BENSON JOHNSTON, Publisher HE STRATFORD MIRROR Published Weekly by the Stratford Mirror Press, 123 Ontario St. DAVID RAE, Manager -- Vol. 24 Circulation 4,200 STRATFORD, SEPT. 6, 1946 No. 36 = ea Kinsmen To Stage Peanut Day Drive "Nuts to you'" will be the slogan of the Kinsmen club tomorrow when they launch their Peanut Day drive to raise funds for local service work. Peanuts, which have been a scarce commodity locally for some time, will return in abundance tomorrow, and every citizen will have ample opportunity to have his fill of them and aid the work of the Kinsmen club at the same time. The services of a large group of boys and girls have been secured to sell peanuts on the downtown streets. They will be aided by the members of the Kinsmen club and by a sound truck, a large, 16-foot float and sev- eral "Peanut Men', who will be in town through the co-operation. of the Planters Peanut Company. All proceeds of the drive will be] used locally in aid of one or another of the Kinsmen projects. These in- clude sponsorship of a Boy Scout Pipe band, recreational work for teen-age youngsters, and procur- ing of equipment for Stratford play- grounds. Citizens are urged to get behind the Kinsmen club tomorrow and give generously when purchasing their peanuts. -New Ration Book Out Next Week The distribution of ration book No. 6 will take place next week all over Canada. All the ration boards in every town and hamlet across the country have been busy with prep- arations, and last minute check-ups reveal everything in readiness. Most people will find a distribution centre near their own homes. Locally, the books may be obtain- ed at the City Hall, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday, September 12, 13 and 14, being the days designated for the distribution. A ration book distributing centre there will be open from 10 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock at night on each of the three days, to allow every citi- zen an opportunity to obtain his new book. An adult member of any family may collect the books of all mem- bers of the household, provided the _ application card in the back of the present book has been properly fill- ed out. However, citizens are urged to make. sure this application card is complete before presenting the book for renewal. SPECIAL CACHET FOR FORT WILLIAM-DULUTH FLIGHT A special cachet has been author- ized by the Postmaster General for Air Mail covers carried on the first flight of the Fort William-Duluth Air Mail service, September 15. Any local philatelist desiring to procure this cachet should address a cover correctly and in full, exactly as are ordinary letters, and endorsed "First Flight" in the upper left-hand corner. A space not less than 2"x3" should be left in the lower left-hand corner 'to receive the cachet. Covers must be sent in an outer - wrapper marked "First Flight Cov- District | ers", and addressed to Director of Postal Services, Win- AO te ee ae ome LO a ASI SEE IT - BY ELMORE PHILPOTT IF IT IS TRUE THAT THE NOVELISTS, POETS, DRAMA- tists and painters depict the true state of any civilization at any given time, then this western world of 1946 is on the skids. There is not a single best-selling novel produced lately in the English-speaking world that does not smell to high heaven of decay and collapse. ' The outstanding recent English book, "Brideshead Revisited", might be explained away as exuding merely the odor of the decay of an effete aristocracy. But no such glib explanation occurs for American literature. I have just finished trying to read "The Hucksters", by Fred- eric Wakeman. No indictment ever penned by any vitriolic Marxist critic of capitalistic ways could be half as convincing as this "inside job" by one who gives the low-down on the advertising agency racket at the dizzy upper levels of Radio City. * * * MAYBE I AM WRONG, BUT I CANNOT REMEMBER A single novel written in our language in recent years which pictured a single decent charactor of any stature. Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was probably the last book written that had any permanent significance, There were real flesh and blood people in that book--and there was one honest-to- God American who lived and died in a way which does not make one ashamed of this continent's offspring. But through the pages of most of the latter "best sellers" have paraded a weird parade of degenerates, nit-wits, nonenities, chisel- lers and cheats. In the outstanding English book of the year, the "hero" comes into the story by literally vomiting through the window of the room of the teller of the story. In the American story (Mucksters would have been a better name than Hucksters), the adultery starts at page one. Up to page 213 there is not one character who is anything but a louse, a liar, a lickspittle "yes-man", or a downright thief. MY COMPLAINT IS THAT LIFE IS NOT LIKE THAT--NOT all like that. The substantial majority of the people are reasonably decent, pretty square-shooting, fairly clean-living. Anyone who is not a plain liar must admit that in our lifetime there has been a great collapse in the behaviour of the people as a whole. The people generally have cast aside all standards--including many good ones. Much of this casting aside process is because many people no longer fear any consequence of what older generations called "sin". But surely the main reason for the moral decline is that the average man or woman unconsciously rebels at the great collective (Continued on page 5) nipeg, Canada. BOYD'S SPECIALIZE IN FITTING Many styles are available in or- thopedic types. These shoes are built to fit weak feet only. Thus "abnormal weak feet and measurements" are not even ex- pected to fit normal feet--but they're g-r-rand if your feet need them. 99 ONTARIO so i GOOD:SHOES PROPERLY FITTED Optimists Merit Civie Thanks ; (By Q. E. D.) Since the inception of this column, we have devoted nearly one hun- dred per cent. of our time and space to grousing, attempting to irritate some of the more lethargic Strat- fordites into some form of commun-= ity activity and pride. Variety, they say, is the spice of life. With this in mind, we thought we might write a congratulatory column for a change. Last Monday, we felt that Strat- ford, it's citizens, and especially those connected with the Optimists, were definitely leaning in the right direction. Community activities such as those sponsored by the Optimists in observance of Labour Day typify what we mean when we call for more concerted effort. You see, our conception of a healthy community spirit does not necessarily meam digging down in the pocket to con- tribute towards some form of civic improvement, although that certain- ly helps. On the contrary, it goes beyond that, embracing all forms of . communal activity. So, we take our hats off to the Optimists, who spon- sored the Labour Day activities; we: offer congratulations to all the en- trants in the various competitions, both winners and losers, and, above' all, we bow low to all those citizens: who had the fine sense of commun- ity spirit to get out and support the: celebrations. An extraordinary amount of good' work is done by organizations such: as the Optimists. And we feel that no no small importance should be attributed to affairs that embrace: the whole gamut of community life- We don't wish to slight their work in connection with the betterment of youth. However, at the same time,. we would like to point out the im- portance of any form of activity on their part that brings Stratfordites of all ages together. And Monday's celebrations certainly exemplified this. However, no matter how hard these organizations try, their work goes for naught without your sup- port. So keep up the good work, and remember that it's of paramount importance to get out and take an active part in all activities that are part of community life in Stratford. '| STRATFORD RINK TAKES TOP HONOURS Further evidence that Stratford lawn bowling rinks rank with the finest in the country was demon- strated last Monday when a four- some from the Stratford Lawn Bowl- ing club, skipped by Sid Deem, jour- neyed to Elora and returned with top honours, won in competitior with 154 rinks from all over the province. Competition was exceptionally keen, but the locals sailed through | three fifteen-end games without a set-back to lead the tourney with 3 wins and a plus of 25, The rink was made up of J. E. Ross, C. E. Martyn, Emerson Wright, and Sid Deem, skip. Winning bowling tourneys is al- ways a profitable business, and the four local men returned from Elora, each with a Duncan Fyfe table and four chairs. In fact it has been said that development of a skill at lawn bowling is one of the best, if not one of the easiest, ways to furnish 2 home. ?