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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1961-06-08, Page 7Five FMne 'Days Make One 'Whole Summer i Five days of perfect weather often constitute a Hebridean summer, and one which the Isles folk racn'sider well worth the year of waiting. ktot sun, eloudless' blue skies, blue -sha- dowed hills mirrored in still lochs, and long still nights with alio sound save the lapping of the tide and the distant call of a late -tarrying cuckoo-Mairi and her crony Elspeth lead often dreamed of such a summer dur- ing the long trying winter, Suddenly the perfect weather came, and for two whole days they just sat and enjoyed it, ab sorbing the blessed sunshine in- to their bones, blissfully relaxed on the creepie stools they had brought out from the dark kit- chens into a world of wondrous light and colour. Between long spells of silence :the two old women talked of what they intended to do while the summer weather lasted, but with no thought of haste in their minds. Unlike the people on the mainland the Isles folk are not enslaved to time. Clocks and watches are far less observed than cockcrowing and tide -flow- ing, and Elspeth and Mairi, who could hear the pulse beat of the earth beneath their feet, did not possess a reliable clock be- tween them. On the third morning of their 1 two summer the h o wo- men decided to discard their winter shawls While Maul roll- ed up the clootie rug and threw it onto the fence, Elspeth start- ed off by laying out her home- spun blankets and extra bed- ding, with her Sunday blacks, to air in the warm sunshine. When the fence could hold no more, both women walked a few steps to a clump of whine which they soon covered with every- thing that required airing. Summer weather was right for the annual blanket wash, and while every house in the He- brides now has tap water the old women prefer to do their big washing by the burn. The fourth day found the fire alight early, with a column of blue smoke rising from the giant three-legged pot that boiled the burn water, Bedding from ,say- talhouses lay on the chairs and he great wooden tub :held the rst blankets which the younger Women tramped barefoot. The washing finished well before Midday (measured by the turn f the tide), the clothes were then spread out on the waren sea grass that was sprinkled with thrift and daisies, Meanwhile the women with husbands had other business on band. Work really started with e fearful spate of activity on the third summer day. Those who had sheep drove them to- gether for shearing, and the basing and lamenting of ewes and lambs mingled with the barking of collies and the shout- ing of the men who directed the work. From their cottage doors Mairi and Elspeth followed the progress of the shearing, watch- ing the lambs bounding over the little sheep tracks beside BUDDIES - C. 8. Roy, a fre- quent visitor tb 'Chicago's Lin- coln Park Zoo, has found a luncheon companionin the 'form of a squirrel named Myrtle. Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking 79 VS V 1 9 tt' 91 A 3V 9 0 -1ya9W a0nb 0 9Dd V .L V. an a al- NI.1.0 V110 d PAW O 9 d 4.73 X11 .b' 5 M O• 114 'tVN9al a9 N 3 3 1 A ?l' 5 a 9 N 5 1 1 5 0 their white fleeced =there on to bog and heather with the else and wary ewe, making for the woody glen where they would have coolness from the hot sun. The fourth day of summer found Mairi and Elspeth up be- times, ready Lo be oaf with their neighbours to work ae the goats. Owing to constant rain the win- ter fuel had never dried enough to secure, And so the stacks had to be pulled down to dry. Quiet- ly the men and womenarranged wet pests in stacks of three, placing a fourth across the top. While they stooped and lifted they would marvel et the com- forting feel of sunshine on their backs, seeping into their bones and bringing a 'wonderful sense of well-being. As it grew hotter, layers el winter clothing' were pulled off and flung on the moor; even the oldest in the party discarded a muffler or shawl. When the work was almost finished everyone stopped for the picnic meal, spread out on the grass where the scent of thyme and heather blew in from the moorland, Sitting down to eat the old folk sighed their content, while the young ones laughed and talked in between eating, Mairi and Elspeth, used to their own,icompany, regarded the "crowd" half fearfully, but refreshed with 'food they mingl- ed with the rest and recalled other summers of similar warmth and light. eveningthe hole' F the h w In company drove back home in the carts, the sky 'powdered with primrose light and the rim of a waning moon rising above the sea, close to where the after- glow of sunlight still lingered. The young people laughed, the old ones scanned the hills for any sign of a break in the sum- mer weather. It came on the sixth day, when the skies suddenly dark- ened and the women ran out to bring in the Sunday blacks from the fences, "The rain is soon coming," Mairi shouted to Els- peth who had a small clothes market draped round her pal- ing. "But we did have the fine spell of summer," Elspeth an- swered. "And did we not make the most of it while it lasted?" - By Marion Henderson in the Christian Science Monitor. Pigeons Are Hard To Discourage .In the sculpture garden of New York's Museum of Modern Art, when the weather is fine, art lovers flock to' the white tables on the terrace where they feed delicately on egg salad, cottage cheese, and iced tea. Pigeons flock there too, outnum- bering the art lovers by far and feeding, not so delicately, on any momentarily unguarded plate. To thwart the poachers, the mu- seum last month unveiled a dia- bolical stratagem: Owls. Twelve double-faced, glass - eyed papier-mache owls, stuck on.posts in the myrtle beds and perching in the limbs of birch trees, glared menacingly at the dining tables. The pigeons seem- ed midly curious. "The first day, it wasn't very good," admitted Oto Fredro, manager of the Union News Company -operated cafeteria. "1 had to point out the owls to the pigeons. Today it looks better." But as he spoke, the noon whis- tle blew and half a dozen punc- tual pigeons planed over the 54th Street wall as usual, hopped up on tables, and waded in un- afraid. ' The museum's new problem: Keeping its patrons from mistak- ing the owls, purchased from a Boston firm for $4.95 apiece, for works of art. Signs in the gar- den say plaintively: "The owls are stationed here not because they are esteemed as modern sculpture but in the hope that they will rid the garden of ver- minous pigeons. Please do not frustrate the owls by feeding the pigeons." Too Many Clergymen Too Long Prayers President Kennedy's inaugura- tion last January took 61 min- utes, The prayers of the four officiating clergymen took 28 of them, (Richar,d Cardinal Cush- ing; Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, took the lion's share -twelve minutes, Greek Orth- odox Archbishop Ialcoves took a more modest three minutes.) Reflecting what was a coun- try -wide reaction to this extra- vagance of piety, the 66th .annual convention of the Protestant . Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C„ last month resolved that prayers at such' occasions be. limited to a short invocation and benediction "In the judgment of this convention," read the re solution, "it is not in the best interest of religion and it lessens the effectiveness of great na- tional ceremonies to have the Several major religious groups represented and participating.' CHECK THE WATER, SIR? - When Ira Yates heard -a crashing noise in his back yard in Menlo Park, Calif., he went to in- vestigate. tie found a neighbor's car had roiled driverless through his fence and received an Instantt wash job in his pool, The auto's lights were still burning. TII1SARM FRONT Jahr The planning of the June, 1961 Census of Agriculture has been no small task. Preparations be- gan three years ago. Confer= ences were held with agricul- tural officials, at which many suggestions for questions were considered. Then,- as the basis of final research on the ques- tions to be asked, a test census was taken in the areas of Hem- ilton, Galt and Joliette, in June, 1959. r e* As a result of bids planning bhe main agricultural census form of 1961 contains 166 questions. That's in addition to the queries of the population form, which will be answered by farmers, and non -farmers alike. In addition, there are further questionnaires on irrigation and woodlands; for , the farmers concerned. This is a lot of questions but most farmers will answer only a fraotion of them, depending on the type of their operation. To obtain a picture of nation- wide patterns of agriculture, the census form must make provi- sion for every type of farming - wheat, potatoes, livestock, fruit, and maple syrup, for ex- ample, But most farmers speci- alize in a particular type and only a portion of the questions asked will be applicable to them. Further, the amount of infor- mation to be collected in the 1961 agriculture census is almost 20% less than that collected in the 1951 census. Many questions on production and home use -col- ' leeted by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics through regular sample surveys -have been elim- inated from the 1961 Census, 4< * , How will the census be taken? In the last week of May, most farmers. across Canada will re- ceive by mail the general agri- cultural form. It is being mailed before June 1 so that farmers will know in advance of the ar- rival of the census taker the questions he or she will ask. It is hoped that farmers will have the answers ready when the census taker arrives. If the farmer is away when the census taker calls the wife can then have the answers avail - ISSUE 22 - 1961 able. The time of both farmer and census taker will be saved. * * o Farmers in Newfoundland and scattered areas across Canada will not receive advance mail- ings. However, they will be cov- ered in June when census takers call on every home in the na- tion. Census takers an sworn to secrecy. By law, returns from any individual farm are held in strictest confidence. They can be used only for statistioal purposes' at the Dominion Bureau of Sta- tistics. „ » The agricultural census should not be confused with the yearly -lune and December surveys. The forthcoming June survey will duplicate a number of questions on the 1961 Census However, the return of both forms is neces- sary, since the June survey pro- vides information which will be published before census informa- tion can be made available, as well as certain information not collected by the census, The June survey form is to be returned by mail, while the census form is to be held for the census taker. e * y When the census forms arrive at the agricultural processing offices at Winnipeg, Cornwall and Ottawa, the facts will be transferred to code sheets. In- formation about individual farms will be merged to obtain a pic- ture of the entire farming pat- tern of Canada. Various tables of results will be published and released beginning in the spring cat 1962, The final report 'is ex- pected by the spring of the fol- lowing year. t e * Results will help clarify trends of agriculture during the past ten years, both for the whole of Canada and its various regions. For example, how significantly has contract farming grown? How widespread are new farm machines (forage crop harvest- ers, electric milk coolers and pickup hay balers, for example)? Is the acreage given to such crops as rapeseed still on the rise? How much has the farm labour force declined in the dif- ferent provinces? Are fames - es,pecially in the provinces of Wstern Canada - growing still larger? UNDAY SCOl JSSON Hy tiev, li, D. Warren, B.A., 8.0. A Search for Life's Measling Ecclesiastes 1: 12-14; 3:1.9, Memory Selection: In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer;, I have overcome the world, The Book of Ecclesiastes is not the most cheerful book in the Bible. It was written by I{ing Solomon in the later years of his life. The Song of Solomon was written in the early years and Proverbs in the mature years, But Ecclesiastes came when he Was older and sadder, He was disillusioned about a lot of things, When Solomon ascended the throne, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Ask what I shall give thee." Solomon re- quested a wise and understand- ing heart that he might judge God's people. He received in ad- dition, great riches and honour. Solomon gave his heart to know wisdom but concluded that wisdom alone did not satisfy. Then he went in for mirth and pleasure but decided that this also was vanity. Then he gave himself to wine with moderation. He made great works adn gath- ered much silver and gold. He said of this period of his life, "Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I with- held not my heart from any joy," But neither did this satisfy, He commented, "Bethold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." Solomon wasn't as good a man as he might have been. He took to himself many wives from the heathen nations about him and they turned his heart away from God, This book seems to reflect some of the darkness that came into his life as a result of walk- ing after the desires of the flesh rather than after the desires of. the spirit, But all is not dark. He sees the way. The writing finishes thus: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his com- mandments: for this is the whole duty of man, For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil," There is no satisfying substi- tute for godliness. Sin appears glamourous but it leaves an ach- ing void. Jesus Christ has come to show us the way of salvation and open tihe way for tis. In him is life, joy and peace. Happy are those who put their trust in Him. Secret Of Heat A Great Discovery Fifty thousand years ago, men consciously recognized the exist- ence and -importance of heat. They knew that a heated rock loses its warmth and becomes colder and colder. They knew, also, that heat once lost can be iiestored by fire, Yet as recently as 200 years ago the true nature of heat was still unkown. The discovery of its nature by Count Rumford was one of the great events in the history of science. It was the essential prelude to all that has since been learned about the heat system of the ocean of air. in the year 1794, the American - born physicist Benjamin Thomp- son, Count Rumford - 'colonel of Loyalist dragoons in the Rev- olution, If 'lighted by the British, Count of the Holy Roman Em- pire, special administrator of Ba- varia - came to Munich to su- pervise :the boring of the first cannon in the new foundry he had established there, The brass barrel was placed in its iron cradle and a steel borer was screwed tightly against it with a force of 10,000 pounds, A large horizontal wheel, to which two powerful horses were harnessed, was connected by ropes to the gun barrel so that it would rotate. As the boring progressed, ques- tions arose in the Count's mind, Whence came the heat that was being produced in the barrel, 'the borer, and the brass chips? Could the accepted view be true that heat was an actual substance; that here it was being derived by actual subtraction from the substance of the barrel itself?.,.. Count Rumford carried out ex- periments of many kinds. Re- peatedly be determined that no weight was lost• but then, per- haps the air itself participated in the reaction and gave up some of its substance to produce heat. To dispel all doubt, the Count conducted a final conclusive ex- periment. To seal them off front the air, he submerged the borer and the cannon barrel in a tank of water. The results were the same: there was no loss of weight, even though enough heat was produced to make the water boil. Since the effects of the air could thus be ruled out, what was the meaning of the produc- tion of so much heat? To Ruin - ford the meaning was clear. Heat could not be a substance that flowed from one body to another, as the great scientists of the day believed. , . . Motion was indeed the answer, and Rumfdrd's epoch -snaking ex- periments opened the door to a whole new understanding of the nature of heat. He was, how- ever, far ahead of his time. For over five decades, until 1850, the results of his experiments were widely questioned, But then ceree C1anoitis in Germany, ee:mso t in England, and a doz- en others, proving and re -prov- ing that heat must be motion and elaborating upon the kinds of motion that must be involved. -From "The Ocean of Air," by David I. Blumenstock. I've always been unselfish, Never fumed or fussed a lot. In fact, I've asked for nothing - And tha'ts just what I got. 4, Covering for 27. First man a wound 29. Face with s. Ahead masonry 6. Kin 32. Intercede 7. Ball of yarn s. Nap 34, Transpose 9. Bewitch 37. Lineal 10. Noah's boat 39. Baseball team ACROSS 57. Celt 11. Danger signal 42. --- Angeles 1. rule cat fig. woody Plant 18. Toward and 44. Crescent - 4, Late autumn 89. Female within shaped sandpiper pear DOWN18. God of the 46. Salamander lower world 48, Otherwise 20. Thresholds A9. Capture_ CROSSWORD PUZZLE 8. Huge waves 12. Mindanao volcano 15. Indigo plant 14 ,Tap. nest of hoses 16. Plate with tin again 17, Adorns 19. inclination Si'. Desire 2, Achieve 24. Orderly pile 27. On 28, One who malice eves iO. Presently 1. Dull s, Young conger ss. in addition 56. Assert 28. Number 45. Platinum symbol 41. Award 48, Scold 46. Sacred image 47, fp;pet,oiy 49. Meat browned and simmered as, of the kidneys 63, renter tee negr to 64. Sensational shows (slang) 55, Slnmude roles , Efficient so. As no urns 4, Sacred 26. Act jointly composition 38. Nautical mile 05. 61-C 55: '1'urmer,c Ourselves 8 Ick bee 9 to 1e it 1:- : ,i 3 4 5 6 7 ,1. l$ 14. 15 I .:I l7 18 19 ' •::::::11 23 •0,:4•. `1. zs 17' 2e 49 . 30 31 31. 33 34 lig 35. 37 38 : 40, 41 4 43 IP q$ • 46 47 49 50 51 63' 5d' 56 57 15* sg 59 Answer elsewhree on this page ROAD GARGANTUA - This 40 -wheeled truck trailer is the world's largest, Made for use in Iran, it is shown with a test toad in excess of the 1 i0-Fo'h load it is designed to carry. Trailer body is raised hydraulically to clear road contours or lowered to clew, underpasses. A crew of four communicates by telephone..