The Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-01-12, Page 9Centennial planning to start
On the heels of our complaint last week
that there were no plans on the way for
Wingham's celebration of the Centennial
Year came the announcement that Mrs.
Anna Meyer would co-ordinate events to
mark the nation's 100th birthday. Whether
or not our remarks had anything to do
with the choice, we believe it was a good
one.
Mrs. Meyer (the former Anna McDon-
ald), has boundless energy and enthusiasm,
which are the qualities most needed to
spark Centennial plans and projects. Meet-
ings have already been arranged to discuss
the town's activities and we look forward
to some interesting announcements in the
very near future,
Of course several local organizations
have projects in the making. Kinsmen,
Lions, Wingham Horticultural Society, Sal-
vation Army and several church groups
have hastened to let us know of Centennial
plans. It is, however, the civic planning
which needs prompt attention.
New schools spell opportunity
The move from small individual school
houses throughout the Townships of Mor-
ris and East Wawanosh into three new
centralized schools last week is the end of
an era, and although ties with a hallowed
past have been broken, many generations
of youngsters will benefit tremendously
from the change. Many parents sigh the
passing of a closely-knit school section
society, but sentiment has little place in
the all-important business of educating
children to meet the challenges of a new
world.
The modern educational opportunities
seem centuries removed from the condi-
tions under which the children of this
same area received their knowledge a
scant 100 years ago. The late Gavin Green
of Goderich painted the picture in "The
Old Log House and Bygone Days in Our
Village," where he described "the old log
school with its two by four windows and
pine benches and big box wood stove, and
the wooden water bucket and tin loving
cup that served both master and scholars
their Adam's ale from the old spring creek;
and the fancy pen-wiper made by the
girl friend and presented to boy friend on
his birthday. Gone are the old copy writ-
ing books and slate and pencil, and the
dunce's cap; the old school master with his
swallow-tailed coat, his side whiskers, blue
beech gad, rawhide whip and leather strap.
"Gone are the old trustees of those
pioneer schools, dressed up in their Sab-
bath blacks or homespun, with their hair
and whiskers oiled and trimmed, who
marched up the aisle and took seats on the
platform by the master's desk with as
much dignity and solemnity as judges of
the supreme court, and listened to the les-
sons at the Christmas examinations, and
took notes and passed judgment upon the
progress of the scholars for the past year.
If favourable they usually hired the teach-
er for another year. -If he kept good
order and showed his authority before
these three trustee judges, the teacher
would have some of the smartest boys and
girls show how smart they were under his
teaching, by having the nice little girls
recite Mary Had a Little Lamb and the
smart rollicking boy recite The Boy Stood
on the Burning Deck."
In the year 1861 the whole County of
Huron contained 141 schools, of which
only ten were of brick construction.
Twenty-four of these buildings were frame
and the remaining 107 were the original
log buildings which had been erected in
the earliest pioneer days.
To some parents the central school
with is gymnasium and other "frills" may
seem unnecessarily over-equipped and cost-
ly, but if it helps the new generation to
cope with the sort of problems which must
be faced it will be worth every cent of its
cost.
It's time to object
Though a modern outlook is absolutely
necessary where education is concerned
some of the changes which are creeping
in merit the closest scrutiny by parents.
One of these came to light last week when
the mother of a London secondary school
student voiced strident protest about the
use of a book in classroom teaching, She
claimed that the book contained obscene
words and references to which no young
person should be exposed, particularly in
the classroom.
Questioned about the book, her son
told reporters that if he used the words in
the book in the halls of the school he
would be thrown out.
Every aspect of life in the Western
world has undergone far-reaching changes
since the end of the second world war,
and many of them are inevitable. Some
of these changes have been resisted by
society in a fruitless attempt to hold on
to a familiar past, so it has become the
fashion to label all such resistance as "old
fashioned."
Some of the old fashioned attributes of
civilized existence still have a good deal
of merit and among those things which
Let the public set the hours
should be retained are the standards of
decency and social behaviour which per-
mit our children to reach maturity with a
sense of personal dignity and a conviction
that men and women should be something
better than educated animals. Those so-
called intellectuals who would laugh to
scorn all the long-standing moral prin-
ciples have much to account for. Their
arrogance has become loathsome to the av-
erage parent and if they only realized the
fact, their licentious precepts are not ac-
ceptable to the vast majority of young peo-
ple either. They fail to understand that
the human instinct to conform to a pattern
of decent moral behaviour is not merely
the enforced code of three generations of
Victorian parents, but rather springs from
some innate spirit of integrity with which,
thank God, most of us are born.
If these long-haired lovers of personal
irresponsibility want to exist in a world
of second-rate sordiness there is little the
rest of us can do about it. But there is
plenty we can do when they start to cram
their ill-guided nonsense down our child-
ren's throats right in the classrooms we
are paying for at such high cost.
An editorial in The Kitchener-Waterloo
Record makes good sense on a subject that
is of interest to everyone:
"A demand by Kitchener's Downtown
Business Association that council enforce
the store-closing by-law which it has been
advised will not stand up in court, is more
of the same old story,
"In all this there is no mention of the
most important person — the customer —
and what he may prefer.
"Perhaps this failure to talk about the
shopper was not inadvertent. It is be-
coming obvious that more and more peo-
ple want to shop at nights and at different
hours to those which some of the more
conservative store owners prefer.
"Somewhere along the way they should
take a little more notice of public pref-
erence. Even institutions as conservative
as Canadian banks are changing their ways
in response to the demands of the world
today. They are, in some cases, staying
open on Friday nights and there is con-
siderable talk of banking on Saturdays.
"Those civil servants who dispense
legal alcoholic beverages have been ob-
liged, by public opinion, to keep certain
liquor stores open till 10 p,m.
"Council has put the matter aside for
two weeks and has suggested it will seek
the opinion of the store owners on what is
wanted. They should go a long way be-
yond that and get some idea of what the
public wants, and make certain this is the
central consideration in any future de-
cisions."
THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES
Published at Wingham. Ontario, by Wenger Bros, Limited.
W. Barry Wenger, President Robert O. Wenger, Secretary-Treasurer
Meraber Audit Bureau of Circulation
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Advertising Rates on application':
1895 WROXETER-GORRIE Baseball Club—Wes Paulin of
Bluevale R. R. 1, loaned this picture of the Union Base
Ball Club of Wroxeter and Gorrie, 1895, which had been
requested by Centennial officials. Perhaps someone could
name numbers 3 and 8. Back row: J. E. Black, A. E. Paul-
in, — —, A. Barnard; middle row: A. E. Williams,
J. S. Paulin, J. W. Sanderson, —, H. McHardy;
front: A. H. Haake, R. Ross, Wm. Haake, Mr. Smale.
ingbam btlanceZimit
Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, Jan. 12, 1967 SECOND SECTION
mi
Seek names of
war veterans
The historical committee of
Bast Wawanosh Township which
has been working on all aspects
of the township's history, for a
book to be sold at the Centen-
nial celebrations next August,
has Just about completed its
task of compiling the material.
Walter Scott has put a great
deal of effort into listing veter-
ans of the two world wars, an
almost impossible task since
some who enlisted from the
township have not lived in this
area in many years. The list is
printed here and Mr. Scott asks
that anyone who knows of a vet-
eran who was raised or enlisted
from East Wawanosh, not on
this list, contact him immed-
iately. His phone number is
357-2147.
WAR VETERANS 1914-18
Harvey Bentley, Earl Bent-
ley, Russell Bentley, William
Buchanan, Leslie Buchanan,
Austin Campbell, Herb Camp-
bell, Charles Coultes, James H.
Coultes, David Currie, George
Currie, John E. Currie, James
H. Currie, Richard Deacon,
Harvey Dye, Frank Dobie,
William Fingland, John Gib-
bons, Charles Gillespie, Ed-
ward Haim, George Johnston,
Maitland Johnston, Frank John-
ston, David Johnston, Joe Ker-
meth, John J. Kerr, D. Ken-
nedy, Robert Laidlaw, H. Laid-
law, Chester McClean, James
McCallum, Alan McBurney,
Dave McClinchey, Wesley Mc-
Clinchey, Earl Mugford, Wal-
ter Mason, Russell McKay, Wal-
ter Pocock, Wilfred Pocock,
Nelson Robinson, John Rog-
ers, Thomas Rogers, Norman
Radford, Russell Salter, Chas.
Searle, William E. Scott,
Maitland Snell, Stanley Snell,
Wally Simmons, Charles Toll,
Elmer Taylor, John Tasker,
Bert Tasker, William Tornkin,
W. Vanner, F. Vanner, John
Woodley, Ben Woodley, Rus-
sell Woods, Ivan C. Wight-
man, George Walker, James
Weir.
WAR VETERANS 1939-45
Margaret Ailkin, Fred Bow-
en, John Bennett, John Bosman,
Harold Bosman, Kenneth Camp-
bell, Benson Cowan, Donald
Cook, Russell Cook, Alvin Cur-
rie, George Currie, Cyril Can-
ning, Stewart Ferguson, Robert
Govier, Gordon Irwin, Richard
Irwin, Howard Irwin, William
Irwin,
Donald Jenkins, Verna John-
ston, Bertman Kechnie, Glen
Kechnie, Lloyd Mason, Ken-
neth Mason, Alfred Mason,
Harold Mason, Thomas Mor-
rison, Lauretta McBurney, Gor-
don Nethery, Alex Nethery,
Rutherford Reavie, Norman Rod-
ger, Leslie Rodger, Roy Robin-
son, Russell Reid,
Borden Scott, Robert C.
Scott, H. Sperling, Thomas
Thompson, Edward Thompson,
Samuel Thompson, Ray Vin-
cent, Ivan Wightman, Clifford
Walsh, James Walsh.
JANUARY 1918
The Spotton Business Col-
lege has this week had one of
the best openings of its history.
Among the new students are:
Misses Bessie Smith, Moore-
field; Sadie MacDonald, Luck-
now; Elleda Irwin, Lucknow;
Elizabeth Currie, Wingham; Lu-
ella McCool, Wingham; Laura
Reid, Wingham; Mabel Reid,
Wingham; Winnifred McDonald.
Ripley; Katie Sutherland, Rip-
ley; Ethel Hastings, Turnberry;
Madeline Walker, Wingham;
Mabel Harrington, Ripley; Wil-
da Osborne, Ripley; Viola Hart-
man, Listowel; Messrs. Whitney
Stewart, Bluevale; Irwin Ed-
wards, Belmore; Edgar Kitely,
Drayton; George McKenzie, Bel,
grave; Edward Murch,Wingham.
Sergt. John Lutton who has
been overseas with 198th Can-
adian Buffs, arrived home to
Wingham on Thursday evening.
Sergt. Lutton is, we are sorry
to report, suffering from spinal
meningitis. He was in Alder-
shott Isolated Hospital for four
months from the 12th of May
and has since been in other Eng-
lish hospitals.
JANUARY 1932
On Thursday, Jan. 7th, at
9 o'clock, Sacred Heart Church
in Wingham was the scene of a
quiet but pretty wedding, when
the Rev. Fr. McHugh, parish
priest, united in the holy bonds
of matrimony, John Skinn, el,
dest son of Mr, and Mrs. George-
Skinn of Turnberry and Anna
Mildred Fitzpatrick, youngest
daughter of Mr. Edward
patrick and the late Mrs. Fitz.
patrick.
Those
wonderful
years
By the time this appears in
print, I expect that I shall have
severed an. association of 17
years with the weekly news-
paper business. And it is not
without some sadness that I do
so.
Sometimes it seems that our
life is governed by accident,
that we have very little control
over it.
Had the war lasted a few
months longer, had I taken a
different course at university,
or gone to a different college, I
would not have met my wife.
And had I not met that particu-
lar girl at that particular time,
I vrould never have been in the
At the annual meeting of the
Young People's Society of the
United Church on Monday eve-
ning, the following were elect-
ed officers for the year 1931:
Hon. Pres., Rev. S. Davison;
Pres., E. Wilkinson; 1st vice,
A. McKenzie; 2nd vice, Miss
B. Joynt; 3rd vice, Mrs. G.
Howson; 4th vice, W. Tiffin;
secretaries, Misses M. Simpson
and M. Campbell; Treas.,
W. 13. McCool; pianist, Miss C.
Carr.
Believed to be the oldest
resident of Huron county and
certainly the "Grand old man"
of Howick Township, Thomas
Sage celebrated his 100th birth-
day on Tuesday, January 12th,
at the home of Mrs. B. Wade,
with whom he has resided for
the past four years.
JANUARY 1942
The Fry and Blackball firm
have a display this week at the
Canadian Furniture Show that
is being held in the Royal York
Hotel in Toronto. Mr. E. S.
Copeland was in attendance un-
til Tuesday evening when he
left for the Furniture Show in
Montreal. Mr. Walter Van-
Wyck and Mr. Harcourt Mundy
will be there all week.
Mr. Bob Biggart, who for the
past few years has been con-
nected with the Canada Pack-
ers Ltd. at Clinton and Wing-
ham has joined the Royal Can-
adian Mounted Police. Bob,
during last summer was one of
the moundsmen for the Clerks
in the town softball league here.
Bob is now at Rockcliff School,
Ottawa, taking a six months'
course.
Miss Mary Cruickshank,
newspaper business, nor would
I he writing this column.
Accident again took a hand.
We were in the city. I had en-
rolled in a post-graduate course
in English. University teaching
was the objective.
Came the tragic news that
my brother-in-law (on my
wife's side) had been drowned
in a boating accident. He owned
a weekly newspaper.
We hastened to the scene, to
he of what comfort we could.
And I pitched in, as ignorant as
Mrs. Murphy's cow, to help
keep the paper going for a
week or two, until other ar-
rangements were made. Eleven
years later, I was still there.
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ben-
son Cruickshank, was successful
in her Christmas Examinations,
second year degree, at the On-
tario Agricultural College,
Guelph.
JANUARY 1953
Peter Bonner, five-year-old
son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Bon-
ner, had a near escape from
serious injuries on Saturday
when he ran into the side of a
truck while crossing from the
east side of Josephine St. to the
Lyceum theatre, The truck own-
ed by Maitland Farms, was driv-
en by Earl Dickson. Luckily
Peter suffered no injuries.
Mr. I. M. Merrick, Rural
Hydro manager, received a call
for help from the Orangeville
district on Sunday, because of
the trouble from ice and brok-
en wires and poles in that dist-
rict. Messrs. Ted Gaulley,
Harold Burrell, Ross Holloway,
Al, Walker and Stewart Forsythe
left with the hydro truck to
work in that district for a few
days this week,
• •- Alex Crawford, two-and-
one-half year old son of Mr.
and Mrs. Kenneth Crawford, of
Turnberry, was treated for
three months for asthma. An
x-ray, taken last week, showed
a shingle nail lodged in his
lung. He was taken to the Sick
Children's Hospital, London,
where doctors removed the nail
through his throat. He is pro-
gressing favourably.
Magistrate; "You've com-
mitted six burglaries in a week':
Prisoner: "That's right. Ifevery-
one worked as hard as I do we'd
be on the road to prosperity."
From the beginning, I was
fascinated. This was better than
the world of Chaucer and Spen-
ser and the Romantic poets, the
whole fleece-lined world of the
scholar. This was life.
There was an exciting tempo
to it that suited me. Monday
was a day of desperation. No
news, no editorials written, no-
body wanted to buy an adver-
tisement that early in the week.
The linotype operator was get-
ting owly because you couldn't
keep him busy and he knew
what was coming.
Tuesday, the pace accelerated
rapidly. The news began to
pour in. You madly dashed off
two sparkling editorials. Ynu
tried to make a sensible story
of the donnybrook at last
night's council meeting. You
hit the street and sold ads,
whether it was raining or snow-
ing or blastingly hot.
Wednesday was even moreso.
Complaints, callers, classified
ads piling in, and the inevitable
merchant waltzing in, after the
deadline, with a big ad you
simply hadn't room to print.
Proof-reading away behind,
People in looking for free pub-
licity. People in just to chat
about town affairs, or their
grandchildren. And the lino-
type operator, dangerous to the
point of being lethal, within a
radius of 12 feet of his ma-
chine. Work often till midnight,
putting the sheet to bed.
Thursday was decision day.
Too many ads. Can we leave
this one out? Too much coun-
try correspondence. Which re-
porter will be least infuriated
if we leave her stuff till next
week? Short a column of front
page news, Where can we dig it
tip? The photos haven't arrived.
Rush to the bus station; see if
they're in.
But by about 10.30 a.m., she
was on the press, and the com.
forting thump and rumble of
the old machine was reward
enough for all the scrambling.
There was solid satisfaction in
folding, stamping and mailing
the finished product. You felt
as good as though you'd just
wrestled an alligator to a split
decision,
At any rate, I was hooked,
Formed a partnership with one
of the printers, and we bought
the thing. We didn't have 40
cents apiece. But we went out
like a couple of pirates, hit ev-
ery friend and relative we
knew, scratched up the down
payment, outbid every competi-
tor because we had nothing to
lose, and took on what was
probably the biggest mortgage
on any weekly newspaper on
the continent,
They were great fun, those
first few years. There wasn't
much caviar or champagne, By
cry spare nickel went into the
debts. But we made it, and'
It's only money
BY C. J. HARRIS
There were quiet chuckles
from the one side of the House
and shrieks of outrage from the
other when the government re-
cently pulled the rug from tin-
der the opposition by finding
enough money to pay civil ser-
vants despite the filibuster on
the interim supply bill for No-
vember. By poking around in
the till the government found
$30 million in loose change,
enough for about 10 days' pay-
roll.
It may have been a neat po-
litical trick, but that does not
mean the government's conduct
was in the public interest. To
have that much of the taxpay-
ers' money lying idle looks like
pretty sloppy bookkeeping. Fur-
ther, it was a case of money
being used for a purpose not
specifically approved by Parlia-
ment. As Auditor-General
Maxwell Henderson said later,
the affair indicates that there
has been "an erosion of Parlia-
ment's traditional role in con-
trolling public funds,"
Oh, well, it's only money.
$1,400 contributed
to Bible Society
The Wingham Branch of the
Canadian Bible Society has an-
nounced that the total contri-
butions in Wingham and district
for 1966 amounted to $1, 400.
The local committee thanks
all the canvassers and the don-
ors who have made this possi-
ble. Their dedicated work in
helping to send the Scripture in-
to the world in the languages of
the people is deeply appreciat-
ed.
Tuberculosis is still a com-
municable disease and is still a
cause of many deaths, and con-
tinues to be one of Canada's
health problems. Every Can-
adian should accept the several
tests that have been developed
by modern medical science, so
that incipient cases may re-
ceive prompt treatment.
made a host of good friends
among weekly editors on the
way.
But I can tell you that run-
ning a weekly newspaper is one
of the roughest ganibs in town,
Holidays are almost unknown.
Long hours are the rule. Some.
body is always sore at you. And
you'll never be rich.
I'll miss it. Some of it. And
I'll always have warm memo-
ries of it. But I hope to keep in
touch through this column,
which will continue a's usual.
SUGAR
AND SPICE
by Bill Smiley
News Items from Old Files