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The Seaforth News, 1961-05-18, Page 3Hunting Fur Eggs Ira. The Haymow i' eves that 10,000 Texas. chit- - 'Oren hunted for 40,000 Easter Eggs may help establish the enagnitudinous proclivities of the Lone Star State, but it serves also to pique my memories about hunting for eggs, I suppose Pee hound 40;000 eggs in my • time, many of which had vacated their rights through extended desue- tude in secret repository. One of the jobs falling to the 'youngster on the farm was to find eggs, and the poultry pad the job of hiding them. I refer. to an era when roads were not paved, and the occasional auto- mobile that chugged by was • . watched to see if it made the hill, and hens enjoyed a freedom now lost to them, even as you and I, All the animals had this freedom, more or less, although pigs were usually fenced in be, cause they were harder to catch and they loved gardens, The hens roamed the acres, and dust- ed under the petunias by the front door, and laid as they list- ed, True, there were nests in the henhouse, but when you had 05 laying hens and the nests gave up six eggs, you were free to assume the game was on, Hens sought out the oddest places to lay. Once I found 11 beautiful eggs on, a buggy seat, We pad • aate t leather buggywhich p n Grandfather had acquired in a lavish moment, and while it made a horse feel proud, it was a mean one to ride in, The old buggy had comfort, but this new one had none, It was kept in the carriage shed under a cloth, and one morning I caught a hen corn- ing out from under the cloth. She jumped to the floor and • lifted her joyous songs but then she saw me and tried to tell me that she was a liar. She skirted the periphery and made an exit, after wheih I investigated, and I found the eggs on the seat. How a . hen could collect 11 eggs there isa mystery. It is doubtful i4 human hand could lay them " out without having some roll off. I naturally looked on the floor of the buggy to see if she had overshot, but she had not. There they were, and small as I was I had already learned enough about human nature so I ran to get Aunt Abbie, who came out and saw them. She looked at me,. as if surmising that I had set this ' up for effect, but Aunt Abbie knew hens, too, and she admitted the premise. With her as a witness, my veracity was unchallenged. Hunting for eggs in the hay- mow was always fun, Once, very young, I started down the lad- der with a hat'ful of eggs, and missed a rung. If I am vouch- safed any- honour in this world, • from first to last, I think I merit fame for falling 10 feet with a hatful of eggs, and landing in a heap on the barn floor with the eggs intact, This is- not an easy thing to do, 'and I have never done it but that once. But on --the old farm an egg was held in respect, It was a day's work for a lien, and as good as coin in any exchange. One did not lightly destroy eggs, and if occasion arose one took their part. So a boy's making an er- Upsidedott'i to Prevent Pt -et -ling 314o yJId1� NEW 10d - 7w5O1du1Jd. l -O QD �J'd!-i ice'{{• 5 1005 ee•'`'111101Ela tYJg 14 Q®©®'•.'!1 21 ©I ', ®M' -i3©© 'E7® MB. p . �€1UU Met U©0 , ®u rJ © ®x: . 31i�j''.36'neW-[]•'d: WilkiJMN 9 r.' a1 ror aboard a ladder was no ex- cuse to sacrifice good eggs. I carried them all into the house, and Complimented myself on having avoided a reprimanding. Hens astonish you by the way they keep tabs on each other. You will chance upon a nest sonic sly biddy hits established, and the two eggs in it inform you that she has been using it for only two days, This hen has pioneered in a new direction, has established an outpost no - betty knows about except you and the hen. Yeti were lucky to find it, and mark the spot in your memory. It sort of pleases you to realize that the hen went to so much trouble to find inis place, and is going to return to it every day under an illusion that she has a secret. So, the next day, having given the hen time to come back to the pest and make her contribution, you' approach the thing, and you find 37 eggs in it, During the day, somehow, 36 other hens have penetrated the secret and have joined in the cooperative ven- ture, and each has come and gone furtively, motivated all by a uniformity of purpose, and the secret nest can hardly be called a secret any more. There is a certain element al time involved in the egg hunting business. Most knowing people. agree that a new egg has more chance of popularity. Thus, the random manner of the poultry department on the old f a r m sometimes erected doubts, These, eggs that were brought to the house by the jubilant egg .hunt- ers - were they young and ten- der, or had the, jaded attitudes of experience settled upon thm? Youcouldn't tell from the' barn. In . the recesses of the haymow, under the high eaves, a clutch of beautifully brown eggs looks about thesame in May as Sep- tember. One must remember that the hen who lays an old egg has actually contributed just as nobly as the one who is more up-to-date. It isn't the hen's fault. The egg hunter's, maybe, but not the hen's. The women had some way to'. float a dubi- ous egg in a brine and find out if it could be trusted. It the egg hunter chanced to find a hatful of questionable eggs and didn't keep them separate, the.:flo'ating of eggs would go on all afternoon until they were sure the cases for market were respectable. Somehow the floating of eggs seemed to show , the women didn't always trust 'the egg hun- ters, or the hens. Deep in the Heart of Texas, where jumbo egg hunts bring status to the augmented frame of mind, 40,000 eggs may seem like quite a decent Easter outing. But I wouldn't swap a"single one of the haymow eggs in my mem- ory. - By John Gould in the Christian Science Monitor. SWITCH - PLAYER One of the strangest deals ever made between two major-league ballclubs took place a good many years back. The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals were engaged in a Memorial Day doubleheader,' It was one of those morning afternoon af- fairs, The Cardinals had a left fielder named Cliff Heathcote who played: with them' in the morning contest. During the in- terim between games the Cards, traded Heathcote to the Cubs, and the nightcap found hint playing against the same team he had played for that morning. • Suburban soliloquy: It's the time of year when the suburban lawn takes on a friendly green hue --then later on in the season, flourishing under constant atten- tion, takes on a belligerent. rate of growth, requiring frequent whittling down. DEATH WATCH Oblivious of a purse -swinging pedestrian, a robin, keeps vigil over its dead mote on a city sidewalk. The bird was killed when it flew into a store window, The mourn- ing period lasted for hours until heavy traffic drove the grieve ins robin away. "PASTEURIZED" RAIN - When is a lake not a lake? When it's a pasture flooded by a sudden spring rain. Sun appeared after storm to add silver to this watery field. TIIL'FARM FRONT Jok' Secretary of Agriculture Free- man is asking the U.S. Congress to take a new look at agricul- ture. He has placed before the legis- lators a program which is prob- ably more comprehensive, and more complex in its ,application to the farm economy, than any yet considered. Not that'` any farm legislation. is simple. The problem itself is complex. It is- not one problem, it is many. * e This is basis of the administra- tion's approach. That is, to deal with each problem or commodity independently, In many ways it. is an approach long advocated by the National Grange. It is also in line with the policies of the National Farmers Union. It is contrary to the policies of the American Farm Bureau Federation. In philosophy and procedure it is also contrary to the farm policy of the previous administration under Secretary Benson. e * o Few at this point are brash enough to predict how it will work out in practice. Even Secretary Freeman says, "it is -no panacea - just a license for hard work." Actually most of the devices for production and marketing control are already available un- der the present law. It is just that they have never been ap- plied so comprehensively or on such a wide scale as contemplat- ed in the new bill. * * * The bill's commodity -by -corn - modify approach is seen as open- ing up an entirely new vista in farmer relationships -one which will draw certain groups of like -interests together and probably, by the same token, bring some divisions. In other words, the new system would tend to draw producers to- gether, as distinguished from handlers and processors. What effect this would have, if it conies about, is hard to predict. But there is little doubt that much controversy will revolve around the legislation, The administration is eager to "get the show on the road." That is, to have Congress hold hear- ings immediately on the legisla- tion. e * Farm organizations are losing no time in an intensive' study of the 70 -page bill, preparatory to public statements of policy and the development of more detail- ed and lengthy statements to be made by farm organization offi- cials before congressional coin tnittees. In fact the Farmers Union and the National Grange promptly and jointly sponsored a meeting in Washington of some 20 'repre- sentatives of 'commodity and other general organizations, Some 'see this as indicative orf a new line-up among the farm or- ganizations, If so, it suggests the possibility of a rise in influence of the National Grange -Farmers Union combination and perhaps a corresponding decline in the long-term predominance of the American Farm Bureau. * * w The ,Pam Bureau has been close to farm leaders on Capitol Hill for many years and was counted 'among the top advisers to former Secretary Benson, It is the largest of the farm organ- izations, writes Josephine Ripley in the Christian Scienoe,Monitor. The now bill "is 'not anything we will support," according to a spokesman of the bureau. "It regiments agriculture and could result in lower farm income on a per family basis." One of the "most objection- able" things in the new bill, as the Farm Bureau sees it, is that "it takes away from Congress the power to legislate and sets up committees appointed at the dis- cretion. of the Secretary of Agri- culture to take over the role of Congress." a * The bureau has reference to the farm advisory committees, representing various commodi- ties, or groups of commodities, with whom the Secretary would consult with respect to policies and programs. The programs so shaped would be submitted to Congress. If approved, they would then be submitted to the farmers concerned in a referen- dum. The ' Farm Bureau views all this with alarm, doesn't believe Congress would want to dele- gate this kind of authority to the Secretary, of Agriculture. * * * The National Grange, on the other hand, has long advocated the committee system of farm consultation. "In general, the bill carries out many of the Grange's objectives;" according to a spokesman here. e * e An earlier draft of the bill would have put the proposed program up to producers by ref- erendum before it went to Con- gress, giving Congress last look and veto power. The Grange is Check Fore and Aft lie Traffic flow Then Decide When to Go 1, gladthat this order of procedure was changed, with Congress to review the plan before it gees to The Farmers Union sees the new program as in line with its official policy, but expects to "have some suggestions for am- endments which we think would improve the bill from the stand- point of interest of farm fam- ilies," -�- English 1s Taught Much Toa Poorly All those complaints about • Johnny being unable to read - or spell now have come to a head in a report by the National Council of Teachers of English, The nub of it is that Johnnyreal- ly does have a shaky grip on what might be grouped under the heading of language skills, and that drastic action is recommend- ed to correct the situation. How American schools ever got into the fix where too many stu- dents fail to learn how to express themselves effectively we can only guess. Clear self-expression is, after all, the key to learning in all fields; even in mathematics, it is necessary for communication between the student and the teacher, When this principle has been lost sight of, there is rea- son to suspect the efficacy of education generally. . Students are still spending more time on English than on any other subject; but they are emerging with little to show for it. The report of the National Council of Teachers of English tells, among other things, that last year, of 600,000 students who took college entrance examina- tions, 150,000 flunked English, and that more than two-thirds of the country's colleges and uni- versities now find it necessary to offer remedial courses in English to incoming freshmen. The council's studies showed also that qualified teachers of English are in short supply, and as a consequence, many teachers handling classes in that subject are poorly prepared. About half of them do not have a college major in English. English, as we have indicated, is not so much a subject as the key t4 allhe others, It is ?My 12 understand die attention given to the basic ability to read; it is the first skill of any consequence that the student acquires. But students are not being prepared to follow up on it. The object of reading is the, ability to assimilate facts from the printed page, and pres- ent training does not equip stu- dents to comprehend what they read, NDAY SCHOOL ',WON By Rev. R. B. Warren, B.A., B,P, Discipline in the Heine Proverbs 4:1-4; 10:1; 1314; 20:11;'22:6; 23:17; Epheseians 6:1-4 Memory Selection: Train up a child in the way he should goj and when he is old, he will not ' depart from it. Proverbs 22:6. I saw a group of about 75 ex- cited children. Was it a gang war? Two girls of Grade VIII were fighting over a boy, They had fought the night before, One young spectator explained it, "Their mothers don't care," But some mothers of the neighbor- hood did care and called the po- lice, The crowd, now more than a hundred, scattered and the girls and boy were taken to the police station, A fifteen -year-old who had to quit school and marry and whose marriage is proving to be very unhappy, said, "My mother didn't care what I did or how late it was when I came in at night, I wish she had." The philosophy of a few years ago that the full and free expression of children should never be hindered, has played a significant part in in - ceasing our prison population and decreasing the average age of the prisoners. Children need discipline. "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." But parents must remember that ex- . ample is the greater teacher. If they are deceitful, the children will be more influenced by that than by teaching by words, While some parents are too soft with their children, others are too hard. They go to pieces in casual anger and the child's welfare, if not his life, is in danger, This is tragic. The scars on the' body may go away in time, but not the' scars on the soul, If the parent hasn't got self- control, how can he expect to con- trol his children. Every 'parent should be a devout Christian. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,. self'. control." Every parent can see la- ter how hg could have done bet; ter. But if he has walked ,close with God and done his very best in the light of the Scriptures, he need not accuse himself. Better parents make for better children. ISSUE 19 - 1961 CROSSWORD PUZZLE 4. Harvest 28, Siamese coin goddess 29. Plaything 3, Grumble 31. Eternity (slang) St. tingentle- 8. Crescent- manly fellow 'shaped figure 34. Vacation 7. Danish fiord place 8. Obscures 35. Animal's coat ACROSS 49. sinew Evading 9. Taxis 39. Fruit of the bird 10. Dovekie rose 80, Heraldic 11. Encounter 37. Dawdle wreath 17. Feminine 38. Alert 01, Sweet potato noun out fix 30. Elaborate 652. Conservative 19: The whole melody 3. Needle 25. Scotch river 40. Spare apertures 23. Append 41. Equitable DOWN 24. Cereal grass 43. Egypt. river 1. Epic poetry 25. Auricle 44. Employs 2. Outer 26. Social insect 46. Eunicold covering 27. Class or sewer., " 3, Frightful - division 47. Parson bird • 1. Reflected sound 5. Flippantly smooth 5. Eccentric TT,l 12. Haloed deck above the stern 72. Deception 14. Beverage 15. Paddles 16. Notfit for consumption 03. Steamer Cab,) - 19. Mimic 20. Put into something 01. Inert 23. Ancient shaping form 24. Insurgent 26. Paid an- nouncements 57. Anchor tackle 80. Eastern university 31. Terminal 32. Roman statesman 33. Before . 34, Putrefaetion 35. dressy 36. Fowl 37. Dandy 38. Hindu woman's robes 41. Distant 42, Afr, antelope 45. Plan 47. Hawaiian (Sods 49 Brazilian seaport ®■®Ii:: ®11®IE%i:11®I Weeei ®�i■i::I:::'.�■®Ife��® ®.:Ba®■.■ • MUIR MIME Answer elsewhree on this page LOOK, MA, NO HAND$ - Finding themselves up a tree is port of the daily routine of these linemen. They're playing "polebali," a form of training for electric utility linesmen to get them used to hanging by straps around their waists. At an electrical company training ground, these hangers-on are going confidence in themselves and. their equipment. The ball is right of centre In the photograph,