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The Seaforth News, 1962-06-28, Page 7Mud Thee Bazaar In Our Village Early spring was not the best season in our village of Door rarest, in northern Wisconsin, The slowly melting snowbanks, so clean and white all winter, were 4 dirty brown now, and the roads which had been hard and crisp for sleighing were inches deep in mud as the frost oozed out of the ground, Papa and Cousin Fred, our clerk, had almost more than they could do to keep the store reason- ably clean,' Mamma, a fastidious housekeeper, palled It "mud - time," and wondered why on earth the Ladies Aid had ever thought of having a spring ba- zaar. "Mud -time Bazaar" was the came given to it by Cousin Ann a. But to a group of the younger inhabitants, this was a time for finding treasure, During the win- ter, people hadn't bothered to take broken and discarded arti- cles out to the village -dump, but• had simply tossed them behind barns and sheds where the deep snow covered them from sight. Now, as the snow melted, we dis- covered all sorts of desirable ob- jects -broken lamps, rusty iron kettles, old trinkets and toys, At first we lugged these joyfully home, but our mothers. objected NAMED PRESIDENT - Ralph E. Wagers of Boston and Chicago Was named President of The lifother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, at the June 4 Annual Meeting. so promptly and vociferously that we gave that up and pooled most of our finds in the half -empty buggy shed back of Papa's store. Our hopeful plan was to mend and clean up these pleasing items and sell them. Failing that, we could use thein es gifts or at least keep them for ourselves. Papa, however, wasn't much more co- operative than our mothers had been. He said he .just couldn't have the buggy shed cluttered up with junk, We were in despair. Every day new things were turning up. and we just had to have a place to collect and take care of them. But no one seemed to realize their importance. And then help came from a totally unexpected place. A few of us looked in, as we often did no our way to school, to see Mr. Sorenson, the black- smith. It was most 'fun, of course, when he was shoeing a horse, but today he was putting a wide iron • band around the wheel of a lum- ber wagon, which gave him a little more time to talk, especial- ly as he had an assistant, tall,. blue-eyed Hans Bostad, a young silversmith who had recently come from Norway and was liv- ing with us while he learned English, Mr. Sorenson, not many years here from Norway himself, ISSUE 24 - 1962 had given lean; a wrnat til hi- shop for his silversmithing: "Mr. Sorenson doesn't mind junk around," my friend Georgie said suddenly, pointing to o pile of wheels and riles, scrap iron and strap iron. "Dat iss not yunk," said the blacksmith, his eyes twinkling. "Dose are t'ings to be mended for somevan or used, in von vay or anodder." "That's just it," said my cousin Roy, "We've been collecting things like that we could use and people call it junk, and we don't have any place to put 11" Mr. Sorenson glanced at Hans with that leak I'd often noticed on grown -ups, -as if he wanted to laugh when there was really no- thing othing 1 could see to laugh at, "Veil," he said thoughtfully, "now dere iss room out back of my shop and a little shelter vere da roof comes out. Maybe you could' put your t'ings dere for avile, Yust so you don't get in my vay." This kind offer was accepted with enthusiasm, and that very afternoon after school we lugged our treasures down the road to the blacksmith shop, Mr. Sorenson and Hans. .took time to come out and survey the accumulation, and at first they seemed aneused. Then all of a sudden Hans gave an exclama- tion, dived into the pile and brought up an odd little iron pin - tray. It was shaped like a.young Norwegian girl dancing in peas- ant costume, her skirts held in such a way as to form a recep- tacle^ for pins, writes Alta Hal- verson Seymour in the Christian Science Monitor, "Vere you find dis pretty t'ing?" he asked. "Oh, that was my mother's," Georgie explained, "See one foot is broken off and it won't stand right. She said it was always spilling out pins any time she touched it, and she threw it out." Georgie's mother was the busy dressmaker for the village and had no time to bother with brok- en pintrays, But Hans was looking at it, en- chanted. "I yust yonder now," he said, in his slow, careful' English,' "I t'ink maybe I could fix it so we could have somevon-vat you call-" "Cast," supplied Mr. Sorenson. "Ja, ve can get some east, all right." • "Cast," supplied Mr. Sorenson. "Ja, ve can get some cast, all right." "Ja," beamed Hans, "Cast. Maybe your papa like to sell some in da store, Alta." "Yes, he might. He likes to have something new. But wait," I said, as a sudden delightful idea struck me, "why don't we have those in a booth at the bazaar? Cousin Anna was just wishing for something new and different. She says she's tired of aprons and pillowcases and clothespin bags and holders," "Jai" exclaimed Hans, his face lighting up as it always did when he thought of doing anything for Cousin .Anna. "Den I paint dem maybe in bright colors, and dey be much more pretty, Ve fix up sonlet'ing nice. But let us all keep still about it till ve see how it turn out. Can you keep-vot you call ---secret, you kids" "Oh,'sure!" we promised eager ly, But the stopped at the black- smith shop every day to see how things were going, and we talked so mysteriously and with such elaborate caution among our- selves that our elders knew something was afoot. Then at last, one afternoon, Hans nodded when we came in, and beckoned us to his career. There stood a row of pintrays, one little dancer already painted in the gay colors of her native Norway -blue skirt, red bodice, white blouse, yellow cap -an en- chanting sight, "011, everybody'll want to buy (CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS DOWN 1. Obstruct 1, Cistern 4, Cutting 2, 13. Indian instrument timber tree 9. Quill for 8. Begin again winding sill, 4. Penetrating 12, Scintilla 5. Negative 13. Red dye 14, Windmill sail 15. Selected 17, Small bit 19. Write 50. Pertaining to. kidneys 21. 1r eelay 21131)01w plump 54 24. Spreads 1157 27. P'4.11(;" Scouting 2e, z u(;l' 29, 0f an hour 80. Prom 21. Likely 88, Put on 28. tor. letter 84, Reject 80, Incidental 21, Male sheep 38, Arms cher/t 83. Brake to court 40, Cavil 41. Porn apart 48, Cavity In a 44. St Soetringed inetrunlent AO, Conragaour mon 40. Peacock bbutterfilep 59, Conioonnd ether 8 , Belgjuht roaaton Betlft g oomauote G, Metal vontslasr 8. Visitor 10. Have debts 11. Caress 16. Huge wave 18, Conductor's stick 20. Mena are of land 21. Sbeeters or Images (var.) 22. Yield 21. High explosive (ab.) 25, Fortified prefix town in 6. Fins being Yemen, Arahlo 7 Pald u 89. Decline in money nanny pricer 3 13lte gi ape 20. sll.nle anthocyanln 20. Carden tool Si. Profit 22. Stale 35. Over 30. Sweet biscuit 37, Highly seasoned stew 89. Awareness 40. Mongrel 42. Vista 43. In the fullest sense 44, By way of 45. Illeotrie 46. Pparticle ossessive pronoun 47. Silkworm 45, evil 61, 7'4nn"lum symbol 2• 3 /2 re. /d s 3 /7 1 /e 4 /0 a /7 L 27' 22 ,10 ze 20 24 53' 24 38 26' 35, 3(' 3z 33 3f 23' 3e 4/ 37 42 3,9 r S7 S2. Answer elsewhere on this page Tao Tse-tung Chou En-Ioi COLLECTOR'S ITEMS - Few photos of Red China's rulers seep through the Bamboo Curtain. Pictured, above, are the two top men in Red China's hierarchy. Mao Tse-tung is Communist party chairman. Chou En-lai is premier of the People's Republic of China., TIIEL&1&1 FRONT Jokulamell. Mr, Frank Perkin, of the On- tario Department of Agriculture, was 'a guest speaker at the an- nual meeting of the Vegetable Growers' Association of Mani- toba recently. The vegetable growers of that province are about to vote on a 'compulsory marketing plan, and asked Mr. Perkinto explain the Ontario legislation and the operation of the various plans in .operation in Ontario, We quote, herewith, some of his remarks whioh are of interest to all fanners. "Compulsory farm marketing was born in Canada in the se- verely depressed "dirty thirties". At that time• farmers felt that the incidence of the depression was falling with extra severity on the prices of farm products compared to other ,.segments of our society. Due to their num- bers, their individualism and the perishable nature of their prod- uct, farmers then became con- vinced. that onvinced.that they were the'vic- tims . of all the poorer practices of the free enterprise system. But today probably the most import- ant of all the forces behind the emphasis on compulsory farm marketing in this country comes from the revolution which has occurred over the 'past 25 years in modern food retailing. The supermarket developed mainly in response to two major develop- ments in the economy - growth of the suburbs and the rise in personal income. W e * Shopping needs of suburban- ites led to development of com- munity shopping centres or plazas centred around large food those!" I said joyfully. "Just wait till Cousin Anna sees them." "Ve take von home tonight to show," said Hans, with satisfac- tion. "Ve see vat' Anna have to say to dem." And he was not • disappointed. "Oh, Hans! These are going to be the hit of the evening!" Anna cried rapturously, "How did all this happen, anyway?" "It vas da kids. Dey find dis vere Georgic's mamma Prow it out," said Hans, and the whole story came out. "So our stuff wasn't just junk, was it?" I said eagerly. Mamma only laughed. "We can tell better after the bazaar," she said. "Oh, Aunt Tillie!" said Anna. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make myself a cos- tume like those pintray girls. I have the novelty booth, and these pintrays are going to be right out in front. They'll sell like hot cakes. And the costume will at- tract customers." Anna- was right, The novelty booth was the most popular booth at the bazaar. The little pintrays sold so fast Anna finally had to keep a sample and take orders, Our little group of junk collec- tors watched it with proprietary interest, and we were especially alert when Mamma and Georgie mother and one or two of the other ladies walked over to see how things.were going, "I think we owe you a vote of thanks, Mrs. Roland," Mamma said to Georgie's mother, "Word, seems to have gone around that there was going to be something brand new here tonight, and I believe that helped get a crowd out." "I think we owe the children and Hans and Anna the vote of thanks," said Mrs. Roland laugh- ing "Atter all I threw the old pintray out. •They're the ones who made u.ie of it." • stores. Other factors included /reproved transportation a n d storage and more widespread use of refrigerators in both home and stores. Home refrigerators encouraged once -a -week shop- ping. With more bags to carry, husbands were pressed into ser- vice and shopping became a fam- ily expedition. This trend was reinforced by the increasing number of working wives; there are now twice as many married women as single girls working. Working wives are good custo- mers for foods that may be pre- pared quickly and easily. * 'l e The food chain system of re- tailing with its emphasis on ad- vertising, on volume and on con- tinuity of supply has completely changed the habits of our con- sumers, and has introduced the Canadian public to a supply of fresh, frozen and processed foods the year round. Further, by stressing impulse buying and cash and carry, the food Chains have intraduced new demands and new costs through packaging and small units essential to self- service. The place has been reached today where the chains appear to be much more inter- ested in ,offering consumers ad- ded services than lower prices. Some of these additional costs of distribution. have been passed .an and paid by the producers. Nevertheless, the diet of Canada today is mare varied, more health -giving and more appetiz- Mg than it ever has been, but these advantages cost a lot of money, „ e The biggest bugaboo for Cana- dian fruit and vegetable grow- ers, for example, is the prolonged season made possible by the ex- pansion of produce in the South- ern States, the acceptance of what were once luxuries as now normal day-by-day items, all made possible by the advertising power of the food chains. Hence, strawberries from March to Oc- tober, and apples, lettuce, toma- toes, celery twelve months in the year. Consumer bulk buying, apples, potatoes, eggs and other items, common up to 25 years ago, is an unknown factor today. a e e The food chains are price con- scious almost to an unbelievable point. They watch each other like hawks. It is a cardinal she to be caught off base on an ad- vertised price, Checking the other fellow has become a bus- iness. Sometimes it results in open warfare, none of which is good for the farmer price -wise, Nevertheless, the food chains can move a tremendous amount of produce. They can lift a surplus market out of difficulty in days. To their credit they respond wil- lingly to requests provided they are assured they will not be un- dersold. But the eating habits of our people no longer change bocause of what the farmer or the agricultural scientist do, They change because of what the. food distributors do. It is estima- ted in the United States lout 25 to 40 per cent of food store 'vol- ume comes from products that were not on the market ten years ago. The big store also has changed merchandising methods. Attractive' packaging rather than attractive store clerks now is re- lied upon to sell food products, Impulse buying has become im- portant especially since surveys in Toronto have shown that only about 80 per cent of shoppers carry' a prepared shopping' list. 0 * There is little doubt but that the small corner grocery store is facing tough sledding in the ftt- ture'as the big chain' stores ex- pand in a rough and tumble bat- tle that has altered the buying habits of Canada's housewives, The race for control of the food industry is on and the big eluting aro using every weapon at their disposal; giveaways, green stamps, pink stamps and massive sales promotional programmes. Like the small farmer, the ear- ner grocer faces the gloomy Prospect of being absorbed in the drive for greater specialize. tion, 1' * 1 The farmer's complaint against the food chains is not against the spreads they take. Tho complaint against the chains centers around the damaging effects of the "loss leader" -selling at cost or below cost -was widely used during the 1930 depression. It was so de- vastating in its effect on farm prices that a campaign wa laun. shed by organized agriculture to secure adequate legislation to eliminate the practice. The out- break of World War 1I deferred action on the matter and as the war progressed the problem be- came one of enforced maximum retail prices as profits were ample. Now the term is back in vogue under the new name of "traffic builder", not because of a decline in buying power as was the case 25 years ago but because of chain store over -expansion in certain areas and the fight to maintain profit ratios. Five buy- ers now buy over 65 per cent of all the fruits and vegetables and most other foodstuffs retailed in Ontario. I presume about the same number buy an even higher proportion of the foodstuffs re- tailed on the Prairie Provinces. As a result of their buy -power and the way the chains are court- ed by growers, shippers, dealers and wholesalers, the situation narrows down to the fact the food chains exert tremendous ,power in establishing prices in the farm product field, Except under abnormal weather and supply conditions the food chains often are the determining factor in establishing farm product prices. The shift by the chain stores to buy direct at shipping point rather than at traditional Wholesale or terminal markets further lowered their average buying prices. Despite the very vigorous competition between the chains in each market the emaller number of buyers and the growth of direct buying has resulted in less stability of prices to the producers contrary to stated objectives of chain store buyers. Hence, we have Compul- sory farm marketing boards fol- lowing years of effort in devel- oping vountary co - operatives and now the introduction of Fed- eral farm prices supports, crop insurance programmes and the re -negotiation of trade treaties and tariffs as part of the pro- gramme to provide security for agriculture. Producer use of farm market- ing legislation once .described as radical now seems to be an ac- cepted feature of the Ontario farm product marketing system. Over '70 per cent or 100,000 of the 140,000 farmers in 'Ontario are members of one or more farm marketing boards, SLOW PAY Doc Brown's battered jalopy -a Model T, to be precise -was the subject for considerable mer- riment for the younger fry in front of the village drugstore. Doc Brown ignored the gibes as he climbed into the seat, then remarked amiably, "This car's paid for, boys. If you'll check with your parents, you'll dis- cover that most of you ain't!" MAY SCI1001 LESSON By Rev. R. R. Warren, ILA., t5,s2, The Kingdom 'Triumphant Revelation 21:147; 23x1-9 Memory Scripture: The king - Owns of this world are becorne the kingdoms of our Lord, and of Isis Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever, Revelation 11:15, At a funeral service we like to hear the minister read from the last two chapters of Reve- lation, "A new heaven and a new earth. .. . .. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry- ing, neither shall there be any more pain' And there shall be no more curse," Jesus Christ, the Redeemer has conquered, Despite the fierce opposition of Satan and his followers, a redeemed people has emerged triumphant and entered into eternal rest with their God, The tribulation 15 past. The redeemed shall serve God and see his face. But what about those who have rejected the offer of sal- vation through Jesus Christ? The portions of the last two chapters dealing with these are not usually read at funerals, or indeed, anywhere else. But they are as true as the rest. "The tearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, a n d sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." What a fearful destiny! All sorts of arguments are used to assure us that unrepent- ant sinners will not suffer the torments of hell. Things will be fixed up, even after death. But this is not compatible with the words of Jesus to John: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust stills and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy stili. And, behold, I come quickly; and my . reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." There is a tone of finality about those words that our wishful thinking cannot change, It is urgent that we should re- pent of our sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now is the accepted time. HELP WANTED! Employers he meets nowadays, grumbles a man we know, are the kind who are looking only for alert young men between the ages of twenty-five and thirty- five -with forty years of ex- perience. Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking ©ilk - c.ME1 JpAMC WM ' MOD© ©00 m©00©© © MOW glEIN BMW! MOO ©M ®©©©M ui i0©'.0©0`*` ©0 OMB- non- amnu mum mmEm ©©oonBMA ©o . © 0I� MC+ M ©©IQ©m^' 00 TWISTERS HIT - One of a group of at least six tornadoes which raged through west Texas is shown here, This twister hit near the outskirts of Anson, Tex., killed one woman and critically injured her husband when it struck their home..