a LE SI PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, Dec. 28, 1977 -- § Reader's Viewpoint Thanks from Mexico Dear Sir: No one could have been more delighted with their Christmas present than we were when we received our first copy of the Star last week, thanks to a thoughtful brother-in-law. Chances are we are the only people in Mexico who . are on your mailing list. Itis our only Canadian paper, so it is read thoroughly. We read with enthusiasm the news of the Port Perry High School, the Council news, the classified and all the sur- rounding district reports. Almost a month has past since arriving in the Yucatan and in that time we've had much heat, blowing sand and some quick fierce tropical storms. . As I write to day, we have experienced one such storm, and have watched the little fishing boats miraculously escape being swamped and their sturdy brave skippers, jump out on shore, soaked right through, still wearing their straw hat, and bring in a day's catch of fish. A Happy New Year fo you, and all the people who contri- bute to make your fine paper. Yours sincerely, Helen C. Lawrence (Mrs.) Progress, Yucatan, Mexico. Jack Wallis shows the general store at Myrtle . Station about 1918. A deed shows that the store was owned by Messers. Moase and Williams and they This old post card brought into the Star by Mr. delt in fresh meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, produce, flour and feed etc. The post card could be sent anywhere in Canada for one cent. The Editor: Sick of waste 59 YEARS AGO Thurs. December 26, 1918 Arrangements have been made to keep our citizens posted: as to the time and arrival of re- turning soldiers so far as possiblé: placed in the windows of the Post Office and the Star Office, bearing these - words - "Returning Sol- diers Expected on Morn- ing (or evening train, as may be). Citizens are requested to meet the train and welcome the soldiers home." Persons knowing definitely of the time of arrival of return- ing soldiers, will please leave word at the Star Office. J.D. McMaster, V.S. is Bill - will be ~~ opening up an office in' seven years successful practice at Cornwall. 34 YEARS AGO - - Thurs. December 30, 1943 Port Perry 1944 Coun- cil: - Reeve, W.M. Letcher; Councillors, G. "A. McMillan, -G:M. Gerrow, Herb Brooks, Gordon Reesor. Board of Education, Mansell Gerrow, Ronald Peel, Howard Durkin. Ft. Lt. Joel Aldred and Mrs. Aldred spent Christ- mas with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Norman Aldred. Port Perry High School lower school results - Fall term: Grade 9, Florence Nasmith (84.7), William Bell, Claudia Coulter. Grade 10, Bert Corner (72.0) William Williams, 24 YEARS AGO Thurs. December 31, 1953 Mr. Sam Cawker of the Port Perry Public School attended the annual meet- ing of the Ontario Public -School Men Teachers' Federation. Approxi- mately 150 delegates attended. } The Council for the - Twp. of Scugog for the year 1954 will be as fol- lows: George Smith, Anson Gerrow, Cecil Fra- lick, Alvin Heayn with John L. Sweetman serv- ing his fourth term as Reeve. 19 YEARS AGO Thurs. December 25, 1958 Toronto-Premier Frost on Monday brought 4 new cial Secretary Dunbar. The Provincial Secre- tary's post was taken by MacKinnon Phillips, whose health portfolio went to Dr. Matthew B. Dymond, former trans- port minister. 9 YEARS AGO Tues. December 31, 1968 The public is getting sick and tired of governments and their continuing waste- ful Royal Commissions. They are getting to a point of hilarity. The Trudeau government has worked them to death covering up waste and scan- dal to the tune of hundreds of millions of the taxpayers money. Now they mostly gather dust. The Davis government of Ontario has no less than seven royal commissions in existence at (continued on page 6) PORT PERRY STAR Cawker's Livery until further notice. Mr. Mec- Master came here highly recommended after Louise Howsam. men into the Ontario Cabinet and announced the resignation of Provin- Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. James Owen on the occasion of their 65th wedding anniversary Dec. 21. Santa was generous to John Doupe of Seagrave this year. He was the lucky winner of $9,401. from the 50-50 draw spon- sored by the Oshawa Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. Company Limited av vy, s, a Phone 985 7383 Sa' (Qa) A : (00a) : -- » tI Serving Port Perry, Reach, Scugog and Cartwrighl Townships J. PETER HVIDSTEN, Publisher Advertising Manager JOHN B. McCLELLAND EDITOR Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc :. and Onlario Weekly Newspaper Associaton Published every Wednesday by the Porl Per: y Slar Co. Lid, Por) Perry, Ontario Authorized as second class mail by the Pos! Office Deparimen?, Ottawa, and lor payment of poslage in cash Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $8.00 per year Elsewhere $10.00 per year. Single copy 0c Bill Smiley Christmas Christmas ° Do you find it harder and harder each year to get revved up for Christmas? You have company. When the advertising begins right after Thanksgiving, and the Santa Clauses be- come ubiquitous by mid-November, and the carols are mere cliches by mid-December, it's hard to reach that peak of emotion that combines Christian joy for the birth of Christ and pagan revelry to celebrate the equinox, by the time Christmas itself rolls around. : One of the trite remarks of modern life is that Christmas has become commercial- ized. But don't blame the merchants. Blame-ourselves. We can call this a plastic age. but itis we who use the plastic, whether it be in the form of goods. ideas or entertajn- "ment." 7 It is we who scurry madly through those overheated stores, going slightly paranoid over the business of buying gifts for people who don't need them. It is we who eat and drink too much at Christmas, which, if the truth were told, should be a time of fasting and purification, until our heads were as light as our hearts. Wouldn't it be much more appropriate if, on Christmas Eve, instead of having peope in for eggnog and goodies, we threw out that pagan image, the Christmas tree, turned off the lights, except for a candle or two, turned 'the furnace right off, and sat around in the cold and dark, transferring ourselves to a stable in Bethlehem -on a winter night? No? You don't think much of the idea? Neither do I. It's like saying that in the face of the coming energy shortage we should all blow up our cars, stop using hot water and deodorants, grow our own food in the back vard, and chop down all the trees in the park for firewood. Whether we like it or not, we are caught up in the headlong race of the human species toward its goal, whether it be suicide or glory, and there's no turning back. So get that tree up, buy a fat turkey, spoil your children rotten with an over-whelm of gifts, and stuff yourself silly as a Roman senator af an argy. This year it's the Mounties. Next year the government may do away with Christmas altogether because it cuts too deeply into increasing our Gross National Product. My old lady and IT almost gave up on Christmas this year. We thought of all the work to get ready and flinched. TI suggested going south for a week to play some golf, letting our daughter and her brood take over our house and have their Christmas here. She was all for it. Then we had The Boys for a week, and hastily revised our plans. We realized that if those two were allowed to run unchecked for a week, we might as well put the house up for sale when we got home, or set fire to it, if there was enough left standing to make a blaze. If it weren't for that mob, going away would have been easy, both physically and emotionally. I could enjoy Christmas dinner in a hotel in Texas just as much as I do at home, where I have to stuff the bird, mash the turnips and wash 8,000 dishes far into the night. . I think IT might just possibly be able to forego having to find a Christmas tree, dragging it in covered in snow, and spending four hours trying to get the dam' thing to stand upright. It would be a wrench, but I might even be able tostand not watching my grandboys rip the paper off 48 gifts and go right back to beating each other on the head with a couple of drumsticks. Real ones, not the turkey kind. It's one of their favorite games. However, as the hired man said in Robert Frost's poem of that name, *'Home is where, when you go there, they have to let you stay." And it looks as though that's the way my daughter feels. We tried to fill up the house with other people. But my son is.in Paraguay, one brother and his wife in Costa Rica, the other brother way up at James Bay. So we're stuck with the kids, and I'll be happy if I see the New Year without being on my hands and knees. With that wrapped up, there's nothing left to do but send my best wishes for the holiday season to all sorts of people, through this column. To my old friends in the newspaper business: hope you all got that big Christmas issue out without being hospitali- zed with total exhaustion. To my teaching colleagues everywhere: hang in there; it's only six months until June. To the prime minister: dear Pierre, hope that other turkey doesn't turn up and spoil your Christmas. To all the people to whom we used to send. Christmas cards: it's the thought that counts, and we think of you every six or eight months. To all those people who want a baby so badly: hope you get twins twice in the next lwo years. To all those people who don't want a baby at all: hope you don't get pregnant, not even a little bit. And to all the people who bother to read this column at all, whether you agree or not, a merry, merry Christmas, with a special thanks to those who write. God bless us, one and all. The Argyle Syndicate Ltd.