Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI, December 2, 2015, Page 15

Apples were never better or more plentiful than this year. They are the best brain food there is, and cheap. See Stannard & Eyerly

A fine cement floor is being laid in C. C. Sniteman Co.’s new cellar. The firm’s new signs, solid black and gold and raised letters, are in place and are the handsomest and most expensive in the city.

The brickwork on the beautiful new Lloyd house is finished except as to about 1,000 brick, workmen lacking that many; but that will be fixed in a few days. Plasterers are at work putting on adamant.

Chairman C. C. Berg of the Town of Fremont made a neat little hit at the courthouse the other day. The equalization committee raised the assessment on his township and he made the point that he had always noticed that the board initiated new members by raising their townships assessments. Personally he could stand the initiation all right, but he didn’t think a whole township ought to suffer. Quite right, Mr. Berg!

When it comes to good sleighing, take a ride to Columbia on the Humbird Road and see the fine houses going up along the way.

It is rumored that a Christmas tree program will be had in the Redmond Church Christmas Eve, and also entertainment in the York Center Methodist Church.

Several years ago the state board of control condemned our county jail, and since that time a new jail has been in the public mind as a necessity of the near future. The county board, which has just adjourned its annual session, instructed its chairman to appoint a committee, and the committee was duly appointed, to investigate jail matters and report to the board at the adjourned session in January. No doubt the committee will find, as that state board of control found, that the present jail is unfit, sanitarily and otherwise, for use. This, if so decided, will lead to the construction of a new jail on the site of the old one in the near future, and it will no doubt be considered as the better economy to build a modern steel structure that will be complete, strong and capacious that it will serve for all time to come, even when the county has, as it will someday have a 50,000 or 60,000 population. Every member of the board is aware that this will be in line of the wiser economy and the people of the county at large will approve the step.

(Soon after, plans were started in building a new county jail, with construction completed in 1897. The county board had the support in building a substantial, unique structure, which stands yet today, being a historical marker and presently serving the needs for one of Clark County’s museums. DZ)

The new woman with a new job has drifted into the lumber woods and mining camps of northern Minnesota. She boarded a train on the Duluth, Mississippi River & Northern at Swan River, wearing an air of independence that attracted nearly everyone in the car. She was a solid substantial woman with an evident abundance of energy, in fact just overflowing with it. She wore a skirt and a neat fitting coat and vest. At every camp where the train stopped, she would rush to the door and it was handshake with “Jack,” or a “Hello, Jim,” and a wave of her hand to “Pete.” The lumberjacks all seemed to know her. Every one of them had something to say to her and her to them. She was a hospital agent. Her husband runs a hospital in a town in northern Minnesota and she sells tickets. Two years ago when hard times came on, it became “hard sleddin” for their hospital, and this “new woman” had two daughters attending school in Chicago. It was either a case of bringing them home or for her to get out and hustle and she hustled.

The Prince of Peace Church, of West Pine Valley, will have a sociable to be held Wednesday, the 18th, with a dinner at Mrs. T. J. Pratt’s. All are cordially invited.

The Presbyterian ladies’ annual church fair, held at the W.R.C. Hall yesterday afternoon and evening, was a very successful one indeed, and must have been very profitable.

The three volunteers who filled Clark County’s first draft quota last week have been stationed for training at Savana, Ill., according to word received by relatives here early this week. Savanna is located in northwestern Illinois.

The volunteers are: Arne Matheson and Hans Oscar Walk, both of Neillsville and former Service Company members, and Everett L. Cleveland of Loyal.

J. H. Parrish has gone into business in Neillsville, operating a retail store in the Odd Fellows building at the corner of Fifth and West Streets.

This location was unoccupied for some time and Mr. Parrish had ample opportunity to use his talent for construction, painting and arranging. With his own hands he made the counters and the candy case. He did the painting and decorating, which has made the interior neat and attractive. It took seven weeks to make the improvements.

“I have gone into business in Neillsville,” said Mr. Parrish, “because I like the town and the people. I have lived and worked in seven states. They are all good, but to me Wisconsin, and especially this part of Wisconsin, has the edge on all of them.

Special services will be held in the West Side Reformed Church, west of Greenwood, Sunday as members of the congregation celebrate completion of redecorating activities in the church building.

For the last four weeks services have been held in the schoolhouse, which served as the church several years ago. During that time the walls and ceilings of the church were repainted, pews and woodwork have been refinished and new wiring and electric light fixtures have been installed. A new rug also has been laid on the rostrum.

The junior choir will sing special numbers during Sunday’s service, which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., and the service will be spoken in both English and German languages.

Old Mary is the first mechanical fire engine the city ever owned, now closely approaching a mechanical marvel of from 25 to 30 years’ service.

When she first was bought to serve the Neillsville Fire Department, she was a second-hand machine. But that stigma never seemed to bother the old Model “T.” She puffed right along with the best of them throughout the years, and even today she will stand up to a job and give her all.

At times, while on duty, she would work herself into a cheery-red heat, as some of the older fire department members’ recall. “But,” mused Fire Chief William A. Dahnert, “We just poured some cold water into her, and she kept right on plugging along, never phased a bit.”

No one actually christened the fire engine “Old Mary,” in the sense that a soft drink bottle was broken over her radiator. Rather, the name was adopted by some of the men in the department who had a tender feeling for the old machine.

But now the city no longer has use for it, and its last storage place, in the telephone company’s warehouse, must be turned to some other use.

So the best thing to do with it, the council decided, is to sell it to the highest bidder. Although Old Mary has seen upwards of a quarter-century of service here, no one is quite certain exactly how many years old she is, she has been a ready servant right up to the present day.

In the days when the red fire truck was the queen of the department, Old Mary was used as an auxiliary engine, devoted mainly to carrying an extra length of hose. But the last year or so, since the white fire truck has been the pride of the department, Ol Mary has been relegated to making the lowly chimney fire runs.

A number of people around here would like to talk with a man who calls himself H. O. Woodbury, and said he lives in Eau Claire.

For one thing they would like to ask him about a new 1941 model automobile, which disappeared from the front of the Whaley service garage.

For another thing, they would like to find out about bills, for hospital care and physician’s attention; he is alleged to have failed to pay before making his exodus.

And for a third thing, a local lumber company might want to change an estimate it gave him on a cheese warehouse.

One thing the mysterious Mr. Woodbury did leave behind, the first blush revealed, was a rather old automobile. But further investigation proved that even this did not belong to an H. P. Woodbury.

Mr. Olson would like particularly to talk with Mr. Woodbury. Mr Olson is the sheriff.

Officially if it means anything, winter arrives Saturday. But, to date Clark County has had:

1 - The coldest December weather in at least 10 years, with the thermometer at 26 degrees below zero December 3; and

The time is going fast now, as we are busy practicing for our program, which is to be held Friday, December 20. It is just a short program for our mothers. We hope they can all be with us that afternoon.

The fifth-and-sixth-graders have been studying the picture, “Sistine Madonna.” They found out that there are many Madonna pictures.

Our first and second grades had the interesting story of “The First Christmas.” Many fine pictures were found in one of the library books. Wise men and shepherds were colored and put above the blackboards.

The pictures, “Holy Night” and “Angel heads,” were also enjoyed by the first and second grades.

We all have been so sorry that Ardith Lindow has been ill and under the doctor’s care. Everyone is wishing her better health and hopes she will be back after vacation.

There are many sleds brought to school each day. How we enjoy sliding out of doors! Especially when Miss Todd comes out to watch, so we can slide on the road.

The Christmas tree has been up this week, and all of the packages underneath make us think Santa Claus has already been here. The gifts we made our mothers take up a lot of the space around the tree.

Our second health race is well on its way. We wonder if vacation time will cause us to forget our health rules. We will try to remember them even while we are having a vacation.

Reporters: Carol Lindow, Germaine Lindow, Harold Branch and Henry Grottke; Teacher Miss Todd.

(Pine Circle School was located one and one-half miles south and one mile west of Chili, intersection of Pine Creek Road and Division Ave. DZ)

Mrs. Herman Werner’s neighbors prepared lunch baskets and went to her home last Thursday for an afternoon playing Chinese checkers and visiting.

The managers and clerks at the Farmers Store had a Christmas party last Wednesday evening. After a potluck supper, the group played Bunco and exchanged gifts. The gathering also served as a farewell party for Miss Hazel Anderson, who has resigned her position and plans to leave the first of the year for her home near Portage.

St. John’s Lutheran Church annually conducts an entire German children’s service during the Christmas season, it is the only one in the city and surrounding community. Much interest has been shown in this service, for the old, familiar Christmas carols are sung by the audience from a printed leaflet. An audience of 300 attended last year’s service.

This children’s service is scheduled for Sunday, December 22, at 7:30 p.m. Recitations, dialogues, catechizations are a part of the program. The following children have volunteered: Ruby Meihack, Alice Geisler, Arleen Eslinger, Ruth Zipfel, Violet Wachholz, Joyce Eslinger, Lena Ott, Elsie Wagner, Grace Baumann, Raymond Zipfel, Paul Bartell, Herbert Jaster, Althea Kluhsman, Edgar Ott, Velda Lewerenz, Betty Marg, Joan Tock, Milton Tock, Harold Schmidt, Roland Jenni, Jeannine Borde, Gary Schroeder, Doris Ott, Melvin Dux, Harris Dux, Ronald Meihack, Billy Schlinsog, Wendell Ott, Ruth Wetzel, Walter Wetzel, Marvin Meihack and Richard Tock.

St John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church’s first worship center was built in 1887, located on Neillsville’s northwest corner of W. Fifth and Oak Streets’ intersection. In 1912, the congregation decided to enlarge the church, so a 12’x24’ addition was added on both sides, to better serve their worship needs. In November 1955, a new parochial school was built four blocks west of the church to replace the school building on the corner of W. Sixth and oak Street. A new church building was later constructed next to the school, dedicated in 1969.

Thirty members of the Service Company and Company I, 128 Infantry, to which several local boys were transferred after induction into federal service last October, returned to their homes late Sunday for the Christmas holidays. Four others arrived a day earlier.

The main contingent started out on a 10-day furlough from Camp Beauregard, La., at noon Saturday on a special train, and arrived at Merrillan about 9 a.m. Sunday; where they were met by cars, several of which were secured by Legion Commander Harry Roehrborn to transport the guardsmen to Neillsville.

While John Rude and Archie Van Gorden were down at Lake Arbutus on a rather dull and unsuccessful fishing expedition last summer, John finally saw Archie reel in. “Ketch anything?” drawled John. “Yep, a 15-pound black bass,” answered Red. “That so,” came the remark from the opposite side of the lake, “Well, I just pulled up a lighted lantern.” “Liar,” commented Red. “You take ten pounds off that fish and I’ll put out the light,” answered John.

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