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

This is sometimes referred to as the "staff of life", in reality it is our everyday fare of bread. 1 wonder how many ceuturies bread lias been used as a staple. The native people called it banuock and cooked it around a stick on the open fire. Bannock is unleaveried; but then unleavencd brcad was oftcn used by thc Israelites in early Bible times. Across thic road, from wliere 1 live, there was originally a four hundred acre block of land owned by one of our carliest pioncers, Thomas Pride. This later was dividcd and was known as the Bigelow farni. Today it is the liorse farm of John Hooey. The old house lias stood there since t he days of the Prides. Across the lane froni the main house was a small brick building which was the bake bouse. 1 neyer remember bread being baked there but 1 ami sure it produced many toasty, flot brown boaves of brcad in earlier times. It was flot unusual to have the bake house set apart froni the other buildings to avoid the danger of fire. The interior of the bake house had a pit for the hot, hardwood coals and the racks above for the brcad. This was always leavcned brcad, and as such rcquired a lcavening agent. Almost every home had its vines of hops. The hop plants twined their way around the pole. Hops were picked, flot only as a leavening agent but also to add in the fermentation of malt liquors. Hops grcw on a pole beside our house but 1 neyer remember them beig used for fermentation. By now, to leaven tlie bread, you kept a small picce of fresh dougli from flic previous batch of dougli. This fresh "starter" was kept ina warm jar of potato water. The water from thc boiled potatos fed tic starter in the dough until the next batch of bread was to, be used. The starter water was kept bchind thc stove and must neyer get cold or thc natural yeast celîs in flic "starer" would die and you would ne longer have the unleavened bread. If such a calamity occurred it was necessary to dispatch Uic fastest child in thc family to thc nearest neighbour; borrow a small jar of "starter" in a jar, kccp wrappcd warmly in a blanket and run home post haste before the "starter" in the jar became cooled. Wlicn the flour and its ingredients were thoroughly mixcd, thc dough was placcdi the dougli box to risc. It rcquircd several punchings to get a liglit, well risen, lot of dougli. The dougli box in our kitchen shows numerous scorchings from getting too close to the fire. Today it proudly stands as an antique, a tribute to great grandmothcrs expertise in the niaking of brcad. If only it still had Uic odours of fresh dougli cmanating froni its depUis or bcttcr still, if one could savour Uic odour from Uic baking bread. It seemcd as if every other day Uierc was hot, fresli bread for the table. probably flot too many homes diat bake their own bread. Wlicn people stoppcd baking bread, local bakeries sprang up, and Uic loaves of bread were delivcred to Uic home by Uic "breadman". Thc last of Uic "brcad routes" 1 recall was that opcratcd by the late Hesper Dean. Hesper was Uic most reliable of men. and no matter how inclement Uic weathcr, year round, Hesper made lis routes. I cannot recaîl the price pcr loaf that Hesper charged but of onc ihing I ami sure, lie didn't overcharge. Well Uiere is a kiud of sequel to Uis little story. Iu Uic 1960's I staycd overniglit in a small inn on the Gaspe'. Thie occan was pounding from a storm asI stunibled along the bçàhr<tn serni-darkness. Then I toulti sinc1 brcad. It led me on, ghld there by the shore was an old-fashioned outdoor bake oven. These are stili fairly common i the remote parts of Quebcc. This was the age of the "hippies." I bouglit my loaf of hot bread and was preparing to eat some of it when à young girl approached. She spoke only Frenchi and asked of me, "du pain?", "du pain?", translated as 1 thought to be "some bread." Always one to help a damsel in distress, I offered lier some of my "du pain." She refused my offer but kept askig for "du pain." It was then I realized what gencration gaps can do. In the language of the "hippies" du pain meant for themn money flot bread. You have probably heard the hippy expression - "I necd bread man, bread." In Quebec the quiet revolution was starting. Almost thirty years have clapsed since then. The quiet revolution is flot so quiet anymore. My only hope is, that as wc solve our cultural and language difference in Canada, we shall neyer forget that if the hungry of the world have bread for their bellies, there will Letter te the Editor Dear Citizens of' Orono & District: Canada is in crisis. but there's 900d nCWS: We - you and I, and others like us - now have a chance to tell govcrnment and all Canadians what we think our future should be. The Citizens' Forum on Canada's Future will be reporting by July 1, 1991 on Canadians' ideas for the future of our country. The Forum lias a double mandate: To collect and focus citizen's views about the future and to improve the climate of dialogue. So it needs to kuow what the people of Canada think is wrong with their country, and how, together we can fix it - and what's riglit, and worth be fewer quiet or not so quiet revolutions globally. To keep "Burns" alive and well here is one of his old songs: "Bannocks o' bear rneal Bannocks o' barley, Here's to the Highlandman's Bannoclcs o' barley. keeping. The Forum wants to heur from ceverybody - espccially. those who arcn't used to spcaking up and speaking out. This is an unprecedented opportunity for us ail to make our views known. Won't you join me in participating in a group discussion about the important issues facing Canada today? This meeting is schedulcd to take place: May 28, 1991, 7:30 p.m., St. John*s Anglican Parish Hall, Temperance Street at Qucen, Bowmanville, Ont. AIl the ideas and opinions we give to the Forum will be fed into their Final Report and if enough of us give our ideas, strongly and clearly, no government will be able to ignore these grassroots citizens' views. Please come out and be a participant in Canada's future! You may neyer get a chance like this again! Connie Nelson, President Bowmanville Toastmasters May 22, 1991