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The Brussels Post, 1974-05-22, Page 11No waiting.f6r concrete to &toe. Over 100 sizes th stock. e memberingm Arbor Day at the one room school 114 111 Odd tok and net Ties tad Ties am, with am, IN lout inch read cups rindl„ eats tun. read' rake;- tied; ing 1, di By W.G,Strong The dictionary describes Arbor Day as one designated to. planting. 'trees, but to pupils in rural school many yesterdays ago it was that wonderful spring day when we. w ere given time off from lessons. to concentrate on a united clean-up of the. school, inside and out: Though. of less historical importance and national note than May 24., the Queen's Birthday, Arbor Day, the first Friday in May , was a welcome change to the monotony of the school timetable. Thursday afternoon it was arranged who . would bring what in the way of pots, boilers., pails, mops,. brushes and cleaning products. Dismissal over, one set off for home eager in the prospect of only half-a-day's school on the morrow and the chance to show the teacher that even if you weren't very bright in arithmetic there were some things you could do. Those who had to walk some distance to school brought their . equipment on Friday morning. Those living. nearby were let out early and came back after dinner carrying brooms, cloths, rakes and hoes. The first job was to clean Out the desks. You had to straighten up your books and scribblers and discard the accumulated hoard of wastepapers including gum wrappers.The paper was thrown into the box-stove and helped take the chill off the big pot of water sitting on top •waiting for the windows and floors. The really hot water came from nearby .homes because a Fire egeal to the task would have made work most uncomfortable. The taller boys took down the pictures, maps and other decorations and, atop shaky step-ladders, removed the window- blinds to be wiped off and dusted. The grime on the small paned. windows met the onslaught of water and Boa Anti applied on an energetic palm of damp cheesecloth. or a strip of father's old •"ganzeys" wrung out in warm water strengthened by a few drops of coal-oil. The' shine Was effected by hand-buffing • with a ball of newspaper usually the Huron Expositor, the Toronto Globe, the London Free Press or the Farmers' Advocate. Then followed the washing of the desk tops. The wooden tops of old desks, the kind that were set in straight rows and screwed to the floor, had initials cut deep into the wood but their edges were carefully inked to simulate great age, a measure of precaution designed -to fool the eagle-eyed teacher.. What were originally mere scratches had been deepened into twisting runnels to • make roads and-mazes for idle pencils to trace. Gum had to be pried from the undersides of desks' and seats. The very young children 'were assigned the-task of dusting the richly embellished ironwork w i t h goose -w i ngs. The wainscotting was scrubbed of toe marks and the door of fingerprints. Even the clumsy old cupboard which served as a library came in for its'Share of attention. A glance at some of the discarded text-books, revealed on the inside cover and the flyleaf such comments as "Fail now and avoid the June rush"; "In case of starvation eat this book - it's full of baloney". In some books, the old paper-chase 'turned up. It was a trap set for the curious. "If my name you ' • — wish to see, turn to page one hundred and three". Page 103 would send you on to another page and it in turn to another and so on until one grew weary of the game or reached the rude lines which, scored off yOur gullibility. The whole schoolroom got a good going-over with the -final act of scrubbing the floor and the porch with hot water arid plenty of either homemade soft soap or the "boughten" kind called P. and G. While some were sparkling up the buildings, others were despatched to scrub the floors and fixtures of the two slant-roofed houses out back. Finishing touches always included glossing up the little diamond- shaped window above the eye-level. Some young lads straightened up the woodpiles in the shed and swept the chips into a neat heap in the corner. The stove-pipes were always left for wint er-debris, fallen 1Paves, broken branches and stray waste ':;apers. When all the assignments hr been accomplished and approved by the teacher, everything to be burned was gathered into one great pile. A venturesome lad sneaked a few sticks of kindling from the shed and built a fire. This was the grand finale to the afternoon's toils. The blackboards, newly washed, rested from written homework, their ledges free of dust and holding Prim brush erasers. The picture of Queen Victoria and/or the King and Queen looked from behind their spotless glass at the strangely still,aisles in a room that smelled as fresh as its wood-white floor. The old clock with shining face and clean hands struck "four" and Arbor Day was over for another year. ••••• „,,,, CW Presbyterial concerned by youth drinking Concerned about the increasing e of alcohol among young, eople the members. of . the von-Perth Presbyterial of the cited Church Women meeting Seaforth Wednesday voted ianimously to send a letter to e premier of On tar!o and ask for ion on the brief presented to e Ontario Government by coldol and Drug Concerns 'orporated A letter will be sent to the dual Minister of Health acing the concern of the embers again and asking that vertising of alcohol be curtailed national television and radio. The Huron County Board of ucation will be asked to nsider setting 'up a course on ugs and alcohol in the school tricalum to Grade 12 similar to course offered by the Perth and of Education. .Mrs. Mervin Reuber of aforth reported that only 30 arches had members registered r the alcohol forum held in aforth recently out of dpossible churches, while at the forum Id in Stratford only 51 tended, ,The members of the London onference United , Church' men are to be made aware of Huron-Perth action- with the pc that the concern will spread toss the province with all areas Short Shots (Continued fromPage 1), axing expansion t earn that bdued the star-studded Boston ub. Oh well attention can now concentrated oil the Expo ball ties and very soon on the PI, football games. Hooray for Rts! This is one wife who °I's them as Much as any sbandl *t:**a,* Post Classified will pay you idends. Have you tried one? al Brussels 887-6641. - eventually 'petitioning the governments to take action on the alcohol problem. Mrs. Walter McDonald of R.R.1, Gadshill, treasurer, reported that in 1973 for the first time United Church Women across Canada had contributed over two million dollars ($2,001,763) to Mission and Service fund of the United Church . The Huron-Perth United Church Women gave $62,425 to the fund last year. Mrs'. McDonald said she hopes to see a five per cent increase for 1974. A series of discussion groups were held on "Make-Up of United Church Women's Groups" - "What is Beyond our own Church Womett?"; "How can we stimulate interest in • Bible study?"; can we make Mission study interesting?"; "How to improve attendance at general meetings" and "What would be your views and opinions on draws and small raffles within our own group?" The following officers have been installed in office for 1974-75 term: President, Mrs, Enhance the beauty and '011ie of yotar hOine with precast steel reinforced Conerete Unit Steps. OW. installation crews work Phon. and quickly cleanly. THE EASY WAY TO BUY BETTER CONCRETE STEPS Frank Kling Vice-Pr esidents, Mrs. Leonard Strong of Egmondville and Mrs. Franklin Zurbrigg of Listowel; recording secretary-, Mrs. John Gilbank -of Listowel; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Claude Kalbflcisch of Goderich; and treasurer,. Mrs. Walter McDonald of R.R.1, Gadshill. Hurbn Regional presidents are: north, Mrs. William Wilson of (Continued, from Page 1) for children, The Senior Citizen's program employs five and has a budget of $5,520. Students will be doing home improvement jobs, for Sen ior Citizens and running a recreation program at the Senior Citizen's, apartments there. Playschool '74 is a day camp for Seaforth children ages 4 7 and will employ four students, with a budget of $2,810. Roy Galway of Listowel who FordWich; 'east, Mrs. Leonard succeeded Mrs. Stuart Shier of Strong, Egmondville; west, .Mrs.: R.R.1, St. Marys. Graham McNee of Dungannon OFY grant Ltd. 5174320 Seaforth Married 50 years ?? Are you having a 90th birthday ?? We' are anxious to carry a story with a picture of your 50th Wedding anniversary and of your 90th birthday. So that some arrangements can be made we ask your co-operation in advising us as far in advance as possible of such events While, other than in exceptional ciricum- seances, we will not be able to use pictures of wedding anniversaries of less than 50 years, we do want a story of such anni- versaries. Please forWard details as soon as the event is held. 1172. Brussels Post anusseue ONTARIO Phone 8876641 at the PaSt. 06blithitig tiatite. andT south, Mrs. Donald Kernick of R.R.1, Kirkton. Perth Regional presidents are: north, Mrs. Mary Raycraft, Milverton; west, Mrs. Charles Posliff, Monkton; south, Mrs. George Grant, St. Marys; and east, Miss Margaret Caister of Tavistock. Committee chairmen are: Mrs. O . Sawyer, Mitchell; Mrs. M. E. Till BRUSSELS POST; MAY ttp i914'4-1 T ; Reuber, Seaforth; Mrs. Stuart Shier, St. Marys; Mrs. Mervyn Batkin, Clinton; Mrs. Jack Ferguson, Gorrie; Mrs. George Beecroft, Belgrave; Mrs. William Moore, R.R.S, Lucknow; Mrs. Cecil Burrill, Mitchell; Mrs. Ewart Crago, R.R.1, St. Marys; Mrs. Charles Milkins, Lucknow, Mrs. Russel McCallum, St. Marys and Mrs. Charles Walkom, R.R.1, Fullarton. Over 7,0 attended the eeting held in Northside United Church.