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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-08-15, Page 6Page 6—Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, August 15, 1979 The LUCKNOW SENTINE LUCKNOW, ONTARIO '`The Sepoy Town" On the Huron -Bruce Boundary Established 1873 Published Wednesday • Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528-2822 Mailing Address P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, NUG 2H0 Second"elass mail registration number - 0847 cNAMEMBER MEMBER A SIGNAL PUBLICATION SHARON J. DIETZ - Editor. ANTHONY N. JOHNSTONE - Advertising and _General Manager PAT LIVINGSTON - Office Manager MERLE ELLIOTT - Typesetter MARY McMURRAY - Ad Composition Subscription rate, $I 1 per year in advance • Senior Citizens rate, $9 per year in advarwe U.S.A. and Foreign, $2130 per year in advance Sr, Cit., U.S,A. and foreign $19.50 per year in advance Community spirit Communities were once more . interdependent. Farmers helped each other at seedtime and harvest: Barn raising bees built . new lodgings for livestock.. Quilting bees, were a social gathering for the women folk.' Families often .lived together with three .generations and..more sharing„Ane household, helping each other with the chores, farm work and the endless housekeeping. duties.'' The advent of . mechanized farming and modern___ appliances to simplify . housekeeping encouraged the nuclear family even on the farm. Rural.conimunities are more interdependent than their urban cousins, but not nearly to the extent in the past. Only the Amish community still help, out each other in the way the . whole farming community• once The tbrnado in the Oxford County..area .last week brought about •a revival of this community fellowship and' the spirit of working together: ..Farmers busy with their own harvest left their fields to go the Woodstock area to help clean up the disaster area. People have sent food and relief.: funds are collecting money to help with the financial burden of. rebuilding a lifetime of work. . The sense of helping out a neighbour when disaster :strikes is still felt in our own community when a family loses their barn. by fire or the head of the family is sick. Neighbours help do chores; a. gang of ploughs or combines will roll -into a farm. to get the ploughing done or the harvest off. And the community will organize a special 'drive to raise moneyto help out. And when the tornado struck last week; our sense of neighbourliness went beyond the boundaries of the immediate corrimunity. People, from this area went to ., help people in neighbouring counties who had lost everything. • There is still work to be done to cleanup and rebuild the farms and homes destroyed by the tornado. More. volunteers will go to the area to help. While we are moving away from the old traditio s, the values are still there and it's good to know we i11 feel the need to help out a neighbour when trouble strikes. Everybody knows you can put your money in a piggy bank for safe keeping; but who said only piggies can save money. Michelle Cote, Ashfield; deckled her money would be just as safe In a "bunny” bank which she made from a plastic container. Michelle isparticipating in the Summer Playground program at SL Joseph's School, Kingsbridge. [Sentinel Staff Photo] • In September, 191Q. the Caledonian Scottish militia regiment was ordered into active service. The • armouries at Pentown became a hive of military . activity:: A field kitchen was set -up and camp beds, lined the drill hall. They came from across the countryside. ; young men wearing the, kilt of the regiment; -and filled with a nervous: excitement There. was .one.handsome-faced soldier with enough 'service and'exP.er'ience to sport two: stripes .on his arm., His name was Angus MacCrimmon. • He busied himself with blankets and found a bed in one corner of the hall; They,•would only be here for a day or so, they were told; and then would ~gohome for. a couple of weeks. embarkation leave, before they, left for overseas,. In the throng .of.'humanity preparing themselves for service; the atmosphere was tcharged :with the :smell of camphor . from uniforms. kept .. in • mothballs. There'w.ere other more personal odours of course - a mixture of a hundred clothes closets and as always -the 'smell of boot, polish •and shaving. soap.. Angus didn't notice the figure of the regimental sergeant major approach. This man, at least, seemed out of place amid the crowd of young farmers who had ' .now .become soldiers. Immaculate and all spit and polish, he sported a :large wa>red moustache and carred a pacing stick in "his'right; hand. His kilt was perfectly pleated and thebuttons on his tunic shone like chrome.. He halted' when he came to Angus. "What's your name?" he asked. Angus turned around., surprised• by the sudden appearance of the most feared and respected man ih the Caledonian Scottish, ""MacCrimmon sir, Angus ,said, coming ' to • attention. "Corporal Angus MacCrirmimon." The sergeant major stared at him for a few moments, looking him up and down., and then a smite flickered across hisusually' stern face: ' "That's not,what l ;hatre on the roll." Angus•was a little puzzled. • • "That's my name, sir;" he said. "Corporal Angus MabCrimmon." "It says here, Sergeant • Angus MacCrimmon. You've been promoted lad! We need all the senior w:C.O.'s we can get." `• Angus stili stood to attention and the sergeant major paced up and down as if thinking. He stopped abruptly and pointed' his pacing stick at Angus. "You'd baiter get three stripes on your arm and' then get.your kit to the'sergeants' mess. 1'II talk to you later." Solt was, that when Angus returned to the H-urigry Hundred .to greet a .proud father and mother, he suddenly gained prestige in the Redtrees community. He was a leader of men! The new rank didn't go to Angus's head, but he had at least one happy thought. "'1 gonna get more money now,"het ;Id his father: "An' more privileges - 1 live in the sergeants' mess - sc I do." Old James MacCrimmon felt a deep senseof pride in his son, and he had every intention of letting his neighbours know about his new status. Just wait. he told himself. When t go with 4ngus to church on Sunday and 'im dressed in 'is uniform, a sergeant; that'll give ,everybody something to . talk about, especially that Reverend Douglas MacLeod' James MacCrimmon didn't like the Presbyterian minister. Not that there was anything :really wrong with Douglas MacLeod - it was his views Everybody is entitled to ':their own opinions,`' but . old James MacCrirnrnon resented- the.way in which MacLeod, Mixed potitics with religion, especially when he expressed them from the pulpit. • Ori Sunday, the church was crowded and the congregation suspected that the Reverend would not, waste any time expressing his viewson war - Douglas MacLeod was a .pacifist!. James MacCrimmon.and Angus sat near the front ' of the church and from time 'to 'time, the young .. sergeant stole a glance at the minister's daughter., They had been sweethearts -from childhood,but the relationship between their parents :didn't' help their prospects of ' marriage. lf it hadn't been for thea untimely arrival of the war, Angus would have taken Mary :MacLeod forhis wife, regardless ;:.of the disapproval of his father or the Reve.rend-Douglas ' MacLeod.' As they were singing the last lines of the third ftymn, the minister ascended to the pulpit and when the congregation was seated again, he cleared his throat and .began his serrnon in a loud, impassioned voice. ''Today 1 draw your attention to the Commandment "Thou shalt not kill" Once again, we enter into another conflict andour young .men are asked to spill their blood for .a cause which is not ours. There is no purpose in Man killing` man, and justifying such barbaricactions in the name of king and country, i wonder how'.many men in our congregation today. brave and..good .living men, realize to what end they have com'rnitted their lives." - The Reverend Douglas MacLeod had only just begun his sermon,`'but as far as James MacCrimmoh was concerned, he had already finished. The minister was ridiculing .the patriotism of his son and nobody, not even Douglas MacLeod, could get away with that. He got to his feet and committed what appeared to many, an almost unpardonable act. He shook his fist at the minister) "1 ain't li> terting to you any more - you ain't a pacifist, you're a coward, so you are. You got. no business mixin' politics an religion." He jerked his head at Angus, indicating that they should leave, and stormed out Of the church amid the hubbub of conversation initiateby his outburst. Outside, old Jam tied into the buggy and put the whip. to his horse. t w r.. eyed and lifted its front legs off the ground. r- by his exhibitionof anger in th- than by the a -fay of the horse to move, he applied the whip again d the stallion galloped out of the church yard and lila: apeered down the sandy road in a cloud of dust.