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The Canadian Statesman. Bowmanville December 24 1975 EDITORIAL COMMENT Christmas a Challenge and Celebration Christmas, 1975, comes to a world that wants "peace on earth, good will to men." But the desires of much of the world, including our own strife-torn and uncertain Canada, stem more from weariness than from love. This world expects more from the flights of Henry Kissinger and the manoeuvers of Pierre Trudeau than from the flights and singing of angels. What then are we to make of Christmas this year? To many it is but a pleasant legend that takes us for a day or two from the daily drudgery of trying to make ends meet -- a chance to forget how powerless many of us have become. To others, who treasure the celebra- tion of human experience, Christmas is a bonus -- an extra occasion, even an extra reason for celebration. But Christmas, as Christians understand it, is neither an idle legend nor a happy plus. It is a challenge to our hum-an existence. It is an uplifting of our human existence. It calls for celebration, not because we need a party but because Christmas in reality upsets the life we have designed and changes the reason for celebrating. Unlike most of the mystic reli- gions that are flowering today in the midst of our disillusion, Christmas faith proves that God does act in human history in unexpected ways and calls on a community to join his action. As realists we know that the home of a friend or relative is bricks and mortar, wood and nails. It is a functional place, ornamented and often filled with comfort, but still a functional place that has no real feeling. But all that is changed and takes on meaning when we realize that a loved one or an old friend lives there. The silent walls speak a language of love. Something like that happens to human history when we remember that Jesus Christ lived here. The cosmos consists of matter and energy, as always. People and communities continue to act with mixed motives. Possibly peace among nations is a little more likely because of Christ, but we cannot be certain of that. Yet when we remember that Christ lived here, the walls and ramparts of the world speak a different language. We can say and believe then that we are about to enter "the year of our Lord 1976." First In A Mighty Column By Rev. G. R. Montgomery Much of the Christmas Story deals with those who came to Bethlehem's manger. The story tells of wise men travelling from afar following a shining star. Were they kings, or three unique people who sensed the approaching birth of the saviour of the world? They were certainly men of substance, because they came bearing costly gifts and they were riding lordly camels whereas others travelled by foot. They there were the shepherds who watched their flocks and who for some reason were chosen to be the first privileged few to greet the Prince of Peace. To me, this is only right, for the Saviour's birth has always enthralled the common everyday people. Little did these shepherds know, but they would be the representatives of the common folk who in later years would be the ones to follow Christ gladly. Christmas carols, they say, orig- nated in the middle ages. They came from the hearts and lips of common people. Church services had their fornal pattern. Their Canticles .chanteci by thôse skilled to do so, with the common people in the role of listeners. But Christmas was different. 'The common people, wanted to take part, to sing, though not necessarily in the church. The urge to express their joy gave birth to home-spun songs,1 some quite unlike hymns. It was their special way of expressing the joy of Christmas. And that, it is said, is the origin of Christmas Carols. The songs of the common people sung outside an-d wti the church as a gesture of homage to the Christ Child. Let us now turn to our 20th Century. Old Bethlehem's shepherd strain is still strongly in evidence. For years now, I have held Christmas Eve Services, and they are not like any other service I conduct over the rest of the year. I have seen people fill the church with little room to spare, for the church was always crowded for that special occasion, our regular members were only a part of the gathering. People who are never at other times in church throughQut the year are there. Even the younger generation who are supposed to have deserted the church are there in abundant numbers. They say that only guitars and religious pop tunes will hure youth within the church. But on Christmas Eve we sing nothing but the old familiar carols cherished now for centuries. People of all ages sing with a desperate hunger to sing in a way that is not the same as any other service. The uncanny effect ofta multitude of voices singing the exultant chorus of "O Come All Ye Faithful" and at the close of the service in a darkened church lit only by candle, singing "Silent Night, Holy Night" is an unforgetable scene. Bethlehem is in their hearts; the joy must come to the surface. At Christmas Eve, young and old together, lift up their voices in jubilation of "Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men." Now I realize that the shepherds of Bethlehem are but the first in a mighty column of the common people, endless across the plains of time, to greet the Saviour's birth. They sav the modern outlook is dissolving Christianity, that it is losing its grip on people which it will never regain. But I am convinced that modernity will never steal from the hearts of the common people, affection of Bethlehem's ageless story. In fact, it is true to say that, not Christ, but the Christ Child maintains most grip on the hearts of people. What the Prophet Isaiah once said is stilldso undeniablyttrue, "And a little child shall.lead them.",For all the varied effortsaof the church to brinà people back to God, its the little Christ Child, more than anything else, who leads a person home to God. Therefore,nothing is more fitting than that shepherds should be amongst the infant's first worshippers. They symbolize what time continues to verify. That the coming of Christ, in the sweet humanity of infancy, maintains an uncanny hold on the hearts of people everywhere. Perhaps nothing else brings a person nearer to God as when that person approaches by way of the manger of Bethlehem. A Corner, for Poets LOOK AT MY STOCKING I woke up in the morning, And said, "What do I see?" An4 there I saw a big fat stocking Waiting there for me. I could not quite believe it, I was in a state of shock, Because the year before that,! I used my tiny sock. My dad is six foot four And has gigantic feet. To use one of his stockings Was absolutely neat. There were toy cars and candies And lots more things to eat, But most of all I appreciate ,_My daddy's great big feet. Terri Brown Maple Grove East School Grade 6 (11 years old) Durham County's Great Family Journal Establisted 121 yearsagoin 1854 Also lncorporafing The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mail registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62 66 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario LiC 3K9 JOHN M. JAME Editor-Publishei S GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. "Copyright and or property rights subsist in he image appearing on this proof. Permission t reproduce in whole or in part and in any form whatsoever, particularly by phofographic or offset process in a publication, must be obtained from the publisher and the printer. Any unauthorized reproduction will be subject to recourse in law."1 $8.00 a year --6 months $4.50 strictly in'advance Foreign-$10.00a year Although every precaution wIll be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising in ifs columns on the understandlng that if wiIê flot be jiable for any error in the advertisement published fereunder unless a proof f such advertisement s requestedr nwriting by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted in writing thereon, and n that case if pny error c noted s eot corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability sha not exceed such a portion of'the enfire cosf of such advertisement as the space occupied by fhe nofed error bears f0 the whole space occupied by such advertisement. I'A,wAûvï,' &IVH1AUT.4~ I Leti Dear Editor: The Bowmanville1 Alliance For LifE wishes to make avz interested citizens of some information (v ments) concerning month-old Abortion1 Finding Committee. l 2 * M y N M M g ýers to the EditorI 1. The three-Derson con- clared their stands. Neither branch of mittee contains Dr. Marion has come out as strongly e herein Powell, well known pro-abor- anti abortion. Questions - who atable to tionist and member ofDoctors balances Dr. Powell? Can ,the area for the Repent of the Abortion such a committee, be un- with com- Law - a small group lobbying biased? the four- for removal of abortion from 2. The language clothing the Law Fact the criminal code. The other terms of reference for the two members have not de- work of the committee is ~mmummaamaumuxmmmm m g N By Bill SmiieyadSpc Things Are By BILL SMILEY There is something terribly wrong around our house this year, as Christmas looms. I have a disturb- ing feeling that a catastrophy is in the offing. What bothers me is that every- thing is going too well. Two weeks in advance, the turkey was ordered, special, fresh-killed, not one of those frozen, eviscerated, straw-tasting, morgue-like, pallid blobs we usually pick up at the last minute. Christmas cards were dispatched on time (after those rotten posties ended their strike just a little too soon). Christmas gifts were actually bought and wrapped almosta week in advance, instead of that mad lurch through the stores on Christ- mas Eve, snatching up broken toys, soiled sweaters and other junk a drunken lumberjack woudn't buy, and bundling it into last second wrappings that were too skimpy. We even knew two weeks in advance who was going to be here for Christmas. Many a time and oft, our kids have come popping in from hundreds of miles away as late as Christmas morning, without warn- ing. This year, it's just Pokey and his mom and dad, the old Battle Axe, and yours truly. Grandad is going to -sit this one out at home, alone. Son Hugh won't be here. He'll be dining on roast Ilama in the highlands of Paraguay, if he's not in jail. We even have a plum pudding all ready. You see what I mean? It is not only all wrong for the Smileys. It is virtually frightening. It has never, happened before. It's got toobe the caim before the storm. Something eerie is going to happen. Even my wife is becoming convinced we're going to get it in the groin, or some other vulnerable spot. What has convinced me that the roof is going to fall in, the final piece of evidence, is the Christmas tree. Not only was it purchased two weeks in advance, but it"s a beauty, a blue Spruce about 10 feet high, that even looks like a Christmas tree. You know, it has branches all around, instead of just one side. This is ridiculous on all counts. My usual tree is bought the day before Christmas. It is one of the last four trees on the lot that held 300. It is covered with snow and ice. It is either eight feet tall and one foot wide, or it is hump-backed, or it is one half of a pair of Christmas tree Siamese twins, totally devoid of anything on the side you're not looking at. I have had trees as bandy-legged as a cowboy. I have had huge White Pines, so vast I had to cut a couple of saw-logs off the bottom to get them into the house. One year I had a tree with so few branches on it that I had to drill holes in the trunk, and insert branches from another tree to make Too Golden it look less skeletal. I have had trees so crooked that when they were finally raised after much sweat and many maledictions, it was like standing in the presence of a man with two wa1l eyes, one pointing west, the other east. My wife used to leave the house when I was putting up the tree. It was better that way. This time, she came home after two hours ready to help me decorate our handsome Spruce. She gave a shriek the moment she entered the house. She thought it was on fire. Clouds of blue smoke were pouring out of the living room. She heard the sound of weeping. Her heart almost stopped. She rushed in, fighting her way through the blue air. In the corner, the fine, bushy Spruce was lying on its side. There was no sign of me. She started to get sore. "Has he actually had the gall to get into the Christmas spirits already?" Then she heard the choked sobs, mingled with moans of pain and rage. She looked at the tree at the one end. And there I was. Under it. Face scratched and bleeding. One thumb mashed flat by the hammer. A chunk torn off the knuckles when the screwdriver slipped. An expression of utter despair on the tattered countenance That was the year nobody was coming for the holidays until after Christmas. I finally got off the floor, stood the beast up in the corner, and took a hockey stick to it. That was the year the tree never was "put up". Never decorated. When my daughter and family arrived a couple ofý days after Christmas, it was still leaning there in the corner. "What happened to the tree, Dad?" she queried in horrified disbelief. "Ah . . ., it was too dry; needles were falling off. Decided to take it down, throw it out." Brusquely. "Needles? It hasn't even any branches lef t!" Oh well, this year it's going to be different. Usually we have two trees, one small and one big. This year, just one, because of Pokey. I figure that if we mount a 24-hour guard, in shifts, we just might be able to prevent him from trying to climb it. And my son-in-law claims to be an artist. So the tree is ready, and your faithful correspondent is going to sit in a big chair, reading the Lives of the Saints, while the artist not only erects the tree, but decorates it. All is golden, for once. And yet . .and yet, I have this sence of unease. Things are too golden. A lump of lead is going to come out of somewhere and get me right between the eyes. And may you, too, all of you, have a Merry, rather than a hairy, Christmas. strongly pro abortion. To give only one example - The "successful" patient is the one who has procured the abor- tion. 3. The task of the committee is to study the availability of abortion services. There is no mention of any investigation of the morality of abortion. That they are good is taken for granted. 4. Nowhere in the guidelines is mentioned investigation into the abuses of the present abortion law - abortion on demand, abortions in hospi- tals which do not have therapeutic abortion commit- tees or which have commit- tees in name only. 5. The committee is publish- ing nothing of its source of data or the statistical and analytical methods of using the collected data. It is difficult to believe that such a committee will produce an unbiased report. Of course, all pro-life groups are greatly concerned and are making their opinions known to officials at all levels of government. The Bowmanville branch of Alliance For Life meets the second Wednesday of every month at the Bowmanville Public Library from 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. People who have not time for meetings can become associate members. There is no fee. Remember: Silence signi- fies assent. Voices are needed now if we are to prevent wholesale abortion on demand and perhaps worse - legisla- tion which will force hospitals to permit and doctors to perform abortions even against their moral principles. Wilma Brink, Sylvia Jasper-Fayer Margaret Shea, et al. In the Dim and Distant Past 25 YEARS A60 Thursday, December 14, 1950 Chairman Ivan Hobbs re- signed as Community Council Head at a meeting Tuesday evening. Eleven members were present at the meeting. Rev. S. R. Henderson, Ab Darch, Mel. Dale, Bill Oliver, Ivan Hobbs, Fred Cole, Jack Eastaugh, Mrs. J. Ross, Miss Jennie Tabacki, Andrew Thompson and Don Shay. Bob Stevens and Oddy Robson were inducted into Rotary Club on Friday at the regular meeting of the service club. Elgie Harnden has been nominated as has Stan Dunn to run for president of the Royal Canadian Legion. Zion W. A. met at the home of Mrs. W. J. McCullough for the December meeting. Mrs. Robert Morton was elected president and Mrs. Arthur Walker, treasurer. Dr. McArthur, Stanford Van Camp and Dalton Dorrell were re-appointed as Cart- wright's Representatives on the High School Board. Mr. John Mills, formerly of R.R. Enniskillen, has been appointed one of three mem- bers of the Board of Trustees for the Ajax Improvement Area, where he now lives. Judge J. C. Anderson, former Mayor of Oshawa has been appointed Local Master of the Supreme Court of Hast- ings County. Judge Anderson is a former law partner of th late W.E.N. Sinclair, K.C., and a son of Rev. Anderson of the Hampton circuit. Newcas Newcastle Detachment The Newcastle Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police investigated several Motor Vehicle Collisions and attended a wide variety of general occurrences during the period December 8, 1975 to December 14, 1975. Thirty-eight Motor Vehicle Collisions were investigated which 12 persons were in- To the Editor and Advertising Staff: Please accept our thanks for the excellent assistance you have given this year to the B.H.S. Band and its many projects. We especialy wish to thank you for the very fine adver- tisements which your staff designed for the Christmas Shopping Flier as well as the up-coming Concert Series. We wish all of you at the Canadian Statesman a very good Christmas and fine New Year. M. Killeen, B.H.S. Band Assoc. Dear Friends: In behalf of the U.C.W. we would like to thank-you so much for your coverage in your paper. You are really specially kind to us, and we do appreciate it so much. Merry Christmas to you all. Sincerely The Trinity U.C.W. 49 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 30, 1926. The figures of the cost of the addition to Central School have been released by the Public School Board: Contrac- tor's tender $17,272.00, porch over rear entrance, $2 ' chanees in other rooms. $S2 cupboard in one room, $, extra 2" x 4" basement loo$50, inspector's fees, $234, sewer connection $45, drain- age, $220, workmen's permits on insurance of old school, $181.10, furniture, desks, etc., $875, window guards, $45, basement equipment, $300, electric fixtures, $198, mise. $115, extra varnishing of floors, $15, extra sidew&k on girls' side, $50, extra labor putting down seats, etc., total $21,641.60. Sid Chartran advises there are specials this week. Men's overcoats were $25, now $14.95, white heavy knit swea- ters were $6.50, now $4.50. Those were the davs. MWiss Ada Wight, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alex Wight, Providence, left on Tuesday for Edmonton, Alberta where she is on the teaching staff of the public school. The two grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Hardy were instantly killed and their mother, Mrs. Everett Hardy, seriously injured in a car train accident in Georgia. They were travelling from Florida to Toronto to spend Christ- mas. Mrs. Hardy is the former Georgina Millson of Darling- ton, and she also resided in Bowmanville with her uncle Reverend E. A. Tonkin. fle OPP jured. As a result of these collisions 8 persons have been charged with offences under the Highway Traffic Act, Two of these charges were "Care- less Driving charges." The general occurences in- vestigated included offences such as Theft, Wilful Damage, Break and Enter and Fraud. Five persons have been charged with offences unçer the Criminal Code, two per- sons have been charged with offences under the Liquor Control Act and one person has been charged with impair- ed driving. Safe Holiday Driving DRIVING TIP: Motorists! During the Holiday Season, you need extra care when driving. Pre-occupied .Christ- mas Shoppers and dazzling Christmas lights will be test- ing your safe driving tactics Always keep a special lookout for those last-minute shop- pers...expect the unexpet- ed...andbe preparedtosto in a hurry if youihave 9 . While skating, if you should fall through the ice, don't panic. The Canadian Red Cross Water Safety Service offers these rescue tips: Extend your hands and arms onto the ice surface before you. Gently kick your legs out ehind you to a level position and slide or squirm forward to safety. DO NOT STAND! Your concentrated weight can cause the ice to break.