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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1940-02-29, Page 7THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE TIIIWAY, FEBRUARY .IpjO A MATTER OF CHEER Just wliat is the essential differ­ ence between optimism and pessi­ mism. Today, we rise with music in th'e soul, light-hearted, energetic, smil­ ing and blissfully cheerful. Tomorrow we rouse from sleep slowly; the air seems dull and heavy; cares weigh heavily on our minds; we are dull and apathetic, even harried and worried. Just what is the essential thing which one day lifts our minds u. the heights of ^happiness and the next day lowers it *to. the depths of dullness? Perhaps, if you will recall, when we are feeling best, we are filled with purpose to accomplish some­ thing - the business man finds the possibility of a biggei’ deal a whet­ stone on his brain, the wife finds the task of buying new clothing a sharpener of the appetite for enjoy­ ment. The thing ahead, the possibilities of the new and untried, the upward forward look seems to supply the motive power just as the absence of a look ahead seems to drivel and shivel the soul. We reach the conclusion that too much thought devoted to things as they are, and too little imagination employed in picturing the things as we want them to be dulls the souls of more people than all other causes combined. A cataloguing of all the petty troubles of one day would make a volume of stupendous proportions. A reading of this volume would set the mind to imagining what would happen if this one ddy’s worries were to be duplicated every day for a year. And lo before we know it we picture a year’s troubles for tomorrow. It makes no difference to us that these troubles rarely ever material­ ize - we think they will, and the ef­ fect upon us is the same. Is it asking too much of oneself to catalogue the good things and view them as a whole - with the possibility of firing the imagination so that it pictures for tomorrow a wealth and treasure of happiness? Your mind will do it if you direct it. * * •* Part of the cure is wanting to be cured. * * * other day?” The salesman said he would, and would the girl please give back his card. iShe looked at him, scarcely believing her ears. "That’s a very fine engraved card,” he said, "I can use it again. My firm spends a lot of money for these cards.” "But,” the girl said indignantly, "I left the card on Mr. White’s desk and I can’t disturb him akain.” "Very well, then, give me two cents. That’s what the card costs,” The girl’s eyes almost popped out of her head. Nobody had ever in­ structed her what to do in such a circumstance. She turned on her heel and disappeared. In a few moments she returned and - said: "Mr. White will see you.” And the salesman, winking broadly, entered Mr. White’s office. WHAT IS COTTON? Cotton is the overcoat, of a seed that is planted and grown in the Southern States to keep the produc­ er broke and the buyer crazy. The fiber varies in color and weight and the man who can guess the nearest the length of a fiber is called a cotton man by the public, a fool by the farmer and a poor­ businessman by his creditors. The price of cotton is fixed in New York and goes up when you have sold and down when you have bought, A buyer working for a group of mills was sent to New York to watch the Cotton Market and after a few days’ deliberation wired his firm to this effect: “Some think it will go up, some think il will go down. I do too, whatever you do will be wrong. Act at once.” Cotton in planted in the spring, mortgaged in the summer and left in the field in the winter. There are other definitions — but none better.* * * VALUE OF PUBLICITY "Advertisers,” said the architect, “ought to keep on advertising. Who were the two men who made the first successful trans-Atlantic flight in an airplane? I’ll bet you have for­ gotten them. Did I say advertisers ought to keep on advertising? I meant must.”• • ♦ I eat peas with honey I’ve done it all my life It makes the peas taste funny But the peas stick on my knife. * * * 1 JI.................................J!, !!! II! T TH R T A ItjL JL VJf JhL JL JRIl JLX ..-...!."'!! ..................■■■»■.................................................... Two months of solid winter. > ******** This terrible war drags on. Every day we hear of some new irritation or of some aggravation of discontent already existing. Hardly a ray of hope for the ending of the strife pierces the heavy clouds that hang over us. Human effort in the way of peace never seemed more futile. ******** DESERVED RECOGNITION Word comes that some interested parties have given a banquet to truck drivers who had no serious accidents in 1939. This is as it should be. This thing of hanging people for murder or fining them for car accidents, is not to be compared with rewarding the life- savers and the careful drivers. ******** SUDDEN CHANGES Last Sunday afternoon the main roads in the southern portions of the province left little to be desired as far as motoring is concerned. By midnight these roads were blocked to the point of impassability. And there you are. For two months motoring on the side roads of the province has been precarious if not impossible while up to Christmas these roads were about the best for motoring that we I have ever seen, We do not lack for variety in this fair province. * ****** * NOT THE THING We’re sorry about that incident in the Toronto hotel in which a band of soldiers invaded a beverage room and smashed up the furni­ ture. We await with interest the outcome of the investigation of the disorder. Not for many a day have we heard of such an incident. Our soldiers are a remarkably well behaved, orderly class of men enjoying the respect and confidence of their fellow citizens. An inci­ dent of this sort creates grave misgivings and’ is likely to alienate the sympathy and practical helpfulness of many citizens. However, the case will be cleared uj> and the military will see that no more such events transpire. ******** % LIFE’S OTHER SIDE As we linger in the harness shop we heard a customer saying “they’re selling out old Ted next Friday.” We left the shop thinking. We recall old Ted’s early days. He was the heir to a good farm and to some money. It got into his head that his father was rather slow in his business methods, a fault that x he proceeded to correct as far as speed is concerned. Soon we heard of debts, debts, and then more debts. Well, he’s to be sold out and the old chap sees nothing .ahead but the old age pension. Last summer one of his sons had a job at 40 cents an hour but gave it up. He said, he did not like to ibe tied down. He told us that a young man should have a good deal of time to see the world and to engage in sports-. It’s a great world, my masters. ******** FROM SCENES LIKE THESE We came across an interesting scene one day this week. We were making a call at a farm and found the lady of the house com­ ing in from the bayn in full farmerette outfit. "Yes, I’ve been at it all day. We got the turnips, in from the pit this forenoon (the ther­ mometer registered 20 degrees) Bill has to be away this afternoon so I’m doing the barn work.” The youngsters were coming in from school one by one and conversation took that turn. “Jack, Oh, he’s in the seventh Grade. He’ll have one more year in the public school. We’ve be'en saving up to get him through High School. Wasn’t it plain old John Knox who said, “Ilka sholdar in the land means some­ thing for the stability of the commonwealth?” Just think of what this woman is doing for her native land. No toil is too severe for her if the toil means the education and the general welfare of her chil­ dren. We’d like to. know what that boy’ll be doing 25 years from now. • ******** NECESSITY A GREAT FRIEND ....................... „ ..... N,l. .................. ...,i,. ......... "I was just saying how forgetful husbands are . • • LOHIG DISTANCE . . . and put me to shame!” A 300- mile station-to-station call after 7 p.m. (and all day Sunday) usually costs no more than a couple of movie tickets. With rates that low, a fellow can easily keep in touch with his family when he’s away from home. Why not call them up . . . tonight?GEO. W. LAWSON Manager. The best part of courtesy is tol­ eration. * * * We owe a great debt to our Pil­ grim ancestry — and the best thing about the indebtedness is that we will never be obliged to repay it. ■ ,* * * Noblesse Oblige If I am weak and you are strong, Why then, why then, To you the braver deeds belong; And so again, If you have gifts and I have none, If I have shade and you have sun, ’Tis yours with freer’,hand to give,. /Tis yours with truer grace to live, Than I, who giftless, sunless, stand With barren life and hand. ’Tis wisdom’s law, the perfect code, By love inspired; Of him on whom much is bestowed Is much required. The tuneful throat is bid to sing, The oak must reign the forest’s king The rustling stream the wheel must move, The beaten steel its strength must prove, ’Tis givfen upto the eagle’s eyes To face the midday skies. —Carlotta Perry. * * * HE SAW HIS MAN We like the story of the sales­ man who, in calling on a prospect, handed in his -card at the informa­ tion window. The girl returned presently and said, “Mr. White is busy. Will you call again some A Help To Those Past Middle Age When men and women get past middle age their energy and activity, in many instances, begin to decline, and their general vitality is on the wane. Little sicknesses and ailments seem harder to shake .off than formerly, and, here and tliere, evidences of a breakdown begin to appear, Now is the time when those who wish to maintain their health and vigor, and retain their energy un* impaired should take a course of Milburn’S Health and Herve Pills. They brace up and invigorate the system, and help stall oft the decrepi­ tude of advancing years. The T. Milbum Co., Ltd., Toronto, Ont. SIMPLICITUDES —a genius is a fool who succeeds — a fool'is a genius who fails. —a good loser is a bad sport — he takes away half the joy of winning from the victor. —vacant minds and vacant lots — both gather rubbish. —we all crave affection — yet most of us refrain from giving it. *J * * Fully sixty persons in the world have died since you began reading this column — today. * * * Oscar Wilde once wrote,—— 'Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. And unselfishness is letting other people’s livps alone, not interfering i with them. “Selfishness always aims at cre­ ating around it an absolute uni­ formity of type. Unselfishness rec- orgnizes infite variety of type as a delightful thing, accepts it, ac­ quiesces in it, enjoys it.”* * * INVENTIONS Every time a new invention is ex­ ploited, upgets some “me, too” and shows us the same egg in his own incubator ■—■ unhatched Inventions are usually the result of many trials and experiments. And usually many experimenters are working toward the same objective. As in any speed trial, the first one under the wire is the recognized winner; but the also vans often re­ fuse to abide by the decision. They take it to court. The invention of the telescope was claimed by many. Litigation .over Daimler and Selden patents for a gas engine was strung out for years. Bell and Gray warred over the discovery of the telephone, Two besides Edison claimed to have or­ iginated the phonograph. .Beach and Wheatstone were dival claimants of. the typewriter. Photography was in­ vented three times in .1839 by Da­ guerre, Niepce and Talbot. No oiie head contain ALL THE GOOD IDEAS on any subject. In­ ventions may spring from several sources. It is the first person to secure a patent who is the nominal inventor.* * * Thinking up a last line. - Week after week Is much like a child’s game Of hide and seek. —the colonel We have just come in from a conversation with a director of a cheese and butter factory that has just had its sixtieth annual meet­ ing. We are not going into the figures for this year’s make, only to say that the poundage runs away into the hundred thousand pounds. For the first year., the make was about 60' pounds. “How did the factory come to get started?” we asked. "Money was very scarce,” was the reply. “The potash industry had vanished from the locality. Coal was displacing wood on the roalroads. We could not get money for our farm produce. We felt that the dealers were beating us both going and coming. One man in these circumstances got word that we might sell cheese in the old country and a few put their wits and their energies together and we got our little factory started. We have had a deal of trial and error in our efforts, but we are running nicely now. You asked how we came to get going. Well, it was necessary that we should. Like the fox climbing the tree when the dogs were after him, we had to.” ******** X 1 CAN WE PAY THE PRICE? Can we pay the price of progress? For instance, those new roads are not all gain. They are terribly costly to build. Every year is showing mounting costs in upkeep. And now a new difficulty has emerged in their being kept open. As one blacksmith told us “I’m through with sleigh-building. I’m - practically through with horseshoeing. The cars have driven out both of these industries.” Electricity has driven out the chopping and feed-grinding business, but at a very considerable outlay of money. What a great many farmers are asking is, “Will the soil sustain the new demands upon it?” One farmer told us something like this, “I recall the day when a farmer was thought of as being in a precarious financial position if his .farm were heavily mortgaged. It’s not that way now.” Only yesterday one farmer was glad to lend to his neighbor, taking land for the security. Now the money-lending is done only through the large corporations, reluctantly at that. Rural Canada has many a convenience, but each one of them comes high. Such good things are just the thing. The farmer deserves them if anyone does. - Of course the matter of the price must be considered. Can we raise it? SHIPKA Next .Sunday being missionary day in the Sunday School, instructions will be given. Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Pickering are the proud parents of a baby boy on the 23rd of February. Crediton Y.P.IS. visited our society on Tuesday evening last and provid­ ed a very interesting program. The Ladies’ Aid held a quilting bee on Thursday of this week at the home of Mrs. Wm. Sweitzer. The reguar meeting of the Ladies’ Aid will be held Thursday, March 7 th at the home of Mrs. Ed. Lam­ port at 2 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Keyes, Miss Pearl Keyes attended thg. funeral of the late Mrs. John Keyes, of Hen­ sail last Friday. Miss Nola Sweitzer, nurse-in-train­ ing at Victoria Hospital, London, spent the week-end at her home here. Mrs. R. Neil has returned to her homo at Brinsley after a week’s visit with her parents,. Mr. and Mrs. Ma­ jor Baker. Mr. and Mrs. Norman Kleinfeldt, of Crediton, and Mr. and Mrs. Edvin Ergerett of Greenway, were Sunday visitors at the homo of Mr. and Mrs. E. Keyes. The Wrong Hand - There Is Always A Reason If You Search For It. [ On the opening day of the mid- I year semester, John Stewart Black­ ing a famous professor in a boys’ school, asked all boys who had note­ books to raise their right hand. One chap raised his left hand. And the Professor said, somewhat louder: “All who have notebooks please raise their RIGHT hand.” And again the same boy put up his left. The professor then shouted: You boy, there, Hold Up Your RIGHT Hand, Not Your Left.” The boy murmured something but still kept up his left hand. The professor was now furious and tactlessly said: "You stubborn fool put down that left hand and hold up your right.” This time the boy obeyed, but he held up only a stump, for his right hand had been cut off. Professor Blacking was very kind- hearted underneath his gruffness and was so distressed at his own stubbornness that he rushed down and put his arm around the boy and apologized to him. H ^o^e^4...B0RR0WERS Like ploughing and harvesting, the need to borrow for productive pur­ poses occurs with the seasons. There are numerous purposes for which you may wish to borrow: to meet seed and harvesting expenses; to purchase fertilizer and equipment; to purchase and feed live stock or to finance shipments of livestock, poul­ try or other farm produce to market; or to undertake farm improvements under the Home Improvement Plan. The manager of our branch nearest you will understand your seasonal needs and be glad to receive your application for a loan. Ask for our booklet, ‘'The Farmer and His Bank’ BANK OF MONTREAL ESTABLISHED 1817 Exeter Branch: W. H. MOISE, Manager "A BANK WHERE SMALL ACCOUNTS ARE WELCOME1* ...............................................,,,.............r,........... , .............................. . ................... ......... jib