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Home My WebLink AboutThe Huron Expositor, 1946-11-01, Page 71I !r, i,Contiinueil fz'o= last week) gieliroeder'a waa: a, saloon, around the corner from The Express' office. Sere Le.men working on the morn- ing tidi>'e'ril found' an 'eapeefally pre- pared lanch'for them atmtdaight, and would spend au hour eating,. and chat- ting before going home. -Witte ordered a beer. ,.,"Take A. regular, drink," Riley said encouragingly. "You.. are a filll-fledg- ed reporter now. That story, of yours goes on the first page in the'e morning. Rand was tickled with it." m' From that night on the subject of drink became . the ' nightmare of Witte's existence in N•-,--•—, Whisky ;revolted him physically. This abhor- rence of it made.him laughable in.. the. eyes of the widening circle of re- porters he came to know. One night as he passed up the bot- tle and told d the waiter to give him a beer one ,jovial member of the "com- pany hailed him as a disciple of Car-= rie Nation. On another occasion his repugnance to whisky, was suddenly made a race issue. . One ofthe reporters had read that the Jews as a race were temperate to a- high degree.' He recounted this to the company, and each. began asking Witte whether the Jews were averse to drink on religious grounds. These question's made him uncom- fortable. It annoyed him to have his race and religion, and the thousands of years of history . back of them, dragged into a matter of his own per Sonat , distaste. Why charge • up a trifling peculiarity of his to the fact that he was a Jew? Why raise the question of race and on that ground single him out as "different"? He resolved to end these annoyanc- es. He would take a drink of whisky now and then, or at least he would try to have the appearance: of drink- • LEGAL *CONNELL & HAYS . Barristers, Solicitors, Eta PatrickD. McConnell - H, Glenn Hays SEA.FORTH, ONT. • '' Telephone 174 A • W. SILLERY Barrister, Solicitor, Etc. SEAFORTH - ONTARIO Phone 173, Seaforth MEDICAL - SEAFORTH CLINIC DR. E. A, McMASTER, M.B. Physician DR. P. L. BRADY, M.D. Surgeon Office hours daily, except Wednes- day: 1.30 -5 p.m., 7 - 9pan. .:. Appointments for consultation may be made lir advance: JOHN A. GORWILL,B.A., M.D. Physician and Surgedis IN DR. H. H. ROSS' OFFICE Phones: Office . 5-W; Res. 5-J Seaforth MARTIN W.STAPLETON, B.A., M.D. Physician and Surgeon Successor to Dr. W. 0. Sproat Phone 90-W Seaforth DR. F. J. R. FORSTER Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat ate' in Medicine, 'University of Toronto. Late assistant New York Opthal- mei. and Aural Institute, Moorefield's Eye and Golden Square Throat Hos- pital, London, Eng. At COMMERCIAL HOTEL, •SEAFORTH, THIRD WED- NESDAY in each month, from 2 p.m. to 430 p.m. _ S3 Waterloo Street. South, " Stratford. JOHN C. GODDARD, M.D. ' Physician and Surgeon • Phone'110 - Hensall 4088)52 DR., 'F. H. SCHERK Physician ,and Surgeon Phone 56 Hensall AUCTIONEERS HAROLD JACKSON Specialist in Farm and Hdusehold Sales. Licensed in Huron ands Perth Coun- ties. Prices reasonable, satisfadtion guaranteed. For information, etc., write or phone HAROLD JACKSON, 14 on 661, Sea - forth; RR. 4, 'Seaforth, PERCY C. WRIG)HT Licensed •Auctioneer• Household, farm stock, implements andpure bred sales. ' Speeial training And experience enables me to offer you sales service -that' is Most' effici- ent Wad patiztfactory. PHONE 90' r 22, Henan. W. 8. O'NEIL, DENFIELD, ONT. Licensed Auctioneer Pure bred staple etTli►bi' Yak* stock And impiemente. One per cent. al's -003 i 04 00014 40 • '' t � ' Oita blies, Orsit614 "fit .say; .ip.nMe. Ing,, Btzt his ."appearance" was aeon deteeted, : Riley *nee held ui►' Witte's glass with a thimbleful" of whislty in it for the , inspections 1St the company, and they had a hearty laugh at his expense. Enibittea,'ed Emil Witte now began taking at least one '"good" drink an evening, although he felt sick far hours afterward. One night as he watched. Riley empty his third 'glass of whisky; • a question slipped Witte'; tongue, "Why do yeti. feliovesi drink so much?" he asked.. "Well, what else would you have us do?" the hotel reporter laughed. hoarsely, • The, thoughtful manner in which Witte` gazed into -apace Snaky munioated itself to Riley. "You might as well ask whywe stay in the newspaper business," the ,hotel reporter said, "There is just as much logic to it as there is to drinking, What other fun can one have at this hour of the- night? "I have sometimes wondered," Riley continued, growing morose, "where this is gybing to lead to. I'.have been a newspaper man for five years now. If I were a lawyer, a physician, a business man, I shouldbe settled by this time,' In this business nothing is settled .beyond' the fact that I will be here again tomorrownight and will be taking the same number of drinks. I had ambitions to write once, but they petered out. They peter out with. most newspaper men. The desire to drink is the only permanent thing about the business. Nothing else is stable in it. . . Perhaps in a big city, in Chicago pr `New' York, it might be different," Witte asked about Chicago: Had Riley ever been there? Riley had never worked in Chicago. .But every so often a..man would leave N to go to Chicago. In the ma- jority of cases the fellows came back and were glad to get their old jobs again. In fact men from Chicago'were. often glad to slip into a good job in a smaller city, in N for In- stance. Rand was an example. In Chicago he "probably would have re- mained a copy reader all his life. Here he was city editor; some day he might become managing editor. Emil' Witte and Riley were stand- ing at the bar In Schroeder's, when two reporters of the Dispatch came in. One of them ordered drinks for the crowd. Witte had.had one whisky. but having determined not to make himself conspicuous; he poured out another. When the bartenderput the bottle before him for the third time, Witte filled his glass without further hesitancy. It seemed to him that be was filling the glass not for ,himself but for somebody else. . 1'.hat somebody else lifted the glassand drank to his, Witte's health. . . . Witte experienced a pecirliar sensa- tion'in the front part of his head. His eyelids felt painfully heavy and sore. One of the reporters began upbraid- ing Schroeder for the goulash and pot roast which he fed them on night af- ter night. He suggested that they go to a, chop suey place and have "a 'regular feed." The rest agreed. Emil heard what they were saying as if in a ,dream. Riley saw to it that•Emil ate his chop suey. Several times when Emil's hand rested on the table feeling too heavy to hold the fork, .Riley urged him on. Indistinctly Witte heard' his flame hurled. back and forth in the conversation. They were laughing, too, but it was not atshim they were laughing,_ but at somebody else, wJlo had been drinking whisky. Witte leered at that somebody. He was go- ing to banter him; too, but his tongue. refused to mov,'e. It felt as it it were glued to the' back of •his throat. The company moved and Witte mov- ed along with them. Now he realiz- ed what an incumbrance that some- body else, who 'had been drinking whisky, was upon him. . . He was constantly stepping upon ons or the other of his feet. He was in his way at every step. A piano was,,,banging, and men and women were talking loudly; and laughing.... A man in a white coat and white apron was busying himself about Witte's table, and in a few min- utes there appeared .a bottle on it and glasses. Riley saw him vaguely float- ing about, talking to some people, men, wofnen.... A girl at the neigh- boring table was smiling., . She Was motioning with her head in his direction. She was calling him to C over,• to sit nea.r her. He recognized her.... It was Lena Rosen. . . . Yes; ---Lena was sitting there at the table. Strange he had not recognized her at once. . He must go up and talk to her . . . ,yes, ask about home . . . that's it, about home. He tried to lift himself from his chair, but something in his throat was holding him back. , . , •He must cry out, he must call far help—it was choking him. He took hold of a near-hy chair, stood up and tried to;clear .his throat.• There was a shriek from several women anda scampering in all direc- tions. Two menin white coats and white aprons took him under each. arm and led him away.... , Riley and another reporter began busying them- selves about him, wiping liis clothes. •"fake him outside, fresh air Will do him good," some one suggested. Witte was led outside.. The air clear- ed his head. . . "; Re realized... what bad taken place. But he was too sick to think. "You had better came with me to my room," said Riley. "My lafidlady IS wise, She will ilx•'up your clothes. In the morning so, they won't show a trace . . . Such things^ happen otice in a .while. 'I guess that chop suet' disagreed With you. It came too soon after the drinks" 4tEe.a ' dlee0,antili e,„o,C th, 01t., e gore, whir it sof” n$lirl 4'6 iit etrJ ery detail by 011ej to the other re- portere ea The' Hacwrees, evoked) a singe.. _. "it was. not the drinks," Lindley, the cityhall man,. bantered the young reporter, 'R9* was the ,music that did you. up. I always dislike the musk at Righeimer's myself:" Emil felt crushed. What a miser- able game it was, .this trying to stand in with the fellows by drinking at the expense of his, •self-respect, let alone his health. What a disgusting busi- ness! Riley was right. It .was the'fault of N . ' It was • no place to be in. There was no atmosphere there. He most go to a city wihere there 'were literary people—where, there ..was a field: He would'-- leave The Express at the end of the week. When Witte, the following after- noon, 'upon finding a favorable mom- ent walked over est Rand s,isd- told .him' that he. would leave the Express, at the :close of the week, the city editor lifted his eyes slowly, and swinging, back- in his 'chair, merely said: "All right."' Before going out to dinner, howev- er, Rand. walked over to Witte's desk. He was.. pressed for men, he said. The Express had for some time been run- ning with a shorter staff than usual. If Witte stayed he would raisehis wages to fifteen dollars a, week—she was getting twelve.; ' The Express was paying the high- est salaries in town. The Dispatch would not pay him more, the city editor added. Witte allayed Rand's suspicions on that score. .He was not going over to the Dispatch, he said, but was leav- ing town. He was going to . Chicago. "Got a job' there?" 'Rand asked. "Friends in the newspaper fiel.d?'r_.. Witte • admit ted that he :had' no friends in Chicago and not the slight- est outlook for a position, but that he wanted to be in a big city; was de- termined to be there, "You'd better wait until you have more experience," 'Rand dounseled. "Chicago is hardly 'a place for a be- ginner like' yourself." Witte made no answer to this; and Rand walked out. At midnight Saturday, as Witte was putting the clippings of some of his stories in an envelope,^ Rand walked over to the reporter. "When are you leaving?" he asked. "In' the. morning." "You are not• wasting any time," Rand said, a thin• note of Sarcasm in his. voice. The -next instant his voice was serious again. .. "Stick to' that freak stuff, to feature writing," the city editor • cast a final; friendly warning. "You are good at it: It will be this that will make you —provided, of course; you hit it right." Witte thanked him for this kindly advice. When the reporter shad left the of, fice, Rand, walking from a momentary revery, remarked to the political edi- tor: "The boy will go far, he has character." • -Yes," Francis replied, "it is just like those quiet foreigners--" . . And here is the bathroom. Everything is nice and clean—and I don't alldw any rough people, here. This is not like them other places down the street that takes in any one who comes along..,. . . I aria particu- lar—and' I. don't allow any can rush- ing. It is a fine room for. the money. You won't get anything better for two dollars_a week in the whole city . . . Witte had• never been to Chicago ex- cept for. passing through it on his way from the old world to Spring Water, thirteen years, back. Helad planned to stop at a hotel for a few days until he had acgainted himself with the town. But . there were nearly three columns of advertisements of rooms to rent on Van Buren Street in the Chicago Sunday Star which he bought on the train, One never could tell how long one might have to- wait for a job—he had better be sparing with his money. He -would dispense With hotels and take a room at once. He checked..his suitcase in the station. The 'first policeman he met directed him to a Van Buren street car. The landlady, a rotund, middle-aged Irish matron with a skinas fair .. as that of a young girl, was still speak- • 4.4440r .0400 p►000,000la 4f a A001.:"40., lee 5Ye Ips to get1ib43:a fol Poi 'W t.liO .1091 ellthe auly ghs?r la e 3epi?u , p lite i$ ndow slid•d00W1 soil's the curtain 401044 mit 14#94 te., stow +l't n'al the -A014010'0 NQr�embeT:�1au4 t,le day was .warlm, , almo13t snntmel y% Witte had not elite,) anything ranee tgeakfaet snit it:';yeas pearly OW 0,100‘ • A few doors' froaii 'the r99.407 lug -house die four ,a •restaurant< whigh. was kept by an '.;titian. A, soditsry waiter was dozing; fit a table. The deaertesO,. e,ppearanFe ed the. puce re- niinded,him strongit'that it waa Su'n day, ,that every . Qnedwaa at hoe- with friegds. I1e''tli,Qught of his par- ents, of Spring Wit$}' ... While he was sipping, his coffeehe wrote a, ETF dines on •a -posteard10 his fattier. Evening found him exhausted and gloomy. ,On the mat}telpiece to hits room lay several gid., magazines. He picked" one •up 'anti began to 'turn the pages. There was biting in several places in a feniinIne ;)land. The room must have been occupied last by girl; Where was the girl now? Did she',go somewhere else to room? Or had romance set her free., from ;the hall bedroom 'existence? He thought of Lena. He owed her aletter. ',But he would not write until' he got ' a job. He wandered what she would think of thestep he bad taken, ofhis going-, to Chicago. • Of course she would know that he had. left N— She. would ' learn it from his mother. She was coming to. their house often of late, his father' had written. He closed pis :eyes and the room seemed suddenly to .sill with Lena's Presence. . . . He breathed the per= fume of her hair. 'She was coming nearer—bending ver him. He was asleep. • • He was up at seven and by. noon. it seemed to him that lie had; passed a long •day, In spite of his decision not to look for a job until he had ac- quainted himself with the city, he sought out: the newspaper offices the very first thing and •noted carefully the appearance of .each building and the streets that led to it. There was a dryness in his throat. His chest pained hiin from the smoke he had swallowed. There was anin- cessant ringing in his ears. It seemed to him that he would never get used to .the noise -and clatter of the city, that he would. never find himself in this maze of elevated trains and street cars that were chasing each .other in endless • streams. The third morning there was a •let- ter from his father.' In contrast to his own few lines, his father,•;wrote at length. • It was a cheerful, encouraging letter. Aaron Witte. approved his son's course in -leaving N---. He felt confident in his son's ability to make good in the big city. "It may be difficult at drat," he wrote, "but then things worth while never come easy— In spite of the cheerful tone ,of the. letter Emil saw between the lines that it was written with an aching heart. His father and mother were uneasy about his fortunes in the far-off, strange city. His departure for Chi- cago .had made the distance between himself and his parents' greater. At the close of the letter'lits father sent him the address of a relatives, a cou- sin of Aaron's, a Mrs. Bloch, who liv- ed in Chicago. He urged Emil to go up and see her. Aaron and Rebecca, that was Mrs. Bloch's first name, had been almost like sister and brother in their younger days. In the afternoon of the same day the weather turned colder. Emil walk- ed into the reading -room of the public library and found every seat taken by jobless, hungry men. Some read, oth- erssmade a pretense of reading, and in reality sought tosnatch a few min- utes sleep without being caught at it by the attendant who was on the alert to weed out all who were not bona . fide readers. Emil consulted his map of Chicago and .took a car to the neighborhood where ; his father's cousin lived. The conductor let , him off at Morgan Street. He found himself in the heart of Chicago's ghetto. On every side were people of hisrace, talking the language in which his mother croon- ed him to sleep in his chilhood, not Stealthilyand in hushed voices as they spoke Yiddish in Spring Water, but with perfect indifference, not feeling that they were making themselves eons•picuous. They were at home in the Chicago ghetto almost as much as they had been in the Russian Pale. Absorption in the' sights about him delayed' Emil's search for Mrs. Bloch. He finally hunted up the house. It was a three-storey building. A 'wo- man who emerged from the dark ball, 1 0 The bottleoshortage is acute-^-- *Please return empty beer bottles to your 'nearest are'Werl Retail Store or pho'ne for plj up service yt(hti»T ta:nd3dYJs gC.rt c , C,U ¢ 5 PUBLISHED IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST RY JOHN LAPATT LIMITED ing is Free Pemoeracy' 'Worthwhile? Thissearching (pest -ion ia, Posed by the address• made in Ottawa last week;, by, Percy Philips -news reporter of great ability and, .culture who covered the peace conference after; two wars: Speaking on the. sl1bject; ''In Search of Peace," Mr. Philip was certain that the recent peace conference was much more discouraging than. that . of. 1919. The first conference. was set in .an .at- mosphere of mope and confidence and. .the, belief that free: ,idewcrady would 'become the way of the ,Wgrld. ,• vTy?, The recent confer{was a dog- fight froi the ,beginni " )between dif- ferent if ferent "$ , , m ;s. Y -j ' ys't�ms c , o� went: Free democracy Ts- maintained in only 'few a countriesof the world and many coun- tries with large population maintain that their authoritarian system, with' only one political party allowed and where opposition to the government' 'is considered treason, serves the:, masses of people better. It is true that free democracy prov- ed to be the better way in war time— proved by the valour of our sons ins Students of human nature in .poli battle and the persistence, industry. 'and co-operation of our people at home. Free democracy not only play- ed a large part in the defeat of an authoritarian state but supplied an ror14 W -114r0 Jit is 1trold y iii iv? r $Yf- i!r 4n RU uiseutnilia 1p .and IargFt* 'IawaL pgaitica , ciao),es �a ala4 th . 'a'Plts lin `the $y -ell etie ;s tp„ ' ;rh#lalie Ontailoi aind' 'Uit"tage;T:44 ai2iet a u tuba, aa'a3'intereat4duP:and. jty nQ-.;zn,aaz.? (decisive, The eckground of eagh •00i,i' etituency receives a gtOathleAt. of 'at-` tention in relation;: to: 'the stetaila off` the' vote for the thre13. •pr%ncipal par ` ties. Comments tfi.Rne , 1 •FIy 7.eaderh.( are' considered as statements...af en-: couragement to ;party wark$rs rather than sellouts' opiniozss of the signifi- cance of the vote. , The questions of interest hs Park - dale were: Why a smaller vote when` all parties were better .organized than: in the general election? To what ex-' tent did the striking workers cam— paigning for the. C.C.F. Party help to increase that party's .vote? In- Port- age tke-form>Yu home -ooh )len: -ArthurCanada .aa .'relleeted,j.izt Meighen, *herd did' the Social,'Credit eity. The address, m 151) Goble: vote of $57 In. 1945 go, and,?to what -Ottawa.., extent did Labour Progressive support: ;m, In Canada help the C.C.F. Party? In view of the close vote between the three " major partiesthere is • a strong opinion that the use of the transferable ballet would have elected"` both governmentcandidates but•, this view is by no meansunanimous. terreat on cot a'eziiai# :ides 4441 paT0a To tlxc :war*, P5i41107 '419,0114 will be',perfozlil►ila natio/int serk'ite. YO 4nla No.0034, i, Anderson;, ahighky regarded in Otta�ar. 'there '15 wiled read ihdjpe lt1 matin twin U104..14040 has set. The ;service ie yY:ell;' the subscriptiog puce :oli• to all interested inpOPtical tre: 1 - ei �dia# ,rel informed him that the -Blochs lived on...the third floor, in front. He, went up and rapped.. at the.door. It was opened by a woman of fifty who had been busying herself in the kitchen. "Are you Mrs. Bloch—Rebecca?" Witte asked emphasizing the first name last. "Yes," the woman answered, back- ing her way intd the parlor so as to be able to discern thevisitor's face better. •"I'am Aaron's son—Emile," he in- troduced himsel. 'He held out his hand. But the woman did• not take it. She gazed at his face and 'seemed unable to And words. She finally managed to speak: "You are—Emil, the little Emits-- Aaron's mil=Aaron's and Masha's son?" Witte nodded stupidly. He was moved by the peculiar twitching of the muscles in the woman's face. She took• his hand and pulled him over to herself as if he were a small boy, and kissed his cheeks. "Why, child," she gasped as her eyes filled with, a haze. "I raised you. I carried you in my arms as an. infant. But • you don't, remember me. I left for America when you were only two years old." She began to ply him with questions about his parents, tender, inmost questions. Emil felt ashamed for hav- ing prized his relationship to this- wo- man so Iittle but an hour before. Mr. Bloch '"appeared to be ofthe same age as Emil's father and had known Aaron Witte since boyhood. He "knew" Emil in an instant. "I could recognize him among thou- sands," he said, not without pride in• .his own keenness. "Yhy, he is the p4ture of Aaron." The Blochs had twomarried chil- dren. The others, a boy of Emil's age and a girl of seventeen, were still living with them. The boy, Sam, took an immediate liking to his second cousin. After the evening meal the Blochs insisted that Witte go at once with Sam and move Itis things. They could not permit Emil td stay with strang- ers. trangers. On the way to the Van Buren street rooming -house Sam confided, to Emil his ambitions. He was a cutter in a cloak shop. This was nota bad trade in itself, better than his father's who wasa presser' in a sweatshop. But he was ambitious. He was taking up a night cou'r'se and 'would seen be a de- signer. .' Mrs. Bloch and •.her husband mean- time were discussing Witte's occupa- tion. The husband spoke of it with high respect. His only regret was that Aaron's boy, as he referred to Emil, did not write in Yiddish so that he could read his articles, To have a writer In the family was no small honor. "And, is the boy very learned?" Re- becca asked. "Learned?" Mr. Bloch exclaimed. 'Why the boy is what might be com- pared to a great rabbi—been' through a university! Only ` his /learning, you understand, is different' from that of a rabbi.' It concerns itself with other Matters, worldly learning." Mrs. Bloch listened to her husband and her heart melted. "What is there to marvel at?" Boch said. "You know what a head Aaron had on. him. If it bad not been for bis great live for Masha" he would have been a rabbi, one of„the pillaxs of Israel now." And then they talked of things .more than a generation old, until Witte, accompanied by Sam, who was carrying his suitcase, came back. R.ebecda' kept plying Emil with questions. She even asked him to re- count his ocean voyage. "Foolish woman," her husband chid- ed hut' good naturedly. "He did' not come from the old. world yesterday. He has been, here thirteen years. He must have long forgotten his ocean voyage. But Erbil remenibered, his ocean voy- age and 'described it minutely to Re- becca. He rdballed a thousand things which he had never thought of in all the years he had been in the new i world... , .. i He took delight in re- nteinberitig'these things,, 1 -• .(Continued, Net Week)- - tics are studying the results carefully and trying to gauge the extent to which the election reflects the unset- tlement of post-war rational action. from motives of enlightened ` self.in- terest. The percentage vote was: Pardale 35-32-28; Portage, 40-35-25 for Progressive - Conservatives, - Liberals and C.C.F. Parties respectively. The Peace Tower Last week saw the first issue of a new non-partisanindependent weekly. tabloid size newspaper—with the stat- ed objective of "interpreting ,Ottawa to Canada weekly." The first issue carries the endorse- ment of Canada's ;principal party lead.. ers with the Prime Minister's letter' featuring the front page. Mr. King wrote "Free and •representative, gov- ernment depends upon an informed public opinions. In a country of the size and diversity of Canada, it, is not ,easy to provide full and accurate' in - Tax reductions f in Canada • started. less than one year "after the war e%t?d- ed. ,After World War X •*zee vt+e e ''increased by 60 per cent. The strike la the steel industry i e- -.used production of steel to the 'levet of 1939. Thia is, exactly) half of .Can- ada's new capacity. WHEN IN TORONTO Make Year Hose 3intti fir:•�� 0 II1 1 !1 LOCATED es wide SPADINA AVE.. A! College %WI RATES", llegis $1.50- $5.50 Davide $2.50-;$7.00 Writej or Felder We' Advise ElyResert i A WHOLE DAYS 510HT-SI:1514O UMW WAL[NO DISTA E r• • A.11. N0�4 Ihrd�.ell . . elte Siolor altar gives yoU so much Local News every day! In Toronto and throughout Ontario, Globe and Mail new reporters and special corres- pondents cover the news for you .. bring you up-to-the-minute, "on -the -spot" reports. And, in •The Globe and Mail, you get' the news first .... early in the morning! Keep in touch with the news of "your town." Enjoy' Pitching Horseshoes" with Billy Rose ... Dofy Skaith's "On The Town" with its wide appeal to the gentler sex . . . Jim Coleman's timely sport news ... and all the friends that greet you in the lively columns of The •Globe and Mail! j`o, U FEATURE FOR FEATURE . YOUR 8ES1 NEVrSPAi Ei , S' iI