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The Seaforth News, 1962-03-22, Page 6AnotherAngie On Roaring Twenties My children find it difficult to believe that, although, 1 grew up during the 1920's, never met Al Capone, danced the Charleston, played the ukulele or rode in a Stutz Beareat. :Became of television, the chil- dren feel they know all about that roaring decade. But the 20's they know and the 20's 1 remem- ber seemto be two entirely dif- ferent eras, Elliot Ness never came roaring down Main Street in Orwell, Ohio, in pursuit of gangsters in a Chalmers Six. If he had, I would have hopped on my bi- cycle and hurried to see the bat- tle, you can be sure. But the only gunplay I remember was at the Opera House—later renamed the "Gem" when the proprietor bought a new electric sign and prel'erred, to pay for three letters rather than ten, Hoot Gibson and I used to meet there every Saturday night, Hoot did a lot of shooting, looming large on the screen While the piano player thundered her way across the keyboard, but he shot quietly, for the talkies had not yet arrived. Al Capone never showed up in Orwell, either, I suppose there were those in the neighborhood who danced the Charleston, but I never did. I didn't speak to girls then and they didn't speak to me, so it would have been difficult to find a partner. As for the Bearcats, I don't think there was a Stutz in town. There were plenty of Model T's, though, which had a lot more personality, especially on a cold morning. I can recall quite plainly when Clara Bow had "it," although 1 - was never quite sure what "it" was, and when "sez you". was considered the ultimate in so- phisticated repartee. I can re-' member Calvin Coolidge, rumble seats, Harold Lloyd, spats and the noise a pair of corduroy knickers made when you walked along. But those aren't the things the children want me to tell them about. I knew who Capone and Legs Diamond were, all right. But they weren't the celebrities in our lives that Hoot Gibson, Chaz Chase and Uncle Billy Smith were, Uncle Billy had been a drummer boy in the Civil Wan Every town had its ex -drummer boy then, grown gray and given, to telling eye -witness tales of . battles he never came near. I had the impression then that the Civil War consisted solely of an army of drummer boys, march- ing in a rhythmic, unbroken line that stretched from Washington to Richmond. As I understood the situation, Grant had more and better drummer boys, which was the reason Lee finally gave up. If I had grown up in Georgia., I sup - Pose, Lee would have had the edge in drummer boys. But that wasn't the way Uncle Billy de- scribed it. My children aren't impressed by such recollections, of course. They know the 1920's weren't like that. They think the reason My reminiscences are so dull is that I'm hiding something. "You mean you never even saw gangster or a Prohibition agent, Dad?" Well, there was the time my 13ey Scout truce) was encamped along Lake Erie and a boat loomed offshore in the darkness and began flasking a light. We ,signaled back with our flash- lights, sure we were about to cap- ture some rum runners from Canada. But the boat pulled away and we never found out who was aboard. It was true, too, that I was a member of a gang then. Our ;headquarters were in a cabin we had constructed in Dixon's Woods and we were a tough looking crew, sitting around our camp fire, armed to the teeth with. BB guns. if any Indians had shown up we would have given a geed account of ourselves, you can be sure. But none ever did. "Well, then, what did you do, Dad?" the children demand, "Sit around and listen to Russ Col - umbo records?" But I have to disappoint even that modest expectation. We didn't listen to records much. It was partly that it was too much trouble to keep winding the pho- nograph, But it was mostly that the songs in those vanished days UN'S SAWS IN FORelgr.1-14 riiielz "Leeet match Wile for Oractitie." were not designed for children, the Way the songs are now, Oh, VII admit if you listen to the songs Colombo and Rudy Vallee used to sing, it sounds as though they were written for children, and fairly baekward ones, at that, But they weren't.' Not that we didn't clo our best to waste our inheritance of hours, We sat through scores of the worst movies ever made, and a few of the best. We swam in places I weuldn't allow my chil- dren to go near. We argued in- terminably over whether some- one had tagged third base in what would now be called a softball game, but was then called "indoor," perhaps because it was always played outside, The third base in question would never have passed muster in a Little League game, It was a rack and our stadium' was a vacant lot, The world had• not yet learned that children require a $100,000 playground in order to get exercise, writes Robert W. Wells in the Christian Sbience Monitor. There were no adults to super- vise, the way there'd be now. The only times adults appeared was when someone hit a long flee ball toward right field. A long fly ball in that direction usually went through a window. On such ' occasions we len before the adult advisers arrived, unless they were unusually fast runners. I don't try to tell my children this, but we had little contact with the adult world then, ex- cept at mealtimes. This suited us and it seemed to suit the adults, Still, I think there was. more real tolerance between the generations then. When the ball went through the window no one called the town constable the way they would now, And if they'd called him, he wouldn't have come. It would have been beneath his -dignity, especially as he'd played ball on the same vacant lot him- self once and hit. his share of Sties to far right field. Perhaps, looking back at it, the constable was the man responsi- ble for keeping the 20's from roaring very loudly in Orwell and thus, indirectly, to blame for my inability to live up to the children's expectations. If a Marmon full of gangsters had come careening through town„ with Ness and his boys in hotepusuits the constable would haves taken stern action. He wouldliesze hopped into his Model T and gone tarryhooting after thein. And when he caught them, he would have hauled them before the Mayor and given the lot of them fines that would .have taught them a good lesson. He was a tolerant man, the constable was, when it came to boys playing indoor, or the driv- ing habits of local residents. But he would never have stood for Capone running through the red light that marked the intersec- tion of Routes 45 and 322 in the ,center of the village, Capone was from out of town. And that would have been reason enough to teach him a little respect for law and order. Modern Etiquette By Anne Ashley Q. When an invitation has been received written on an in- formal card, and a reply is re- quested, is It proper to make this reply over the telephone? A. It is quite all right to ac- knowledge an informal invita- tion of this kind on the tele- phone. Q, Just what is considered, the proper length of tine between the aimomicement of an engagexnent and the wedding itself? A. There is no "proper" length of time. Usually, however, the maximum is about six months, and if a couple anticipates a greater length of time, the an- nouncement can either be post- poned or, if it is in the news- paper, it can be ended with the statement, "No date has as yet been set for the wedding." Q. If a girl is to be married in church wearing. an afternoon dress and having only one maid. of -honor, is she supposed to in. vile only a very few friends and relatives to a wedding of this tees? A. There is no limit to the number of guests she may in- vite, provided, of course, there is ample room for everyone, Q. When seated at the bar in a cocktail lounge, are you supposed to tip the bar same? A, While not exactly neces- sary, It still seems to be expect- ed In some places — and. espe. chilly when one's change is re- turned in a small tray, Q. When mailing birthday - greeting cards to my . women friend", wheel rny hu oband knows only slightly, am 1Slip. posed to sign both our nestles, or just Mine alone? A. Since these are year own personal Mende you need net include your husband's dame, 10 — 1064 INTRODUCES DAUGHTER—President Sukarno, right, intro- duces his young daughter to visiting U.S. Attorney General and Mrs. 'Robert Kennedy during dinner in Jakarta, Indo-' nesia. The weather around here still leaves much to be desired but I suppose we can think ourselves lucky we are. not in Europe or Los Angeles. Of course most people carry ore regardless of the weather. But not i — I postpone going out until the going is good. Soinetimee that leads to incone veniences. Last Friday we :were downsto a few dollars in the house, no meat and minus quite a few groceries. So -before I was even citlt:of bed 1 was writing out shopiiirig list. Then Partner *erne along, told me I had better forget about shopping, it was half -freezing rain and as slippery ..aseeould•he underfoot. That was enough to make me revise all my plans; look' through any supply shelves once again and figure out make-ahift menus for the week- end. And then late in the after- noon it turned soft so away we went after all. The bank was open so we got our business done there; bought our meat and gro- ceries and on the way home got a "Take-home" order -Of fish, and chips for supper. Partner same with me — and that was one for the record because he hates shop- pine- However, I suppose he was afraid I might get stuck or run into a ditch or something in which case he would have been of: ereat assistance. But except foe the" -ear stalling a few times we 'got along fine. Now I. am wondering how much I'll get done this week, I have several full days planned ahead, including a "hair -do", a visit to an oculist and to go with Dee to the Girl Guide Festiva/ at the CiN.E. grounds. Again every- thing depends on the weather. Last week before this column was ip the mail Ross was here with his Dad — just for about • fifteen minutes, He had ;hist bean released from the hospital and • was on his way home, Thurs- day Ross and Cedric spent the day here while their mother was at the dentist's, Poor little RoSs, he looked as if he had been drag- ged through the proverbial knot- hole, One of our little neighbours had also been having a rough time since having her tonsils out. Perhaps there isn't too much to worry about as one doctor said it is really about six months be- fore a child shows any definite improvement after a tonsillec- torty. What do you think of these incidents? Each one is an eye- witness account of two curious accidents 1;110 were told to me last week, neither of which need have happened. A neighbour was sitting in a parked car at a shop- ping centre waiting for his friend to finish shopping Sud- denly he noticed a ear with only a little boy in it start to move. 21 took a zig-zag course, side- swipleg np less than four cars on its way, stopping just before it reached neighbour T's car, By this time T. was out of the car anyway, running towards the child -driven vehicle. Incidental- ly he would have been out sooner except that the ear in which he was a passenger was a two -door car and an elderly gentleman occupied the front passenger seat. He got to the runaway car just es the boy's father appeared on the scene the father who had com- mitted the unpardonable error of leaving a child alone in a ear with the Ignition turned on. By the time man has settled Inc damages to freer ears he may pos- sibly have learnt a lesson_ The other accident was of at very different stature. Nix. C. was getting ready to visit lids, wife in hospital when he inett'at friend of hers who was also planning to visit Edna., You: may as well ride with nee said Mrs, M. So they all: went together. Before visiting hourswere up Mrs. M. discreetly withdrew, leaving hus- band and wife together, saying she would wait in the car. When Mr. C.'got outsid& the car was there but no ene in it. He. went back to the waiting' room. Still no sign of her. Finally he ap- proached the desk and asked' the receptionist if she had seen the lady, "Mrs, M.,..oh yes,. she's in the operating room!" "in the operating room!" ex- claimed IVIn. C. increctelottsly. "Yes,' .she -was going out to the. car, slipped ere the ice and broke. her Iripr Now wasn't that an awful) thing to happen?: I had' previously. heard the hospital grounds were lust a glare of ice and thought it showed very poor management for a public in.stitn- tion to have. a parking Tot that wab a hal,:rd to its visitors. The trouble is people talk about danger in this end that connection but very seldom do anything about It, In tills ease it only needed someone to approach the proper authorities and ask that something be doee -- the grounds salted, or sanded or in some may made safe for public use. We ,seem to have reached the point when we tolerate in- efficiency too readily, After all it is the "squeaking wheel that gets the grease". Perhaps it is not generally known that every local council has an emergency Public Works department, ready and waiting to deal with enier- gencies — hydro, water or roads — that is, IF THE DEPART- MENT IS NOTIFIED. LOGICAL The young school teacher bad just finished telling a smut/ boy the story of a lamb that had strayed from the flock and had been eaten by a wolf, "You see," she said, "had the lamb been obedient and stayed in the flock, it would not have been eaten by the wore" "No, ma'am," answered the small boy. "It would have been eaten by us." Playboy—a. man who summers in the MPs„ winters int Pericles and springs at Mendes.. - TOUGH '441AKTER. EgtrInt trees kiiIled by freezi4ng tem- peratures, eve rel.:name from famous Canal Street Ern New' Orleons .be replaced' with new perims.iin time for art - nun? Mardi Grcrs ativizrL Women Make Up One -Third of Working Force • Vni :py:p 444 11` Women prepare auto for final painting in Dodge plant, Detroit. Moscow electrician K i a v a Verkasova works in overalls. Workers clips broke line to rear axle on assembly line. Russian women assemble radio tubes in Leningrad factory. Women workers engaged in industrial production is a familiar theme in pictures of Russia, but it Is as typical of U.S, as It is of the Soviet Union, American vvomen-olso are contributing their labor to the strug- gle for economic supremacy at an increasing rate even to positions on auto assembly lines. Beginning with the shortage of men caused by the Selective Service Act of 1939, increasing numbers of women have been employed in the production departments of American industry. The number of working women rose from 14 million in 1940 to about 18 million in 1950, Last year, 24,5 million working women repre- sented 34 per cent of the total American labor force of 71,399,000, Projections indicate that 30 million American women will be working by 1970.