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Easter: As | see it Rev. W. Mark Reeves Recently, as | pondered over the events of the first Easter, | came across this little observation, "The resurrection of Jesus did not reform the world; it raised up a few people who were willirig to: live the Christian life in spite of anything the world might do to them." | thought to myself, "Is there | much evidence of this kind of example today? We read and hear so much of the callousness of people, of the selfishness, the indifference, the immorality rampant in our society. Can we honestly say that the truth of the resurrection is plainly on view?' Indeed it is. There are folk, perhaps not a multitude inany community, but they are there, who willingly stick their necks out, in the Name of the Risen Christ, and boldly take a stand for Him, regardless of fear or favour. The Easter message has got inside of them. They cannot quietly accept what they know to be true. This is a stirring of resurrection life. These people believe fervently that, in the risen Christ, what is good and true and beautiful is alive and they allow that belief to spur them into action, in His Name. They keep alive the high principles, the high standards that so many of us have misplaced and forgotten. As | see it, the real difference that Easter makes in our community depends on the difference that Easter makes in the personal life. Christianity has two causes: the first is to resist and dethrone whatever is wrong and, the second, is to further and enthrone what is right. Those who accept the risen Christ, as Saviour and Lord, make these causes their causes. When they do, the evidence of the resurrection is a joy to behold. it is seen in the attitude which they adopt toward death and bereavement. Dr. Ralph Sockman, the widely- known radio preacher of a few years back gave the following illustration, in one of his Easter sermons: "Three weeks ago, while the bell-ringing choir of our Church school was playing here in the chancel, | observed a man sitting near the front. His eyes were sparkling with enjoyment, his face radiant with pleasure at the performance of the youngsters. This week he was stricken with a fatal heart attack. For years he had been facing the possibility of it. Calmly he said to those tending him, /I think this is it. "Those who knew him best said that he had absolutely no fear of death." Jesus said, "He that believeth in Me, tho' He were dead, yet shall he live." Truely, this is our Easter faith. We believe it and it shows in the way we live. "The great Easter truth is not that we are to live newly after death-but that we are to be new here and now by the power of the resurrection; not so much that we are to live forever as that we are to, and may, live nobly now because we are to live forever." Phillips Brooks HERE'S TO THE WELFARE STATE This parady comes from a Cambridge University student. "The government is my shepherd, therefore | need not work. It alloweth me to lie down on a good job. It leadeth me beside still factories. It destroyeth my initiative. It leadeth me in the path of a parasite for politic's sake. Yea though | walk through the valley of laziness and deficit spending. | will fear no evil, for the, government is with me. It prepareth an economic Utopia for me by appropriating the earnings of my grandchildren. It filleth my head with false security. My inefficiency-runneth over. Surely the government should care for me all the days of my life. And | will dwell in a fool's paradise forever.' 7 ; w HERE ComEs JoHNNy CAUGHT-ON- JAIL PORT PERRY STAR Company Limited now, Sa, (*cia : (ou): eN Serving Port Perry, Reach, Scugog and Cartwright Townships P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher-Editor WM. T. HARRISON, Plant Manager J. PETER HVIDSTEN, Advertising Manager Member pf the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Member of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Published every Wednesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd., Port Perry, Ontario Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment df postage in cash Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $6.00 per year. Elsewhere $8.50 per year. Single Copy 15¢ Pe NAN RARNRNNNNANRDADS BILL MILEY UGAR AND English is going down the drain, going to the dogs, or going up in smoke these days. Take your pick. Maybe that first sentence is what's wrong with the language. There are so many idioms in it that nobody can speak or write the real thing any more. University professors have expressed their indignation publicly. A couple of them recently announced that students who expect to graduate in one of the professions can't write one sentence without falling all over their syntax. I agree with them. But if they think they have troubles, they should try teaching English in high school. There has been such a marked and rapid decrease in the standards of written and spoken English that teachers of the usbject can be found almost any day in the staff john, weeping into the washbasin. This winter, a teacher in a city school decided to prove something she already knew. She drew up a list of forty words, most of them of one syllable, and tested several classes. Nobody could spell all forty. Many of the kids couldn't spell ten of the words. Her experiment and her subsequent indignation were airily dismissed by a public school principal, who said somethin like, "Oh, we don't worry much about spelling any more. They'll learn to spell when they need to." Hogwash. 'What employer of anything but brute strength wants a semi-literate lout fouling up his invoices, order forms and everything he can get his hands on? What printer, for example, will hire a kid who can't even spell '"etaoin shrdlu" and doesn't even know what it means? I do a fair bit of gnashing and wailing myself when I'm marking upper school papers and have to sort out something like, "The women nu were she was going, as she when they're everyday." The thought is there, but there is something lacking when it comes to felicity of spelling. Everybody blames everybody else for the sad state of English, but, as usual, you have to read it in this column to get at the truth. Let us establish the a priori fact that the high school English teacher is faultless. And, some would add, that a fortiori, the high school English teacher is useless. So be it. Now for the real cupprits. They are not the elementary school teachers, much as we would love to blame them. They are victims, too. First, English had been derogated and eroded for the past couple of decades until it Srice Remember, you older and who went to school longer ago than you care to proclaim? You had spelling and grammar and composition and reading and writing and orals. This was English. Maybe you didn't learn much about sex or conversational French or how to copy a "project" out of the encyclopedia, but you sure as hell had English belted into you. Maybe you weren't given much.chance to "express yourself", but by the time you were, you had some tools with which to do it. Nowadays English is practically crowded off the curriculum by such esoteric subjects as social behaviour, getting aldng with- the group, finding your place in society, and the ubiquitous and often useless| "project". Kids, one teacher told me, shouldn't have to learn to spell words that are| not in their own vocabulary. Now, I ask you. How else do they acquire a vocabulary? But, I repeat, its not the teachers of our little treasures who are at faplt. It's the tinkerers, the dabblers in education. They rarely found in education. The are rarely found in a classrqom. They are more often haring after some "new approach" in education that has been tried and found wanting by the Americans or the Armenians|or the Aztecs. Thus, out went| grammar apd spelling drill. The kids are supposed to learn these basic skills, not thrjough their eyes and ears, but in some mysterious way: possibly through their skin! 5 Daily drill is deadening to the spirit, so off with its head. Let the kids be creative, write poetry: "I'saw the moon ovary the cloweds. it was sooper."' Doesn't that give you a unique experience? The freedom of spirit, the originality, the creativity? Fortunately, I am able to shake this off, along with war and famine, death and taxes. It has it's moments. The other day, I threw this old chestnut at a class, and, asked them to correct the grammar: "Forty cows were seen, sitting on the verandah." There was total silence. It seemed OK to them. Then a pretty Grade 11 girl flung up her hand and flashed all her teeth. "I got it, Mr. Smiley!" "Yes, Bonny," I winced. Carefully she eminciated: "I seen forty cows sitting on the verandah." 'community hall 50 Years Ago Thursday, April 19, 1923 A large number of people from Raglan visited the Presbyterian church at Col- umbus to see a production of The Outcast Daughter which features young people of the Columbus church. The Salvation Army began holding services 'at the in South Myrtle. At a basket social in the center church, Scugog, Rev. Stainton presented an illu- srated drama Tale of Two Cities and people from the "Head" church presented the play An Economic Boomerang. Mr. and Mrs. Albert Martin of Sonja had a girl, Anna Durell Isabel. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 15, 1948 At a community meeting in the church at Greenbank a 'motion was pased unani- mously to purchase a piece of property beside the church for use as a playground. The piece of land cost $500. Rev. R.A. Seaman was holding special services at the Port Perry Baptist Church. Rev. Seaman was a missionary to China who had spent three years in a Japanese prison camp. Area Liberals nominated Lyman A. Gifford to contest a provincial by-election. Mr. and Mrs. George Nott of Prince Albert had a girl, Susan Gale. Mr. and Mrs. H. Painter of Prospect had a girl. Green Dolphin Street star- ring Lana Truner-Van Heflin and Donna Read was playing in Port Perry. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 17, 1958 Bell Telephone work crews started changing phones in Port Perry to make way for the introduction of dial telephones. Pot Perry council was trying to decide what to do about the old warf house which was sinking into the lake with the break up of ice. Mrs. Florence McLintock, Mrs. V.P. Stouffer and Mrs. J.E. Jackson of Port Perry attended the Ontario Music Teachers Convention at Toronto. Residential taxes in Port Perry were set at 66 mills, down 5 mills from the @g previous year. Greenbank Ramblers downed Sutton Green Shirts 5-3 to win the Ontario Rural Hockey Association championship. 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 18, 1963 Mrs. H. E. Phoenix of Greenbank was elected chairman of the Port Perry hospital board. The Star carried a front page picture showing a very young looking Richard Ste- phens and Anna Forder, stars of the Port Perry figure skating clubs Carnival '63 Harold & Marie Medd had a girl, Deborah Marie. The Walt Disne; jue: tion Nikki, TL pies North starring Jean Couter was playing in the area. Nylons were on sale for 49 cents a pair. Babies training pants were 5 pair for 89 cents, corn brooms were 88 cents