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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1961-11-16, Page 3Table Phensanits And Wild Winton The second day of October; falling on a Monday, turned out to be the opening of the bird sea - on -a date I neglected to mark own and hence arose briskly in he beauty of the dawn and fared Orth as if 'twere any other love - day. Pernicious chance had, eantinoe, done a mean trick on gee, and it goes to show. I found Myself thinking about a pear, Sliced nicely in a nappy with a bit of sugar on it. Now, I should state that as far as birds go I am in a special sit- uation. Our upland acres are pleasant and congenial. And here in Maine we have a game -man- agement program which a have to live with even if I don't like it. It culminates in the vicinity Of September when all the game Wardens come around with great crates on trucks and turn ring- necked pheasants loose, In my opinion, and this is shared by some farmers here and there, a great public service would accrue if the sportsmen would shoot the wardens rather than the birds. Anyway, as soon as the pheas- ants, fresh from the sheltering safety of fenced game -farms, are turned loose they become "wild," The pheasant originated in Asia, and has as been. domesticated treated bred since the "Ding Dong Dynasty," and is no more wild than a Bar- red Rock rooster, or a hired girl going to the woodpile to get kindling. But by mismanagement, poor conservation, and the foibles of bureaucratic biology, the native game birds of this region have dwindled mightily. The wood- cock and pa'tridge (the ruffed grouse) survive in considerable numbers, but unluckily live in `the woods where they are hard to find if you're in a hurry. Besides t isn't possible to take these beautiful creatures into a hen pen and augment them by artifi- ial incubation and forced feed - ng. So, to infest the fields and tinges of wildiand with some- ngtheagile ould c practically shoot from his auto- itrobile seat, the state has under- taken a hatching program, and heasants were enacted int o ,game," The whole program be- eomes a matter of "put and take." We seldom see a pheasant from bnow-go to August, although woodcocks and grouse nest in Dur woods and may be enjoyed all year. But suddenly, with the tanbuttoning of crates, the fields #warm with pheasants. Our land lies so, and is disposed thus, and dllthe birds released up and . own the valley and ridges make B beeline for our orchards. Dur- ing the last week of September flock of 15 or 20 ate all the [flock seeds by the back oor, and roosted at night In the flowering crab. They would arise in the morning, trot out to my (luckpond for a drink, and set the mallards into a tizzy. My mal- lards have a deep sense of pos- session. They did not know, and I for- aot, that Monday was to be the ppointed day, and fate had aneted a rendezvous. As. I say; I thought of a pear, and I pulled on my rubber boots against the Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking k®©l®000 ®©WV 19110 WEIMO nowm ®n' ooso MUD' EL ©©E1 A W DMOB MOW U OB1500 ' EIBMO Ooo®nn© =®r®®® BOOB ®®0® Goon mammon DON U®Mo ti'I®1;7 00M0 M0 ur4r d O Cl a thick dew and sallied t'orth. I cannot speaktoo highly of the occasion, The finest of ar- rangements had been made, and every prospect pleased, The cat- bird and cuckoo called cheerily from the glen, and a raucous crow answered forsooth from yonder pine. The mists of the morning hung over the eastward valley, and the sun was working on them witha will, The bay of a tied -up hound over in the next town seemed mournful and distressed, Heads of dew festoon- ed the' thistle and gorse, what- ever gorse is, and my pants -legs were soon soaked above my boots, It was refreshing, To pop from bed into the magnificence of a country morning remains one of life's finest joys, and to have a nice ripe pear on top of that is almost more than mortal deserves. The pear tree I had in mind, and which a have since picked, is an understanding tree which knows that no pear is any good until it has yellowed on the twig and dropped into the dew -drench- ed dawn just in time for break- fast. It was my thought to show my appreciation of this bounty, and if possible catch such a pear on the first bounce. I was orient- ed pear -wise, and absorbed by the peripheral peace and loveli- ness, It was at this point, about sev- enteen feet beyond the barn that I almost stepped on a cock pleas- ant in the grass, and rudely in- terrupted his matutinal medita- tions. He made a' long outcry, after his kind, which is some- thing like having a John Peel obligato blown in your ear by a mad bugler, and at this a whole flock of bedded -down pheasants arose from the grass all about me and flew off in 38 directions, Nor did I know that five lusty hunters, assisted by two fine bird dogs, had been creeping up on this lair from the mists beyond. Before I could retreat I had been decimated by 27 shots, each of which madea whistling sound of a most interesting'quality as it passed by, and none of which actually struck me, And, I am happy to report, none of which connected with a bird, either. The gentlemen seemed a bit put out that I had flushed the covey before they were quite ready, their attitude seeming to be that a householder going after a pear should show greater respect for the amenities. Thinking the Battle of Gettys- burg was being re-enacted by the National Guard, my wife arose then, and our old dog, who is gun-shy, went under the refri- gerator. When I came into the kitchen, feeling like Pershing on his triumphal return, she said, "1 forgot about the hunting season!" The peears were delicious, -By John Gould in the Christian Science Monitor. DUKE SHOULD QUIT, WHEN HE'S AHEAD! Is the documentary business getting out of hand? Producer Jack Le Vien, who originated the memorable Winston Chur- chill series for ABC,announced last month that he is going to do a documentary, or possibly a series of them, on the Duke of Windsor, using old newsreel clips and 10,000 feet of 35 -mm. home movies (of elephant hunts, yacht cruises, British troops in review) shot by the duke and his friends over the years.' The duke's main reason for agreeing to the doc- umentary, Le Vien said, is that he wants "to set the record straight" on his abdication and marriage -again! The whole idea will come as a shock to those of us who thought that all members of royalty were taught not to be a bore. Fun is like insurance: the old- er you get the more it costs. FACE OF SPACE - A scientist is mirrored in a space-age invention Balled an atomic particle tracer. The tracer, at Hughes Aircraft laboratories, was used to design an ion engine, said to be the key to trips to distant planets, The tracer contains hundreds of i eedlelike electrodes immersed in several inches of water. electric fields are created exactly like the fields in an ion engine, whioh gets its thrust from accelerated atoms. HOW DRY HE WAS --- William Barret could not wait until the water boy brought him a cup to quench his king-sized thirst, He took matters into his own hands by drinking from the Water container directly, The 240 -pound tackle was play ing in a U,S, Army football game on Okinawa, TilL FAIZN FRONT Jokii2uea._ Six years of hail -suppression work in the grain -growing great plains of the Province of Alberta, is said to have saved farmers Many times its cost, ,, * * Sc reports J. T. Bishop, pres- ident of his local hail -suppres- sion association, and member of the Alberta Research Council's hail -suppression advisory group. He says the program has cost, in all, some $600,000, and he es- timates the saving o v g througil ut the years in crops alone at $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 -there are other savings in animals and structures, * * ' Mr. Bishop was in Denver, Colo on a visit to Dr. Irving P. Krick, private forecaster and "cloud -seeder" whose Canadian affiliate company has conducted the Alberta program throughout, Dr. Krick in turn said Alberta has the world's worst hailstorms, and that "if we can control hail there, we're ready to tackle it with confidence in any other area anywhere,"* * * He. names the wesetern United States, particularly the great plains just east of the Rockies, some of southern South America, and the Po Valley of Italy, as among other "hail alleys" of the planet earth•. • The Alberta • hailstorms are both numerous and gigantic. They occur virtually every sum- mer day somewhere, in the sou- thern quarter of the huge pro- vince. Born, as it were, in the warm updrafts springing from the sunny eastern slopes of the Rock- ies west of Calgary, the pro- vince's metropolis, and roiling as high as 50,000 feet or more, they cover the plains areas in "swath- es" that are sometimes 20 miles wide and 200 miles long. This is several times the dimensions of the biggest hailstorms occurring In the United States. Also, the hailstones may grow to gigantic size, that of golf balls or, sometimes, of tennis balls. The storms may beat growing crops into sodden gray pulp, kill or injure animals, beat in roofs,. damage autos and cause other mishaps, Many an Alberta farm- er has saved himself only by crawling under his tractor or truck when such a storm caught him in the open. • • • Mr. Bishop says that farmers within the hail -suppression dis- tricts get their money back when hailed out, and that for the first time, in 1981 no money hes ,had to be refunded. He said this record was the more striking because hail dam- age was severe elsewhere, and was severe within the district this' spring, before the suppression program: began in the middle of June. * ,, * Following his Denver visit, Mr. Bishop made an impassioned plea to the Alberta Research Coun- oil's hail studies advisory com- mittee, for renewed official sup- port of the program, writes Ros- coe Drummond in the Christian Science Monitor. Such support had been with- drawn ithdrawn after the 1959 hail season, when damage within the parti- cipating districts was virtually as severe as outside. Dr, Krick has assumed the . responsibility for this. He says it resulted from his assigning inexperienced person- nel to the task. Alberta hes a provincial hall insurance plan which sets rates by townships, and in scores of townships they are as., high as 20 percent,, in other words a farmer in such an area must pay $20 for each $100 of protection for a season. • • • But farmers may also, by a two-thirds vote, tax themselves to finance hail -suppression, Even after the 1959 experience two groups of farmers in districts totalling about 750,000 acres voted by four -to -one to tax themselves an extra 11 mills per dollar of assessed valuation - on top of 69 -mill regular taxes - for the hail program. The city of Calgary, which lies just off the southwest corner of one district, contributed $7,200 by an 11 -to -1 vote of its council, The whole, works out to about 15 cents an acre for the entire area, * * * The hail -reporting service of the provincial research council, however, covers about $15,000,- 000 acres, or 20 times the area of the two districts, which are con- tained within it, and includes some of the highest -hazard or 20 - per cent townships. Several thousand farmers and others regularly send in hail re- porting cards. This provides a basis for comparing • experience within and without the hail -sup- pression districts. Tragedy Had The Last Laugh He was a wispy litlte man with deep sad eyes. His neighbors in the neat suburban town of River Vale, N.J., never knew much about him, but if they had, they would have nodded wisely, no doubt, and said something like ."that's always the way." Because sad -eyed, French -born Edward Guillaume had spent the best part of his 69 years as a clown -"Polidor the Clown." He had capered his grease -painted way across five continents, perform- ed for presidents and kings, until eight years ago when arthritis forced his retirement from Ring- ling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey. Next door to Guillaume's small cottage lived another figure from the tanbark world, ,a dark-haired woman in her late 40s named Elena Gabrielle. Neighbors didn't know much about her, either, ex - Copt that she kept a number of fox terriers and toy poodles ken- neled nearby and trained them in her )04* yard, usually with Guil- laume'. help. She bad en act called "The Circus Act" (which she put on at New York's Free - (lowland). If the neighbors suspected that Elena and Guillaume were lovers, nobody got exercised, The two. lived sedately in their separate houses and minded their own business. One of the few who knew Guillaume at all well said: "He was one of the gentlest men I ever know. lie had a funny little twinkle, always ready with a joke, He loved the dogs, He made a little coat for one of them for Christmas, with holly and all," But on a mid-morning of last month, the traditional inner tor- ment of the gentle clown ex- ploded into violence. Neighbors heard loud angry voices coming from Elena's windows. They , heard Guillaume's tortured ac- cents, accusing her of infidelity. Then came screams. The neigh- bors galled police. Guillaume apparently heard' them fumbling at the locked kit- chen door, "Don't come in," he shouted, "I'll kill myself and you too." A moment later came a loud bang and clouds of smoke. Guil- laume had set off a homemade bomb,thekind of bomb that in his cicus days he used to set off as the high spot of his act, The crowds used to roar with laugh- ter when the big bang came and Polidor and the rest of the clowns scampered off in hopping dismay. Now it was just an empty, piti- ful gesture, The explosion blood- ied Guillaume's face, but it didn't kill anybody. The killing had taken place, The policemen broke down the door. Through the smoke they saw the body of Elena Gabrielle slumped on a kitchen chair. Her head had been split with an ax. There were 50 knife wounds in her pajama -clad body. Prop- ped beside her. was a photo- graph of Guillaume and herself -and on it, scribbled in penciled block letters, were the Spanish words "haste la muerte" ("until death"). Before the officers could seize him, Guillaume knelt be- side the slain woman -and Poli- dor the Clown sobbed his heart out. Afterward, to a judge, Guil- laume could only say -the sad eyes hollow and unseeing: "I don't care what you do to me. My life is over." Even the tragedy of the clown had its macabre joke. First to reach the bloody scene was a Patrolman Gore. From NEWS - WEEK, livaYscIIoo1 LESSON. By Rev. It, Barclay Warren Growth Through Self-Discipliao 2 Peter 1:2-11 Memory Selection: Every man that striveth for the mastery Is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 1 Corinthians 9:25. The holy man in the far East who lies on splices is practising self-discipline, But to what end? The Communist practises self- discipline, too, Jesus said, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," Mark 8:34, We must turn our back on the sinful carnal self before we can find peace in Jesus Christ, Turning to Jesus involves turning from sin, When one has found release from sin in his life through faith in Christ there is a great change, Paul wrote, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are be - 2 Corinthians Colne new,"nt ans 5:17. Self-discipline in the Christian is not practised to buy the favor of God or attract the commenda- tion of men, It springs from God's love in his heart. Paul wrote, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." 1 Corin- thians 13:3 When my cousin, Rev. W. A. Smith was giving his farewell message before returning to In- dia six years ago, he gave us an intimate view of a missionary's feelings. A missionary is often asked, "Do you like it on the mis- sion field?" He went. on to enu- merate manythings hi s which he g does not like, The lack of sani- tation among the people is one. However, a missionary is happy labouring among the people be- cause he loves Christ and sees some of these people coming to share in this love. A Christian has in view the greater values of life. Therefore he can give up some of the comforts that he may help to carry out the great com- mission of preaching the gospel to every creature. Christ is all and in all to those who love Him. ISSUE 45 - 1961 7. Of the third 6. CROSSWORD rank Goes in haste l'UZLLL Mk'10. Harem room 11. Through 18. Quantity of medicine 20, Noise of the surf 21, Evergreen tree 22, Harden 23. Crosses 24, Laughing 26. Research ACROSS 1. rump 4. Firm 8. Store Is. Pointed tool 13. On the sheltered side 14. European Juniper 16. More destructive 1?. Glacial ridges 18. Price 19. Gait of a horse 91. Desist 23. Revelers 28, Grafted (Her.) 27. Open vessels 28. Neuter Pronoun 29. Owing 80. Irish poet 51. Gr. letter 82. Land measure 88. Robust a4, Orchestra 85. Delays 8?, Moldy 88. Gaelic 99. Dispatched 40. Food fish 42. Turning 48. Relax 4?. Bad 49. Ignite' 49. Heart? appprb al 80, Wall -eyed pike 51. AN"rmativ.. vote DOWN 1. Owned S. Be under obligation S. Pacify 4. Untrue 5. Having descended 8. Observe 21, Abutted 30. Damages 51. In a aayerr manger �t 33. Steel 84. Bat a ball lightly 36. Annoy S7. Farinaceous 39. Agitate 40. Billow 41. Amateur radio operator 43. Egg (comb. form) 44. Contend 46.. Gr. letter ©®.11111111M®11111111111111® IIIMUR1311111111111111111111111 ■1 ®...1111h ®.. 611•r711111■1111■10®111■■ 111111111111111111164111111111111111 131111111111111111111111111111111 11111111116511111111111111111111111 Answer elsewhere on this page KG BATTER - Traffic Was scrambled along with eggs at a busy intersection in San Diego, after the guard bars at the back of a delivery truck gave way. Fireman spent nearly an hour washing away the 12,000 -egg asphalt omelet's mess.