TON A — PAGE 2
“More Than A Newspaper, A Community Institution
Now In Its 71st Year”
Se VIED
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Member Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association
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~
Cunt
) A non.partisan, liberal progressive newspaper pub-
_ lished every Thursday morning at the Dallas Post plant,
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Single copies at a rate of 10c each, can. be obtained every
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Shavertown—Evans Drug Store, Hall’s Drug Store; Trucksville—
Gregory’s Store, Trucksville Drugs; Idetown—Cave’s Store: Har-
veys Leke—Marie’s Store; Sweet ‘Valley—Adams Grocery;
Lehman—Moore’s Store; Noxen—Scouten’s Store; Shawanese—
Puterbaugh’s Store: Fernbrook—Bogdon’s Store, Bunney’s Store
Orchard Farm Restaurant. :
. Editor and Publisher—HOWARD W. RISLEY
; Associate Publisher—ROBERT F. BACHMAN
Associate Editors—MYRA ZEISER RISLEY MRS T. M. B. HICKS
Sports—JAMES LOHMAN
Advertising—TOUISE C. MARKS
Aes Photographs—JAMES KOZEMCHAK
! Circulation—DORIS MALLIN
Editorially Speaking:
IE DALLAS POST Established 1889
A World Of Distractions
So If Here is erly yo which describes the condition
nder which we and all civilized peoples li it 1
the word “Distraction.” SE i
This is a common enough word, but it has wide and
significant meanings. For one thing, the dictionary tells
us, 1t means a drawing off or diversion of the mind. It
means confusion and perplexity. Then, at the far end of
the spectrum, it means aberration, frinzy, even madness.
We have a plentitude of distractions these days. . The
cold war goes on and on, ever-broadening, with no end in
sight. The world’s eyes were recently riveted on an un-
A .. precedented meeting of chiefs of state at ‘the United
Nations in New York where, literally, one well-aimed rifle
shot could have marked the beginning of World War III.
We have Just gone through a political campaign of unique
intensity, in which the decision was agonizingly close. We
have witnessed a reign of terror in Africa which reads like
a chapter from the Dark Ages. We have seen the estab-
lishment of what amounts to a Communist-dominated
state a few miles from the Southeastern tip of this nation.
And—in a single year—some 40 new countries with their
own flags, parliaments, aspirations, and latent and un-
kown powers, have come into being. .
On top of all this, we have our deep and passionate
controversies at home—as to what should be done in such
diverse fields as education, medical eare for the old and
indigent, the production of electric power in the nuclear
. age and; above all, the proper role of government in order-
ing and directing the lives of the people.
So “Distraction” is the symbolic word. Our minds
are torn in a hundred fragments. The problem has been
compounded to an enormous degree by magical progress
in the arts of communication, visual and verbal. In a
matter of seconds, some event taking place half a world
away ig made known to us, in words and pictures. In a
matter of hours, we ourselves can physically travel half
a world away from our homes.
* It is no wonder that, living as we must in this turmoil.
it becomes, as the old French proverb has it, more and
more difficult to see the forest because of the trees. Funda-
mentals become dim and may even be lost beneath the
cruel and blinding light of changing and threatening i
events. :
But some things do not change. That is what we,
because of our heritage and because of our inescapable
position as leader of a free world confronted by a slave
- world which wants to destroy us, cannot afford to forget.
The question is: What is it all for, this spending of
almost unimaginable resources of energy and treasure on
a scale never before so much as anproximated in history?
Why may we be asked, as a people, for personal, material
sacrifices greater than any we have yet known.
There is a simple answer—that we must defend our-
selves and our friends among the nations acainst the
forces of darkness which are our enemies. But that is
not the whole answer by any means.
The real answer is that we are doing this—if it is to
have any real and permanent meaning at all—in order to
preserve the best and oldest ideal that history knows,
which is freedom. Freedom means many things. It
means a high degree of personal responsibility and pride,
in which one cares for himself and his family without look-
ing to government for aid unless no other avenue is open.
It means, in the fine old sense of the phrase, a govern-
ment which is the servant and never the master of thé
people. It means that leadership and national purpose
come from the people and are not imposed upon them from
above. It means a deep spiritual belief that every man
is important, as a person and an entity—and that men in
the mass can never be allowed to submerge the individual,
and make him a number among faceless millions of num-__
bers,
Whatever we have done, are doing, or must do, will
be worth everv necessarv cost if this ideal is kept bright
. and chining before us. But if we lose it—if we allow the
individual to become a nowerless. driven pawn in a game
played by rulers—everything worth-while will be lost too.
— a —
There’s room to burn in one of our two newest states,
but the other is a bit on the crowded side. According to
the Census Bureau, the population of Alaska averages
out to less than half a person per square mile of land
area—0.4 to be exact. Hawaii, on the other hand, has
96.8 people per square mile. And it is exceeded by Cali-
, fornia, with a population density of 99.2. |
SUCCESSFUL
INVESTING...
by ROGER E. SPEAR
Investment Advisor and Analyst
Tax Matters Demand
Specialists Attention
Q. “Will you please explain
about tax loss selling?” R. C.
A. This is a timely question with
the end of another tax year almost
upon us. Unfortunately it also re-
quires a complex answer not per-
mitted in this brief column where I
can only scratch the surface of your
problem. In essence, the advantage
of selling at a loss is based on pro-
visions - of the Internal Revenue
Code, which allow an investor to
off set capital losses against capital
gains, For example, assume you have
sold a stock at a profit during the
current year and own another cur-
rently selling lower than your
original purchase price. You could
sell this latter security before
December 21 and deduct the net
loss from your previcus profit. In
this way you lower the amount on
which your capital gains tax is
based.
Also, if you sell a stock at a loss
without any other realized capital
gains, you can sometimes deduct up
to $1,000 of this loss from your
regular income for tax purposes.
However, many other factors can
influence your decision about taking
a tax loss, including the length of
time the security has been held and
the recovery prospects of the stock.
I would rarely sell a basically
strong stock for the sole purpose of
reporting a loss. The best advice I
can give you on this and all other
tax matters is to consult an expert
in this specialized field.
Q. “I am interested in your
opinion of Central and Southwest,
which I have owned for eight years,
and Metal and Termit.” R. S.
A. Central and Southwest, a
very fast growth utility holding
company, has almost quadrupled in
price since you purchased the
shares. Further growth seems as-
sured and a dividend increase is
likely early mext year. Hold. Metal
and Thermit, which detins scrap |)
metal, has done little in recent
years. This is a good company in a
field with limited prospects and I
would dispose of these shares.
(Copyright 1960, General Features
Corp.)
| Looking at
| 1-V
With GEORGE A. and
EDITH ANN BURKE
Pay Television is something that
has been in the talking stage for
years, ‘Within the next month pay-
TV. will be in existence in Hartford,
Connecticut, where 300,000 set
owners ‘will get their chance to
watch — and pay for — a daily
schedule of telecast without com-
mercials. The experiment will prob-
ably continue for three years.
Price — the average price of a
program will be $1, but some special
events may cost as much as $3.50 or
as little as 25 cents. The programs
will include Broadway plays, cur-
rent motion pictures, operas, bal-
lets, - symphonies, and sporting
events,
In setting the prices, the Hart-
ford sponsors will be operating in
the unknown. Until a number of
months pass, no one can predict
how many viewers are willing to
pay ®and how often or for which
programs.
Payment by the Hartford viewer
will be made a month later. He will
receive a program guide listing the
programs and channels. No two
pay-TV programs will be scheduled
at the same time. When he wants
to watch, all he does is set his
decorder and tune in on the right
channel. At the end of the month
he will strip off the tape and he
will have a record of his listening
times and the prices. He then mails
a check to Hartford Phonevision.
Different Systems — In pay-TV
two different systems can be wused.
One is based on transmission by
wire. In the wire system programs
are sent over coaxial cable strung
along telephone poles or through
conduits and eventually through
drop-off wires into each subscriber’s
home.
The other system is used with
conventional broadcasting over the
‘| regular air waves. But the pro-
gram is sent out scrambled and
each viewer has a decorder at-
tached to his personal television set.
The decorder type will be used in
the Hartford experiment.
Results So Far — Pay-TV has
been tried in Canada. Last Febru-
ary in the Toronto suburb of Etobi-
coke, an area with about 12,000
homes 6,000 homes were wired. It
was decided that this would be a
pay-as-you-see program, so a little
electronic gadget was installed with
a collection box on each tv set.
Every time the owner wanted to
watch a show he dropped the neces-
sary coins into the box.
Though the programs have been
mostly of movies the average
family has been spending more
than $2 a week.
Commericals may not disappear
with pay-TV. Last April the adver-
tising agency of Young and Rubi-
cam held a survey of their own.
Representives were sent to the
| (Canadian town for viewers reaction.
Among the question asked was how
they would feel about commercials
on pay-television if the price of the
”*
I the taxpayer is in a complete daze.
THE DALLAS POST, THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1961
Rambling Around
By The Oldtimer — D. A, Waters
:
Now is the time for all good men
and women to come to the aid of
their Uncle Sam: pay your income
tax. And if you were on the short
end of the recent election, do not
start to rant about the Democrats.
You are paying for the period of
those economical Republicans. They
were so out of practice during the
twenty years of Roosevelt and Tru-
man and two wars that the best
they could do was to run up a deficit
of twelve billion or so. The pie in
the sky days are still ahead. You
have not seen anything yet.
The income tax forms form - the
best puzzle since the Book of
Daniel, maybe twenty-five hundred
years ago. They are filled with “who
must,” how to,” options, claims, ex-
emptions, deductions, figuring, de-
tailed, joint, relationships, depen-
dents, rounding, excess, withheld,
inclusions, exclusions, reporting,
methods, computations, tables, cred-
its, balances, income, adjustments,
gains and losses, declarations, bring
forward to and from, estimates,
actually, summary, general and
special rules, depreciation, ete. until
A serious proposal has been ad-
vanced to put the college courses in
higher mathematics and accounting
back in high schools so that high
school graduates may be competent
to prepare an income tax form. The
colleges would have to discontinue
such degrees and in lieu thereof the
Internal Revenue Service and De-
partment of Health, Education; and
Welfare would jointly confer
degrees. Single men and spinsters
under age 65 (not claiming to be
head of a family), upon successfully
filing a report under government
supervision, without outside assis-
tance, would receive a degree of
Bachelor of Redus Tapus. Husband
and wife, living together throughout
the entire calendar year, would rate
a degree Master of Hocus Pocus;
with children and/or other specified
dependents, Cum Laude; with com-
pany expense accounts Magna Cum
Avenues
BY CREWS
Laude. Five successive successful
filings would award a degree of Ph.
D. in Fabulous Fakery. Other spin-
sters, divorcees of - either sex, and |
widows, the nearest
degree With Baloney.
But we seem to be getting away
from the tax forms. That is the
main trouble with income tax busi-
ness. It is hard to stick to and easy
to put off. First get busy on your
options and look over the list of
forms (to be accompanied by appro-
priate attachments as specified and
supported by indicated schedules),
taking note of the special forms
supplied for farmers and others. Do
not try to stretch your luck on the
first item. We recently had an
argument with a business woman
who avoided declaring special in-
come by the simple expedient of
using the shortest form which had
no place for it. Sooner or later she
will get caught.
Then do not get too smart. When
the income tax first came out a
young woman of our acquaintance,
single, living at home, practically no
expenses laughed all others to scorn
by, year after year, bragging that
she was smart enough to get away
without any taxes. This was before
withholding was thought of. After
about six years she was suddenly
called to the Wilkes-Barre postoffice
where a revenue man spoke some-
thing like this, “Young lady, we
know you are very young and inex-
perienced, and maybe not too bright,
but you should have asked for some
appropriate
assistance before. making up these
incorrect reports. You have made
numerous violations of the law, but
in view of your youth and inexper-
ience, we do not desire to be hard
with you. We figure you owe taxes
for every year as stated on these
forms. If this tax is paid to me at
this office not later than next Tues-
day we will close the matter.” She
paid it, with interest and penalties.
Now lets get busy and make up
the reports.
Xe,
fe
of =
Ingratitude
The last of seven sons had married and was leaving the home
of his parents to make a home of his own. The old folks were now
to be left alone in the house which had resounded with the shouts
and laughter of happy children, had seen them, one by one, go away
to college, had watched them mature into fine, healthy, self-reliant
men. It had been the scene of many happy weddings, had witnessed
their departure from the loving embrace out into the turbulent
world—into avenues of varied business activities.
The old folks had worked, and through great sacrifice had given
each son the benefit of a college education. If there could be the
slightest criticism in the children’s raising, it might be said that the
parents had been somewhat over-indulgent with them.
But now they were alone with their memories. The years of
sacrifice had reduced their financial position to one of very meager
proportion. No longer were they able to keep up their former pros-
perous appearance. The old home needed painting; the grounds
showed signs of neglect. The little contributions which previously
filtered in from the children had somehow grown less and less until
they had stopped altogether. e
Being an old friend of the family, I dropped in one evening to
see them. The occasion happened to be their fiftieth wedding anni-
versary. Other friends had called to offer congratulations. I listened
to a glowing account of the success of the children—some living
near and others at distant points. I expected to see some of them
but I looked in vain. Seven full grown and prosperous sons were so
engrossed in their own affairs that they could not honor their old
father and mother upon their fiftieth wedding anniversary. To be
sure, there were letters of regret—even one had remembered to send
a shawl to the mother and a can of tobacco to the father.
I remembered the years of patient, unselfish devotion to duty,
of sacrifice and denial on the part of those parents. And I can never
erase from my memory the sight of that grand old couple smiling
through their tears as they turned the pages of the family album
excusing, as best they could, the absence of their loved ones on this
of all occasions. ; }
ool left their home that night with a heavy heart thinking of the
ingratitude that is possible in the human breast. I could not find
the slightest excuse for such cruel neglect on the part of children
who had been so well provided for; had become successful and had
left the old folks to shift for themselves when the sunset of life was
that Westerns and children shows
already beginning to fade bn the horizon Truly, h i
example of the old saying, tbe
“A father can support seven sons, but
seven sons cannot support one father.”
Shavertown P.T.A. Set
For Monday Evening
John Zerbe, executive dizeetor of
the Playground and Recreational
Association of Wyoming Valley,
programs were reduced; a majority
said they would not object to ad-
vertising before and after the pro-
grams, but they would strongly ob-
ject to interruptions for com-
mericials. :
Opponents — All the networks
have protested that pay-television
would be taking “free air” from the
public. Movie theatres claim they
would suffer if first-run movies
were available to a home audience.
Proven Successful the networks
will go into pay-TV themselves.
R.C.A. has taken out a patent for
a pay-TV system. The network
contends that if pay-TV becomes
profitable, it will drive free TV out
of the picture because pay-TV will
be able to bid higher for all the big
attractions — the comedians, the
major sport. events and the spec-
taculars. The only time the public
could see and enjoy free-TV would
be in the daytime. It is generally
felt that women would not be will-
ing to pay for daytime shows, so
these shows would be paid for by
commercials, It is also thought
might fall into this category.
Movie Industry as opposed to the
movie theatres would not be hurt
by pay-TV. With a captured, pay-
.
ng home audiences it would have
n= audience than ever.
will speak on the “Playground and
Recreational Potentials of the Back
Mountain Area” at the meeting of
Shavertown PTA Monday evening
8:30. Teachers will be in their
class rooms for conference at 8 p.m. |
Fourth grade mothers will serve
with Mrs. Johnson Meyers, Mrs. Leo
Kelley and Mrs. Norman Cooper
acting as hostesses.
And I Quote. . .
“Some people’s idea of celebrating
the holidays is to have a Christmas
they'll never forget and a New
Year's Eve they can’t remember.”—
Maurice Seitter.
“A cold is both positive and
negative: sometimes the eyes have
it and gometimes the nose.”’—Wil-
liam Lyons Phelps,
SAFETY VALVE
DOGS
Dear Editor:
Fishermen and
leave your dogs at home when
coming to the lake.
For the past ten days I have seen
a little black dog coming from the
vicinity of Javer’s store.
He enters the lake and crosses it
and in about twenty minutes he
goes back,
Some day he wont’ get back!
Please watch your dog.
Mrs. H. 8. Johnson,
Pole 98,
Harveys Lake, Pa.
skaters, please
=
YESTERDAY
IT HAPPENED 30 YEARS AGO
“In the fourth local robbery within
two weeks, Noxen Post Office was
looted of $65. Recently, William
Boice of Tunkhannock, was held up
not dar from the covered bridge at
Orcutt’s Grove. At Kunkle, John
Isaac's store was entered, the cash
register opened, and $35 stolen.
And Ralph Hess lost ten fine chick-
ens to hen-house thieves.
Frank Randall, 62, Fernbrook,
sustained a fractured leg when
struck by a car driven by Henry
Love; 19, Dallas RD 3.
Russell Hauser, Shavertown, suf-
fered concussion in a coasting acci-
dent.
Dallas Borough Council appointed
Wesley Daddow street commission-
er, succeeding Theodore Snyder. No
appointment was made to fill the
vacancy caused by resignation of
police officer Edward Avery. State
police may be obtained in an emer-
gency by calling Wyoming Barracks.
Dorey Kitchen, 45, coasting on the
Franklin Street hill in Shavertown
with two other men, crashed into a
truck belonging to Mountain Springs
Ice Company. Three splinters of
bone were removed in an operation
on his skull at Nesbitt Hospital. Mr.
Kitchen had warned his children
about the dangers of crossing the
Jighvay while sledding.
The Dallas Post calls attention to
dangers of coasting, asking for some
sort of protection at crossings.
Several people have been injured.
&” Shrimp, 15 cents per can; milk,
3 tall cans, 22 cents; peanut butter,
1 pound pail, 19 cents; coffee, 23c
per lb.; ice cream at Evans Phar-
macy, 39 cents per quart.
Gerdon Shook, out in Noxen, is
advertising overshoes and boots in
all sizes. Be prepared.
First National Bank of Dallas
| shows $610,988.22 resources.
IT HAPPENED 20 YEARS AGO:
|Y Cement has been poured on the
overpass to Fernbrook. When .com-
pleted, this bridge will eliminate a
traffic hazard. Banks Construction
Co. is going ahead with relocation
of the Kunkle-Beaumont stretch.
Paul Stoner says much of the re-
| must be done during the
winter months, recalling’ trouble
with quicksand last summer.
for purchase of uniforms costing
$6.75 apiece for the Dallas High
School band. £ :
Roger: Clark, son of the late Gran-
‘ville Clark, was elected a director
of Luzerne National Bank, replacing
his father.
Dallas Post Office may get second
class rating. ' Business increase puts
it on the eligible list. .
drawing a lot of attention from
young and old alike. He is going
to leave it standing until February. 1.
¥ War may delay construction of the
Lake highway, plans for which are
about to go to the bidders. - Origi-
nally planned to be built this sum-
mer, work may be postponed in
favor of key defense highways.
accidents.
Arrest of two Scranton men seems
to have solved a series of 140 rural
robberies in stores and gas stations.
# Borough Council has approved a
$35,000 drainage project, WPA spon-
sored, for installation of street
improvements on Spring, Franklin,
Lehman, and Center Hill.
Mrs. Dora Montross, 70, was
buried from the home of her son,
Bert, in Noxen.
Mrs. Frances Renard, strong sup-
porter of the move to establish an
Episcopal mission in the Back Moun-
tain, died at her home in Dallas.
Announcement has been made of
the marriage of Doris Bevans to
Ernest Whipp.
Howard DeRemer and his Texas
bride, Laureta Roark, were married
December 22.
The Townsend Club will meet at
Center Moreland grange hall.
AND 10 YEARS AGO:
The brass bell from a Lehigh
Valley engine swings in the Prince
of Peace belfry.
L. L. Richardson has been elected
president of Rural Building and Loan
Association, succeeding Albert G.
Groblewski of Trucksville.
First National Bank of Dallas
reached a peak of approximately 4
million in November. Announcement
was made by W. B. Jeter at the
annual stockholders meeting. Ralph
Brickel ‘was elected to fill the
i i caused by resignation of
liam Neely from the board of
directors.
Kenneth Hughes, 4, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Thomas Hughes, Trucks-
ville, fractured his skull in a coast-
ing accident. An emergency opera-
tion was performed to remove a
splinter of bone.
Earl Craig, 60, Courtdale, died of
pneumonia.
Kingston Township school board
anticipates increased tax load of
$10,299 if 100 pupils from the new
housing development of Meadow-
crest enter school.
~“Chris Eipper makes a brisk come-
back to Doctor L. E. Jordan's pub-
lished view on school jointure. Mr.
Eipper is agin it.
Mrs. David Morgan has joined the
State Department of Welfare, to
work on rehabilitation of the blind.
Wf Two liquor licenses have beem
suspended at Harveys Lake: John
Nothoff and Mae Brennan,
Fred Welsh's Christmas tree. is
Icy highways are causing many.
N/ Many gifts are swelling the fund |
From
~
who inquire for Chi Chi.
It had never occurred to
to the back room. ;
After paying several doctor’s bills for nipped fingers, we came WE
- to the conclusion that Chi Chi was not creating good ‘customer
relations.
Now she is in her element, where the noise of the presses i
Sa STN i
I am surprised at the number of persons coming info our office
: ‘me that anybody would miss her—for’ i
it was her constant scolding of strangers that motivated our moving.
drowns out her screeches and where her cage is far enough removed
to prevent any mischievous nipping of tweed coats, silk scarves
exploring fingers. : : ad
We've learned to our sorrow that you can never count on a
or
monkey. Today she may he as loving as a kitten, tomorrow she may
be huffing and puffing at her best: friend—and when she huffs and
puffs’ there is no way of stopping her—except
abruptly and walking away! :
Under ‘ordinary circumstances, I can do most anything
her—and she will sit for hours on my shoulder—while I read a
book or fall asleep as she gently inspects every hair. of my head
with her inquiring fingers. Generally we get along just fine; but it
wasn’t that way at Christmas! 5
The fire went out at The Post and something had to be done
to keep Chi Chi from freezing to death. So at midnight I persuaded:
her to come out of her chilly nest. She rubbed her eyes sleepily,
yawned, stretched and finally consented to crawl under my jacket;
where I buttoned her in for the frigid trip up Lehman avenue,
Only her chain was exposed to the frosty air, and when I touched
by turning our back
it, it stuck momentarily. to my hand. Once she stuck her inquisitive
head out between the buttons of my coat. She quickly withdrew
it and ‘cuddled closer to my shirt. You couldn't have asked for a
more lovable pet! = EA a pk Sind a
But, ‘once in our warm, brightly-lighted kitchen, my troubles
began! What the Devil do you do with a monkey on a winter mid-
night, when you have no cage and the rest of the family is un-
sympathetically in bed? 7
No one who has never seen our office on
Chi has slipped out of her cage can appreciate the predicament I
was in. Just where do you tether a monkey who is mortally afraid
of dogs, when you have a blind setter-spaniel sleeping in the kitchen; =
a Doberman in the cellar, a Boxer in the living room two Tom ca
on the enclosed back porch, and an unsuspecting parakeet dozing
on his perch in the dining room! This was the coldest night of the
year!
There are eleven rooms in our house—twelve if you count the
storage room off the kitchen—and in the last twenty years Myra
has covered every window sill, mantle, chest, sideboard, bureag {
desk, book case, hall rack, television, marble top table, radiator a
vacant space with a piece of antique colored glass gathered from
the Library Auction or Ray Shiber’s. Only with a monkey on his
shoulder and no place to tether it will a man ever appreciate how
much glass there is in the world! : indy 5
So that explains why I slept with a monkey under the covers on
the coldest night of the year. fas |
a morning after Chi
i
Pillar To
To Post . = of
That's what I get for bringing a mamma cat, with kitten, back i
from Virginia with me. at Christmas time.
Club land on me with claws extended and feathers ruffled, but a
neighborhood Tom comes parading around the premises, emitting
seductive noises in the watches of the night and causing impris- |
oned Grey-Lady to respond with a quavering yowl.
And that's not all . . . the ex-favorite, the odd locking little white -
kitten with the stroobly fur, nudging in for a comforting nip, draws
down nothing more nourishing than a hiss, and a push in the puss
from an armed paw. =. Bors eC : .
March 17 used to be the day when we always expected kittens,
and it looks very much as if this year might run true to form.
-
The Tom is doubtless somebody's pet. © A jaundiced summing !
up of the situation leads to the inevitable conclusion:
There isn’t much you con do about untrammeled nature. Bu
it would be. helpful-if favors were distributed with more equality,
and some of the yowling located ‘on: the doorstep belonging to the
Tom, thus passing around the fringe benefits. : :
It is discouraging to the birds to have a faithful suitor twitch-
ing his tail directly beneath the feeder, and gazing aloft with drip-
ping jaws at such times as he is not peering hopefully through the
screen door. i Ss {
- Grey-Lady gets let. out only when the birds are not feeding,
with prison walls closing about her’ early in the morning, at noon,
and an hour before dusk. = 3
The Tom has become a fixture.
but he is luxuriously large, with a plumed tail and long guard hairs.
His moustache gives him a rakish air.. It is difficult to tell whether
he has recently dipped his muzzle into.a saucer of lentil soup, or
whether the color is natural instead of a dye job.
He has been subjected for the past few days to an intermittent
barrage of decayed onions, ex-potatoes, and small sticks of kindling
wood, which he eludes with practiced ease. Out of range, he seats
- himself on a snow bank, grooms his whiskers, and exudes forgive-
ness. : :
Not only does the Bird
At midnight, when it does him no good at all; he resumes his
TE
it
}
He is not precisely beautiful, i
serenade. And down in the basement there is an antiphonal chorus,
punctuated by a wounded soprano mew from a puzzled kitten.
Only a week ago, Mamma made a pendulum of her tail'so that
her child could bat it with a small white paw. She invited her
kitten to snuggle close to her on the couch. She drew back so that,
her kitten could have undisturbed possession of the food dish. ®
And now everything is changed.
“
§
ginia, and at once.
Christmas holidays.
But if this cold spell should
no doubt about it . . .
tails. -
nothing of a comforting nature.
“Kittens ?
replied, quoting Mehitabel.
A cautious telephone call to Virginia Sunday night netted me
“What'll I do about those kittens?” I inquired.
What kittens?” the bland voice at the other end
(See Archie the Cockroach.)
There must be some way of getting those felines back to Vir-
If only the weather would let up.
‘After all, they are here only on a lend-lease basis, a convenient
port in the storm while the family took off for Kentucky for the §
It was never intended to be a permanent arrangement. i
extend itself into March, there is !
t we'd have some very funny looking kittens,
doubtless adorned with moustaches, and wearing luxuriant plumed |
THE LAND OF MAKE-BELIEVE
by Edna Drabick Johnson
We live in the land of Make-Believe,
My little girl and I.
It keeps me thinking all the while
To give the right reply.
Sometimes I'm a Grandma to
‘‘dollies” dear,
And must talk in a Grandma's
way; :
And then we're sailors, brave and
bald,
At sea on a different day.
Oh how I hope, each moment I'll
hold ;
As a thing so precious and rare,
For some day this little girl of mine
Will grow up and no longer be
there.
I'll forget the housework, the bits of
dust, }
Put aside the cares of the day,
Poet's Comer
wondrous land ;
With my girl, and a heart that
can play. gy :
THE LISTENING POST ig
Weather Report Footnote
When wearing furs the thought
occurs, 7 8
Had Eve lived in the neighborhood,
Adam might have fetched an axe,
Foregoing fruit for firewood. ;
I hesitate to speculate,
Had Eden been this latitude
With Adam forced to fend for fuel,
He might have earned our grati-
“tude. 0 2
With time not much for sin and
such, :
The father of the human race ;
Had been too busy chopping wood
To think of falling on his face.
Leisure brings a mixt reward—
And return once more to that
Apt to reveal a flaming sword. 7 Rr.
: ar Co —~Carrie Atydd
ARF TER Rar
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