Loading...
The Seaforth News, 1960-09-22, Page 2Neighbors Call Them "Salt Of The Earth" Now we are in the season ot long hot days and long hot nights. "Over a hundert yester- day' the farmers tell each other. Not complaining but with deep onitiefaction, for this is ideal corn -growing weather. This is the time of year when early rising is a joy. The world is fresh; the air is sweet with the smell of dew on growing things; and coolness is laid like e balm over the fields which will be roasting hot by noon. Early as we may be, the Zaugg's breakfast -fire is already going, sending a thin, pale eels uron of smoke up into the dawns tinted air. "Another fine day in prospect," we say, for accord- ing to Amos, that reliable weather prophet, smoke always goes straightup on a clear day. ... Dew sparkles on the hayfield, empty now of bundles, the hill- side marked with spaces of lighter straw to indicate where they lay. and on the field of soybeans.. To our eyes, nothing is quite so beautiful on the farm as a good stand of "beans," as they are casually referred to hereabout. Their bushy tops, vi- brantly green, march in straight rows and stand straight as ar- rows. Cern at this season seems more like a decoration than provender, but soybeans from the start look as if they knew their mission in life and meant to ful- fill it. In the mgetable gardens the hot still days ripen the rosy glebes of tomatoes and make tee torn sugar -sweet. Field beans are ready for eating now, giving more substance, it seems, than the early bunch beans. In the South, field beans are usually cooked three hours with ehunka of bacon for seasoning, and have ears of sweet corn or the cut- off whole kernels laid over them for the last thirty minutes, Here, corn and beans go into separ- ate pots, but the result is equal- ly delicious. The rich coloring of the countryside is predominately yel- low now. Yellow flowers are everywhere reflecting the glow of the sun: yellow elover, wild eriustard, and lemon lilies line the highways, while out in the. Adds the sunny centres of oxeye daisies point the way to where the gian mullen thrusts its yel- low dandles toward the burning blue sky. The fragile blooms of spring are gone, and the bloom of sum- mer has given us a sturdier, richer beauty. The insects have come into their own, Butterflies are winging everywhere, their marvelous colors denying their grablike beginnings, and out in the mown hayfield the crickets seem to be holding a convention. Ancient. Orientals kept crickets in captivity for their music, end the many ornate cricket cages" which repose iti museums thrcushout the country are proof of the tact. Vet one wonders yew very starved for music they must have been to find a et's dry nsr. pieesant • If ;hay hat', only captu:-,5 say. Out across t1c meackw ernes the deiiritus .mtpi)y. st:arhling sera:: of Perhaps he 11' sit.:t.t he patch c,f; VEr. or even ficr.:t. F --,r this is one rt.f the few nas the gift of sin.:..11; An..t1 his ss,ng.. 111C 71;.- touro •t,e. ear tre tiled v. -ho w.h.t eeentry 1-11-0 V.' 11: v tom::. r,6 , 4 l.b::rnIe- Tont! want t.., the z•t,,.e'red the fi markrea, the male the -,t6ne farmhouses. 111P shaded s' wtt,. But most of e the 1,. -es. the Plan Pec- tAe.Sk She:tt,n ..H• tt.r. nous by his broad -brimmed hat, square haircut, drf,14 suit, and Brother Jonathan chin -patch, He lives plainly and preZere to bar- ter rather than pay cash. He re- fuses to own any Vehicle or piece of machinery that 'rides on rubber.' His chief mode et travel is horse and buggy, thought he will ride buses or make use of cars 'for hire.'" They are storehouses of informa- tion on Amish ways — yet so poorly informed about the pen- ple themselves. We find ourselves wishing they could all hear what the rural postman has to say about the Amish along his route. Along about eleven in the morning, the .postman stops his car at the mailboxes in our vi- cinity. And what an important event in our lives that is! With one of the longest routes in the state to serve, he drives 86 miles six days a week over ridges, down valleys, on gravel or paeked-dirt roads much of the way. Yet he is always friendly, courteous, and cheerful when we meet him at the box to buy stamps or a money order, And - always he has some amusing tale to tell of happenings along his route, • 'Just now helped Mrs. Korn - haus drive a bunch of pigs oft the road, They'd escaped from the barn lot; the- men were away, and she couldn't round them up by herself," he may say. Or it is perhaps some other incident that has enlivened bit day — and ours, Non -Amish himself, "the car- rier," as he is called, is lavish in his praise of the Amish pat- rons he serves. With these folk, the favors all go one way," he says, "Scene other people leave notes asking for a hundred stamps, and add that I should put them on the hundred Christmas cards in the box. Or they telephone my home before I leave in the morning and ask me to shop the super- market for them — in spite of the fact that my wife and I have a small grocery store of our own. But not the Amish. They are more apt to leave a thermos of hot cocoa in the box in win- ter, or cold lemonade In sum- mer, with cake or hot bread wrapped in foil. One box has something good in it every Fri- day, baking day. That is the day my wife does not pack a lunch for me; we've come to count on it, and they never fail me." It is impossible not be becoma involved with people whom you serve so intimately, and the job is a combination of many things, the postman says. "You get hard hick Stories, and Often hard words from customers who dis- like having third-class mail left in their boxes, or unavoidable late deliveries, like the time I stopped the car to check on something and looked up to find I hed settled into a heod-high snow drift. "This makes the -kindness ex- tended by the Amish more ap- preciated than ever. You think everyone just takes the mail for granted; then these good people make you feel you are important in their. Take this family here (tnc he indicated the Zaugg farrnheuse-e they .alwesys sweep a path for my car se I don't have to gutswhere the road 1F a drift. The Bible speaks ot t'itic and way o: -“nkin;, that iF what - Holy one tra-has(i. baretos.ted Amish -'1,ay5 r6, yfizteh Is,so r,thet ns,yi.? Or i1'2" arid c,:ci-fashr;onc,e; drcs.Hz- do not rtea:, dt-ab s:culs? a few phrases rcm :•ura: postman and say, that ::-te Zatu.,!:rs and others them have shown us paths e nt;ght not otherwise have -.round. Thse ars. indeed the salt nr the earth. and 'n•` sayssc.. • DIRTY PLAYER sc,ces,r te:.n: beet Fiench team in New Zealand :rue, that r,ne player eis pante Ilse stayed in the -rent.: 10 mine -es befee s h€ . et:ate:6- • . , a'sss se,..,..attetse THE WEIGHING SPOON — Measuring spoon in London, Eng- land, has tiny scale built into its long handle so housewife gets lust the right amount of various cooking Ingredients. It will accurately measure up to 8 ounces. OLD BIKE — David Waser helps Ada Mao Fenton keep her balance on an old-fashioned bicycle that is 56 inches high. The century -old bicycle belongs to David's dad, Frank J. Waser. Front wheel is 46 Inches, • tk LE, T .,Jai vi Andttews. Everyone should have an Uncle Ralph, Mine was a tall, curly-haired man whose added years never dimmed his boyish zest and sense of fun His geniality and kindness sprang not from theory but from a gen- uine and spontaneous affection for his fellow man, and every- one — relatives, streetcar con- ductors, store clerks—responded. Uncle Ralph, like many men of his generation, was thorough- ly at home in the kitchen. His wife was an excellent cook, but he could fend for himself when the need arose. He had a way with children tooas a tot, I was disinclined to eat tomatoes, but Uncle Ralph corrected that, He sat me on his knee, piled an abundance of sugar on tomato slices, and coaxed me into trying them, Before I knew what was happening, I had discovered that tomatoes were much nicer than I had thought. In later years I realized that Uncle Ralph had simply applied. culinary knowledge: a bit of sugar adds irmrieasurably to the flavor of certain vegetables, not only tomatoes but peas, corn on the cob, turnip, and some Others, It can be added to the cooking water, or used when you season the vegetables for the table. A little experimenting will tell you how much you like to use. Try etarting with a teaspoon. -One ot 1/ole Ralph's best C017- 1ributio4s to cooks is his method of making corn bread. Every housewife knows that there are times when a hot bread will make • an otherwise ordinary meal seem rather special. But, if the making of the hot bread is a long procese, it often does not let mode, writs Gertrude P. Lancaster in. The (7heistian Science Slonteet. The specie: elites- et Uncle fla:phSs method. I feel, 1 that 'titers. is ne ctt:Lrning process, and Rs'.' atehes are -needed. The first thing to do is to put to- gether in a bowl a cup of sifted pastry flour, 'a cup of corn meal, 3:2 cup sugar. 3 teaspoons bak- ing powder, and 12 teaspoon of salt. I find it vert- simple to sift flour onto a. large piece of v. -axed paper; then when I have mea- sured what I need into a cup, -the balance can just be poured back into the flour container from the paper, and there is no messy residue te ''ash up from the shelf. - To the flour !nixture add a htiiten egg to which you }mot added5 cup oi milk. Stir in also •4 teblespoons ef tneltc,c1- but- ter, pour into a .41 it;ised pan tine. bake about 15-2(1 minutes at 400• 421'. F 1 no an .,ciu:ae pan This gives corn breed :about 11a inches high, end will serve about six people — depending on how hungry they arc! If the metre hers ot your family prefet thin. ner corn bread, itee a 9 -inch square pan or its equivalent. This corn bread is not dry 01 crumbly. I always use yellow corn meal, and the bread is 0 golden yellow, If your sues tooth is not active, you can Lae somewhat less sugar, but I'd recommend making -it 115 de- scribed the first time. and see if - you don't agree that this make. a superb product. lititatilt 38 - OATMEAL COOKIES cup butter Si cup milk 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 6 -oz. package either chocolate or caramel bits Dash of salt 3 cups uncooked, quick oatmeal 44 cup nuts or coconut 1 teaspoon vanilla Combine first 6 ingredients in a heavy aluminum pan. Bring to boil and boil 5 minutes, stir- ring. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes. Add remaining 3 ingredients; mix well. Either drop by spoonfuls or spread mix- ture and cut into bars, ..s GINGERBREAD 3i cup sugar 1 cup molasses 14 cup butter 1 teaspoon each, ginger, cloves and cinnamon 21,4 cups flour 2 teaspoons soda 1 cup hot water 2 eggs Dissolve soda in the hot water, Add butter. Mix and sift dry in- gredients and add to first mix- ture. Beat eggs well and add to mixture just before pouring into buttered shallow pan for baking at 350° F. Cut in squares, remove from pan. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. GERMAN PRETZELS 4 cups flour 1 yeast cake 1i cup luke warm water :2 teaspoon sugar I tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon butter or other tat 1 cup milk Dissolve yeast in the warm water to which the sugar has been added. Add 1i cup warm milk. Add butter. Mix this mix- ture with flour to make a stiff dough. Let rise 1 hour. Add re- maining milk; knead well: let rise again. Separate dough into small portionee roll into round strips, and form into pretzels. Put on floured board and let rise again. Put pretzels in refrigera- tor for 20 minutes before dip- ping into lye solution. Lye Dip: Combine 2 quarts water with 14 pound baking soda; mix well. Wearing rubber gloves, d i p pretzel* into this solution and place on ungreased baiting sheet. With a knife, eut a slit in thick side of pretzel; sprinkle with salt. Brown at 400' 1'. Brush pretzel with a brush clipped in cold water (this gives the shine) * PEANUT -CHOCOLATE FUDGE % cup undiluted condensed intik 1% cups sugar 1% dozen marshmallows 1% cups semi -sweet ehocolate bits 1 yap salted peanuts 1 teaspoon vanilla. Combine sugar and milk and boil for 5 minutes, stirring con- stantly, Remove from heat. Add marshmallows an d chocolate bits; stir until melted and mix- ture is creamy. Add vanilla and peanuts. Pour into buttered pan and mark in squares, Chemical Warfare More Humane? The chemical plopped into the eye of the plump, white rabbit. Within seconds, the animal's legs buckled. He fell on his side, seized by uncontrollable convul- sions. In two minutes, the rabbit was dead, a victim of nerve gas. Then Sparky, a friendly mongrel with long black hair, stepped into the glass cage. A colorless gas was blown into the enclosure, Instantly, Sparky was paralyzed and numb, a victim of an "in- capacitating agent." It should have taken him three or four hours to recoVer, but a doctor in- jected an antidote and in two minutes he was up and running around. These grim little scenes were put on last month as the U.S. Army offered newsmen their first look at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, where chemical and biological warfare agents (CW and BW for short) are test- ed, CW and BW, banned from warfare by the 1925 Geneva Con- vention, have been the subject of a moral bombardment for years. One reason the Army is bringing its hush-hush program into the open, said Army Re- search Director Richard Morse, is so that "we can talk this over in an orderly, reasonable way." As Col, Joseph Prentice ex- plained: "This may be a more humane type of warfare. I've seen men die by a flame thrower — it's horrible. With some of these agents you go relatively easy..." THE LAST STRAW A jail inmate in San Jose, Calif„ took offense when fans booed his decisions as umpire during a basketball game be- tween prisoners and deputy sheriffs. He stomped off the field — and disappeared. Dr ves His Car On Railway Tratits Cui,liene do 85 per emit of their !ravelling by automobile, these days. In consequence, rail- way passenger serviees are suf- fering. But a few wily railroaders are snaking the best of both means of transportation, A. R. Wilsons the Canadian National Railways' auperintendent oS the Believing Division'In Southern Ontario, is a a typicl example. Ile gots around his territory in "The Sputnik," a hefty, eight - cylinder station wagon that operates on both tracks and highways. Many a motorist, stalled in a traPfie jam, has en- vied Mr, Wilson's ability to buzz along on uncrowded rails. He gave up his private rail- road business car three years ago. It could, to be sure, be coupled to any passing train and hauled to the next station whose he had to transact railway busi- ness. But there were too many unproductive waits be t we trains to suit him. So he got the station wagon and had his machinists put seta of flange wheels on it, fore and aft. These flange wheels are on rigid hydraulic mounts. For rail operation they are jacked down. in close proximity to the tires, and hold the tires to the rail surfaces. Customary c r u is ing speed on the tracks — subject, to railways regulations of course — is 60 miles per hour. On the tracks, it's a train. 11 can only be operated as such by a person who has written a conductor's examination. This posed no problem for Mr. Wil- son. He set up many of the, questions on this paper, havitig been a CNR inspector, But the Sputnick must have the same running lights, at night, as a locomotive. And it has a locomotive serial number painted on the trans- parent, illuminated dome on its roof. This leads to a bit of em- barrassment, now and then, Citi- zens shout "Taxi!" when they see the Sputnik rolling by. They become irate if Mr. Wilson ig- nores their hail. The machine spends about 40 per cent of its working life on the rails. Before it begins a rail- road trip, though, Mr. Wilson has to check in with his des- patcher and obtain a train order. But he doesn't make like the Super -Continental at crossings. "Not me!" he insists. "The Sputnik is harder to spot from the highways than a train." (It's painted a bright yellow). "I slow down for crossings whether I'm on the rails or the road. I'd rather keep my health than argue about the right of way!" — by Lex Schrag in "Im- perial Oilways." NUTTY SITUATION — It must be that animal magnetism has brought these three strange bedfellows together. Koko the cat adopted the 1 0 -week-old squirrels after they were found abandoned. HOPE FOR THOUSANDS — The bb Hope, a wartime veteran rechristened in the name of inter - notional aid, arrives in San Francisio amid welcoming sprays from fireboats. The hospital ship will heod for the Far EOM.