I he Acton Free Press Wednesday August 5 Fairy Lake beach mecca for swimmers Longevity gap up in all some nine years that of the Canadian female some 13 years The tables tell the story Latest estimates indicate that by next year the average Canadian male will have a life expectancy of years They confirm too that the Canadian woman Average 75 years Is maintaining the sixyear lead attained in 1961 although this would not seem to have lengthened appreciably over the past decade Over the past four decades the Canadian males life expectancy Is Sugar and Spice by bill smiley What a day to write a light breezy column The rain is coming down so hard and for the third day in a row that even the birds are walking The est had made a mess on the floor when I came down Threw her out into the rain and saw my garbage can on its side the contents spewed all over the lawn Coons Oh well Hie sun will shine again The est will make a mess again And the coons will off the garbage can lid again God is presumably in His heaven and alls wrong with the world But its the only one we have It hasnt been alt bad this week Tuesday a good soak in the sun at the beach and a brisk yard swim Wednesday a game of golf with the only person I know who can turn me from a jovial duffer into a thin- lipped emotional hacker my wife Some old pattern I try to give her a few tips She gas sore and tells me to shut up and try o hit a decent ball myself Third time she tells me I get sore and the rest of the game Is played in grim and stony silence the odd sneer to break the ice Its the same as the way we play bridge together By Thursday we were speaking again and that night went to an exhibition of modern art The artist is a former student of mine Now I know what he was doing while we were studying King Lear He was doodling Powerful doodling to Judge from his work Gilbert Glgnac son of very proud carpenter and some day a famous Canadian painter The exhibition was in the house of another talented young artist Hugh Niblock Delightful evening Punchbowl coffee and lota of talk The Smilcys as usual were the last to leave except for a draftdodger and his very pregnant wife They make pottery In a nearby village He loves Canada Nice young chap Quiet gentle honest We made it to the car about 3 am me lugging a large painting and the old girl a big chunk of sculpture on trial Got home and while 1 was putting the car away the police called Asked my wife if our car had been stolen Slightly baffled she replied that wed just driven home in It Cop asked her to check and make sure She was about to give him an argument when I arrived and told him no Seems theyd seen it parked had been keeping an eye on It and we had slipped off with it when the patrol car was going around the block Bizarre incident Congratulated police on their efficiency And so to bed Friday fine and fair Good show as wed been invited yachting Fair breeze good skipper hot sun blue sky hot chowder cold drinks and congenial company It wouldnt be bard to get booked on sailing Its virtually voluptuous spanking long at about six knots sails taut and none of a motorboat It was THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE 853 Don Copyright Year Men Women Gap OB est 60 2 years 63 3 years years 74 years years like gliding into another world out among the green silent islands seeing it all as Brule or Sam might have over years ago The only nautical terms Im sure of are The suns over the and time to splice the mainbrace But I would surely admire to have a boat like that stand tall at the tiller and snap Captain orders to my wife as our host did You should have seen that poor girl scrambling around luffing the jib and raising the mainsail and struggling with the anchor Her knees were red raw from kneeling on the deck while she hauled away it something or other We slid into a cove as silent and secret as It was years ago Delicious supper after splicing a couple of fractured main braces Then came the storm Thunder lightning bathtubs of rain Very pleasant to be a landlubber sit In the cabin drinking coffee and watch through the hatch skipper and wife in oilskins hoisting anchor and getting under way Fine trip home miles of sailing behind only three people scared out of six Daughter Kim home Saturday sick of squalid job in squalid city lip curled when she saw the art work and heard of the boat trip snapped So youve joined the jet set have you Jealous Not exactly We havent enough fuel for jets Its back to clipping the hedge tomorrow But its nice to fly once In a while In this world of infinite variety Editorial Thank you very much We cant let the occasion of two national newspaper awards go by without acknowledging the thanks we owe to the numerous con tributors advertisers tipsters and others who have assisted the staff In publishing a prize winning weekly The two new prizes will sup plement the pair received from the Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association this year when judges picked the Acton paper first In the coveted General Excellence class and also selected the front page as being the finest of any weekly In the province The Canadian Newspaper Association awards were received for the same two classes best allround paper In Its class and best front page Of course none of these special recognitions would be possible without the operation we receive each week from correspondents columnists letter writers club secretaries amateur photographers and writers from our sister weekly from Milton The editorial advertising and mechanical staff of this newspaper are always pleased to win awards We take more than our fair share of criticism sometimes and It helps to know that when you are stacked up against the finest papers In the country with similar problems that the publishers boys and gals In the back shop and the rest of us who labor in the production the Free Press each week rate pretty high Newspaper work although it has become much more sophisticated over the past few years with the use of offset equipment computers and the gradual elimination of hot type is still fundamentally the same It sometimes requires long hours which would send a shudder down the spine of the average to 5 worker But theres the reward of doing Interesting work to com pensate for the Inequities elsewhere as well as the doubtful How long can we pay For both sexes the increases in life expectancy have largely been in the younger age groups par ticularly in infancy and with advancing age Last year this fuzzy faced scribbler- enjoyed a visit to merry old England and with the temerity of the inexperienced traveller batted out my impressions of that isle in an offhand manner which caught the eye of more seasoned globe trotters and British types both here and back ante Some said My boy thats exactly my impressions of the old country Others complained that a three week visit was hardly sufficient experience to become an expert on England or for that matter even a small part of it However there was another reaction which came by air mini from in Somerset The person who dwells in baronial splendor in a manor within sight of the moors and Bristol Channel depending on which window you look out of demanded equal lime to answer my observations He had been on a visit to Canada a few years ago and inscribed some indelible im pressions on his memory about Canadian railroads Well wecanlgivcequal time but theres some space available Howard at where the roses grow in blooms so large I mistook them for sun flowers The Cookseys entertained this branch of the Coles family for one delightful 20 years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday August 10 1950 Stumpf suffered head injuries while working on the sewer in stallation Mrs Gowdys piano pupils recently tried examinations and those successful were Joseph Elizabeth Sylvia Jones Robert Armstrong Evelyn At Rock wood since Dominion Day when members of the Community Cluh cleaned up the river bed at H or tops mill dam Mrs Dave Armstrong is busy supervising young folks in the art of swimming and water safety The bulk of the work of redecorating Presbyterian church is just about completed The Ebcnezer district lost a highly respected citizen in the passing of Mrs El wood Wilson a faithful member of United church Many friends learned with regret of the sudden death of little Lynda Anne the monthold daughter of John and June McHugh Around BO people gathered at the home of Mr and Mrs Davidson to hold the eighth reunion of the SmithBell families The Annual Fair of Acton Rotary club on July was given a splendid reception on July by citizens and resulted in another success and the raising of funds to aid the work for crippled children George Mason was master of ceremonies for the en tertainment The Boys and Girls band paraded and there were outdoor movies There was a full midway of games and each child received a balloon Winners of the big The latest proposal in our welfare society Is that there should be a basic guaranteed income for everyone Not mind you for the people who work like dogs and still cant get along but for everyone That includes the lazy and the greedy There is no denying the fact that a society as Intelligent and affluent as ours cannot permit the less fortunate among us to suffer actual want although we are still doing so in too many instances However every one of the benefits we extend to the unfortunate must be paid for by those who for one reason or another have adequate incomes Many perhaps the majority of those in need deserve our con sideration and assistance We are thinking here of the sick the widows with small children the pensioners who live on a barely marginal income Then too there are those members of our society for whom we have failed to provide educational facilities such as our Indian population They live in poverty because they have not had anything like equal opportunity When the balance sheet is completed however we find that the average working man is not advantage of being In the know on many Issues and controversies which affect the community If we were asked what particular part of this journal we would like to see extended It is use of Our Readers Write column Although there has been an increasing flow of letters In the past year Indicating many people are Interested In the affairs of the town and district we feel there Is still plenty of room for more comment Participatory democracy Is often expounded by politicians as being the Ideal type of government We feel letters to this newspaper on issues or ideas assist in that con cept We believe in publishing free comment provided It is In good taste and there is no libel The letter must be signed by the writer although a pseudonym can be used for publication Again we say thank you for your help through the past year and ask your indulgence for another one only paying for the normal services provided by government but is also supporting his own wife and family and about six other people as well He contributes to family allowance even though his own children are grown and gone he aids in all the welfare schemes such as old age security the taxes which support homes for the aged orphans widows etc In Ontario he pays for considerably more than half the cost of operating our hospitals over and above the premiums to He donates day which extended overnight and into English hospitality which equals anything this scribbler has ever run across OFF THE RAILS When the trans Canadian halted at Calgary to replenish supplies I walked thankfully down the long platform to stretch At the far end of the train the driver leaning out of the side of his locomotive responded in friendly fashion to m respectful greeting and accepted the compliments which a mere Englishman offered to his colossal engine and to the skilled and daring men who served it Why not come up and look around he suggested we have to go down the line a ways to fetch a third loco for the Rockies Weighing rather more than pounds and at a timid age I eyed the 8runged perpendicular ladder against the side of his engine somewhat doubtfully but was saved coles ignominy by a surge of snide nationalism Was a Briton however flabb to shrink from the challenge of a Canadian and in Canada So I made it and hoped that none of the company I found aloft in the iron parlour could see that I was short of breath and sweating slightly Some 10 or 15 minutes later with the reinforcement in position was permitted to express my gratitude and sense of special privilege to my hosts and hastened down the platform to rejoin worried wife she was about to alert the tram authorities over her missing man and it took even a man in good practice some time to her anxiety so thoughtlessly inflicted But I made my point at last How could I abandon such an opportunity I pleaded To have in the locomotive of the C P trans Canadian assures me status for life with my grandchildren How I craved such and arrived in Continued on Pout B Vancouver I took the first conversational pause that fell upon the assembled tribe to recount my exploit at Calgary and demonstrate that however he might look and sound Grandad was indeed abreast Even as I laid on the glorious techmcolour I had a slight misgiving that audience participation was not keen and tense as I should have liked and as I delivered my final flourish it seemed that I was dropping a pebble into a very very deep well pitying daughter hastened to my rescue You see dear we have not been in a train for five years Probably the last locomotive they saw was in England Boat yes car plane yes but they have forgotten what a tram is had to wait until my return to England and a conversation with a railway aficianado who listened to my tale rapt and with bolting eyeballs as to the saga of an astronaut and still treats me carefully and invites me to visit a train museum with him to gather my laurels But as far as status with my grand children is concerned I am still a puffing tall off the rails -i- -t- What more pertinent comment could we have about the last vestiges of the railroad age draws were Charles Fmdlay a combination radio and record player Kenneth Mann Gail Harvey Young Fern Brown Thomas Elliott Mel Jordan 50 years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday August The annual garden party of St bans church in the park last Thursday evening proved a most enjoyable and successful affair Mr and Mrs Torrance Beardmore are now removing to their new home in Toronto and Miss Prances and Master Knox will be greatly missed in Acton Mrs solicitous care and attention in homes where there has been sickness had been greatly appreciated Mr Beardmore will of course spend most of his time here The vacated home will hereafter be utilized as a home with comfort for members of the firm and officials when they are in Acton Mr and Mrs Gordon will now have Beverly House as their private residence The community of was shocked by the news that David Cun ningham was discovered by Mr Gordon and Mrs Joseph Stewart on Sunday evening sitting in his buggy in front of Gordons store quite dead Death was probably due to heart trouble The following members of Acton Boy Scouts Band left by motor for Jordan Harbor near St Catharines for a holiday outing scoutmaster Moore patrol leaders George Soper and Ray Corps Spiel vo gel and Lloyd Forbes scout T Savage Leslie Gregory Ray Gamble Ernie Coles James Matthews Telford Kcnney and William Robertson Rev I M Moyer who is spending his holidays in the vicinity will be spending part of his tune at the camp There is great prospect for a beechnut crop this year Acton is fixing parking places for to avoid congestion of traffic There are rumors that the highest point for high prices In the cost of living has been reached 75 years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday July 1B96 A new enterprise has received mature consideration at the hands of James who Is about to operate a flsh hatchery on the farm of Alex Esquesing about a mile from Acton The fish culture is not very extensively operated in this country owing to the prolificacy of However latterly some of our streams are depleted of the much prized trout Mr Firstbrook will go into the culture of spawn and fry for the market and in the course of a few years will have a fish pond for the use of the public He feels confident of the plausibility of the undertaking Mr Wallace Las by Esquesing is building an addition to his bam The raising took place last Wednesday afternoon and in the evening a great many young people assembled who indulged in all kinds of amusements and some in tripping the light fantastic until the wee hours of the morning Numbers of our citizens heard a Ladies Brass Band for the first time last Wed nesday when the Lassies Band of the Salvation Army gave a concert In the town hall here A rather serious accident occurred at the born raising of Mr Talbot deputy reeve of Eramosa When a bent was being placed in position one end fell some ten feet and struck a young man named Charles Alton on the head slightly fracturing the skull He remained Insensible for some time but on Sunday was able to be removed to his fathers farm a short distance away The young man may recover Two deaths and four or five serious in juries have already occurred at barn raisings this season within a mile radius The choosing of sides and contesting for first completion a side should is our estimation be done away with for men become excited some made even more by a little beverage