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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1960-01-21, Page 3Brining Homme The Yuletide Tree While my boots are drying out, I take this opportunity to extend Christmas wishes in all direc- tions. I have just dug a lovely tree for our parlor, and slogged ye garlands across ye Slough of Despond,' and all is in readiness, We've been having a spell of most un -Christmas weather, with an abundance of nice wet rain, no frost in the ground, and very little to set up the customary yo -ho -ho and fa-la-ta attitude, However, Yuletide happiness to you all: In other years going for the y tree has been a crisp event of joy and gladness. Indeed, 1 often join in the ,erass, mercen- ary program of the NAM and, cut a few trees to stand by the way- side and entice the passing cus- tomer, True), I generally give away more than I sell, but that's my affair and a tree isn't worth :much, here anyway. We use the balsam fir, and it has little value otherwise. They sprout like weeds, and each takes the place of a more valu- able spruce, pine and fir, and if you trim your woodlot at all you usually swing an ex around and eliminate them before they get too big. Naturally you leave some here and there for Christ- mas purposes, and if the poarh- ers from the village use you right, you'll have enough. So, along about the second week of. a December I'13 hitch the trailer to the' tractor, bounce up to my back acres, and fetch home what greens our family desires to make . the surroundings tradi- tional' ti y festive. And, it is usually a crisp ad- venture. Rime -frost along the wood -road, ice on the ponds, and often some snow. I drive along singing an appropriate carol, -the dog trotting alongside looking suitably amazed when 1 hit 'a high note with approximate suc- cess, and the wheels bouncing. This year the second week in December arrived, but the spirit had not moved. The front lawn was still green, the ponds and bogs were heaped up and open, and water flowed by every spill- way, The season was out of whack. But days passed, and soon the youngsters would be coming home from school, folks would be dropping in for holiday greetings, and Advent wreaths would be post -facto. There must be some greens on the fireplace mantel at least. So, I tossed the axe in the trailer, hitched on the tractor, whistled for the pooch, and struck out. I guess I didn't say it was raining at the time. A hearty, jubilant kind of rain, like a monsoon. Some years ago after I had SMART BIRD — This clever pigeon is busy people -watching in hopes of getting a meal. He's perched on a coin machine that dispenses bird feed. written of the marvelous mud conditions this old tarns can genereto, l got a spirited tetter from an admirer of earthworms, who said if 1 nurtured enough worms they would perform a subterranean miracle and trans- form the piece into a tractable spot. I never tried it. I felt there might be a difference be- tween a back -yard plot and the wide expanse of a timberland wilderness, and that the quantity of earthworms needed might frighten Inc. I drove through the fields, the Wheels sluicing into the soggy earth, and the dog -holding his head high as he splashed along. , I came to the pasture brook, usually tinkling in December un- der the first crust of toe, and it was a roaring torrent,: complete- ly flooding the culvert by the sugar house. I couldn't think of a carol that fitted the moment, so I didn't sing. Instead, I gave my attention to the churning wheels, which now and then would spin a few turns withbut going anywhere, and splashed mud into the trees. What I go after is a fair load of boughs and one good tree for the decking ceremonies, My best supply is far down the back hill, in the remoter part of the tarns —a mile from the house and across what we call the Slough of Despond. I came to the slough, and found it was stick- ing three feet into the air, I got no nearer. I would have to wade across with allegorical care, cut my greens on the other side, and tote them out. Other years the slough has been frozen, and when I had the children in the trailer I would ride out onto the ice, ist t wheelslittle, tw he front a tt e, and set up a gay stewing which sent ripples of laughter and glee across the crisp Christmas scene. This was where we always had a little sport with the poor pooch, for he would come Toping along at our calling, and land on the ice before he was aware. He'd slip and slide, and make his feet go, and reproach us with disgusted eyes. He liked it after he caught on, but the surprise dismayed him, A small 'fir tree, standing in the rain, accumulates a great amount of water hs its branches, which it releases on the woods- man when he strikes with the axe. If you will stand, fully cloth- ed, in your shower bath, and .contrive to have the thing turn ed on full blast suddenly, you find out what happened to me. It. is not a Christmasy delight. But I slogged around, lugged out my boughs and my tree, and in time had my load. Then, the great tractor wheels churned and dug into the 'farm, oozing downward alarmingly, and there I was. There's no, problem about this,_ the engineering re- covery is fairly simple, but it takes time. It takes, in fact, all day. I just had to walk home, get the long logging chain, and come back, and by taking longer and shorter hitches in turn I drew the trailer up onto higher ground and finally got rolling.. I sang no carols, and the spinning wheels plastered my greens with a lovely brown so I later rigged up a hose and washed them clean again. Thus the greens came home, the halls -are decked, and with a fa -la -la and a yo -ho -ho, fairly moist, 1 bid thee all Joyeux Noels -By John Gould in The Christian Science, Monitor. SILENT i'ARTNIiII A married woman reported to the police at Bitha, Israel, the fact that herhusband was miss- ing. They learned that he had been missing for some five months or so. Naturally the police queried why the wife hadn't reported to them before. Apologetically she replied: "I didn't miss him until now." CROSSWORD PUZZLE story land 10, Govern by rule 11. Esau 14. Cover the inside 10. Division or a 2. Affirm calyx 2 3, .frivolity 0, Son of Bela 4, Heather (331b.) 6, Seaweed 21, Title0. Note or the '23. Passage out scala 25. Large tank 7. Farm building 27, What oferifle s. Ci seedy person 20. To mop the -(colloq,) Scots 9. Prank Baum's 31. Jap measure ACROSS 1. Lose color 6, Sphere 8, Minute orifice 12, rlxtra 13, Achieved 15, Bring up to date 17. Outfit 18. Travel 10. instant 20. Tavern 21. Aggregate 22. Candle 84. Wicked 20, Distorted 28. White -spotted deer of India 30. Sandaractree 32, Pronoun 38. Mohammed's adopted son 24. Moist 30, Pah„ Lily 27. Overt 88. Snare 41, Animal's (tome 43. Old oath 44. Dwelling 45. Fall behind 411. Work f It omission 63. That thing 68. Female full S4, To grant ahUelutlon 66. Dlvais Mi. "The ••-•of Starch" 69, .ottrney 60, Cut hey 41, Penny DOWN 1, haven 33. Anecdotage 26. Age 38, Hen fruit 40. Old piece of eloth 41. Make fun of 42. Wild animal 46, Ancient Persian coin 40. Catalog 48, Clnlnrge a hole 80, Moreover - 0C. Triol 63. Light. knock 64, Stitch 68, Jumbled type 07. As far as 11■®111.'s'..®1111®111®®111 111111111111111111111111111111 111/ 11111111t'11®®'1'1®lla : °®®®i®°1°11®®1:°:°: g1111®+®®�:e®®111® ,y°',®®1111h: 1311.®�11:1F13. 1111®11®1111®t' 13111111® i11111111iFii®■;vi®I111i■ Answer. elsewhere on this page PURE CORN — Leroy Huff holds on his lap the reasons for the blue ribbon he holds in h'i's hand, He is a 4-H winiser in a statewide• crops contest. ITIEFARM FRONT J o 612u-ssell I.vv , Ragweed pollen is one of the most important biological im- purities of the air over the eastern part of this continent. Upwards of 3,000,000 hay fever sufferers in this region are sen- sitive to it, * * * Results in 164 pollen collect- ing stations across Canada in- dicate the heaviest concentra- tion of ragweed pollen in the air is in the southern parts of Ontario and Quebec, reports John Bassett, Plant Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture. Furthermore, says Mr. Bas- sett, about two-thirds of the total area of heavy ragweed pollen concentration in Canada lies in southern Ontario. Ragweeds and their air -borne pollen are probably now invad- ing northern Ontario and unless they are effectively controlled, they will become more abundant in many northern localities and will spread still further north- ward as new areas are opened. * * * In the Gaspe Peninsula and Atlantic Provinces, r a g w e e d controlcampaigns have been conducted for several years with encouraging results. In New Brunswick, pollen air indexes at several, stations have been de- creased asmuch as 76 per cent. The northern limits of Can-. ada's heavy ragweed pollen con- centration extend from the base of the Bruce Peninsula to the St. Lawrence River, about mid- way between the mouth of the Saguenay River and Quebec City. * * * Collecting air -borne pollen in- volves a 24-hour exposure of glycerine jelly coated slides in a standard air sampling device, counting the ragweed pollen over a unit area of one square centimeter, and converting cen- timeter counts by using standard factors. Sites with Indexes above 10 are not recommended for hay fever sufferers, those between five and 10 are fairly good, be- low five good, and below one excellent. * * * This is the picture in western Canada: British Columbia — Very little ragweed present in any part of the province; Alberta — Only in the Medicine HSt area were counts high; Saskatchewan — No stations had air indexes above two, although information ' is still not available from the ex- treme southern portion of the province; Manitoba — Eight sta- tion indexes were generally ,low, except in the area around Mor- den. * * 4 Referring to Canada's rag- weed problem, Mr. Bassett com- ments: "Now that the broad outlines of ragweed pollen incidence in Ontario and Quebec are better known, it would be advantage- ous to intensify ragweed con- trol Campaigns in the more northerly areas where the in- dexes are still under or not much over 1tl" * * * The "good old days" on the Canadian farm front may not have been all they are cracked up to be. At least this is indicated by a study of capital—gross income relationships conducted by C. K. Varkaris, Canada Depart- ment of Agriculture economist., * * * Mr, Varkaris found that for every dollar of gross income in 1935, there was an investment of $6 in land, buildings, machin- ery and livestock. The gap has narrowed greatly since then. In 1957, for example, the invest- ment per dollar of gross income was $3.50. Gross income consists of cash incense from the sale oL' farm products, income in kind (poul- try and eggs, meat, fruits, veg- etables, honey, maple products, dairy products, forest products, wool and cereal :products used by the farmer, and house rent), supplementary payments made by governments, and the value of inventory changes. * 4 * In 1935, the ratio varied from a high of $7.90 in Saskatchewan to a low of $4.38 in Nova Sco- tia, and in 1957 from $4,38 in Albert to $2.96 in Prince Ed - wild Island. The capital investment per dollar of net income (returns to operator's labor and capital) was much higher. For every dollar of net income in 1935 there was an average invest- ment of $19.77, and in 1967 there was an average invest- ment of $9.80, * * * Apart . from better weather conditions in the later period, increased efficiency and, increas- es in other inputs, such as fer- tilizer and herbicides, as well as improved feeds and practices, largely accounted for this trend in capital — gross income ratio. Lecturers should always re- member that the capacity of the mind to absorb is usually limit- ed to what the seat can endure. Rush -Cutting. IS Ancient Business Green 0;04 high, tool) grew the rushes in many parts of Britain this year and rich was the harvest reaped by the com- paratively, few families who still eat them down every year from the banks of rivers. The members of one family have been cutting rushes annual- ly for nearly 900 years, One member provided rushes for Hereward the Wake's bed when he was fleeing from- the Nor - mons, Who uses rushes to -day? Brewing firms buy them for caulking barrels. Many more are in demand by women's or- ganizations for the malting of mats and fancy baskets for sale for charities at Christmas. Well - dried rushes are so strong that baskets made from them last a lifetime. But it's many years since coun- try people tramped into London to sell fresh rushes, reaped with long -handled sickles, to well-to- do householders who used them as carpeting for floors. Life was less of a rush in those days! People had time pains- takingly to bind rushes into sheaves and to make rush bearing an occasion for carnival. The sheaves were garlanded with fiowors before being carted in procession through the villages. There was even a Queen of Rushbearing, who led the wag- on bearing the most attractively decorated sheaf.' Other pretty rush -bearing lasses dressed in white also carried sheaves and followed the wagons, whose drivers wore beribboned hats and holiday clothes. Rushes were used to strew the aisles of churches all the year round. The poet Wordsworth's great-grandchildren were among those who took part in a rush- bearing festival in St. Oswald's Church at Grasmere, Westmor- land, some years ago, The poet worshipped In the .old, square - towered church whose "rush re- cords" date back to 1682. Bible Difficult To Translate When one turns to the lan- guage into which the translation is to be made, fresh difficulties arise. If it is a *anguage already reduced to witting and possesses dictionaries and grammars that is a great advantage. But even here there are somo very high hurdles to cross, .. . These problems seem, indeed, hard enough. Yet for several hundred of these translations there was no dictionary, gram- mar, or even alphabet. Tn many instances the natives had never seen any kind of writing till the missionary came and were amazed at the effect of soundless written messages. Here the missionary must be phonetician, lexicogra- pher, grammarian all in one... , It is not to be expected that in the face of these difficulties all translations will be equally suc- cessful, The Bible Societies, even after checking the text by vari- ous processes, customarily issue first translations as "tentative editions" to be tested and re- viewed in use.A translator into an Eskimo dialect found he had rendered "Nation shall rise up against nation," by "A pair of snowshoes shall rise up against a pair of snowshoes," the differ- ence being a single letter in a seventeen letter word. In an early Florida (Solomon Island) translation of Psalm 104, the phrase "the wild asses quench their thirst" was later found to be literally "the cannibal pigs drink water to stop hiccoughs." Among numerous people in a Part of India the conception arose that God was a bluish being be- cause the first word in the phrase, heavenly Father, was taken to mean having the color of the sky. — From "The Book.of a Thotis- and Tongues," edited by Eric M. North, Ph.D., D.D. JOON USCII001 By ttev, R, Darielay Warren 0,41.,, 8.1). The Gospel Versus Legalism' Acts 15:1.12, 12-21 MMentory Seleetians A Man 9s not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jest 0 Christ. Galatians 2:16. We have seen how the Gospel was received by the Gentiles in Antioch an in towns of Asia Minor, New there were Jewish Christians and Gentile Chris- tians, Their backgrounds were vastly different, The Jews had Been brought up under the Mo- saic law. The Gentiles had been heathen. The Jews had practiced circumcision since the days of Abraham. Jesus had been cir- cumcised. To the Jews this rite was the sign of God's everlasting covenant with His people. (Gene- sis 17:13), Some felt that these Gentile Christians, in order to be counted in God's family, must also be circumcised. Believing in Jesus Christ was not enough. Some Jews came down from Judea and taught among the Gentiles, "Except ye be circum- cised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." This was one of the most criti- cal periods in the history of the early church. Paul and Barna- bas had taught these Gentiles that no one could be justified by the works of the law but only by the faith of Jesus Christ. They strongly opposed these Judiazers. It was finally decided that Paul and Barnabas should go to Jeru- salem and lay the whole ques- tion before the apostles and elders. At the Jerusalem conference Peter related his experience at the home of Cornelius. God had put no difference between the Jew and Gentile but had given the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles, purifying their hearts by faith. Ile asked, "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" Then Barna- bas and Paul told the conference of the miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them, After much discussion James pronounced the decision which was endorsed by the group. The Gentiles were not to be troubled but simply asked to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled and from blood. We must stili guard against legalism. We cannot be saved by' our works. We are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This grace is ours through faith. ITE SURE CAN The glamorous woman lion - tamer stood motionless as the lion took, a piece of sugar from her lips. "I can do that," cried a young man. "Would you dare?" sneered the ringmaster. "Yes; and do it just as well aa the lion." ISSUE 3 — 1960 Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking MANE4N MOW'4d /?J1 • 3-LV�C/d3S 71a ©ray 3© ©o �IDF7`�. D©© wEiCirMUMBOm smAtil a gam AEI C�l%FJ� a=CJ rill) 321Od ' O1'37Vd HIGH TIDE IN BOSTON — Motorist Jack O'Leary finds himself and his station wagon engulfed In the waters of Boston Harbor as abnormally' high tide- inundated areas along Atlantic Ave. Boston Harbor's tide rose about two -and -a -half feet above normal as a wild storm bar- relled into New England with snow, sleet and rain.