Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1959-03-19, Page 3Get Warm Twice from .Smile Wood ' "Cutting en the halves" came up the other day, and no doubt certain of the elders will smile at this dredging -up of a phrase. Back along, when our little farms Were supporting their livestock, an extra woodlot was a common acquisition. We had one, over in the Bowdoin grant, and we work- ed it by the simple expedient of a yoke of oxen and six miles of road, Fuel was a wonderful thing to have on a cold night, and wood was our fuel. The home farm was mostly in pasture and hayfields, and partof the wood was timber; so we had to look elsewhere for the hardwood that went into the shed. There was more toit than that. Folks in town and city still burned wood, and after he'd cut bis own supply a farmer could pick up some cash by hauling a few loads of cordwood to them. And there developed the custom of "cutting at the halves". I • t.ave done it, and at least in reminiscence it was fun. You hunted up somebody who owned a woodlot, and if he agreed to do business with you. you went to cutting wood on his land, piling It in two equal• piles as you went, He took half; you had hwas a way for a wood-po -lf r"ner to get his fuel, and "i Wrae•M1also a• wayan unoccupied' Man could suport himself, for wood was always saleable. And the landowner got wood to burn and wood to sell without lifting a finger. There used to be a good natured Swede had a farm near us, and the back end was pepper. ed with new growth hardwood, stuff between three and six inches on 'the stump, and he re- marked one time that he'd like to find somebody to cut on the halves. My dad took him up on it, and the, year I was eleven or twelve we spent almost every Saturday up there cutting Yim's wood. His lot was closer than our own, and cutting was easier. Three or fourwhacks with an ax, and you'd have one of his trees down, but in our woodlot we had to saw and saw to get the bigger birches over. Besides, we had to saw our birches in four -foot lengths to handle them, whereas 'Yim's wood could ' be handled in ."sled lengths". Eight feet long or better. You u could rack it up faster. It does seem a little odd to SUPERHEN - Janelle Dunn, 6, shows what' a hen can do when she puts her mind to it. The. lass holds a normal-size egg in her right hand. The one in her left hand is a whopping six and one-half inches in cir- cumference. talk about some such boyhood deal as this, and find myself pro- testing that, it was fun, The Whole thing is so far gone,. pleasure at working an ax sounds ridiculous. But 1 used to sit in school all week looking forward to Saturday, and I'd be up bright and early to get the chores done so we could strike out. There were some mornings that winter it was altogether too cold to try and we didn't go, but if the thermometer was anything above zero we'd hike out right after breakfast, carrying our tools and lunches. We always tock a bag o1 apples from the cellar, and we'd eat the whole bag during the day. First thing to do on arriving is kindle a fire. Not a big one, but a little blaze against a stump to keep the lunches and apples from freezing, and to work the frost out of the wedges and axes. Well -tempered steel has been known to crack against frozen wood, but the better reason was the action of cold metal on the trees. If you try to drive a frost- ed wedge into a kerf (we called it a scarf) it may bounce back and brain you. But if you leave it by the fire a moment, it will cling in the crack andhold true, But we'd have had a fire any- way, because it does something to the clearing. It is good to smell smolt e• never went to sit by this f3"except at lunch time, but it " 1 hid of made a central pdint 'fdr operations, and we kept aware of its location as we worked. As the winter wore on, we moved our fireplace along as the piles of wood accumulat- ed Chopping wood is not really hard work. Many ordinary farm jobs are much harder. True, a man who doesn't know axes and trees can bounce his heart out, and many experienced choppers have fought the grain all their_ lives. But a good chopper relies first on sharp tools,, properly set and honed, and then he finds the proper balance and rhythm. I've heard mensay to "put your back in it!" This is wrong. If the axe is swinging true, with good balance, there should be a slight but deft twist of the wrist at a particular point in the arc, and it will do more than a strong back, Most of all, a man needs to know how the grain of is tree is • laid up, and work with it. Too, he needs to be . pinpoint accurate. Thumping "like an old woman" is bad. Some women have been excellent choppers, but mostly they "chew", To make every stroke easy and accurate is the way, and rf you can do that with 'balance and grace, you can chop all day and be back tomorrow. Oh, this doesn't come easily - but when you've got a Pa who does it, and you are eleven or twelve and the thing is fun, it comes soon enough. You don't do his work, for you haven't the height and the spread, but you do get the balance and the strike. Then lunch, and in the twilight we'd douse the fire and start home. On a good day we'd put up two or two and a half cords, and half of it belonged to Yim. And how good supper smelled when we got to the house! Half of the wood, of course; was ours, and it would warm us a second time a year hence when it was dry and the night was cold. Seems, too, as if it has . warmed me many times since as I recall it, but it's been a long -lona time now since I've heard of anybody cutting wood at the halves.' -By John Gould in The Christian Science Monitor. "If one and one make two, and ' two and two 'm'ake four, how much do four and four make?" the teacher•asked little Johnny. "That isn't fair," came. the re- ply, "You answered all'the easy, onesyourself 'and leave the hard one for me!" CROSSWORD PUZZLE 7 Sudochurcof e h 8. Cut wont 29. Places rubbed ' -out 211 Compelled e,ltepreaenru- obedience ties 33 Nogr,"t Dastern Nudes 10. Unclose 39. Fittest (poet.) 28. Orchestra . ACROSS DOWN It. Spread loosely conductor 1. Clenched hand I. Come upon 17. Affirm 40 Companies 6. Cooling by chance t9. Puppet of players devices 2. Arrow.polann 22, iiigoroes ' 13. Fail In drops 9. Dowry 8. Mark of a moralist 45.1taltas gur4e• 12. Island-(Scot.)wound 24. Turkishur,ny Ing game 13. iiingfleh. -4• vibrate officers" 48. Ardor ocean _ 5, Lowest sale nn 45, Refracting - 47, Writing table 14. Netherlands the foremast glass 48 Till • commune 5. Anthropoid 29 Snit drin'r 49 Expert floe, 15. Closely &.mmol 24 5 7',.»» n -••n n. related 18. Divulged 18. Flout 20. Roof edge 21. Waste 29: Royal 20. Star-shaped 20. Fashion 91. Paddle 32. Gtil f pt...., in the Medi- terranean 94. Dress leather 25. Dull and gray 87.- Without spirit 19. Item of property 41. Central part 42. Secondhand 44. Enlarged an opening 48. An organlo acid 61. Deal out sparingly 2. Skating necesslty 68, Deep nlud 54, Epoehe ' 55.Footllite part 86. Went hurriedly ST. Boatel stand trig maim®6 M®~w a®10 EMMOMEMMEMENN MMEMOMMEMMO®*®®®® _^ 20 ®•S^.,O EMMOMMENUMMUM EUMMIMMEMAIMM MOMOMMEMOSAMM ®®®® 1®n®m®m®® ®*U®V ''°'t'M.■®tl° •'t, ammo ::®®®®®® ammo ■::::.IRs AMMOMMEMMOMMIN ®®®MMINI®%iyifi®®®® Answer etsewhree on thin page TAKING,NO CHANCES One one -point landing on ice -glazed streets sa »' sough for Walter Stultz. He's shown on his second trip, milk, bottle lashed before him, making his 'way with aid of two spiked sticks. TllFFA1N FRONT JokilQL4. Although rabies is causing concern in Ontarip, it is signifi- cant that less than three per- cent of all confirmed cases last year were dogs. They were practically all farm dogs. Vaccinating dogs establishes a buffer of immunity between In- fected wildlife and the human population, explains an official of the Health' of Animals Divi- sion, Canada Department of Ag- riculture. In recent months 95,000 dogs have been vaccinated at about 340 clinics throughout Ontario. Out of a total of 2,024 cases of rabies in Canada . between April 1 and December 31 last year, (only 57 were dogs - a mere 2.7 per cent.) There was not one case of transmission of rabies from dog to dog. Should rabies become estab- lished among dogs, it would create a serious problem be- cause of the possible exposure to humans. While vaccination is important in the fight against rabies, even more vital is the control. of canine' movement .in infected areas - particularly strays. * * * Health of Animals Division veterinarians quarantine dogs which have been bitten by other infected animals, such as foxes. Quarantining is authorized un- der the Animal Contagious Dis- eases Act and imposes a six- month confinement. Owners are instructed to keep their dogs confined inside a building away from all persons except . those responsible for feeding and caring for them. If necessary the dogs should abe tightly secured. When dogs are badly bitten owners, are urg- ed to .destroy them. "Vaccination is an eiificier:t adjunct in the control of rabies," says ane veterinarian, "hut it is `elt that the regulatory control measures of dog quarantine play a vital part in rabies outbreaks." '* * * .. What lies ahead for Canada's daily products? Will production continue to outrace consume. tion? : * * These questions west para. • mount in talks by D. •G Good - Canada Department el Agriculture, to Western Canada dairymen. He felt that "there is reasor, to believe" milk production will be slightly lower, because (1) There- are fewer cows; and (2) No improvement in reed and producing conditions are fore. seen. Mr. Goodwillie . predicted a levelling off trend in the fluid .milk market would continue. He said, too, that competition is slight between fluid, evaporat• ed and dry skimmed milk, and that the use of all three products in the home probably increases consumption of milk, * * * He looked for less butter this year, after 1958 saw production 34 million pounds higher than Ever before, but he cautioned that "it looks as though we may have a butter problem the same as a few years ago, which will not be solved until the economic factors are adjusted according- ly.. 'Production of cheese should be the highest in several years, he said, with consumption at least maintained. The export picture appears better but the current high prices are not ex- pected to hold for the year. Exports of evaporated milk may be higher than for some time and this, coupled with an anticipated maintained or some- what higher domestic usage, suggests production should be moderately higher than last year. * * * With dry whole milk, the export market is all-important. "The first company or country , to develop a satisfactory instant dry whole milk will have a tre- mendous advantage in export markets - markets which to me will be more important than our home market for this pro- duct" While consumption of dry skimmed milk ha's doubled in six years, added Mr. Goodwillie, it will be years before consump- tion can approach present pro- duction capacity. Last year's production w a s 186 million pounds. Britain's Lords Hear Note Of Faith A new poem by Soviet poet Boris Pasternak describing his "agony of mind" at being pre- vented from accepting the Nobel Prize for literature has just been quoted in Britain's House of Lords. The occasion for the quota- tion was as debate on nuclear disarmament in which power- ful voices like those of Earl ,Bussell (philosopher Bertrand Russell) advocated that Britain should set an example by uni• laterally renouncing nuclear weapons. jecThetion Brofitissuch h GoVeg f liplx;ntheuip rt's rswait• given by the Earl o4 Dundee on the grounds that4;ljhvre is no evidence as yet of any change of Soviet policy or actions. But Lord Dundee ended on a note of hope by quoting thio new poem of IsIr. Pasternak, He said, "It is the voice of one Russian who loves his country, who wants to be loyal to its present government, and who does not believe that war be- tween capitalism and commun- ism is inevitable, If more of his countrymen could be persuaded to believe as =eh as that, then there would be a real hope of world peace," This is the Pasternak poem quoted by Lord Dundee: I am lost like a beast in an enclosure. Somewhere there are people, freedom and light, Behind me is the noise of pursuit And there is no way out. Bails forest by the shore of the lake, Stump of fallen fir tree, Here 1 am, cut off from every- thing. Whatever shall be is the same to me. But what wicked thing have i done? 1 the "murderer," and the "vil- lain," I, who force the whole world to cry Over the beauty of my land. I am near my grave, • But 1 believe the time will come When the spirit of good will conquer Wickedness and infamy. , Lord Dundee spoke of the posi- tive course which the British Government seeks to follow in breaking down the cultural and intellectual barriers of the Iron Curtain. - This is known to be one of the objectives of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in his 10 -day visit to Moscow. Mr. Macmillan believes that, whatever else may or may not be achieved by his personal visit to the Soviet Union and his contact with the leaders and people there, it should be possible for him to help in break- ing down barriers, writes Peter Lyne in. The Chirstian Science Monitor. This is how Lord Dundee de- scribed the British Government's purpose, "What we want to do is not just to have controlled visits, some of which are prob- ably for the purpose of propa- ganda sponsored by one govern- ment or another; we want to have. real freedom of intercourse between the leaders of educa- tion, industry, and science, and between ordinary travelers and tourists; we want censorship to be abolished; we want the Rus- sian people and our own equally to be able to read each other's literature, to visit each other and talk to each other." Lord Dundee deplored the fact that the people of the Soviet Union under communism had been indoctrinated with the idea that war between communists and capitalism was inevitable. But he said the British Govern- ment believed that through establishing better contact with the Soviet people the old mis- understandings and misappre- hensions isapprehensions could be resolved "be. cause the Russian people are as amiable and as capable of love as any other people in the world." In the meantime, however, the British Government's answer to Lord Russell and other unilateral -disarmers was, "We will not low- er our guard." 'GAY satoo LESSON By Rev R. a Warren, B.A., B.D. Wliat Will You Do With Jesus? Mark 15:1-15 Memory Selection: He was op- pressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Isaiah 53:7, We make many important de- cision in life. Choosing our voca- tion and our companion for mar- riage are among the most signi- ficant. But life's most important question is, "What will you do with Jesus?" Each of us must an- swer this question for himself. We can't remain neutral. We are either for Jesus Christ or we are against Hhn. Before Pilate an- swered this question he had a. private talk with Jesus. His con- clusion was, "I find in him no fault at all.." John 18;38, It we carefully read the Gospels we reach the same conclusion. Sure- ly, here was the perfect man, We may find fault with many who profess to be Christians. Their daily living may be' out of har- mony with their profession. But Jesus lived what he taught, There is no fault in Him ,.,... , " Pilate tried to e`Cide making a definite decision by sending Jesus to Herod. But Jesus came back. Pilate had to take his stand, Then the Jews cried out, saying, "If thou let this Man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." Pilate recognized that this was a veiled threat to report him to Caesar and Pilate's record would not stand up under the keen scrutiny of the Emperor. That settled it. Pilate decided to protect himself • rather than do what was right concerning Jesus. It's that way with us, too. The case simmers down to choosing for our sinful self or choosing for Jesus. Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Matthew 16:24. We must say "No" to self and forsake our sins and surrender our will to Jesus Christ. Saul did just that when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He said, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?" Acta 9:6. He yielded his will to Jesus. And what a life he lived. The trial of Jesus was a farce. Pilate knew that the priests hated him because of envy. But he him- self, through selfishness and cowardice, issued the death sent- ence. But Jesus will have the last word. One day the priests, Pilate and every one of us will stand before the Great Judge and it will be, Jesus Christ. We should accept .of His great salvation now, that we . find life at its richest meaning, and stand be- fore Him in the last great day, Upsidedown to Prevent Peeliine ISSUE 11 - 1959 LEFT HIGH AND DRY - The Wabash River rose to flood height, froze and then receded, leaving this large chunk of ice hanging on a slender sapling in Wabash, Ind, In two ,days, the river dropped five feet from a 251/s foot crest, highest since 1913,