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Zurich Citizens News, 1973-07-26, Page 4PAGE 4 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1973 Gone with the five cent cigar! At a political gathering a confused young father asked his member of parliament what he was prepared to do about the increased cost of ice cream bars. It seems that the father now had to pay fifteen cents for a daily ice cream bar for his child, after only paying ten cents, and thought the government should act. He apparently saw nothing remarkable about allow- ing his child to accustom herself to this kindof indulgence! The member, an excellent economist, dipl- omatically pointed out that we live in a soc- iety that no longer suggests any limits to our wants, and perhaps this could have something to do with the case. Inflation alone hasn't deprived us of the five cent cigar or cup of coffee. In an era of rising expectations we have grown accustomed to more and more and damn the expense. But there's a change in the wind. People all over the world are plugging into this west- ern philosophy - and why not? Many of them live on incomes ranging from $35. to $200. annually. THEY have a long way to go. So if some of us in the western' world cont- inue to set this dizzy pace - "getting and spending" - the day will soon come when we are confronted with the immutable law of society which insists that those who get must also give. $20,000 housewife! Montreal economist Dian Cohen figures Canadian housewives work an average 99.6 -hour week putting them into the $20, 000 -a -year bracket. In these days of rampant women's lib it's comforting for women to know their own worth -- even if they aren't paid! Using a U.S. study, but current Canadian wage rates, Mrs. Cohen calculates the basic weekly housewife's income at $204,25 for such diverse services as nursemaid, dietitian, food buyer, cook, dishwasher, housekeeper, etc. Add to this such intangibles as sexual activ- ities, executive talent juggling a dozen jobs simultaneously, community involvment, entert- aining her husband's business pals --and her salary soars into the $20, 000 sphere. Housewives' labours have not yet been digni- fied by Statistics Canada. Nobody bother to measure it or add it into our gross national product. But stay-at-home women, waging the unceas- ing battle on the family front, are getting definitely defensive when asked --"do you work?" Darn right she works! Next beleaguered housewife asked this fatuous question should take a deep breath and hit back with this: "I'm a short order cook, same day laundry, purchasing agent, child care worker, continuous cleaning service, maintenance and home manage- ment centre, 24-hour counselling centre, child bearer, gardener, chauffer, gourmet cook --- and cost accountant!" ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 ,pita art Member: jIIII Canadian WeeklyNewspapers Association Ontario Weekly Newspapers Associationera 1► Subscription Rates: $5.00 per year in advance in Canada; $6.00 in United States and Foreign; single copies l5¢ INTIMATIONS OF MORTALITY When I was young and ignor- ant and life was forever, noth- ing bored me more than "old people" talking so much about death. As soon as my Dad received his hometown weekly paper, he would flip to the obituaries and read them to my mother, interspersing the printed word with comments about the dec- eased. Often the latter was a distant cousin, or someones father had gone to school with or someone he'd worked for as a boy. He'd recall where the dead person had lived, what he'd done and some , of his peculiarities. I couldn't imagine why my mother could be bothered list- ening. She didn't, of course. She was much to busy bustling around, cooking or sewing or doing a wash. But she pretended to, and would drop in the occas- ional comment or correct him on a date. Now that I am old and not quite so ingnorant and realize the brevity of our stay, I can understand. It wasn't a morbid- ity on my father's part. It was an interest in, and awareness of, the fact that death comes for us all, even for the archbishop. He knew it was closing in on his generation, quietly but rel- entlessly. I am not about to start read- ing obituaries as a regular per - dinner treat, but I did read three lately, with a sense of almost personal loss, though I didn't know any of the three "involved." if that's the word. Joe E. Brown. The name means nothing to young people today. But it recalled for me Saturday afternoon at the matin- ee, almost falling out of my seat from laughing at the antics of this great clown. Betty Grable. She was never much of an actress, but she was a great Hollywood personal- ity, in the days when there were such creatures. Pin-up girl of the western world before the centre -page, all -nude fold -out was dreamed of. Veronica Lake. Fell half in love with her when I saw her first move. She contrived to look sexy and sinful in the days before bikinis and bra -less bosoms, Brown was an old man. But Grable and Lake were in their fifties, forgotten by the world but not exactly doddering. Each had a distinguishing spec- iality. Joe E. Brown had a mouth about the size of half a .water melon. Gable had legs that inspired an innocent sort of lust at a time when an ugly, exposed navel would have been just that. Lake wore long, blonde hair over one eye. Half the girls in town went around half -blind trying to emulate her hair -do. My feelings of nostalgia were brought to a focus yesterday. My wife and I were at the beach She was flat out, turning black under the sun, as is her wont. I was sitting up like a gentleman, in a chair, carefully covered, but still turning red in exposed areas, as is my wont. Near us on the sand was a young couple, very handsome, with a little boy, very bad. He 'was bugging the life out of them; kicking sand in their faces; throwing cold water on their hot, dry bodies; running off and hav- ing to be fetched; demanding that his father do six things at once. But he was cute. My wife watched, then asked nostalgically and tenderly, "Would you like to be young again like that, with the little ones?" I thought carefully for 12 or 13 seconds and replied, "No." I meant it. When I look at my flab, I'd like to be twenty, even ten years younger. When my seed wart is throbbing and my bursitis in the shoulder is burning like acid, I'd like to be thirty years younger. But when I think of the agony and the ecstasy of starting all over again, raising those kids, sanity speaks. Days at the beach, sure. But, even though watching them like hawks, the sudden disap- pearance of one, and the frenz- ied running up and down, search, ing, until the child was found playing with a dog, forty feet from the water. Summer nights in a small town yes. Until a four-year-old van- ished at bedtime, and the frant- ic running around the block, calling wildly, knowing there was a deep ditch full of water, and the rage when little miss was discovered watching TV next door. Nope. Sweating out music festival adjudicators' remarks I can do without. Trying to steer out of drugs and into education I can man- age to give up. I think I can even sacrifice Santa Claus parades and riding with tots on the ferris wheel at the midway. No, I don't want to be young again. It's too hard on a chap. I'm saving what's left for my grandchildren. We'll walk on the beach, and in the woods. And I'll ans- wer, from my pinnacle of ignor- ance, all those impossible quest- ions kids ask. And when I'm stuck. I'll say, "Go ask your grannie." Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? It's great to be getting old. Well, anyway, older. 0 Ontario's forest industries pro- vide direct employment for approximately 78, 000 --an estimated 14, 000 in timber harvesting and another 64, 000 in processing and manufacturing operations exclusive of furniture making. SALES REPAIRS "REPAIRING BUSINESS MACHINES SINCE 1942' RENTALS HURON BUSINESS MACHINES BILL STAUTTENER Typewriters- Adding Machines -Calculators -Cheque Writers -Copiers 113 ONTARIO ST. CLINTON. ONT. Business and Professional Directory PHONE 462-7336 P.O. Box 611 OPTOMETRISTS J. E.- Longstaff OPTOMETRIST SEAFORTH MEDICAL CENTRE 527-1240 Tyesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat- urday a.m., Thursday evening CLINTON OFFICE 10 Iesac Street 482.7010 Monday and Wednesday Call either office for appointment. Norman Martin, QPTOMETRIST Office Hours: 9.12 A,M, — 1:30-6 P.M. Closed all day Saturday Phone 235.2493 Exeter INSURANCES Robert F. Westlake Insurance "Speciollslrru In General Insurance" Plane 236.4391 — Zurich NORM WHITING LICENSED AUCTIONEER & APPRAISER Prompt, Courteous, Efficient ANY TYPE, ANY SIZE, ANYWHERE We give complete stile service. PROrrr BY EXPERIENCE ' Pitons .Collect 235.1964 'EXETER AUCTIONEERS PERCY WRIGHT LICENSED AUCTIONEER Kippen, Ont. Auction Sale Service that is most efficient and courteous. CALL THE WRIGHT AUCTIONEER Telephone Hensel) (519)262-5515 D & J RIDDELL AUCTION SERVICES * Licensed Auctioneers and Appraisers * Complete Auction Service * Sales large or small, any type, anywhere * Reasonable — Two for the price of one - Let our experience be your reward. Phone Collect 'Doug' 'Jack' 237-3576 237.3431 Hugh Tom FILSON and RORSON AUCTIONEERS years' experience of complete sale service Provincially licensed. Conduct sales of any kind, any place. To ` insure success of your sale, or appraisal Phone Collect 466.0833 866.1957 Guaranteed Trust Certificates 1-2 YRS 7 3/4 3 & 4 YRS 8 1/4 5 YRS 8 1/2 J. W. RABERER: ZURICH PHONE 23804346 r.