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The Acton Free Press Wednesday July Dominion Day confusion itr MAMA DUCK and five of her little quackers know when it is Momma gives the photographer an outstretched beak This dinner time at the country home of Mr and Mrs Fred family is only one of many species of wildfowl and other birds Archibald Theyre so enthused they climb right at the Archibald game farm Staff Photo into the dinner while Oscar the family clown safely beside Sugar and Spice by bill smiley Were in a terrible dilemma around our house these days My wife is going oft her nut worrying about the situation my daughter is having bad dreams about it ant I as usual am being ground between the millstones of two hysterical women who expect me to come up smiling and with the right answers In this summer when there is so little employment for studentsmy daughter has two Jobs available One as Ive mentioned is at hotel waiting table in the diningroom Its a place overlooking the water She kes the Job and the people chef boss and the other waitresses The salary is well below the minimum wage but the tips are But theres the inevitable fly in the soup There is no for the hired help and the darn thing is ten mile out of town in a small village As I have reported this means that she must have transportation to and from the Job or get a room in the village She doesnt have a car or drivers license A taxi would be each way and there goes a daj s So Ive been driving her to work in the mornings and her mother picking her up in the afternoons Even the kid realizes that this is somewhat of an imposition if we expect to have any holidays this summer An alternative would be to get a room in the village As she puts it this would be like going into a nunnery Which at age twenty unless your tendencies are and hers are not is not too appealing However like most teapot tempests something could probably be worked out She has been offered another job as a waitress right here in town five minutes walk from home The wages are better the tips poorer The work is just about as hard Its right on the main street and hotter than Hades in summer She doesnt know whether she likei the boss Up to now shes been working only part time at the hotel usually weekends but can be on full time during July and August She has already worked two shifts at the restaurant on a trial basis and theyve offered a full time job Isnt this a sad story The poor kid Salt and Pepper by hartley coles Just a few short vignettes gleaned from other sources to start the week off on the right foot With the help of Tony Duncan of the Leamington Post and a daily paper we have compiled a glossary of real estate terms and what we think they really mean We dont vouch for the accuracy of these views so please Mr Real Estate Man dont hold it against us Small estate the former owners hud a station wagon and three flower pats Near outstanding schools With outstanding debts Near paved road Old highway meandered nearby The new freeway skirts the area Low rues The previous owner only paid the first Instalment The municipality has so far not collected Professionally landscaped The nurseryman advised the builder which plants to eradicate He said dandelions Exclusive No one else would sell it Established neighborhood Most of the establishment live somewhere else Must be seen to be appreciated Buy it sight unseen and live to weep But which is which One mortgage Country living in the city The neighbors keep chickens and theres a fould odor from nearby glue factory But dont despair house hunters Few of the genuine real estate brokers use the terms in the above context If you dont know a John Smith then you are one of a few He is the most frequentlyknown man in the English- speaking world and he has contemporaries in other countries as well with a derivative Out of million people in Great Britain upwards of arc named Smith and it is estimated onefifth of them at least have the handle John in front of the Smith Traced through AngloSaxon through Old Dutch German and Icelandic and Scandinavian languages Smith is the most frequent name today because it is one of the oldest The name means ironworker and was originally applied to anyone who worked with metal Smyth or was a variant spelling of the name and was not pronounced differently at first In Europe John Smith becomes Schmidt in Germany Hans Schmidt in Holland and vanes from Ion Snukton in Greece to Juan in Spain To the French he is Jean to the Italians Giovanni Smith In Russia he answers to Smithowski and in Poland he became Ivan Oddly enough although he is recognized as Jaime Smithson in Iceland he is rendered as Jihon Schmidd in Welsh The Turks call him and the Mexicans name him FSmitri So would the real John Smith stand up The Dominion Day holiday a day set aside for Canadians to honor the birth of their country has degenerated into abject confusion The days are long gone when everyone took the holiday off and celebrated it with flag waving pageants and more patriotic fervor than most of us can muster up today July fell on Thursday this year As a result confusion over store hours and plant shutdowns was chaotic in a small town like Acton Some took Thursday others observed Friday Think what it must have been like in places the size of Toronto or Hamilton Although there is much to be said about celebrating the holiday on the correct anniversary date it seems usage rather than sentiment is going to determine when Canadians arc going to take time off to observe the holiday Most of the population has little to say about when they will celebrate Dominion Day Decisions are made in the board rooms and retail shops of the nation There have been attempts to establish uniform observance but they are Inrgely ignored through the expedient of finding loopholes in the law or merely ignoring them Do Canadians not care enough about Canada to set one aside and celebrate it in suitable fashion Are we only interested in a mad dash to the cottage for a long weekend a picnic by the lake or a day in bed In Acton firefighters took the bull by the horns and organized a fireworks display to mark the holiday an event that realizes only bare expenses that are not sufficient to keep out of the red As far as we arc aware there arc no other public displays to mark the most important secular holiday in the year Some citizens think enough of their country to fly flags The national and provincial radio and TV networks patronizingly take a few hours of their less valuable time for Dominion Day happenings across the nation Hut generally our really only patriotic holiday Is taken up with trivia thai could happen at any other time of the year Although we look with amusement at the flagwaving of our neighbors to the South we could take a valuable leaf out of their book when it comes to observing patriotic holidays It may be loud and crass but theres conviction behind their disolav And judging by the present constitutional crisis it is time someone sounded off about the positive and good tilings about living in Canada Transportation policy makes sense doesnt know what to do She likes the first one better but the second has no trans portation problem And of course a waitress hasnt much security these days or ever She could be fired from either job if business fell off or she got blisters and couldnt walk or she had a runin with the chef or dropped a tray of food on the customers which I did one time though it wasnt food it was beer The whole thing is complicated by the fact that her mother was a waitress for a couple of summers at the same age and thinks she knows all about everything and keeps poking her nose in The irony of the situation is that if she diddles around and doesnt make up her mind she could wind up without any job and knowing my daughter for twenty years I have a feeling this is exactly what will happen This would give her a perfect excuse to go off hitchhiking to Vancouver or Charlottctown which shed much rather be doing than working as who wouldnt As you can see the whole thing is a tragedy in a teaspoon but youve no idea how we burn the midnight oil the three of us turning over new leaves and unturned stones building up one Job and then knocking it down with the other doing sums calculating tips considering the person alities of cashiers and cooks If something isnt settled soon Im afraid Kim is going to decide that the great world of free enterprise is too baffling and opt out And if something isnt done soon Im afraid Im going to decide that the whole world of student employment is too baffling and take off on a solitary holiday leaving the two women to sort it out for themselves please After Smith the commonest English- speaking names m order of numbers are Jones Brown Taylor Wilson Johnson Thomas Evans Wood Walker Wright White Roberts Thomson and Robinson Author Dale Carnegie wrote that a mans name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the English language There would be a lot of agreement from the John Smiths of the world Keep your eye on the weather July 15 It could ram for the next days according to British tradition It is St Day of which an ancient rote states If thou dost rain for days it will remain If thou art fair for 40 days twill ram Dont scoff People who claim they have watched this phenomenon declare it has been earned out faithfully since A D Swithin was Bishop of Winchester When he died in his will urged that he be buried in a vile place beside the church where renowned Winchester Cathedral now sits There rain from the eaves would fall on his grave A century later popularity canonized him and Swithin was taken inside the church The removal it is said was greeted with prolonged ram which continued for days Swithin doesnt really care about the rain now Hes inside My visit to Winchester England convinced me when his grave was pointed out but Ill always have trouble knowing when the English can when it doesnt rain for days Liberal leader Bob Nixon makes a lot of sense with his talk about the partys transportation policy The Liberals propose through improvement in public transportation to lower the cost of housing increase social and economic opportunities and spread Southern Ontarios boom beyond the golden horseshoe area where much of it lies now Nixon says We will spread rational and reliable public transit beyond our cities increasingly expensive residential land to such centres as Peterborough Lindsay Orangevillc and A better way of life for those who prefer to live out of the megalopolis depends on expanded public trans portation that will pick up and deliver them within reasonable distance of home and work Freed of todays commuting dependence on the motor car they will be able to buy their homes in these less expensive communities on less expensive land Nixons plan is to integrate all forms of public transportation including rail rapid transit and bus to eliminate delay and the general inconvenience public transit riders must face each day He proposes to negotiate with Ottawa over the railways to make them an integral partof the provinces trans portation system instead of leaving some sections of Ontario without virtually any communication outside of the motor car shows that there is at least one politician and one party that has been listening to the grass roots about the problem of travel over congested roads Premier William Davis has also Gains could be losses feminists are few in this neck of the woods so there is little outcry about the uncomfortable draft of backlash which has accompanied some of their more inane mutterings in the past few months By now most men have been persuaded women have not been treated as equals and are opening up business and professional doors more readily to feminine career seekers But the backers of womens lib are encountering opposition from within their own sex from women who are safely married to considerate husbands These women have no intention of getting a job or fulfilling themselves through a career They find their identity in motherhood and home- making as well as in community service and creative activities Some men gleefully hoped women would assume more of the burden associated with earning a living especially helping out in the income department which often creates a shown there is growing recognition among the Conservative party that public transportation is vital by cancelling Torontos proposed Spadina Expressway The Conservn seemed to recognize the problems at one time when they established the GO transit system in cooperation with the railways but then either decided it was too costly or took loo much trouble to expand the system Even the railways bent on closing all the passenger depots they could without raising too much of a public are now trying to regain some of the public image they lost by con ciliatory statements indicating they are genuinely interested in operating passenger trains Now if they could only get someone to believe them strain on the familys marital situation Psychiatrists prophesied fewer tension ailments among men if all women turned out to work By the same token they expected to see an upturn of these ailments among women But not all women want a career Those that can docs but there are others who are happy with the status quo These women realize that in gaining Iheir rights they may be losing many of the advantages which women enjoy not open to mea back issues 20 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday July Narrowly escaping death and serious injury bus passengers and John were involved in an accident at the first line west of Acton Friday evening The Old Mill Guelph was the scene of the postponed United church picnic A second bus was secured for the trip since about 130 attended Mrs Thomas McBruie of 2 Rockwood was almost instandy killed Tuesday when the car in which she was nding was in collision with a truck in township About unpeople attended the Scott family reunion at the home of Mrs Angus Mc Donald Reports are received that the five day week camping program at the is proving verj successful Those obtaining their shark swimming awards so far are Bob Armstrong Harry McFadden Gary Mc- George Smethurst and Gary While the last two are well on their way to earning their badges Dominion census figures released by Arthur show Acton to have a population of This is an increase of 835 in the last ten years G Benton opened his new stare on Queen St last week Mr and Mrs George Love have taken possession of the store formerly owned by Mr and Mrs F J on Young St CGIT girls with their leader Miss Pearl Hamilton went by bus to Niagara Falls 50 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press Thursday July 1911 The Womens will hold their garden party in the park Inst The object of the garden party is to provide a drinking fountain for Acton The editor had a very pleasant interview with Mr Joel Leslie of Erin township who came in to pay for his subscription lam the very first subscribers Mr Leslie said with pride Mr Joseph Hacking the founder of the paper met me the first day of his canvass for subscribers in June 1875 and I at once gave him my subscription This is the time I have paid my scripUon In advance The of Acton 10 No went to Georgetown on Tuesday to spend the Twelfth with 1500 brethren who assembled there It was the biggest Twelfth George town ever celebrated Bands blared every where and there were banners Hundreds THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Business and Editorial Office of were evidence of the sue of the immense gathering The garden party of the Acton Farmers Club at the home Mr Charles Davidson second line was one of the real old- fashioned kind The supper was such as only farmers wives and daughters know how to put on The program was also very complete 75 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press Thursday July 1896 Honor roll for lime ho use school Mary Osmond Frank Moore Olive Marshall Fred John Newton Carrie Meredith Garvin James Nlckell Charlie Robert Marshall Vernon John Henry La Joe ONeill Susie Eva Meredith McDowell Nellie William Duncan Sharp Sadie Nlckell Scott Earl Marshall A largely attended congregational meeting was held in Knox church when the subject was the advisability of taking steps necessary to extending a call to a minister It occasionally occurs that young men from the cities imagine when visiting the country they are at liberty to act as hoodlums with impunity A gang of this character was brought up short at Their conduct was most disorderly and consisted of insults to women and rowdyism generally The mother of one young man paid for her boys Dominion Day fun and the other will work hard in Milton jail for days as a reward The game wardens intend to open a campaign against those who shoot robins blue birds and other harmless members of the feathered family The law Is very specific in protecting insectivorous birds Grasshoppers have done considerable damage to pastures and growing crops Summer are now popular Mr William Hemstreet sold his fine pair of matched greys at a good figure