^ Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 1 January '85

It May Not Be New , But Here's the List for '86

By CLARE CAMPBELL t \ New Year's Day. and what do we say? "Happy New Year? "have you made any resolutions?" v "Did you see the ball drop?" t Well, of course. I'll say the first one. As for the other t two. qo. I won't, because any resolution we didn't keep c last year probably wouldn't be kept this year, so why bother? r And as for waiting till midnight to see that ball fall, well c I was conned into that once, and I couldn't hqlp wondering what the big deal was Maybe I missed something like I c always do when 1 read Garfield. Hazel and The Far Side, t I Try Honestly! Anyone who can turn out a comic<?> strip year in and year out deserves some attention. So. if a you don't dig either of these, now you know you have I company SO LET'S JUST TALK about what we WILL do. Here's my list. I intend to go on often having cream-of-tomato soup for breakfast. With a toasted muffin. When I order raisin pie I shall also order a side dish of olives. I'll dust the piano once a week. I'll buy another one (or two) house plants. They help me love Winter. I'll continue to write long letters to my cousin. Betsey, in South Carolina. Write what my husband calls "Nothin' letters." He says he'll never cease to wonder how we two can write pages to each other every week. I SHALL FEED and water the birds! I shall try to look away from those deserted birdbaths sadly leaning against their pedestals all winter. It hurts me. a I shall go on protesting about the use of those awful t animal traps that J^rture poor, defenseless wild t creatures. We think we have progressed0 E I shall display on my car a MADD sticker and help this * organization any way I can. " If I feel like wearing one of my summer hats in January, I WILL! ! I wore one ( with Roses on it ) to church one time in early January and one dear lady almost flipped out. } I will continue getting soaking wet rather than tote a c darned "bumpershoot" because, for some reason. I can't € fool with them. I'LL KEEP GOING to the forest to pick up acorns for a the squirrels. I'll even spring for a bag of nuts in the store e for them. I'll eat the Brazils, for the squirrels won't touch > them. I'll cover my dog with her big. green blanket every night a and get up two or three times to see that she's under it. f I'll wash my teeth with baking soda for it helps keep t them white, doesn't it? I'll keep in touch with tbe ones I love. I'll write nice notes to editors now and then, for most of a the mail they get is from people mad about something. I'll encourage young folks to read' By gosh. I'll buy them a book now and then. It will enrich their whole lives and they'll come to realize books are much more fun than pinball machines. I'LL ENRICH my own life by throwing a coat around me and going out and looking at the stars and admiring that little cloud crossing the moon I'll transplant Snowdrops and share them with friends, too. I'll make muffins, all kinds — raisin, pumpkin, applesauce — all kinds. On a cold day there's nothing nicer

than a muffin and a cup of hot tea or chocolate, especially when a friend is there. I'll try to keep smiling even if the sink gets stopped up. I'll rake up pine needles and mulch something. Oh, we're so grateful for our pine needles. Some folks think they're a nuisance, but we consider them a blessing. If they drift all over the front porch — so what? They're clean and they're beautiful. I'LL JWAVE at our police when they pass me on the road >Who deserves a friendly greeting more than they do? I'll try to smile when someone says to me: "Have a nice day ." Have a nice day? Well, it's not good for the stomach think: You don't give a darn whether I do or not. Whatever is good, that's what we are advised to think about and if we do that our digestion improves. I know; I've tried it. So, Happy New Year, y'all! Lookin' and Listenin'

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Bonnie Reina General Manager Gary L. Rudy Advertising Director John Dunwoody Special Promotions Director Darrell Kopp Publisher >— "■ »«ts AH nfktt AH p'OMffy fat iha •*■>. nm o I Ah (HAfccow AolbtA. <* **» W-Q.H Co»p No^nlwioliMyto'ifoAnH ~ DEADLINES News & Photos Thursday Advertising. . . Friday — 3 P.M. Classified Advertising Friday — 3 P.M. 465-5055 For News or Advertising Information Mail Subscription: Yearly, S40; Six Month, S20 Call 465-5055 For News, Advertising or Subscription Information w iW .1 IW HI HU.1I OU I AVT».A> I ill — * — *

Ring Out the Old, In the New

By DOROTHY FREAS Happy New Year! Christmas is over, and Mother has made turkey hash and turkey soup. She has even solved the mystery of why the candy canes that were hung on the lower branches of the Christmas tree, have become shorter and pointed. the dog. has been licking them whenver he felt in the mood for some candy. Just another happening at the end of the old year. Now we shrug our shoulders and plan to start a new year. Of course, originally it was a Roman feast in honor of the god. Janus. This celebration was changed by the early Christmas, to a fast and a time of good resolutions. With passing years, the fast reverted to "feast" again, and noise was made the night before, to drive away any evil spirits that were still lingering at the end of the old IN ENGLAND, an old custom is for families to gather, and drink spiced ale (the wassail bowl contents) with while church bells ring softly just before midnight, peal forth loudly as twelve o'clock arrives. Thus, "ring out the old. ring in the Rew." People of Spain feast and expect to be healthy, happy and well-fed. if January first finds them so

The holiday in America was kept in various ways in the different colonies. In New York, the Dutch made calls all New Year's day. Men only did all the calling, and they only visited the women of their acquaintance, old or young, married or single. It was a pleasant time for all, with good conversation, food and drink in each home. The Pilgrims, however, did not keep January first as a special day. They refused to celebrates day named for a heathen god Janus. Quakers went further than that by never using the word "January," calling it only "First Month." EARLIER in this 20th century, cakes, confections and liquid refreshments were set out in homes, and men called on friends in pairs or in groups. Hopefully, on "Ladies Day." January 2nd, the same tables were set again for wives, mothers and sisters who then visited and had cake and tea in the homes of their friends. The celebrating done in this latter half of the century has increasingly been done on New Year's Eve. There is a wide range-of choice for the celebrants between the Midnight Mass. the Watch Night Services, to those parties that occasionally do not lead to a happy January first Whichever way you decide to greet the holiday, all our wishes to you are for the beginning of a healthy, happy New Year.

— From Soup to Soup — — A Reminiscence of Last Week

By JOE ZELNIK If you missed last week's issue, try to scrounge one up It was a real "keeper, " our second annual collection of loca. holiday pieces. This job has its ups and downs, but putting together the Christmas issue is always an up. Collecting and copyreading the holiday articles of our various writers is fun ami an emo tional high. That's probably because this time of the year brings out the best in most of us. The list of contributors increased to 15 this year, another indication of this paper's growth in 1985. I have never laid my eyes on a couple of these fine people. I have met, but only exchanged pleasantries, with most And a couple, our full-time reporters, I see almost as many waking hours as I do my wife. The writers run the gamut in age, occupation, interests, i point of view. AMONG THEM, for example, is a kind lady who wrote me in February, 1983, three months after I started this job, to ask if we could use an occasional article. j Dorothy Freas of Villas had started writing for music I magazines when she was a teenager, 60 years ago. But she was still bursting with interests and curiosity and asked for ! "an incentive to write." __ | Her Lookin' and Listenin' column (there is one above) appears whenever she has time, and we have space. Our readers are the better for it. Shortly after she started < writing for us, I asked Mrs. Freas if I could do a feature 1 on her. She demurred, preferring to write rather than to - be written about. She'll probably kill me for this. f Mrs. Freas and I have never met. Or, as she put it over ' the phone the other day, "I wouldn't know you if I found you in my soup." j BY WAY OF CONTRAST. I hear Jack Smyth slurp his t soup five days a week. He sits about eight feet away, focusing his journalistic efforts on Cape May City. We are both f former Bulletin reporters, but didn't know each other in those days. ( I especially appreciate Jack because he has relieved me c

of the title of office cynic. I have a feeling that Jack, like most of us, has been knocked over and kicked while down a few times in accumulating his gray hair. I was not surprised that his Christmas piece began with "myths (that) drain out of life" and ended in a cemetery. But, more important, it is the happy reminiscences in the middle of his piece that stay with us. What better proof of the power of Christmas? Lou Rodia wrote of a somewhat similar time period as Jack, but while Jack was reared on the streets of Philadelphia, Lou grew up on a New Jersey farm. Lou wrote of placing tinsel on a tree one strand at a time and taking it off the same way, to be saved for next year. That will surely boggle the mind of the throwaway society. MY OWN COLUMN was a slight revision of one I have offered the last two years. The major change was the addition of a line about stepchildren. I became a stepfather in 1985 and that guarantees 1986 will be more work and more fun. Not unexpectedly, rebirth was at the core of many of our articles. I was especially thankful to see that it was the theme of Luretta Dramis. Her son. Marine George Louis Dramis, was killed by a in Beirut, Lebanon Jan. 30, 1984. A letter in his belongings, addressed to his parents, asked that they "always keep me in your memory." And that they did. Mrs. Dramis was invited to contribute to our 1984 holiday issue, but it was too soon and too difficult. This year, though, she asked for the opportunity to share her feelings! AS WITH ALL OF US this time of year, Mrs. Dramis found that memories filled an emotional need. Hers included full church pew entirely made of the Dramis family..." But despite her pain, Luretta Dramis, comforted by the rebirth of Christ, wrote of Christmas as an "opportunity build afresh, a time to heal old hurts... "The rebirth of Christ is the rebirth of love and always always heals, always comforts," she wrote. Mrs. Dramis has found peace and serenity. Just as would want, she looks forward to a new year So do we all.