The Bluffton news. [volume], August 24, 1944, Image 7

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1944
THEODORE
PRATT
SYNOPSIS
CHAPTER I: Wilbert Winkle, 44. pro
prietor of the Fixit repair shop, located
in the alley back of his home, is notified
by his draft board that he is in 1-A. He
breaks the bad news to his wife, Amy,
and marches off to work without kiss
ing her goodby.
CHAPTER II
Mrs. Winkle, upon learning that
her husband planned to open a gen
eral repair shop practically in their
living room, decried it bitterly. She
felt that being the wife of what she
termed a handy man lowered her
social standing. She declared she
would have nothing whatsoever to
do with the enterprise and would
rather starve than to so much as
glance at it. She took this decided
stand despite the fact that she had
a modest income from a small estate
left by her parents and that on this
account she and Mr. Winkle could
have managed, though their stand
ard of living would have been sharp
ly curtailed.
At that time Mr. 'Winkle still wore
one leg of the trousers in his house,
so he proceeded on the basis that it
was more respectable for him to
provide, and more reasonable to
eat well, than to have a social stand
ing. He took his wife at her word
and built his shop across the rear
of their property without an en
trance or even a window on the
house side. Mrs. Winkle had never
visited him, even when she found it
more comfortable not to starve. And
from then on she developed into
what he preferred to think of her
instead of by any other word a
termagant.
Each morning Mr. Winkle
marched out the front door quite
as if he were going downtown to
business. He walked up the block,
around the corner, and then to the
He saw himself dying painfully,
gasping for water.
alley. Along this he went to his
shop, where he worked until dinner
time, and then retraced his steps.
The alley in which he had his
shop was not a depressing thorough
fare, but quite an attractive one.
It was a dirt lane lined with trees
and a number of private garages.
Mr. Winkle’s shop was no eyesore,
but a substantial frame building
painted a cheery blue, with wide
double doors to permit the entrance
of automobiles needing his attention,
and tall windows. Above the doors
was a sign announcing:
THE FIXIT SHOP
We Repair Anything
Mr. Winkle had worried a little
about the wording of this. Making
his promise in the plural was more
impressive, as if there existed a
large staff of workers. The fact
that there was no one except him
self was perhaps deceptive. But he
felt all right about it when he con
sidered that he and the shop itself
could be counted as two.
He lived up to the boast on his
sign. He was adept at finding out
what the trouble was with any me
chanical gadget and, what is more,
at putting it right. People from all
over his section of town, and many
from farther away, brought him
their difficulties or called him in. He
accepted—with one exception—any
work that came along.
The only thing with which he
would have nothing to do was fire
arms.
He didn’t like or trust guns in the
least. It was also his conviction that
they caused much more trouble in
the world than any worth they had,
and that when a man had a gun in
his hand he felt beyond himself and
proceeded on a false basis of power.
If a customer had a rifle or a shot
gun or a revolver needing repair, he
had to take it elsewhere.
This morning, as Mr. Winkle
walked a little over a block along
his circuitous route to get the fifty
feet away from where he started,
he was a thoughtful man.
He opened his shop methodically,
throwing wide the doors and letting
in the sun. Usually, every morning
he looked at his place of work with
pride while he changed his clothes,
peeling all the way down before
donning his working outfit. He ad
mired his own neatness, the spick
and-span concrete floor, the shining
lathes and other power tools, the
clean benches with every screw
driver in. its kroner place,, and the
W/NKLE
GOES TO WAR
W.N.U. RELEASE
work in hand” left and waiting in
good order from the day before.
Today he didn’t see any of this.
For one thing he was too shaken by
Amy’s astounding behavior and the
way his draft notice had affected
her.
For another thing, his imagination
got to work instead of his hands. A
bullet sped into his flesh, tearing
through his body, leaving a gaping,
bloody wound in which gangrene de
veloped with awful rapidity. He
saw himself dying, painfully, gasp
ing for water. He saw his body in a
trench with many others, and the
earth of some strange, foreign land
being thrown upon it. His mind
dwelt on the unenviable picture.
Even when he managed to shut
it out, he didn’t get right to work.
After he had changed, he sat in the
worn but comfortable old chair near
the stove. Rocking slowly and blink
ing through his spectacles, he re
viewed the events leading up to the
tragedy.
Mr. Winkle and the other men of
his age had assured each other that
they would never be used as sol
diers. They were of that lost gen
eration between rounds of the world
war, too young for the first session,
and too old for the second.
Even after the draft registration
for them, they had said the same
things. “We couldn’t stand the life,”
they proposed. “Marching all night
and crawling on your stomach in a
ditch is for the young fellows.’*
Yet Mr. Winkle had wondered. If
there wasn’t some plan for using
them, w’hy were they registered?
There followed a period of listen
ing to every scrap of further infor
mation to be found in the papers,
over the radio and in the magazines.
Most of this was conflicting, with
no one able to make up his mind.
Finally a few bold facts became
plain, at least in relation to Mr.
Winkle’s draft board in the town of
Springville. It began to call older
men. Right now it had reached
those married without children, but
with wives who had independent in
comes of their own.
Mr. Winkle met the first require
ment. Mrs. Winkle lived up to the
second regulation. Her small in
come, together with tne fifty dollars
a month allotment paid to the wives
of soldiers, would be enough for her
to support herself.
Sitting there in his shop, Mr. Win
kle thought of his fighting back
ground. It had not been much. Up
until the time he was ten, he was
known in his neighborhood for hav
ing won several fights. There was
a certain group of boys he could
bully and bluff, or lick, if it came
right down to it.
Then that prowess had come to a
quick end. His teeth, growing in
crookedly, were being straightened
by that ignominious process of hav
ing wire bands put around them to
draw them into place. Returning
home from school one day with
two other boys, a discussion rose
among them as to whether or not
he could lick one of them.
During the experiment of proving
he could not, the inside of his mouth
was cut to ribbons by the copper
bands—the main contributing cause
of his humiliating and painful de
feat.
From then on Mr. Winkle, boy
and man, ceased to be a warrior.
That was the extent of Mr. Win
kle’s fighting history. Now, belated
ly, at forty-four—the moment made
him think of his age as being only
six years until he was fifty—it
seemed as if it were to have a future.
Why, he thought, this is impossi
ble. It’s really incredible.
Mr. Winkle wasn’t in the least
sure about how he would fight. It
would be different if he were young
er, or happened to be a great big
strapping sort of fellow.
Well, he wasn’t. He was small,
almost frail, and ineffectual physi
cally. Some men were lions and
some were mice. He was a middle
aged mouse. And the mouse was—
at least he admitted it, if only to
himself—the mouse was afraid.
He wanted to uphold his country.
He questioned not at all his coun
try's calling upon him to do it. But
he felt doubtful, beyond his terror,
of what kind of soldier he would
make.
He hoped there was no question
about this matter in the mind of any
one who detected in him signs of not
looking forward to going to war.
Mr. Winkle roused himself and be
gan to work on a bicycle. The rep
resentative from the newspaper ar
rived in the middle of the morning.
He was a tall, brash-looking young
man with a wild mop of hair who
introduced himself, “I’m Onward,
the reportographer.”
“The what?’’ asked Mr. Winkle,
staring at him with assurance that
he was not going to like Mr. On
ward any more than he cared for
being interviewed.
Mr. Onward set down the camera
he carried and explained with broad
patience, “Reportographer. It's a
contraction of reporter and photog
rapher. Technically, I’m only the
last part. But with so many re
porters gone off to war, I got to be
both. I made up the name myself.
“Listen,” he said as he opened his
camera, “I got one divorced wife,
two kids. I got one married wife,
three kids. I haven’t taken a vaca
tion the last two years because I
couldn’t stand being home all day.
I tried to enlist to get away from
it. They wouldn’t have me. I guess
they figured if I got killed they'd
have too much to support.”
The reasons why men went to war,
Mr. Winkle thought, were varied and
curious. ______ __________
Mr. Onward regarded Air. Winkle
with some amusement. He seemed
to think it a little funny that he
was being drafted. When Mr. Win
kle protested that his
somewhat premature
might not be
Mr. Onward
and that he
accepted by the Army,
grinned and began or
to stand at different
the shop. He proceed
series of flashlight pic
hile asking questions in
places about
ed to take a
tures, meanw
an indifferent, offhand manner.
“How do you feel about being a
•oldier?”
Mr. Winkle blinked as a flash went
off in his face. “Why,” he stam
mered, “I guess I feel all right.”
“Do you regard it as a privilege
to be the first of your classification
to be called on to defend the four
freedoms?”
“Privilege?” Mr. Winkle repeated.
The flashlight had blinded him mo
mentarily and made him slightly
dizzy. He could think only that he
must be agreeable. “I expect I
must.”
“Listen,”
urged, “how
one?”
the reportographer
about a smile on this
spread his lips and ex-
Mr. Winkle
posed his teeth. He looked straight
at the camera, holding his head a
little high as previously instructed
so that his glasses wouldn’t reflect
the light.
“Do you think any sacrifice is
worth making to defend your coun
try?”
Another flash went off.
Mr. Winkle blinked and coughed
unhappily. “Of course,” he said.
“Yes. Certainly.”
Mr. Onward gazed at him and
then shrugged his shoulders, as if
telling himself that nothing more
could be done with this quizzical
subject.
Quite suddenly he went away.
Mr. Winkle worked on a bicycle,
then on the motor of a washing ma
chine. He ate his lunch, listened to
the radio, and attacked the motor
again. All the w’hile he felt queasy
about the visit of Mr. Onward, the
reportographer, but at the same
time wondered what he had concoct
ed.
He learned sooner than he expect
ed. Early in the afternoon he heard
the newsboy calling his wares from
afar and then down at the end of
the alley. Evidently the paper Was
cashing in on the hot news in Mr.
Winkle’s vicinity.
The boy appeared in the entrance
of the shop, announcing excitedly,
“Your picture’s in the paper, Mr.
Winkle! Right on the front page!”
Mr. Winkle could not overcome his
resolve to wait until he went home
to see in the delivered paper there
just what the Evening Standard had
to say about him. And after all, it
wasn’t every day that you got your
picture in the newspaper, especially
on the front page.
He purchased a copy and, after
the boy left, he looked at it. It
wasn't as big as what the Russians
were doing in Russia, or what the
United Nations were doing around
the Mediterranean, or what the U. S.
Navy was doing in the South Pa
cific, but it was the next most im
portant thing to those large events.
There was a picture of Mrs. Win
kle standing outside their house, just
as he had seen her last that morning,
with Penelope at
was a picture of
where he smiled.
her feet. There
himself, the one
The smile looked
“Listen,” the reportographer
urged, “how about a amile on this
one?”
rather ghastly, and set and stiff, but
to anyone who didn’t know him very
well it might have been taken for
happiness. Most of all, above this
exhibit, there was a sizable black
headline which said:
WINKLE PROUD TO FIGHT
Mr. Winkle felt not only conspicu
ous, but misrepresented. He was
glad to learn that Mrs. Winkle had
made no comment, and in passing
noted what a phenomenon this was.
He was happy to see that Mr. On
ward had kept his promise of not
mentioning his method of carrying
on his work, but he was astonished
to read what he had written.
‘I’m proud to fight for my coun
try,’ Wilbert Winkle, 44, of 711 Ma
ple Avenue, first married selectee in
the 36 to 45 draft age group to be
called in Springville, declared today.
Winkle, who operates The Fixit
Shop, went on to say that he is
anxious to defend the four freedoms,
which he regards as the privilege
of every American today. ‘This,’ he
stated, ‘is worth any sacrifice, if
need be, my very life,’
Mr. Winkle was keenly interested
in learning if Amy’s change of atti
tude had persisted from morning
until night, or was simply the tem
porary result of the first upsetting
event of the day.
Upon reaching home, he saw at
once that its effect still had its hold
on her. At least she was in some
thing of a dither, a condition she
had rarely entered ever since he had
become a repair man instead of a
respectable accountant.
THE BLUFFTON NEWS, BLUFFTON, OHIO
R.A.F. Doctor Tends French Mother
Elrose
Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Camp of
North Baltimore spent Sunday even
ing w’ith Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Strat
ton and daughter Flo. Mr. and Mrs.
Wright Klingler and son Don were
afternoon callers in the Stratton
home.
Mrs. Emaline Nonnamaker, Mr.
and Mrs. Lindon Basinger, daughter
Jeanette and son Gareth, Mr. and
Mrs. Arthur Nonnamaker, daughter
Kaye were Wednesday evening sup
per guests of Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Potts and
Honoring Pfc. Robert Koontz the
following were entertained at the J.
R. Fisher home Sunday: Roderick
and Kaye Nonnamaker, Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Koontz and the honor
ed guest.
Mr. and Mrs. Lindon Basinger
and family called at the Raymond
Marshall home, Sunday evening.
IN A VILLAGE SCHOOLROOM near Cun, in Normandy, a British doctor
from a nearby R.A.F. airfield—from which fighter planet continually go out
to strike at the enemy—gives hie ipare time to caring for the local French
people, who are abort of doctors. In thia picture he ia attending to a mother
while an airman holds her baby. Noto the sympathetic pup in the left oorner.
daughter Rene of Bluffton,
in the
past week were Mr. and
J. Nonnamaker, daughter
and son Roderick, Mrs. M. J.
Callers
Thomas Koontz
home the
Mrs. A.
Kaye
Stratton and daughter Flo, Ida Mae
Arnold, Floyd Hartman and Ortho
Stratton.
Union prayer services at the Beth
esda church Thursday evening.
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Marquart and
family spent Sunday evening with
the Wright Klingler family.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Koontz and
son Pfc. Robert Koontz were sup
per guests Friday evening at the
Arthur Nonnamaker home.
Ortho Stratton and Anna Mary
Crow, spent Sunday near Ft. Wayne
attending the motorcycle races.
at the W
Nonnamaker
THE A. C. & Y.
RAILROAD NEEDS
BRAKEMEN
BOILERMAKERS
MACHINISTS
CAR REPAIRMEN
SECTIONMEN
TELEGRAPH OPERATORS
BRIDGE AND BUILDING
CARPENTERS
meet WMC requirements,
are full wartime jobs and
possibilities for postwar
Must
These
good
work,
and unemployment benefits.
Call at the nearest A. C. & Y.
station and the agent will give
you complete information.
Liberal railroad retirement
The Akron, Canton &
Youngstown Railroad Co.
There’s a difference in oar
RECAPPING
more nwleoge for your moneyf
We can give your tires the beet
recapping a job that can
be counted on tor thousands of
cafe miles. AU work done the
B. p. Goodrich way. Our ma
terials are the finest available!
Our service is fasti Yet you
pay no more than for ordinary
recapping. Seo us todayl
No CorfKcofo Needed
Stauffer’s Pure Oil Station
N. Main & Elm Sts.
Phone 410-W
F. Goodrich Tir»»
rM
■itiMiii nil. ,1
san Arnold and Mrs. Albert Goss
man of Bluffton, Mrs. Mary Hart
man and son Cloyce of Hoytville
Mrs. Clara Bergman and Mrs. Pete
Pils of McComb Edwin Bish of De
troit, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Howard
Nonnamaker, sons Dean and Ralph,
Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Kramer of Mt.
Cory, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Nonnamak
er, Mrs. Lucinda Koontz, Mrs. Henry
Koontz and sons Russell, Raymond
and Robert, Mr. and
Hamilton and daughter
Nonnamaker, Mr. and
Klingler and daughter
son Howard of near Ada.
Mrs. Walter
Betty, Chas.
Mrs. C.
Marilyn
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Arnold
daughter Ida Mae entertained
Thomas Koontz family Monday
ing.
Elizabeth M. Basinger of R. R.
Bluffton. Ohio, has been
fled as Executrix of the esti
singer, late of Allen County,
and
the
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT
The State of Ohio
Allen County, ss.
Estate of Gust Basinger, Deceased.
NOT1CF OF APPOINTMENT
The State of Ohio,
Allen County, ms.
Estate of Eli M. Pence, Deceased.
Jean Cochran of Allen County Home, Lima,
Ohio, hats been appointed and qualified ag Ad
ministrator of the eetate of Eli M. Pence, late
of Allen County. Ohio, deceased.
Dated this 14th day of August. 1944.
RAYMOND P. SMITH.
19
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT
THE STATE OF OHIO
Allen County, ?b.
Estate of Norval See
Clate Scoles of R. R.,
rette. Ohii. __
aw. Executor of
the of
Don’t
Thomas Koontz, Pfc
spent Tuesday even
Mr. and Mn
Bonds
»ast week at the Ami
ome were Mrs. M.
Stratton, Mrs. Wm
Mt. Cory, Mrs. Su-
han
ter ma
Allen
day of Aur
War
Keep on buying
Principal Buhler home
Minn
summer
muskme
plummeting to earth Fri
which attracted
tion—one of astronomy’s rarest day
light sights.
Rev. Paul Adams here last week
from Youngstown. While in Bluff
ton he took advantage of the oppor
tunity for a haircut. The going
rate here is 50c as compared to 85c
in Youngstown.
What was described as a praying
mantis, resembling a huge green
grasshopper, was captured Monday
night by Lewis Foltz, watchman at
Triplett plant No. 1. The specimen
was turned over Tuesday to Miss
M’Della Moon .biology instructor at
the college. It is said to be com
paratively rare in this section.
Wilbert Schumacher, large melon
grower northwest of Bluffton is hav
ing his troubles these days. Due to
pheasants
the creek
and then
his nearby
are doing
melons than
did, Wilbert
irds will not
some of the
the melons—
the drought, flocks of
come to get a drink at
running thru
zoom over the
melon patch,
more damage
maurading boys ever
says. Shooting the
solve the problem as
shot is bound to hit
and
his farm
fence into
The birds
none too
operated
trick.
ate of Gusi Ba-
JudK
ment
Maybe an electrically
crow would do the
It is with regret that Bluffton pe
pie will learn that “Phillips’ butter
rated as one
ducts sold in
disappear from the market in Octo
ber. The butter comes from the
farm of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Phil
lips south of town. Married fifty
years ago they took up butter mak
ing in which they achieved a notable
success. On their Golden Wedding
they will discontinue this work. A
of the choicest
long stretch of but
added to this the
up during that
illips’ butter” was
•Pl
MR. FARMER
Most of your farm work is now finished. You may now
be able to arrange your work so you can work 8 hours in the
factory helping produce urgently needed tires and tubes.
The Army is demanding more truck tires to equip the
trucks to keep supplies,—ammunition,—and food,—up to our
fighting boys at the front.
They are requesting 30% increase in August and Sep
tember over July.
Many of our men are in the Army and Navy—yes, they
are doing the fighting for us—in all parts of the world.
So to attain the increased production demanded we need
more men for—
Mill Room-Tire Builders
Tire Curing
If you have had rubber experience that is fine, but if not
we will pay you while you learn.
Come in and talk over the matter with Mr. Capell, our
Personnel Man. He will tell you about getting a temporary
release from A. A. A. to help in this important work.
THE COOPER CORPORATION
FINDLAY, OHIO
MAIN $90
All Applicants Must Comply with WMC Stabilization Program
PAGE SEVEN
the News window this week merit
more than a passing glance. Just
in case you don’t know’ it, trophies,
being made of metal are a war cas
ualty and these are of pre-war vint
age. In fact so scarce have trophies
become that it was only* with con
siderable difficultv that these were
will be award
:ounty tourney
the Bluffton
Farmers in this area are becoming
increasingly fire-protection conscious.
Latest is Ezra Moser north of town
n Riley township who completed the
of a well 112 feet deep to
water in case of fire. The
fire department was at the
Moser farm, Monday night, testing
well and found everything
ry. Pandora
ruout
lool pnn
me from
mer camp
near the
Minnesota
Fifty-five boys in the camp and the
elder Buhler in charge of a cabin
of seven youths. Being accountable
for them twenty-four hours of the
con
and
high
sev-
day and seven days a week is
siderably more responsibility
nerve-wracking than being
school principal for a group of
eral hundred during school hours, he
says.
Ray Patterson, erstwhile Bluffton
barber and saddle horse enthusiast,
is superintendent of the horse show
at the Hancock county fair on the
night of Thursday, Sept. 21. He is
busy these days distributing entry
blanks to possible
exhibitors.
and family leav
auto and
California
Harold Kennedy
ing this week by
trailer enroute to
they will make their home at
dena. They are going via the
ern route and expect to visit Mrs.
Kennedy’s elder sister, Mrs. Myron
Lugibihl and family at Santa Fe,
New Mexico.
house
where
Pasa
south-
From our good friend Sgt. Roland
Swank, now soldering in England,
comes a bundle of British news
papers published following the in
vasion of the continent. Perhaps the
most interesting is the age old and
traditionally bound
one of the world’s
papers and a potent
London Times,
greatest
influence in
i’s domestic
Its makeup
policie
news
the
and
is
the
entire front page take up with clas
sified advertising in fine type. The
London Times, which has weathered
long years of world shaking events,
never deviated from its usual custom
on D-day and published news of the
invasion on one of its inside pages
under the department heading of
foreign news, giving withal a matter
of-fact
the
account
in the American
a
wild ducks
rice