MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
Ford Coupe Hits Wabash Near
West Lebanon And Overturns In Eight Feet of Water.
Taken From the Williamsport Pioneer
April 21. 1922
Among the hair-breadth escapes from serious injury which grew out of the cyclonic escapes of Monday, one of the most miraculous was experienced by Charles Dick, a local young man. Mr. Dick had been in the vicinity of West Lebanon on Sunday night and had started for Williamsport about two o’clock, after the Monday morning storm had broken. He was driving north from West Lebanon in his Ford Coupe and was running as fast as the machine would go. As he approached the bridge across the small creek about a mile north of town he noticed quite a large body of water across the road. Thinking that it was just water that was standing in the road after the heavy rain, he did not slow up at drove into it at top speed.
There were two washouts at this place and a great body of water was running across the road. The first washout his machine jumped entirely and Charley did not know it was there until the next morning. When he came to the second washout, which was about nine or ten feet wide and probably ten feet deep, his front wheels jumped it all right, but the rear wheels caught on the north bank of the washout. The impact was so terrific that his machine was thrown into the air and turned one-half around, lighting wheels down and starting back towards West Lebanon. When the car lit, it skidded into about eight foot of water at the east side of the road and sank.
Just what to do for a little while was somewhat of a mystery to Charley. He said he was squirting water and blowing bubbles like a whale, and thoroughly realized unless he did something and did it quickly he would soon drown. About that time the top of his car raised out of the water until the glass in one side was partly out of the water. Charley saw that his only hope of getting air was to smash the glass which he did with one blow of his fist. He then poked his head out of the hole and his arm broke the rest of the glass. Through this opening he crawled out on top of the floating coupe, wet and cold but glad that he could breathe.
The night air was quite chilly to a man whose clothing was thoroughly soaked with water and Charley’s next thought was to get something around him to keep from taking cold. He thought of his overcoat in the car and reached in and fished it out of the car, together with his hat which he had lost in his scramble to save his life. There he sat on top of the floating coupe until daylight.
Finally a young man came down the road and with much effort Charley finally made him understand that he wanted a rope. But while the man was gone for a rope a telephone pole came floating by. One end of it hit the coupe which swung it around along side the car. Charley saw his first real opportunity to escape from his perilous chilly seat, so he climbed astride the pole and rode it to shore.
`He then started for Williamsport, catching a ride part way, but on account of the trees which had been blown across the road he and his companion were compelled to walk a good share of the distance. They got here (Williamsport) about six o’clock and Charley soon had some dry cloths on. A little later Van Reed’s service truck was sent down to get the coupe out of the pond. In taking the car out it was found it had been resting on the top of a wire fence, which probably accounts for it not sinking entirely below the surface of the water and which allowed Charley to make his escape. The car was full of mud and rubbish but was put in condition with a hose and several gallons of water and a little work by mechanics, and Charley seems little the worse of the wear now, although he says he is not hankering for another such experience. He declares that had his car jumped a foot farther he would have cleared the second washout and come on home safely. He also says that had he been driving slowly he would have tumbled off into the ten-foot washout topside down and drowned. It is probably that this is one incident when driving fast saved a life.
Whispering Willow
By: Willow
Trick Or Treat?
Long before October 31st was acknowledged as a time for kids and their merry making, the Druids celebrated the festival of Samhain (pronounced in Gaelic sow-an) or summer’s end to honor the dying sun. It was a season of prayer, and ritual. They believed that spirits of the dead of the past year walked. In the forth century Allhollows, a mass for Christian saints, supplanted these pagan ceremonies, and another six hundred years elapsed before the Druid celebration finally became All Souls’ Day ad the day of prayer departed.
Allhallows E’en, a night of pranks and fun in homes in the North Country was celebrated with many wholesome games. The roasted chestnuts, bobbed for apples and flung snakelike apple parings behind them to learn the initials of their future mates. This old folk practice was brought to the new world by our British ancestors, where generation of adolescents have observed them on the night that witches traditionally ride broomsticks and hobgoblins venture out.
But how did the practice of Trick or Treating start? During the Reformation Days there was an old English custom of ‘soul-caking". This was when singers went about on All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day, November 1 and 2nd, to beg for cakes in remembrance of the dead. Souler’s as the singers were called droned out their song repeatedly, tonelessly, and without pause or variation. Soul cakes and souling customs vary from country to country, but souling practices always flourished on the Welsh borders. In most places this custom is dying out. But in the small hamlets such as Cheshire, parts of the Midlands, and Lancashire sometimes you can still hear the chants of soulers chanting old rhymes such as: Soul! Soul! For an apple or two! If you have no apples, pears will do. If you have no pears, money will do, If you have no money, God Bless you!
In Ireland a chant would be something like this: Soul, Soul, a soul cake! I pray thee, good missus, a soul cake! One for Peter, two for Paul, three for him what made us all! Soul cakes, soul cake, please good missus, a soul cake. An apple, a plum, a peach, or a cherry, anything good will make us merry. One for Peter, one for Paul, and Three for him who made us all.
Sometimes if no fruit or soul cake was given then a prank was played on the villager. A rotten tomato, or egg thrown at the house. From this here in this country it evolved into free candy for the kids, dressed as their favorite mythical or fictional, or other character.
Halloween has always been a favorite of mine. When I lived in the city all my son's friends came to my house for me to do their costumes. I even had a Halloween tree. After the kids went trick or treating they would all come back to the house for a late snack and if parents agreed to pick up the kids they were allowed to stay until midnight when scary movies played on the VCR all night. I made finger sandwiches with rolled tortillas, and sausages, and red veggie punch made with tomatoes, and other veggies. I don’t remember the recipe. But on the recipe page of this paper there is a recipe for soul cakes. So have a safe and happy Halloween all you ghost, ghouls, and gobblins.
Be Blessed
Willow
Willows
Garden
By: Willow
Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. Wm. Wordsworth
We have used herbs for medicine, cooking, beauty aids, and crafts. But did you know they were once also used ( and in some cases still are) for hunting and fishing?
The Indians of the Great Lakes Region were among some of the finest hunters of North America. It is well known by hunters that deer carry their scent between the toes and whenever a the foot is impressed into the ground another animal or another deer can tell that deer has steps there. This scent was successfully duplicated by the Indians, with roots and herbs. The root of the Blue Wood Aster was one of nineteen that was used to make a smoke to attract the deer near enough to shoot it with the bow and arrow. It is said that white men drive the deer away when he smokes cigarettes or cigars, but the Indians bring them closer with their mixture. Other plants used to attract the deer are, large leaf Wild Aster, root smoked: Canada Fleabane, Philadelphia Fleabane, disk florets smoked and Swamp Persicaria, flowers smoked. Other roots, seeds, bark and flowers were used in mixtures for smoking to attract deer.
The sharpen their powers of observation, the Indian hunters drank a tea made of Heal-all root. For good luck they drank a tea made from dried leaves of the Pyrola, or carried the black stems of the maiden hair fern.
They also used botanicals for trapping and fishing. The root of the alternate-leaved Dogwood was boiled in water to make a wash for muskrat traps. This particular scent attracts the animal. The cool scents leaves of the Mountain Mint was used as traps to catch minks. A wash made from the roots of the Kidney Liverwort was used to attract other fur bearing animals. After the hunt the traps were boiled in water with maple bark to deodorize them so that the animal could not detect the scent of the last animal caught in the trap.
The sweet scented root s of the Calamus, mixed with the root of the Wild Sarsaparilla, were boiled in water to make a lure for fish. The nets were soaked in this decotion just before being used. It is said that the scent of this decotion was still on the nets after being in the water for many hours.
Be Blessed
Willow
RECIPE
Soul Cakes
6 Cups All Purpose Flour
½ Cup Sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
¼ Cup lukewarm water
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1 t. sugar
2 cups milk
2 t. salt
4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. nutmeg
Cream butter and sugar. Dissolve yeast in ½ cup lukewarm water to which a teaspoon of sugar has been added. Set aside. Scald milk and add to the creamed mixture. When cooled add yeast mixture and stir until thoroughly blended. Sift together flour, salt and spices, and add gradually to other ingredients, kneading into a soft dough. Set to rise in warm place in greased covered bowl.. When doubled in balk, shape into small round or oval buns. Brush tops with slightly beaten egg white. Bake in moderately hot oven (400 degrees) for 15 minutes. Drop temperature to 350 and bake until delicately browned and thoroughly done.
Recipe source: Feast Day Cakes from many Lands by Dorothy Gladys Spicer, Hot Rinehart, and Winston, 1960
According To
Big Al...
"Listen to what I mean... not what I say."
Dumb Animals - Ground Hogs
When Donna and I lived in Dyer, we had a mama ground hog who had a litter of 6 young. I don't know where they came from or where they lived, but I did know they were trouble. This came about just a day or two before we were scheduled to leave on our trip to Alaska on our '96 Gold Wing. I was bent on getting rid of the varmints, but Donna said "You can't kill them, they are so cute". I had to admit the little balls of fur were very cute, so I relented to Donna's request.
We were gone for a month with no one in the house. When we got back from our trip, there were cobwebs all over the inside of the house. You had the feeling that the house was abandoned . There was a gallon of milk we had left in the refrigerator and my twin girls who lived across the street from us at that time were supposed to come over and get it - well they didn't because they said the best to be used by date had expired. When we got it out of the refrigerator when we got back home, it was not soured the way milk is suppose to, but it was in a solid plastic-like condition. It made us wonder why we should be eating something like this. Donna was busy cleaning up the house while I was busy getting things unpacked from the Gold Wing and busy in the garage. As Donna was vacuuming in the bathroom, she noticed some sand behind the commode, but as she vacuumed it up, more came in from the small hole for the water inlet. She got me and made reference to the fact that she couldn't get the sand cleaned up. I begrudgingly came in the bathroom to see what she was talking about.
In our house in Dyer, there is a space between the kitchen wall and the bathroom wall of about 18 inches by 8 feet. It is where the plumbing and water pump was originally housed. It has access to the plumbing fixtures of the bath and kitchen. There is an access door located on the outside to get entry to this area. When I opened this access door to look into this area, what did I see? It was filled to about 2 foot high with sand! I called out to Donna, "Donna get your camera". Investigation revealed that those cute little balls of fur had undermined our house and were in need of some place to get rid of the sand they were evacuating. This happened to be in the access space in our house! They gained entry to this area in the opening around the drain for the tub. WHEN WE MOVED OUT - THEY MOVED IN!!!!!
Our first thought was to take pictures of this, which Donna did. Then I called our insurance agent. The bad news is there was no coverage for this kind of thing because the ground hog is a rodent. Checking around the outside of the house I found a hole where they gained access to our house. My first thought was to drive them out. After some thought I figured if I hooked up an hose to the motorcycle and ran it, the carbon monoxide were drive them out or suffocate them. This I tried but after running the bike for a while, the plastic hose I was using melted down and the ground hogs left out another exit they had. Two of their exits was under the deck on the side of the house. It was at this point that I decided it was time to get rid of these little intruders.
I got my single-shot 22 and laid on top of the roof. Mama came out and was looking around the back yard. When I got a clear shot, a bullet severed her spine and she died instantly. She was the first, now I had only 6 more to go. One by one I got them picked off from my perch on top of the house. One of them that I shot made it back under the deck.(This necessitated removing part of the deck). The more of the varmints I got, the smarter they got. When it was down to the last one, he would not come out until he heard me leave in "Big Red". When he heard me come home at night, he scurried back under our house. When Donna told me this, I was in amazement.
The next day I left in "Big Red", but I only went a couple of blocks and walked back to the house and took up my position on top of the house with my 22 rifle. Sure enough in a few minutes out comes the last of the ground hogs, very warily he stuck his head out from under the deck. Then he came out a little further, finally he came out a little further from the deck and while I had a bead on him, I whistled and he looked up just as I put a shot between his eyes and he fell over backwards with his front paws in the air as if to say "I give up".
After I made sure all of the hogs were accounted for, I filled in the holes with ammonia and dirt the best I could, but to this day I can't help but wonder where and how many voids are under the concrete slab of the house caused by these "Dumb" animals? I Know the next time we had varmints in or under our house Donna did not object to getting rid of them - such as the coons under our house where we live now -
but that's another story.
Big Al
PREPARE FOR WINTER
Ok you've checked the furnace, stormwindows, weather-stripping around the doors. You've chopped the wood, a stocked up the larder.
Are you done - are you all set for winter. What about your vehicle. Did you check your antifreeze, inspect and change your windshield wipers? Don't forget your engine oil, air pressure in your tires and how about the reliability of your battery. Vehicles are kept closed up in this kind of weather so better check your exhaust system while your at it. And one last thing about your vehicle, in the winter it is always best to keep the gas tank filled. You never know when you may be stranded on the side of the road and your only source of heat is your car heater.
Speaking of getting stranded now is the time to purchase a personal emergency kit or prepare one with what you already have handy. You may not think this is really necessary if you aren't traveling but take my word for it-you will thank yourself if you need it.
Your kit should include:
•first aid kit
•flashlight
•jumper cables
•screwdrivers
•adjustable wrench
•pliers
•duct/electrical tape
•tow rope
•funnels & extra fluids
such as oil, windshield fluid, & etc..
•flares
•reflectors
•shop towels
•candles & matches
•water
•snacks
•warm clothing
•blanket
•gloves & hat
•bag of sand or cat litter
•shovel
•ice scraper
•cell phone or CB
I know you think this is over kill, but if you have ever been stranded in the cold you wouldn't think so. I know!
Be Prepared,
Willow
TOWN CRIER
Your Community Events
WEST LEBANON -Community Clothing Room - Free Clothing. Nazarene Church 503 High Janet Booth 893-4989 Margo White - 762-6319.
WARREN COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: - meets the second Tuesday of every month at the Warren County LEDO office in Williamsport at 4:00pm. For more information call Jamie White at 762-6055. chamber@warrenadvantage.com
VEEDERSBURG - Food Pantry Operation Ministries (Church of God Ministry Center), 702 W. Second t. (765)294-5740. Food Pantry and Thrift Store Hours - Thursday & Friday 2-6 pm, Saturday, 9 - noon.
Fountain/Warren County - Fountain/Warren Co. VFW hold Bingo every Friday at 7pm., and AYCE Fish and Chicken Fry the 2nd Friday of each month from 4:30 - 6:30.
COVINGTON - Fountain County Clerks Building/Museum - Open May 1 until the last Saturday of October. Open 1:00 - 4:30
Special arrangements for special program can be made. Call Carol Freese 765-793-2710
COVINGTON - Covington United Methodist Women Fall Luncheon & Bake Sale - Friday, November 2nd.at 419 Washington St. at 11am to 1:30 pm. Menu - Chichen & Noodles, mashed potatoesm green beans, cranberry salad, assorted cakes, rolls & drinks Tickets - $6.50 adults - $2.00 children 6-12 no charge 5 & under. Advance tickets call the church 765-793-2007 - Millie Grogg 793-3422; Peggy Enos, 793-3441 or any UMW member. Tickets May also be purchased at the door. Eat in or Carry Out. Delivery can be madeavailable when purchasing tickets ( no drinks with carry out.) Noodles and homemade baked goods available in the fellowship hall.
CRYTOQUOTE
RVZTLFR
EXAMPLE
To sale the puzzle, one letter stands for another. As in the word "EXAMPLE" above "R" stands for "E". Sentence structure and grammar rules and sentence structure are another clue.
BX JXQGNPZQRDC NQ RM PNHZJRNXQ
XK CXVH PHZTLF. DNWZ RMZ DNKZ
CXV’WZ NLTBNQZP. -
MZQHC PTWNP RMXHZTV
Last Weeks Answer
A hearth of your own is worth gold.-- German Proverb
Here's a tip on this weeks puzzle: Z = E
