The Wingham Advance-Times, 1983-04-06, Page 13Serving over 25,000 homes in Listowel, Wingham, Mount Forest 'Milverton Elmira, Palmerston, Harriston, Brussels, Atwood, Monkton, Millbank, Newton, Clifford, Wallenstein, Drayton, Moorefield and Arthur. Wednesday, April 6, 1983
by Henry Hess
nji sings the blues
Canine crooner is self-taught
SINGING THE BLUES—Nose to the sky, Benji, the
canine crooner of Belgrave, lets the music roll. Entirely
self-taught, Benji sings his own compositions, though
his friend and' severest critic, Mrs. Clarence Hanna,
confesses she has never really developed an ear for his
tunes.
It is said that true art cannot be taught. It
muSt come from the soul.
If that is true, then Benji must be a true
artist, for it is certain that his musical
talents were never taught, and his croonings
come, if not from the soul, then from some-
where within the depths of his shaggy being.
Bnji, you see, is a self-taught songster
and organist of some notoriety in his home
community of Belgrave. An unabashed
httm, he seizes on every opportunity — the
chance visit of a stranger is a good enough
excuse — to showcase his skills and vent his
feelings through a few bars of song.,
It's good, rousing stuff too! It might not
actually wake the dead, but would almost
certainly make them roll over and perhaps
put fingers to their ears.
lAs one who knows him best, Mrs. Clarence
Hanna, describes it: "I. have a friend who
has a hearing aid, and when Ben hits the
-organ she turns her hearing aid off. But I'm
not so lucky.
Benji is a shaggy and affable young mutt
of the Heinz 57 variety who came to live with
the Hannas in their cosy Belgrave home a
couple of years ago, when he was just a pup.
Clarence, a renowned local trapper who
-retired recently as road superintendent of
East Wawanosh Township, has always spent
a lot of time outdoors and usually has had a
dog to accompany him. So when his faithful
beagle disappeared about two years ago,
some of the grandchildren decided Grand-
dad should have another dog and they
brought home Bettji.
His bloodlines are a little uncertain =
"kis mother is supposed to be part beagle
and she must have met an Airedale, because
look at the whiskers on him," Mrs. Hanna
continents `— and his only papers are
whatever., he might happen to find and bring
home, but Benji is a clever and lovable little
ardatt3 'aeter:' ` ;
He riwas supposed to be a .htutatig dog, but
it quickly- became clear that he preferred
gentler pursuits. When they once gave him a
mouse, he declined to kill it, but instead
played with it for a while and then obligingly
set it free..
"He's too well fed," Mr. Hanna suggests,
buthis wife disagrees.
"No, it's just not his nature.
"I don't think he'd be much of a watchdog
either. He'd make friends with. the. burglar
and show him whatever he couldn't find."
His love of music surfaced while he was
still very young. When the grandchildren
visited and played the small electric organ
that stands in the living room, Benji would
always beg to come into the house, Mrs.
Hanna recalls. At first she would make the
children stop playing, because she thought it
hurt his ears, but soon realized that Benji
actually liked the music.
One day they jokingly invited Benji to get
up and play himself. Lo and behold he did,.
and he's been at it ever since.
Like any good performer, Beftji never
misses a chance to broaden .his repertoire
and hone his talents. "If someone comes on
a talent show with an • accordion or some-
thing, he'll stand in front of the TV and sing
like mad," Mrs. Hanna reports.
A born entertainer, he loves an audience,
and when some of the village ladies ,come
over for a quilting party he will use th
em to
try out his latest compositions. "It makes it
hard to concentrate," Mrs. Hanna observes.
An amateur in the true sense of the word,
Benji sings purely for the love of his music
and never expects any reward for his labors.
All he asks is for someone to turn on the
switch on the organ, at which point he will
strike a chord — almost any chord will do —
point his nose to the sky and let the music
flow in a seemingly endless "O000h-
w000w000w000", apparently never pausing
for breath until someone hits the off switch.
At that point Benji will pause, paw
hopefully at the keyboard and look
meaningfully at the switch and the
audience, clearly hoping_for a call of
"Encore! ".
Qther delights for this unusual dog include
going for walks — at the word he's up and
ready and won't give anyone a moment's
peace till they make good on the implied
promise — and retrieving, another self-
taught skill.
Clearly a free spirit, Benji doesn't wait to
be asked to go and fetch something. He'll
scrounge around the countryside for any-
thing that isn't either red hot or nailed down
and, if it strikes his fancy, haul it on home.
He's brought home balls from all over the
area, the Hannas report, but his real
triumph was the saga of the pickled cottage
roll.
It seems that a friend happened upon a
small brown -and -black dog one day trotting ,
down the road with something in its mouth.
Curious, she investigated, and the object
proved to be a cottage roll, still in mint
condition with its cellophane wrapper un-
broken.
Now, many dogs might object rather
strenuously to surrendering such a prize,
but Benji, gentle as a lamb, handed it over
upon request.
The friend, reasonably certain of the dog's
identity, phoned the Hannas to inquire about
the source of the meat. Mrs. Hanna, equally
baffled, suggested she put the roll in her
refrigerator and wait to hear whether some-
one's grocery basket had been robbed.
To this day, they still don't know where
Benji got the cottage roll — and he's .not
telling.
However she does have a pretty good idea
where he was going with it. "He won't eat
raw meat. He found it somewhere and was
bringing it home to have it cooked."
"Now doesn't that beat the dutch!" Mrs.
Hanna declared, with a twinkle in her eye.
"You spend all that time teaching a dog to
retrieve, and the first time he gets some-
thing worthwhile he takes it to someone
else! "
That's Benji.
SOULFUL EYES AND SHAGGY WHISKERS—Benji presents an appealing picture
entirely in keeping with his character. Though at least some of his ancestors may
have hunted, Benji has turned to more peaceful pursuits such as music, though he
still finds time to accompany Clarence Hanna on trapping expeditions and has
developed a nose for muskrat.
Elmira resident's animals
are stuffed with personality
I cuddle them as I make them!"
Elmeda Waters makes more than one
kind of a friend as a result of her hobby —
sewing stuffed animals. First of all, the
animals she makes begin to take on person-
alities as she fashions them from scraps of
material. "I cuddle them as I make them!"
the outgoing sewer admits.
Secondly and most importantly, Mrs.
Waters says, "These animals have brought
my many, many friends. 1 get to know more
and more people through it — it's why I keep
it up."
She started making stuffed animals 12
years ago. "I needed something to do. "1
can't sit and do nothing," the Elmira resi-
dent says in her fast, energetic voice. it
started as a way to raise funds for a Ladies'
Aid group and then progressed to hobby and
craft shows where she sold her work
Over the years she estimates she has
made thousands of animals including mice,
cats, kittens, four kinds of dogs, horses, pen-
guins, bunnies, lambs. kangaroos, owls,
beavers, monkeys, turtles and elephants
by Kim Dadson
She has made squirrels over two feet high
and turtles large enough for children to sit
on.
The animals are well made. About half the
sewing is done by hand and the stuffing is
tight which "lasts longer" says Mrs.
Waters.
Today the stuffed animals are a hobby and
a way to continue meeting people. And Mrs.
Waters is an animal lover and says she can
become attached to the animals she makes.
She says you may place the eyes in the
same spot on several animals but once they
have eyes the animals seem to take on their
own personalities and expressions. It's not
uncommon for someone interested in buying
her work to line up several of the same type
of animal and then choose the one with the
preferred expression.
Mrs. Waters uses material from Borg
Textiles in Elmira for the coat and the stuff-
ing. The most difficult part is to stand and
cut the pattern as she will cut several at
once. And one type of animal may require
up to 35 different pieces. as do the lamb and
the monkey, And it can take quite awhile to
assemble all the pieces.
Stuffing the animal can be difficult on the
shoulders, she says.
Over the years her animals have travelled
many miles. .They have gone to England,
Toronto, Harriston, Mount Forest, Germany
and British Columbia.
Not one to remain idle. Mrs. Waters also
makes footstools covering seven 48 ounce
juice cans with Borg for a sturdy and "very
strong" footstool.
Mrs. Waters' animals take on personali-
ties as she makes them and no doubt under-
lying that personality in each is a cheerful,
outgoing disposition, something they inherit
from the woman who makes them.
ELMEDA WATERS is surrounded by friends,
stuffed animals she has made as a hobby. Over
20 kinds of animals come to life under her
hands.
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