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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1960-03-03, Page 6It . I Y s•. roomer In The Scots Town Of Ayr "Look at the crocuses:" We speak the words with gay aban- don, as we greet one another these days. For crocuses are a feature of our Ayrshire gardens where they thrive in our light, sandy soil, blooming in time for St. Valentine's .Day in m i d February. The first of the flowers appear in my: own garden in a string -straight line of bright yellow, in shape not unlike fat exclamation marks, But an ex- clamation mark should mark an end, whilethe crocus starts the flowering of spring bulbs, As happens every year, my tame blackbird makes me aware of the blooms. There he sits on a low bough of my cherry tree calling "Come out!" Off he flies down on the lawn, cocks his glossy head, and then looks in at the kitchen window with bright, orange•minged eyes, It is the signal for me to stop work — the blackbird's utter lack of responsibility is infec- tious — and I go out into the garden to find the crocuses growing under the cherry tree as they have grown for longer than I can remember. I contrast the yellow of the flowers with the blackbird's orange bill and find the two warming the air with their flames of light. Startled by this discovery, I run to the open win- dow, shouting to the inmates of Hope -Chest Luxury 620 Add a flowery touch to towels, scarves, pillowcases with grace- ful, springtime motifs. Applique or embroider these true- to - nature sprays al roses and pansies. Pattern 620: pat- ternof patches; transfer 4 motifs 5t/z x 12 inches; colour schemes. Send THIRTY-FIVE CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety) for this pattern to Laura Wheeler, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St, New Tor- onto, Ont. Print plainly PAT- TERN NUMBER, your NAME and ADDRESS. New ! New 1 New ! Our 1960 Laura Wheeler Needlecraft Book is ready NOW ! Crammed with exciting, unusual, popular de- signs to crochet, knit, sew, em- broider, quilt, weave — fashions, home furnishings, t o y s, gifts, bazaar hits. In the book FREE —3 quilt patterns. Hurry, send 25 cents For your copy. ISSUE 9 — 1960 the house: "Come and look at the crOcusesl" And the birds cry shrilly to one another, as though startled • by the same feel of spring. Before the yellow bloom is spent, crocuses in blue, purple, and white show in the paths and borders. The petals open into chalices when the sun shines, and ingratiating scents steal up from the crocus cups, coaxing the bees to visit. The flowers areworth growing for the bees alone. We are proud of our crocus lawns in the town of Ayr, and since the removal of tall, iron garden railings these floral car- pets of blue and yellow are seen to advantage by pedes- trians. One garden I used to know had its crocus carpet em bellished with floral letters forming the words. "Flowers that bloom in spring." Another garden in the same town still has its outstanding lawn planted with crocuses. The. flowers are packed as closely as daisies in a meadow, increasing every year. The owner informs me: "Nobody knows who first planted them, but we do know they have been there for one and a half centuries, No new ones have been added, nor large clumps divided." By March crocuses are at the peak, of their bloom in my home town, And that is the 'time when our letting season begins, with everyone galvanized into sudden preparation for those who will be our house tenants for.sev- eral months of the year. Fresh curtains are hung en the Win- dows, fresh paint put on front doors and garden gates. But more attractive than the paint or curtains, to those in search of a house to let, is the sightof thousands of crocuses in the lit- tle front gardens. They are irre- sistible to people who live in the city, writes Marion Render son in the Christian Science Monitor. While they are common to almost every British garden and grow in most parts of the world,. the history of the crocus re- mains obscure. It is thought that a pilgrim of the 12111 century introduced the plant to Eng- land, secretary in the: hollow of his staff a few corms picked up in Syria. Those corms took to British soil and were known as those of Crocus sativus, the autumn crocus, which proved a valuable source of saffron for more than 500 years in Britain. The flower of the autumn cro- cus blooms in September, rising out of the ground bare of leaves. From the strong, yellow stigma was derived the saffron that gave its name to the' small Sussex town of Saffron -Walden where the industry prospered until the introduction of synthetic dyes over a century past. One of the most remarkable aspects of this industry was the fact that it took no fewer than 4,000 crocus stigmas to produce a single ounce of saffron. The price. of the product was always high, for saffron was thought to be a valuable medicine as well as being used to color cakes and meat in England. Up to the end of the last cen- tury the Irish used saffron to dye their linen, and in the Scot- tish Highlands it dyed the cur- tains of large and small houses until Victoria's reign ended. The autumn crocus,, though no longer used for manufacture of any kind, appears as an orna- mental graden plant, seeming to bring back the spring when it blooms in September. It lacks the joyous look of the spring crocus and has nothing like its prodigal bloom. Spring's hap- piest flower "children". are the first crocuses. They recall the advice a Chinese writer gave his people: "Take time to look your fill on the Spring flowers the sight of them renews the spirit of man and woman." (GET WELK-KIN RING Lawrence Welk is cheek4o-cheek with 4sne o his favorites. Meet 7 -month-old Robbie, his grandson, She d'rild of Welk's eldest daughter, Shirley. BARDOT IS BACK --.Brigitte Bardot swaps stage kisses with actor Jean -Poul Belmondo in Paris during her first studio session since the birth of her son, Nicolas, last month. HRONICLES IINGERFARM 3wt d.ol FcAkti Another week gone by . . , a pleasant week, ' weather-wise. That is, until Saturday_ Then we ' had a combination- of rain, fog, ice,. snow and flood -water. But thank .goodness' the basement re- mained:'dry.. We went down.'in the middle of .the night to make sure.' Good weather•during the past. week made it easy getting around, and that was fortunate. Tuesday more quilting — quilt done and out and I brought it home to bind:. For some un- known reason no one ever seems anxious to hind the finished quilt. No one except me and I rather' like the job. It gives me a nice feeling to cover the raw edges, with a neat binding and to know that one more job is really flinished and the quilt ready to be sent on its way — to bring comfort and warmth to someone who really needs it. I often wish I could follow. un- seen — some of our quilts to their destinations; to see and.. know something of the families to which they go; maybe to some outpost in northern Saskatche- wan where winters are long and the comforts of home dependent upon -the strength and ingenuity of the people. This week, we are setting up two more quilts. Yes, we are going to punish our fingers all over again just as they are get- ting nicely healed following the .inevitable jabs and pricks with- out which no person can quilt successfully. Every time you hear an "Ouch" or a "Darn" you know someone has done it again and you pass over the adhesive or suggest a da,b of nail -polish — some prefer one, some the other. Another highlight last week was our Institute meeting — topic, Historical Research. Four of the older members were ask- ed to give brief histories along specific lines. (1) Street names in the village and how they ori- ginated. Also history of the two churches. (2) Life of Dr. Dixie, pioneer medical man of the, dis- trict. (3) History. of "Cherry Hill Farm," also that of "Glenerin" now used as a convalescent home for Robert Simpson employees, (4) Indian history of the district previous to pioneer settlement: All this material will later be incorporated in our Tweedsmuir Scrapbook. The story of "Cherry Hill" al- most made me weep. Once the most beautiful house in the dis- trict - it is now almost falling • apart. Not only that at one time it was furnished with wonder- ful handmade furniture of wal- nut, cherry and bird's-eye maple. The old house for some years' now has been lived in on a rent- , ed basis and at some time the solid walnut dining -table had been .used for ironing the fam- ily wash. As a result the marks df an overheated iron are burnt right into the table -top, Isn't it, dreadful how little respect is often shown for old buildings, trees and pioneer relics of all. kinds? In some districts histori- cal societies are, doing their best to revive interest in, and appre- ciation of, historical landmarks but alas, in many cases it is already too late. So much has been lost. In the Old Country • everything possible is done to preserve historic sites but in Canada all too often trees and old buildings are doomed for destruction by powerful, relent- less bulldozers. How does this wholesale des- truction come about? I know one way. For some years, now property owners have been ap- proached by real estate brokers or representatives of a land - deal syndicate and a tempting price offered for farm or small holding. The business is done through, lawyers, the identity of the actual purchaser remains ob- scure. The owner feels he cannot afford to turn down a good offer so in due time the deal is closed. Later the former owner feels terribly upset to see his old house in ruins and his once carefully 'tended. fields over -run with weeds. But he has burnt his bridges and no amount of regret can replace them. Finan- cially he has made a good deal and he has to .face •the fact that you can't eat your cake and have it too. Now for the latest 'on family news. The day after Eddie had his cast off Jerry went •to the doctor's .to have an abscess lanced on his neck, and then again -on Friday, When he found Dadde was stopping the car out- side their Own home there was trouble. "No — 110 not home. Ga Grandma!" Friday night is a regular ritual -- shopping and then grandma's. However, they came out next day and all was well. The three boys came in With a lovely bouquet of red carnations for our anniversary, Incidentally we had visitors 'to -- day and I said !'Don't you like our beautiful carnations?" "Yes," said Mrs, B., "they look almost real, don't they?' "'I.,00k real," I exclaimed, "they ARE real;" Now I ask you, how can you win? Mrs. B. had to smell the carnations before she would be- lieve I wasn't kidding. Compact Cars Russian Style If someone in Moscow wants to buy a Moskvitch, Russia's "economy" car, he c o u g h s up 25,000 rubles ($6,500 at the offi- cial rate of exchange, $2,500 at the more realistic tourist rate) and puts his name on the wait- ing list. Two years later, if he's still around, he gets it, In less than 30 days, however, Joe Smith, American, will be able to get the seine car for only $1,500 — and it's quite possible he won't have to wait at all. The ditlerence, apart from ideologies, is soft-spoken, persistent Robert Castle, 31, of Herkimer, N.Y, Castle, a prosperous auto deal- er (Ford, Renault, Fiat — about 2,500 sales a year) with real- estate and financinginterests in Herkimer and nearby Syracuse, trekked; to the Soviet Exhibition in New York one day last sum- mer along with some 40,000 tour- ists. Castle had heard of the Moskvitch (literally, "Moscow resident") — a four -seat, four door, four -cylinder car with a 45 h.p. engine — and there he saw it. He liked it, wanted to sell it, and immediately opened negotiations with the Amtorg Trading Corp., official Soviet trading organization in the U.S. A few weeks ago In Moscow, Castle signed a contract giving him an exclusive franchise to distribute 10,000 Moskvitch cars in the U.S. in the next two years. Castle said the firat of the little Moskvite es "Would start arriv- ing around the end of April at the rate of 500 -a -month (sedan and station -wagon models) with sufficient parts to service them. He added that he had inspected Russia's Moskvitch production facilities,:. and had been assured the Soviets could ship him all the cars he could sell. Was Detroit quivering at the unexpected competition? Not at all. "Who'd buy them?" snorted one U.S. automan. "Just some crackpots who'd like to saythey own a Russian car." Castle was undaunted. By the end of the week, he claimed he had already received more than 50 inquiries from aspiring goskvitch dealers from coast to coast. SALLY:S SALLIES T don't want to go down in history like you; I'd• be glad to go anywhere." A Real Shocker°. Last month a little dog beloved by a Toronto woman, b e c a m0 suddenly ill and died. The own- er had no place to give it a dew cent burial so a friend said "Bring it over to my garden.°° The grieved one started all car- rying it in 4 large shopping bag. On the way she stopped in 046 of the big department stores and set the bag down while she made a q u i o k purchase, When she turned back it was gone, The clerk told her that the usual rem - tine among shoplifters is to go to the nearest washroom, take out the contents and throw away the container. Off went the owner of the little dog, opened the near- est washroom door and there on the floor lay a woman in a faint — the dog in the open bag be- side her. With supreme presence of mind our friend pushed through the curious customers surrounding the woman, picked up the bag and walked out. From. Gossip.. KNOW THY SELF What a man believes may be. ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts. — George Bernard Shaw. To Size 48 PRINTED PATTERN 4963 SIZES 36—Alt 61-i L�3 The two-piece dress ideal under a coat now or as a suit when spring arrives. Longer collar is so smart and slimming above curved - peplum jacket. Choose faille, cotton,. wool. Printed Pattern 4963 Wom- en's Sizes 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48. Size 36 takes 4 yards 39 -inch Printed directions on each pat- tern part. Easier, accurate. Send FORTY CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety) for this pattern. Please print plainly .SIZE, NAME,. • ADDRESS, ..S TYLE NUMBER. Send order to ANNE ADAMS, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St., New Toronto, Ont. DOLLSVILLE Unusual beatnik dolls, called "sweetnika," naturally, surround their creator, Lada Draskovit, In Rine. The dolls are dressed In loose -fitting sweaters, toreador pants and sandals. Their straggly, woolen hair is done in bright red, blue, orange and green.