4 Sunday, March 15, 1959
MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE.
Medford&Tbibunb
"Everyone lc Southern Oregon
Reads The Mail Tribune"
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ROBERT W RUHL. Editor
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ERIC W ALLEN JR,
Managing F.ditor
EARL H ADAMS. City Editor
HARRY CHIPMAN. Teleg Editor
RICHARD JEWETT Sports Editor
OLIVE STARCHER Women's Editor
DALE ERICKSON, Circulation Mgr
An Independent Newspaper
Entered as second class matter at
Medford Oregon under Act of
March 3 1897
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Flight 'o Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from the files of The
Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
and 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
March 15, 1949 (Tuesday)
Ground-breaking for a new
drive-in theatre south of Med
ford is scheduled this week.
California Oregon Power
company embarks on a five-
year building program to
meet new demands for elec
trie service.
20 YEARS AGO
March 15. 1939 (Wednesday)
Cyrenius Combest, Talent,
Is signed up as Jackson coun
ty's dog catcher.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "One of
the Older Girls has completed
the first of 36 spring house-
cleanings, and is tuckered out
from telephoning all her
friends about it."
30 YEARS AGO
March 15. 1929 (Friday)
Scores of valley residents
journey to Salem to see Med
ford's very own in the finals
of the state basketball tourna
ment. Sams Valley Grange mem
'bers plan a birthday supper.
40 YEARS AGO .
March 15. 1919 (Saturday)
The public is urged to rally
to the support of the Commer
cial club in developing and
boosting southern Oregon.
Sam Leonard, last of the
Leonard boys to return from
the war, is reported en route
home.
50 YEARS AGO
March 15. 1909 (Monday)
Little hope is seen for per
petuation of the state's nor
mal schools.
Ashland and Grants Pass
get free mail carrier service.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct is superior;
seven or eight is excellent; five or
six is good.
1. Prior to President Tru
man, who was the last vice
president to succeed to the of
fice of President of the U.S.?
2. Which state of the Union
borders only one other state?
3. Do the arteries carry
blqod to the heart, from the
heart or both?
4. Is riposte a term used in
music, bridge, fencing, or po
lio? 5. Sovereignty over south
ern Sakhalin and the Kuriles
was promised to Russia at
what famous W.W. II confer
ence in the Crimea?
6. How many red, and how
many white stripes, are there
on a U.S. flag?
7. If a cattle boat carries
cattle, what does a pig boat
carry?
8. Two train, on parallel
tracks, leave at the same time,
travel the same speed and ar
rive at the same destination.
One takes 80 minutes and the
other 1 hour 20 minutes. Why
the difference?
9. In boxing, which of these
is the lightest weight: light
weight, bantam weight, fly
weight, featherweight?
10 Which state covers the
largest area?
1. Coolidge. 2. Maine. 3.
From the heart. 4. Fencing. 5.
Yalta. 6. 7 red. 6 white. 7. Men
(submarine). 8. No difference.
9. Flyweighhl. 10. Alaska. ,
A Case of
College: A society of scholars incorporated for
study or instruction, esp. in the higher branches of
knowledge; a university or one of its schools; also a
building or group of buildings used by a university or
one of its schools; an institution for special or profes
sional instruction . . .
University: An institution organized for teaching
and study in the higher branches of learning, and em
powered to confer degrees in special departments, as
theology, law, medicine, and the arts; in U.S. typically
a college and one or more graduate or professional
schools.
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Oregon State College is smarting because i
'
wants to be known as
and no one seems to be
seriously.
The Corvallis Gazette-Times, for instance, is
fuming over the fact that the Oregon legislature
shows no immediate interest in legislating a new
name lor UbU (which
cultural college until some zi) years ago).
The G-T says:
"Oregon State meets every requirement of a uni
versity, in fact considerably more so than some of the
schools which have already had their titles changed.
The school is already a university in fact if not in
name, so why not recognize it as such officially and
with little to-do about it? This stalling is ridiculous."
WE FAIL to see the rush.
" "College" is an entirely honorable and de
scriptive name.
The University of Oregon, with its schools of
law7, medicine and liberal arts, and with its ex
tensive graduate program, fully merits the name
oi university.
mi. j m ' r-v
ine patrons oi uregon state argue that it
does too, and perhaps with some justice. Thev
have their schools of forestry and engineering:
and agriculture, for instance, which offer gradu
ate programs. It also has
ol study at the undergraduate level.
DUT WHAT difference'
nition of "college"
admirably, and at no cost
remaps tne word
with it just a bit more
cut hardly enough to get into a sweat about.
If OSC becomes QSU, we foresee consider
able confusion in prospect. And we also foresee
the day when Portland State College begins mak
ing noises about becoming
sity. It might even want
Decome PU.
Then Eastern Oregon
lege of Education, and
Uregon College, as "societies of scholars, wouid
presumably get on the bandwagon. We wouldn't
want six universities m Oregon, would we, Elmo?
Policy Reviewed
We have, in recent weeks, given renewed at
tention to this newspaper s policy regarding the
publication of names of juveniles who get into
trouble, in stories reporting the events.
uur policy has Deen,
yv i i
people aged 17 and under, and who are arrested
or detained dv auinonties, win not oe named.
Exceptions are made in
serious lelonies, and also m the case of traffic of
fenses. (The latter is based on the belief that if a
youth is old enough to
the state to do so, he is old enough to take respon
sibility for his actions behind the wheel. Some
may argue that this distinction is an academic
one, but it doesn't appear so to us.)
17 VERY SO OFTEN we review this policy, con-A-'
suiting with those people we believe to have
the best knowledge of the field, and studying the
policy, and the reasons therefor, of other news
papers. After we did so again recently, we again came
to the conclusion that the policy should remain
unchanged at least for the time being.
Most Oregon newspapers in the past have op
erated with generally similar policies, but in re
cent months a few of them have modified their
policy to permit the publication of juveniles'
names more frequently, on the theory that publi
cizing of the-names of youthful offenders is a
deterrent to juvenile crime.
THIS THEORY is questionable, at best.
And it doesn't jibe with the Oregon law,
which considers crimes committed by juveniles
in a class apart, to be handled in most instances
in special juvenile courts. The objective is not
punishment; it is rehabilitation.
The authorities we consulted are virtually
unanimous in declaring that publicizing the
names of youngsters in trouble would, in most
cases, seriously hinder their chances for reha
bilitation. We make no claim that this policy is perfect,
for we know it is not. There are undoubtedly
cases where the Use of a Tiflmp in a stnrv wnnlrl
have a salutary effect on
ui ins parents.
t But some policy is necessary, and we consider
this one to be the best, in lip-ht of all pirrMim-
stances, and upon the best expert advice obtain-
aDie n.ii.
Semantics
j cj
Oregon State University.
taking this proposal a bit
was OAC Oregon Agn
j-x . .
a well-rounded program
does it make? The defi
(see above) still fits OSC
to local pride.
university does carry
prestige than "college,"
Portland State Univer
to drop the "State," and
College, Oregon Col
possibly even Southern
E.A.
.
generally, that young
the case of exceptionally
drive, and is licensed by
the youngster involved,
Dennis the
'iVai.cto! its samw&TmTODoMBi
Matter of Fact
The Protocol of Humphrey
WashingtonTUntil recently,
the protocols ' of Zion held
their rank as history's most
inf lu e n t i a 1
fraud In case
anyone has
forgotten
about them,
the protocols
were a gross
anti - Semitic
forgery that
helped to
warp the mind
Jnunh A Ion Xiuuii 11""
ler, and then Hitler to warp
the mind of the German peo
ple.
Now, however, one begins
to wonder whether the proto
cols of Zion' are not losing
first place to what may be
called the protocol of Hum
phrey. This is" the theory of
George Magoffin Humphrey,
supported by a wholly unveri
fied quotation from Lenin,
that the true Communist stra
tegy for the defeat of the
West is to force us "to spend
ourselves into bankruptcy."
From a moral standpoint,
of course, the two cases are
as different as chalk, from
cheese. The people who ped
dled the protocols of Zion
were creatures from the gut
ter instinctively dealing in
garbage. George Humphrey is
courageous, high-minded,
and patriotic man. Where on
earth he picked up the proto
col of Humphrey, the record
does not reveal. He peddles
it, moreover, only because he
knows a great deal more
about the forces at work in
the modern world.
FROM a practical stand
nnint Vinwpver. t.hp nroto-
col of Humphrey has the ut
m o s t significance. It" was
twice cited by the President
himself when he discussed the
Berlin crisis with Congres
sional leaders before the week
end. On that occasion, the
President gave Lenin as his
authority for the theory, just
as his friend, the former Sec
retary of the Treasury, cus
tomarily gives Lenin as his
authority. At his press confer
ence, President Eisenhower
did not quote Lenin, having
perhaps been warned that the
quotation was unverifiable.
But he again insisted on the
validity of this theory that the
real Communist aim is to
cause the collapse of the free
economies by excessive de
fense spending.
Hence it is necessary to say
again, in the most emphatic
terms, what has been said al
ready by Marguerite Higgins,
by this reporter, and by one
or two others. The protocol
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
At the moment this is writ
ten, there is no BIG news on
the wires. By BIG news, I
mean news that goes off with
BANG.
For that, let us be duly
grateful.
In this modern world in
which we live, the big news
that goes off with a bang is
pretty apt to be BAD. news.
THAT brings up an inter
esting subject - at least,
it is interesting to me.
Over the years, I've been
interviewed by dozens off
committees representing or
ganizations devoted to the
betterment of the community,
the state, the nation and the
world. These interviews deal
largely with this question:
Why do the newspapers
print so much BAD news? So
much crime. So much scandal.
So much dirt. So much about
the seamy side of life and so
LITTLE about the altruistic
side, the CONSTRUCTIVE
side, of life.
1TTH the passage of time,
I've developed a tech
nique for the handling of
these situations. A DEFEN
SIVE technique. A sort of pro
Menace
By Joseph Alsop
of Humphrey is a transparent,
glaring, and rather ridiculous
fraud.
There is not one iota of
discoverable evidence to sup
port or excuse the fraud
There is also a vast mass of
evidence to prove the fraud
Over and over again, the So
viet leaders have said that
spending for armaments is the
sole prop of the free capital
ist economies. Without this
stimulus, they have declared,
capitalism would soon totter
and fall. Furthermore, every
knowledgeable expert on the
Soviet Union agrees the So
viet leaders are sincerely con
vinced that heavy defense
spending is necessary to keep
free capitalism going.
TN THESE circumstances, the
mipstinn siricpc wV,-., a frv.
mer Secretary of the Treas
ury and a President of the
United States should both be
parroting such nonsense. As
to Humphrey, the answer
clearly lies in his peculiar
conviction that the American
economy is desperately frag
ile.
"Two more years of Tru
man budgets," he once told
this reporter with perfect sol
emnity, "would have landed
this country in Communism
anyway." On being asked
whether he truly meant Com
munism, rather than some
vague, unpalatable form of
left wing experimentation,
Humphrey replied that he
meant Communism in the lit
eral sense. If he could believe
this much -as he certainly
seemed to do-it must have
been easy for Humphrey to
discern a Soviet plot behind
the pressure for defense
spending created by the arms
race.
As to the President, there
is no secret about the vast
power over Eisenhower's
mind that Humphrey early ac
quired and still retains. The
protocol of Humphrey, being
believed by Humphrey, would
have at least three chances in
four of gaining Eisenhower's
credence too.
To be sure, $7,000,000,000
of tax revenues that George
Humphrey sacrificed when
first in office would alone be
enough to balance the budget,
after paying all the bills for
overcoming the missile gap.
But this reminder will hardly
alter the opinion of Hum
phrey, which seems to be
shared by Eisenhower, that a
serious attempt to defend this
country is really much more
dangerous than leaving this
country quite inadequately
defended.
(c) New- York Herald
. Tribune Inc.)
tective coloration, like that
of the birds and the animals.
I discuss with my callers
the current crime stories. The
current scandal stories. The
current stories dealing with
DIRT of various kinds. As I
name each story, my visitors
nod acquiescence, indicating
familiarity with it.
"Yes," they say. "That's
EXACTLY the kind of stuff
we mean. Why do the news
papers print so much of it?"
AT THIS point, I switch my
tactics. I begin to men
tion CONSTRUCTIVE stories
that have appeared in print
within the past few days.
Stories dealing with worth
while projects that go to make
a better community, a better
state, a better nation.
Things the service clubs
are doing to make theirs a
better town. The lectures. The
concerts. The achievements or
research. Developments in in
dustry that go to provide
more and better jobs for
more people. The new books
the public library has just got
in - books dealing with lit
erature, science, art, history
and sociology.
Intelligent, thoughtful, con-
Communications
Letters to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer,
although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initial
for publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the right tc
edit all letters with a view to clarification and condensation. Letters
submitted for publication must not exceed 400 words. The letters
printed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of the
paper; in fact the contrary is often the case.
Mulli-Purpose Bills
To the Editor: The Oregon
Senate's recent refusal to al
low industries any use of wat
er whatever on the middle
Rogue river was inconsistent
with its other recent acts in
the field of water use policy.
The Oregon Water Resources
board was set up in 1955 and
told by the Legislature to rec
ognize the multi-purpose prin
ciple of water use, and encou
rage coordinated, integrated
developments to get the maxi
mum beneficial use of it with
out waste.
When on Jan. 21 the Board
here at Medford made its re
port on Rogue river, it said
that the several Legislative re
strictions on the use of Rogue
river water were at variance
with the multi-purpose con
cept and were causing confu
sion and waste of water. It ad
vised that all these restrictions
be removed and Rogue river
as other rivers be brought
completely under the jurisdic
tion of the Board. Senate Bills
182 and 183 were steps in that
direction.
If the Legislature refuses to
allow any industrial use of
water on the middle Rogue
even for so small a thing as a
log pond or a steam engine it
will set at naught this fine
talk about the maximum use
and multi-purpose character
of water.
The objections to the indus
trial use of Rogue river water
come mostly from those who
fear it will open the door to
such things as paper mills
with their large amounts of
air and water pollution. The
State Sanitary Board and the
Water Resources Board both
have responsibilities in pre
venting water pollution. Some
long established industries
continue to be pollution of
fenders but they are older
than the control boards and
can't be brought under regula
tion. New ones using water
will be.
It is claimed that as much
as several hundred tons of
wood wastes are run off into
incinerators and burned in
this area daily. The destruc
tion of so much wood is a big
loss and should be causing
some concern. If this material
were taken to Grants Pass
where water for processing is
most available and these nu
merous incinerators around
here were shut down, there
couldn't help but be a net gain
for the Medford area so far as
air pollution is concerned.
Why have an Oregon Water
Resources Board and a Jack
son County Water Resources
Committee if their well
thought out recommendations
are to be ignored? The House
should do better than the Sen
ate did and pass SB 183 with
out amendments and then try
to get the Senate to reverse its
position.
W. E. Davies,
Route 1, Box 110
Eagle Point, Ore.
Against Bill
To the Editor: There is a bill
in committee at the State Leg
islature which would permit
all public employees of state,
county, city, and districts to
organize for collective bar
gaining. This means that the
unions could get control of all
our public services such as
police, courthouse, all our
city, units, and also all our
schools and educational
plants. ,The bill reads: "all
structive statements that have
been made within the past
day or so by thoughtful, well
informed people and PRINT
ED IN THE PAPERS.
And so on. .
I THEN begin to quote sta
tistics. Statistics, gathered
by responsible research or
ganizations, showing that ap
proximately THREE - QUAR
TERS of all the news printed
by the newspapers is CON
STRUCTIVE news. I get out
a copy oi today s paper, or
yesterday's paper, and
COUNT UP.
The count invariably shows
a heavy preponderance of
constructive, informative, in
structive stories - stories that
tend to build up rather than
tear down - stories that in
cline to picture the GOOD
side of life rather than the
BAD side of life.
IT nearly ALWAYS works.
My interviewers get the
point.
They realize, in almost
every case, that THEY THEM
SELVES have perhaps been
reading the ruggeder stories,
the raggeder stories, the stor
ies dealing with the BAD in
life rather than the GOOD,
and tending to NEGLECT that
which is more constructive,
more UPLIFTING, in the
news of the day. Human na
ture, you know, is human na
ture. At any rate, my interview
ers nearly always go away
and leave me in peace. Some
times, a certain amount of
sheepishness is written on
their faces.
state, county, city and dist
ricts, authorities and public
corporations, and entities and
any of their instrumentalities,
organized and existing under
charter of law."
Do you want union bosses
to tell you how your tax dol
lars are to be spent?
This is a vicious bill that is
going to be sneaked by the
people with a lot of long
legal words that most of the
people do not bother to ana
lyze. This bill is classed , as
"permissive" legislation. It is
a foot in the door that the
unions have long been work
ing for.
This bill has already had
two readings in the house and
will be voted on the next time
it is read.
As the Democrats have a
large enough majority to pass
it and are controlled by the
unions, there is only one alter
native, and that would be to
write to Governor Hatfield.
Ask him to veto House Bill
138 when it comes before him.
Please do not delay.
"None are more hopelessly
enslaved than those who false
ly believe they are free."
Goethe. Leila A. Morrow
531 North Bartlett st.
Medford.
Berrydale Betrayed?
To the Editor: How can the
city council expect our faith
in their "doings" when they
keep on betraying us?
They betrayed" ' us when
they would not honor the con
tract with the Berrydale Sani
tation District which was first
a few years ago. Again it hap
pened when they promised im
mediate sewerage if we came
into the city. They certainly
saw to it that we were taken
in just before the tax receipts
were made out which we had
to pay twice now without
much in return. And finally
why should the cost of our
line be more than double what
we were told by the city man
ager, Mr. Duff, at the How
ard school meeting? He told
us the cost per frontage foot
at $2.74; $15 per lot; $65 per
acre and there would be no
connecting cost. Compare this
now with their present figures
at $3 per foot frontage; $79.50
per lot; $198.50 per acre and
$75 for connecting.
Why should we pay the
same high scale as in another
area where they had to do ex
tensive blasting and shoring?
And where our area has been
excavated without difficulty
by the local sanitation con
tractors in installing tanks
and fields and again proven
by the installation of the wa
ter lines? The layer of hard
pan in our area has been an
advantage from cave-ins. Fur
thermore we had, our sewer
engineering done and paid for
years ago.
I was for a sewer system
then and still am. What I am
against is taking the dollar
from the poor and giving it
to the rich.
There's been talk in con
trolling private investigators.
I believe in the opposite, with
first investigating the city
government.
Walter Frohreich,
303 Berrydale ave.,
Medford.
Pony Express
To the Editor: April 2 will
mark 99 years since a most
unique, trail riders pony ex
press, then established just 13
months and 14 days after Ore
gon became a slate, Feb. 14,
1859.
At that time, one of the
longest pony riding trails on
the American continent start
ed at St. Joseph, Mo., and end
ed at Sacramento, Calif. That
lasted only to October, 1861,
or about 18 months. The short
lived heroic business and fi
nancial failure had already
engaged the services of many
adventuresome young men of
steel and nerve including
"Buffalo Bill" - (W. F. Cody).
Probably one of the most
traveled pioneers of the west
with ox team and wagon, liv
ing to a ripe old age of 90
some years, was Ezra Meeker,
who crossed the plains the last
time in 1910. Around 1906
Death Valley Scotty rode an
"iron horse," Santa Fe special,
from Los Angeles, Calif., to
Chicago in 44 hours, 54 min
utes. Col. Rodgers first span
ned the continent in 1911 by
aeroplane in somewhat less
time.
The first pony express car
riers that made history and
headlines was Oregon Terri
tory in 1851, according to the
Centennial history, after the
discovery of gold in Jackson
county.
Bert Kissinger,
520 Boardman st.,
Medford.
Need for Ordinance
To the Editor: What is this
ordinance for licensing of pri
vate detectives and merchant
patrol agencies all about? It
is for the protection of citi
(By M-T Staff
Bert Harr of the Applegate
valley isn't half-hearted about
the Centennial, but he is half
bearded as shown above..
He has, he says, several dif
ferent stories to explain his
unique facial foilage but he
rather favors the explanation
that he turns the right side
of his face (clean-shaven) to
the young men who can't grow
beards, and the left side to
those who can and do.
It's a handy compromise,
anyway.
We have no idea -whether
or not anls are subject lo
the common cold, but we
have heard about some who
died as a RESULT of a com
mon cold. They were attract
ed to a box of the cold-sufferer's
cough-drops, swarm
ed through it, and were deci
mated with insecticide.
We've never met Gold Hill
Billy, but he's sent us a couple
of verses (we can't quite bring
ourself to call it poetry) in re
cent weeks. Here's another of
his offerings:
The traveler stopped to
get some change
In Medford, far from his
home range.
His heart within him
slowly sank
When he approached a lo
cal bank.
For hairy "yeggs" were at
each cage!
A hold-up? Oh! What bold
outrage!
zens, police and the private
agencies themselves.
We have a good chief of
police, and he has a big job
to do without anyone causing
him more trouble. We also
have a good police force. I
know there have been some
complaints, but stop and think
who is at fault: "We the Peo
ple" are, by letting some of
our number take advantage
of the police and ask them to
do too much courtesy work.
Taxpayers that do not ask
for such work will help to
pay for it, and in so doing
help those who consider only
themselves, not their neigh
bors, by turning to the police
instead of hiring an agency
which pays for a license to
do that type of work. Let's
get off the back of the police
department.
The private patrol is a
great advantage to citizens,
especially merchants, and
more so to the police depart
ment even if they have an
itchy feeling about it.
As you know, we have had
problems with teen-agers
shooting out lights and break
ing windows in residential
districts. Now if the merch
ants in town hired private
patrols to check their doors
and windows, instead of ask
ing the police to do it as
courtesy acts, that would let
the police patrol stay on the
move, which would stop the
biggest percentage of vandal
ism.
It stands to reason that
when those who are up to
mischief see the police park
ing and checking doors they
know when and where to
commit their acts.
What tax money is for, is
to give all the same police
protection. What I would like
to see for the benefit of every
one is an ordinance recog
nizing the private agency as
a special police agency, which
would cooperate with other
law enforcement agencies in
giving protection throughout
the county.
If anyone would like to
know more details, which I
am unable to state at the
present time, I would be glad
to answer by mail.
Ray Koch
Forest Green Detective
Agency, Box 425,
Medford.
Navy Seeks Candidates
For Aviation Program
Portland - The Navy recruit
ing office here has announced
it is seeking candidates for Na
val aviation. Two programs,
the Naval Aviation Cadet or
the Aviation Officer Candi
date, are offered.
Additional information may
be obtained from the Navy re
cruiting office in Medford.
and Contributors)
Then he spied a police
man's badge
Half-hid by bush-like cam
ouflage And saw the cashiers
through their wickets
Wearing some ungodly
thickets.
He knew at once this was
no crime,
Just Medford's celebra
tion time.
It's probably a good Ihing
Gold Hill Billy's stranger
didn't run into Bert Harr on
a dimly-lit street.
While in a versifying mood.
we should report on the epic
composed by a student in one
of our junior high schools,
who was assigned to write a
poem. He thought, and strain
ed, and agonized, and finally
came up with this:
Teacher gives us poems to
write.
Which should be against
the rule,
And though I've tried
with all my might
Mine sounds like I'm a
fool.
We note in an upstate pa
per that conceit is an unusu
al disease. It makes every
body sick but the guy who
has it.
Ila Grant, a columnist on
the Bend Bulletin (and a one
t i m e vacation replacement
staff member on the Mail Tri
bune), noted a little piece on
Sunday rides which appeared
on this page several days ago.
In nostalgic mood, she ex
pands on the subject, and we
quote:
But the Sunday ride nowa
days is not like the Sunday
ride I remember from my
childhood. Now, all too often,
the Sunday ride is a contest
in which a determined driver,
foot pressed hard on the ac
celerator, is out to collect
statistics. So many miles cov
ered in so much time, so
many miles to the gallon, and
always a definite destination.
The Sunday ride of yester
year was a leisurely, purpose
less excursion that filled in
the time between morning
church services and the early
evening Sunday dinner. Often
the route was through an
out-of-the-way farming dis
trict, and the most important
business'at hand was to count
the white horses grazing in
the fields. What do youngsters
count nowadays? Red convert
ibles? '
Years ago, the trip always
started with a stop at the
service station, as of course, .
it frequently does today. But
the service station 30 years
ago was like the old curiosity
shop. Those were the days
when a five-cent candy bar
was large enough to spoil
your appetite. And the candy
counter at the service station
was a tradition.
Often the service station
was just a gas pump in front
of a village general store.
And inside, there was every
thing from calico yardage to
lamp chimneys.
There were more flat tires
on those long-ago motoring
trips. No fun for Father, prob
ably, but wonderful for the
small fry. While the repairs
were being made, there was
time to wander away and picJc
wildflowers, shuffle through
the leaves or throw snowballs,
according to the season.
Not so much comfort then,
either. I remember the snug
ness, in winter, of the beaver
rug in the old touring car,
and the closed-in feeling im
parted by the snap-in side
curtains with their isinglass
windows.
You can believe this if
you want to. We are told
that woodpeckers helped
school district save money.
They had the habit of drop
ping nuts down between
the studs of a school build
ing wall, where they piled
up and piled up, eventually
forming an insulating bar
rier and saving the school
money for heating costs.
Spring is in the air. We saw
a bed of daffodills in bloom
the other day. The flowering
quince outside the window is
a mass of pink. Grass is be
ginning to get its healthy
green color again, and to
grow. A courJle of lawns in
our neighborhood have had
their first mowing already.
The students at Hoover
school have been watching
this ever-wondrous progress
of the seasons toward the
best of them all, and a num
ber of their comments are
printed in the school paper,
the Hoover HiLite. The one
we liked best was by Marily
McQueen, and it goes like this:
"Spring is coming. I like
spring. I like spring very
much. The flowers come out
-they are pretty. It is in
March. It came in like a lamb
and goes out like a lion. The
wind is in March. I like the
wind."