lord, my legs and arms stood me in more stead than either my .gentle kin or my bok leer, and I found myself trail- ing a pike as a private gentleman tin- der old Sir I.udovick Leslie, where I learned the rules of service so tightly that I will not forget them in a hur- ry. Sir, I have been made to stand guard eight hours, being from twelve at noon to eight o'clock of the night, at the palace, armed •with back and breast, head -piece and bracelets, be- ing iron to the teeth, in a bitter frost, and the ice was as hard as ever was flint; and allfor stopping an instant to speak to my landlady when I should have gone to roll -call." "And doubtless, sir," replied Lord Menteith, "you have gone through some hot service, as well •as this same cola duty you talk of?" "Surely, my lord, it doth not be- come me to speak; but he that hath seen the fields of Leipsic and of Lut-' zen, may be said to have seen pitched battles. And one who bath witnessed the intaking of Frankfort, and Span- heim, and Nurenmerg and so forth, should know somewhat about leagu- ers, storms, onslaughts, and outfalls." "But yot"ir merit, sir, and experi- ence, were doubtless followed by pro- motion?" "It came slaw, my lord, dooms slow," replied Dalgetty; ."'but as my Scottish countrymen, the fathers of the war, and the raisers of those .al- orous . Scottish regiments that were the dread of Germany, began to fall pretty thick, what with pestilence and the sword, why we, their .children, succeeded to their inheritance Sir, I was six years first private gentleman of the company, and three years lance speisade; disdaining to receive a hal- berd, as unbecoming to my birth. Wherefore I was ultimately -promot- ed to be a fahn-dragger, as the King's Leif Regiment of Black Horse, and thereafter I arose to be lieutenant and ritt-master, under that invincible monarch, the Lion of the North, the terror of Austria, Gusta- vus the Victorious." "And yet, if I understand you, Cap- tain Dalgetty--I think that rank cor-, responds with your foreign title of ritt-master"— "The same grade preeeesely," an- swered Dalgetty; "ritt-toaster signi- fying literally file -leader." "I was observing," continued Lord Monteith, "that, if I understood you right, you had left the service of this great Prince," ''1t was after bis death—it was af- ter his death, sirs" said Dalgetty, '•.t hen I was in no shape hound to continue mine adherence. There are things, my lord, in that service, that cannot but go against the stomach of any cavalier of honor. In especial, al- beit their pay be none of the most superabundant, being only about six- ty dollars a month to a ritt master, yet the invincible Gustavus never ;,aid above ore -third of that sum, whilk was distributed monthly by way of loan; although, when justly considered, it was, in fact, a borrow- ing by that great monarch of the ad- ditional two-thirds which were due to the soldier, And I have seen whole regiments of Dutch and llolsteiners mutiny on the field of battle, like base scullions, crying out 'Celt, gelt,' sig- nifying their desire of pay, instead of falling to .plows like oar noble Scot- tish blades, who ever disdained, my lord postponing of honor to filthy lucre," "But were not these arrears," said Lord ltenteith, "paid to• the soldiery at some stated period?" "My lord," said Dalgetty, "I take it on my conscience, that at no per- iod, and by no possible ,process, could one kreutzer of then ever be recov- ered. I myself never saw twenty dol- lars of my own all the time I served the invincible Gustavus, unless it was front the chance of a storm or vict- ory, or the fetching in some town or doorp, when a cavalier of fortune, who knows the usage of wars, seldom faileth to make some small profit" "I .begin rather to wonder, sir," said Lord Menteith, "that you should have continued so long in the Swed- ish service, than that you should have ultimately withdrawn from it" "Neither I should," answered the Rett -master; "but that great leader, captain, and king , the Lion of the North, and the bulwark of the faith, had a way of winning battles, taking towns, overrunning countries, and le- vying contributions, whilk made his service irresistibly delectable to all true -,bred cavaliers who follow the noble profession of amts. 'Simple as I ride here, my lord, I have myself commanded the whole Stift of Ditn- klespiel on the Lower Rhine, occupy- ing the Palsgrave's palace, consuming his choice wines with my comrades, calling in contributions, requisitions, and earl -Imes, and not failing to lick my fingers, as became a good cook. Rut truly all this hastened to decay, after our great master had been shot with three bullets on the field of Lut- zen; wherefore, finding that Fortune had changed sides, that the , borrow- ings and lendings went on as before out of •our pay, while the caduaes and casualties were all cut off, I e'en gave up my commisiot, and took service with Wallenstein, in Walter Butler's Irish Regiment" • "And may I beg to know of you," said Lords Menteith, apparently inter- ested in the adventures of this 'soldier of fortune, "how you liked this change, of masters?" "Indifferent well," said the Captain --'very indifferent well. 7 cannot say that the Emperor paid much better than the great Gustavus, For hard knocks we had plenty of them. I was often'obliged to run my head against. my o']d acquaintances, the Swedish feathers, `whir]your honor must con- ceiveto be double -pointed stakes, shod with iron at each end, and plant- ed before the sgttad of spikes to pre- vent an onfall--of cavalry. The whilk Swedish feathers, although they look gay to the eye, resembling the shrubs or lesser trees of ane forest as ,the puisant ikes, arranged in battalia • 'be- hind them correspond to the tail pines therof, yet, neverthelessfi are not alto- gether so soft to ettooiuter as the ,plumage of a goose. Howbeit, ;in des- pite of heavy blows and light spay, a cavalier of fortune may thrive •indiff- erently well in the Imperial service, in respect his private casualties are noth- ing. so closely looked to as by the :Swede; and so that .an officer did his ditty on the fieldfi neither Wallenstein nor Pappen'heitn, nor old Tilley before ahem, would likely listen to the objur- cations of boors or burghers against any commander or soldado, by- whom they chanced to be somewhat closely shorn. So that an experienced caval- ier, knowing' how to lay, as our Scot- tish phrase runs, 'the head of the sow to the tail of the Brice; might get out of the country the pay whilk he could' not obtain from the Emperor," "With a full hand, sir, doubtless, and with intrest," said Lord Stenteith. "Indutia'bly, my lord," answered Dalgetty, composedly; "for it would be doubly disgraceful for any soldado of rank to have his name called in question for any petty delinquency," "And pray, sir," continued Lord Menteith, "what made you leave so gainful a service?" \\'hy, truly, sir," answered the sol- dier, "an Irish cavalier, called ,O'Quil- ligan, being major of our regiment, and I having had words with him the night before, respecting the worth and precedence of our several nations, it pleased hini the next day to deliver his orders to me with the point of his batoon advanced and held aloof, in- stead of declining and trailing the sante, as is the fashion from a court- eous commanding officer toward his equal in rank, though, it may be, his inferior in military grade, Upon this quarrel, ars we fought in private rec- r,ntre; and as, its the perquisitimts which followed, it pleased' Walter Butler, our oberst, or colonel, to give the lighter punishment to his country- man, and the heavier to me, where- upon, ill stontachint such partiality, 1 exchanged my commission for one under the Spaniard," hope you found yourself 'better off by the change?" said Lord dein with, "In good mitt," answered the latt-master, "1 had but little to com- plain of. The pay was somewhat reg- ular, being furnished by the rich Flemings and 'Walloons of the Low Country, The quarters , were excell- ent; the gond wheaten loaves of the Flemings were better than the prow- ant rye -bread of the Swede, and Rhenish wine was more plenty with ars than ever I saw the black -beer of Rostock in-Gustavus's camp. Service there was none, duty there was little; and that little we might do, or leave undone, at our ,pleasure; an excellent retirement for a cavalier somewhat weary of field and leaguer, who had purchased with his 'blood as much as honor might serve his ttirn, and was desirous of a little ease and good ]lying," "And may I ask," said Lord Men- teith, .'why you, Captain, being, as I suppose, in the situation you des- cribe, retired from the Spanish serv- ice also " "You are to consider, my lord, that your Spaniard," replied Captain Dal- getty, "is a person altogether,unparal- leled in his own conceit, where - through he ma'keth not fit account of such foreign cavaliers of valor as are pleased to take service with him. And a galling thing it is to every honor- able soldado, 'to he put aside, and postponed, and obliged to yield pref- erence to every puffing signior, who, were it the question which should first mount a breach at push of pike, might be apt to yield willing place to a 'Scotch cavalier, Moreover, sir, I was pricked in conscience. '''So you again changed your ser- vice?" said Menteith. "In troth did I, my lord; and after trying for a short while two or three other powers, I even took on for a time with with their High Sfighti- nesses the States of Holland." "And hove did their service jump with your humor?" again demanded his companion. "(Ohl my lord," said the soldier in a sort of enthusiasm, "their !behavior on pay-day might be a pattern to all Europe—no borrowings, no lendings, no offsets, no arrears—all balanced and paid like a banker's hook. The quarters, too, are excellent, and the allowances unchallengeable; but then, sir, they are a ,preccese, scrupulous •people, and will allow nothing for peccadilloes. So that if a boor com- plains of a 'broken .head, or a beer- seller -of a 'broken can,or a daft wench does .but squeak laud enough to !be 'heard above herbreath, a sol- dier of honor shall be dragged, not before his own''court-maritiaf, who can-:" best judge of and punish his de- merits,. but !before a "base mechanical burgomaster, who shall menace him with the rasp -house, the cord and what not, -as if he were one of their own men, amp'hi'bious, twenty - breeched boors. So not -being able to dwell longer among these ungrateful' plebeians, who, although Womble to de- fend themselves -by their proper' strength, will nevertheless allow the noble foreign 'cavalier who engages with them nothing beyond his dry wages, which no honorable spirit will ,part in competition with a liberal lic- ense and honorable countenance, I re-' solved to leave the service of the Myn'heers. And hearing at this time, to my exceeding satisfaction, that there is something to be doing This summer in my way in this my dear native country, I am come hither, as they say, like a 'beggar to a, bridal, in order to give my loving countrymen The advantage of that experience, which I have acquired in foreign parts. So your lordship has an 'outline of iffy brief story,' excepting my de- portment in those passages of action in the field, in leaguers, storms, and onslaughts, whilk would be tedious to narrate, and might, peradventure, better befit any other tongue than mine own." CHAPTER III. For pleas of right let statesmen vex their head, Battle's my .business, and my gtterdon 'bread; And, With the sworded Switzer, I can say, The best of causes is the best of pay. The difficulty and narrowness of the road had ;by this time become such as to interrupt the conversation of the travellers and Lord Menteith, reining hack his horse, held s moment's priv- ate"coversation with his domestics. The Captain, who now led the Van of the party-, after about a quarter of a toile's slow and toilsome advance up a broken and rugged ascent, emerged into an upland valley, to which a mountain stream acted as a brain, and afforded sufficient room .upon its green -sward banks for the travelers to .pursue their journey in a more soc- ial manner. Lord Menteith accordingly resumed the conversation, which had been in- terrpted by the difficulties of the way, "1 should have thought," said he to Captain Delgetty, "that a cavalier of your honorable mark, who hathso long followed tithe valiant ling of Sweden, and entertains such a suitable contempt for the Wase mechanical States of Holland, would not have hesitated to embrace the cause of Bing Charles, in preference to that of the low -born, routdheaded, canting knaves who are in rebellion against MA 'authority?" -Ye speak reasonably, my lord," said Dalgetty, "and I might be in- duced to see the matter in the sante light. lint, my lord, there is a south - (To be continued) HE MADE A MILLION For ten years, up .until .11935, Lester Pfister's neighbors in El Paso, Nis -Ms, were convinced that he wasn't quite right in the head. They couldn't understand why any sane individual should spend 'hours in a field under the boiling sun tying paper bags 011 corn tassels. When Isis farm went to ruin because he couldn't give it the time it required, fatherly odd men us- ed to stop him on. the road and beg him to quit his foolishness. And then, after years of ridicule and going about ragged and half starved, Pfister drove his "crazy" ex- periment through to a successful con- clusion. In 19615, while his neighbors were averaging $2000 for a season's work, Pfister took in $3'3,000—pay- ment for corn seed that he had devel- oped. The following year he sold for $10 a bushel every kernel he could raise, and took in $1150,000. Here was a corn that would outyield anything ever ;grown in Woodford county by anywhere from six to 3b bushels! Or- ders rolled in from every state in the Corn Belt, and in 19317 he grossed $400,000. This year advance orders backed by deposits point to a take of half a million. P'Ilster's quest for hybrid corn be- gan in 11926 after a chance meeting in Des Moines with Henry Wallace, then an Iowa farm editor, now Sec- retary of Agriculture. The two men talked corn far into the night, and 'Pfister learned the new gospel of the corn "breeder. Ear selection, ,he heard, was like 'breeding cattle and ignoring,- bulls. gnoring•brills. No breeder, outside of a few professors, had ever tried to cottroi tassel pollen to produce better corn. Wallace sowed in his companion a great enthusiasm. When they parted, at two in the morning, Pfister said, "'I'I.1 get going to -morrow." And he. did. To avoid ridicule, Pfister 'began. planting 'hack of a 'hedge. But farm- ers, standing high in their wagons, were able to look down and see the field all decked out in paper bags. "Maybe he figures to keep the shucks from freezing," ,they Said. Into the black earth. Pfister had tucked the seed from 303 ears, of top notch Krug corn. On each tassel that sprang from the stalks he tied a paper bag. On the ear -shoots he tied anoth- er, When he figured the tassel bag was full of pollen, he slipped it off. This he inverted gaticicly over the silk of the ear on the same stalk. Theti he snapped off the tassel. This . was in- breeding. During his exiieriments be. used 100,000 paper bags, nude 50,000 hand pallinaitions. At harvest time he discovered the many strains that had 'been 'blended to make Krug corn. Here were stalks thick as a 'baseball bat that wouldn't stand erect; 'here, tassels without 'pol- len, cobs without kernels. A few bore runty ears, 'batt were rooted deep and stood straight and strong. Ruthlessly he discarded the wealdlings, Saving only 1)1.3 ears that showed promise. The following 'spring he planted thein. For five back -straining years .he plant ed, 'bagged and eliminated, in addition to operating the farm for his living, In 11900 he was down to- four ears. These were the twisted, misbegotten children of 'five inbred generations, but they were tough, had root systems that bored deep and made The most of the minerals in the earth; they stood erect in high winds and went through the summer unmarred by disease. He shelled those four ears, and was ready to make his first crosses. The corn was .planted in three rows. He designated the middle row the sire or pollinator, and this time he snapped off the tassels on the female stalks as fast as they appeared, The male tas- sels were free to shed their pollen in the silks of the rows on either side. No rain fell and the sun was des- perately hot. Stalk after stalk wilted. But Pfister, advised to irrigate, said simply, "If they can't take it, let them die," His farm ran clown and he made little effort to do anything about it. His arrival in town became a .signal for snorts . and laughter. But nothing could turn this thin, pale ntan from Itis purpose. That winter he looked at the ear- of his first crosses. No longer the under- sized, gnarled offspring of cousin and sister and brother matings, these ears were wonderfully filled down to the tips with evenly kerneled, heavy corn. From experiment stations he obtained federal inbreds to cross with his own, He was still dissatisfied. During 1031 and 1032 Lester let his corn ride out grasshoppers and chinch 'bugs as he had let it ride nut drought. "Let the weaklings rlie," he said. His life became steadily more diffi- cult. 1-Iaving• no crop, he obtained loans from his sisters, his brother and the bank. He was now $3E,000 in debt. His hair turned white that year, and his weight dropped to 1115 pounds, Day in, clay out, all his children had to eat was corn meal mush. In the winter the fancily huddled over a smo- lder of corncobs, and Pfister, his sheep skin in shreds, put cardboard over the holes in his hoots to keep out the snow and cold. All that sustained him was his pile of corn. That, and one inspiring sen- tence he had once read He recited it to tne, a little awkwardly: "On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless million's who, at the dawn of victory, sat down to rest, and rest- ing, died' Receiving notice of foreclosure from his 'bank the following spring, he wheedled a six -months' postponement by showing the 'bank officials some of his precious ears. The bank officials knew corn and were impressed. 'tinged by his wife, he sold his remaining hogs and made out a money order to a paper hag manufacturer. At harvest he shucked 223 bushels of the finest corn ever seen in Wood- ford county. Passing farmers jumped off their wagons to take a look. To some, Pfister gave a bushel or two. These were all double-crosses, that is, a mating of the single crosses of the preceding year—and they were bigger, heavier and fuller. Pfister had corn that would outdo anything he knew, and when Itis wife came to find out what was keeping ]tint front din- ner, she burst into tears. Their troub- les were over. That winter a man with a, half sec- tion of land proposed that Pfister per- mit hint to raise seed for !tint, an a ten percent royalty basis. Now 215 other large farmers produce each year a livarter of a million bushels, all of it marketed under Pfister's name. * Pfister now 'has a 680 acre farm, 1, free of debt. He rent 'another 800: acres, His seed business will probably soon. gross $1,0004000 a year. This Illinois farmer is enjoying his success, for it means that his six chil- dren will not he Obliged, as he was, to break off their schooling in the eighth .grade. More than that, it means that every bushel of the hybrid cornthat he sells will enrich the buyer.'Now' planted on more than. 2,000,000 acres in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, his .corn will, he figures, put $10,000,- 000 in farmers' pockets the current year that would not otherwise have 'been there. PROFESSIONAL CARDS Medical SEAFORTH CLINIC Dr. E. A. McMaster, M.B., Gradu- ate of University of Toronto. J. D, Colquhoitn, 1Cf,D„ GM., 'Grad- uate of Dalhousie University, Halifax. The Clinic is fully equipped with complete and modern x-ray and other up-to-date diagnostic and thereuptic equipment. Dr. Margaret K. 'Campbell, M.D.,.' L.A.B,P., Specialist in Diseases in. Infants and Children, will be at tlte• Clinic 'last Thursday in every month from 3 to '6 p.m. Dr. F. J. R. Forster, Specialist in• Diseases of the. Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat, will be at the Clinic the first Tuesday in every month from 4 to 6 p.m. Free well -baby clinic will be held, on the second and last Thursday in- every month from 1 to 2 p.m. i W. C. SPROAT, Nl.D„ F.A.C.S. ' Surgery Phone 90-W, Office John St., Seaforth DR, H. HUGH ROSS, Physician: and Surgeon Late of London Hos- pital, London, England. Special at- tention to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Office and cesid'ence behind Dominion Bank. Office Phone No. 5; Residence Phone 104. DR. F. J. BURROWS, Office Mani St, Seaforth, over Dominion Bank. Hours 2-5 and 7 to 8 p,m, and by ap- pointment. Residence, Goderich St,, two doors 'west of United Church, Phone 416. DR F. J. R. FORSTER—Eye Ear, Nose and Throat. Graduate in Medicine, University of Toronto 1897, Late Assistant New York Ophthal- mic and Aural Institute, Moorefield's Eye, and Golden Square throat hospi-• tats, London, At Commercial Hotel, Seaforth, third Wednesday in each month from 1.30 p.m. to 5 p.m, Auctioneer.. GEORGE ELLIOTT, Licensed Auctioneer for the County of Huron. Arrangements can be made for Sale Date at The Seaforth News, Charges moderate and satisfaction guaranteed F. W. AHRENS, Licensed Auction eel.' for Perth and Huron Counties. Sales Solicited, Terms on Application, Farm Stook, chattels and reit estate property. R. R. No, 4, Mitchell, Phone 634 r 6, Apply at this office. • WATSON & REID REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE AGENCY (Successors to James Watson) MAIN ST., SEAFORTH, ONT, All kinds of Insurance risks effect- r# ed at lowest rates in First -Class Companies. THE IVIcKILLOP Mutual l:ire lnsuranca Co HEAD OFFICE—SEAFORTH, Ont.. OFFICERS President, Thomas Moylan, Sea - forth; Vice President, William Knox, Londesboro; Secretary Treasurer, M A. Reid, Seaforth. AGENTS F. McKercher, R.-R.I, Dublin; John E. Pepper, R.R.1, Brucefield; E. R G. Yarmouth, Brodhagen; James Watt. Blyth; C. F. Hewitt, Kincardine., Wm, Yeo, Holmesvjuie. DIRECTORS Alex, Broadfoot, Seaforth No. 3;. James Sholdice, Walton; Wm. Knox„ Londesboro; George Leonhardt,.. Bornholm No, 1; Frank MoGregor„ Clinton No, 5; James Connolly, God-. erich; Alex McEwing, Blyth No. 1;. Thomas Moylan, Seaforth No. 5;, Wm. R Archibald, Seaforth No. 4. Parties desirous to effect insurance• or transact other business, will be. promptly attended to by applications, to any of the above named officers addressed to their respective post offices. Canadian Turkeys Popular Canadian turkeys continue to be popular in Great Britain, the Canad- ian exports to the British market front. January 1 to February 23; 1939, totalling 5;139 boxes, compared with 300 boxes during the corresponding period of 1038, and with the hitherto highest record for the period of 1,764 boxes in 1037. Further, the position in which Canadian turkeys have be- come established in the British mar- ket is shown by the fact that' Canad- ian turkeys have been selling at five cents more per pound than other birds.