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Page 4 THE OAKVILLE-TRAFALGAR JOURNAL Thursday, December 93 10g The Oakville- Trafalgar Journal "CHAMPION OF THE RIGHT" Published Every Thursday Morning in Oakville, Ont, by Oakville - Trafalgar Publishers, Ltd. Colborne St. E. (Next Post Office) =) Member Canadian Weekly Newspap Association S, Casey Wood, Jr. Vincent H. Barrey Managing Editor Advertising Manager Phone 1208 | Trafalgar Tales By Bessie: Cairns ROAST OFFERING That this should happen to me! Less than a week before Christ- mas and. I have completely lost my voice. No I am not looking for sympathy but if. you wish to BUSY COLUMNIST Although seasonal demands on his time prevented Irven Fell from completing his: Mus- ic Album in time for this issue, The Journal music commenta- tor wishes to extend Yuletide greetings to his readers, and to assure them that his column will be back on this page very 500M. show the true C spirit please don't laugh too loudly. It's galling to grin and bear it when one's friends are bemoaning their last minute head-aches and you can't even tell about the NEED FOR ACTION The Federal Liberal party was recently advised to keep its powder dry until, it was inferred, it would need it to blast its way to another election victory. iderable to be said for this advice. It was practiced hy both parties at the conventions in Ot- tawa last summer, This enabled the P.C.'s to keep up their sleeves any advantages they intend to offer. If included in the convention platform these would have been instituted . . . were they wise . . . by the Liberals prior to the next election. But there is one course of action which the pre- sent governing party should immediately use their powder to blast. Immediate action should be taken to run down all communistic activities now under way, and to make it impossible for any new ones to start. George Drew is taking action against commun- ism . . . not always in a wise manner, as we pointed out last week . and is to be commended for this. The inactive stand of the Liberals should be condem- ned. There is no excuse for a 'laissez-faire" policy toward communistic tendencies in our country. Premier St. Laurent should provide the coun- try with positive leadership along these lines. It is time the Liberal party woke up to its serious respon- sibilities toward such threats to Canadians. There is con BATHING SUITS FOR ALL With the opening of the new sewage disposal plant last Saturday a milestone in: Oakville's future was firmly planted in the structure of the town. This long needed improvement in the municipal services is a triumph to the engineering art . . . and to the im- agination and vision of the town fathers who con- tracted for its erection. We say this because the plant is so constructed that it is capable of handling more than present requirements, and can be added to econ- omically should increased population make it neces- sary. In paying tribute to Oakville, one speaker stated the town had shown leadership to the other towns along the shore of Lake Ontario. He had reference to longer be polluted. It will surprise no one that Oak- the fact that the water outside the harbor will no ville is again showing leadership . . . Oakville leads in many thing When the effluent from the new plant is releas- ed into 16-Mile creek, we are informed that it will be pure eno to drink asa small amount of cholorine will be added to it. A man who deserves much praise for this new plant is deputy-reeve Howard Litchfield who, in his capacity as Chairman of the sewer committee, has had the possibly dubious pleasure of calling the plant. "His baby". When he pushed the switch on Sat- urday he was adding a facility to the tosvn which, at times, he must have felt would never be completed. His tribute to the town employees, and particularily to BEd. Fitzsimmons and Clarence Byers was well merited, for the various delays and additional red tape and work occasioned by the construction of the. plant put an additional strain on these men who, in an expanding eommunity such as ours have enough to keep them otherwise occupied. As the culmination of Mayor Hillmer's service to the community Saturday was also a great day, for now he can sit back to well merited rest knowing the town is equipped in-this department better than any town of its size in the province . and possibly in the province, we are informed. The mayor told us that the sewage plant and the hospital, one a reality in concrete, the other a skeletal plant in process, were two things he was most eager to see the town have. He has worked hard for hoth. We would particularily like to express the appre- ciation that we are sure all citizens feel for his untir- ing assistance to those who conducted the hospital campaign. No matter what he was asked to help them with, Charlie Hillmer was ready to do it, and did not spare himself. It is amusing to realize that one of the most enthusiastic sections of the community about the new sewage plant will be the youth of Oakville and district. They are the group that has most loudly deplored the fact that their swimming suits weren't much good to them during those hot summer days. They can get them out early next year. But we wish they'd figure out someway to make Lake Ontario a little warmer. Personally, "we've alwa ays been secret- ly glad the water was polluted. Our memory of Lake Ontario is really a cold one. cards you've failed to get off and the present you have yet to buy 'for an Aunt who has everything, wants 'nothing and yet will def- initely expect something. The very fact that I can't talk should be celebration enough for my friends and all my enemies with- out dragging Christmas in as an extra excuse. Yat Christmas, even a silent one, evokes happy memories. There was always spice cake and cheese, no * Yorkshire housewife serves one without the other; the pudding with its sprig of holly and of course its ring of burn- ing brandy, and though mother was a strict teetotaler she nev- er failed to make a potent rum sauce to pour over it. Dad could be relied on to call out after the first serving, "I'll have a second helping Amy. More sauce. and not so much pudding." After weld cleared the festive board "Tip-it" was played to be followed by everyone joining in charades and carols. Those were my memories of Christmas until about ten years ago. I still blush to tell it, but in the hurly burly of Christmas morning I cooked a twenty-four pound turkey to a crisp black unidentifiable and definitely inedible carcass. Fhave had that poor bird served up to me every year since. In yain do I prepare the best of dinners with a golden brown bird as the cen- tre attraction. The roast offering is invariably resurrected and fo think this year I shall most like- ly not even be able to put in a word for the defense. Perhaps I shall manage Scrooge's bark of "Christmas, Bah!" On sec- ond thought I shall turn the other cheek and serve a turkey done well but not too well and in the spirit of true charity to my relatives and friends who Te- fuse to permit a poor dead bird a decent burial and to any readers who are still with me I leave Tiny Tim to say, "God Bless Us Everyone. Christmas Traditions By CLARK KINNAIRD The Christmas that is now traditional in most of the lands in which it is observed, is the result of the amalgamation of the customs of many people. No other body of folk customs is so cosmopolitan as those surrounding Christmas. "Santa Claus" and the cus- tom of exchanging gifts comes from Asia Minor and the Neth- erlands, as does the Christmas stocking, but the physical -con- cept of Santa today is of Am- erican origin. The lighted tree we get from Germany; the tinsel and ornaments on the tree from southern Europe; and the Yule log from Scandinavia. and mistletoe we owe to the Druids: of early. England, and carols to Middle Age England and France. The creche is from Italy. The coloured hard cand- ies derive from Italy; nuts, figs and raisins from Spain. Christmas fare also represents a melding of the traditions of various people. Oldest of the us- ual elements of the Christmas dinner is the: mince pie: It goes back to the Middle Ages in Eu- ope, where it was originally baked in an oblong shape to Nativity. One was, supposed to eat 12 of them between Christ- mas Night and Twelfth Night (Jan. 6). The recipe had sym- bolism; it was supposed to re- present the gold, frankincense and myrrh of the Magi. The crust was the gold; the spices the myrrh; the aroma, the] frankincense. The Christmas turkey is an innovation now well A Merry Christmas TO ALL OUR Customers Bud Corbett's Sporting Goods i established in England and oth- er countries. A boar's head was the traditional Christmas course in England until the time [ of James I. That monarch hated pork and ordered fowl served at the royal table instead. This in- troduced a custom of serving; swan, peacock or goose: Dickens' "Christmas. Carol" forgets the description of the Crachits' Christmas dinner: "There was never such & goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by apple-| sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for thef whole family . . . and yet every- one had had enough, and the youngest Crachits in particular were steeped in sage and onion] to the eyebrows! But now, the plates being changed | by "Miss Belinda, Mrs, Crachit left 'the room alone--too nervous to bear 'witness--to take the pudding up, and bring' it in. * "Suppose . it should not be done enough! Suppose it should somebody should have got over the wall of the backyard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose . "Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the cop- per. A smell like washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastry- cook's next door to each -other, with the laundress's next to that! That was the pudding. In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit en- tered, flushed, but smiling proudly; with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing: in half of half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with = Christmas holly stuck into the top." The Crachits could not have been expected to have a Christ- mas tree as it was not popular in England till one was intro- duced in the royal palace in 1841 by the German Prince Albert, after he married the future Queen Victoria. Evergreen twigs were used for decorating at the time of the festival of the Nativity by Chris- tians in northern Europe long before Luther. Holly and ivy also were identified with the holiday at, a very early date. Holly represented the master of the house, whereas ivy repre- sented the mistress. Holly was considered to be sacred and se- date; ivy was assumed to be of a very riotous nature. A Christmas tradition as old as any, the Yule log, is dying out in this age of apartments with apartments with gas logs and houses with oil-heating. In olden times, the Yule log had to be brought home by the menfolk on Christmas Eve and kindled by the women With the remains of the previous year's log, kept specially for the purpose. The girls had to first wash their hands before setting the log ablaze. It was believed that the devil was powerless to do mis- chief to households where the Yule log had been properly Our Greeting : 7 Is An Old One But... Christmas is the time of year for old songs, old wishes, old, friends . . . so again we say, Merry Christmas and Best Wishes For The New Year. DUNN'S DRUG STORE | Colborne and Dunn Sts. -- Phone 650 -- Oakvills burned. Seasons Greetings Friendship and Happiness 20 hand ins hand on thi joyous day. 'Accept our sincerest wishes for a full measure of both for you and yours. . . CLARK'S SERVICE CENTRE The Friendly B-A Service Station Colb6rne and Chisholm Sts. Oakville TRAFFIC DEATH TOLL SERIOUS Special Holiday Caution urged To all MOTORISTS and PEDESTRIANS Thisis anurgent appeal to alt citizens, motorists and pedestrians alike ONTARIO 10- on Ontario streets and highways. 4 Care and caution in driving and walking are necessary at all times-- I larly so inthe holiday in keeping down the death and accident toll Season. December i isa Se month, with more hours of darkness and break in turning out! old, are abroad in great bers. time, people sometimes tend to forget their customary caution. As the end of 1948 approaches, let us all j join together in determining that for the whole Province we will make it a safe aswell as a happy aad New Year: WHETHER WALKING OR DRIVING Be Courteous Be Alert TAKE IT EASY--DON'T TAKE CHANCES DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS FOLLY AND AVoID ACCIDENTS . Preoccupied shoppers, young and In the of Christmas Be Careful GEO: H: DOUCETT | MINISTER furs Ki Ol