The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Oft Suggestions No North Pole Reindeer PAGE 15 - PLAINDEALER-WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 22, 1976 AN 8 DIGIT CALCULATOR By National Semiconductor with these features: THE 832 • Albegraic logic • Floating Decimal Point • 8-digit LED Display • Automatic Constants x2, and Square Root • "Live" Percent Key with Automatic Add-on or Discount and Net. • Chaining • Low Battery and Overflow Indicators f Includes 9 volt Battery Suggested retail price 51495 HURRY - LIMITED QUANTITY You can get this great Calculator with every 2 yr. Subscription w 2-1 yr. Subscriptions to The Plaindealer... Get a subscription for yourself and give another as a gift! SPECIAL OFFER Good During the Month of December... TO NEW SUBSCRIBERS in Lake & McHenry Co. 2 yr. subscription *21.00 Must Be Prepaid in our office - No Phone Orders McHENRY PLAINDEALER 3812 W. ELM STREET McHENRY, ILL. 385-0170 Wildlife Book Presents Problem How did St. Nicholas first arrive in America? • In that song about "The Twelve Days of Christmas" -- with the partridge in a pear tree-what on earth is a "colly bird"? Are there any reindeer at the North Pole, where Santa Claus begins his annual gift- dispensing journey9 For those who have been seeking the answers to these and other questions about America's Christmas customs and traditions, the National Wildlife Federation has some answers. The aid*is in the form of a big, nostalgic picture book. Wildlife's Christmas Treasury, which tells the story of "Christmas across the land" from Colonial days down to the present, with color photographs. paintings, drawings and maps illustrating the works of such diverse authors as Henry David Thoreau. Hans Christian An­ dersen, WiiJLa Cather, and Rachel Carson. It tells, for instance, how to pick a Christmas tree from eight varieties of evergreens grown in this country. (Pines and firs hold their needles best.) It tells how the song "Jingle Bells" was originally written by an Unitarian minister, James Pierpont, for Sunday school entertainment And it tells how the employees of Nathaniel Currier presented him with a lithograph that has become a Christmas card classic-that picture of Currier and his wife "dashing through the snow" in an open sleigh with bells a-jingling. The Rev. Mr. Pierpont wrote his catchy tune in 1857~the same year that the firm of Currier & Ives began its production of 7.000 lithographs depicting life in the U.S. over a 70-year period. The new book reproduces a copy of "The Night Before Christmas" written in 1862 in the hand of Clement C. Moore. who originally composed that poem for the amusement of his own children. Surprisingly, when first published, Moore's poem was illustrated by Thomas Nast, one of the sharpest political cartoonists in U.S. history. t With drawings and photographs the book shows how best to provide food for birds in winter and how to identify the footprints of seven animals in the snow It also tells how to make Christmas tree cookies. But getting back to those opening questions on St. Nicholas, reindeer at the North Pole, and those strange birds in "The Twelve Days of Christ- mas"-- St. Nicholas first arrived in America, according to this book, on the prow of the Dutch ship Goede Vrouw, which landed on the island of Manna- Hatta (now Manhattan) in the 1620's If you don't believe that, check it out with that old legend-maker. Washington Irving. # th Pole0 J i map in \ ">w/ how » What about those unheard-of * "colly birds" in "The Twelve» Days of ^Christmas"? In» England, where this crazy* carol was written, "colly" was* a term for soot or coal dust * from a mine (or colliery) and * "colly bir(^' was simply * another way of saying "black-? bird " « Reindeer at the North No way. according to a this book The map shov wild reindeer herds crossed the# Bering Sea land bridge from J Siberia to Alaska m the Ice Age. ̂ The book also tells how a few of J the sturdy beasts have been* introduced to such states as2 Maine and Minnesota But thej polar ice cap doesn 't provide * the lichens, mosses, trees and* berrv bushes on which thev. * • a I •» • For any other questions £ about Christmas and wildlife in \ the book contact the National * Wildlife Federation. 1412 16th Street. NW, Washington. D C. » 20036 CROSSWORD PLOTTER...R.R. Mullen, Research Specialist at U.S. Geological Survey's Topographic Mapping Research Cen­ ter, McLean, Va. may look like an aerial bombardier; ac­ tually he is operating a Wild B-8 autograph stereoplot- ter -- a device for preparing contour maps from aerial photos. $ & *4$ 4* It's YOUR Money BY DONALD DALEY PRESIDENT FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF McHENRY THE SOCIAL SECURITY RETIREMENT TEST Because Social Security is designed as a retirement ben­ efit, to replace partially the income lost to a worker when he retires, the system does have a Retirement Test. This serves to determine if a work­ er actually HAS retired and is entitled to benefits. Back in 1940, a senior citizen would lose his monthly benefit if he earned as much as $15 in that month! Times have changed, and so have the limits. You may earn as miich as $2,760 in a year ($3,000 start­ ing next year) without affect­ ing your benefits. If you earn more than that, you lose $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn. There's a loophole, though. You are entitledtofull benefits in any month you don't earn $230 ($250 next year) or perform substantial services in self-employment. This means that even if you earned $25,000 for the first six months of the year, and then retired, vou would get regular benefits. An older person can also work seas­ onally, getting full pay (and perhaps no benefits) when he works, and receiving full ben­ efits when he does not. The Retirement Test does not count non-earned income: dividends, capital gains, in­ heritances. "Changing the Re­ tirement Test to an income test would tend to discourage individual thrift," according to the Social Security Admin­ istration. Many individuals treat Social Security as a base to which savings, invest­ ments, insurance, and em­ ployer pension payments are added. At one time all retirees were limited in what they could earn. Now, though, once you are 72, there is no limit to what you may earn and still receive full Social Security benefits. Wishing you the merriest Christmas ever -- The FIRST NATIONAL BANK Of Mc­ HENRY, 3811 W. Elm St., telephone 385-5400. Whether you are interested in saving money...or borrow­ ing, you'll find FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF McHENRY most accommodating! You will also receive fast, personal service...with a smile! FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF McHENRY. 3814 W. Elm St. Telephone 385-5400. PUZZLE I ACROSS I Waistband 5 Wrongly 10 Kaffir warrior II Batter's bearing 12 Funny scene 13 Mason's mixture 14 Prefix for cycle 15 Fashion 16 New Havenite 17 Defile 19 Cartoonist, Gardner -- 20 Colleen's land 21 Cleft 22 Shake­ spearean forest 24 Type of match 25 Fat 26 Hold out 27 Timorese coin 28 Word for word 31 Slower (mus.) 32 She raised Cain 33 Arab garment 34 Incentive 36 Hind's mate 37 XV news hour . IZ-/U 38 Bacteriolo­ gist's wire 39 Iranian monetary unit 40 Belgian river DOWN 1 Pancake topping (var.) 2 Kind of acid 3 Terribly pampered (2 wds.) 4 Success 5 Expiate 6 Disfeature 7 Banking concerns (2 wds.) T O D A Y ' S A N S W E R seec aacoos BBES gseebbb 3QQE EEDHKE •aa BEa ous HQSeiinH SEE HSBB BSflH eesME aeaaa BG3SE BSDS ass anaHHSE OHIEi ESQ DfflSJ EEQSKE DSDE SKEQQe DSHD EEDEB fflEQH 8 Said of a triangle 9 Arranged in order 11 Whacked 15 Gyrate 18 German ballad 21 Amalga­ mate 22 Terrified 23 Trattoria's menu item 24 Destiny 26 Perk up 28 Crowbar, for one 29 Demean 30 Beer 35 Yellow bugle 36 Kind of sauce Calling Colleen: Don't MaKe Waves Unless Problem Makes Scene BY COLLEEN DUDGEON A couple of years ago I dated this really super guy. We went out for almost six months and then he was transferred to another area. We wrote each oth­ er letters but that didn't last very long. I soon started £oing out with this other guy who I've been dating for the past year or so. We don't have a serious relationship like the one with the guy who moved It is very casual and there are no strings attached Last week I got a note from my old boyfriend saying he was being transferred back here and he was anxious to pick up where we left off I couldn't believe it 1 am ex­ cited to see him and catch up with his news. I am certain things could go very well between us But 1 don't want to completely break off with the guy I'm dating now He. too is very good to me and it would break his heart if we didn't see each other How can I go out with two men and manage to keep all three of us happy? TOUCHY TRIANGLE Dear Touchy: Don't be too sure that things will just pick up where they left off when the man who's been gone pops back in town. It's very difficult to act like the past two years never happened There are a lot of unanswered questions here Why did you stop com­ municating with him9 If your relationship was that strong, a switch in jobs shouldn't have completely ruined it Aren't you beinc a hit presumptuous in assuming that the guy you've been going out with now : will just sit back and allow you to carry on with the old love without ques­ tioning your relationship with, him. You say there are no strings involved, but then you worry how^ things will be when you're dating* the other Take it one step at»jH time. Don't anticipate what will* happen with who or why Also,^ it's only fair to tell the map* you're seeing now that there will5 be another man in vour life « J . . . 4 What do you do when your* boyfriend starts to be inatten-, tive"' I'm deeply in love with* Roger, and we have plans to get4 married He's just the best' But' it seems like every time things are wonderful between us. he'll - get an urge to stop calling me or* stop coming over to see me In doesn't usually last more than' three or four days but I sure go, through a lot of tears when it hap­ pens I'm afraid to bring it up" when we're together because like- I said he is as gentle and under­ standing as possible What do you think is making him do this to me° For an example we went out for dinner one evening last week and it was great It's been almost a week since I've heard from him I know he doesn't do these things to hurt me but I just can't see his reasoning HOT ASD COLD Dear Hot And Cold: J Better get your temperatures, regulated Seems like Roger is1 playing the old fishing game - Reel them in real tight and th»m let em fly loose for awhile Make; sure you're not a temporary* catch Ask him why he insists on« playing this game It's no' in-. itivt 1 waiting 'be married (If you would I'Ke CoJiaen s com-nen's oo • your particular situation or pfoDiem COLLEEN Box 639 Franco* Kv *->601 > •!