Clinton News-Record, 1971-12-16, Page 44 Clinton News-Record, Thursday, OaCernber 11, 1971
commott
A time for symbols
Christmas! -- that sparkling jewel in the
long winter's cold-- is a day when words
are not enough. To capture its glow and
its potential we have to resort to songs
and symbols, for this is the day of the
heart.
What does it mean? Watch the face of a.
small child as a little voice pipes, "Away
in a Manger, no crib for a bed" smell the
tangy fragrance of mince pies and cookies
as preparations are made for a grand
family reunion. These delightful sights
and sounds and odors provide a partial
clue.
But Christmas is much, much more. It
is a rapping at the door of our spirits, a
call (unless we deaden it with a surfeit of
things), to our warmest and best actions.
It is a time to remember that life, with all
its shadows and frustrations, is
wonderfully good, a gift to be savoured
and appropriated no matter what our
circumstances.
It is a time to marvel at the mystery of
a snowflake--"What heart could have
wrought you, Q filigree petal"--to enjoy
the blue shadows that lie across the drifts,
to appreciate the sturdy evergreen
standing straight against the wind. It is a
time to worship and to revel in the joyful
carols the cradled Babe has inspired over
the centuries.
At Christmas let us be grateful for the
past and let us giVe ourselves to the
future. Technological accomplishments
are useful and impressive, but is the
human values that give life quality and
depth. This well-loved interlude calls us to
a new respect for ourselves and for those
other selves, who, with us, shape or share
this chapter of the human story.
Christmas is L-O-V-E
Into this world,, long ago, came a Man
of humble birth. Born in a stable when his
land seemed without hope, when terror
walked in some quarters, and there
weren't enough jobs to go around. The
people were downhearted...
His time was much like ours. His time
was like all ages before and since.
The joys of His people were His. So
were their fears and sorrows.
He was not a wealthy man. He was not
a profiteer. He did some carpentry. Some
have since claimed He was a failure at the
age of 33.
,He went around talking of love,
compassion, urging action against social
injustice, helping the sick and needy. He
was a man of action.
He taught that we are all children of
God. He was a simple man. Yet He
changed the world.
Christmas. Its true meaning lies in Him.
He brought hope, a hope based on
simplicity, on the things around Him and
in his experiences; a hope that led to
belief, that led to conviction.
Conviction? Yes, conviction that God,
the Giver of life, the Originator of the
universe, is alive and well...that only
through people with His convictions could
Chaos be ended and Orderliness brought
about. He was committed to the belief
that only through active L-O-V-E could
this come about.
—Contributed
•
Whoever heard of bubble pipes
Who cares about a fashion show when there are dolts around. This
little girl isn't to the age yet where clothes are the important part.
She turned her, back on the fashions being shown on stage at the
Legion -Hall on Monday and was more interested in a decorated
doll. About 300 women from all over the county attended the
day.
THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-RECORD
Established 1865 1924 Established 1881 ' , •
Clinton News-Record
A member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association,
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit Bureau
of Circulation "(ABC)
second class mail
registration number -- 0817
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KEITH W. ROULSTON — Editor
• J. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager
Published every Thursday at
the heart of Huron County
Clinton, Ontario
Population 3,475
tHE HOME
OF RADAR
Never fails. Had barely
written a column extolling the
grand, mild weather we'd been
having, when the wind came out
of the north with a bone in his
teeth, and the snow flew, and
the car and I both started
coughing.
And almost before I'd begun
rueing the writing of such a jinx
column, my wife yelped
something like, "Holy Old
Whackers! It's almost
Christmas." And sure enough, it
almost is.
Christmas, when we were all
young, was something. There
was looking forward to school
holidays, associated with sleighs
and toboggans and skating and
coming in soaking wet, rosy as a
cherub, hungry as a hyena.
There was the anticipation of
decorating, hanging stockings,
rustling paper, and a vast,
magnificent turkey dinner, a
once-a-year treat. •
Christmas shopping was no
problem. Nobody had any
money. Of course, the agonizing
decisions were there even then.
For adults: should it be
something practical — a new
sweater Or long underwear; or
should it be something magic
and enchanting — a game or a
book? No question of both.
For kids, with maybe 85
hard-earned pennies to spend,
there was no problem. A
bubble-pipe for your brother (10
cents and supply his own soap);
a colouring book for your sister
(15 cents and find her own
crayons; a beautiful cup and
saucer for your mother at 35
cents, and a purple and yellow
tie for you dad, at 25 cents, If
the family were.bigger, you cut
your cloth.
And you did all your
shopping on the day before
Christmas. There 'was never a
frantic thought that the stores
might be sold out of
bubble-pipes or long underwear,
Then there was the symbolic
significance, though we didn't
even know the meaning of either
word then. There was the church
concert, usually held in the
Sunday school hall. There were
games and carols and choirs.
There were the telegrams from
Santa Claus, read aloud
periodically, and. With mounting
excitement, to say that he was
getting closer and closer, from
the North Pole, though Donder
had come up lame. Then the
entry of himself, the wild
clamour, and the dispensing of
those string bags with candy and
an apple in each.
And the Christmas pageant in
the church, the nativity scene,
invariably broken up by a tiny
angel piping, "Hi Mommy.
Looka me. I'm a angel," while
Mommy blushed deeply between
embarrassment and pride.
I still look forward to
Christmas, but there's a
difference. It's about the
difference with which a prisoner
would look forward to (a)
getting out of jail, or (b) going
to the electric chair.
Nowadays we anticipate
Christmas, all right. But what we
look forward to is a hectic,
expensive scramble, with
precious little of the mystery
and delight remaining.
The Christmas turkey is now
just a dirty great bird that has to
be stuffed and then stuffed into
us, and then cleared up after. A
turkey today is not a gruesome,
fascinating thing hanging head
down in the woodshed, by its
claw-like feet. It's just something
you buy and stick in the freezer,
anytime during the year, in case
you have unexpected weekend
guests,
Shopping has changed
immeasurably. The panic button
is pushed about the end of
October and We are warned,
shouted at, and scorned by the
various media until we have a
tremendous guilt feeling if we're
not Christmas shopping by
mid-November.
The agonizing decisions are
Still there, but most people have
Some money now, which
quadruples the decisions. Every
year, at our house, we firmly
decide, about Dec. 1st, that
there will be no gifts or cards
this year. And every year, at the
last minute, we plunge into an
orgy of both and wind up
Christmas Day feeling that we
were right in the first place.
Every year, the big problem is
What To Buy Grandad. It's not
that he is The Man Who Doesn't
Need Anything. He doesn't
smoke or drink. His slippers are
good as new. And he has at least
six shirts in his bottom drawer,
not even unwrapped, bought on
previous desperate birthdays and
Christmases.
• The symbolic significance is
still there, of course. And the
Christmas concerts and pageants,
But what's a bag of candy to a
kid to-day? lie probably
collected eight times that
amount on Hallowe'en, and also
has an allowance, so that he can
buy his own, not that cheap
stuff in the Christmas bag.
And the pageants, more's the
pity, tend to become second
cousins to lashings of liquor,
phoney TV Christmas programs,
and sheer greed: "I wanna
snow-mobile!"
Decorating with Cards
-Can Be Yule Project
When children need a
change from, the toys on
Christmas day, a promising
project could be to let them
see what they can do with
the faintly greeting cards.
Here are some . suggestions
front Jeannette Lee, art di-
rettor for Hallmark,
Tape or staple cards to
lengths of ribbon and hang
them on walls or doors.
Make a Christmas Wreath
by attaching cards to a circle
of cardboard.
"Vrante" cards with con-
struction paper.
Decorate a screen with
cards,
The tie's return
The revival of the custom of
giving neckties as Christmas
presents for men, it says here in
this men's wear column, will
result this year in the
greatest-ever sale of that most
useless item of apparel.
I, myself, last year, was the
recipient of no less than a half
dozen. While the givers were all
apologetic--one said, "It's so
hard to shop for the man who
has nothing"--I'd no trouble
appearing grateful and even
managed to mutter, "Just what I
wanted." What I really wanted
was a Lionel electric train, but
that's another story.
Ties came into disrepute as
gift solutions because of the
cartoonists. Desperate for
Yuletide material, they created
the legend that women-folk
dissolve into hysteria at the
cravat counter. This is
occasionally true, of course, but
not all that funny. As the joke
inevitably faded away women
began once more to find the
answer to their problem in that
department.
The ties that were added to
my collection were, you might
say, in character, being brilliant
of hue and bold of pattern. Two
of them were created by one
Countess Mara who clearly has a
bizarre sense of humor. That was
precisely why I admired them.
I knew that there would
come at least one or more days
in the year when one of these
ties would seem exactly right to
match my disposition or to
demonstrate some transient
defiance of my normally
sloth-like passage through life.
Sure enough, that was the case.
Every man has such moments of
flamboyance, Very often what
he drapes about his neck is his
advertising that he's in the
mood.
Whether we approve or not,
the necktie remains the most
durable symbol of status. While
we hoot at the tradition of the
old school tie or the old
regimental tie most of us select
our haberdashery for a variety of
reasons linked with fantasy and
ego.
Some years back, I recall, a
certain columnist determined
that he would wear the same tie
for an entire year to
demonstrate, as he put it, "that
clothes do not make the man,"
As he anticipated, nobody
noticed. He then promptly went
back to wearing his usual
assortment of ties. Nobody
noticed that, either. Though we
did not have the heart to tell
him, all he'd established was that
he wasn't terribly noticeable,
On the other hand, as those
of you with long memories may
recall, when Britain's Prime
Minister Macmillan appeared in
an historic confrontation with
President, Eisenhower on
television a lively
correspondence ensued in the
Times of London's
letters-to-the-editor columns
concerning the Priree Minister's
choice of ties,
It was described by One critic
"Anybody found feasting
or observing Christmas day
in any way shall pay a fine
of five shillings,"
And so, throughout New
England Pilgrim settlers had
to treat Christmas as just
another working day. Gover-
nor Bradford noted that "no
man rested all day" on De-
cember 25, 1620, say the edi-
tors of Encyclopedia Ameri-
cana.
Today, in the United States
and Canada, Christmas cele-
brations are a colorful blend
of customs from many lands.
The main features of the
holiday festivities are much
the same everywhere--Santa
Claus, Christmas trees, gifts,
greetings, feasting, family
visits, carol singing.
Each of these customs has
its own history, and for the
student of holiday lore and
legend, the fascination lies
in the variety of traditions
brought by settlers from
other lands and assinillated
into what is now a truly
American, or truly Canadian
Christmas.
The custom of the Com-
munity Christmas 'Tree be-
gan hi the early 1900's with
the people of Pasadena,
Calif., who decorated a tall
evergreen on Mount Wilson
with lights and tinsel.
Madison Square in New
York and the Common in
Boston were the scene of
trees set up in 1912. In 1014
Independence Square in
Philadelphia had its first
holiday tree.
Around each of these trees
choirs gathered and sang
carols.
The custom of lighting the
National Community Christ-
Inas Tree in WAShirigton,D.C.
began In 1023 when the tlni-
unhappy obscurity if they were
to wear any other kind."'
This may seem a little
far-fetched. Yet who does not
know the executive who wears
the conservative tie, yet in and
year out, as if it were a badge of
respectability? Did you ever see
a friendly undertaker sporting
something in lavender and
yellow? No, never.
It is only when something
spontaneous comes upon the
normal man that he deviates. I
happen to have a fire-engine-red
bow tie, myself, and find myself
unconsciously reaching for it
when the day promises to be
particularly zestful.
In Taylor's eyes this would
make me a split personality, but
I choose to think of myself as
merely ambidextrous.
So I Welcome the return of
the tie as a Christmas staple. It .
isn't much, but it holds out the
promise that, four or five times
in 1972, I may live a little
dangerously.
versity of Vermont sent a
large tree to President Calvin
Coolidge.
Add 'Special Touch
In. Quebec, customs from
France lend their special
touch to a Canadian Christ-
in as.
France gave Canada the
"creche," gatherings after
Midnight Mass With family
and friends, savory pork pies
called "tourtieres," collecting
gifts froth door to door for
the less privileged persons of
the community,
After mass on Christmas
Eve, the people of Quebec
gather at homes of loved
ones to participate in a
night-long feast called "re-
veillon,"
A hybrid Spanish-Indian
play, called "Los Pastores,'
Introduced by Spanish
monks, may still take place
in the backyards of San An-
tonio, Tex., at Christmastime,
With no props, curtains and
a cast of amateurs, it yearly
delights with its, spiritual in-
novations.
It ruts from Christmas to
Candlemas, in homes located
in out-of-way places so only
the initiated can find it. The
object is to prevent the mere-
ly curious observer from
watching this spritual
cle play,
From Germany came the
Nativity pageant, and the
first play Of this sort in the
U.S. was performed at the
German Catholic Church of
the Holy Trinity in Boston
in 1851. Childten dressed tia
Oriental shepherds offered
gifts to the Christ Child at
the altar, singing carols at
the same time. The gifts were
later distributed to the poor
of the parish,
10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, December 14, 1961
Members of the Advisory
Vocational Committee of
C.D.C.I. Board were advised
Monday that approval of the
preliminary sketch plans for the
new vocational addition had
been received from Ottawa. The
Dominion Government will pay
75 per cent of the cost.
On Saturday, December 6, a
Patrol Leader and Guides
Training session took place from
10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Ontario
Street United Church, Clinton.
Karen Schefter, from Clinton,
registered all who came and
found that approximately 70
Guides and Guiders from all over
Huron County were registered.
15 YEARS AGO
Thursday, December 13, 1956
In preparation for the rush of
Christmas buying, most of the
stores in Clinton will be open
every night from now until
Christmas Eve, until nine or ten
o'clock. Next Wednesday, stores
will stay open all day and
evening.
Very much aware themselves
of the difficulties of trying to
live in a country oppressed by
another, many New Canadian
families in this area have offered
their homes to the Hungarian
refugees.
Rev. G. T. Hoytema, minister
of the Christian Reformed
Church, here in Clinton, has
forwarded to Ottawa, the names
and addresses of abofit 40
families, (members of his
congregation) who are ready to
accept refugees in their homes.
25 YEARS AGO
Thursday, December 19, 1946
One of Clinton's highly
respected citizen's in the person
of John Derry, celebrated in his
Letter
to the
Editor
The editor,
Recently a small white cat
was found in the Recreation
grounds tied and left to be
hanged by some creature or
creatures. It did not die and was
rescued by a man who heard it
screaming.
Eric Hoffer once said,
"Imagine what monstrosities
would roam our streets if some
people's faces were like their
minds."
Sincerely,
E. D. Fingland.
.14K464)
This Holiday Season .
pia -OXFAM on your
gift listi
XFAI
THE INTEPNOVNAL DEVELOPMENT PEOPLE
97 Eglinton AvO., East
Toronto am Ontario
What's new
: at
HurimAriew7
The Annual Christmas fair, an
event which gives the residents
an , opportunity to do some
Christmas shopping, was held on
Monday. Each resident is given a
credit slip to select gifts from
the several tables which are
arranged in the craft room with
tea and cookies served in the
Auditorium. This project is
sponsored and arranged by the
Women's Auxiliary with
contributions from various
organizations.
Members of the C,N.I.B. were
guests at the regional Christmas
party which was held on
Wednesday evening in the
Mitchell United Church, One
hundred and twenty-five
members and their escorts from
Huron and Perth attended the
dinner which included turkey
and all the trimmings followed
by a sing-song and musical
numbers by the Stratford Barber
Shopper.
Miss Laura Inglis of Clifford
arranged and directed a program
presented by the Hi C group of
McIntosh United Church on
Family Night. Mr. George
Harkness introduced the
numbers which included a guitar
duet by Wendy and Debbie
Busley accordian solos by
Barbara Harkness, a two-act play
"Wanted a Housekeeper",
several Christmas numbers and a
sing-a-long by the Chorus of 20
young people, Miss Frances
Inglis, a member of McIntosh
U.C.W.; expressed the
appreciation of the residents.
The Family night program will
be held on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Dec. 22 instead of the regular
Thursday night for next week
only.
9Thr•abirthday on Monday. In
spite of his advanced years, Mr.
Derry enjoys excellent health,
and is able to be around the
streets almost every day.
Tenders for snowplowing
streets in Clinton this winter
were opened at the council
meeting and the tender of Lavis
Construction Company, for
supplying man and truck at
$3.00 per hour was accepted.
The remodelled Clinton Lions
Arena will be in use within a few
, daysa'The ice surface is now 61
feet wide by "17 3 feet long. This
represents two and a half feet
'onger than last year, The
surface will be widened for next
year.
40 YEARS AGO
Thursday, December 17, 1931
C. Mortimer Bezeau, a former
Clinton boy, was elected for a
second term as mayor of
Kitchener, on Monday, having -a
substantial majority on his
opponent.
Arthur Cantelon, when
leaving after the Council
Meeting, Monday evening,
slipped on some ice and fell and
has been confined to the house
ever since.
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Mutch
visited their daughter, Jean, who
is a nurse-in-training at the
Stratford General Hospital, on
Sunday last.
Clinton friends were shocked
on Sunday evening by the
sudden death of Alexander
Robert Mitchell,
55 YEARS AGO
Thursday, December 14, 1916
Mr. and Mrs. Alex Walsh had
a narrow escape last Thursday
morning. when coal gas filled
their house from a faulty stove.
They have both recovered from
the effects.
Pte. Wesley Caldwell has been
awarded the Military Medal for
distinguished service on the field
of battle. Pte. Caldwell attended
for several terms before
the war broke out.
Miss Ward left this week for
her home in Rockville,
Maryland, U.S.A., to spend the
Christmas with her mother.
75 YEARS AGO
December 18, 1896
On account of the
Commission appointed by the
Dominion Government to
enquire into tariff laws of the
country a petition is being
circulated among fruit groWers,
to be presented to the
Commission asking that body to
recommend to the Government
that no change be made in the
duty on fruit coming in to the
country.
The other day a man went
into an Aurora drug store, and
took a handfull of camphor
balls, thinking they were
candies. He ate two of them and
became very sick. He will hardly
Meddle with candies of that kind
again.
Thousands of cases of
Consumption, AStitei, Coughs;
Colds and Croup are cured every
day by Shiloh's cure. Sold by J.
M. Comb e.
as "almost aggressively modest."
A friendlier writer then
countered that this was untrue,
that Mr. Macmillan's tie was
really only "without pretence."
It revealed, really, how the
selection of the tie reflects the
character and personality of the
man.
The point was made recently
by Wilfred Taylor, of Edinburgh,
a philosopher I admire, who
ventured the opinion that he
could instantly assess a man's
inner self by the color, pattern
and knot of his tie.
He had, in fact, a rather nasty
suspicion of men with long
beards because he felt that in
hiding their neck-wear they were
hiding their real identity.
Taylor divided the masculine
side of the human race into two
main camps, namely those who
wear bow ties and those who do
not.
"There are men who wear
bow ties all the time," he wrote,
"and who would shrink into sad,
Holiday Blends
Many Customs