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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1962-02-08, Page 3When The Town Librarian Sneezed "Show me what a man reads," 1•emarlteci my friend Julius Jen - kine the other afternoon, " and I'll tell you what he is' You may think you heard this before somewhere, but nothing ever really gets said around here until Jule says it, so the remark may be considered original. Anyway, this past summer the foregather- ing graduates of my old high school passed the hat during their summer picnic, and came up with about $250 which they gave to the principal to buy new books for the new library of the new schoolhouse, I have just received by mall a list of his purchases, with price of each, and by applying the Julius Jenkins rule I think 1 can see what a high school is like, nowadays, The principal, in buying this list of books, actually spent about $20 more than the donations, but he explains that some of these books are "approved" by the Na- tional Defense Act and there will be an allowance on these and he will get more than the $20 back from Washington, It occurs to me that those of us who see no like- lihood of'"federal control" in fed - oral education stipends may want to reflect on this and notice the ingenious way Washington has of persuading p r i n c i p ails about Which books to buy. It may, in- deed, be a surprise to some that federal assistance is present be - re .any of us knew it was en- acted. Anyway, the hefty physics purchase is probably thus ex- plained. We had no school library when 1 was there. The manual train ing boys had made a pine book- shelf which was about five feet wide, and it fitted between two steam radiators to hold a certain collection of "reference books." Here was a picture encyclopedia which had everythingin it ex- cept what you wanted to know. There was also a gathering of. dictionaries French -English, German -English, Latin -English, etc. - and then the short shelves were filled with Stoddard's Lec- tures. The Stoddard books left over were on a window sill. If research or curiosity took us. farther than that we went to the town library, which was aCar- negie institution run by a self- perpetuating committee, a n d which was not attuned to school uses on purpose. The librarian was named Annette Aldrich, and to the entire community she was "Miss" Aldrich, daughter of a seafaring ancestry and ideally fitted for a •librarianship. Miss Aldrich presided. This is the• ideal word to explain what she did. Her desk had regal qualities, and she sat her throne with no- blesse oblige. When given a problem she would tirelessly help us look for whatever we needed, and after she had fixed the in- quisitive schoolboy up with doc- umentation she would artfully slip in "Joe Strong on the High Wire," or "Tom Swift and his Aerial Warship,"". , . to read for tun," Miss Aldrich's burden was al- ways the stringency of funds for new books. The smallish appro- priation every Town Meeting in - eluded her inconsequential sal- ary, heat and lights, rebinding of veterans, and a janitor who got nearly as much as she did. The library trustees, being all re- spectable and trustworthy men, could be counted on to authorize. respectable a n d trustworthy books, not only because they were that kind of men, but be- cause the budget didn't permit any frittering around on dubious titles. About twice a year Miss Aldrich would receive a wooden orate from a wholesaler, the jani- tor would open it for her, and e would catalog and instal] a zen or So new books - they ent on the New Books shelf un- til the next box arrived Conse- HORSELESS CARRIAGE -Frank Berger work's hard at pulling this buggy, bound for his new: restaurant near Sunnyvale after the horse'sharness broke quertly Miss Aldrich dealt most- ly in ancient works. • The scholar prying, into the past would enlist her aid, and she would think a moment, then walk back behindthe shelves, pull down a book, and nod at it., Then she alwaysdid a wonder- ful thing, which to 'me remains the symbol of libraries and the proof of their value, She would openthe book; and then slam it shut with a resounding clap that. would make people at the tables i jump. This would ,burst out a great cloud, of erudite and sapi- ent dust, which would; billow and bulge along, the 'aisle and which often made Miss Aldrich ripoff an old bruiser. of a sneeze, Miss Aldrich was forever- a lady, but. when she sneezed on bookidust she gave itall the had, If Miss Aldrich sneezed, we knew , we, were back beyond the memory of men, in the ;limbo of • history, where things'. were true because they were old. When I puled a'five-spot. off my heavy roll last summer and. dropped it in the library fund, I naturally had Miss Aldrich in mind, Somehow I was not -think- ing in terms of- a year's.subscrip- tion to Hot Rod magazine or books named "Big Molecules," "Earth Science, Elements of the Universe," a n d "Automotive Maintenance' & Trouble Shoot- ing." Nor was I thinking of titles which, like diesel-electric plants,. gain stature because of govern- ment refunds. Ah, yes . , . there was a pro- paganda value to Miss Aldrich. She nudged us carefully and in- tentionally into directions ' she felt were proper. She was. a brainwasher, all right. She had us reading things by the transi- ents, Dickens. and Mark Twain and Poe and Hawthorne and a bunch of suchlike oddities now unlisted in the new school library treasures. It might be hard to tell a lot of people that one sneeze from Miss Aldrich was a richer experience than a new library.- By John Gould in. the Christian Science ..Monitor. Diamonds Get • A New (Look. Experts at a diamond show held in London the other day had no eyes for the beauty of a model who paraded before them. What fascinated them Was the $30,000 diamond necklace which she wore. It had been cut by the first completely new method in the industry for 500, years, The diamonds were Princess - cut, an ingenious process per- fected by a Hungarian -born dia- mond merchant. The back of the diamond is cut into grooves, angled and spaced to a fine degree of accur- acy to give better irefractionof light. Stones treated in this way will be priced according to surface area and not to weight. ELID FOUNDATION -A, young girl clirnbs over rocks to ach an unusual house neat Tunbridge Welts, Kent, Eng- lbind, The.house',was built •Into solid rock. THE FALRM iF�RONT fall They call it Farmers Market._ in Los, Angeles, but as it is to- day a more descriptive name would be The Place of the Smil- ing People, A story has •gone the rounds here that in one era, an inquir- ing reporter •walked around among the shoppers, and thrust a microphone at first one and then another, asking each to comment for the listening tele- vision audience, With only slight, variations, each visitor said the same thing: "Everyone' here at Farmers Market is so friendly!" *. * However musical this sounded to the management and to the shopkeepers, it made a very dull TV program. It did not last long. But Farmers Market, founded in 1934 when ,folks were trying to pull themselves through the depression, has lasted almost. 30 years and gives promise of going 'on forever, Its success is attri- buted by its assistant general , manager, Murray H. Bennett, chiefly ''to, one ,factor: thepeople who run the. 165 or so shops crowded into these 20 acres:, "It takes years to get the kind of people together we have here," says Mr. Bennett. "You can build shops and a market, you can put in stalls and counters; but it is the peoplethat make it all go." * * * Richard L. Kidson, familiarly known as "Baby Bunch" because he pioneered in bunching and offering for _sale baby turnips, and beets which others had been throwing away, is the only one Left here now of the original 18 farmers `Who first brought their finest produce here and sold it over the .tailgates of their wag- ons, (Most people say there were 17 farmers in that group, but Mr, Kidson says firmly that there were 18.) Now several of these thriving stalls are in charge of the second generation of the founding fa- mily. There's almost a feeling of dynasty about it, and, in the midst of all the gaiety, yoti sense a dignity and self-respect that lends stature to the whole, 4, * * You soon discover, as you chat with the shopkeepers, that they are all individuals in their own right, . who share one dominant drive: loyalty to this market. which has come to represent, in the minds of both merchants and patrons, a synonym for quality. In a, day when mass merchan- dising is depriving people of the personal touch in shopping, the businees of makingpurchases here becomes a delightful exer- cise in friendliness and good will. This is an oasis where individual, competitive enterprise daily wins more friends and pays handsorne returns to diligent workers. Once you know the standards by which these merchants op- erate, you are no longer sur- prised at the superb quality of everything 'displayed. Farmers Market, Mr. Bennett explains, guarantees every item. Your first impression here, of course, is color. It is color ramp- ant, on all sides, from displays of massed exotic fruit to the riot of hues that draws you to the flow- er stands. Because the climate is warm, customers come in gay summer clothing that adds its brightness to the fiesta,' writes, e tJpsidedown to Prevent Peeking TAG oo©. NBODE NOM Ngo humin n©o©©o© m©moo OWED MOOD ©nnor©oelr ©um ©©©WN men g©©o©o come©© MED mum nun mmommuonm MEW MOUND 6 `' p s W =MUM TWO IN ONE -A two ;headed turtle was found in a batch of turtles shipped from Loui- siana by Joseph Margell; own- er of a Chicago pet shop. It is,obout 8 months old andthe size •of a silver dollar. The turtle was named Janus after the „two -headed ;Roman god. Helen Henley in the Christian ,Science Monitor. * * Tenants in the stalls remain here only as long as they meas- ure .up. They sign a continuous lease with a 30 -day cancellation clause which may be exercised by either party. You can't, however, just walk in and rent a stall. There has to be a need for your service, and you have to be a solid citizen to qualify. * 4' Applicants here are screened more carefully than those at an exclusive girls' boarding school. Their character and background are 'scrutinized just as minutely as, their credit references. Gay blades have no chance. The, pur- pose here is to attract the family trade and nothing is allowed which would displease this type of customer. Packaged liquor is sold, but none may be served or consumed on the premises. You can buy almost anything here• which can be carried away in an automobile. Business is wholly "carriage trade," with no deliveries and no charge ac- counts. * 4, During the very first week back in 1934, Mr•, Kidson recalls, a customer asked to buy a whole box which that day constituted his entire stock of tomatoes. "I told him I was not after the wholesale trade," Mr. Kidson says. "I told him I would rather sell one tomato each to 50 wo- men, because I wanted to build family trade." "When we started," he tells us, "none of us could have changed a five -cent piece. We were all broke, even the man who started all this. We took in $11 at my stand the first day, $3.75 the first Thursday, then jumped to $22 on ISSUE 4 - 1962 Saturday, That first week was kind of slow. * 4 * The man who brought the 19 farmers together was Roger Dah- ljelm, a promoter from Minneso- ta, He rented the land from the owner, Earl B. Gilmore (Presi- dent of the A. F. Gilmore Com- pany) and persuaded the farm- ers they could find a market for their produce by coming together here, Mr. Dahljelm passed on in 1949 and, in the years since, Farmers Market has developed way be- yond his original concept. It gradually grew from a produce market to a one-stop shopping center offering almost any com- modity a customer would be like- ly to want, from enchiladas to expensive imported neckwear. The criterion has never changed: everything offered here repre- sents the best of its kind, Now, under the management of John Gostovich, who is vice- president and general manager also of the A. F. Gilmore Com- pany, the market includes three distinct types of business, Mr. Bennett says: More than a score of restaur- ants which offer permanent seat- ing for more than 1,800 at a time. A tremendous supermarket in- cluding five meat markets, four poultry markets, five bakeries, 11 fruit and vegetable stalls, two delicatessen -tea shops, and candy stands and flower stalls. Stores which include many types of merchandise in more than 80 shops. Weather Was Hot -Aussies Hotter Quick, quiet Roy Emerson, 25, was the odd man of Australian tennis for five years - always ready, but never tapped for Davis Cup singles +competition. Even though he won both the Austra- lian ,and American singles cham- pionships in 1961, Emerson was still a doubtful starter in the Davis Cup against Italy last month. Erratic Rod Laver, the world's finest amateur on good days, and brittle Neale Fraser, the world's finest amateur on healthy days, appeared set for the singles berths. But when Fraser, recuperating from a knee operation, failed to regain top form, the Aussies gambled -naming the man they call Emmo to play singles. In the 100 -degree heat of Melbourne, Emmo crushed Italy's Nicola Pie- trangeli, teamed with Fraser to win the doubles, and then beat Orlando Sirola. With Laver win- ning twice, Australia routed Italy, 5-0. "The heatand the flies bothered me," complained Pie- trangeli. 5o, obviously, did Emmo. NDAY SCOOT IESSON By Rev. It. Barclay Warren B.A„ B.D. Iteverenee for God's .Name Exodus 20:7;; Matthew 5:33-37; 6:5.8 Memory Selection: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Matthew 6:9. When someone uses a name of God as a swear word, we say that he is taking God's name in vain. It is a fearful thing to speak dis- respectfully of Almighty God: With many it becomes such a habit that they do it without thinking, They don't really mean what they say, But the third com- mandment is clear and the warn- ing given should be heeded, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guilt- less that taketh his name in vain." The commandment has a wider application than what is usually understood. It prohibits perjury. Yet in our Senate and House of Commons, many divorces were granted when the members knew full well that the evidence re- corded to prove one party guilty of adultery, was staged. The commandment condemns all types of careless worship. God hates hypocrisy. However, I do not take the position of a few extremists, that a sinner should not sing such hymns as, "My Jesus I love Thee," and "Lord, i am Thine" While I was yet without Christ, the singing of such hymns as these helped to awaken in my heart a desire to know the Christ of whom I was singing. How much better for a sinner to be singing of great Gospel truth than silly trashy songs. Some slang expressions are really minced oaths. For in- stance, "Gee Whiz' is only a slight deviation from Jesus Christ. "My God" is simply the broad English pronunciation of "My God." Jesus insisted (Mat- thew 5:37) that one's responses should be "yes" and "no". Any more than this, He said, "Cometh of evil" "My Goodness" Le mak- ing use of God's character and attributes. God is holy and He calls us to be holy. Let us revere His Name. ACCOUNTANT - One who tells people what, they`knoW ai ready in figures which they cannot understand. • DRIVE WITH CARE! CROSSWORD PUZZLE 7. Grown up It. Sensible 3. Cupidity 3e. Small barrel 11. Rather than 16. Mission Across 1. Cartograph 4. Owns 7. Become active 12. Singe 13, Vase with feet 14, Underwater worker 16. Predicament 11 12 17. Habit 18. Consternation,, 19, Straight edge 21. Hilarity 23. Possessive 15 ati366thP. --- 26, Seed Used for flavoring 27. Anguish 28, Articles 31. Thin surface layer 33. Outer covering 34. Marked *• occurrence 36. Evergreen tree 37. Essential 41. Collect together 43, W. Indio■ tree 44. Challenged 48. Throwing 48. Definite plat 49. Head of suit 50. Caviar 61. Refinement 52, Dejected 53. Ancient Asiana country (ab.) DOWN 20. Rough 1. Married 22. Money woman's title hoarders 2. Nimble 24. Article 3. Arctic 25, E. Indian 4. Buzzing weight 5. Fortify 27. Capers 6. Entangles - 28. Experiment 3 M4 5 13 16� • 29. Hasten 30. Toward the center 32. Covered completely 35. Views 37. Italian priest 38. Spans 39. Vex 40. Beer that has be.., rge 42. Congre •ata-, 44. Dowry •�{ 46. Mar, qp 47. i.et le tuber 1 1 1 8 9 10 11 14. 17 18 21 19 20 WIN 22 23 24 2516 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 51 49 50 52 11.24 53 Answer elsewhere on this page LET'S, SHUFFLE OFF!--Stallecrcars and trucks 'block Buffalo's main Take front highway as a vest' pocket blizzard bettered western New York. Over 16 inchesof snow fell on the city 'and more came later