b PAGE 2, THE TOWNSMAN, Thursday. September 8, 1977 Bill Smiley= Vanishing traditions By BILL SMILEY You can’t hardly turn your back these days but one or ‘ other of our old traditions has either vanished or changed for the worse, This great thought came to me, for no known reason, as | was speeding down the highway the other day, wincing every time a big transport nearly blew me off the road, shouting op- probrium every time some punk in a sports car cut in front of me, emitting those’ vile noises reminiscent of a- bear with the dire rear, “You know, Bill,” I said to myself, querulously, “tone of these fine days, you won't be able to find a farmer who can drive a team of horses. Fixa - tractor, yes. Drive a bulldozer, likely. But’ not knowing the difference between ‘Haw’ and ‘Gee’.”” Well, this.thought, in its very profundity, made me sort of gloomy, and the gloom deepened as day after day came further evidence that our whole society, as you and I knew ii, Mabel, is disappearing behind our very — backs. I was saddened when | took my two grandboys out - to a local farm the other day, _ t© pick some corn and beans. Plunked them down between the rows of corn and they were bewildered. The littlest howled with terror of this alien corn. They'd never been on a farm before, and may t 2 Tather never be on one again. Quelle : dommage! [ must admit they weren't baffled for long. in five minutes, Nikov was lost in the corn patch, locatable only by the piping “] found a big one, Grandad!” and little _ Balind was sitting in the damp clay, happily picking and eating yellow beans. But I felt a twinge of pity for them, that they'll never ride on top of a load of hay, never get a squirt in the face of warm milk right from the . cow's teat, never have the fun of turning the handle of a separator, never see a farmer - sharpening a scythe on a grindstone, or a farmer’s wife beheading the chicken that was to be dinner. : I didn’t grow up on a farm, -but in that most pleasant of all places for a boy to grow, a small, tree- -lined town in old Ontario, with farms all around it. My uncle bought a farm just on the edge of town, and few of the aspects of farm life were _asecret-tome, It was a grand old place, - formerly ithe estate of a gentleman farmer of meats.- There must have -been 15 different outbuildings, mest of them dilapidation. There was a several fireplaces and even a butler’s pantry. Sort. of a run-down Jalna, but a great place fora boy to visit. “As it turned out, it was a lousy farm, and he lost a fair chunk of his shirt when he finally sold it and bought a ‘real farm. But for a romantic kid, who read a lot, going out. in a state of © huge old house, boasting. to the farm was the equivalent of visiting relatives who had come down ~ in the world a bit, but were still aristocrats, My uncle, a hardy old © Irishman who lived to be 94, bought a farm then on the _ other side of town, but it was || just a plain farm. lis great redeeming quality was ‘that -. on the bank of the river that flowed through il was fought —. , the last duel ever fought in - Canada, Many a time I searched the ground for - bullets. Some years later I | even took a girl down to that: river bank, probably hoping — . that the almosphere (the duel — was fought over a lady) might have some effect on: her, [tdidn’t, . Summertimes, before’ the Great Depression put an end ° to such Frivolities, we went to - -* a cottage up in Quebec, on a small, beautifullake. Just up the hill from the - lake were two farms, and | - spent many hours jumping in haymows, helping bring in the cattle, turning the . separator, helping to load 7 hay on the wagon, drinking from the dipper in the pail in the kitchen, and staying for supper and fresh blueberry pie, if ] could wangleit. At Belshers’ farm, the nearest, we got most of our grub, Fresh produce picked from the garden. Daily milk at 10 cents for a five-pound ; ‘ full, Un- honey pail Unhomogenized. pasteurized. Delicious. A couple of fat fowl... for Sunday dinner, if relatives came, and they did in droves, at 50 cents each. Unplucked. THUREDAY 386 4 Uneviscerated. Delicious. ’ Eges at 30 cents a dozen. Uncandled. - ‘Unsorted. Delicious. ° The Belshers- were - the nearest thing I ever -had ta grandparents, They were elderly , their own family grown and gone. Mr. Belsher - . was a huge, raw-boned mani with a magnificent moustache who could hit a . hen at 10 paces with a squirt of tobacco juice. He knew about kids, and let us fork hay, handle the reins, feed the chickens, and give a pail of milk to a greedy calf, a robust experience, — - . His wife was as-tiny as he was huge. Worn with toil, - deaf as a doorknob, sharp as ‘atack. And gentle, generous, warm, She knew perfectly well that small-boys do not ‘have stomachs,, bul bot- “tontless pits, The other farm was the - Kelly's, The name‘was right _ on. They were like something . straight from the-.old sod, — Maggie had pure white hair and the classic ‘features of a - Deirdre of the Sorrowgs, She was stuck with'a brother, Jim, who had the, worst stammer | have ever heard, He sounded retarded, but I think it was only the stammer, He loved kids, At Kellys’, we got drinking water and worms. They had a well of such pure, icy water it would shame champagne. - Behind the barn was a spot where we could always get worms, those skinny, red wrigglers ideal for catching - speckled trout. No charge for water or worms, Today's - farmer would want ‘50 cents for a pail of water and a. dollar for a dozen worms. We never bought much at Kellys’. 1 think Maggie was too proud to sell to the summer people. But she let us play with the lambs and - feed the pigs. Perhaps we were the only children she ever had, She never petted us or played with us. She was taciturn, almost grim; But once in a while the piercing blue eyes softened into something like the -nearest should come toa grin, Ah, my poor grandboys, . back to their home in the city. Noise, heat,. ‘smog, violence, confusion. Ah, fleeting years. What wouldn't I give to be 10 years ald, digging worms beneath the manure behind Kellys’ barn! - © The Argyle Syndicate Ltd. Cuckoo's Nest HOLLYWOOD = (Reuter) Among the sons and daughters" _ of stars attempting to establish successful movie, careers, Mi- ‘chael Douglas, son of, actor Kirk Douglas, is oné é of: the few. _to hit the jackpot. :. SEATTLE TODAY ROMPER ROOM HERE'S LUCY © KAREENS YOGA PRICE 1S RIGHT WHEEL OF FORTUNE FRIENDLY GIANT JEAN CANNEM SHOW ITS ANYBODYS GUESS MR. DRESSUP DEFINITION LOVEOF LIF& SHOOT FOR THE STARS SESAME STREET FIRST IMPRESSIONS - YOUNG & THE RESTLESS CHICO & THE MAN HOT HANDS SEARCH FOR TOMORROW HOLLYWOOD SQUARES BOB MCLEAN SHOW EYEWITNESS NEWS DAYS OF OUR LIVES AS THE WORLD TURNS “WILD KINGDOM THE DOCTORS DEATH VALLEY DAYS * A DOLL’S HOUSE” GUIDING LIGHT ANOTHER WORLO RYAN'S HOPE EQGE OF NIGHT ALL IN THE FAMILY MATCH GAME ‘ THE 3 O'CLOCK MOVIE TAKE THIRTY “RIDING HIGH’ CELEBRITY COOKS TO BE ANNOUNCED SEASAME STREET ONE NTHN. SUMMER NBC NIGHTLY NEWS KLAHANIE MISTER ROGER PRE+SEASON FOOTBALL - TBA NEWS olw ELECTRIC COMPANY ZOOM SHOWCASE ‘Ty - ONCE UPON A CLASSIC — "THE LAST SURVIVORS! THE E MACNEILLEHRER WODEHOUSE PLAYHOUSE UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS HALL OF FAME AWARDS BARNEY MILLER MASH ° THE JOYRIDE.. ‘FIVE STAR MOVIE RHINEMANN EXCHANGE ~@ [Gal Gof “a] “a &] ol os Jee faa fac | acl sedas Deo Sol ole BEHIND CLOSED fooRs SPECIAL “CINDERELLA LIBERTY” ‘INSIDE THE CUCKOO'S Nest : TENNIS HIGHLIGHTS HOJUAK _ Douglas, 32, onetime star of the television series The Streets of San Francisca, has achieved fame as an actor and is even more successful as a producer, having the seventh most-profit- able movie ever—One Flew. - , "Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Today that picture, winner of all the top Academy awards in 1976, has made $175 million, of which: $86 million is profit. Douglas will not disclose his percentage of the profit. The . film's. distributor, United -Art- ists, will only say that he gels a a “sizeable hunk.” The. voung Douglas - says. “Everyone came off very well. Hopefully my children and grandchildren will be okay for the rest of their lives.” -. PERSUADED FATHER . . Douglas stumbled on this bo- nanza when he persuaded: his father, who had held the movie rights since acting in the Broad- way play of Cuckoo in 1963, to let him have a crack at produe- ing it. Hollyw ood assumed that ~ Douglas would give up acting for the ‘more profitable career J of producer. He seemed ta con- firm these reports when | he withdrew from’ The- Streets of San Francisco before the police: series ended. Bul Douglas now says he never intended to leave acting: permanently. He has just ac- cepted a role as a doctor-in the thrtler., Coma. abbut .-botlids being kept for spare parts,mi a hospital. . “LT like to act,” he said.ic-an. ‘interview, “But people assime it’s the lowest role on tlie: coren pole and that if you've $e. ceeded as a producer, the thing you'd want to do is act. ci He says he prefers) movie roles ‘to television. “You have More time and better’ mate- rial." But he admits that tele- vision is the better medium for getting oneself known.