HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1947-09-04, Page 6The Weed
Was Dying
John Christopher
oe Colin looked at the blonde
girl behind the counter as if Ise•
hadn't seen her for the last 21
years. And he hadn't: Almost to
the day, come October 5. l,ven
after 21 years a guy can't forget
the .birth date of his daughter.
She looked the spitting reflee-
Sion of her mother,years back
when Martha and Joe had decided
they had Made a mistake in-ntarry-
ing each other. It was foo late
then, because -the kid was on its
way, and even Joe. knew it took
a father and a mother to give it
the correct backing. But if the
old man hadn't had the same cor-
rect backing; Joe had decided, he
was like a weed: I -Ie had to be
pulled out, :to let the good seed
grow.
Joe had figured he was a weed,
'anal had pulled himself out.
"Evening, mister! Can 1 hcip
youi" Joe looked up. ,9' lump settled
in his throat. His daughter teras smil-
ing at him with stars itt her eves.
Twenty-two years old! When
he had last seen her, she Was a
mere trick of one, a curly-haired
kid, learning her first steps. Car-
rie, they had named her. After
nobody in particular. ,Martha had
Just. liked the name, .that was all.
One thing,. though. 'Wonder if
Martha had done something with
"Colin"?
"I used to lice here years ago,"
Joe ,said, to start conversation.
"You did?" Her blue eyes met
his for a moment of sparkling in-
terest, "Thought you'd come back
and see how things have changed?"
"Wel!. sort of." He stroked the
beard. "I used to know a „lot of
people around here, What's your
name? I might know your old
matt:"
",lance's Lester," she told him.
"Carrie Lester."
Leett"-. So Martha had ditched
"Colin." "Lester," Joe mused.
"Heck, I knew your old maul
What', he doing now?"
"1 don't know," site said.
"Moth?r think, he'; out in Cali-
fornia."
finally. "slot a husbanl--or mat be.
a boy friendi"
"How about you?" he asked
Her face gave off warmth like
sunshine. ":\ boy friend,'" she said
brightly. "hut it won't be long
before the '.Ir. and Mrs,' If you're
here in anther 15 minutes, you'll
ice hint. IIe's coming after mc."
Joe 1' inn,d. "1'11 be herr,' he
said.
She brought in his steal. He
just finished it when the door
opened and a tall, young man in
a brown tweed suit swept into the
room like a str0y, :nttuunt leaf.
Her eyes brightened but politely
she asked Joe his came, and in-
troduced him. The boy, she said
was Harry Bradshaw.
"Years ago," she explained, "Mr.
Colin used to lice here, We got
sort of acquainted nhilc he waited
for Itis food."
"So run kids are slated for the
long walk up the altar; eh?" Joe
remarked.
The Bradford kid's face split in
a long smile.
"Look," Joe said natter of fact-
ly, "I get a few green -backs saved
up. I'd like to give it to you two
for a wedding present. Two hun-
dred dollars. Maybe you'd like to
buy something for the baby -
when it comes. Hath?' -
"No thanks," Harry said. "We
certainty appreciate it, but we both
work. It wouldn't be right."
Joe drew out a checkbook. He
grinned good-naturedly-. "I'll draw
up a check, anyway."
The two youngsters looked be-
wildered.
"Go un," urged Joe. "'fake t1.
It's good. Don't worry .about me,"
.5'he took it. "Foo-torc're wond-
erful," ,she whispered. "And 1 can't
understand why. Thanks -n lets'
Joe smiled and walked out,
breathing in. the cool, night air.
Funny thing, but now he realiz-
ed that something had changed in
the weed, And suddenly Joe knew
that after years of battling harsh
Winds, snow, cold, and rain, the
weed was dying. -
And Joe was the weed.
"Two -Faced"
Daring the absence of the editor
and publisher of a small daily paper,
l+ir sou lock over. Remembering
that each mor•nii:g his father ahs'ttt•s
dropped in on the local judge and
I.sgu7red has many had been
brought into court, he followed the
sante res nr. -
ll'ell 1 a many fared the judge
today.'" he ',vial& asked..
"70''," ,uMe the answer.
That night the judge was indig-
1 x:11 it, read 'n the paper, "Two
Faced Jt dge."
•
• A, w1/'aiWcuntmon in eastern
Tetra i t b ,i',t-: entirely upon fish
vhieli it catches in ricers.
Good Way to keep cool is demonstrated here by Barbara ]Dennison and 3vlartha Mitchell Ywho
give a polite sneer to old man gravity as the y list heavily to starboard to make a spectacular
turn on their fast-moving aquaplane. Looks simple. Tri' it some time.
As Mother Swims -Lest some
well-wisher might take - the
child to the "lost and fututd"
department, Barbara Salsmon's
mother put the sign on the big
wastepaper basket. where she
parked her daughter while tak-
ing a clip in Lalte Ontario to
escape the heat,
Switzerland Marks
Over 650 Years of
Political Freedom
Switzerland, which has main-
tained a policy of strict neutrality
for over a century and a half, ob-
served its 656th year of demo-
cratic freedom on the first of this
month. Once again traditional
festivities, curtailed daring the war
when the nation was encircled by
the Acis, were held.
* * *
It was hack in 1291 that the
mountaineer§ alai peasants of the
first three cantons, Uri,' Schwyz
and Unterwalden, enteral into a
perpetual pact to safeguard their
system of heal self-government In
opposition to the officials set up
by the Habsburgs, Since then
Switzerland, whose union of twen-
ty-two cantons was completed in
1"15, has proved that it is possible
for nations tr. live together in har-
mony. The Swiss policy of abso-
lute but active netdrality enabled
the nation to perform -many-- im-
portant international services.
During the two World Wars the
International Red Cross in Geneva
accomplished enormous tasks in
acting as liaison agent between pri-
soners and internees of war and
their families More that 100,110+)
refugees have been sheltered with-
in Swiss frptltiers in recent years,
further proof of the humane role
which the little lanai of the Alps
played in the second World War.
The "Save the Children" pro-
*,. a *
grant of the Swiss National Red
Cross is still in effect, It helps
thousands of youngsters of all na-
tionalities to regain their health
through recuperative vacations in
Swiss resorts and private homes.
Other charities include roving
medical teams and numerous relief
centres. The foreign interests of
forty-four nations, including the
United States, were handled by
Switzerland during the last war.
Four different languages are spok-
en in this- little country of 4,300,000
people. All groups continue to
work together in harmony and co-
operation developed over six and
a half centuries of democratic
freedoui, -
Final Proof
A bumptious fellow real giving
evidence in a police court.
"You say yots stood tip!" asked
the magistrate.
"1 .said;" retorted the conceited
one, "that I stood. If one. stands
one must stand up. There's no other
toay of standing."
"Olt, isn't 'herd" replied the
magistrate, "Pus two pounds for
eotltetmpt of court -and stand dotunl"
Ibn Saud Travels
With 4 Room Tent
Complete - with Bath
King lbn Saud 'of Saudi Arabia
lives wills one foot in the set enth
century and the other in the twen-
tieth. A- battle -scarred desert war-
rior, 67, he never saw a modern
city until he \vent to Egypt and
visited Cairo in 1943. He has a
stone palace with telephone and
pushbuttons in the crude, walled
capital of Ryadh, but when he
travels his servants- pitch a four -
roost, silk -lined tent, complete
with bathroom, This ruler of
""Arabia of the Sauds" holds title
to the 610,000 square miles of his
land and absolute power over his
5,250,000 illiterate and impoverish-
ed subjects,
lbs Saud hasa fabulous income.
For the privilege of exploiting
Arabia's vast oil reserves, the Ara-
bian-:\Americas -Oil Company pays
him it royalty of 23 cents a -barrel.
The total came to $10,000,000 in
1916, is expected to reach $50,000,-
000
50,000;000 in 1950,
Last week the ILing announced
plans for spending some of his
money. Be will enlarge two
ports, build a railway, two air-
fields, 1,200 utiles of road. He
plans to bring electricity and
water to the holy cities of Mecca
and Medina as well as to Ryadlt.
He plans also to construct irriga-
tion projects, build agricultural
experiment stations, schools and
hospitals. The construction. will
talfe four years and cost $270,000,-
000 -most of -which the King ex-
pects to borrow from U.S. oil
companies and the Pts. Import-
Export Bank,
De -Hailer Wanted
Hailstones arc particularly, se-
vere in Italy and cause millions of
lire of damage to crops. Hence
the president of the Milan Fair
-
Association has offered 100,000,000
lire at next year's exposition to
any one who can devise a method
for preventing haislornts. Two
suggestions have been made pub-
lic and pronounced unacceptable.
One is an anti-aircraft barrage aim-
ed to explode in the middle of the
e.ffending cloud. The other is the
use of the now too -familiar atom
bomb. The atom- b'otub seems to
he running- first as a universal
panacea for all tnetis ills.
-
-New -York Son
Clean out ycur furnace and
chimney during the summer to
avoid waste of heat and danger of
fire next winter.
STUFF' AND THINGS
' "Deliciou's, aren't they,'"
Still Grow 'Em Big
In British Columbia
A news story from I'Ialifax, re-
cords the arrival there of a -128--
foot British Columbia Douglas fir:
It arrived loaded on three rail-
way flat cars, - tomake the new
flagpole for the City Hall,.
It is getting on towards evening
of the day of the tall timbers, But
there are still active loggers who
can remember when it was not
very unusual to cut fir timbers
36 inches by 36 inches by 150 feet,
They used to load them on the
Fraser, on the old windjammers,
through a hole cut in the bows
of the ship. They went to Europe,
to make the keelsons of the last
of the wooden ships.
Still, that 128 -foot flagpole for.
Halifax City Hall would hardly
have been cut out of less than a
200 -foot tree, a tall, straight tree,
a very wonderful thing.
Always listen to the opinions of
others; it probably won't do you
any good, but it will them,
Canadian, Sir John McLennan,
Placed Heliui,t - on Commercial Basis
7 he lure Sir John C. 4tt'Lcnnau
spent his early youth au Stratford,
Ontario. The following article is re
'proderrtt from a booklet, "Forward
with Canada."
May 011, 1937! The scene: The
airport at Lakcliurst, New 1erscy.
Floating gently -towards the huge
hangar is a proud German airship, A
veteran of ten round-trip flights
across the Atlantic, it is the pas-
senger -carrying 01!ndcnburg. Land. -
int; crews stand ready: as the mam-
moth dirigible settles earthward,
Suddenly, andwith incredible swift-
ness, the airship bursts into flame§.
Horrified spectators, ' powerless to
help; hear the screams of trapped
victims, In :t mutter of moments,
nothing is left but a tortured ttvist-
ed mass of white hot metal! One,
more ghastly monument to the haz-
ards of 1It,Irl,,i,l1,
*
September 3rd, 19251 Another
lighter -than -air' craft fights for her
life1 High above Ohio the Ameri-
can dirigible Shenandoah is in mor-
tal distress! Shaken avid tossed by 0
giant storm she batters un with a
gallant heart, Finally she is beaten
and breaks "into three parts, There
are casualties' in this -tragedy and .
some men die , .. But there is no
- fire! Many -of the crew ride out the
storm, navigating part of the brill
-as a free balloon. Al lastthey land':
safely, thankful for their good for-
• tune that the Shenandoah had been
filled, not with treacherous, explos-
ive hydrogen; but with life-saving,
non-inflamahle HELIL'Sl
in the year 1914, there n•:ts mail-
able only 75 cubic feet of helium. it
was worth $7,000 per cubic foot.
Then World War 1 swept °ter Eu-
rope. The British Government call-
ed for helium, They wanted large
quantities - quickly! .Helium, tate
safety, gas, was ideal for filling ob-
servation balloons and blimps. Batt
tt'here -would they get helium?
Where? Time was short! Then
somebody in England remembered
that a Canadian scientist, Professor
Johns Cunningham ' McLennan, had
been lecturing in London. Included
m his lectures were reports ou Can-
ada's natural gases, The British Ad-
miralty .Was -interested in one particu-
lar statement: Professor iticLennan
had said that certain natural .gas
wells in Canada appeared to be rich
in helium, That was the clue! ,Sec-
ret, coded cables crackled across the,
Atlantic as British officials' ingress=
ed on John McLennan the urgency
of their needs. 13nt the Professor
needed, no urging, The search for
helium was on I
4. *. *.
Professor McLennan decided that
fisc best sources of supply were
near Calgary, Alberta, and IIant-
iltom, Ont. On arrival at the 'gas
wells, 'McLennan and his colleagues
were faced with a tremendous
obstacle. Existing methods of heli-
um extraction required the burning
off of the unwanted gas, but at
'Hamilton and Calgary this method
was impossible. The output of the
gas wells tt'as being piped into near-
by homes and factories. To extract
the helium, Professor 'McLennan
must devise a new method, one
which would not interfere with the
normal flow of gas to homes and '
factories. This challenge to Can-
adian ingenuity teas swiftly ans-
wered. 1\'ith concentrated vigor the
scientists under John McLennan dug
into Ihe• job, spurred by the 'know-
ledge that human lives depended up-
on their success. Finally :plans were
drawn, A plant was built -and the
itew•apparatds tested. ft was a suc-
cess!
Large quantities of helium were
now available, for the first tine,
Professor` McLennan had put helium
on a commercial basis. The price per
cubic foot dropped from 'seven
thousanddollars to eleven cents!
Today many varied and valuable
t.ew uses are being found for he-
lium. In the moclent light metal in-
dustry, in deep sea diving, and in
lite new Yield of electronics, hdiunt
Lias its important place. Again the
research of a Canadian scientist
contributed to the welfare of the
world -Sir John McLennan!
Rice Ration
That -Sydney Illorn,g Tferald co-
ltuniru7 says he hasn't dared to
Check this one for fear it's not true:
The Chinese in Sydney get a
special rice ration.
.I Hoff -Chinese teon+atr thought
she'd like .some; and. applied.
She got half a ration.
His Second Hambietonian—Sep Palin of Indianapolis, :veteran trotting race driver. smiles
happily as he examines the. 1-famblctonian Cup with Mr. and Mrs. ,James -B. Johnson, who
own floot Mutt,- f'alin's second 1-Tantltletoniat winner. Palin is shown sitting in tate sulky
after the race. -
Old Tin Lizzie Like
One Of The Family
The Model 1' is in the nerve again
with unextinguished glory, An ob-
scure news item calls up- -fur its
nostalgically all the road and rattle,
the jubilant lirdinabulation, the un-
predictable shimmying, the fits and
starts and, alas, the stabs ail that
lovable, cranky, invincible erra_ure
of the wild highway, -
In 1923 one John liielscher
bought a Model 1', look it hence, and
painted the wheels bright red, though
he had already reached an age at
tt-hielt 'Cautions congertatimo is sup-
posed to rule amt -such inytnlars, re-,-
lates the Christian Science \limine.
Now he and AI'rs. 1-iielscher hate
driven from Seattle to \linneapolis
for their 56th wedding mini\ ers:u•y
POP -Helping The Opposition
in that same spry, red wheeled
chariot whose service through the
years has been constant -though not,
we hazard, unexciting.
The 1•iielschers hate tuned down
a brand new model offered to them
by the Ford 31tttor Company hi ea-
changr for their car. They wouldn't
think of parting with theirs for any-
thing, they say-, after all the fun
they're had together. It's just like
tine. of the faily. And we do, in-
deed, seem to detect a family resent-
ilatce bet tteen the intrepid zest of
these older -generation Americans
and Ihe incl t suable_ sprit of the
Model T.
All is not tin that epodes. All that
*1iirts past proudly is not gold,.
Tine weight of iron in a Ian's
body is :(boot equal to the weight
of a 5 -cent piece.
Standard of Living
in Russia Very Low
The ardent exponents of ell things
Russian vtill not like the study or
comparative prices and wages just
released by the .1.'nited States De-
partment of Labor. According to
that study the standard of living of
tate average American today is just
about 1,000% ;above that of the. av-
erage Sotict citizen.
Two years after the tear, the av-
erage Russian worker gets wages
that will hay just about one -tenth -of
what raid be purchased by the Ameri-
can worker.
While prices of food in Russia
have soared 165,1-, wages have been
advanced 25!..
fhe Russian ttorkcr isn't only en-
slaved ; he slates in misery.
♦✓nd N I WAS IN COl-LE&E
I 1=bl.PED I*'I*AT YALE
• -Ytgp;C-e "/EARS
STRAIGl4T t
I DICpa'r i<i4QVJ VOL!
W.t5 N' To
VALE, I
1*
•
By J. MILLAR WATT