HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1956-12-20, Page 3is
Kittle Princess
Almost Starved
The little Princess Katherine
of Valois was sobbing her heart
out. She was cold, hungry and
very dirty, "There is no food
for your Highness," the servants
told her. The door opened and
Katherine screamed as she saw
a wild, dishevelled man .appear..
"Hush, it is your father, the
King," said her governess, drop-
ping a deep curtsy. The Prin-
cess looked at him with terror
in her eyes. She knew that her
father was mad and that her
mother kept him locked up in
the palace.
He was having one of his rare
lucid spells and, noticing the
filthy state of the palace, had
been questioning the servants.
He learnt that his children were
ragged and hungryale his
wife, Queen Isabeau, vs away
enjoying herself with a new
lover.
"Who is this child?" he asked
the governess as he gazed at the
dirty little girl;
"She is Katherine, your
youngest daughter, sire."
"Why is she crying?"
"Because she is cold and hun-
gry," he was told,
'rake this gold vase, sell it
and buy food for the children."
the King replied. It was the last
thing of value left in the palace.
When Isabeau heard of her
husband's return to sanity, she
was frightened. All France
rocked of stories of her scan-
dalous life. Her present lover,
Louis of Orleans, urged her to
flee with the children. Fortun-
ately for them, Isabeau was cap-
tured and sent to prison and
Katherine was removed to a
convent.
Her father di€d and it wag
years later before she saw her
mother again. Katherine had
grown into a beautiful young
woman and the wily Isabeau
saw in her a pawn.
"We must try to marry you
off web," she said. She had
Katherine's portrait painted and
sent to Henry V of England
who was waging war against
France.
When Henry saw the picture
he sent back c note demanding
the Princess' hand in marriage
together with France as a
dowry. Isabeau was furious, but
she had no choice but to comply,
for France was ravaged and
bleeding.
Katherine, who was passion-
ately in love with the soldier
King, cared for nothing so long
as she became his wife. Their
brief honeymoon was spent in
the battle -torn countryside.
King Henry brought his young
bride home to England to be
crowned. Her glory was short-
lived. After the birth of her
son, Henry V died and the lovely
Katherine became a widow and
Queen Mother of England while
still in her teens. Her baby was
taken away from her to be
trained as the future king and
the lonely girl went to Windsor.
She was not lonely for long.
Among her train was a handsome
young Welshman, Owen Tudor,
in whose eyess he saw a burning
admiration. One warm night
Katherine was alone in her
MERRY MENAGERIE
"Figured I might as well be
baby-sitting - I'm up all night
anyway!"
garden when he stepped out of
the shadows and took her in itis `
arms.
Katherine responded ardently
to his advances until, aghast at
her indiscretion, she broke away
and ran indoors, The next day
she sent for him, He fell on his
knees before her and covered her
hand with kisses, "Your Majesty,
I deserve to die," he said, "But
I am in love with you!"
The joy in Katherine's eyes
told him what he wanted to
know. "You realize it is death
for you if our love is discovered,"
she asked softly. No answer from
him was needed. "Then we must
be very careful," the Queen
added,
Katherine was very happy with
her Welshman. When she found
that a child was expected, Kath-
erine and Owen decided on a
secret marriage. A priest was
found willing to perform the
ceremony which, if discovered,
could mean death,
For Humphrey of Gloucester,
Protector of England during the
minority of the young King
Henry VI, had had a Bill passed
in Parliament threatening death
to anyone who married the
Queen Mother without the con-
sent of the King and the Council
of State. For Katherine might
yet be a useful pawn in the
marriage stakes.
For fourteen years Katherine
played hide and seek with the
Councillors of State. On every
ceremonial occasion, she took her
placeplace as the young King's
mother. The rest of the time
she spent either in Wales, where
she bore Owen's children, or in
living quietly at Windsor.
The decision to come to London
for the birth of Katherine's
fourth child, and at the same
time to seek pardon from the
young King and recognition of
their marriage, was a brave one.
Unfortunately, once in London,
Katherine put off the interview
with her son. The wife of
Humphrey the Protector paid her
an unexpected visit and noticed
Katherine's condition. This piece
of news she trimphantly reported
to her husband.
One morning the doors of
Katherine's bedroom burst open
and the Protector's soldiers came
in to arrest her. The children
were taken away, Owen was
imprisoned in Newgate, and
Katherine in Bermondsey Abbey.
Poor Katherine! The strain of
the past years had taken toll of
her health and looks. After her
claughter was born, the nuns
realized that death was near.
The young King was sent for and
with her last breath Katherine
begged for forgiveness and for
the life of Owen Tudor and their
children. Henry VI, who hardly
knew his mother, was so moved
that he granted her requests.
He kept his word. Owen Tudor
was released and the children
cared for. So strange is fate, that
the grandson of these two lovers
was one day to became Henry
VII of England and the founder
of the royal Tudor line.
BUCK LAW QUESTION
Maine has never had a buck
law. Sportsmen bag deer re-
gardless of sex. They have am-
ple proof that this works to
the good of both deer and
sportsmen. The annual bag has
average over 35,000 deer for the
past three years - and in a
state half the size of Missouri.
Maine deer have steadily in-
creased in size and improved in
condition. In 1925, a 200 -ib. deer
was a rarity. Last year 837 deer
were bagged that weighed over
200 lbs. and 55 wents past 300
lbs. Few bock law states pro-
duce deer of that size. Some
buck law states report that
their herds are decreasing in
stature, antler development and
reproductive vigor, Yet many
sportsmen throw up their hands
when a no -sex law is mention-
ed,
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PR CE OP A PICTURE - When Thayne Smith, stopped to take a
picture of some goats, he got this. Curious, one of the goats
leaped an the back of his car. The trunk lid was badly scratched
bysharp hoofs.
Great - great - grandmother
Catherine's Christmas cookiest
I can smell them yet -the first
thing we sniffed when, as chil-
dren, we went to our grand-
mother's house a week or se
before Christmas! A gingery,
cinamony aroma that pervaded
every room for a week after the
cookies had been made. And no
matter what relatives we called
on during Christmas season, we
could always tell by the fra-
grance that met us at the front
door whether we would be of-
fered some of THE ginger
cookies.
I can taste those cookies in
memory, too, for I have eaten
them almost every Christmas
that I can remember, so hot with
spices that at first I wasn't sure
I liked them. But when the
grown-ups praised them and ate
them by handfuls, I had to make
believe I enjoyed them too. And
then each year the taste grew
on me, until I was asking with
the older children along in De-
cember, "When are we going to
make great - great - grandmother
Catherine's ginger cookies?" I
am a grandmother now, so add
two "greats" to that name for
the present generation of chil-
dren.
Catherine, whose maiden name
I do not know, was a Philadel-
phian who married Frederick
Diekes. He came from Alsace,
and presumably brought with
him his mother's recipe for
Christmas cookies, and his wife
made some. Since that day in
the early 1700's every branch of
our family makes a full batch of
"gingerbread" as it used to be
called, and sends a dozen or so
cookies to each of the other
branches of the family to taste,
writes Mary Geisler Phillips in
the Christian Science Monitor.
Every year it's the same. Each
family thinks its cookies the bests
The others are done a little too
much, or have a flavor of lemon
added, or are just a bit too hot!
So you taste those that come in
the mail judiciously, turning over
a bite in your mouth to savor
the spiciness, you try them on
your husband to get his judg-
merit, the children eat as many
as you will let them have, and
the verdict is always the same.
The ones you make are best of
all!
Here is the recipe;
GINGERBREAD COOKIES
7 pounds of flour
?.i pound freshly ground ginger
114 pound freshly ground
cinnamon
11a grated nutmegs (nowadays
we substitute lee, teaspoon-
fuls of ground nutmeg. I
haven't seen a nutmeg
grater for years)
1 pound brown sugar
1 pound white sugar
Mix these dry ingredients well
with the hands before adding 3
pounds lard.
Blend in the shortening with
the hands, then add 1332 quarts
dark molasses, into which has
been put 1 teaspoonful baking
soda.
Knead and mix with the hands
until a smooth dough is obtained.
Cut, then bake for about 12
minutes in a 375 degree oven.
It used to be sacrilege to make
these cookies "fussy." No, they
must be ale -inch thick,cut with
a round 'Futter about 21 inches
in diameter and watched care-
fully to prevent burning. You
are not a true member of our
family if you waste any of this
precious dough by burning a
single one. d must confess I used
fancy cutters for my children's
share; but the samples I sent to
other families were always plain.
The making of such a large
amount of cookies is always a
family project -it's no fun unless
your husband and all the chil-
dren get into the act, each with
a wad of dough to punch and
press into a smooth round ball.
You never mix with anything
but the hands, and so first comes
the ritual of a good scrubbing
of fingernails and removal of
rings. I used to wait until nay
husband would say some evening
in December, "I could help you
with the ginger cookies this
evening -how about it?" "Yes,
Yes!" the children would shout,
shutting their school books, and
the eledst soon would go down
cellar to bring up the big gray
crockery bowl dedicated to great -
great - grandmother Catherine's
gnigerbread.
Some families use their biggest
dishpan, others even use the
wash boiler, for this is not just
an ordinary batch of cookies.
When you're done, you have two
or three hundred! At our house
these were always kept in the
gray -and -blue stone, vase -shaped
crock that stood in one corner of
the dining room. The original
lid was gone, but a large pie
plate did as wen.
After inspection of hands and
the rolling up of sleeves, the
younger ones look on while
Father or one of the older boys
mixes the first part; dry flour,
sugar and spices, with the lard.
Squish comes the soft dough
through the fingers, puff comes
up the flour from the bottom of
the bowl. Advice is given freely
-"There's some of the dry left
on that side!" or "Better turn it
all over Dad, there's still flour
at the bottom!"
When esveryone is satisfied
that the sticky mass is com-
pletely blended, then comes the
hard part. The bubbly, yellow
soda -and -molasses is poured in.
The mixing now is real work for
it takes strong arm and hand
muscles to knead the whale into
a smooth dough. After a partial
kneading by Father, the small
children are given a wad to
pound and press, and finally a
smooth, dark brown, glossy dough
is produced, with not a sign of
any dry ingredients or smear of
molasses showing.
Now a bit of the dough is
pinched off to taste, and usually
is pronounced perfect. We al-
ways did our mixing in the
evening, because the dough is
supposed to be allowed to stand
some hours before baking, to
"ripen."
Next morning the children are
excited for they are all allowed
to cut, after Mother has rolled
out the dough to an even thick-
ness. We always timed our bak-
ing for Saturday morning, so
that all could help. Mother does
the baking, and if a child is al-
lowed to bake a few ovenfuls, it
marks .a milestone on the road
toward growing up, because he
or she can now take responsi
bility. Watching the even is a
rare priviiegel To find out
whether a cookie is done, you
press it lightly with a finger, and
if the dent remains, you leave
the panful in for another minute
Or two.
These cookies are rather chewy
if underbaked, and some families
like them that way; other batch-
es may be very crisp because
overbaked, but part of the lot
is always "just right." They are
hot with spice, and I know that
most folks don't know when to
stop eating them.
In making these cookies, you
never use spices from the cup-
board you always buy them
fresh. Some families use vege-
table shortening in place of lard,
but this causes head shakings
and dubious looks from others.
You just don't tamper with great-
great.- grandmother Catherine's
recipe!
ss
Legal Loopholes
Tr'ick Justice
An assize judge in England
wondered recently whether he
could accept a naked footprint
as evidence against an alleged
bare-footed burglar. In giving
evidence on footprints and finger-
prints, a Scotland Yard expert
mentioned that in twenty-eight
years he had examined millions
of fingerprints never to find two
the same -and then the defence
counsel leaped up.
They pointed out that if the
detective had examined only a
million prints he would have had
to look at twenty an hour every
single working day for twenty-
eight years -- and millions of
prints involved obviously double
this task.
Though the burglar was con-
victed on other grounds, legal
loopholes often trick justice. Con-
victed of house breaking, one
crook won an appeal because a
window wes open. He pointed
out that he didn't have to break
anything to get in.
An embezzler made a get -away
from England and escaped to
Australia. Detectives traced him
and the Home Office began ex-
tradition proceedings. But the
man's lawyers pointed out to an
Australian magistrate that a per-
son to be extradited must be
liable to the death penalty or
imprisonment with hard labor -
and Britain abolished imprison-
ment with hard labor in 1948.
On this technical point the man
was relensed.
In West Germany an admitted
member of a smuggling gang shot
and killed a man standing in a
doorway in East Germany. Ac-
cused of the shooting in West
'Germany, he was ablc to prove
that the killing occurred in East
Germany where he had never
been.
When the East German police
tried to extradite him es a fugi-
tive from justice, he successfully
claimed that he couldn't be a
fugitive since he had never been
in East Germany. But the West
German authorities successfully
imprisoned him for a maximum
term on a charge of using a
weapon with intent to kill.
Even a schoolboy startled a
juvenile court recently by his
astute defence on a legal loop-
. hole. Knowing children to be
instinctively honest, the owner of
a sweetshop kept penny twists of
sweets beside a box with the
notice, "Take one and drop a
penny in the slot."
Carefully every day the boy
put a penny in the slot, but the
coin was fastened to a piece of
thread with which he whisked
it out again. "The notice tells
you to drop a penny in the slot,"
he declared. "It doesn't say any-
thing about leaving it there!"
IT'S EASY
Usually you can tell, by look-
ing at a girt, what kind of past
she is going to have.
D(
VON
,u��
BY REV R BARCLAY
WARREN. B.A. B.D.
The Way of Christian Love
1 Corinthians 13
Memorial Selection - 1V a vl
abideth faith, hope,' charitg
these three: but the greatest of
these Is charity, 1 Corinthians
13:13.
One is always humbled when
he reads the thirteenth chapter
of First Corinthians. Paul's
Hymn of Love searches the
heart. The Greek word here
translated `charity' is usually
translated 'love'. And it is love
iu its most exalted form. Ex-
ample --`God is love'. 1 John
4:18. It is the love called for in
the great commandment, 'Thou
shalt love'. No wonder we long
for the answering of Paul's
prayer in our behalf: `And thin.
I pray, that your love may
abound more and more'. Philip-
pians 1:9.
To speak with the combined
eloquence of men and angels;
to be able to foretell the future;
to have not only all human
knowledge, but also secrets of
God; to have absolute faith so
as to move mountains; to give
all, even one's life; all this with-
out love is nothing.
On the positive side, in Maf-
fatt's translation: 'Love is very
patient, very kind. Love knows
no jealousy; love makes no
parade, gives itself no airs, is
never rude, never selfish, never
irriated, never resentful; love is
never glad when other go wrong,
love is gladdened by goodness,
always slow to expose, always
eager to believe the best, al-
ways hopeful. always patient'.
If ever mankind needed a
baptism of love. it is today. Our
store of hydrogen bombs, our
United Nations (or should we
say, Disunited Nationsr, our
alliances, our diplomacy; these
will not dissolve the hates, allay
the fears, remove the suspicions,
and save 00 from destruction.
We need Jesus Christ. Only as
we repent of our sins and be-
lieve on Him, shall we receive
this love which ie the very nat-
ure of God. `God so loved that
he gave hi: only begotten
Son . . . !. John 3:16. May we
believe an Him.
BLACK CAT TURNS WRITE
James W. Wright had a jet
black Persian cat. Old Tab was
always giving trouble trying to
get at the canary. One day,
while the cat was figuring out
a new approach, the bird cage
fell, striking the uoor with a
loud clatter and rolling around
noisily. The frightened cat
ducked for cover.
Old Tab disappeared for over
24 hours; When he finally show-
ed again, there was a white ring
around his neck. Wright says
that the ring has spread now
until only the eat's tail remains
!!! black. Some scare!
Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking
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M NIATURE PAINTER - Only 'three "feet tall, Andres Nichols
Ratoucheff is definitely aclimber in the art world. The Russian•
born artist uses a stepladder to overcome the limitations of hit
height while painting, pictures often taller than he Is,
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