STRAY NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 704, 3 February 1922, Page 5

STRAY NOTES.

(By “Don Quixote.”) There aie pigs on the green; a most interesting series of letters have recently been appearing in the “Times” on the subject of pig styes, still, whoever is in the right of it, they are smelly things at the best. I objecting to what one writer termed /the “pig odour,’’ put down a concrete floor and had a water standard and hose handy, and realy removed the “pig odour” altogether, but two of the best pigs were found lying “cold and very stil” one morning, and a fellow farmer pointed out, it was only what was to he expected, as the more filthy and smelly the stye, the healthier the inhabitants would be, and drew attention to the dead pigs in proof of his assertion.

Newspaper controversy is a tricky business. I always avoid i,t myself if possible. It seems to me the man who does not “write” but reads the lucubrations of others, gets all the fun, and we “l’eaders” have enjoyed the little episode, and I hope it won’t be long before some other “delicate” question arises, requiring ventilation in the “Times.”

When one considers the merits of the various writers, all seem worthy of prizes. Like the Caucus race in “Alice in Wonderland,” our editor for his emphaic declaration, that the correspondence column of the “Times” is and will be open to all, irrespective of place and person. Mr Dynes Fulton for the magnificent “civic spirit’’ he showed. I like a man who is sensitive fob the honour and well being of the district in which his lines are cast, and is not afraid jto say so, and then “Retired’s” logic, well there is no getting past that. As long as it is a definite fact, that twice two are four. And “Pore,” with his delicate .touch and subtle reference to the “blasphemous’,, but why take exception, Port ? Did not the immortal “Humty Dumpty” say, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither moqe or less.” Ah, well, what a comfort it is that out of the editorial arena we can all be very good friends

Next please. The editor has assured us his correspondence columns are open. Let us perpend my friends and decide what we shall deal with next. These little zephyrs that cool the over-heated biosphere of the strenuous days in which we live a lie good for us all. It gives us something else to think about besides the cheapness of but-ter-fat and the price of mutton and wool.

Now how about “rats.’’ They are a serious consideration these days, with their grievous propensity for decimating humanity. By means of the plague germs they harbour. A bad smell is a very unpleasant and objectionable thing, and you may develop diptheria or tynhoid fever; from it, but please God between us and evil fifty per cent, of the * cases are fatal. Oh far a “Pied Piper” to charm them with his weird music, as in the good old days, when fairy tales were true. Who would lure the vast army of pernicious vermin into some city destructor, and we could be done once and for all with them. No more would they gambol at night on the ceiling boards over our heads, rudely arousing us from (the Arms of Morpheus., where we cuddle down sc* snugly.. No more would our wall papers he wantonly gnawed by theiil sbarD teeth, and our flour and oun candles would once more he immune,* as in the days after the “Pied Piper’’! of Hamlin town had piped his magic/ tune. I fear me that some deaf lady = rat. did not bear the mystic round, and so escaped to once more fill the world with her progeny..

Yes, we country people must be up and doing. The the war of extermination is waged on the rodents in our towns he sooner will the rats seek fields and pastures new, and pay us country people a visit, and theivs where there is so much cover and space he can develop and distribute tbe germs of every ill that flesh is heir to, and live and die in peace and quietness. For all we could do to exterminate them if once they arrived in sufficient numbers, so I would suggest that we get an early start, so that visiting rats dropping in on country cousins will not) return to fhmr town friends to report “all clear.”