Loading...
The Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-07-20, Page 9/b/,;//,‘/#,0044/fffflx/7.1,'/%0V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR , 'Vti7070 inobain AbbanctiZinte Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, July 20, 1967 SECOND SECTION SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley Great — just great .41110M111 THE FORDWICI4 WOMEN'S Institute went to considerable trouble to make this at- tractive float for the Howitk part* marking the nation's centennial.--A-T Pi*. REMINISCING Though few weekly newspaper publish- ers ever become wealthy in the course of their careers, there are times when we find deep satisfaction in our work. One of those occasions was the publication, three weeks ago, of our Centennial edition of The Advance-Times. After several months in the planning and preparatory stages, its publication the last week in June brought forth a tremendous amount of interest and favorable comment. Of course this is a good year for any- thing that has a historical flavor. Cana- dians from coast to coast are history con- scious. Nevertheless it was indeed gratify- ing to know that we had managed so successfully in our effort to bring the past to the attention of the present generation of Centennial celebrants. We are not entirely pleased with our- At long last the initial steps are in progress which will lead to the cleaning out of the Lower Town pond. Several years have passed since the project was first given serious consideration, and some of our townsfolk, particularly those who live within sight of the pond, have begun to wonder whether the whole idea was forgotten. At no time was the project dropped, but it should be understood that a plan of this magnitude becomes involved in a tre- mendous snarl of red tape. It must be approved by several levels of government. After such approval in principle has been won the long, slow trip through commit- tees and monetary boards has to be corn- pleted, All these delays have been passed and the engineers have taken soundings in the Last week this column pointed out the terrible hazard presented for small children by tiny floatables such as plastic boats and air mattresses. We were sorry, indeed, to learn that at least one reader suspected we were leveling ill-timed criticism at the grieving parents of the two Children Who were drowned at Emmerton Beach. • The summer course which is in pro- gress at the Wingham District High School is certainly one of the most interesting aspects of modern education. Elementary school teachers are being trained in the best methods of teaching what has been commonly called "new Math." When we interviewed him last week John Grosso, who is in charge of the course, pointed out that the mathematics in question is not new in any way. He said that the only thing new about the course is the method of teaching its prin- ciples to young children, Rather than forc- ing a child to memorize and retain tables and rules, the principles are impressed in more practical ways. Mr. Grosso claimed that newspapers were in part responsible for the misunder- standing which has grown up about "new Math." He may be right about some of the newspapers, but we disclaim any re- sponsibility in this regard as far as our own - paper is concerned. We have been inten- sely interested in the development of new teaching methods and have waited impa- The two and a half-day interruption of traffic in our main business district while the Lions operated a shopping "mall" and midway rides and games was an interest- ing test. As might have been expected, it brought forth both favorable and critical comment. A few of the merchants thought it was a terrible thing. But a lot of them didn't agree. Since attention has been centred on the idea, it might be sensible for some of our businessmen to talk to the merchants on King Street in Kitchener, where a beauti- ful shopping "mall" has been established on a trial basis, largely at the cost of the merchants whose stores face on the once- selves, because we grossly under-calculated the number of extra papers which would be needed to cover the demand, and as a result they were sold out within a day or two after publication, Letters and tele- phone calls are still coming in from people who want extra copies. If, by chance, you still have your Centennial edition around the house and do not intend to save it for future reference, we would appreciate knowing about it. We can easily find places for all the left-overs. Much of the material contained in that Issue was contributed by the hundreds of local residents who responded to our plea for old pictures and information about pioneer families. To these contributors our thanks, for without their cooperation the Centennial edition would have been skinny to say the least. pond to determine the actual extent of the digging operations. The next step will be to get a contractor onto the job. It's a slow business and a costly one, but the re- sults, a few years hence, will justify the expenditure. One of Wingham's most valuable na- tural assets is the Maitland River. Over the past ten years, with the assistance of the Riverside Parks Board and more re- cently the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, much has been done to improve and beautify the river frontage. Since there is so much of it, many more years will be required to achieve the completion of the last phases of the plan. However, each year the parkway becomes more at- tractive. We hope that our children and grandchildren will appreciate the heritage which is being created for them. We do hope that our words have not caused unnecessary pain. They were in- tended in no way to be critical of anyone, unless it might be of the manufacturer of such dangerous water equipment. But if even one life can be saved by our warning our words have been justified. tiently for the full acceptance of a proper and modern approach to education which has been, and in some cases is still largely lacking. Indeed, if there has been an improper understanding of the validity of new teach- ing methods it has been among teachers themselves. We know, as do many parents and school trustees, that some teachers were extremely hesitant to swing into the new system. In fact, the Department of Education itself was very slow in enforcing any clear-cut policy about teaching meth- ods in mathematics. Changes are taking place in our educa- tional system. Only last week it was an- nounced that Grade XIII examinations are a thing of the past. But many more changes in the system are needed before we can truthfully say that our children are re- ceiving the best of education. We do not point the finger at teachers but rather at educational policies which remained un- changed for so long that today's leaders in the field have had a gargantuan task to awaken the sleeping giant. busy thoroughfare. The blocks which have been closed to all but bus traffic are truly attractive. Flower beds have been estab- lished on the street and potted trees add a note of beauty. Already many of Kitch- ener merchants are looking forward to having the mall established on a perman- ent basis. A similar effort in downtown Ottawa has been made permanent and the merchants have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to make it so. In addition they pay $7,28 per foot frontage for annual upkeep. What's the lesson? Don't knock it until you know more about it. JULY 1918 Among the successful can- didates for the recent exaraina, tions of the Toronto Conserva- tory of Music, are Miss BrnrPa Hardie and Miss Mary E. Mac. Gregor, who passed with hon- ours, the examination in Ele- mentary Piano. Miss Anne Geddes has given up her school in Hullett Town- ship and has taken a position in the Bank of Commerce in Wing- ham. Privates Beth Gaunt and Herb Whitechurch, were home from London for the week-end, this being their last leave before going overseas. Mr. Jas, G. Stewart, real estate agent,' reports the sale of Mr. Galbraith's house on Josephine St., North, to Mrs. Forehan, formerly of this lo- cality, but lately of the West. Frank Galbraith and Gordon Buchanan returned home Fri- day evening after an extensive tour in their remodelled Ford. In ten days over fourteen hund- red miles were covered, the only engine trouble being a broken spark plug. JULY 1932 The following students were successful in obtaining Interim First Class Certificates at the Stratford Normal School: Nor- ma Coutts, Hilton Dickson, Hazel Wilson, all of town, and John Weir, Turnberry, and Ag- nes Robertson, East Wawanosh. After they have taught two or four years they may return to study for one year and thus pro- cure their permanent first class certificate. The beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Anderson, 5th line Morris, was burned to the ground with all the contents, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson being a away frbm home. The fire was not noticed until it had gained such headway that nothing was saved. Mr. Jack McMichael, local agent for the Prudential Insur- ance Co. , was successful in winning a trip to Newark, New Jersey, given by the company to agents who passed their 603 Bristol Towers, 10020 - 121 St., Edmonton, Alberta. To Wingham Advance: We received your centennial paper and am writing you to say how thrilled we were in looking over the pages of pioneer days in the county of Huron. We congratulate you for the work in printing the records and old time photos of pioneers and farm buildings. We were particularly inter- ested in the poem " The slate" , How true it was: the red bind- ing on the frame to keep it from banging on the desk and to clean the slate we often spit (in other words, glob oil). If we didn't have a rag we used our coatsleeves. I also remember when I was a boy on my father's farm that during the winter months for pastime the neighbors would visit each other and the men usually chewed McDonald chew- ing tobacco. Every house had to be equipped with a spittoon. My job after school was to fill the wood box behind the stove for the night burning. If there CINDY DAVIDSON was the winner of the step dancing cOritest at Pordwich last Sat- urday. She competed with other,. youngsters as well as with adults who must have been, 60 years her senior. quota in writing ordinary in., surance, mitiLY 1942 Mr, and Mrs. John. S. Prin- gle left recently for Saskatoon. After selling their farm in Turn-. berry they lived in Saskatoon, They spent the winter here and now have returned to the West. Congratulations to Pilot Of- ficer Don NasMith who has been promoted to the rank of Flying Officer. Don is stationed at Trenton. Mr. W. Stanley Hall, prin- cipal of the Wingham High School, has been appointed a second lieutenant and will act as adjutant of the 21st Brigade RCA (R.F.). Jack McNab of Lucknow has been commission- ed a second lieutenant in the second 99th Battery, RCA (R. F.). Albert Bacon, a young farm- er south of Belgrave was serious- ly injured when kicked in the face by a horse while drawing off hay at the home of a neigh- bor. JULY 1953 Stock car enthusiasts Stan Hiseler, Ron Murray and Ray- mond Merkley had a winner at the Bluewater Race Track on Thursday, when Stan Hiseler drove their stock car "30-J" to win the "Australian Pursuit" in the fourth event of the stock car races at Port Elgin. Frances "Toots" Aitken has taken a position with station CKNX, and commenced her duties there on Monday morn- ing. Pupils of Mrs. Royden Devitt of Fordwich, presented their piano recital at the latter's home recently. Mothers of the children were present. Those participating were John•Wilson, Dianne Carswell, Larry Mc- Dermitt, Eunice Martin, Phyl- lis Wilson, Harold Vines, Ken- neth Zurbrigg, Glenna Hibbard, Helen Adams, Yvonne Spar- ling, Marion Ruttan, Alice Cunningham, Anna Espensen, Velma Eurig, Jean Seifert, Donna Seifert, Donna Wray, Mae Kaster, Ruth Hibbard and Carl Hogg. was no spittoon the wood box would take its place, so you had to select your wood care- fully in placing it in the stove. On another occasion, com- ing from school, a man by the name of McBride was staying overnight and he was talking to my Dad. So I stuck out my chest and said, "How do you do, Mr. Pumphead." He got the name of pumphead because he travelled through the country with a light delivery wagon and one horse selling pumpheads and well cylinders, as well as repairing well pumps, At that time every farm had a dug well with stone lining at 25 to 30 feet deep. You operated this wooden pump by raising and lowering the handle. His re- ply was, "Who did you hear calling me Mr. Pumphead?" So I said the neighborhood boys. "Well young man, my name is McBride and I don't want you to call omeany other name from now n.,, I also remember another Howick character. He also had a delivery wagon and one horse. He sold long and short ladders to the farmers, His pastime when he got money for a ladder was to buy a keg of beer and in hot weather lie under a shade tree with a handful of salt and drink beer. These were the days of 1890-93 and bicycles were beginning to be as popu- lar as cars today. I also wish to mention for friends and acquaintances around Gorrie who knew Billie Wilson, that he passed away re- cently at Vancouver, at age 86. He was a schoolmate of mine at Orange Hill. Mrs. Ferguson and myself are looking forward to a trip to Ireland on August 24th. Will be leaving Edmonton Airport by charter plane and expect to land at Shannon Airport with 8 hours' flying time. Our daugh- ter and her husband will meet us there and drive us to Ennis- killen, North Ireland, about 175 miles, where they now live. 24th. So to return September SO for the tithe being we Will say farewell to our Wing. hatn, Wroxeter and Gorrie friends and we will bring you back a shamrock. W. 6, Ferguson. S MISS HOLLY 0. MARTIN of London, a former Wingham resident, with a flag made to be flown at Hornby for July 1, 1867. The pattern was made by her grand- father, Joseph Self, and the flag sewn by hand by his wife Elizabeth. It was raised Sundays and holidays and was flown on the wedding day of their daughter Clara to William Martin in 1883. The Martin family used it for special occasions. The blue has lasted well, the red is somewhat faded with the material in fairly good condition but the white pieces are com- pletely worn out. The Jack is hanging in The Advance-Times office. Barry and Rob- ert Wenger, the newspaper's publishers, are great grandsons of Mr. and Mrs. Self. A Gratifying Response Slow—But Well Worthwhile No Criticism Intended New Teaching Methods Interesting Experiment THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES PUblished at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited. W. Barry Wenger, President - Robert 0. Wenger, Secretary-Tresuititer Mother Audit Bureau of Circulation Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers' Association. AtithOrited by the Post Office Department as Second Claim Mali and for payMent Of postage' in dash. Subscription Rate: I Year,: $5.60: 6 niOtitlia, 0.76 lit advance:, U.S.A., $7.00 per yr.; Poreign rate, OW pet yr. Advertising Rates on application, I think probably the most difficult relationship to main- tain, at any reasonable level, is that between teen-age children and their parents. Marriage is tough enough, as you all know, But at least the partners, in most cases, arc prepared to bend a little, to give an inch, or even two if necessary, to compromise when there's no other way out. Married people do communi- cate, even though the form ranges from grunts and sighs to language that would sear the earlobes of a saint. They're usually from the same genera- tion and, at worst, can spend hours running down the government, the boss, the neighbors, or each other's fam- ilies. I know couples, including us, who have been amicably hick. ering for anything from two to six decades. It becomes almost a game, in which you know every ploy or gambit of the opponent. (A ploy is when she has you dead to rights. A gam- bit is when you just might get away with the story.) But with teen-agers, you're fighting a losing battle. First of all, there is the language barrier. Theoretically, you're both speaking the same tongue, but when it comes to interpretation, there's no re- lation whatever. You say, "Now, I want you home at midnight, right on the dot." This, to the teen, gyrat- ing in that weird, trance-like state they call dancing, means "Well, I don't have to leave until midnight." A scene en- sues. And at scenes, you haven't a look-in. You're all set to raise hell. Hackles are properly erect, And five minutes after the kid gets in, you're on the defensive, trying to prove that you're not "an old grump," or completely irrational, or "the strictest parent in town," or an out-and-out liar who said twelve o'clock was the dead- line for leaving the dance, not for being home. Teen-agers are like women. You can't discuss anything with them, in a logical way. You are completely baffled by a series of irrelevances, non- sequiturs and such things as, "You don't trust me. That's what's wrong with you. You don't trust me!" And they're right. It's sad to see a family breaking up. I ,suppose it's in- evitable and right. But it's sad. Ours is. We had a swim the other day, the four of us. As we were leaving the beach, I said to the old girl, "Do you realize that's probably the last time we'll all have a swim together?" She agreed. Kids don't want to go swim- ming with their parents. They want to lurch around with their own age group. They used to practically destroy me, when they were little, making me play with them when we went swimming. Duck dives, underwater endurance tests, races. And now it's transistor radios, squabbling and cheeky remarks for which there is no real answer except a swat on the ear. And you can't do that, or they'll run off and start smoking pot. Enjoy them when they're lit- tle. You can blow on their bel- lies, kiss their little soft bums, rock them when they're sick, and tell bedtime stories till you're blue in the face. There's communication then. But don't expect too much when they get past 13. For the next six years, it will be sun and showers, cold fronts mov- ing in, a lot of low pressure areas, with the occasional high, and such suggestions as I've heard recently: "Dad's just not with it, He's out to lunch." It's nothing new, of course. When I recall how utterly self- ish I was as a youth, how little I cared about my parents' hopes and fears, I understand. It's been going on since Cain clobbered Abel and broke up that nice little family group. It's a time of life when the whole earth revolves around ME, and parents are merely another awkward, sometimes obnoxious circumstance that is preventing ME from being what I want to be and becom- ing whatever I will be. Oh, well, there's an excellent invention called grandchildren, I can hardly wait to get at spoiling mine rotten so that their parents will be totally unable to cope with them. N.B.: Winner of guest col. umn announced next week for sure. Isn't it exciting?