The Huron Expositor, 1972-08-31, Page 2n the Years
Agorae
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Su ai and Spice
by Bill Smiley
mositore
Since 1860, Serving the Community First
Published at SEAVORTH., ONTARIO, every Tt4rsday morning by MeLEAN Publishers Ltd.
ANDREW Y. MCLEAN, Editor . •
Member Canadian. Weekly Newspaper Association
Ontario Weedy Newspaper Association
and Audit Bureau of Circulation
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SEAFORTH, CNTARIO, August 31, 1972
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A place in life's procession
We tend to be cynical from the door," prOvides
about everything these the worker with the price-
days, and what is called, less knowledge that he is
rather contemptuously,the a necessary strand in the
"work ethic" has come in total fabric of the life •
for its share of abuse. around him:
It's stupid to believe 'Ask any invalid, any
there is any inherent vir- unemployed person, 'any t
tue in labor," the line ,oldster what they miss;.
goes: "leisure is the though they'll.phrase it
thing--the more of it the differently it will,a1-
better." Labor Day is a most certainly be the
good time to question this sense that they are now
assumption. outside the mainstream of
Automation, fortunately society, onlookers rather
has removed a great deal than a part of it. Cur-
of drudgery and saved us, rently a great deal of
colledtively, an immense thought and money is going
amount of time, but work into an-attempt to help
haS tremendous human value them recover their sense
that no amount of leisure of worth
can replace:. ' ; , Leisure is precious,
.Even in-a.highly spec- but it is the icing of
ialized,\mpc4anical so-. life, not its solid food.
ciety, where •one's role Working 'to get ahead" in
is to provide only.a part. the .old competitive sense
--often a tinyiDart--of may have lost its motivat-
some process.; rather than ing.power, but work that
sharing in,.:the whole oper-. secures one a place in
ation,, a jab has impor- . what Kahlil Gibran calls
tance that far transcends "life's processjon" is as
the pay cheque, It "keeps 'valid a value as it ever
the wolf of insignificance was. .(contributed)
From My Window
— By Shir•ley J. Keller
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SEPTEMBER 3, 1897
The August make of butter at- the
Londesboro factory has been sold at 18
cents per pound.
Chas. Isaac of Stephen Township did
a goo'd day's threshing for Chas. Harvey
of "UsbOrne,havirg threshed in eight and a
half hours, 1100 bushels, the product of
35 acres.,
wm. Ross of the 8th Concession of
McKillop, shipped a car load of fat cattle
to the' Old Country. These cattle,,were
fed by Mr. Ross himself and were a fine
lot.
Charles Willis, son pf Robert Willis
of town, has secured a position as teacher
in the Renfrew Public School and left
CO Monday to assume his duties.
Among the names of successful candi-
dates at 'the recent examinations, we
notice that of Miss Tillie Fowler, who
has secured, a second class certificate
having• passed Form 1, Form 2, part
1, and Form III.
The barn and stable of John, Mow-
bray of Walton was destroyed by fire.
The barns contained most of the sea-
son's crop including a load or wheat
which had been cleaned and ready to
take to market, also all the farm imple-
ments.
Once again the citizens of town
were( aroused by the death disturbing
strains of the fire alarm. The fire was
located at the Agricultural Hall on the•
grounds of the Tiickersmith Branch Agri-
cultural Society. When the firemen arrived
the place was in flame,s. The roof of
Mrs. Hammil's residence and also that of
Mr. Copp's stable caught from sparks.The
fire was undoubtedly the work of an .
incendiary.
Messrs. Scott Brothers, Music
dealers, had a %ice driving pony die of
inflammation.
Messrs. T.R.F.Case and Co. imported
from Paris, a car load of ice to be used
in their refrigerator at the packing house.
The shop formerly 'occupied by the
Sun Printing Office is being fitted up in
fine style for a barber shop for 'P.
Mulcahey.
The town council have issued notices
offering a reward of $75 for such infor-
mation as will lead to the detection and
connection of the parties who have caused
the late fires in the town.
SEPTEMBER 1st, 1922'
WM. Finlayson of Kippen, who was
always a successful student, intends enter-
ing the Normal School at London.
Miss Mabel Turnbull of town sang a
solo "Open the' Oates of the Temple" In
First Presbyterian Church and Miss Etta
McKay sang "My Faith Looks Up to Thee".
, The trustees of. S,S.No. 10 Stanley
have given the contract for building their
new brick school to Messrs. E. Dinnen
and Wm. Bristow, seaforth. The old
fr ame school was uilt 47 years ago by
Mr. Dinnen's father.
Mr. Kerr of Seaforth, has been en-
gaged as teacher for the continuation
class at Hensall. •
. Chas. Stewart, of Los Angeles, Calif.
called on Seaforth friends. For .a number
of years he was leader of the • 33rd '
Battalion Band in qeaforth, when the
band was one of the best known musical
organizations in, Western Ontario.
at the evening service.
Mrs. Snell and Miss Margue'rita left for
Collingwood where Miss. Snell has accepted
a position of classical teacher in the
Collingwood Collegiate.
Miss Mary Modeland left for C.hesley
where. she will be in the millineri business.
Miss 'Helen McMann'and Irene Car- •
bett leave shortly to take a course of
training in St. Marys Hospital, Detroit.
• While playing over Kincardine's Golf '
Course, Rev, D. Ritchie of Crontarty
established a new record for the course
his Score . being 33 for the nine Poles.
Ross McGregor of Constance has
returned after spending two weeks at
Bruce Beach.
SEPTEMBER 5th,1947
H. E. Smith disposed of the westerly
of the two brick residenceshe recently
erected on James Street, opposite the
Sc'ott Memorial Hospital to Alex Skow-
oski, who recently purchased the Tasty
Grill. He also sold a frame residence
on Chalk St. to John Aubin of Brucefield.
Winthrop school opened with the
teacher, Mrs. John Kellar in charge.
The new .pupils are Kenneth Davidson
and Paul Glanville.
Glenn Haase and family have moved
from London to Mr. Laithwaite's house
on the 8th concession and is working in
the chopping mill.
Foster Fowler will be the teacher
in S.S.No. 6 McKillop. The' following
pupils started in Grade I. Gloria Boyd,
Edith Boyd, Sandra Doig, Fergus
Jantzi, Billy Murray and Jimmie Sloan.
A severe electrical storm resulted
in a transformer, located, on Railway '
Street being blown out, according to W.
V. Brown, P.U.C. manager.
Twenty-five members of the Staffen
family gathered at the Lions Park.
The Bell family reunion was' held
at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chas.
Stephen when, over sixty members were
present from Detroit, Dashwo0d, Sea-
forth, St. Marys and Chiselhurst. The
officers elected were: Pres. - Thos.
Drover; Secretary - Wilbur Dining;
Sports Committee - Mr. and Mrs. Reg.
Allen; Mr. and Mrs. Wes. Drover; Mr.
and Mrs.. Wilber. Dilling; table com-
mittee - Mrs. Dave McLean; Mrs. A.
Houston, Mrs. Earl Watson. Supper
was served in' the shed when a. heavy
hail and rain storm passed over at the
supper hour. '
On Labor Day sixteen bewlersatten-
ded the big Elora Tournainent: E. H.
Close, Jack Hotham, M. McKellar and
Chas. Barber, Fred Johnston, W. T.
Teall, Reg. Henderson and J. MacDonald;
Lorne pale„ Bev. Christie, John Beattie
and Gee. Johnston; H. E. Smith, R.' J.
Winter, George Hays and Gee. Charters.
Being the baby in a family is
quite a responsibility for a small child.
It takes considerable time and patience
an the' part of a child .to make his mother
and father feel saddled with a clinging,
defenceless tot and at the same time,
lead one's Own life.
Our youngest child has learned the
fine art of being babied without being
controlled. At six years old, he's a
wise young man with the wisdom of a
sage when it comes, to handling his
parents.
For the bile of the day, our boy
is self-sufficieht. 'He makes his own
peanut butter and jam sandwiches, spills
his own milk, bathes himself, entertains
himself, crosses the street 14 himself,
shops by himself.
But for an hour or so each day, he
devotes his time to us - his doting par-
ents. He works at making us feel wanted
and needed - and' totally frustrated. He
seems to know that paxerits would die
without 'that kind of aggravation.
Take last evening for an example.
Everyone was retiring for the night. I
had settled into bed with a good book.
My husband was just re laxing at "my
side, content with the world and 'every-
thing in it,
Then our youngest appeared on the
Scene. He had other ideas for the night.
'ahead and it wasn't, ion g before he let
With the best intentions in the world
to do so , I never quite get around to
answering all my mail. There always
seems to be' some. domestic or other
crisis that interferes.
In almost every case, the letters I
get are both friendly and interesting.
The exceptions are business letters and
1?ill collectors. Form letters and, pro-
'Motional letters I don't even read: just
tear them once across and toss into
the logical depository - the• garbage, pail.
Anyway, this column seems to get
around quite a bit, and the letters pile
up, and I keep making new• resolutions
to answer them and the pile keeps grow-
ing. If my wife would leave me for a
month, and I worked eight hours a day, I
could clean them all up and start a new
life, relieved of guilt•and shame.
Just to give you an idea, here's a
cross-sampling. Just got a card from
The Bobsey Twins, Regina and Kath.
Postmark: Venice. 'They're two former
students. When they were in Grade 13,
and I couldn't find a boy 'to clean up
the estate, they took it on., and did the
best job I've ever had done. Unlike boys,
who don't get into the , corners, they
Crawled into the bushes and dragged out
leaves with their bare hands. They gar-,
nered forty plastic'garbage bags of leaves
and twigs.. I gave them their pay 'and
an illegal beer and we've been buddies
ever since. According to the card,
they've covered seven countries in three
weeks and are now heading for Spain.
PooT old Madrid.
Here's a letter from R. F. Stedman,
County Wicklow, Eire. An excerpt:',Your
column holds for me a note of sanity in
a mad world and ranks in my mind with
Greg Clark." Double thanks, R. F.
Greg Clark Is alma AIR tiers above me,
but I appreciate the sentiment. Mr. Sted-
man went to High school with my older
brother and sister.
Just grabbed another one from the
us know his plans..
With large, woeful eyes that looked
as though ,big tears would spill out any
second, our youngest edged onto thebed
• and announced hiS pitiful plight.
"I want to sleep with you, mommy,"
My husband didn't stir. In shock,
perhaps.
With the , determination of a Sherman
tank, our son pushe his way into the
bed beside me and be his campaign.
"I' never get to eep with you,
mommy," he wailed. " eddy's always
here. why can't he sleep' in ray bed and
I'll sleep here with you?"
My husband still did not move or open
his eyes. I waited. Not a sign he was
even alive.
"How be," I told my son, "I'd go
sleep in your bed and you can sleep here
with Daddy?"
Still no attention from my husband.
"No," came the quick reply. "I
want to sleep with you."
Not a muscle rippled in the' body
beside me.
"I remember when I wanted to sleep
with my mother," I began. "That isn't so
unusual. It is really only for one night
and maybe we should .. .."
Without a"word, my husband got up
and as thOugh defeated froin the begin-
ning, he made the, trek to our son's
bedroom. I heard the bed squen:klas he
heap. Holy smokes, it's dated Feb., 1971.
Thomas A. Smith, Rouleau, Sask. He
noticed a refegence in the column to
Calumet Island, in the Ottawa River,
where my mother was born. He was
born there too and remembers Smileys
in Shawville, Que., where my dad once
ran a store. It's a long, interesting
letter from a real oldtimer who went
west in 1910, at the age of 17, went
overseas in World War .1. Mr. E'mith,
I hope you are well, though you must
be •80, and I'll' write a proper letter.
Here's another,, from White Plains,
New York. Holy* Old Hughie! Dated
June 24th, 1969. It's from A. Leslie
Hill, Captain, Army Nurse Corps, U.S.
Army Reserve (retired). Born in Fergus,
Ont., three score years ago, graduate
of Kingston (Ont.) General Hospital,
served in World War II „and Korea,' and
read my column to a group of Negroes
in the laundry room. How about that?
Letter 'ends, "Thanks for your column,
dull or not."
. Here's a self-addressed envelope from
Mr's. Walter E. Dorsett, Smiley, Sask.
But I can't find the letter. And another
one from Gordon Fairgrieve, publisher
of the Observer, Hartland, N.B. He has
a subscriber called, Bill Smiley, who lives
In Massachusetts, and asks.. that I drop
him a line. I will, Bill and Gordon.
A note from G. R. McCrea, publisher
of the Herald, Hanna, Alta. He agrees
it's a mad, mad world, has been forty
years in the newspaper "game", started
at $5-a week, and recalls with nostalgia:
"For $5 , In those idays you could take
your best girl to the local dance, buy a
mickey of ret-gut rye, and still have
money enough to• buy the gal a lunch at
midnight, and some left over for a package
of roll-your-owns on Monday. Boy, was
that ever livin'." Thanks, G. R., for a ,
grand letter.
From a lady in Bowmanville. She
• Slid into it.
"Oh dear'," I •thought as I turned
out the light arid' prepared for sleep
with my baby.
In less time than it takes to 'tell
you', my son had had his fill of sleeping
"with mommy. Whatever grand slumber-
ing dreams he'd had were gone, and• he
was crawling out of my bed.
"I'm not sleepy," he explained. "I'm
going downstairs to get ,some milk."
"Aren't you going to sleep with mom-
my?" I asked, afraid to hear his answer.
"None," he answered. "I'm going
to sleep in my own bed." .
. "Honey," I called to mrhusband,
in my sweetest voice. "Don't get too
comfortable. You can't sleep there.
You'll have to come back here."
'The muttering • from the other end
of,,. the house grew to a rumble and the
rumble became a roar.
"If you '...think 'I'm going to spend
the night trailing back and forth between
beds in my own house, you're mistaken,"
he shouted, "Make up your mind where
you want me to sleep will you?"
As I tucked our little son into his
own bed, he grinned at me. "This is the
• best bed. That's why dad wanted to stay
in here isn't it?"
How do you explain something like
that to a six-year-old3
a te.
thanks me for my salute to the house-
wife, and has some good advice: "I
have learned, slowly, never criticize
what someone's doing unless you have •
tried it yourself." And it turns out
the lady lived next door for eight years
to the lady who wrote me a beautiful
letter from New Zealand.
In a column this summer, I com-
pared my wife to that bird, the flicker.
Ron Cumming writes from 'Port Elgin,
comparing husbands to bobolinks. "Before
marriage, the bobolink has a beautiful,
slick, yellow-striped suit and sings a
mate-enticing Bobo-link-a-link-a-link.
,After marriage, in late summer, he
dresses in '-difIT brown, and his song is
merely a dull 'clunk'. As a middle-aged
hubby, I keep seeing• a parallel."
Woops! It's not all sweetness and
light4 Just reached and, read two
letters giving me hell. I must have,
written-a snarly column about teenagers
back in '1970, for one of the letters is
dated then. One is from a teenager,
unsigned, blasting me in no uncertain
terms. The other is from a senior
citizen, , Mrs. Jessie Slater of Brace-
bridge. One pungent comment: "You
must be a DagwoOd at home, and a
rotten father. How else could you have
such a mixed-up family?" Well, Mrs.
Slater, my mixed-up daughter happens
to be living in Bracebridge right now,.
and I've a.. good notion to call and tell
her to go over and give you a good punch
in the nose.
I'm kidding, Mrs. Slater. Kim wouldn't
step on an ant, if she ,could avoid It. She's
a delightful, compassionate,-beautiful and • intelligent young woman, who is no more
mixed-up than you or I.
And PM no /5agivOod. When t put Iffy
foot down around here ... I break a toe.
Well, all I wanted to say was that
you meet a lot, of interesting people in
this business.
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