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The Acton Free Press Wednesday Jan An empty place One of Henry Harbers jobs on Wednesday mornings was the preparing of the editorial page for printing As you can see it is different from all the other pages And so it requires a more experienced hand There are no ads to move to a place where they fit better The type is set in wider measure so there are fewer options in filling the deter mined space The pictures cant be changed about as they are on other pages and the articles can seldom be cut to make them fit Henry had the skill judgment accuracy and patience needed for this page and it had become customary for him to do it His capabilities as a printer have been known to us for the past 13 years but his strengths as a person have become better realized over the past eight years When he learned then he had lost all kidney function he began a draining program of hospitalization and medication that inevitably led to his death December 29 at the age of Our hearts are wrenched as we see the empty spot in our plant We recall his courage cheerfulness and religious faith He encouraged us he made us smile he never complained never showed anger A few months ago he agreed that an article in the newspaper about his experience with his own dialysis equipment at home might encourage people to donate their kidneys for transplants Even then he knew it was too late for him His damaged system could not have handled a major operation Henrys wife Nellie was a pillar of support to him and acted as a technician operating the com plicated dialysis equipment Their two little boys were his pride and joy Perhaps lives will be saved as a result of Henrys illness through transplant donations and increased medical knowledge Certainly the lives of his family and many friends have already been enriched through knowing htm Is your chimney clean With a cold winter well settled in those who are fortunate enough to have fireplaces or woodburning stoves are making good use of these facilities We all know the coziness and warmth of a nice fire blazing in the safety of a well con structed fireplace But how often do we think of the chimney All too often only when we are frantically looking up the emergency number of the Fire Department to report a chimney fire There have been several chimney fires here already this Chimney fires are caused by blockages whether it be from un- burnt wood particles or a birds nest built last spring Most often however it is the former of the two The use of green or wet wood is the instigator in this situation Large particles of unburnt wood are Which doctor has answer The future has arrived Education Minister Thomas Wells told a conference on declining enrolment in the schools a fact which has hit the educational com munity with telling effect in the last few months And quite obviously the pro blems have definitely not gone away Mr Wells notes Those who saw the declining birthrate as the avenue to a better quality of life and education may have second thoughts if they listen to Dr Robert Jackson the commis sioner enquiring into declining enrolments in Ontario He says Our present depressed economic conditions and the pre vailing and utterly discouraging in cidence of high levels of unemploy ment and underemployment of our young people can only lead to continued low levels of fertility and probably to further declines to points far below replacement levels Dr Jackson says his con clusions are based on firsthand experience with young people not only on statistics Most of the young people I talk to and I try to talk to as many as possible tell me they simply can not afford to have children Young professional women often say they wont be able be able to reenter the job market if they leave to have children Dr Jackson said Soci- factors such as the post ponement of marriage high in cidence of abortions availability of birth control pills and contra ceptives are also important ele ments he said The birth rate has fallen below zero population growth to a record low of children for each set of parents Replacement level is per set And Dr Jackson says it is econ omic conditions and the prevailing and discouraging incidence of high levels of unemployment has made young people lose faith in them selves and In the countrys future My gut feeling right now is that we are in trouble and in serious trouble in all other aspects of our lives as well as education He believes the falling birth rate will have severe implications on the future He doesnt expect there will be a baby boom to save the gravest crisis in education we have ever seen Discouraging words But are economic conditions and high unemployment really to blame MP Dr Prank says the population timebomb is still ticking away in developing countries where conditions are far worse than in Canada Have we educated our children to expect such a high standard of living they dont want children if they have to make any sacrifices It is ironical Dr should deplore the growth of population in the poorer countries while Dr Jackson deplores the lack of children in affluent Canada The Georgetown Independent Of this and that Did any of those children who wrote so eagerly to Santa telling what they wanted for Christmas write a letter of thanks A year has passed a new one lies before me A pathway runs afar to scenes unknown I lift my eyes the sky is arching oer me The day is fair and God is on the Throne And as I listen I can hear Him saying I am with thee be thou not afraid TINY ICICLES GRACE branches of Actons trees during cold weather Icicles consist of frozen water and more often occur in winter than summer Usually they hang downward as they do here and if you ever see one growing any other direction you should take it to a psychiatrist for counselling drawn up the chimney and cling to the insides where they accumulate and dry out due to the heat of the fire After they dry out they are ignited by a spark from the fire place and this is where the call comes in This type of fire is common around this time of year and can be very easily prevented by simply checking for blockage prior to its use If the chimney is blocked you should have it cleaned You can easily clean the chimney yourself by tying chains on a rope and lowering the chains down knocking the debris down into the fireplace our firefighters report Care should be taken to ensure that the debris is contained to the fire place so that it does not damage floors or rugs A little time spent now could easily prevent a lot of in convenience later Sugar and Spice by bill smiley among other peoples honor I heir ancestors Its a nice idea but about in Is time every yrar I calling down on mine When they were kicked out of their Scottish crofts by landlords who decided sheep were more Important than people or had to suck Ihclr feet out or the Irish bogs been as even the praties were Retting scarce why oh did they have to emigrate losome atony farms in Pontine County P dldn t at least one of them head for Australia or South Africa or Mexico or South Carolina anywhere south of the belt Nope With unerring Instinct they headed out of two of the worst winter climates In the world Scottish highlands and Northern Ireland and straight for the worst in the world middle Canada There are idiots ho claim that the Canadian winter is a healthy climate Perhaps why I had 12 students absent out of 32 Perhaps that why I hack from November until June so loudly that my wife knows when I ve entered our block let alone the house This year we didnt get our usual few skirts or snow two or three Inches at a time so we could get our snow tires on our winter grumbling tuned up and our winter blasphemy geared for what was coming Not a chance By the of December wed had two feet of snow around our place and the tempera Hire had hit below Fahrenheit I had lo dig he lawn mower out from under snowbank lo put it in the tool shed What kind of a way is that to live Had to dig my rubber boots out In November I hale those boots with a loath ing I have never felt for any other creature animate or otherwise In my entire life Every year they seem lo get farther away from the top of me and harder to pull on either topple over on top of or get one foot hallway in and can get the rest in or or the blasted zipper sticks after one Inch and I get snow over the top and into my shoes Gelling them off is even worse I use the heel and toe method Too proud to sit down and pull them off with my hands Thats for old people and smart people No I stand teetering put the toe of one foot against the heel of the other and pry The zippers never zip down more than halfway I grunt and pry Either nothing happens or theres a sudden and the With my shoe Inside It And 1 am dancing around In one sock foot In the snow that has fallen off my boot Or the zipper breaks and I cant get the boot off at all The other one comes off like an eel and walk around all day with one rubber bootshod foot and one in a shoe And that only the beginning Theres winter driving Oh you may be one of those guys with a warm garage a snow blower to clear your driveway a block heater to keep your engine warm and an inside car heater to prevent instant piles when you sit on that icy plastic seat cover I aint My 10yearold Dodge sits out in Ihc elements On a typical morning go out and spend 10 minutes cleaning off the ice Then I get in say a short but fervent prayer and tum the key Our readers write Appreciate our heritage FlaH Brunswick PI Hove Sussex England December Dear Sir Having lived in Acton during fourteen of my most impressionable years before going overseas with the Second Canadian Division in 1910 1 have naturally followed with special Interest the old Towns for tunes and general progress as a Com munity in spite of the fact that have made my home in England since the end of the War I therefore write to you in a mood of nostalgia upon hearing that the old Town Hall may now disappear to make way for the redevelopment of the site What memories that old red brick building evokes Of course It was never an architectural masterpiece as public buildings go but in itself It comprised a complex that for much of the Towns history was the very heart of the Com munitys administrative cultural and social life For small boys of course the centre of Interest was focused on the fire- hall at the rear The Bcardmore siren an nouncing a fire was the signal for a general exodus towards the Town Centre There like a greyhound straining at the leash the red engine would surge from Its garage Its volunteer crew having left their various occupations would be clinging to Its sides as the red monster raced Into the quiet streets the clamor of Its bell alerting the Copula on every side and exciting boyish hearts Election time brought to the platform of the hall a galaxy of prominent public men There with a display of their oratorical gifts they wove their particular spells heavily laced with well- worn platitudes and invective For many It was the jokes and anecdotes that lingered on in the memory told and retold for weeks afterwards with of course the In evitable embellishments In those days when radio had not yet dominated our lives the Town like many others possessed an abundance of local talent and the town hall provided an Ideal venue for concerts and plays of every kind The latter remain In my memory as being particularly unique when looked at In hind sight after many years of attending the live theatre In England For an hour or two on a particular evening one would witness a transformation on the stage that could pec- suade us that the girl we saw behind the counter In a Mill Street store was really a Countess and that the local doctor or lawyer we knew so well was here displayed as a deepdyed villain This was the true essence of the living theatre The suspension of disbelief However for the larger part of the Com munity the Town Hall was the Mecca for local dances In the late evening of a hot She gives a startled grunt wheeze and bellow rcssmbllng a cow giving birth groans and falls silent I start to get mad pump Ihc gas and flood her shouting imprecations She responds with a scorn ful and gradually diminishing argh On the rare occasions when she does kickover I warm her up carefully look fearfully over my shoulder at the Ihree- foot bank the lown snowplow tins thrown up behind us and give her he gun She cither stalls and we end like a stranded whale belly on the snowdrift or she bombs right through and I hit the telephone pole on the other side of the street with my rear bumper Even worse than the driving in winter is the attitude of a good portion of the popu lace wheezing relieved and yet furious and some pink cheeked joung colleague chirps It a terrific weekend All that snow 1 skied all day Saturday and Sunday II was just beautiful in the bush on the trails At these times I would like to trail that young pink check out the bush point out how beautiful it is manacle him or her to a Christmas tree come home and down by the fire with a good shot of freeze smiling as the dropped and the wind rase more obnoxious are those who sit around the bourgeois bums and natter about the great winter holidays theyve had each trying lo outdo the other Yeah Barbados is all right I guess if jou like getting our foot pierced by a urchin Not much to do but lie around in the sun and drink heap rum Jack and I took a cruise last year in the West Indies Stopped at 10 different islands Fantastic But arent there a lot of ugly Canadians on those cruises You know hairdressers and salesmen and school teachers We like Mexico ourselves May they all get triple arthritis have their pensions cut off and have to spend all their winters in Canada Our Idea of a great winter Irip Is lake the illconsidered Christmas presents back to the store and get a credit if were lucky summers day with Ihc band In full spate the old place seemed to throb and rock to the rhythm of numberless feet and the swish of the ladles party dresses The cacophony of sound amplified by the old timbers and wafted from the open windows of thehall Into the night air would reverber ate among the nearby residences In the Parsonage opposite the Minister seeking inspiration for his Sunday morning sermon might well have wondered was being reenacted outside his front door Seriously I do not know what is planned for this historical site of Actons past but speaking from a Country which jealously guards and preserves Its buildings or his torical value I trust that something may be done in respect of Actons old Town Hall for only In an appreciation of a Communi ty Heritage can It gain a true perspective of the present The Free Press Back issues 100 years ago Taken from of theFreePrew Thursday January 10 1878 Last night about is minutes after ten oclock the citizens of this village were startled by the alarm of fire Those who first gave the alarm stated that the large tannery belonging to Mr Beardmorewasin flames but on proceeding to the place no signs of any fire could be ascertained for some time I was at last discovered that the leech house in connection with the tannery was found smoldering in the bark carrier With assistance of a number of persons who were present and a plentiful supply of water the fire was soon ex tinguished The cause of the fire cannot be ascer tained as there had been no work done nor machinery in operation In the department Had the fire got its own way for five minutes longer there would have been no possibility of saving the whole tannery from destruction The loss will not amount to over a few dollars 50 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday January 12 1928 The first meeting of the Mens Club of the United Church was attended by 140 A banquet was provided by the Ladles Aid Society and the Sunday School orchestra played Judge Mott was the speaker President John Kennedy was toast- master and speakers Included Duncan Mc- Tavish Rev C Poole Moore J Aktns Reeve Mason and A A quartette composed of Grenvllle Matthews sang Plans for a new covered rink were dis cussed at the inaugural meeting of council Mr John of the Stratford pro fessional hockey team was home for the weekend years ago Taken from an Issue of the Free Press January John D Glen technical sales represent ative of the Plastics Division of the C I Industries was guest speaker at the instal lation meeting of the Acton Chamber of Commercaon Monday evening in the YMCA Thirteen members turned out in snowy weather for the weekly swim with Jack Denny and George Lee assisting with trans portation as the Water Swimming Club held their classes on Friday January at the pool Another new business has been established on the outskirts of Acton known as the Caroline Nurseries Now open for business the new establishment is situated two miles west of Acton at Crewsons Cornersandisoperatedby J formerly of Toronto The Knox Presbyterian C I girls held their first meeting of in the Church rooms on Monday evening In the absence of a group leader Mrs J Greer Mrs A J Buchanan and Miss I conducted the meeting 10 years ago Taken from an issue of the Free Press January to 1908 Charles Heard a former public school board trustee will nil the vacant seat on the board for Its final year The vacancy was caused by Bill Bensons resignation Bill Buchanan was elected president of Acton Citizens Band at the annual board meeting Wednesday night Tyler who held the post for the past eight years Other officers elected were Charles Klngsmill first vicepresident Gordon second vice president Band master George Elliott secretary- treasurer Committee Chuck Wright Joe Vostry Sims McPhedran Barry Buchanan It took 11 days of waiting then a rush trip to the hospital in a police cruiser In the bitter cold of early morning but Nancy Vender Eyken finally arrived on Friday morning January to become the first baby bom In Milton District Hospital in 1908 I doubt if there will be many more in augural meetings of Esquesing council said newly elected township reeve George Currie in his Inaugural address to quesing council at thefr daytime meeting Monday Reeve Currie hazarded a guess that regional government would be In this area by 1970 THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Business and Editorial Office Copyright 1978