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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1962-03-01, Page 3i --Horse Open Weigh Meant Work, Not Fun 4fter another Christmas season ht which the non -Christmas mu- sic of "Jingle Bells" was foisted upon us generally as a fine old carol, it is philosophically pleas- ant to wonder what dingle Bells can possibly mean to a jingieless population, anyway. Why does Jingle Bells appeal to us in this horseless era of jingling l.gnor- ance? For something that was never any fun to begin with, the sleigh - ride has a strange hold on the people, It is thoroughly improb- able that dashing though the snow in a one-horse open sleigh would ever become traditionally .popular, even vicariously, and it is certainly absurd to find a sang about it hoist high into the tate- gory of holiday music, Yet, there it is, and it is so. Bells, as attached to the winter harnesses of horses, were suppos- ed to he a warning crevice. Wheels on wagons clattered and bumped, and hoofs of horses pounded the hard highway. But when snow fell these horsy sounds were muted, and bells had to be attached to warn folks of your coming, If'this is true, then we have the intellectual right to assume that a foghorn or the gong on a trolleycar had the same relative chance of becoming Christmas music. Indeed, to any- body who ever endured the true pleasures of sleighing the odds would be about the same. I would like to take all mem- bers of the musicians' union for a nice old-tirne ride in a set -over pung, o'er the fields we'd go, . laughing all the way. The set - over pung was a realistic answer to something the song -pluggers wouldn't know about -it permit- ted you to pass with some sem • - blance of ease over roads that were owned by teams. Sleigh -riding was incidental, for the business of the country- - side. was conducted on double runners and double - hitched horses. Never, by any stretch of the fancy, did a sleigh ride over a country road entail frivolity with dash, zip, verve and hooraw. If you daringly touched the horse up, throwing caution to the winds, you would round a bend and meet a logging rig loaded high with four to five thousand feet and a driver on top who couldn't care less. The sleigh turned out, and at high speed or low speed it usually tipped over. Then the bells .on Bob -tail rang, for Bob -tail usually took a fright and ran away. The set -over pung had its whiffletree and clevis arranged so the horse could walk in one of the team paths, but the sleigh would track with the logging ruts. It was cleverly pondered and built, but the advantage it had for straight going was a dis- advantage when you -tried to turn out. The horse made out fine, but the runners of the sleigh now responded on the bias, and with your horse sensibly trying to get out of the way of two approach - Upsidedown V 3 2i voao ON O I 1 n 1 r v W to Prevent SN20- ei 1'W 3v 911 3 Peeking SbM a l 'd 1S 3 ad 1 d 3 Cl 3 aW 1 SN V 1 d 0 9 9 e N V 0 1 3 V d d n .1 W 13 Vd ao f)H 4a W.3 3N0 Sb al d • mg chunks well forward in their collars, you might have all the horsemanship. in the world and still find yourself headfirst in a snowbank, Whether to get out on the high side or the low side was moot,- the oot-the high -siders leaped farther, but low -siders had everybody else fall on them, On any sleigh ride along a well -used road, where logs, cordwood, hay and lee were being handled by a busy community, a pung was upside down as often as not, and spirits were never quite so bright as the song says,. Possibly a "pung" needs defin- ing, it was a "box sleigh," orig- inally being a box on runners. Some say the word derives, somehow, from the Indian tobog- gan, It was lower slung than a sleigh, and the runners were of- ten wider in the iron, It was pre- ferred by farmers and had a utilitarian aspect -although that word didn't•occur then. When it tipped over you didn't have so far to fall, and it was cheaper to repair if it got smashed up. Ev- erybody had a pung, but the sleigh had a high check -rein con- notation, And nobody, really, ever look- ed forward to a pung ride, The horse, least of all. He was comfy ICY TREAT- Curtis Schuh, 2, goes to work on oversize icicle in his stable, and he always hated bells, because they meant work. When he was backed out of the. stall and into the shafters, a,'sad- ness settled upon him and the Mood was communicated, There were really only two routine jobs for him in the win- ter -the trip to town with butter and eggs, to fetch the 'staples, and the Sunday sortie to services.. This latter was a devotional or- deal few peoples have ever developed in their dogmas. But while humans could ride cold, to church, eggs had to' be kept warm with blankets and a lantern lit, And while humans could get dumped out, eggs had ..to straight, and the paradox 0€ ,this was that little heavy teaming was done on Sundays, but market day was busy. On -market day, after a wary drive to town, with the eggs safely swapped off, we'd ap- proach the ride home. The best way was to yeil giddap at, the' horse so it frightened hint into a wild dash for his own dooryard, and then we'd hide down under the blankets with the lantern and hope for the beat. The sweetest sound the bells made was - the silence when they stopped jingl-. ing, and the horse' stood .by the I:iteben,door. We could blow out. the lantern, then, and go in the, house and thaw out, -By John Gould in the Christian' Science; Monitor, - CRAM COURSE--Japans.me college students don uniforms of Japan's national railroad service to act as "pushers," loading commuter coaches to aardinelike capacity in Tokyo. It's one way to add to funds necessary to their education, WHERE THERE'S A WHEEL .. ,-A Minneapolis industrial design class assignment: Design a locomotion device to move a rider across 150 yards of ice,cost not to exceed $2.50. Carl Ahlberg came up with this: An old wicker rocking chair mounted on wide, four -foot wheels that revolve by pulling o sash cord. Ahlberg proves it works by taking himself for a triol run on Lake Harriet, Minn. TIIEL&IZN FONT Guaranteed pride supports and mounting' stocks, of butter, wheat and ether farm 3 0 tots •are a big prob>ein he. a in Can., la. But the problem is a conlratatively small one: as compared to what fades the U.S. , Department of Agriculture, as will be seen from the fallowing article. The White House is reported deeply -concerned over the cost of the farm price support program. The cost is not -being reduced; it is larger than 'ever. The government' has paid out some- $900,000,000 more in farm subsidy payments this .year than last, In ,other words, the Free- man program to -.date is more costly than .the Benson program. Not that Secretary Freeman got what he wanted in: the way of a farm program. Congress did not . give 'it to Wm -with the exception of a new deal on feed grains. Most of the farm subsidy increase, however, is dile to that program:' 'Secretary Freeman admits that the new piogram accounts for $788,000,000,of the farm subsidy increase, but claims the.. program *has actually saved the taxpayers at 'least $500,000,000. Even so, .the Budget -Bureau has estimatedthat all federal subsidies for farmers in tho cur- rent fiscal year, ending June 30, 1962, will Vital. a fat $4,700,- 000,000. ' The fact is -the tarns price sup- port program is t• car.)ing ever more costly despite valiant ef- forts by Secretaries of Agricul- lure to' trim it down. Secretary ,:Freeman is paying higher price supports for the crops which are raised under the land -retirement agreernent., and he is offering more :for the land. retired. In return, however, he requires that this be land on which' these crops have been . grown previously, and not just any land, as under the old "soil bank program, • ri * Taking all these things into 'consideration; Secretary Freeman figures, on paper, that the gov- ernment would have had to pay out some $500,000,000 more iii price - supporting crops which would have been grcwn on this land if it had been planted; New, in addition to feed grains, Secretary Freeman is taking on wheat, under a similar program. In other words he is paying farm- ers to take wheat land out of production in return for higher price suppprts'on wheat. Under the feed grain program, support price for corn was upped from $1.06 to $1.20 a bushel. Barley went from 77 cents a bushel to 93 cents. The support price for rye went from 90 cents a bushel to $1.02. Oata went from 50 cents a bushel to 62; and grain sorghums from $1,50 per hun- dred -weight to $1 93, In return corn acreage was reduced from 71,443,000 acres to 58,275,000, Grain sorghum acre- age came down from 15,301,000 acres to 1.0,901,000, 18811It 7 - 10112 The new wh Safe, eleam- pected to brie cent acreage ra': the problem g ins which have Ue°r.:fi c<< tre- mei:dous surplute e of guaranteed price suppoi• s. * e * 'But it is obvious front results so far that while Secretary Free- man is achieving some success in reducing the amount of land planted to the problem crops, it is costing money to- do it, writes Josephine Ripley in the Christian Science Monitor. Secretary Freeman may argue that if :Congress had gone along with him on his over-all pro- gram, with its more stringent production curbs, he could have brought the problem under con- trol. Another costly price support operation is that under which farm exports are subsidized. This ' comes about when the' govern- ment, which has taken over . surplus grains and other products at the high domestic support prices, offers them for sale on the world market at the lower world price. The write-off on this operation came to $311,100,000 in 1960, and $305,100,000 in 1961. Much the same thing happens under the International Wheat Agreement. This generally entails a govern- ment subsidy on wheat prices of over $70,000,000 a year. * e , Since coming into office Secre- tary Freeman has taken a look at the books and instituted a new system of figuring the value of surpluses in stock. The last re- port, under the old system on May 31, 1961, showed $8,598,013,- 000 tied up in surpluses in stor- age and under loan. Of this $1,450,787,000 was out- standing in loans, with the inven- tory valued at $7,147,226,000. The now system storage and handling costs are written off separately, as a separate loss item. Thus, as of September the value of ,the -inventory (that is, the stock of surpluses on hand) was only $5,496,812,000. It not only looks better on the books, but Secretary Freeman feels it a More emirate system of account- ing, (The storage bill for fiscal 1001 came to $462,000,000.) But no matter how you figure it, the total spent for price -sup- porting farm commodities, and resulting surpluses, seems exor- bitant, White House economists, riding herd on the budget, are said to be disturbed over these billions being poured into the farm program and hopeful that somehow the figure can be pared down. Mushrooms Need a "White Thumb" One business you won't find on every corner is that of rais- ing mushrooms for the whole- sale market. It is true that Americans have eaten them for many generations, but originally they ate wild mushrooms gather- ed in the fields, Mushroom cul- ture started in this country about 1900. The growth has been slow. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans knew mushrooms and regarded them as a delicacy. The Romans called them "food for the gods," But it was not un- til around 1700 that they were produced in any quantity in Eu- rope. Louis XIV at this time en- couraged their growing. The French, since then, have been foremost in producing them, us- ing caves and quarries around Paris in which to cultivate them. Most American mushroom farmers construct special build- ings designed to produce great quantities and providing the ex- act growing conditions mush- rooms demand. They are harvested, placed in baskets, and trucked to the pack- ing plant. Girls in the plant examine them for imperfections; separate according to size; box; weigh and seal the container. They then are placed on the shelves of the retail markets. The grower of mushrooms needs a "white thumb" instead of a green one. The mushroom does not behave like green plants . which absorb carbon dioxide and release waste oxygen. They .in- stead "breathe" oxygen and ex- hale carbon- dioxide. They have no chlorophyll. This lack of green coloring matter makes them white. The growing houses are dark. The mushroom farmer wears a miner's lamp. That is the only light the mushroom has. Growers scoff at the phrase "grew like a mushroom, over- night." Months of preparation and cultivation are required be- fore pickers can take off the first crop. Always hold your head up, but be careful to keep your nose on a friendly level. Tk1NMYSON 1 R Ey Rev, R. l3, Warren, 11,A., li,M, The Clean Life Exodus 20114; Mark 7:1 14-23. Memory Selection; Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life, Pro- verbs 4:23, Various surveys indicate that more than half the adults have broken the seventh command- ment, Many are doing it in their teens. A woman staying in a hotel' wrote to the editor of the local newspaper after last New Year's Eve. She was surprised that so many of the guests corn- ing to a party there, were in their early teens. When she and her husband returned to the hotel after midnight she was shocked at the obscene language. A girl from one of the bedrooms was screaming, calling, "Mother, mo- ther," A boy started down the corridor shouting, "I'm a nudist " Someone called to him to came back and get on some clothes. Every city of considerable size has its houses of prostitution and its hotels with the call girl rack- et, The Bible says, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: b u t whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Hebrews 13:4. Homosexualism is becoming more prevalent. Jesus said, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matt. 5:28, Sin begins in the mind. Salacious literature, sexy movies and immodest deportment, all help to prepare the way for the outward sin. Nature judges those who break God's law. Some have nervous breakdowns, some incur vener- eal disease and all miss out on the pure clean happiness that God designed for His creatures. The prophets reproved Israel for adultery when they forsook God and worshipped idols. This was spiritual adultery. When people who have given them- selves to the Lord and may be said to be married to Him, turn from His love to the pursuit of things and pleasures, they are spiritual adulterers. All adultery is sin. The marriage vow is sacred. To break it is to sin, A small-town telephone oper- ator answering a call with the usual "Number, please?" heard a voice reply: "Dustin." "What number, Dustin?" asked the operator. "No number. Just- Dustin," re- plied the voice impatiently. And then, since the operator still fail- ed to understand, the voice add- ed: "I'm dustin' the telephone." 7. Vein .l.at.) 21. Comptrollers 8, Follow 30. warriors 9. aural 34. Deer track 37. African 10.21r, Linkietter antelopes 13. Word .,l' 41. Old fashioned affirmation 43. 5fitltary 17 Toward and officer ACROSS 63. Ant unI within 45. Jester' 1. Sunken fences DOWN 19. Foray 47. DDntice . 6. Rant 1. Damtcicrd 22. Fiber plan, 48. Peruvian 9. i'ompensnte 2. Domestic 24. Population Indian 12. Johnny cake circle 25. Vehicle on 49. Fuel l.t I1 I'lO place 3.131U. name runners 50. Handle 14 (;olio's 4. dated (slang) 26. Anticipation roughly second note 5. welcomed 27. Russian 51. Narrow inlet 0. 16 Flow out Commotion mountains 62. Cotton seeder 16. Comprises 19. Afrectediy modest 20. Sister of one uarent 01. Bruce 22. Sb,,r jackets 26 Sing with closed lips 29. March shirrs 31.Spoken 2 Danish mono, 33. (,r. common• Ditty 30 ` it neior shaping form 30 Sharp pain 38, (Kind of pickle - 39 Played the firs' onrd 40. 5(r antelope 42, ran n 44. One of the Marianas 46. Tyne maid to empbnsise 50 Renown 63 Jupiter's wife 54, Tune 65 Mohammedan prince 66, Killer ,'hale 67. Find being 03. 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