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SUGAR AND SPICE Sette us 2 The limbs of life This is being written before the national election. And there's nothing more exhilarat- ing than going out on a limb. It begins when you're very little, when you eat .a worm to see if he'll really stay alive inside you, or pick up a toad to see whether you'll wind up covered with warts. Later, it might be climbing out on a long, shaky tree limb over a deep pool, when you can't swim. Or it might be caught up in a tree, shirt stuffed with apples, while the voice of Geo. J. Jehovan thun- ders. from 'beneath, "Come down, ye little divils; I know yer up there and I'll whale the tar out of yez and the police'll put yez away fer life." Or it might be caught in.the © act of swiping corn and racing through backyards 'and over fences, with the cobs dropping and your heart thumping. and the shotgun going off into the sky. Or it might be, about age - 12, smoking butts with the « hoboes in the "jungle" beside - the railway tracks, and having a drunk with a gallon of wine come up and start terrifying you with all sorts of obsceni- ties you don't understand. ' Or it might be, about 14 and spotted like a hyena with pim- ples, having to ask a girl to a party, knowing that you are the most repulsive, awkward booby in town. This is a rotten limb to be out on. It could be saying, "Don't you say that about my moth- er!" to the bully of your age and sailing into him, yourself outweighed 20 pounds, but your fists and feet and teeth going like a windmill. Or it could be a swimmingly exhilarating moment, like the day when I was in high school and kissed my French teacher up in an apple tree. She was a spinster and six years older than I, but if I recall, it was a swooning experience and I think we both wound up hang- ing by our knees from the limb. * ' These are some of the limbs I've been out on. Lots cf other _ limbs. You've had yours; round limbs, crooked limbs, rotten limbs, smooth ones, brittle limbs, sturdy ones. We have all gone out on a limb. r When you're young, you don't really know the differ- ence, or you just don't care. It's climbing out on the thing that matters. Even at 20 I was climbing out on a limb, trying desper- ately to. make the grade as a fighter pilot, sweating blood so that I could climb out on the fragile wing of a Spitfire and be killed. What an_ irony! Those who didn't make it were broken-hearted. And then there's the limb of marriage. Most males will climb out on the first limb that is endowed with long eye- lashes or trim ankles or a big bust. Even though they know it's a very green one, or a very brittle one, out they go. I was lucky. The limb I elimbed out on was firm but yielding, green but not brittle. And I damn soon discovered that when you climbed out on that particular limb, you didn't carry a saw, but a parachute and an iron-bound alibi. However, what I started out to say was that, as we- get older, we climb out on shorter and shorter, safer and safer limbs, until we are finally left, clutching the tree-trunk, even though we're only two feet off the ground. The old limbs (or the young limbs) and cracked and dipped. They are replaced by the limbs of safety and conformity and se- curity and enough life insur- ance. And the sad part is that these are the limbs we want our children to climb out on, no farther than two feet from the trunk and no higher than two feet from the ground. While they want to climb on the swinging limbs that will sail them to the skies or break and let them fall. All this, of course, is a preamble to the fact that I'm still willing to go out on a limb. If somebody will fetch a step-ladder to help me _ get started up the tree. I repeat, this is written before the na- tional election. There's going to be a land- slide. It may be in Quebec or Ontario, but it's more likely to happen in the Rockies. creaked and swayed THE SPORTS BEAT || By.Glen May Give them a | chance Now that summer's here and the grass is long and green, Boys of all shapes and _ sizes can be heard and seen; In their hands they hold. a bat or ball, others a glove, But theirs is a common goal, they're playing a game they love. In the world of adults this game is called baseball, But to little boys it's game called fun for all. that's right; for when youngsters join harmon- iously, There is no other thought, ex- cept they know they'r free. : Yes, To our tiny children, and tee- ners too, life is learning, There is no time to think of death and burning. This world today has been made by adults, else, no-one -- land 'that is free land. He goes to the left, he goes to the right, he staggers and yet, 7 No-one will listen and to him, ' he's a fish caught in a net. Then he rebels, throwing cau- tion away, angry and mad: Oh boy, say the adults, and now they smile and are glad. The old folks they sing and they know they will win, Each adult his face is alight with an ear-to-ear grin. __ Like father like son each dad will proudly proclaim, Although from the fight, his boy comes home lame. -- his Then the boy no longer is young, and soon he too, will have a son. t What will he do when his youngster ask for some fun? Surely we can't say this is a Will the question be .passed happy house. A bat in the hands of a child is a toy for play, In an adult's hands, a smash, and a mother has to pray. A ball to a child is just some- thing he can easily toss To an adult a ball can result in another. life lost. They say an adult is wise with years of experience on his side, Our children listen and for adults have died. Grownups say take your toys and use them to fight, Unsure, the child goes forth, not knowing if it's right. Two youths play catch, one is white, and the other black, But the game will end, and each other they'll soon whack. For they will be told by their mom and their dad To play with each other in the eyes of their friends is so bad. ° Many a youngster is wondering out loud, seeking to find What's happened to words like goodness, thoughful and kind? He protests, he marches, he is seeking to understand What has happened in this off, like the dread of can- cer? z Or will the 1.w adult turn away without giving an answer? : Yes, this will be the test su- preme, so important and true. Quick, ask yourself, in that case what would you do? Don't hesitate, don't look away, remember way back how you pleaded, And how your folks let your question go unseeded. "Remember now all you young- sters, your t.rn will soon come When perhaps you'll be facing a dilema that confronts _ your son. Be true to him and yourself, as he'll want you'to. be And explain how you asked why this land was no long- er free. Give him a glove, a bat or a ball, and put forth a-large grin, And then you'll know that the big game, he'll always win. Give him an answer whenever a question he asks; always give, For although he you've_ _ given chance to live. . may die, him __ the