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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1966-01-13, Page 9Utionot&Ei THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN around 1899 of the pupils of S. S. No. 13, East Wawanosh, and the pupils were named by Mrs. Elsie (Wightman) Brigham, Blyth. Back row, left to right: Leonard Cook, Mary Taylor, Frank Walsh, Harry Cook, Kate Dunbar, Horace Sowler, Katherine Fras- er, Gordon Snell, Bert Taylor, Edward Snell, Cecil Bates. Second row: Tommie Fraser, Vera McDowell, Melvin Tay- lor, Edmund Snell, Fred Corley, Annie Taylor, Wes Coultes, Lila Cook, D. C. Scott, Rachael Bates, Albert Walsh, Edna Cook, Billie Dunbar, Mabel Walsh, Stanley Cook, Orville Taylor, Miss Mary Halliday, teacher. Front row: Elmer Taylor, Elsie Wightman, Roy Stonehouse, Violet Cook, Ivan Wightman, Zella Black, Elwin Taylor, Della McDowell, Tom Taylor, Margaret Wightman, Leslie Bates, Bessie Fraser, Allan Mason. The Sturdy Ones Remain New Gambling Laws Are Needed Ontario's gambling laws are prepos- terous. We hold no brief for gambling; there is little doubt that we would all be better off if it could be completely abo- lished—but that is impossible. However, as long as it exists it should be dealt with on a fair basis. In a local restaurant we recently saw a printed notice which stated that a car • draw sponsored by the Listowel Rotary Club had been stopped by legal action and that those who had purchased, tickets could get their money back at a Listowel address. If that notice was an indication that all service club draws were cancelled it might be more understandable, but of course there are literally hundreds of other ticket sales in progress every day of the week. Last week a Stratford magistrate sen- tenced a woman on a gambling charge and as he did so commented that he didn't agree with the law but had to enforce it. The defence attorney brought out the tell- ing point that apparently it was all right for the province to make money from gambling at the race tracks but that if anybody else did so it became a crime. Too many of our laws are outdated. When a law is not worth enforcing it should be removed from the statute books. Flouting the gambling laws places all laws in contempt. Law is law and should be obeyed. Gambling is either lawful or illegal—not something to wink at in one place and stamp out in another. • Here's A Good Idea Last week Meaford Express carried a story on the inaugural session of the town council in that community. The interest- ing part of the story was that the pupils of one of the grades in the public school attended the meeting in a body to gain, first hand, some knowledge of civic af- fairs. This appeals to us as an excellent idea. A With each passing year we find fewer citizens ready to serve in public office. If this trend continues we will unques- tionably lose the autonomy which was such a vital force in our Ontario com- munities for many years. If we won't govern ourselves, or if we permit the 0 dullards and egotists to hold the council seats we can be very sure that the coun- cils will disappear. What better way could there be to arouse interest in public affairs than by letting our school children see and hear what goes on at a council meeting? True, the average council session is not a par- ticularly exciting event, but to a child it should be made intensely interesting. We have felt for many years that our schools fall desperately short of the mark in the matter of civic education, One of our first requirements in the educational sy- stem should be to develop democratic leadership. Somehow we assume that the future will take care of itself. We forget that our generation, which today holds what reins of power still exists, will shortly be in the hands of our children, They will direct our affairs—and we are ► doing precious little to see that they are properly trained for the task. If Canada is to remain a worthwhile nation we need an entirely new sense of the dignity and purpose of government. All too frequently our "politicians" are either categorized as small time racketeers or scorned as party stooges. We have learned the lessons of history very spot- tily—we who have the unparallelled tra- dition of the British parliament system as our guide, In Great Britain a member of parliament is respected; the ordinary man in the street knows that a person who speaks for the citizens of the land holds a post of unquestioned importance. As a result the calibre of the candidate is usu- ally very high. The voters would' scorn to support any but the best possible rep- resentatives. If you listened to Prime Minister Harold Wilson when he address- ed the United Nations a few weeks ago you must have been struck by the deep spirit of responsibility and dignity which pervaded his words and his entire person- ality. Somewhere along the way we have failed to impress the lessons of history upon succeeding generations, Too much stress has been placed upon the dates of the battles and the treaties. These were only the relatively unimportant day-to-day events of bygone centuries. The import- an milestones were the steps by which free men moved forward to responsible self-government. Because we know so little of the past we are in grave danger of throwing away all the good things the future can offer us. THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited. W. Barry Wenger, President - Robert 0, Wenger, Secretary-Treasurer Member Audit Bureau of circulation Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association, Authorized by the Post Office Department as Second Class Mail and for payment of postage in cash, Subscription Rate: 1 year, $5.00; 6 months, $2.75 in advance; U.S.A., $7.00 per yr.; Foreign rate, $7.00 per yr. Advertising Rates on application. it 1.4 As recently as last summer we wrote in this column our opinion that changes were badly needed in the thinking of edu- cators. The results of the Grade XIII English examinations were so poor across the province that hundreds of students lost the opportunity to enter university. It became abundantly clear that it was time to alter university entrance require- ments. Evidently we were not alone in . our point of view because several universities have, since that time, taken practical steps to bring their entrance requirements into line with a world in which we cannot af- ford to waste good brain power, Several universities have cut down on the number of subjects required, demand- ing only that the student have good stand- ing in the subjects which will have a dir- ect bearing on the course he intends to study. Still other universities, Waterloo Lutheran and Guelph, as two examples, will accept students on the basis of Christ- mas examinations or year's work in Grade XIII without waiting for the results of June examinations. All this makes good sense. One of the reasons our country is so desperately short of university graduates is that the entrance requirements have been much too broad in the past. One instance is the current shortage of dentists. To take the University of Toronto course in den- tistry credits were required in no less than four mathematics subjects—despite the fact that the average dentist only needs enough math to add up his patients' accounts, and an office girl usually does that. We asked a dentist why all the math was demanded for entrance and the only reason he could think of was that it proved the applicant had a reasonably high level of general intelligence, Frankly, when you have a toothache you really don't care whether your den- tist can handle upper school geometry. All you need from him is proficiency with the drill and the filling tools. And so it has been all down the line. English and two other languages for en- gineers; mathematics for the English teachers; botany and zoology for the business administrators. Now, however, better sense is beginning to prevail. By all means let us train our young people to be specialists, even perfectionists • in the lines they intend to employ and for- get about the subjects they don't need. Educators Make Fast Changes Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, Jan. 13, 1966 SECOND SECTION REMINISCING JANUARY 1917 Mr. Wm. Becker, Supt. of the Canada Furniture Manufac- turer's at Wiarton has accepted a similar position at the Union factory, Wingham. Mr. Beck- er was in charge of the Union factory here some years ago. Mr. J. A. McLean made a business trip'to Buffalo last week He tells us that the coal situa- tion is far more serious than many imagined, owing to the scarcity of the mined material. People will do well to be as sparing in the use of coal as possible. Among the students who have enrolled for courses in the Business College since the New Year are the following: Leslie Sturgeon, Kincardine; Robert McKague, Wingham; Willis Moore, Bervie; Ezra Pocock, Wingham; Willie Arnold, Ber- vie; Harold Hamilton, Wing- ham; Annie McKibbon, Holy- rood; Marian Fisher, Lucknow; and Lizzie Bridge, Kincardine. Recent graduates from the Col- lege in Shorthand Department are Eva Duff, Bluevale and Nor- ma Vanstone, Wingham, JANUARY 1931 Mr. Robt. Higgins, of Brus- sels has sold his farm to Mr. Elmer Fowler of Tuckersmith township. Mr. Fowler takes possession March 1st. The regular meeting of the W.M.S. of St. Andrew's Pres- byterian Church was held in the school room on Wednesday af- ternoon with about. forty ladies in attendance. The meeting was in charge of Mrs. H. F. McGee, president. An interest- ing feature of the meeting was the presentation of a life mem- bership to Miss M. Louttit, which was made by the honor- ary president, Mrs. W. J. Hen- derson. Rev. Edgar Ferns, Pastor of the Victoria St. Regular Bap- tist Church, on Sunday last ten- dered his resignation of that church. Mr. and Mrs. Norman Fras- er of Kincardine, Ontario, wish to announce the engage- ment of their only daughter, Edna Caroline, to Mr. Clyde Avon Louttit, Phm. B., son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Louttit, Wingham. The marriage to take place January 24th. JANUARY 1941 On Monday, Don Nasmith reported for duty with the Royal Canadian Air Force at Manning Depot, Toronto. Don, some time ago trained for his private pilot's license and since that time has been waiting a call by the RCAF, On Friday evening a number of his friends gather- ed at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John P. McKibbon where a fare- well party was held. Don was the recipient of a combination novelty military brush set. The following were success- ful in their exams at the On- tario College of Agriculture. First year, two year course, J. R. Henry, Belgrave, '731; first year degree course, Mary G. Cruickshank, of town, 672; second year degree course, D. W. Hoffman of town, 935. Miss Loreen Gilkinson is now on the staff of Clinton Public School teaching Grade IV. For two or three years she taught in Kippen. Two Wingham young ladies attending MacDonald Institute at Guelph, were successful in their examinations, Miss Doris Armitage in the second year and Miss Mary Elizabeth Mc- Kibbon in the first year. JANUARY 1952 The Municipal Board has approved the $115, 000 deben- ture issue for the new Wingham Public School according to in- formation received from the school board. The Department of Education has already given its approval. The lowest tender, that of the Mowbray Construc- tion Co. was accepted and the contract signed, Work is to start immediately, weather permit- ting. Dr. and Mrs. Fred G. Thompson, Clinton, announce the engagement of their elder daughter, Alice Louise, to Charles Donald Lloyd, Toronto, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Lloyd, Wingham. The mar- riage to be solemnized in St. Paul's Anglican Church, Clin- ton, the latter part of January. Tory Gregg has been in Re- gina since last Wednesday where he is representing the O.H.A. at the semi-annual meeting of the C. A.H. A. The village has had a popu- lation increase with the arrival from Western Canada of Mrs. Walter Vella and five children. Mrs. Vella, the former Joy Mc- Nee, and her family are resid- ing in the Harry Metcalfe home across from Diefenbaker's Store. Mr. Vella is with the Armed Forces, and on duty in Egypt. We welcome the Vellas to the village. Mr. and Mrs. Selah Breck- enbridge of Jamestown visited during the past week with Mr. and Mrs. John Dickson and family. Our congratulations to Mr. and Mrs, Murray Mulvey on the birth of a daughter on January 6th in Wingham and District This is the time of year when we get rid of all the undesira- bles in the community. By un- desirables. I mean people with more money than I. They leave our northern community for Florida, Mexico, the W est Indies. In one fell swoop we get rid of all the softies, the cowards. the sybarites. In short, the rich white trash. It's as much a part of our heritage as the Saturday night bath, or spring cleaning. And I think it's a good thing, When the last barber or bricklayer has bragged about being off to the Bahamas, when the last druggist or doctor has informed me pompously that "We'll probably take in Acapul- co this year", I feel a sense of relief. The rats have left the Freez- ing ship, and there's only the hard core, the sturdy pioneer types, the rugged individualist and the poor people, left in the temperate (hall!) zone. The rest of us, the best of us, can get down to the real glory of winter living, without stum- bling over a lot of sissies who are better off down there get- ting sand in their navels. As one of the old true-blue breed, fighting it out with the elements, I am inclined to scorn them. As a humanitarian, I can only pity them. Think of what they're missing! What is there in the soft and sensuous south to equal that crunch of toes breaking off. that crack of bursitis in the shoulder when you throw the first curling stone, that snap of thigh hones on the ski hill? Let's take a look at a couple of these hot-weather hounds. Look at this bird in Florida. Gets out of bed and there's that Hospital. The new arrival, Ju- lie Ann, is a sister for Caroline. Area residents will be con- cerned to learn that Mrs. Geo. Kieffer Sr. , formerly of this area and now of Teeswater, will be confined to Wingham and District hospital for some time following a fall in her home on Christmas Day, Mem bers of the family visited with her during the week. Mr. John Henderson of Woo stock, a nephew of Mrs. Alvin Mundell of this community and a student at Knox College, Tor- onto, was guest speaker at the local Presbyterian Church on Sunday. The senior choir pro- vided special music. same old crumby, monotonous sun blazing down, just like all the other days. Same old rou- tine. The inevitable orange juice on the inevitable patio; the inevitable trip to the beach with the inevitable obscenely fat softies lying all around. Or the inevitable sweating it out on the golf course with a lot of other middle-aged liars. And here's our pal in Mexico, just getting up at 10.30, He hasn't paid last year's income tax yet, but he borrowed $1,500 from the bank to make the trip. He has a hangover from those six-ounce, forty-cent Mexican drinks, and a twisted back from trying to tango. His wife, in the other twin bed, looks like an inmate of Belsen, because she's had Mexi- c a n complaint, commonly known as dire rear, ever since they crossed the border. She whines, he snarls. They totter out into the muggy heat. And another horrible clay in Acapul- co has begun. It's not like that around here. My daughter wakes me at six- thirty and I call a cheery good- morning, It may sound a hit more like "BUMPH" but it's well meant. My life's partner shoves me out with her foot ten minutes later. Down to a jolly breakfast: vi- tamin pills, cuppa tea and half- slice of toast. There's the thrill of variety as you prepare for the clay. When dawn comes, will the sun be shining, the snow falling, or a blizzard howling? Out into the wild white yon- der. Grab the shovel and make the snow fly, chuckling heartily all the while as you think of those poor slobs in the south, with nothing to do every day but the same old things. The clean, fresh, northern air hits your lungs like a clum-duns bullet. Bark seal-like greeting to neighbour, whose head is just visible over his snowbank. Off to the garage. Excitement of wondering whether the car will start. The sheer, demonic joy of belting out the driveway backwards and trying to smash through the bank the snowplow has thrown up. Sometimes you make it. 'The skidding, slithering ad- venture of the drive to work. Wheels spinning, visibility twelve feet, every man for him- self. The goodfellowship and viva- city of the teachers' cloakroom. everyone stamping, cursing. and running at the nose. And another day of gloriqius winter living has begun. Don't try to tell me about the seduc- tion of the languouous south- land. Just. give me the crisp, virile challenge of living where men are men, And you can tell them from women. When you get them thawed out. Belmore Personals 4