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WIUTBYPREE PESS, EDNESDAy, MARORI 27, 1991, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN Fare thee well K.e--i-th Spicer H-ogwash and Unity Committee Ottawa, Ont. Deer Mr. Spicer. 1Befare we get into somne detail on Canada and its problems -- letfs face it, the countiy's falling apart -- I must tell ai littie anecdote. See this is the story about me and Jack Bell, and how we use t go swimning in the Sheep Hale, back half a mile from a concession road, in t he river bottom"used to pasture a few dozen Hereford cattle. And then there was the Sunday that the feznily across the river- and up the hill lost their hemn ta lire. .A fine fire that wes. Diew hundreds of people fromn miles eround. Barn fires are like that. We ids dodged araound a crowd, he likes of which we saw only at Fail Fair time, seeing how close we could get te the flemes, watching the fire frm aIl angles. Fescinating stuff, fire, blister your face at fifty-feet on an August day. So nex day, Jack and I crossed the river and climbed the. hili to visit the site, now a pile -of ashes. The farmn hous., a few yards away, had escaped. W. walked ercund the barn as we had the day before. This timle instead of flame., p fies of rùbble smouldered. We identified familier items, scorchèd and twisted fromt the heat. Whule we poked about, a voice behind us startled us. Mrs. Gerber, in lier calice dres. and white apron. Mr.Gerber reached into -the ruble of the drive shed and retrieved a ferm hoie, untouched by ail the flamnes. We thought she had uncovered a-miracle. "Frank tossed that up there this morning when hie camne in fromnhoeing turmips. He just put the hoe beck in its place. ' «Tuny,' she said. "You neyer know what you bave until you lose it." I was too young ta identify ti cliché, so appreciated it for its unique appropriateness. There are occasions when clichés say it better. N'e thought about -that in reading about Canadiens and their presentations on what this country should b. 1ke. See, right now aur barn i. about read to, umn down. Tomorrow (a inetaphor for some day smon) we14 b. digging about in the ashes trying ta identi1fr the twisted remains of familiar shapes.Ad like Mr. Gerber, we'l keep to oId habits and toms the h os into its rightful place in the drivie shed. .I he past few wek ve heard and read about avariety of proposais of what tis, country should become. Renewed federal state; Engli»sh-only Canada- with, a separate Quebec; a confederation of regions; renewed federalism i nth provinces al with the Berne powers Quebec is demanding (a federal state with the provinces on steroids); the mind boggIÈes! Il?. ail hagwash. See, nobody dies for a province. Nobody dies for a region. Nobody dies for a shopping centre. Only a strong federàl governinent* could have prevented Quebec from being notbing but a colony of United States. It may b. they are now strong.enough ta resist the enslaught, ecnmcally, Uligistically, polticaily, ta make it on their own. If that's what they wish, then Pae Thee Well. But for the test of us, Canada is about those things we would fight and die for. And these do not include the petty quarrels in lands we left. -Canada is about the. future, and what we would bave aur children and their cidren die for. These are only a few thinge: *Faim...: of opportunity, in education, in jobs& And aithough we stole tus oeuntry fair and square from the natives, we de owe them rights ta, theïr own digmity. Yes, even if it couts us. .Damooeacy thisinicludes the right to vote. But with it goos the neelto b. active ranlcs of political parties. Eespoesiblty ta pay taxes, ta vote, ta contribute ta communities, ta support tthe lesu fortnate, ta buy in Canada if you live In Canada. ý 1R-me mbra he right to salut. the past and the efforts of our forebearers, without mortgaging aur grandcbildren's birthright. W. must, indeed, begin to throw out the chaf and keep the wheat. But if we dandt smnarten up, -and scoon, we will bhave watched the bamn burn down. "ILn__e'Iql alsar-11igM..Gre %MIUEE~ ~~I ........ ...... ... :9/ I J fi COff'AGK AT WWEYPSCBJATIC HOSPiTAL c. 918 This cottage was used as a vocational ichool when the hospital was a ýrehabiltation' centre for wounded soldiers from 1917 ta 1919. On the porcl int a large model of a house constructed by onîe of the soldiers. Wbiv Aacfw. pot 10 YEAES AGO from the Wed=dvMarh 25, 1981 edition dthe * Ashe wasre-electodMPP for Dmuhm West ly more tban 10,«0 votes mn the 19 provincial electioei l u ares for senior citizens are redwced ta 25 cents. *M.and Mrs. Bruce Shierareme lebrating their 5th w«dding anvray *Cosolidated Building Corporation and Durham Région have reached a finacial agreement for developmnent ci Brolin. 25 TEARS AGO from Owtii ursday, March 24,1966 editioui of the WHTIEYWEELY weW " Whitby Public School Board is planning ta buld a school south- of the CPR tracks on Gardoni Street. " 'The Whitby Rotary Club wants ta trasfer its Bowling and Tennis Club property oposte Centennial Park ta the Town of Whtby. " Ted Mitton bas been elected chairman of the Wh!""-- St. John Amuace branch. " During January and Febuary, 15 families moved to Whitby and 22 faniilies moved to othermunicipalites. 75 YEARS AGO froun the. fluraday Larh 23,1916 edition of the WMRUY Amm CHONCIC *Miss 1'mple Proctor hies woei lie first annual Tarablyn Public Speaking Prize at the Whitby Hgh School with a speechon nationalism.-Bty *Offimc heBrooklin Spring Pair are Thomas Hal, sdet;W.P Bttfret vice-president; WÀ. Dryden, sod -ice-president; andKM. Tipper, secretary-treasurer *Disney Brother., d Brookli, re extonding thefr flirniture sale ta Marh 25 because bad roadie peef cutuesfreingeM ig thir store * he adis'Aid0<t. ndew' ryen Church celebrated St. Patrickis Day, March 17, with a Shamrock SociaL