Editorial From the bridge id Pepper by hartley coles Used to be that when went to a ball game the attraction was the diamond You bought peanuts and cracker Jacks snared a good seat home plate and two hours or more of drama Judging from my most recent experience with baseball that has gone wife and I both baseball nuts of varying degrees took in a recent in senior game Kitchener and Guclph in the Royal City one Sunny Sunday evening And how the game has changed There is still of action on the diamond the calibre of baseball is high but it takes second fiddle to the action in the stands Between innings the announcer ran a bingo game with punchout cards and there was the inevitable luck draw for prizes if you bought a program which didn have the lineup inside for which I purchased it It showed that baseball like much other amateur or sport has fallen on times when all these other attractions Fans apparently will not support a team unless they dream up other gimmicks to promote the game In many cases the money could probably be belter spent for equipment or to pay the bills that teams run up in the course of a season It sad commentary on fans not only for baseball but hockey lacrosse and other sports that they have all this other hokum to dress up a game which is exciting enough by itself Scanning the weeklies week can be very rewording For instance this week the Huron Ex in Seaforth had an article on tomb stones that I ra sure you would never find in Playboy or other expressions of modem humor Perhaps as the Expositor says the pioneers of the country had a greater sense of humor than we do or else they were much more outspoken on some things especially about the dead There is nothing grave about some of the epitaphs which appear on headstones in old churchyards in England or even of earlier days on this and other continents but some depict rather grim humor such as this one from Cornwall 20 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press Thursday August 10 Camping enthusiasm in the face of all adversities at the recent Short Camp bore ample proof of the in the Act on younger set In spite of storms and prolonged rainfalls a spirited camping program persisted by the campers at Terra Total number who attended camp for July 10 to August totalled 23 boys and girls Each group spent two days at camp for each week Handicrafts were popular and swimming was enjoyed in foul weather as well as fair Cooking was performed on on open fire or hot ashes Everyone strongly preferred sleeping out when weather per milled Bonfire programs were popular Corn was popped and a visit by Fred Wright provided campers with all the watermelon they could digest two days Volunteer camp mothers and drivers were arranged by Mrs E Jennings and Mrs Jones and They included Mrs Don McLean Mrs H Jolley Mrs Mrs E Mr Lome Garner Rev Armstrong and Graham A shower was held at the home of Mrs John Gibson for Mrs Clement Milton a recent bride She is the former Betty Gibson of Acton Holidays seem to have riddled the town activities The Free Press did not publish last week The annual picnic of Baxter Laboratories was held at Stanley Park Erin 50 years ago Taken from issue of the Press August 12 1920 Mr George who is arranging to take over the business of the Bell Telephone Company in Acton in a month or so has purchased from John Simkiolo the property known as the Block The results of the Middle School examinations for to Schools have hi those successful were Clara Neil Gibbons and James TaJman A new refrigerator plant has been in stalled in the Tannery Cooperative store which is unique effective and interesting It is an iceless system operated with an electric motor with a circulation of chemically charged water The ingenious new system is practically automatic and when the temperature reaches about degrees the motor cuts off The expense of handling ice Is eliminated The system was Installed by Mr Fred one of the Company electricians and reflects credit upon his skill and work man ship Advertisement Wanted 3O000 vesters to Winnipeg Special for women New comfortable colonist coaches Box lunches After September l 1921 every child except for those specially provided for will be required to continue at school till age 16 The present compulsory school age is 14 75 years ago Taken from the Issueof the Free Press Thursday August l 1B95 Electric light Tor Acton is again a live subject The National Electric Light Company is negotiating with Messrs Cheyne and Cheyne to put a plant in their mill Many citizens hope that a satisfactory arrangement will be consummated The Free Press is confident that an electric light system can be made a success here It would no doubt be introduced into stores chin ches and numbers of private residences as soon as those interested were satisfied of its superiority over other lights and that Its cost is very slightly higher than that for coal oil lamps Then we will all hope that if the ratepayers ask loudly enough for it the council will at no distant date adopt dec for street lighting There are scores of places half the size of Acton enjoying the satisfaction of electric light in their business places public buildings and homes The usually quiet burg of was visited by burglars last Saturday night The store of Mrs Wheeler was entered and disturbed Some or was taken from the till but whether any goods were stolen or not is not known A suspicious looking tramp was around during the afternoon Mr of Toronto one of the engine drivers of the G T took up residence In with his family in the stone house at Dolly Varden Mr Cripps of Crewsons Corners Was the first to commence threshing Staff Photo Here lies William Smith and what is somewhat rorish Hi was born bred and hanged In his here parish Some of the epitaphs would indicate that husbands felt the urge to have the last word Here lies my wife Polly terrible shrew If 1 said was sorry Ishouldllctoo Here another sample from cheslershire which is a poetical tribute The children of Israel wanted bread And the Lord He sent them manna Old John Wallace wonted a wife And the Devil he sent him Anna A bit of Scottish humor found on a tombstone in a Glasgow cemetery Here beneath this stone we lie Bock to back my wire and I And when the Angel trump shall shrill If she gets up then I II lie still Women too have placed some pretty outspoken announcements on tombstones The light of my life has gone out was the epitaph one woman had placed on her husband stone Shortly after had the stone cutter back to add But I have struck another match An example of a vindictive wife was the lady who had He rests in peace engraved on her husband s headstone and after learning that he had left most of his fortune to someone else added Until we meet again In Boot Hill Cemetery at Dodge City appeared this epitaph He played five aces Now playing a harp Ma loved Pa Pa loved Ma caught Pa with two in Here lies Pa And for a pioneer who rushed the season Beneath this stone a lump of clay Lies Uncle Peter Daniels Who early in the month of May Took off his winter flannels Next of kin were in many cases conscious that advertising no matter how it is done usually off An English stone reads Sacred to the remains of Thompson a pious Christian and an affectionate husband His disconsolate widow continues to carry on his grocery business at the old stand on Main Street Cheapest and best prices in town Houses people can afford Events last week in Acton seem to indicate that at last the town may have some housing that or dinary citizens can afford Approval from the Ontario Municipal Board for rezonlng on Cobblehill Road for senior citizens and geared to Income housing as well as tentative approval for a town house development from planning board all point In the proper direction to provide houses for families and senior citizens There Is little available now In a price range they can afford It Is unfortunate that the senior citizen apartments could not be located some place with closer access to business places and post office Every effort was made to find suitable land for prooct In the downtown but mot with little success Land available priced beyond all reason land In locations was not suitable So after years of fruitless and often exasperating searching for a site It looks like prooct will finally get moving Don bo surprised If the senior citizens units do not meet demand for accommodation Similarly there should be no eyebrow lifting If to Income housing Is not sufficient to moot demand Many families have made do with Inadequate housing for which they often paid high rents part of which could better have gone to their families Wo would hope that this will ameliorate situation and provide a yardstick to gauge the real housing needs of com Although we are not In the habit of recommending that Individual private development be given approval we are also very much In favor of promoting the town houses proposed on Campbell farm suggested maximum prices for this type of housing being built In many other communities Is still reasonable and at a price the wage earner can afford with some sacrifice Tho development Is not only practical but could be the magnet to attract new Industry which In turn can stabilize taxes Strange Burlington attitude We have some glimmering of the problems that disturbed the United States prior to the civil war when north and south were at each other throats by recent events In the south of County where 80 per cent of tax dollars for county financing emanate The south since it pays the lions share of the taxes believes that this entitles them to a greater voice In the county s affairs However like En almost all great movements for equality there are divisions of thought council Is not as dedicated to rep by dollar as Burlington Warden Allan Day said Oakvllle is willing to wait for regional government which should be coming along in a couple of years and at that time there will be an adjustment in the represen As It stands now each com munlty has two representatives on county council the reeve and deputy reeve However on recorded votes ballots are weighted so that Burlington has nine Oakvllle eight and the five northern towns and townships have 17 all told So If you draw a line between north and south each side Off the cuff Where exactly I wonder does the permissive society benefit women Living in sin may sound better when the sinful tag is removed but a woman without wedding lines will still find herself doing the chores Unmarried husbands are no more likely than the married ones to Iron their own shirts or scrub the kitchen floor From BBC Woman Hour has votes which theoretically should balance the teeter totter county political scene pretty evenly Burlington If they could change the representation would like more votes as well as an ad justment of the voting power This they feel Is only their right since they are the big frog In the Halton pond Warden Day of Is not as perturbed He says the south does not lack representation If there was a case where we suffered from lack of representation Id be the first to object but that Is not the case he said emphatically Burlington wielding a big money stick fs not a new development in the county Somehow the southern political pot always manages to turn up some politicians who stridently feel that money is the only adhesive that keeps the county together It shows a complete of the purpose of county political boundaries An overbalance of power in the south would certainly never do the north of the county any good Lines were drawn when north and south had almost equal representation Constable Georges Lacombe of Hull Que had suspicions about a car with Ontario plates that he noticed while on patrol early on July Although on an ex pressway it was doing only about 15 mph and for another thing It did not appear to have a driver However closer investigation showed a small head peering through the wheel After flagging Sugar and Spice by bit smiley Summer floats by as aimless as a cloud Nothing seems to get done but we seem to be doing something all the time Last week was no exception It nice to live like rich people once In a while be It ever so temporary We used to do it once a year when I was in the newspaper business We d go to a convention in some exotic place stay in a posh hotel hobnob with such exalted people as public relations men and indulge in such sybaritic delights as breakfast in bed It hard to come down from filet and baked to and butter tarts but we always felt it was worth it no matter how long it took to pay back the money we borrowed to make like millionaires This is against the puritan ethic but I ve never regretted it I ve seen too many people postponing a real spree of a holiday trip because they ve needed a new lawn mower or had just bought a new vacuum cleaner or simply had to trade in their car And then when everything was finally right for the trip Dad discovered to his horror that he had to have all his teeth out Or Mother needs a hysterectomy And the trip fades into nevernever land Sad Never take my advice about anything but Gather ye rosebuds while ye may a bad Idea Don t wait until you re too old and stupid and crippled with arthritis to stoop for a rosebud And besides there arcn that many rosebuds left Last week we had a couple or days of gathering rosebuds As usual it was balm for that lacerated secret little comer in most of us that knows we could hove been wealthy and successful and rich if ve d just had a break Wespenttwodays at a beautiful lodge in Ontario Hah burton Highlands just south of Algonquin Park It s incredible country rock woods and lakes everywhere The lodge was everything it should be for one of these escapades Handsome lounges huge stone fireplace magnificent deliers courteous and unobtrusive help and a sweet pretty and even competent waitress for our own table And lots of rich people around That essential It wasn t a swinging place No bar no entertainment and thank heaven no organized games and such Just a place to lie around swim or fish or play horseshoes or walk through the woods eat like a hog and wonder what tlte poor people are doing We had a cottage overlooking the lake with a big fireplace and everything else but the kitchen sink an item most women are quite happy to be without on a vacation Privacy peace and luxury the prerequisites of the rich The population In the south ex ploded leaving the slower growing north with the big voice This did not benefit the south and there were no northern arguments when representation was altered on recorded votes to adjust the balance of power Surely the enlightened politicians In Burlington don t Imagine that the north Is dictating to the south now with a mere per cent of the tax take and half the votes Surely the representatives from the north unsympathetic to politics with a southern exposure Surely they don t want the Base Line to become another Mason Dixon line Certainly from our knowledge it is unusual for representatives from North Halton to vote en bloc against recommendations from either Burlington or Oakville It is not likely to change prior to the introduction of regional govern ment It is a strange attitude for Burlington to strike when they are not sure whether they want to shelter under Hamilton wing or continue to be the big noise in Halton the car down the officer found the driver to be an 8yearold Ottawa resident out for a morning drive who was then four miles from home When called the boy s mother thought he was still asleep No damage had been done and no charges were laid Constable s report noted that the boy drives very well for his age First night at dinner met an old friend from College Was rather aghast when be told me he d recently married Susan Kee daughter of another old College friend He more than twice her age Dirty old man I thought Was even more confused when he introduced his eight yearold son Finally remembered gone into the ministry What he meant was the he performed the marriage ceremony Next day into town for a seminar on Creative Writing at the Haliburton School of Fine Arts Naturally the school was overlooking a lake There hardly anything else you can overlook there Everything I know about Creative Writing might Gil the back of a business card but had an enjoyable afternoon with about fifteen ladies ranging from about nineteen to well you know They didn t get much out of it but thoroughly boasting telling them how I handle my wife when I call her the Old and some of the hazards and rewards of writing a weekly column By the way girls 1 ve thrown out two perfectly good paragraphs from this column Creighton and a whiff of printer a Back to the lodge for swim dinner canoe Jaunt and a long lively evening by the fireplace with friends and some pretty unusual conversation Hard to climb into toe battlescarred 7 Dodge and hit the long trail home Depressing to get there and moke your own not dog for dinner Horrible to see that of bills and hear the phone ringing But worth It