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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1955-05-19, Page 6Stranded Fanners South of the ihrder Farming, it has often been said, is not just a way of making a living; it is away of life. It represents, probably, the chief survival of personal business en- terprise. Anything, therefore, that takes people off farms does a gooll deal mare to a nation than effect a chttege in jobs. Farm population has been dropping in the United United States since 1916 (by over 5,- 000,000 in the last 10 years) — dwindling in its ratio to the whole for more than 100 years. And White House recommenda- tions just sent to Congress, if carried out, would accelerate this trend. If these proposals would re- sult simply in taking families indiscriminately out of farming they certainly should be ques- tioned. But they have to do with farmers who, because of sub- marginal soil, climatic conditions, lack of capital, or of skill con- stitute one of the lowest income groups in the country -- less than $1,000 a year. Such people this program would help off the farm into more lucrative vocations, or would help them on the farm — where conditions justify — by expert guidance, dr by encourag- ing part-time employment in de- centralizing industries:;. Such people, says Secretary Benson, are helped -.little by price -support programs. Their production is so small per farm that price supports add only a few dollars. They are not the ones who pile up the big sur- pluses. A good deal of price - support exploitation comes from so called corporation "farming." Yet it is consideration for these "little people" that has supplied a good deal of the humanitarian steam behind high -support degis- lation. DISCONNECTED CLUES — Police Chief A. C. Mistier puzzles over "bodies" found in an abandoned hearse in Leavenworth, Kan. Two men are believed to have made a getaway — from no one knows what — in the vehicle loaded with dismembered depart- ment store mannequins. Helping the chronically un- economical farmers on the dry plains to move elsewhere or to other callings would make some contribution to relieving dis- tress in the Dust Bowls, 'Miany of the bigger operators are suffi- ciently well financed to weather droughts or to cut their losses and start up again on their own, But the recommendations, as the President's message stresses, are of a "long range nature." They are not substitutes for things that must be done to meet emergencies. --- From The Chris- tian Science Monitor. TA LE, TALK Bane Andews. Let's talk about strawberries for a few "moments. As far as myself and family are concerned we're satisfied to eat them either one of two ways, Plain, 'with sugar and plenty of rich cream poured over; or as part of • a shortcake—and I mean the old- fashioned kind made with biscuit dough and not the fancy structures that masquerade as strawberry shortcake in these effete days. Still, there are occasions when you want to serve something more elaborate—and the follow- ing three recipes are just what you need at such a juncture. For this strawberry Heart Mertneue, the berries can be hulled and sweetened, ice cream made or bought and the merin- gue shell prepared. all before- hand The scoops of ice cream could be taken from your own freczine tray, for the second recipe is a delicious combination of chilled evaporated milk, melt- ed triarrhmallows and crushed stranvherriee frozen to a velvety ,mer tiinees. a spatula, building a wide rim around the edge of the heart. Bake in a slow oven (300° F.) for 45 minutes or until shell is dry on the outside. When shell is cool, remove brown paper and chill in refrigerator. Slice fresh strawberries and sprinkle with sugar. Chill in refrigerator. Just before serving, remove meringue from refrig- erator and fill centre with gen- erous scoops of strawberry ice cream, Top with fresh, sliced strawberries and serve imme- diately. H P * STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM (Makes 8 to•10 Servings) 1 cup evaporated milk, chilled 24 marshmallows (le pound) 2 cups fresh strawberries Pour cold evaporated milk in- to treezer tray and chili until ice crystals form around edges. Melt marshmallows in top of double boiler over hot water. Mash strawberries and add to melted marshmallows. Cool. Whip icy cold evaporated milk in a chilled bowl until stiff. Add STRAWBERRY HEART MERINGUE (Makes 6 to 8 Servings) 3 egg whites 1 teaspoon salt ries teaspoon vinegar 1 cup sugar Li teaspoon vanilla red food coloring (optional) 1 pint fresh strawberries 2 tablespoons sugar 1 brick strawberry ice cream Combine egg whites, salt and 'Vinegar. Beat until soft peaks are formed, eAdd 1 cup sugar gradually, about 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until all sugar is dissolved and mix- ture Is very stiff. Add vanilla and several drops of food'color- ing. Beat well. Line a cookie sheet with un- glazed brown paper cut to fit. Trace an 8 or 9 inch heart on the brown paper from a card- board pattern or heart -shaped calve pan, Pile meringue in cen- tre of the heart, then smooth out to the edge of the pattern with •.roti Y straw aerry -marshmallow m i x - t u r e and beat until fluffy. Pour into 2 refrigerator trays and freeze, with control set at cold- est spot. STRAWBERRY CREAM TARTS (Makes 8 Tarts) 2 (4 ounce) packages plain cream cheese 2 tablespoons cream Ye cop sugar 2 teaspoons grated orange rind or lemon rind • 1 quart fresh strawberries 5 tablespoons icing sugar y teaspoon cinnamon 2 baked pastry tart shells Beat cream cheese until smooth, Add cream, sugar and orange or lemon rind. -Beat un - 011 fluffy and smooth. Wash, drain and hull strawberries. Slice In, half, Combine icing sugar and cinnamon, than mix with sliced strawberries, Chill. Before serving, spread 34 of cheese mixture in bottom of tarts. Cover with strawberries. Top with a daub of cheese mix- ture, Serve Immediately, Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal is set like a giant emerald in a me- dallion of elaborate Florentine silver work, for there lies all about it a network of turbulent and celebrated waterways that throughout its history have been beautiful, dramatic and tragic as man attempted their conquest. Great as the St. Lawrence River, in the days of the French re- gime its navigation west of Que- bec was always troublesome. The ships from France were not able to sail to Montreal Travel- lers and goods of trade all had to be. transferred to small, specially constructed vessels which could make their way through the shallow waters be- tween the low lying islands in the river and could be rowed, or pushed, or tugged from a towpath o n the bank, up through the famous St. Mary's Current which guarded the Is- land of Montreal from intru- sion.... The waters of the Great Lakes and of the north country tribu- tary to the Ottawa River tum- bled on towards Montreal in many, many miles of "white water" The St. Lawrence and the Ottawa flow towards ane an- other at an angle, which nar- rows the land between them to a .slender wedge, At the tip o£ this wedge the two great rivers meet in Lake 5t. Louis. The Ot- tawa flows through the Rapids of Ste. Anne where Moore wrote his famous Canadian Boat Song. and the St. Lawrence through the rapids which feed power into the dramatic Beau- harnois generators. The port of Montreal is the greatest inland port in the world, Yet it is nearer to Liver- pool than Boston, Portland, New York or Philadelphia —'nearly three hundred miles nearer than New York, It is also nearer to Central Canada and the Ameri- can Middle West than any other seaport. Montreal is not a port Mr the show ships such as the Quean Elizabeth, but is plamaed for the economical ship which is built for efficiency in fueling and in loading and unloading. There are only a dozen or so ships of the big tonnage, 35,000 tons and over, but the chief fleets of the world's commerce range from 20,000 tons down- ward. These are the ships for which the port of Montreal is planned. The Port of Montreal occupies sixteen miles of waterfront on both shores of the St. Lawrence. It begins about three-quarters of a mile upstream from the old Victoria Bridge and ends at Bout de l'Ile opposite Varennes. The St. Lawrence ship channels cover two hundred and ten miles, from Montreal to South Traverse, fifty miles below,:Qlue- bee City. The man-made chan- nels represent a very important engineering feat, , . . The best place to see the Port of Montreal is from the magni- ficent bridge officially named for Jacques Cartier but known as Harbour Bridge, — From "Geeebec; Portrait of a Prov- ince," by Blodwen Davies. FOLLOW YOUR NOSE You can now find your way about Paris underground sta- tions --by perfumes. All that lost passengers have to do in future is to use their noses. A spraying device on the rear of trains will spray perfume on station plat- forms, and the perfumes will vary from one platform to an- other. The main track which runs from under the famed Champs. l lysees will be perfumed with eau -de -Cologne and in the Latin Quarter lemon, rose and pine perfumes are to be aped. Paris railways hope to attract more passengers. Fall Madly In Lava With OM Painting Officials at a Rumanian art gallery were intrigued until re- cently by the daily appearance there of a young man who acted very strangely. He would stand in front of a full-length portrait of a lovely woman by an Unknown artist, obviously rapt in admiration. Sometimes itis lips would move as lie uttered words of love -- ail addressed to the scantily -clad girl, the original nioclel for whom lived more than 300 years ago, It was clear that the romantic - looking stranger had fallen in love with the picture. One day he stopped coming to the art gallery, but" the authorities re- ceived a letter from him — a love -letter addressed to the wo- man in the picture. In it he poured out his devotion, pray- ing that one day he night meet her in eternity. A strange story -- but no stranger than others of people who have fallen in love with beauties immortalized by the old masters: Titian, the great Venetian art- ist, lavished all his skill upon his beautiful picture of "Laura de Dianti." Her figure is sump tuous, her face of wonderful .peeity and innocence. 4'°:'` When this portrait was first exhibited in Italy, a yoting French count spent forty days sitting before it. And the gallery authorities took swift action af- ter an official had had to re- strain him while he was trying to kiss the lovely Laura's left hand when he thought he was alone with her. The love-sick count's parents were told of Ms infatuation for the picture. They were alarmed by his queer behaviour, but found he was quite sane. At the same time, they made sure he paid no more visits to the. art gallery. Love -letters and even gorge- ous bouquets of flowers weer sometimes surreptitiously thrown an the floor in front of Lean ardo Da Vinci's master- pieee, "Mona Lisa," at the Louvre during the first years it was displayed there. Even the great Napoleon fell a victim to Mona Lisa's haunt- ing smile. When he became Em- peror he found the picture in. the palace at Fontainebleau and had it removed to his bedroom. It hang there until his fall, when it was taken to the Louvre, AT LAST - The lefties have won their point. This left-handed pen point is ground from the right side 10 the left to accommodate writers who twist their hands as shown above. Now let's wait for the proverbial left-handed mon- key wrench to hit the market it res 'y'we Skunks Y ,o gs C e By PIM, CARSCALLEN Frobisher, Sask., literally goes to the dogs in September. Less than 20 miles from the T.J.S. border and about 60 from the Manitoba boundary, Frobi- sher normally has a population of about 200 people and 50 dogs. During September the census jumps to 300 people and some 250 dogs. The sudden -and vocal -in- crease in canine population her- alds the beginning of one of the continent's top hunting dog trials—the Border International Field Trials—which start on Labor Day and continue for about two weeks, The dogs — mostly from Georgia and Alabama—include some of the finest pointers and English setters anywhere. The trials are big business, not only in Frobisher but in in- ternational dogdom; first prize money can run to $1,800 or bet- ter. They are held around Fro- bisher because its flat, gently countryside is ideal for hunting prairie chicken. There is little brush and not too many fences, The Sunday before Labor Day a weird assortment of trucks, some big, some small, but all fitted with dog cages, starts to arrive 10 Frobisher. By five o'clock that night the town is in an uproar. The 50 town dogs come out to howl, yip and bark a welcome to the 200 caged visitors, who yap right back. Trainers, han- dlers and scouts, some of them with their families, crowd the small hotel lobby and overflow on to the board walk of the main street, "Bud" Hassard, his 14 -room hotel bursting at the seams, marshals, the towns- people to take care of the over- flow. The hotel lobby and the dining room are headquarters for the dog men. It's dog talk for breakfast; dog talk for din- ner; dog talk all the time --all in southern accents and drawls. A Canadian in the ceowd sounds like a foreigner. The trials are important to dog owners because they prove the worth of the dog and the trainer. Let's say you are one of the 50 -odd Americans who has a training camp in southern Manitoba o r Saskatchewan where you bring your -dogs every July, August and Septem- ber because it's too .doggone hot to train dogs down south. You have a very expensive dog — perhaps worth as much as $5,000 —with a fancy name like Satil- la Wahoo Pete. You've trained him since he was a pup and he's ready for the all -age stakes. You enter him and the owner pays the shot, $30. If it were a championship the entry fee would be $50. The Sunday night before La- bor Day you crowd into Fro- bisher's Canadian Legion Hall with all the other trainers for the draw, All the dogs' names are put into a hat, and are then drawn in pairs The dot`s run in pairs or braces, Pete's name is in the hat. You sit there just a-prayin' that he will be paired off with a good dog and that Pete will get one of the good courses. You were at the Bor- der International last year and know which ccurses have lot of birds and which haven't. You're lucky. Pete's name is -drawn along with that of an- other good dog. The course is one of the best. Now all you have to worry about is weather, deer, rabbits, porcupines, and hope that Pete feels like working and , not "just rattling his bones." The 15 or more trial courses, each three-quarters of a mile Wide and two miles long, are arranged by the Canadian Le- gion which sponsors the 'Border International. The Legion also supplies the marshal to guide the party and the dog wagon to follow the "gallery" with the dogs for the succedding runs. It hires saddle horses for specta- tors and looks after the judge's expenses. To a professional a dog trial snalces sense; to the uninitiated it's confusing. It looks to be about 49 percent horses and 2 percent dogs. Trucks cariy the horses and dogs to the courses; they follow the runs by driving along the side roads; they're never dut of sight. Everyone fol- lowing the clogs is on horseback. So there are lots of trucks and horses. But the only dogs in evidence are the two running in the brace. The rest are cooped up in cages on the dog wagon or the trucks, looking for more' birds. The dogs are judged for know- ing what to do; for their bird work, finding and pointing birds; on class, for the way they carry themselves, `speed and stance in pointing; and for handling, way they will range but still obey the trainers' com- mands The dog has 30 minutes to show his stuff in a stake and an hour in a championship event. By the time rhe fourth or 50011 brace is on the run it's 9 a.m. and the less hardy have arrived. The horse gallery has grown to quite a size and the truck gal- lery is in full array, There is no standard design for the trucks; they are of all shapes, The trials start at 7 a.m. To see the first brace run you have to rise with the sun, the train- ers, scouts and judges at 5:30. Breakfast is on the run. The first course is six miles south of town and the small cavalcade is there by 6:30. Horses are sad- dled and the dogs are readied. At 7:00 the first two dogs are let loose. Behind them, riding like rodeo cowboys, are the two trainers and their scouts. Each trainer controls his dog by yell- ing and blowing a whistle. When he isn't doing that he's bellowing a chant that sounds as though it originated in darkest Africa. This Is so the dog "will know whar he's at," Following behind at a more leisurely pace comes the gallery, all mounted: the marshal, the two' judges, other trainers and scouts who will follow on the next two or three courses, and any souls who are brave enough or interested enough to follow the run. The dog wagon, some- times pulled by a tractor, brings up the rear. The dogs range back and forth at the commands of the trainer looking for prairie chick en, When one scents a bird or a covey he conies to a point., Then there's action! The trainer, the' scout, anit anyone else ,who is handy, raises his cap in the air and yells, "Point! Point!" The judges and the gallery "gal- lop up. The •judges look the dog over, make notes and then nod to the trainer to flush the birds to prove that one of these smart dogs isn't trying to pull .a fast one. Then off the dog goes again, sizes, makes and vintages. Some have thetrainers' and scouts' horses• tip front and the dog cages behind, Others have the horses at the back and the cages up front. And there's still room for the dog food and hay. Some are' just pickups with portable kennels in back. Trainers, their dogs and horses, range the con- tinent in these odd-looking ve- hicles, covering dog trial after dog trial from Frobisher to Texas, to Georgia to New York from September to April. There's one thing missing at the dog trials — the dog own- ers. Afew come, maybe half a dozen out of 160. They are the incongruity in the business. They own the dog, paying some- times as high as $5,000 for him. They pay the training fee of $50 a month, plus an extra $50 for the three months In Canada. They pay the entry fees for the stake trials and championships. In return they get no cash what- ever. All prize money goes to the trainers: • If he's lucky the owner might be allowed to shoot over the dog, if he comes to the trainer's camp and lets the trainer super- vise the shooting. The best he can hope for is his name in the blue book of dogdom. "The Ame- rican Field," . or perhaps a tro- phy to keep for a year and the prestige of owning a champion. They must consider that's- re- ward enough, for the next year the dogs will be back and Fro- ' bisher will once again echo to dog barks which sho' nuf sound like "bow -wow ,you. -all, -- From The Imperial 011 Review.