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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1956-07-26, Page 7Musical Windmills We heard S. Tiago do Cacem before we really saw it, and it remains for us on this account among others one of the pleas- ant memories of the whole oi' our trip. The 'road approaches the town — it is really little more than an overgrown village — over high ground, for S. Tiago lies in a horseshoe of hills that girdle it on the north, the east and the south, leaving only the western side open to the lower. lying ground and the sea ten miles away. Ranged along the curving crest of this ring of mod- est hills is a line of windmills, and it was these that we heard, The windmills of S. Tiago do Cacem stand out in our memory as something magical. They are squat, round, conical -topped lit- tle buildings, far less graceful or imposing than the few tower - mills that survive in our own eastern counties: toys one would say, looking at them across the intervening fields. But musical toys, Therein lies their charm. For the sound that betokened S. Tiago do Cacem carne from these innumerable toy windmills, whose sails revolved gaily at the bidding of a gentle breeze, It is an altogether mysterious, haunting sound that they make; a rising -and -falling sound, fluc- tuating in strength on the im- pulse of the wind, not unlike the distant, forest -tree -filtered moan of a wood -pigeon but more eerie, less substantial,.. . We cut across the grass to in- spect these wind -operated musi- cal boxes, expecting the music to increase in strength as we did EQ. But it did not, Rather, the total effect of these pastel -shaded notes remained of sound eman- ating from all the scattered windmills within range, and the effect at our approach was not unlike the moving of a micro- phone about the different wood- winds in an orchestra. The secret was revealed as we drew nearer, From the conical top of each windmill there pro- truded a beam spoked with a light rope that made an eight - sided web, like that of a giant spider. Between the alternate pairs of poles a triangular piece of canvas was stretched, the sails thus consisted of four triangles at canvas equally spaced and hollowed by the wind. And strung along the ropes were lit- tle clusters of red clay whistles, like small bulbous vases. Each had been subtly pierced to fun- nel the wind, and it was these clusters of ocarina -like whistles, that distributed about the land- scape, made this sweet, systeri- eus music. They were not there solely for our pleasure, of course. Ex- ploring later, we found the mil- lers' cottages, dotted about in hollows on the hillsides or on the outskirts of the town. The mil- ler's wife, of course, would be busily occupied with her domes- tic chores and keeping an eye on her numerous children, The miller, however, would be rest- ing, his feet on a box, his eyes abut, his head sunk on his chest. Only his ear, like that of a watchdog, would be on the alert. So long as the music of his par- ticular mill, which he could dis- tinguish by some art from am- ong the others, continued, so long might ' e continue to relax. But when the wind changed the sails would cease to turn, and then he must leave his chair for his mill, slacken off one rope, haul on another, till he had man- oeuvred the sails' into the wind Again and the music started up once more. - From "Portuguese Journey," by Garry Hogg. KILLING THE EVIDENCE In Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, after householders reported that a ear was tearing around the neigh- borhood in reverse, Assistant Police Chief Reine Schmidt in- vestigated, found behind the wheel a teen-age girl who ex- plained: "My folks let me have the car, and I ran up a little too much mileage. I was just un- winding some of it." INSPECTED BY QUEEN — In full ceremonial dress, men of the Royal. Scots Greys stand smartly at attentian as Queen Elizabeth II inspects them. The ceremony of the handing over of the new guidon to the regiment was held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Empire Auctioned To Pay The Army Commodus is quite the most notorious of all Roman emper- ors. Yet, strangely he was the son of Marcus Aurelius, probably the best of them all The Roman people must have expected big things from a son of the great and good Marcus. But their hopes received a viol- ent shattering when, in the tri- umphal procession in which the new Emperor returned to the capital from Hungary—where his father died—Commodus had had his Chambedlain, an ex- slave and ex -charioteer, named Saoterus, riding alongside him in the imperial litter. Very soon, the flagrant and abominable excesses of the Em- peror brought home the terrible truth to the Romans: that, once they had a madman reigning over them, And not only the maddest, but the most vicious man ever to fill the imperial throne. His first act was to raise all his intimate companions—box- ers, charioteers, and other "sportsmen"—to noble rank, and to put them into jobs of the greatest influences. He had enough sense to leave the control of the Praetorion Guard in the hands of a gen- eral, Tarrutenius Paternus, who was both able and honest; but most of the other key positions of the Roman Empire which in those days meant the entire civ- ilized Western World, Com - modus gave to his favourites, men leadin most vicious lives, all worthy companions of gam- bling -crazed Commodus, if not of a Roman Emperor, Within two years Commodus had so shocked Rome that his sister Lucille, together with her stepson and cousin, had hat- ched a conspiracy to dethrone him. The cousin, Quintianus, how- ever, realized that a mere de- throning would do no good. He resolved therefore, to assassin- ate Commodus when next the Emperor went to the chariot races, Unfortunately, Quintianus, having drawn his sword, paused long enough to shout, "The Senate sends you this!" with the result that the Emperor's guards rushed at the assassin, overpowered him, and saved the Emperor's life. The outcome was not only that Lucille, Quintianus and Lueilla's stepson were executed, but that Commodus's wife was banished to Capri, and there strangled to death, by her hus- band's orders. The general of the Praetorian . DOUG SANDERS OF MIAMI BEACH receives the Seagram Gold Cup, emblematic of the Canadian Open Golf Championship from J. E. Frowde Seagram after becoming the first amateur over to cop the Gold Cup. Sanders nosed out pro Dow Finster- Wald of Bedford Heights, Ohio, in a sudden -death playoff made necessary when they tied' the regulation 72 holes at Montreal Beaconsfield with 1 5 -under -par scores, Guard, who had been innocent of any share in the conspiracy, relieved of his command and tortured to death, and the com- mand of the Guard was taken over by one of Commodus's most vicious companions, Peren- nis. Now, with every key pos- ition held by an underling of the Emperor, Rome was truly the prey of a madman. Panic-striken by his suspic- ions of all but his intimate com- panions in vice, Commodus dec- imated the ranks of the senate by almost daily executions for "treason, until only those were left who had proved themselves INTERNATIONAL TOUCH — A Scottish Highland dancing con- test in western Canada resulted in a victory for Chinese -Cana- dian Betty Chan, above. The 11- Irear•old, a resident of Saska- toon, is shown wearing the Roy- al Stuart tartan in which she carried off a series of first prizes. Her father has promised her a Chan tartan—if there ever is one—as a reward. nothing but lickspittle servants of his will, Perennis was, as might have been expected, far more treas- onable than any senator who had been beheaded for "high treason"; but Perennis was bid- ing his time, until he could plunder the empire of a fortune for himself and his two ambit- ious sons. in the meanwhile, the Em- peror's love of racing had so crazed him that nothing would please him but that he must ride in the races himself, back- ing his "colours" with sums equ- ivalent, by to -day's values, to millions of pounds. Soon the imperial treasury was empty. Perennis, who had left his plans too late, had fallen under suspicion, and had been sum- marily executed. His exalted marily executed. IIis exalted po- sition was now taken by a Greek been an errand boy in a house of ill -fame, and with the pass- ing of the empire into the hands of the money -mad, unscrupul- ous Greek, what little of sanity that had remained in public life completely disappeared. As the treasury was now ex- hausted, and both Cleander and Commodus 'needed' money for their particular purposes, Clean- der started off by selling pos- itions and other benefits for enormous sums, in the course of which he amassed a fabulous fortune. Some of this money, but only a relatively small part, he ha,r ded back to Commadus to de- fray the vast expenses of the Emperor's harem, gambling losses and army of corrupt hangers-on. He encouraged Commodus to go chariot racing, so as to be free to pursue his own plans, but both Cleander and the Emperor made the great mistake of failing to pay the Guard. In a Rome so deprived of common decency as Commodus and his companions had made it, it is not to be expected that the unpaid Guard were going to show any scruples. They promptly engineered a hold-up In the corn supply, fanned pop- ular feeling against Cleander, whom they blamed for the fam- ine, and organized a riot in the arena, even as Commodus, as usual, was winning a chariot, race (the other competitors knew it never paid to winl) Commodus hurridly withdrew to one of his villas, and the mob poured out of Rome on his tail. They found their Emperor cow- ering in terror, only too happy to save his life by ordering the the instant execution of his favourite, Cleander, when the leaders of the mob demanded it. Commodus lasted for a short while longerbut his end came when he decided to celebrate the eight anniversay of his accession to the imperial throne, not in a solemn traditional ceremony but in a personal appearance as charioteer. Warned by the howl of pop- ular fury that the announce- ment of the Emperor's plans aroused, his mistress, Marcia, and two others determined to gain favour with the mob by killing Commodus. The gave him poison, and when that had no effect they paid Narcissus, one of his favourite athletes, to themselves masters of Borne and murder him and make them- selves masters of Rome and masters of the world. The Eternal City had had some shocks in her long history but never had it such a shock as when on morning the tramp of armed men sounded in the streets and the Romans watch- ed the Guard, brave in scarlet cloth and steel and bronze ar- mour, march in ordinary pro- cession to the Forum, traditional centre of Rome. There they saw the Praet- orian Guard form up in a square, and their Prefect or General, mount the rostrum out- side the Temple of Castor and Pollux. He had only a short announce- ment to make—but it was one of unprecedented importance to his astounded audience. Since the Guards' wages were in arrears, he explained, and there was now no Emperor to pay them, the vacant office of Emperor was being put up for auction. "Well, citizens of Rome, what am I bid for Rome ... for the entire civilized world ... ?" The Guard stood firm; and so did their Prefect, And then, as though the pre- posterous offer had not been startling enough, the next par- alysing shock came. If the Prefect and his men were in deadly earnest ... so were two ambitious senators. The bewildered, scandalized Romans had the incredible ex- perience of seeing two men actually bidding for Rome—for what was then the • known world. At sunset, Rome was knocked down by the auctioneer to Sen- ator Marcus Julianus. His rival counld not top his bid of $1,500,000,000; and, that night, a new Emperor slept in the purple -hung apartments on the Capitoline Hill. But not for long, .. . MERRY MENAGERIE "Lucky you; Locked up in a nice, dry, warm cage!" IHSS e+VERS E�tNJaIFL. SKIN 11E ' EBY This clean .stainless antiseptic known all over Canada as MOONr3'S EMERALD OIL, brings sufferers prompt and effective ro- ller from the .itching distress of many, shin troubles—'Itching Eoze• nnL—etching Scalp—Itching Toes and beet, etc. MOONE'S EMERALD OIL Is pleasant to use and It is so anti - gentle and penetrating that many old stubborn cases of long. standing have yielded to its Influence.. MOONE'S EMERALD OIL Is Bold by druggists everywhere. A real discovery tor thousands who have found blessed relief. Canada's T Fair While New York and London, for many years, have been lead- ing centres for toy fairs, Mont- real is now sharing the spot- light with them, This spring the 16th annual Canadian Toy Fair was held in Montreal — an event which is becoming of world- wide interest. Many new toys made an ap- pearance at the Montreal fair but those made of the flexible plastic, polythene, were of special interest. This versatile plastic appeared in many iorms: from a little doll's bath with its own taps, to a model freight train complete with streamlined diesel engine, tankcar, boxcar and caboose. Different from the hard plas- tics which crack and break quite. easily, polythene is light, soft and flexible and can be jumped on, thrown about and generally maltreated for a long time with- out crying for help. This indestructible quality has made it a . particular favor- • ite for the small fry who have tendency to chew, throw and bang almost everything they cast get their hands on. Mothers will appreciate the addition of polythene toy blocks to the nursery, for when "Lon- don bridge comes tumbling down" a gentle rumble will re- place the usual "earth -quake". A new type of polythene build- ing link which originated in Scandinavia was displayed at the toy fair. Now being produc- ed in Canada, these interlocking links can be put together to form various shapes such as buildings or even a robot. The variety of toys displayed at the fair indicates how far the toy industry has progressed since the days when toy making was a craftsman's leisurly vo- cation. Keeping our children amused with toys is a big busi- ness today and more and more people are becoming concerned with it. Drive With Care CISSIFIED ADVERTISING AGENTS WANTED GO INTO BUSINESS for yourself. Sett exclusivelrouseware products and appliances wanted by every house. holder. These items are not sold rn stores. There Is no competition. Profit up to 500%v. Write immediately for free color catalog with retail prices shown. Separitte oonSdentlal whole. sale price list will be Included. Mur• ray Sales, 3822 St. Lawrence. Mont' real. BABY CHICKS WIDE range- Bray- Chicks — Pullets, dayold started, prompt shipment (including Ames Iecross, more eggs, less feed). Order Sept. -Oct. broilers. Full particulars. Bray Hatchery, 120 John N,,. Hamilton, CFIICKS and Turkey poults for July and August. 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Lattea Logue included, The Medico Agency, Box 22, Terminal "Q" Toronto Ont. SWINE LANDRACE now are the coming breed In Canada. 9501 of the pigs In Denmark are Landrace, and the Danes have captured the British Market. When starting buy the best. We have had many visitors at our farm and they all tell us they haven't seen better Imported Landraea Swine any- where In Canada, Guaranteed in -pig sows, weanling sows, and boars for immediate delivery. All guaranteed breeders. Folder. FERGUS LANDBACE SWINE FARM FERGUS ONTARIO ISSUE 30 — 1956 BIGGEB9 BETTER THAN EVER 1956 CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION FABULOUS EVENING GRANDSTAND SPECTACLE Internationally famous Entertainers, Dancers, Musicians, Fire- works, Featuring the Royal Canadian "Mounties" in their breathtaking "Musical Ride" . Crack Drill Squads from Canada's Armed Forces .. - Ppebands, every Night on the World's largest Outdoor Stage. * * '0 FUN-PACKED AFTERNOON CIRCUS Starring Gene Autry and Annie Oakley, Clowns, Aerialists, Comedians, Entertainers, plus the "Mounties" in their famous Musical Ride. Write now for Advance Ticket Order Forms to C.N.E. Box Office, Toronto 2B, Ontario. World Renowned Coldstream Guards Bond from England, Daily on the Bandshell. Music, Ch o i r s, Square Dancing. See Supersonic Jets in Action at the International Air .Show Sept. 7 and 81h et the C.N.E. Waterfront. A Woman's World of exciting Fa- shions, Foods, Flowers, Furnishings. Canada's Greatest Array of Antique Cars. • Prize winning Livestock, Poultry, Dairy Products, F r u i t, Vegetables, Dog Shows, Cat Shows in largest Agri- cultural Display In the World. National Horse Show Avg. 24.30. See the Eskimo Kitchen In the new Multi.mlllion Dollar Food Products Building. A Mile of laughter, Thrills, Games on the Midway. CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION TORONTO t;u'] %lila 2 e1 SEA_ 1p�"�' a 8 WM. A. HARRIS President HIRAM E. McCALLUM General Manager