Times Advocate, 1991-07-17, Page 4Page 4
Times -Advocate, July 17, 1991
Publisher: Jim Beckett
News Editor: Adrian Hada
Business Manager: Don Smith
Composition Manager: Deb Lord
C 011
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386
URSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA
Within 40 miles (65 km.) addressed
to non letter carrier addresses $30.00 plus 82.10 G.S.T.
Outiede 40 miles (86 km.) or any letter canter address
530.00 plus 830.00 postage (total 860.00) plus 84.20 G.S.T.
Outside Canada 868.00
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I)ITOIZIA1, .
Buying a dump, not a bad idea
A t a recent Lucan council meet-
ing, reeve Larry Hotson made
a very interesting observation.
C.H. Lewis owner of the now closed
dump in Lucan, has had no incentives
to re -open the dump which was closed
by a provincial court judge. _
And why should he even try to. He's
still in business and as long as the mu-
nicipalities of Lucan, Biddulph Town-
ship and Parkhill keep writing the
cheques, Lewis will continue to collect
their garbage.
The three municipalities should look
seriously at purchasing the dump from
Lewis. Sure, it may sound likk buying
an airplane with a missing wing, but
what are the alternatives?
The three communities need a dump.
It would definitely be less expensive to
send the garbage to their dump than it
would to ship it to Kent County like
they are doing now.
Lucan council is worried about their
budget as all councils are but perhaps
this wouldn't be a bad investment. How-
ever the biggest obstacle lies with the
judge who closed it.
What does Lewis have to do to re -open
it. Hotson said the dump would never
open again under Lewis' management.
Hotson has also said there isn't that
much wrong with the dump.
If they can afford it, and they can clean
it up and satisfy all parties involved,
maybe the municipalities should look at
buying the dump.
F.G.G.
School in the Olden Days
Olive, the volunteer curator of
our local museum, asked me to
help her last week. I'm on the
committee that looks after "Mu-
seum Park". Olive needed some-
body. So I obliged.
"It won't be very difficult. Just
a little tour of the museum by
some elementary school chil-
dren with their teachers and a
few parent helpers."
In my innocence, I agreed to
do the job.
One of the buildings in "Mu-
seum Park" is a 115 year-old
one -room school house,
snatched from under the wreck-
er's ball some time ago and
moved - log by log - to its
present location. It was faithful-
ly and lovingly restored and fur-
nished to demonstrate what
school was like "in the olden
days."
Two busloads of kids arrived.
With four teachers and six par-
ents. We divided them up into
groups. Some played ball in the
park.. Olive showed them
through the main museum. I
took one group to the old school
house.
What's discipline?
As soon as we were inside, the
kids climbed all over the wood-
en desks. They behaved the way
they behave at their school, I
guess.
Then I said: "This school is
used to children with disci-
pline."
They had never heard of this
archaic word, of course. I be-
lieve it was used for the last
time in Canada in 1920, when
Sir William Van Home suggest -
cd a new Boy Scout motto:
":Discipline is the Foundation of
Character and the Safeguard of
Liberty". It didn't catch on, and
that was the end of it.
I explained that in this school,
children did only what the teach-
er allowed, and they spoke only
when spoken to. They all
laughed. The teachers laughed.
The parents laughed. Some kids
were still jumping on top of the
antique desks. But a few were
settling down.
What's duty?
I told them that in this old
school, grades one to eight had
all shared the same classroom,
that the teacher had to instruct
everybody at the same time,
and that the children had the
duty to obey.
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hesse!
"What's a duty?" a little girl
with blonde pigtails asked.
"What's obey?" some other kids
wanted to know.
"Duty," I said, "is an old-
fashioned word that means do-
ing what you must do, even if
you don't like it".
They only stared at me. I tried
again. "buty is behaving, doing
your job, -- like making your
bed, helping with chores"
They didn't like the idea of
duty any more than the concept
of obedience -- another outdat-
ed word. Today's kids firmly
believe that it is their right to do
as they please most of the time.
Walk to school?
"There's another thing these
children don't know, I said:
school ,bases. There weren't
any."
"Then how did they get to
school?" a red-headed boy
asked.
"Who knows the answer to
that?"
"Their parents took them in
the car."
"There were no cars then.
They walked. Summer and win-
ter, in rain and in snow, they
walked to school."
Silence. The kids tried to ima-
gine what it must have been
like for those poor, tortured
children of the past. I had them
listening to me now.
"And when they got here, they
helped the teacher to keep the
school neat and clean. They had
to scrub the floor, bring in water
for the wash basin, and in the
winter bring in firewood for the
stove."
"Where did they get the wa-
ter?"
"From the pump."
"Why didn't they get it from
the bathroom?"
"Because there wasn't a bath-
room anywhere."
"What if they had to go pee?' -l•
"They went to the outhouse,
even when it was 30 below ze-
rio."
What's an outhouse?
"What's an outhouse?"
I'm going to recommend to
the museum committee to
search all over the township for
a genuine late -Victorian out-
house,__to_be- restored and- i—
stalled in the bushes behind the
old school.
Before they left, I asked the
kids to look around their own
school for things that didn't ex-
ist when their great-
grandparents were their age.
Maybe they could make a list
and hand it in to their teacher.
They could write down things
like: computers, projectors, li-
brary, office, secretary, princi-
pal, French teacher, special -ed
teacher, custodian, gym, play-
ground, staff room, supply
room, and much more.
1 didn't bother showing them
the neatly kept and well-
prepared Treasurer's Account
Book for School Section 15. It
contains the 1878 school budget
amounting' to $238.45. The
teachers salary was $204. Some
of the other items: 8 1/2. cords
of wood: $14.95; one load of
sand: $1.50; lime: 45 cents. No
money was spent for labour. It
was all provided .free of charge
by members of the school
board.
HAVE AN OPINION?
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be accompanied by a telephone number and address should we need to clarify any
"Information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters.
Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to:
Exeter Times Advocate
Box 850, Exeter, Ontario
NOM 1S6
"Men are never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Thomas Macauley
Published Each WednNday Moraine at 424 Maim
Exeter, Ontario, NOM 186 by J.W. Eody ra±Noa eas Ltd.
Telephone 1618.2361131
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Along with youth
Guess what? That's right. The
editor is on a much -deserved
holiday which means that you
have to put with another column
from yours truly. I've managed
to chew through the ropes which
have kept me bound and gagged
in one of the closets here since
my last attempt, and until they
manage to capture me again
you'll have to put up with bad
writing.
Working for the Times -
Advocate has introduced me to a
lot of new faces and different
experiences and there have been
many firsts in my short time
here. I've been introduced to
council meetings and bowling
banquets, and even travelled in
an open aircraft at 12,000 feet.
There is always something dif-
ferent.
During my final year of Eng-
lish at university, many of my
classes and papers centred
around the attempts of various
authors to write from experi-
ence. So last week, in trope of
being able to better relate to
thesq young people we call chil-
dren, and experience a part of
youth I must have missed, I vol-
unteered to help with a task no
sane person should ever volun-
teer for. You got it. I picked
stones.
Now, stone picking in itself
doesn't seem that hard of a task.
You ride along on the tractor,
I pick up any stones deemed the
right size, and put them in the
bucket. When the bucket is full,
you empty it out; it's kids stuff.
Of course, that's before the stiff
Off the
head
by
Lewis
legs, blistered hands and bumt
back kick in.
Following the excursion I felt
sort of proud, feeling that I had
accomplished something and
that now I could least say hon-
estly that I had'done it.
As I began my minor soccer
practice that evening I spoke of
the day's events to the children
in the crowd whom I knew were
fellow stonepickers. Much to
my dismay I found that I had
only nibbled the cheese, for I
had only completed half of the
task. I found that the average
13 -year-old can expect to begin
picking at 8 a.m. and work until
5 p.m. Wanting only a taste of
the experience, and not wanting
to make a career of it, I chose to
make my workday a little short-
er. -
Letters to Editor
My day bf stonepicking began
with me showing up fashionably
late; about 11:30. After an hour
of picking to wet my appetite,
we stopped for lunch. Not bad
so far I thought. We returned to
the field an hour later and con-
tinued to pick, taking time at the
end of each pass to empty- the
full bucket. Everything seemed
to go well and I actually enjoyed
myself aps because I want-
ed to fere but didn't have to
be.
But by about 3 p.m. it started.
That slow, aching nausea known
as stone picker's delirium. You
know, that point in the day when
all the stone's suddenly start to
look the same size. Your knees
go weak, your stomach begins to
chum and the ground keeps
moving even after the tractor
has stopped. Fortunately, my
day ended at four o'clock when I
had to leave for a doctor's ap-
pointment. Convenient, ch?
Later that evening I sat reflect-
ing the day's events while wal-
lowing in the hot tub, nibbling
potato chips and watching my
ever-increasing wastclinc. " I
have officially announced my
retirement from the sport of
stonepicking, deciding instead to
leave to the youth who are obvi-
ously more fit than myself.
Want to know if you can find
that lost youth. Pick stones.
Reading programat library
To the editor:
This is an open letter to the
mothers who have complained
about what they perceive to be a
lack c: programs at Exeter branch
library.
This swnmcr Huron County has
hired a student to conduct extra
summcr reading programs for the
libraries in the county system. On
Dear Sir:
On Friday, June 21 I was in Ex-
eter, Englarfi where I had an expe-
rience which I believe will be of
interest to quite a number of your
readers. It happened at a prayer
meeting of the Isca Christian Fel-
lowship, "Isca" being the original
Roman name of the city.
First, this was no ordinary
prayer meeting. For openers, it
lasted from eight until half past
eleven, the entire time being given
over to prayer. Better yet, the
prayer was fervent, believing --
the kind that really "docs busi-
ness" with God.
Thursday, July
11 she came to
111
Exeter at 2 p.m.
to . conduct a
one-hour program. I
No children
showed up.
If programs arc
desired by parents, it would be nice
to see a better response. Rhonda
Letter to Editor
Best of all, from my point of
view, no little part of the meeting's
time and prayer energywere devot-
ed to interceding for xeter, Onta-
rio. As with
their own com-
munity, they
prayed for the
unity of the
churches, along
11)
with their spiritual
advancement. And
they earnestly prayed for the spread
of the gospel in saving grace
throughout Exeter and area.
For one who himself attempts to
achieve some things through
will be back on Thursday, July 25
at 2 p.m. to present another onc-
hour program.
We hope to have some children
attend to make it worth her effort.
Sincerely,
Helen M. Hodgins,
Branch Supervisor
prayer, it was quite a thrill, particu-
larly since through my visit over
there last year 1 tried to stir interest
in some sort of .linkage between
the Christians of the British Exeter
and our own.
Perhaps others of Exeter and
arca fool something similar toward
what took place in that prayer
meeting, and would like to express
it to those British believers. They
may do so by writing: 'sea Chris-
tian Fellowship, c/o Mr. Tony
Wade, 46 Southbrook Road, Exet-
er, England EX2 6JE. I'm sure they
would find that very encouragippgg
Sincce`bly,
Eugene Fox