The Acton Free- Press Tuesday December BRINGING HOME THE TREE A typical sight during the Chriitmns season Acton District High students 1 to Jeff Cooper Ron Waites Paul Cooper and Murray Turnbull deliver a tree the Grade geography class sold Staff Photo stockings and rattling things under the tree Sugar and Spice by bill smiley Christmas seems to emphasise our basic natures- If we re skeptical we become deeply cynics the closer the day approaches If we are Inclined to be optimistic and cheery we are apt to begin wallowing In sentimentality Itseemstogetmo both nays Mynniu skepticism hardens Into a surly misanthropy as the annual parade of gilts and greed cards and carols begins creeping Not the My putties up of the tro my annual to avoid Insanity from But my natural sneaks in and once the duty work has been done I wax sentimental to the point of tears over the the log in the fire the smell of singed spruce needles and the loved aces around me attitude right of course Both are base Christmas a celebration It should be neither cynical nor sentimental but joyous in the real of the word It could and should be the one day in the year when we can creep closest to the warmth of the bask teachings of the Man God low and peace It should be a day marked by solemnity and Jollity prayer and cheer It t really have much to do with turkey and trimmings and tinsel though these don t hurt anybody Nor does it have anything to do with the cards you receive or the value of the presents you garner Indeed two or three cards mean more to some people than two or three hundred to others And a home knit scarf from someone can mean more than a mink coat from someone else Hope my family read this Easy enough to say what Christmas is not It more difficult to say what it is because it is intangible You can reach out and grasp the spirit of Christmas You must feel it t you spiritually Naturally children get most out of it Perhaps it because they don look for gimmicks There is a wonderful combination of the mystic and the materialistic that entrances them Little realists that they are they are fascinated by the thought of goodies They love the aspect of gifts There a great thrill In opening the But they arc equally enchanted by the aura that surrounds these material Jollies carols the pageants the never story of the birth in the manger the very smell of Christmas all these Increase their inner excitement to the bursting point It Is also a day when they can get with anything short of murder and know it after the big family gatherings of other years wo have a slim crew but three generations Granny won t be there but we II be thinking about her There 11 be Just Grandad and us and daughter Kim At time of writing Wo might wind up with eighteen There II be early church Then the opening of gifts and thoughts of son Hugh miles away And the smell of turkey and music and perhaps friends dropping in for a drop There too much talk about dropouts these days and not enough about dropins We II have a big fire and lie on the rug groaning after dinner I hope It won t be as big fire as lost year when my wife set fire to the evergreens on the mantel and nearly burned down the house This Is all qualified by the word hopefully It could be complete mozrte like the year I dropped the turkey on the kitchen floor as I took It out of the oven But hope it peaceful And I hope with all my heart whatever your situation that your Christmas will be blessed by peace and love 20 years ago Ta ken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday December 1950 Last Monday ah all tune peak was reached at the post office when 17 000 one cent stamps were sold Postmaster Terry has four full time temporary workers and mail is being sorted and stamped evenings and Saturday It was even found necessary for some to work Sunday Santa was the guest of honor at the Legion when 195 children received their annual treat Water bills will exactly double to meet the sewerage debenture The usual holiday variet program will be featured again this year at the A full program has been lined up by the Junior Leaders Miss M Bennett opened her home for the annual Christmas party of her Sunday School class the Friendly Circle A record attendance of about 60 attended and president Mrs Clarence Rognvaldson was in charge Mrs Veldhuls Miss Simmons and Miss J McPhall sang Taking part in a hilarious play were Mrs Gordon Mrs Mac Mrs and Mrs C Miss Bennett received an electric kettle as a token of their love and esteem A delegation representing all the teachers In the three North Halton high schools requested increases of a year from the board This would bring the new to A very beautiful pageant was presented by the Baptist Sunday School under Mrs Lome Garner with Mrs Stanley Cripps narrating Frank Jones shot a wolf Saturday near Men turkey winners Cliff Bradley Lorraine Hargrave Harry Harold Elliott Acton Creamery Mike Charlie and R Cue 50 years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press of Thursday December 23 The Beardmore Company s treat to the children of the employees has for years been a feature of Christmastide which had brought gladness and comfort to hundreds of boys and girls Yesterday afternoon at three o clock 200 children of the employees of and Co assembled at the town hall the younger ones being ac companied by their mothers There were Christmas trees and Christmas decorations and tables laden with dainties The stage curtains rose and Santa appeared splendidly impersonated by Mr Nell Mc Donald The Dig daintily decorated tree burst into a of lights and Mr Charles Musgrove the entertainer of Toronto struck up a patriotic chorus on the piano and the children vociferously sang this loyal Assisted by Torrance and Gordon Santa Claus distributed to every child a box containing woolen sweater or sweater coat a toque and a pair of woolen mitts On top was a generous bag of candies with an orange At seven clock In the evening the second quota comprising over little folk the children of the employees of the Acton Tanning Co assembled and the progr was a replica of that of the afternoon Many of the assembly were particularly pleased to see Mrs Torrance they gratefully remembered her kindness and attention and her hot soups and dainties which she distributed during the mfhtenxa epidemic last winter Miss Annie McDonald Acton has been engaged as teacher for Lome School for 75 years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press of Thursday Decembers Needlethreading socials are the latest kind of money raising church entertainments The record is needles in three minutes while the best record for men is seven A pencilsharpening match is one of the byplays to give the men a show Rev Mr Howell sermon at the Methodist church Sunday on tobacco impressed many with the evils ac companying the use of the weed No Sunday School committee takes greater pains to provide enjoyable Christmas entertainments than that of St Alban s church Each succeeding year they present something novel This year s entertainment in the town hall on the 23rd December will be the pretty operetta A Merry Company or The Cadets Holiday The many friends of Mr and Mrs Richard Hemstreet of Milton congratulate them on reaching the fiftieth anniversary of their union in wedlock an unusual epoch They were married In IMS at the residence of the brides father Lawrence Vodden near the site of the present brock house of Martin Flynn on the second line below Acton Three of their six children survive sons who are all enterprising merchants Messrs H Storey and Son are just getting out a new line of Napa tan gloves They are a novelty it being Impossible tin now to get tan colors on Napa buck Mr A has moved his Jewellery store to Mrs Secord block on Mill SL Mr John Symon will open a stock of hardware In part of the store Ad- Heart Disease relieved in 30 minutes cure gives perfect relief in cases of Organic or Sympathetic Heart Disease One dose convinces Ad- South American Rheumatic Cure generally cures in three days One man who could not walk obtained perfect relief after taking half a bottle Christmas is a lovely time Christmas a for all of us to celebrate a birthday with note of thankfulness In a fow days the big festival will bo all over and there II be nothing to do but pay the bills up It makes one wonder If all the fuss and bother is worth the trouble Weeks and even months of preparation for a few hours of holiday feasting and giving and accepting Out in spite of complaints about the anxiety the rush to prepare there are very few of us who would want to do away with Christmas The Puritans under tyrannical Oliver Cromwell tried to do away with the festival banned it The English people reacted very much like the people in Communist countries today Perhaps you read whore Fidel Castro has decided to postpone the Cuban Christmas holiday until next summer We wonder If that could be the start of Castro demise No doubt there will be all kinds of propaganda out of Cuba about the ready assent of the Cuban people to Castro s rule but there wilt also be much wondering about what the rank and file Cubans think about all this no In Canada has seriously advocated doing away with Christmas although voices are becoming strident about making more meaningful There Is much talk about Christmas being less commercial but detractors must also remember that most people love to give gifts at this season and there Is only way to procure them by purchase don doubt there are many abuses of the Christmas giving both on the part of merchants and buyers Some become hopelessly entangled in debt over the Christmas giving and Home merchant don mind loading unwanted goods on people they know cannot afford them These are abuses which creep in mainly in largo urban centres Small towns are seldom affected There much talk about lovo during the year but it seems to take for much of it to be put into practice Christmas brings the best out In people there are some hopelessly in themselves who think of Christmas like Scrooge all humbug Perhaps they need a little more love to show them the real spirit of It is difficult to say anything new about Christmas It has been celebrated for hundreds of yean with millions of words So there is really nothing can add to this year except to hope you have a lovely Christmas Moke It safe and above all keep the real message of Christmas intact The world would be a much poorer place If It was ever replaced by something else a vacuum So the wish of the editorial staff of the Free Press along with hundreds of millions throughout the world Is that you have a Merry Christmas a time of good and a sincere hope there will be many more of them Stamps reflect Christmas spirit Canadian Christmas amps cheering mailboxes this month will brighten stamp collections around the world for years to come The Christmas Issue consists of five stamps and five 5c stamps all sparkling reproductions of by Canadian children One design comes from each province The stamps are the latest example ol the Post Office work in the past two years to issue more attractive stamps and overcome a reputation among stamp collectors for producing dowdy designs The Financial Post notes that the Post Offices philatelic service this fiscal year will sell more than Editorial notes A farmer and his wife were visiting a large city and at a plush restaurant for lunch The farmer studied the menu for a while and they ordered hnmburgcrs at 1 each Aiming to his wife he casually remarked The way these people have figured it wc have a steer at home worth Canadians appreciate a White Christmas hut much of the world has to settle for bleak brown grass and bare trees and still others have to endure a warm sun and tropical vegetation Some of the Christmas songs about sleigh bells and sleighs arc hardly appreciated by anyone under 30 who id Pepper by hartley c It often I have the opportunity to hear a preview of a radio show so I was particularly anxious to accept neighbor Jack Carpenters Invitation to listen to a program he did recently for CBC radio on rodlo and TV station the voice of Western Ontario The program will be aired this Sunday at 7 on CBL and for anyone who has a taste for the nostalgic days when radio was growing up the effort to rise or turn on your bedside radio wilt be more man worm while CBC picked Jack been freelancing in radio for many years from his Acton home to interview the people In for minute program but like it grew to half an hour and now has outgrown its short pants and expanded to a minute special Reason for the program was the announcement of the sale of CKNX Radio and TV to the owners of CFPL in London after years in the hands of the Crickshonk family whose patriarch Doc founded and pioneered radio in the country The venerable Doc who picked up the nickname because he used to chauffeur a doctor around set up the first studio in in in a store Working In a foundry hours a day Doc ran the projector at the towns movie palace With an hour a day free he used It to sell radios He fashioned the first transmitter from plans published in Popular Mechanics and started to broadcast Depending on weather conditions the programs could be heard as far away as Africa one day and be fortunate to reach five miles the next The early history of radio is fraught with drama the program picks up with accuracy and pathos CKNX as It was later called after using JOKE because it was a Joke and 10 gradually progressed once a licence was acquired for broadcasting rights to its present high standard Things got so good in the early days they moved to the Brunswick Hotel and broadcast from a room reserved for them there First performers guitar players mouth organists and violinists sat on the side of the bed to play Those without any musical talent became announcers Thejjrogram is replete with clips from those early performances Including segments of Amos n Andy commercials from those pioneer days and catchy period music that will start your feet tapping and million worth of stomps to collectors double that of five years earlier have also noticed some fine looking Christmas stamps from the United States and the British Isles all of which add to the cheerful celebration of Christmas as well as brightening stamp collections has never enjoyed a cutter ride In a winter wonderland women were discussing the prevailing high rote of divorce I wouldn think of divorcing my husband declared one Why he just like one of the family memory stirring the time when people sat around crystal seta trying to catch signals Interviewing the different personalities and In the background through the program Is Jack Carpenter He lets the people Involved tell the story intruding only when necessary It all part of en Interviewing technique Jack calls Magazine style and It comes off very well trying up the package with a big holiday bow CKNX later picked up the TV franchise and opened studios In town of J There are many other stories there Including big fire that was interesting and bears telling For an entertaining hour we would suggest you take a listen this Sunday morning Its a different type of radio program that should kindle memories and bring the history of radio as we know It alive Jack Carpenter of course needs no introduction to people In Acton and district where he has emceed and directed shows for several years He returned from Australia recently and his films and commentary of life down under have been shown and heard on a variety of TV and radio stations think Jack has acquired a new style In these documentary type programs like the CKNX story We would suggest that CBC radio would have a larger audience if tbey had later time slots for this and similar programs Radio and TV is cut and dried now but the story of how it began and the people In the industry Is intriguing for anyone with an interest in communications JACK CARPENTER AND THE THREE BEARS Jack fondles two find the other koala bears on a recent visit to Australia The Acton announcer now appearing regularly on the CBC and other district radio and TV stations THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE But nd Ed toWjWtl