SUNDAY.
WEDFORDw.TRIBUNI
"Lveryuna id Southern Oregon
Published bally except Saturday
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An Independent Newspaper
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Medford. Oreuon under Act 01
March 3. 1887
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Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from Ihe files of The
Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
and 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
Fab. 26, 1951 (Monday)
Influenza and colds contln.
ued to cut into attendance at
Medford and Central Point
grade schools today, particu
larly among the younger chil
dren. I
. A total of 450 persons from
five counties registered here
today for a one-day regional
conference on children and
youth. ' ,' .
20 YEARS AGO '
Feb,, 26, 1941 (Wednesday)
Jacksonville. High's Red
skins won their way into the
state class B basketball tour
nament last night by dumping
Merrill High Huskies 35 to 30.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "There
Is considerable speculation
among the natives, as to when
'the' war and the legislature
will end, if ever." ' ,
30 YEARS AGO
Feb. 26, 1931 (Thursday)
Medford has received $85,.
' 000; for post office improve,
ments. .
Fire last night destroyed
the : Fir-Pine box factory on
Chestnut st.
40 YEARS AGO
Feb. 26, 1921 (Saturday)
The lumber freight rates
from Medford ' have been re
adjusted to conform with
lumber rates in Klamath Falls
and Weed.
Stephen T. Mather, direc
tor of national p a r k s, has
pledged support "for the local
movement to preserve Jack
son' county scenery.
SO YEARS AGO
Feb. 26, 1911 (Sunday)
P. J. O'Gara, government
pathologist, '.has forecast
good pear crop for this year,
noting that conditions are
ideal.
The Industrial program for
Medford during 1911 includes
construction work amounting
to several million dollars.
V toil's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct is superior.'
even ei eight is eicalltnt) rive
lie Is flood.
1. Who Is the President of
France?
2. What is the law-making
body of France called?
3. One of the Central Re
publics docs not border on
the Caribbean Sea; name it.
4. What are the names of
the four phases of the moon?
5. Is Bagdad the capital of
Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq?
6. Does (he Dominion of
Canada pay taxes to the Brit
ish Government?
7. Correct the following
sentence: "The economic
structure has been effected
by World War II."
8. Who holds the long
throw record in baseball,
which Is 340, 395, or 445 feet?
9. Did the Army, Navy or
Air Force receive the larger
appropriation for the 1958
fiscal year? .. ..
10. Which state had the
largest percentage population
Increase between 1940 and
1950?
Answers: General Charles
de Gaulle. 2, National Assem
bly. 3. EI Salvador. 4. New
Moon. First Quarter. Full
Moon. Last Quarter. 5. Iraq.
S. No. 7." has been affect
ed ". (. Son Crate (Minn.
Millers)! 445 feet, 9. Air Force.
10. California. -
FttlHUARJ- 26. 1961
Attention, Poets
With a certain amount of trepidation, we an
nounce the start of a new Mail Tribune feature.
It is a "Poets Corner," and the first issue can
be found across the way
regularly appear on bundays, 11 all goes well.
Our trepidation stems
newspapers which have
ing, it would appear, can
a woman scorned, unless it is a poet whose work
is rejected.
TOR THAT reason, our previous policy has been
to accept no "serious" verse, and to publish in
"Communications" only light-hearted and occa
sionally humorous pieces on timely topics. We
did not wish to place ourself in the position of be
ing a judge of poetry on its merits.
Now, however, we have found a man with
sufficient background and ability, not to say
courage, to undertake sorting the wheat from the
chaff, the sheep from the goats, and the poets
from the versifiers.
We found him in the person of Arnold Eugene
Jenny, a recent arrival in the valley, who soon
will take up residence at Rogue Valley Manor.
LIE HAS undertaken the responsibility of
screening all serious verse submitted to the
Mail Tribune for consideration, and for selecting
the poems which he feels
He will have a completely free hand in mak
ing his selections. Depending on circumstances
and his judgment, they
classics, or little-known
submitted for publication. We hope that a suffi
cient number or works
gory will be received to
Those wishing to submit poems for Mr. Jen
ny's consideration should keep them relatively
short up to about 80 short Jines or half as many
long lines (space is a consideration).
DOEMS submitted should, if possible, be type-
written, double-spaced, and on one side of the
paper only.
They should have some real merit as poetry,
technically as well as to
ment, not just anything
words.
They may be addressed to "The Poets Cor
ner, Mail Tribune, 66 North Fir st., Medlord.
They will then be forwarded to Mr. Jenny for his
decision. All serious submissions will be acknowl
edged, and rejected works returned.
Mr. Jenny hopes that
column can be varied from week to week, and
that the subject matter can be wide without undue
empnasis on any single
tTU"E WILL continue to accept non-serious verse
" for publication in the Communications col
umn. If it is of sufficient
be forwarded to Mr. Jenny tor consideration. ,
In any event, his decision will be conclusive
with regard to poems to be published in the poets
corner. . . .
This is, very frankly, an experiment. We have
been warned against it by editorial colleagues
who have attempted it before. ,
But we hope that it will prove to be an inter
esting addition to the Sunday: issue of the Mail
Tribune, and that it may serve as an outlet to
those to whom poetry is a serious means of dis
ciplined self-expression.
It will be continued so long as it is accepted,
so long as the problems involved do not become
insuperable, and so long as Mr. Jenny's good na
ture and willingness persist. E.A.
Substitute for an Auto
In recent days, our "Communications" column
has contained two letters one of them advocat
ing the use of bicycles by high school students;
the other approving bicycles, but also advocating
the use of an even more traditional means of loco
motion : Shank's mare. -,
Both suggestions came as a result of informa
tion to the effect that physical fitness and aca
demic ratings of students suffer from the overuse
of automobiles.
In advocacy of these points of view, we are
able to present a personal report direct from the
University of Oregon campus, as the result of a
recent visit.
DECAUSE of restrictions against indiscriminate
use of cars at the University, students now:
A. Walk.
B. Ride bicycles. x -
This change in a way of life has been accom
plished without a great deal of furore. It is even
possible, we discovered, to ride a bicycle with a
certain decorous eclat.
The same flair can be achieved when walking,
it has been discovered among the student cog
noscenti, by the use of the umbrella.
THE umbrella is a terrible instrument in the
Vtanrla n-P a woman nn u winrlv vnimr rlav
But a black one, tightly rolled a la Neville
Chamberlain, swung in a properly jaunty man
ner, or carried aslant across the shoulder, can do
much for a young man's morale.
1 It's almost as good as a swagger stick in the
hands of a Marine colonel or a Coldstream
Guardsman.
And what a fine substitute for an automobile !
E.A. .
on Page 5, where it will
from the experience of
published poetry. Noth
compare with the fury of
merit publication.
may include familiar
works, or original poems
of merit in the last cate
justify the column.
subject matter and treat
versified," in Mr. Jenny's
the content of the poetry
topic. '-..,
merit, it may, however,
Dennis the Menace
' I 6EEM wn'to tell Doey WHAT amkbs ah airplane
WORK, you WANNA EXPLAIN KfcAW&V
Matter of Fact. ByJo,ePh
"ADVENTUROUS AND
CAUTIOUS"
Paris-One of the dividends
of getting married is a flood
of letters of friendly congratu
lation. If you
have passed
the previous
three decades
as an inter
mittently rov
ing reporter,
fur thermore,
the letters
come from all
over the world
Alsop and from peo.
pie of all sorts and condi
tions. :
In this reporter's case, the
accident of timing transform
ed this flood into a test of
the first foreign response to
the Kennedy administration.
Some letters in fact seemed
to be written with.' congratu
lation as a mere pretext,- and
with the real purpose of ex
pressing a strong political
emotion provoked by a great
change in America to an in
terested American.
From an important policy
maker of a major Western na
tion for instance, came a near
ly full length essay on "the
great satisfaction I derive
from the prospect of your
country at; last playing the
part which its qualities have
fitted it to play" To .this the
writer added:
"Although as you know I
am inclined by nature to
avoid taking a very serious
view, I feel twice as confi
dent about the future with
your new leaders in the sad
dle. The , Inaugural address
was not just a masterpiece;
it also showed the first signs
of greatness and vision that
have been seen on our side
for many years.",
pROM a senior statesman in
a key neutral country there
came another letter on the
same note, welcoming "the
fresh wind of youth blowing
full blast" In Washington.
"Even in this remote and
not easily moved part of the
world," this man remarked
almost wonderingly, "people
feel brighter and more hope
ful. The longing for Ameri
can leadership has been such
everyhere."
Such were not untypical re
actions to the new Presi
dent's stirring debut and in
particular to the Inaugural
address (which was even read
aloud in chapel at the French
convent attended by this re
porter's step-daughter). It was
extra interesting, therefore,
to come abroad Just now.
when this first fine frenzy of
excitement Is being replaced
by a more mature judgment
of Kennedy-in-action.
The standard set by the de
but is clearly going to be very
hard to live up to, as is prov
en, for Instance, by the
French response to the choice
of Gen. James Gavin as Am
bassador to Paris. The new
Ambassador, after all. is one
of the leading Americans of
his generation-an authentic
hero, a man of great charm,
and above all a man of pro
found and original intelli
gence. Yet there has been
just a little grumbling here
hecause Gavin is not fluent in
Frcnch-whlch suggests the
expectation of all but unearth
ly perfection.
TECAUSE of this high start
" ing-standard, there has cer
tainly been some letdown
abroad since the Inauguration.
The current attitude of the
intelligent man in the street
Is to wait and see, but with
considerable optimism and a
refreshing readiness to give
the new American govern
ment the benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile opinion Is already
beginning to crystallize among
the most significant group of
professionals, the leaders and
officials of the other western
governments.
The best summary of the
(rend In this group was prob-
MEDt'ORD
Alsop
ably to be found in an article
in the London "Times" about
President Kennedy's plans
for future dealings with Ni
kita S. Khrushchev. "The ap
proach,"; said "The Times,"
"is both adventurous and cau
tious. There can be no doubt
about its realism."
Behind this judgment,
there are several different,
interacting factors. There is
deep relief because of the
cessation of diplomacy-by-gesture
accompanied by loud
moralistic pronouncements
about the wickedness of "the
world Communist conspira
cy." This particular American
diplomatic style, while effec
tive for domestic-political pur
pose, long ago wore out its
welcome among the Allies. '
.
THHERE is deep relief, too, be-
JL
cause a President of the
United States has again taken
personal, direct charge of the
affairs of the Western alli
ance. The long meetings with
State Department and" other
experts at the White House
have conveyed the Impression,
of a careful hand constantly
on the tiller of the storm
tossed ship of the West. And
this impression has been rein
forced by the careful concur
rent consultations with the
French, British, and other Al
lied governments.
Altogether, the beginning
has been very good indeed de
spite the slight let down. The
former hunger for a renewal
of vigorous American leader
ship can be deduced from the
two letters quoted abqve.
This' hunger had become a
painful, absolutely general
phenomenon, in all the West
ern capitals, long before New
Year's day of 1961.
President Kennedy's debut
was acclaimed with genuine
emotion, precisely because it
held out the hope that the
hunger for leadership would
at last be satisfied. The hope
has not been discouraged by
the mingled "adventurous
cautious" style of his first
attempts to get to grips with
the appalling problems he has
inherited. In short he has a
glittering opportunity to en
ergize the Western alliance.
But in the end, very obvious
ly, he will be coolly judged
by the hard, practical results
of his exploitation of this op
portunity. Copyright 1961, New York
Herald Tribune Inc.
Sevareid Senses American Renaissance
By ERIC SEVAREID
In a week of mobile re
discovery of ihe American
interior this reporter has had
talks with
hundreds of
students,
teachers and
administrators
in private and
public colleges
of a half-dozen
states, and the
process has
Drod u c e d a
levareta dawning real
ization that the United States
is undergoing a profound sea-
change in its community life.
It is not only that the fi
nancial and facilities prob
lems of the universities are,
commanding incessant atten
tion from the President down
to the rawest and newest of
the state legislators; it is not
only that the post-sputnik
struggle to raise intellectual
stnndards is conscientiously
continuing and in places al
ready producing measurable
results; it is not only that
the passion for higher educa
tion seems universal and is
going to make the generality
of American citizens perhaps
the most reasoned and re
sponsible mass society history
has known.
It is all this but more. For
one thing, it seems to me, the
local college or university in
a great number of citiea ii be
MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD,
Today & Tomorrow
By Walter
FEDERAL AID
TO EDUCATION
Despite Senator Goldwater,
who has just declared that
Federal aid to education is
"unconiti
tutional," the
p r a c t ice of
Federal aid is
in fact older
than the con
s t i tution. As
early as the
Land: Ordi
nance of 1785.
the Confeder-
Llppmann ation provided
that the 16th section of each
township or one-thirty-sixth
of the acreage in the public
land states should be granted
to the states by the national
government for the benefit of
the common schools. -
Ever since the Federal un
ion was established it has
been giving aid to education
in a large variety of ways,
and it is sheer deception to
declare that what has always
been done is "unconstitution
al.", While Federal aid has been
given since the founding of
the nation, what has never
been done has been to set up
Federal control of education.
It is indeed quite contrary to
American principles and prac
tices for the Federal govern
ment to control what is taught
in the public schools, how it
is taught, who teaches it. The
control of education is re
served to the states, and no
one engaged in the present dis
cussion is proposing to tamper
with that principle. The Ken
nedy program is unequivocal
and scrupulous in reserving
to the states the control of
education.
Thus in the proposed con
tribution to public elemen
tary and secondary schools.
the Kennedy program leaves
it to each state to -decide
whether the Federal contri
bution shall be used to build
schools or to raise teacher
salaries. The loan program
for college housing and for
academic facilities is operat
ed by local initiative. The
four-year program for schol
arships is to be "state-admin
istered."
VUHY, then, with such' care-
fill rPStlPPt fni- etulae
rights, Is it necessary to bring
in the Federal government at
all?
The answer is that the num
ber of children and youths
who have to be educated has
outgrown the resources which
can be raised in a very large
number of the states. The
American nation can quite
well afford to educate all
its young at least at the level
of the most advanced states,
for example, California.
It is nonsense to argue that
the United States is too poor
to educate its children. But
it is not educating them prop
erly, and almost certainly it
cannot and will not do so if
the whole task of raising the
necessary funds is left to the
50 state legislatures and the
local school districts.
Here Is the essence of the
Kennedy program. It has
nothing to do with the con
trol of education. It does not
propose to have the Federal
government pay all the costs,
supplanting the states and
local cities. It does propose to
supplement state and local
coming the central, the dem
inant and characterizing as
pect of the community's life.
It is still a struggle in many
states to get sufficient funds
from hard-pressed, rural dom
inated legislatures. But the
old divisions and antipathies
are dying away - those be
tween "town and gown,"
those between the business
men and the professors. No
longer is the "city club," pri
vate haven of the financially
powerful, the true repository
of community authority and
respect. Not any more does a
professor invited within those
precincts feel ill at east. Not
any more does the "hard fist
ed business man" feel bellig
erently alien in the company
of those he once thought of as
"visionary theoreticians."
Never before has the
"downtown press" paid such
informed and Imaginative at
tention to the local classroom
and laboratory as a rich
source of exciting "hard"
news. The college is no longer
simply a traditional, respect
ed adornment for occasions
of official local pride and
Chamber of Commerce bro
chures. The colleges have en
tered into the' daily life of
the cities and states and they
into the daily life of the col
lcgcs in a degree remarkable
to one whose memories of col
lege life were fashioned in
the thirties.
ORE.
lippmann
funds with a comparatively
small contribution.
THIS supplementary support
- has become necessary be
cause of the spectacular in
crease in the school popula
tion which began after the
second World War and seems
certain to continue for the
next ten years.
The cost of educating this
growing number of children
is rising and will continue to
rise, according to the esti
mates of the highly reliable
and conservative Committee
on Economic Development.
Even if prices remain con
stant, even if educational
standards are not raised, the
costs per pupil will rise by
almost half during the '60s.
For teacher salaries will have
to rise in order to .keep pace
with earnings in other profes
sions. A larger part of the
pupils will be in high schools,
where the cost per pupil is
much higher than in the ele
mentary schools.
As against this, state and
local taxes are, as Beardsley
Ruml put it, encountering
stiffer resistance. As tax bur
dens become heavier, the rec
onciliation of opposing views
about taxes becomes increas
ingly difficult. One reason for
the slower growth of state and
local revenues is the neces
sary reliance of those govern
ments, especially the locali
ties, upon the property tax.
The smaller geographic units
of government are forced to
rely upon immobile tax
bases which cannot move to
other jurisdictions to escape
taxation. Although the fiscal
capacity of the states is not
quite so limited as that of the
localities, the political organ
ization of many states does
not permit adequate use of
state financial resources to
supplement the v resources of
the localities. Urban areas are
under-represented in the gov
ernments of most states. The
rural - dominated legislatures
will not enact the statewide
taxes necessary to support the
higher educational costs and
aspirations of the urban
areas.
It is entirely unrealistic po
litically, Ruml insisted, to ex
pect to achieve a major break
through in American public
education by operating one at
a time upon the 45,000 school
districts, or even upon the 50
state legislatures.
,
TN ALL this we must not fall
into the mistake of'thinking
that this is a proposal to tax
the rich, and supposedly more
public spirited, states, for the
benefit of the poorer and less
energetic states. The truth is
that the poorer states are on
the whole making a greater
effort to support their schools
than are the richer states.
Thus there are 31 states with
an income-per school child
which is below the national
average. Yet they are spend
ing 3.6 per cent of their per
sonal income on schools,
whereas the 18 richer states
spend only 2.75 per cent. The
richer states can afford better
schools with less personal sac
rifices. .
In advocating a larger use
of the Federal power to raise
money for education, the Ad
ministration is dealing not
with some fancy theory but
with the hard practical fiscal
problems of the states and the
localities. Those who oppose
the program in principle have
almost certainly not under
stood the problem.
Copyright 1961, New York
Herald Tribune Inc.
It is not only the flowering
of the scientific revolution
and the consequent need of
corporations for the school
and vice versa that has done
this. Bad as so much of our
secondary school preparation
indubitably is, one senses a
slowly gathering contagion of
the excitements of the intel
lect in the middle and lower
middle levels of our economic
strata, in spite of the honky
tonk vulgarities that afflu
ence has smeared across our
landscape and our surface.
.
It is all .this and yet more.
American intellectual isola
tionism and provincialism
(long exaggerated by Euro
peans persuaded that Europe
was the world's center) van
ishes like April snow as thou
sands of faculty people go
abroad each year on their
various grants for foreign
study, as more thousands of
students make serious sum
mer pilgrimages overseas, and
as hundreds of distinguished
foreign intellectuals settle
into American colleges as
"scholars in residence."
Something else is happen
ing. It seems to me highly
probable that the flourishing
of the universities is rectify
ing the sad geographical im
balance in the intellectual and
artistic life of our country.
There was a time, for ex
ample, when Chicago and
San Francisco were distinct
IPOTLUCCC
(By M-T Staff and Contributors)
Last week, be it noted, Pot
luck was absent from this
space for reasons which are
of no particular importance
. But, do you know what? It
was MISSED.
At least TWO people told
us so. And, at the same time,
we also have evidence that
our readership has risen from
7 to 9 - at least - not count
ing members of the Potluck
editor's, family, who have to
read it or run the risk of his
going into a pout. -
This increased readership
is gratifying. So is the list of
our contributors and cor
respondents. Here is onet
Potluck, you have one
more reader than you thought
you had - I missed your col
umn last Sunday! Matter, of
fact, I've intended to write for
weeks to let you know that I
turn to that page first on Sun
day mornings - even before
the funny paper or Olive
Starcher's column or the always-interesting
first page of
the Society section. Maybe
you're running short of ma
terial for Potluck?
"After watching 'Edge of
Night soap opera Wednesday
afternoon, in which Sara Karr
(the heroine) died a dramatic
death, I turned with tongue
in cheek Wednesday evening
to the obituaries in the Trib
une. Maybe a mention of this
dramatic event would be more
fitting in the Potluck section?
I'm sure there were hundreds
of tearful women in front of
their television sets that after
noon. To my amazement, I
often hear otherwise sensible
and even educated women
'catching up' on the current
happenings of 'Mike and Sara'
after missing a few programs.
"Don't you DARE use my
name or initials - my story at
home is that I NEVER watch
soap operas during the after
noon!" Your secret ie safe with
us, ma'am. We wouldn't let
on who you ar-e for the
world although we may
get calls from a dosen or so
husbands who suspect you
may be THEIR wife. Inci
dentally, we understand
that a substantial percent
age of the feminine students
at MHS showed up at school
somewhat red-eyed Thurs
day. Last week was Washing
ton's hirthdav. and another of
our readers (who also re
quested anonymity - a request
we hasten to observe) sent us
a story for the occasion.
It seems that a, small coun
try boy, a vigorous and im
pulsive little chap, had to pass
the family privy every day
going and coming from school.
On Feb. 22, on his way to
chnnl hp could not resist a
long-time impulse, and pushed
it over, and it went tumonng
down the hill. He skipped
mv mounted the school bus,
and continued to school.
That afternoon when he got
home, his father was waiting.
"Son," said the father, "did
you push the privy down the
hill today?"
Thp hnv rpmemherinff what
he'd learned in school that day
about the nattier of nis coun
try, replied, "Father, I can
not tell a lie. I DID push it
down the hill." ,
, "Son," said the father, "I m
going to whip you."
literary centers and "schools."
In this sense they atrophied
as New York more and more
sucked in the bright new tal
ents in writing, in the thea
ter, in the visual arts. This
trend to centralize monopoly
has been equally true in
France and England, with
Paris and London the centers
for everything fresh and new.
Only in Germany, with
Berlin shattered and its writ
ers and artists and actors and
painters scattered to Munich
and Hamburg and Dusscldorf,
have we s e e n a large-scale
movement toward regional
redistribution in this genera
tion. I have a feeling now that
this can happen in America
and is beginning to happen.
It is the universities with
their own new theaters and
orchestras, their "writers in
residence" and their vigorous
local painters that will bring
this about and restore creative
adventure in the vast inter
ior stretches of the land.
It may not be "regional
ism" in the end products of
the new creativity; that dqcs
not matter so very much. In
all Its forms, the enduring art
is universal art, and it is a
universal America that we
witness now, flourishing be
fore our eyes.
(Distributed 1961 by The
Hall Syndicate. Inc.)
(All Rights Reserved.)
' "But Dad," said the boy,("I
told the truth, just like George
Washington did. And he did
n't get whipped for chopping
down the cherry tree!!" ,
"Yes, son," was the reply,
"but George's father wasn't
in the tree at the time."
Now why do you suppose
she didn't want her name
used?
It must be nearly spring.
Not only did Katherine
Chapman (Mrs. Hornbrook)
tell us about the heron's ar
riving at their nests near the
cemetery there (the poor
things got blown out in Fri
day's storm), but we saw a
daffodil in bloom the other
day.
The grass is losing its winter-time
drab brownness.
A willow tree, the weeping
variety, is showing traces of
green all along the long,
drooping switches.
And one of the more vig
orous young men in the office
mowed his lawn on his day
off last week,
Joke:
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Richard Milhous."
"Richard Milhous who?"
End of joke.
(Sounds partisan to us.)
And here's another one wo
got in the mail the other day:
"LETTER TO THE EDI
TOR: "Please cancel my subscrip.
tlon,
"I cannot stand description
"And there's a spelling er
ror on page six.
"You say you give the news
"But you don't follow up
my views
"And the metaphors you
use are quite a mix. .
"Suggested editor's note:
"Just for once I'd like some
praising
"Couched in sentimental
phrasing
"And a chance to dump my
critics in the Styx.,
"For I'm tired to death of
carping
"And my errors ever harp.
ing-
"And Iwish you were for
ever in my fix."
r '.'
We didn't follow orders
and cancel her subscription,
because if we had, we
might have lost another Pot
luck reader. Beside, it was
labeled "just for fun."
Whew!! We're going to re
member that editor's note,
though. Might come in
handy some day.
Ever hear that the news
papers print "slanted" news?
We have. And, looking at two
of the Portland newspapers
last week, we began to won
der all over again.
Each carried a story, almost
identical (although from dif
ferent press services) about
the Kennedy family's personal
staff pledging not to write
about what went on in the
privacy of the household.
The Oregonian's headline
said: ,
"Kennedys
"Ask Privacy"
The Journal's said:
' "JFK's Staff
" 'Muzzled' "
See what we mean? Honor)
to the Oregonian on that one.
Oh, and if anyone wonders
what the M-T headline said, it
was "JFK's Personal Staff
Pledged To Keep Secrets."
OK?
. i
We heard a story (a true
one) about a dog whose sell
ing price suddenly went
way, way up. It goes like
this:
A Medford man and his
wife were sleeping quietly
one morning not too long ago.
Unknown to them, a cigarette,
dropped by the wife when she
fell asleep the night before,
had smouldered all night long
on the box springs below the
mattress.
The room was full of smoke,
but both slept on, oblivious.
The next thing they knew,
their dog, a collie, was whin
ing and pawing at the wife's
leg. (Later it proved to be
rather badly bruised and
scratched.)
She awoke slowly, and
shook her husband. He opened
his eyes, but both of them
had breathed in so much
smoke ' they were groggy.
They believe that in another
few minutes, neither could
have awakened.
' They got out of bed. He
opened a window to let the
smoke out, and as the air
blew into the room, the mat
tress burst into flames. They
dragged it into the yard and
doused it with a hose.
"And you know," he told
us later, "the price of that
dog went up tb about a mil
lion dollars right then."