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The Huron Expositor, 1983-09-07, Page 4r , , � v 1114;HtURQN EXPOSi OR, SEPTEMBER 7,.1837 A3 `411Ith ppencd. butwhatean ive ` do,"said ort Wilson representative of'Si. Jafttes,"parlslt•Gauncli 'llie tnt<jorit',of the parish'have,acc,eptcdthesituation„pltltou h tt is lllard 40 swa low ,fief all the years the convent was here." '1 doubt if the.conventw iI'be rcopened.It; certainlyk, will, bo if the .number of, nuns not enough Sister It'rs just circumstances. It's IMO not enough young women .arc , beco nipg Sistels,"' Many'. parishioners were upset with the closing aid Father Caruana. "it was a shock for everyone. 'There has'been a lack of 'Utrcyations and lack of family encouragement which has seenthe numbers.of girls entering the ConventIdec_ ceasiUN KN E UN Future use of the convent is not known, but St. James school will have first choice at the vacant building, he said. "The school could use the building if we were offered it," said Mr. Contois. "I don't really know what's going to happen. It will be a school board matter." I Frank Sills has a soft spot for the nuns. "When 1 had tapeworm as a student, a Sister would insist 1 go to the convent for a glass of milk, every recess. For three years my parents tried to starve it out of me, until a A C ,1 Cleitiand dor for ame but with a cued, When otherswereeatingsteak, was having soup," I,m very sorry to See the convent Ipso The nuns did' a lot forthe community. Wilms limy first carne, ;to the commun►ty. so>!me wee • ; r People wle'loath to accept them,Duet. the years iegmdually turned to res�rect They\ , were appreciated by most'people."j• ' "The convent is a loss for the school and the community; said Frank Fhillips. Any- - thing that has added to the history of Senforth is Sad to lose. But the world is changirfgc, ' Sometimes it's changing too fast." "I hate to see an institntion.that has been here for years being closed," said Leri Hagan. These things can't be helped. It's'fust the situation there is." "There is not much that can be, said. Nobody wants to see the convent'closed, said Tom pevereaux, chairman of St. James parish council. I'm not sure of future plans for the convent. It is questionable if the Sisters will come back. The parish. certainly has enough work for one or two nuns. We will just have to wait and see." "We're certainly not going to jump at a , decision of what to do. The bottom line iswe need a community of nuns. And the parishioners feel the need is there." KIn bu rn /FROM PAGE ONE S.S.N4 MCKILLOP—Annie Reid loaned the Expositor a postcard with thte-photo of an earlier school a mile and a quarter east of Grieve's Bridge. Taken perhaps about 1910, the photo came from her mother's family and two cousins, Jessie and Gordon Kerr, may be In It. Note the girls' and the boys' entrance. Any reader who knows the pupils can pall Susan White at 527-0240. Farmers' Club had been f. ed. Larry thinks.; this club coule been the forerunner of the Constance Grange. The date on the seal he discovered appears to read "Org., March, 1873." Also around that time, the Expositor reports that Raphael Stephenson, Hullett Township councillor, and founder of the village, had addressed "the patrons of the Kinburn Cheese Factory". His topic. was farming, and Larry assumes Mr. Stephenson was probably active in the "Constance Grange." When the group ceased operation locally he hasn't been able to find out. But by Nov. 1875 the Expositor was anti -Grange, calling the group in general a "secret organiza- tion" whose buying and selling clubs were a threat to local merchants. YORKSHIRE Effie Stephenson of Seaforth, who first came to Kinburn 57 years ago when she married Raphael's great-grandson, Leo, says tfie family who came to Hullett from Yorkshire, England were "great horse people." Family legend is that Raphael walked from Goderich to take up his farm. Indians used to camp near a bog in the middle of the farm, and arrowheads and other utensils found there were still in the family's possession when she came to Kinburn. A number of other families the Dales, Rogersons, Clarkes, Armstrongs 'and Brit - tons came to the area from Yorkshire about the same timrr„Effie, understopds„Accord- ing to the "History of Clinton and Surrounding Community” Christopher Dale and family came to Hullett from Yorkshire in 1849. Raphael and his wife Mary are buried in Kinburn's cemetery. He died, aged 82, in 1894. Their only son George, stayed on the farm, while three daughters married men named Tyreman, Snowdon and Sutherland 'and moved west and to Detroit. George Stephens"on's son, Bert, an only child. was the next occupant of the farm. Bert• her husband's father. died the same, day as US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Effie says. She and Leo, also an only child, • sold the Kinburn store which they operated for years in 1945. For five years they lived with Leo's mother in the Stephenson farm house, until it was sold in 1950 and they moved to Seaforth. - it took a whole day's careful oiling before Larry Dillon was able to get the seal of the Kinburn Grange open and working. It leaves a perfect raised impression on paper now. He isn't sure what he'll do with it; though he's not an antique fan he is interested in its history. "i imagine it will eventually end up in a museum some- where." When Effie Stephenson and Linda Dillon met recently they compared notes about the old house. It was built at three separate fifties, Effie says. And Linda and family noticed the ,fine detailing when they were taking it down. "We could see it must have been an impressive house at one time." Michelle Dillon, 8, has heard too about the arrowheads that used to be found on the farm. ' WELL BUILT The core of the house was so well built that it almost hurt to be,tearing it apart Larry Dillon says. But there had been a lot of renovations, no one was interested in moving it off the property, and the old house sat smack in front of tole new brick house the Dillons designed and built for themselves. Grass seed is planted on the new front lawn where the house Raphael Stephenson built used to be. Once the old driving shed behind the new house is demolished and that'll be soon, nothing except the trees will date back to Stephenson times. Maybe a desire to be remembered prompted Raphael to put the seal, the journal and the fair prize list in a hole in the wall 100 years ago. Does Larry Dillon have a similar selection of historical items in the wall of his new house? He isn't telling. S.S.ii8MCf(ILLOP—Or Manley School is In this photo, taken at least 65 years ago. Reader Edwin Drager, Wilmer Drager. Back row: Amanda Koehler, Elizabeth Murray, Toledo Miller, Freda Messerschmidt, Adeline Messerschmidt, Daisy Naylor, Roy Hemme, Albert Slemon, Billy, Rapien, Tony Slemon, Reuben Rapien, Clarence Regele, Joe McLaughlin, Laurence Rapien, George Regele, John Driscoll, Norman Hemme, Billy Koehler. Marie Malady loaned the photo and Identifies the 33 pupils as: left: Mary Dempsey, Hazel Rapien, Irene Pitz, Lena Dietz, Hilda Bennewles, Edna Hoegy, Marie Murray, Teresa Eckert, Vera Klstner, Amanda Hoegy, Mary Eckert, Manny Beuermann, Billy Bennewles, Honey/ FROM PAGE ONE and drawing it out of the hive." HONEY IS ONIYPURPOSE Nature has its own way of controlling its population. The only pe,rpose of the drone bees in life is to fertilize tli'e queen bee. in the fall, the drone is no longer required. Other bees in the hive chase the drones out. "They try to get in, but the guard bees will stand there and push them out. They eventually die," said Mr. Young. "Now that's what 1 call cruelty to animals." In the commune style environment, every bee has a purpose. It is to make honey. Approximately two-thirds of the bees are field bees. The rest look after life in the hive. Approximately 240,000 bees produce an average of 1400 pounds of honey per year for Mr. Young. Honey is taken from the hives twice a year. A bee will travel approximately two miles in search of pollen. "1 don't know where their source is. The clover is cut almost before it blooms, but they drag it in from someplace." And drag it in they do. "I've seen them come a wobbling in with their back legs full of pollen. At the speed they come in, you wonder why they don't crash land," says Mr. Young. WORK TO DEATH From the time an egg is laid by the queen, until a bee is ready to work, takes 21 days. "At this time of year, a worker bee only lives aboot three weeks. They work so hard. that they work themselves to death." The worker bees are replaced as fast as they die off. The queen bee is kept busy from spring to fall, laying 1,000 eggs a day. "You've heard the expression, little bees do Firere FROM PAGE TWO it in the air and fly. Well they do," Mr. Young says. "You can sit down and talk about bees till midnight about what they do and don't.. do. SELLS OWN HONEY The sweet smell of honey wafts over visitors as they walk into Mr. Youngs honey house. He extracts, filters, bottles and sells his own honey. "The work isn't that ha rd. It's just a hobby, something to keep me occupied. But, sometimes I wonder why 1 keep bees at all." As for people making beards using bees, "they've got rocks in their heads," says Mr. Young. "You're just asking for trouble if the proper equipment isn't used. You wouldn't play baseball without a mask." Anyone receiving a bee sting should scrape the stipg out. The stinger is thus removed as is most of the venom. If a bee 'sting is squeezed out, most of the poison remains in a victims system. "It's jus: like pushing on a syringe." Mr. Young says. The majority of ,eop1' only experience local pain and swelling when stung. But in some, the reaction is more severe and could he fatal. The best advice for anybody is, don't get stung. HONEY DARN GOOD The Young's are not big honey eaters, but they don't use sugar in their coffee or tea either. "Our one son eats more than the two of us. Hewas bothered by hay fever for years. He's been laying into the honey for a number of years and since then, his hay fever hasn't been what it was. He swears by it." "And honey goes darn awful good on hot toast in the morning," says Mr. Young. People are gazing at Romanik gazebo Gazebo is mock Latin, an invented Victorian word meaning "i shall gaze". And people driving by are doing just that since Mary Romanik built her authentic Victoria gazebo on the grounds of her home in Tuckersmith. The Romaniks, operators of Heritage Estates mobile home park, south- east of Seaforth have the big Krick house. once the Sproat home, next door. Mary, who is interested in decor and design, always wanted a gazebo. Seven months after she started research it's in place in the yard. Built to her design, with help from husband George, the building has gingerbread from an old house and a metal ball and spire from an old church on top. The traditional octagon shape came about originally because TB patients used gaze- bos to get lots of sunshine and stay away from the main house. Mary, who learned a lot about using power tools during con- struction, rattles off the gazebo's vital statistics. Flooring is 1% inch tongue and groove pine. There are eight side posts, each octagon shaped, from 6 inch cedar. The ceiling is lap cedar planks,' pie shaped. Cedar shakes cover the outside of the roof, and there's lattice work under the railing around the outside. Cushions covered in an old patterned canvas cover the bench seats inside. "And we sit out there too." The building, 12 feet wide and 22 feet high, was constructed on a track laid between the shed, where there was electricity for the power tools, and the yard where it now sits. Fainthearted/ FROM PAGE TWO Whet' . , ! gio- ypkk: soy'? It's a very old tree BY ARLiN HACKMAN Federation of Ontario Naturalists The distinctive fan -shaped leaves of the ginkgo always catch my eye in the bustle of big city streets. How this oldest living tree species survives 20th century ills is a mystery. But then mystery is practically its middle name. Sometimes known as the Chinese maiden hair tree, the ginkgo is a combination fern, pine tree andhardwood, which narrowly escaped extinction. its only home for generations was a remote monastic com- munity in western China. Botanical treatises usually refer to the tree as a native of China or Japan. This isn't quite accurate. What the authors really mean is that the horticultural or cultivated ginkgo trees that we know came from stock imported from that region. For the truth is tbat not a single wild stand of ginko trees is growing anywhere in the world today. Nor has there been, apparently, throughout human memory:- Were emory:Were it not for the fact that fossils indicate the sante ginkgo tree we know today grew in exactly the same way 200 million years ago, one might suppose that oriental gardeners created it from other species. Unless, of course. you understand the physiology of trees. , Because the structure. particularly the seed structure, of the ginkgo hints as clearly as the fbssile record that it was among nature's early experiments in tree design. Its leaves have an odd texture. Its fruit looks rather like a rotted, brown cherry, bet is quite different on close inspection. It is one of the ancient, 'naked seed' forms more closely related to the seed of a Ode than a cherry. The finding of fossile leaves and fruits lends an extra dimension of mystery, since they have turned up in stone across the arctic, and as far south as England. A fossil record half a world away from recent living trees suggests' that once the ginkgo had a world-wide distribution. ice age glaciers apparently wiped out all but the Asian species. remnant of the s p The real mystery of the ginkgo, however, is that neither .it nor any relatives can be found in the world. Given the many unusual qualities which /enable it to survive the modern metropolis, includingresistance to, m fungi and air pollution, one might wonder why it failed to recover from the glacier catastrophie as so many other species have. town on Wednesday looking for a suitable site for the new public building to he erected in Seaforth. it will be used as' a post office. customs office and warehouse. Mr. Hunter was delighted with Seaforth, its well kept streets and its generally bright business look. The building will be a very handsome .and commodious one. The plans will he prepared for a cost of 525.000 exclusive of the site and fitting. Early Tuesday morning, residents were awakened by the unwelcome sound of the fire bell. The fire was located in a vacant house in "Little Scotland" owned by Mr. C. Spain and formerly occupied by Mr, Wm Cooper. The fire was evidently of incendiary origin as no person had been live,e in the house for some time. SEPTEMBER 7, 1883 At 3 a.m. on Friday a fire was discovered in the engine house of W.H. Vanstone's flouring mill in Brussels. The firemen saved all the lumber at the mill and Livingston's flax stacks which were near the mill. They also saved the lower part of the saw mill, but could do nothing for the grist mill, it having gone like a match and being one mass of flame before anything could be done to save it. The insurance on the mill property is said to he $5,000 in the Northern. S3,000 in the Phoenix and SI .000 in the Gore. on the mill and32.000 in the Western on the contents. It is not yet known whether Mr. Vanstone will rebuild or not. Mr George McGonigle of the 7th concession of McKillop has sold his farm to Mr. Andrew Beattie for the sum of 57,500. The farm contains 100 acres and is a very gond one The wonder is that, given all the constraints, Canada's food production system works at all! But It does, to the advantage of all. The evidence? Here are two simple facts: • Canadians pay about 22 percent of take-home pay on food, compared with 30 percent in West Germany and more than 35 percent In Japan. • Canada is a major food exporter. Unlike food -poor nations, we're not about to run short. It's natural, perhaps, for Canadian consumers to complain about marketing boards, Crowsnest Pass transportation subsidies and other farm -related support programs. After all, the Infighting on these and Other issues, even among fiercely independent, outspoken and strong-willed farmers, is widely publicized. But no matter their differences, either with governments, consumers or among themselves, this irrepressible group continues to do the farming job as well or better than anyone In the world. And that's a distinction we sometimes fall to understand. W. Roger Worth, Mainstream Canada HONEY, THE NATURAL SWEETENER —Elgin Young. a Seaforth aro, beekeeper, processes approximately 1400 pounds of honey a year. Retrieving' the honey and not receiving bee stings is accomplished by smoking the bees prior to removing' honey from the hives. (Wasslnk photo) • lY