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The Acton Press Wed May Summer will be pleasant Summer will be a rewarding time for more peoplo Acton thanks to the two Opportunities for Youth grants that have been assigned here Again this year about or children will be taught music with instruments donated by Acton band The other project is the Senior Citizens Assistance Program which will provide companionship and help for older people Both these projects hiwe been undertaken here before and it fortunate they have been approved again The young people who foim band will be giving concerts over the summer will go to hnmtw and The who the Irons will have to depend on contacts hllhe will the of the ft iendH and It not to ank help Yet the voting people are too liflpm to it hi to do It Ihev help iw I tiling gardening Hewing and reading II on and walk dogs The toner Is and the band project two Moth giants make summer for quite a few people Trees to treasure Scouts and cubs were out planting trees Saturday while town workmen were in town last week cutting mature trees down Church St is miserably bereft as fine old trees are toppled because of impending road widening The ugly view left when trees are gone Impresses on just how important natures beauty can be Theres always been a special relationship between people and trees Early men and women read meanings into the life and death of treesthe way we read the scopes today maybe Aristotle thought treos had perception reason and could respond to people Early Greeks thought of trees as our ancestors natives of Burma pray to a tree before cutting it down No societies have missed the practical value of trees as sources of shade shelter wood and food as well as protectors of the soil and wildlife And that doesnt include the realization of the splendid beauty of trees This part of the country is well blessed with trees and we treasure them rightly So its Mothers Day Mothers Day how about that Motherhood seems an unlikely thing to make much of a fuss about when half the people of the world have the capability for it and so many of us combine it with another full time job There have been white mothers in this territory for 150 years and Indian mothers as well before that and all those kids seem to have grown up and done very well indeed After all they were our parents and grandparents probably News from Speyside is a growing area and the Free Press is glad to welcome a correspondent wholl be reporting on the news of that district Sheldon She lives on 15 and is also a member of the local recreation advisory committee The paper had had a corres pondent in that district years ago but lately only major happenings and had been covered in the paper ratepayers meetings or special things at the school Now well have more of the everyday news the kind that makes a community home There were trees planted Saturday by district Cubs and Scouts Yet the loss of every single matm tree in town regrets or six trees were toppled on Church St to make way for the paving project above At the right a limb crashed down Monday morning onto the porch roof at the home of Rev and Mrs A H McKcnie The tree had shown signs of advanced old age for some time Sugar and Spice by bill smiley Of course we know we could do a better job of mothering and fathering Its taken all those years before the first course in Parent Effectiveness Training was organized and held in Acton There was always advice of others and help from doctors and nurses though Our thanks comes in the daily contact with endearing children themselves In seeing them blossom and join the world But if somebody wants to give a card or a flowers or a little gift well now who could refuse One of the things about modern thai bothers mc is mouthy minorities Attempting to Impose their on majorities Another is the by those who profess profound belief in a vogue con cepl called progress to find the common denominator In everything and try to shove the rest of us in that direction Sometimes have a nightmare about the future In I sec the entire earth populated by beings no longer humans who look alike talk alike think alike and even smell alike Everyone will be a sort of creamy yellow brown In complexion II all be the same height and weight All individual anomalies such as hooked noses buck teeth and Jutting cars will have been eliminated I wake up from this dream screaming at the point where 1 am just about to be told that we ore all of the same sex In the dream everyone will speak the some language some type of bastard speech like Esperanto Literature will be extinct except for a few scholars studying Its fossilized remnants Shades of meaning will be tost I love you Je t adore and to will all come out as Yochamo or something of the sort In the dream there are no decisions to be made because there will no longer be any difference between right and wrong black and white good and evil Television will tell us what to think painlessly and why We will all smell alike a subtle with traces of Chinese elm Russian Congo musk and American We will all arise when the universal siren sounds In unison at the appointed moment we will take our breakfast pill our pep pill to get us going our tran to slow us down for our lunch pill another pep pill a dinner pill hours will simultaneously swallow our sleeping pills and unconscious for six hours forty eight seconds But each before retiring wo will have our universal culture and rccrea period Something like counting our It only a nightmare but each year that I livt tin picture seems closer and One of these days afraid I Two of the most recent steps by mouthy minorities and the people who cherish common denominators are the attempts at thi forced application of Celsius tempera and the metric system Did anyone ask you if you wanted to switch from to Celsius No Did anyone ask me No Did anyone ask cither of us if wt wanted to metric Same answer I used to attempts to brainwash me by politicians newspapers experts and my wife That is what they arc for and at leist 1 can fight back Hut I deeply resent simply being told by some Ottawa ostriches and their stooges In the media that I must willy switch to Celsius thermometer and metric weights and I am a reasonable man I hope If some one convinces me that something is for the common good even though It in conveniences I II go along with it Example this very moment the government is removing money from who has never been unemployed and giving it to some lazy bum who wants not to work This is known as unemployment insurance In the same way I am helping subsidize other people s food medical care housing Not a word of complaint Hut what gets mi Is Ihe hat typifies those who espouse Celsius and do not prist one valid to met reason for tin They vaguely that everyone In doing it So what If the latest fail Is Joining the I lal Society must I a member If everyone else is pi king his nose in public docs that mian Hint I should loo Metric maniacs Insist that is more accurate More accurate Hi in what Is a thousandth of a centimeter more accurate than a thousandth of inch Of course not It Is merely shorter I m not sure which I don give a diddle Canadians with their wild extremes of climate and vast expanse of geography should buttle this socalled progress with every ounce of their strength Yes the word was ounce Do you realize Hint will soon be a dirty word if the metric marauders have their way Canada would lose its very flavor as a nation should we allow this metric Celsius pap to flow over us flatUn us into a dull facsimile of all those other dull nations I- or one thing it would cripple our con versatlon per cent of which begins with a pseudocomplaint about the heat or cold It would destroy our Idioms you imagine our hero bis way along the narrow ledge rather than in He all wool and a meter wide does n t exactly stir mc Nor docs Third down and a meter centimeters to go for Winnipeg Well the varmints haven heard the last of me This is only a skirmish But I need reinforcements Come on all you thousands who deplore the change Iet hear from Fire off a letter to your editor for a start Then we roll big guns Local girl views changes in Japan First of a seres Susan Nelson spent the past two years revelling throughout various countries of the world Some placet she stayed for several months working and living with the people Other coantriea she visited a a tourist on her way through She is the and Mn Eric Nell oil Acton and through this newspaper hope to relate some of her experiences and This Is the first of a aer ies by Susan Nelson For the gat J in meaning foreigner In Japanese Japan is an astounding blend of new and old the latter disappearing underneath the surge of modernization and newly acquired affluence due lo the country economic success since World War I found It hard to fathom that the Kawasaki Yokohama combined population is equal to that of the whole of Australia When I arrived in Yokohama port I was with neon glitter smog traffic bumper to bumper and noise at unheard of decibel level Employees treated well Large companies monopolize Japanese life Most students when finished school enter the large cor orations such as Sony and Mitsubishi That is where employment Is found the easiest From on they are company property both in out of In order to keep workers content these companies provide amenities and fringe benefits Some of these are after work classes in various SUSAN NELSON daughter of Rev and Mrs Eric Nelson has spent the past two years work ing her way through several countries of the world She hopes to share some of her exper lences and views with readers of this paper in a series sub fee ranging from judo to violin well equipped recreation halls match making service and wedding facilities day core and houses sold to employees at bargain rates Without aid from the company many Japanese could not afford their own homes I found that the in fashionable centre for Japanese and foreigners alike is no different from any Western city centre There is even a MacDonalds plagued with American soldiers on leave and high prices Yen for the cheapest hamburger Prices on all imports are exorbitant the more foreign the name the better it sells This Japan was the one wanted to avoid The nearest retreat is the Izu peninsula about 120 km south west of Here the rolling hills planted with tea the fresh ocean air the tangerine groves and the curious but helpful people make relaxed for any city dweller 1 was fortunate enough to stay in a Japanese home and it was here that I began to take a closer look at rural life and the Japanese way of thinking People hard workers The Japanese are diligent workers especially the women who not only manage the home and children but will also help their husbands regardless of the tasks in voKcd which were mosUy heavy labour Life is much harder for those who wish to be independent in business and life style At my home the father had given up his secure Toyko office job and come to Im to open a small fishery Hence every morning for breakfast I would sit down to a meal of freshly cut raw fish usually bream or trout accompanied by a bowl of rice and a plate of pickled octopus and similar to radish A taste for such delicacies acquired by eating first and asking questions later Fishing carpentry fruit vegetable growing and pottery are the mam sources of income in the rural area The smaller the community the more closely the families work together supporting one another and protecting one another from outside threats to life and property On several occasions upon passing through some of the more remote spots I en countered folk who had never seen a foreigner before They were not openly hostile but I sensed that any departure from their social codes would have caused trouble The young migrate These villages are num less less as the people head for the cities belter wages and a more sophisticated living style time they return more urbanity and western nation come with them It is the older villagers who remain with the following generations becoming smaller and less inclined towards the home and family loyalty Traditional Japan is not gone merely hidden under a glittering layer of western ism which emerged as Japan gained status on an inter national let el The Japanese sociologist Chie Nakane says Newsweek Oct 1973 the Japanese are basically a very conservative people Once you have such conservative roots you can do very radical things and still be secure that It won t affect the basic foundation The Free Press Back Issues years ago hit lue of the Mays I inula viiliij Hit stuff and Hindi a limit of Mr and Mm lunik to Iwmor Mm limine Ima Ml Ihe Mi her will an dish lulled Inn n in in a dangerously liiflamtiiul h ore I law wild nipt whs Ira id through a large conduit iilfH iii Hit finishing room of Hie tannery Walt noun an openiil vent in Hit will liki sins Ontario was a Oil from Attorney ml off l I liiud p rind Pi In Iolti ffktrs will tonllnui to iifiittminl in towns i Inrgt r towns tin en I of tills ymr has been rsiil In nil In of Hon tin fori tin 50 years ago from Hit- 1mupo the I Press At mornlnj sirvki in Knox hurt hint Sunday Mr the minister that Ik and Mrs Sttwart had to remain pastor If the con gallon so union Into on I of June The Acton Hangers played a return match with at that town last Saturday Iin team had madi some rations In their llni up since their visit In Acton and heller football was Ihe i suit Mrs II I was taken ill last wttk with and an whs rfnrmed on ly at neral Hospital Good pro Kress Is now being made recovery annual nutting of the Acton Institute wan held in Hills Hall lust Mrs the Mrs arrived home from St Petersburg I In where they spent the wink r on Monday Both arc in excel lent htnllh The says he might have stayed longer but he could not the first In May go past without a trout fishing ex and Mrs Oliver of Hamilton were guests of and Mrs at the Par last week Olivers father the Hon John Oliver Premier of British Columbia expected to Join them here but was detained in Ottawa years ago Taken from the the lrer Press May 1000 A farewell service was held In the Methodist Church last Sunday evening when Ik v Rev William bade adieu to thi congregation After a few kindly words of Christian fcl lowship by the paster Rev J A land on able sermon was preached by Rev It lorbcs Shortly after noon last Friday a very destructive fire occurred at the scat of the Township Council of Nassa gawcya II originated from sparks from the chimney of the harness shop of Mr Nell McMillan A heavy was blowing and in a few minutes the building was enveloped In flames The fire spread rapidly to Ihe houses on both sides of the shop and in a remarkably short time Mr James houses which stands next to the shop was burning fiercely Mr Neil McMillan residence next caught fire A large number of willing men sum moned to the scene by the continued blowing or the steam whistle on Leach mans sawmill worked arduously carrying furniture and other effects out of reach of the rapidly growing fire Cemetery was enriched last week by the erection of another very hand some monument It was placed by Mr J Hamilton granite dealer Guelph for Mr Neil Keith contractor Winnipeg over the graves of his parents It is a square obelisk of Swedish granite with granite bases and markers and the whole has been executed with the well known skill of Mr Hamilton THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Business and Editorial Office