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Lookirr and Listenin' .4// Aboard! ^ By DOROTHY D. FREAS | I . Y s A current news story speaks of the renovation of the ( Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line railroad station in Cape (May. The location is the building across Lafayette s Street, from the Acme parking lot Half a century ago, on Sunday afternoons in the sum- | mer, from all the area around Cape May, cars converged t on what is now the Acme lot to take their guests ( usually t "down from Philadelphia for the weekend") to the train. \ Standing there waiting, we looked across Washington Street, but there was no Victorian Towers on that corner. t We saw a popular food market there, with a metal awning t over the sidewalk. The Acme store was a little north of that and. later, during war times, it housed the U.S.O. on i the second floor. • E QUITE A SMALL crowd had gathered on the platform, \ as the train rolled slowly in, the huffing engine stopping t near Washington Street. People slowly turned toward the train, saying their farewells to those left on the ground- t level as they climbed up the steps. j With a great waving of hands, those left behind watched j the train back out of the station. A few miles from the ^ Cape May station, a "wye" in the tracks allowed the train g to back in, and as switches were thrown, the big engine £ came back to the main line and with the cars of the train behind it headed for points north and west. a The tracks of the Atlantic City Railroad as the above t line was known earlier, ran parallel and very close to the West Jersey and Seashore R.R., south of the Rio Grande r Station. In the early days of the century, races between e the trains were not unknown along that section of the t tracks into Cape May. «■». 1 A MERGER of the Millville and .Glassboro R.R. and of the Cape May and Millville R.R. lines became, in 1896, the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad. The very earliest Cape May Station, about 1863, was on Jackson Street — present site of the new Wawa Store. About 13 years later, a handsome station was built at Grant Avenue and the beach. This extension was used only during the summer months for the years that rail travel to vacation resorts was the most popular way to arrive — bag and baggage. (ED. NOTE: Dorothy Freas writes from Villas.)

Give Average Man a Choice Whence cometh the authority for changes in fashions? c Is there a super Board of Directors made up of the leaders ( of each segment of the industry who meet periodically to issue an edict like, "Make them narrower" or "Make < them wider?" I We are all captives of such an authority and periodically < most of us are deprived of our constitutional right to choose new clothes, ties, or hats that are right for our in- f dividual taste and/or stature. True, the rich can have anything custom made and s others may find second-hand things in thrift shops, but s why not give the average man a choice? r The last time we had both styles and were free of the t broad or narrow edict makers was in the mid-20's when i we had "cake eaters" who liked things narrow, and < "collegians" who liked it broad. This was not entirely satisfactory because it was ac- t companied by a certain class consciousness and was not i related tb what was best suited to an indivudal. Free t choice might work a hardship on haberdashery by enlarging their stocks, but maybe this would be balanced by the i fact that they, too, would no longer betfaced with the panic J of change. We are growing close to one of these super power edicts « m as we currently witness fashions neither broad nor nar- > row. Right now we are almost average and everyone t seems to look a little better that way. « Let's all resist a return to the extremes which this I writer predicts will next be narrow. He bought a very expensive pair of trousers recently and two new belts would '<■ not fit the loops. The haberdasher did provide some ready- £ made belt loops from excess material from alterations, r but observed they could not very well be expected to sew * them in place. r This is the last time he'll bend to change. Let's all of us ( revolt aga^pst the edict masters. v (ED. NOTE: George Scattergood writes from Avalon .) '

/ I Garden No Bargain, But / * Good for Your Nerves

By CLAW: CAMPBELL * Remember the old poem that said "A garden is a lovesome thing9" That's for sure. Our garden keeps us sane and happy Out theft;, digging injhe earth, planting radishes' — one seed at a time, staking the tomatoes — well, while we're doing that, we are calm and at peace. We forget the leaky Aigot. the hole in the window screen, the phone bill, rne Vaseline glass dish that got broken this morning. We forget all our worries and frets .and have fun. \ SOME FOLKS don't ever grow anything. They claim •hey can buy their vegetables cheaper than they can raise them. True, if you count every item you have to buy: seeds, plant food, hoes and rakes and fencing and lime for the peas and peppers. Looking at the list of expenses, a garden is not a bargain far as actual money goes. But the old saw "You can't buy happiness is true," and those of us who do grow things know that, stacked beside the benefits of having one's own crops, the joy of seeing things grow is worth a lot more than the dimes and dollars put into them. A GARDEN IS GOOD for your nerves. You can't hurry the unfolding oi the cabbage leaves, nor the swelling of the You do your part, planting, tending and waiting It's the waiting that really calms you down. Each mornyou rush out to see what's cracked the ground — what a thrill when the fat pumpkin leaves push up — and the warm breeze waves the corn spears and the wrens are tuned up andrfwell, everything is "right with the world." There are si) many momentary pleasures, and momen they surely are. But a garden keeps right on giving its blessing, never boring you and never disappointing Oh well, sometimes a thing or two doesn't produce as we hope it will, but a true gardener winks at these little garden tragedies and alwayirsajts. "Well, next year I'll do few things different." HAVING A GARDEN and taking care of itis like having pet dog, and everybody who owns a dog will understand that! One reward of a garden is that it makes you aware of „ many things you never noticed before You observe that every cQcumber's tendrils wind in the same direction and that a watermelon vine welcomes weeds to shade it. You learn that tomatoes will not grow well if an oak tree is

near by; so you plant them elsewhere You do not cut the tree down. One lovely day we found a Killdeer's nest in our garden They build on the ground and line their nest with stones That year we made a detour, of course, and when friends said. "Why is your squash row so crooked when all the rest are nice and straight9" we proudh showed them the nest. NOW AND THEN we see a Fishhawk circling, and yesterday there were Martins darting overhead Nobody who grows a garden sees just the plants There are dividends; butterflies, ladybugs, bees, birds. Johnny jump-ups that come overnight where we never planted them, dew drops on the strawberries — all sorts of glories that we didn't have to buy and that we probably don't deserve, but we worship all these treasures and thank God for them. (ED. NOTE: Clare Campbell writes from Ocean View.) vRx

Art Subsidies (From Page 70) occupation, and income groups " The Australian economists. C.D. Throsby and G.A Withers, claim that "when attending a concert or play in New York." London, or Sydney, you are likely to be sitting among a group of people whose financial status, education, and occupation are strikingly similiar." THEY ALSO REPORT that these people are more in of arts subsidies than the people you are not likely to be sitting next to. That fact, while not surprising, is instructive because it indicates that the support for subsidies comes from people who benefit by them They are not only the audiences They include musicians, conducactors, dancers, composers, stagehands, artists, museum employes, the people in government who dispense the money and their betters in the national legislatures who, by authorizing the spending, show themselves to be persons of taste, refinement and aesthetic sensibility — all, of course, at no expense to themselves. - Have all of these people read D.H. Lawrence? — "Not art for art's sake, but not art for the people's sake either Art for my sake. " The subsidies do not outrage the electorate because they are such a small part of government spending that no voter would take the trouble to mount a campaign against them. Nevertheless they have a cost, and it is borne by The cost is the thing that could be produced in place of the subsidized art. Some people want subsidized art, of course, andl they are fortunate because they get it at a cost that is paid in good part by the majority that does not want it but still must pay for it. The effect is to take income from people who do not like art and give it to those who do, a curious redistribution. Perhaps the Maecenas's of the Arts Caucus will find a moment to reveal the principal on which they act. —Grampp, economics professor at the University of Ilin the Wall Street Journal.

Heallh Walter by Dr. Robert C Beitman

Having just returned from a week long course on "geriatric medicine" offered by New York University Medical School, I will be spending the next several issues discussing the many new and fascinating findings regarding medical care f or aged Americans. "Geriatrics" refers to the study of the special diseases, bodily changes and treatments applicable to those over age 65. It is a very new field from which many important facts are coming, making it possible to improve the quality of health care for aged Americans. A review of our increasing longevity is amazing when placed into historical context. The average life span of someone born in 1984 is 75 years. Compare * this to cave men, who are believed to have had a life span of only 15 years AT THE TURN of the century, age 55 was an average life span, and it was not until the invention of antibiotics around 1945 that t^eSmajority of Americans began to live into their 6oY The most recent increase in longevity is attributed to increased use of seat belts, the 55 mph speed limit and some medical advances. Today longevity varies between the sexes, as well as between blacks and . whites For those born in # 1984. white males will live y on the average to approx *4 imately age 72. whereas | white females are predicted to live to age 84 i Black males are predicted to live to only age 67. while black females are predicted to reach age 80 The differences between males and females are attributed to higher rates of hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) in males, along with the associated complications such as stroke and heart attack IT HAS ALSO been predicted that as women adopt the risk factors 61 smoking and the work place, their difference in survival will be reduced. Earlier death in blacks is attributed to the higher incidence of hypertension (high blood pressure) and its complications. It is believed that aggressive screening and applications of preventive piedicine practices could significantly increase longevity for Black Americans.

In preparing for the study of aging, scientists, first needed to find a workable model. To use human experimentation wagld be inhumane in some c&| and in others imprac tiflBas we can't afford to a JBiecades to find out the riHk$. Fortunately, the r*lfan animal well suited t(Biis research Rats age qBckly. and major njfiftcal discoveries using raKopulations have prov Be d life-saving bfla kthroughts for •RECENT study proved a Hat social workers have bew suggesting for some tin, as well as adding sofie new factors for con siJration. It was found triH scientists could incnKe the life of rats from ooHvear to three years by tcflpging several key lle first factors were dff related: Decreasing tflkormal dietary amount offfat and protein and elding the calories ajWable to the rats down {■Bo-thirds of what they wUld eat if left to their* own devices, helped themV to live one full year longer Sufficient but not excessive opportunities for socialization also proved critical Rats kept alone in cages became depressed ai)d died far more quickly ttein those allowed to live nth other rats, although many rats led to rjHRit IALIZATION com am with exercise of two tnes added yet another vRK; An exercise program ^fflch the rats found f|toasurable and not stressful, and a healthy sex life. From population statistics we know that almost 20 percent of the U.S. population will be over age 65 by the year 2030 From the factors we have discussed, one can see major implications for our nation regarding our practices in mandatory retirement, institutionalization and nutrition. It further appears that despite disease, we can continue to affect positive longevity and the quality of aging. The topic of aging will be continued next week. •I Health Watch is a public education project of the Cape May County Unit of the A merlcan Cancer Society of which Dr. Beitman is co-chairman.