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4 The Acton Free Press Wed November A day to remember The service at the cenotaph Sunday morning was as always a touching one The calling of the names the sounding of the Last Post and Reveille and the lowering of the flag always bring back haunting memories For the older people actual wartime pride and sorrows are evoked For young people some imagination is needed The schools take a major role in educating the youngsters about the meaning of Remembrance Day A good thing the young paraders couldnt see what was going on anyway Its always cold for the service this year a bleak flurry of snow added to the of the Just a sprinkling of people watched the first laving of the wreaths then when the United church service was over there was a larger crowd The groups which participated in the parade had fine turnouts of veterans represent atives of groups and young peoples organizations At the service which followed in Knox church there were plenty of empty seats Many paraders did not attend church The service is held now on the Sunday preceding Remembrance Day so more people may partici pate But attendance Sunday except for paraders was the lowest yet Organizers of Decoration Day last June found the same surprising and discouraging lack of response Of this and that The long eerie wailing of the fire siren the night proves the firefighters new system soil isnt working properly It had been hoped that the night use of the siren could be avoided However firefighters are finding they still cant depend on their portable alarms Sometimes they sound and sometimes they dont Sunday nights alarm woke up and worried hundreds of people yet the car fire was not a serious one Whether firefighters can depend on their alarms or not we depend on the fire brigade So we have to put up with the night alarms for a while longer Conservation Authorities report attendance away down the past summer because of the bad weekend weather None to soon Parking has been temporarily banned on one side of Church and Bower during reconstruction The Remembrance window at Acton Home Furnishings was a very fitting and touching testimony of the Legions motto Lest We Forget School children bank and government employees will have a holiday tomorrow Thursday for Remembrance Day Some people think the ceremonies in Acton should be on the 11th too Would attendance have been any better Not likely Seems high time to cancel the holiday which has grown increasingly meaningless to the people who are given it Despite the abundance of talk about regional government and the new organization of Halton Hills not many people are in the running for council seats from this area Its very demanding and time- consuming work no doubt about it and most people are probably well aware of that ACTON COMPANY of the 164th Battalion spelled out their own designation at the park during World War One The drill shed the background is now the poultry Building World War One vets were guests of honor at the dinner at the Legion Sunday Separated for what Lest we forget Sunday at the cenotaph Sugar and Spice by bill mi ley I wonder how much more will be chipped away from the image of Remembrance Day this fall Each Ihe iconoclasts chip chip away hoping that eventually the whole embarrassing in their opinion charade will fade away even though old soldiers never do Last one Canadian branch observed the day a week early because the Nov 1 1 date interfered with their deer hunting To Ihc businessman Remembrance Day is a dam nusianee For years he fought It with one eye on his customers who were veterans and the other on his clerks who would have to be paid for nothing If he gave the day off He whittled it down to half a day off then an hour off for the memorial services Today most businessmen simply ignore the day and it business as usual To industry it has long since been an anachronism although many of them do allow veterans the time off to attend the To the civil service the banks the teachers it is just another welcome holiday a little bonus Makes a good day to go hunting or fishing for rainbow or putting the boat away for the winter To the young people of this land however much teachers try to make them aware it just one of those vague and silly holidays like Empire Day or whatever that thing is called that used to be the or May the Queen birthday youngsters had fathers and uncles who had served in World War II and talked about it and maybe had a souvenir like the garter bell of Women Land Army girl which they their kids was one the catapults that were Britain only after the evacuation at Dunkirk or many a veteran wife it a day of some anxiety She knows perfectly well that however carefully she has trained Ihe old man he going to insist on going off to Ihe Legion Hall to honor my old comrades The trouble is his old comrades have also gone there to honor him And between all the honoring he going to arrive home at an unusual hour in an uncertain condition and will feci every one of his 56 years on the morrow That leave much of anybody docs it who has any real stake in Remembrance Day Oh of course there arc the politicians There are still a few votes to be culled from veterans and their wives And there are the trumpeters who can handle the Last Post They re few and far between but around Remembrance Day they hit the Jackpot A former student of mine used to pick up about darling from one area community to the other playing the Last Post at Legion dinners and memorial services and schools and churches And there s military Ihe mighty and intrepid Canadian Forces who could probably repel an attack by Ihe Swiss Navy and the army of Monaco It gives them a chance to their stuff and show hat they have been taught the Slow March But those are minority groups Who or what is left to make Remembrance Day a significant one in Canadian life There nobody left bul the guys who were actually Ihere the veterans Does it mean anything to them At Ihe risk of sounding maudlin I would with a ringing affirmative Their ranks are thinning and hardly anybody else lurns up for Ihe ceremony any more But across the land thousands of men and women pot bellied grey haired slightly ridiculous to themselves as well as others will march wilh solemn faces on a cold and wet and windy day lo community across the land They will stand and listen to the Names of the Fallen being read They will be assured by the padre that They Did Not Give Their Lives in Vain In the Minute Silence which is usually cut to seconds they will have a brief flicker of over whelming grief Not for fallen comrades but for lost youth and for Ihc en of old age and illness and the final And as the knifing notes of The Last Post keen in Ihc November air there wilt be some real ears Then It attention and quick step behind the band off to the Legion Hall all that sloppy sentiment behind like the fallen comrades There thccapswillsnap and the turkey will sizzle and the dart board and the shuffle board will be in full swing and all the young punks who joined the Legion as social members will be enjoying the facilities and over In a corner a few Old Sweats from I will be nursing a beer and reminding with a quickening of the eye ya remember the time II sort of sad maybe it s a good thing that somebody remembers all the fine young men who went off so willingly even eagerly In fight and to die if necessary for ideals hat modern historians sneer at OUR READERS WRITE MP shares experiences Dear Editor One of he most fascinating duties for any Member of Parliament is to represent Canada at international gatherings which Parents should have right to religious education A Sometime Comment on By An Educator in The news that community of Acton is lo have its own separate school is news that could all easily live without Not withstanding the event will almost talnly come to pass and next September we shall see yet another example of our unique adult way of complicating life by Insisting on our differences when we would do better to emphasize our human com monality Negotiations between the public and separate school boards arc generally complete and it is virtually certain that the old stone school which stands close by the Robert Little Public School will become Ihe interim home for this next attempt at the separation of children based on an adult concept for which he little people have no particular concern Ernest Howse a former moderator of the United Church writing recently in the Toronto Star commented directly on Ihe segregation of children In sectarian schools and called such action a horrible warning to Ontario Ah says it Is easy to parochial schools but once underway it is next to Impossible to change them The clerical hostility to any lessening of their own power even in the bombedout communities of Northern Ireland should be sufficient warning that the less Ontario extends the system of schools segregated by religion the better for all concerned Of course Dr example of Northern Ireland is extreme but the issue which his argument raises is clear and simple for all of us do we wish to per and promote among our children a sense of and a belief in being different based on religion I submit that our col Ice live answer to this question should be a resounding No In a world which Is all loo rapidly being lorn apart by sectarian violence of both a political and religious nature we court disaster when we ell our children or show hem by means of our Institutions that they are different and Ihnl the difference is based on religion Such a statement will likely raise a thunderous response from some quarters but thai will be because it is so very hard to relinquish power most of us do suffer from a mentality Lest you begin to think of this column as being religious let me pose for you a sane and reasonable alternative which would place religion fairly and squarely in our schools I submit that we should bring our children up together and In the same schools but we should ensure that within a given school building there are appro priate opportunities for both Religious Instruction and Religious Education To begin with all parents would have Ihe right to insist on Religious Instruction for their children if hat is what hey desire Qualified clergymen and teachers would instruct the child in the family faith- Catholic or whatever Classes for this instruction would be regular and standards would be well maintained Needless to say we would also respect of hose parents who preferred thai their children not be instructed in any particular faith There would be limes when special school services were held for specific groups and other limes of a more ecumenical nature when the whole school could attend even those children who came of a religious background could be expected to stand quietly to respect the rights and beliefs of others Later In school life about Grade or so all children in the school would lake pari in a program of Religious education and his would be he time when each child would learn something of the basic tenets BytheUme a child had completed Grade a heshe would have had the opportunity to learn about and discuss In a straightforward uncomplicated manner some basic facts and background of the other major and minor religious groups within the school community Children should be aware of the variety of beliefs and approaches to religion they should begin to explore common points of philosophy and they should also be aware that some people do not hold will organ izcd religions as such It seems possible thai a shared approach such as the one described here so briefly would help children to respect and get to know each other on a wide and meaningful basis Of course some people will object to such openness and will cling at all costs to current parochial schools and I have at least one further suggestion for them Neighboring but separated schools should take many opportunities to visit each other and work together They should receive each other as guests at their school assemblies and time and care should be taken to ensure that the child from School A knows something about what goes on In School B and vice versa As people of good will we could complish a great deal by bringing our children together on an honest and meaningful basis By so doing we would certainly be playing a significant pari in minimising misunderstandings bring together academics technical ex perts and legislators from all parts of the globe to discuss problems and issues that concern the world community Such trips I believe are useful for members of all parties as a means keeping informed about developments other countries and helping lo maintain our position here at In addition rips abroad serve lo bring into sharper focus issues which are otherwise buried under the daily flow of business and routine responsibilities 1 would like to share briefly with you there fore some thoughts and observations concerning topics which have been brought lo mind as a result of my involvement in several recent trips The first trip was an international congress The main subject on the agenda was the future of parliamentary democracies around the world Of more than 150 countries only about thirty can be considered Irue democracies the rest comprising An encouraging note for a vlsiling MP like myself was the high calibre of our fellow Canadians who represent us on the front lines of international relalions Tht members of the Canadian Mission to the are hardworking and sensible people who briefed us well and thoroughly on the intricacies of guiding world peace and The Canadian Consulate General doing an effective job for us In advancing Canadian business Interests in New York the largest and most Important commercial centre by far My third trip was planned by the Stan ding Committee on Finance Trade and Economic Affairs of which I am a regular member to compare notes and share Ideas with members of similar committees In several Western European nations When I first heard about this project last month I registered my concern thai Continued on page The Free Press Back Issues 20 years ago Taken from he of heFreePreuof November 15 IBM Lesley Ann Duby is the winner of the trophy for public speaking as Acton public school champion Ten competed on Tuesday morning Judges Miss Ruby Clark and Rev Ray Costerus declared Miss Duby Ihe winner with runner up Helen Benton Carol Elsen Randy Lidkea Christine Johnson and Judy According to P Constable George Moore the deer in are beginning to run again Three of them were run over by three nights in a row Member of Parliament for Halton county and one of the four women legislators in the House of Commons Sybil Bennett Queens Council died Monday evening after a lingering illness of two years Just last week at the annua meeting of the Halton Progressive Conservatives in Milton first woman member of parliament She was unable to attend At a recent meeting of the Acton Firefighters Association Chief J Newton was named again to the first office for S Tennanl will again be deputy fire chief next year and captain will be Mike Coxc Latest winners at St Josephs church euchre Ladies first Mrs Deforest second Mrs L Anderson mens first Fred Kentner second Harold Sunter Mrs E had the low score 50 years ago Taken from Free Press of Thursday November 1926 The King Construction Company con tractors of ihe new pavement on Main Street commenced pouring cement last week both at southerly terminus at the Canadian National Electric Railway tracks and at the junction with No Provincial Highway Considering Ihe from wet and snowy weather excellent progress has been made A park improvement which will be ap preciated next season while baseball and other games are in progress is the plowing and levelling of the section in rear of the diamond Deep furrows have been eliminated and in the spring this plot will be seeded and rolled Owing to the illness of Mrs Minnie Moore leachcr the primary room of the Public School was closed for several days his week A large gathering young people of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church visited he Young Peoples Guild of Knox Presbyterian Church on Monday evening The young people were very cordially welcomed by Miss Isabel Anderson on behalf of the Acton Guild to which Rev Mr McLaren of Georgetown replied The proceedings took the form of a Ha owe en evening and the readings and some of the music had en flavor The illness of Rev Mr Stewart the minister and Mrs Minnie Moore President of the Guild prevented their attendance years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press of Thursday November 1876 A logcabin quill comprising over pieces of calico has just been completed by Mrs Joel Leslie of the first line of Erin This Is a remarkable instance of patience and combined with a laudable ambition to excel in beauty of design and correct taste The quilt will doubtless be exhibited in the fall shows That the business at the Acton statfon Is constantly on increase may be inferred from the fact thai the shipment of freight during the past month of October was nearly double that of the corresponding month last year The largest sum charged on freight on record was 192 in the month of June 1874 the bulk of it for peas and lumber The number of passenger tickets sold in October was l representing sum of 494 45 as against tickets and in October showing a very large increase The School Board reengaged Mr Ross far the ensuing year at a salary of and free residence The total number of children registered is now 263 Mr Ross asks that the parents second his efforts in maintaining discipline and insisting that their children prepare their lessons at home The Golden Lion Guelph announces Ihe arrival or buffalo robes direct from Ihe Hudson Bay Company at prices ranging from lo The Deaf and Dumb Institute at villeconains21B pupils the largest number since it was opened THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE 853 Business and Editorial Office I Com Niwipipin Auoc ikon pi on top M emit wi AdVn Copyright 1976