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“I doiid have spent the rest of my life doing mi." “The book could have been this big," she said hplding her My!” feet apart. 7 7 ___ - Agatha Weins Nickel, a resident of Waterloo, was very much a part of the exodus. For the benefit of her children and grandchildren she wrote down her ex- periences as a you; girl, some of them not so plea- sant. She'expressed herself so well. particularly con- cerning her feelings about starvation, that Mrs. Smucker used parts of her work verbatum and gave her credit. . The author became interested in writing Days of Terror after she was approached by the Waterloo His- torical Journal to complete some background articles on Russian Mennonites in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. That was four years ago and the idea just never let go. _ Days of Terror is the fifth children's book Mrs. Smucker has had published. She has written two others which have never gotten past the publisher's desk, a setback writers of any calibre face at one time or another. (Continued from page tl which appeals to childm 10 to M years of Me. Of Mennonite heritage herself, Mrs. Sunder a.. covered that a amber-o! people in (his community took part in the exodus and therefore they play a major role in her story. Approximately 1,000 8min Malachite: came to Kitetteater-Waterkto in 1924 and the majority are still living here. f " a writer her first duty was to complete back- xmindgemrdi which she did by interviewing people who experienced the exodus firsthand.' She spent time with local Mennonites as well as some who settled in Winnipeg. f . After she had collected all the necessary back- ground material, the author found it extremely dif- fieult to get started “I just hated to start it," said Mrs. Smucker laugh- ing shyly. “I knew it had to be done. , had collected and collected material." V She said that once she got started and had fully de- veloped her characters she was well on her way. Like most irriters, Mrs. Smucker said she " highly critical of her own work and she rewrote the first chapter over and over again. Underground to Canada was published two years ago. It deals with the exodus of slaves from Mississip- pi to Canada via the underground railway. It has since been published in paperback by Penguin. As a friend of hires" put it, Birtsara%mseker always seems to write about people who escape from one area of the world to make it in another. Wigwam in the City is about Canadian Indians who leave the reserves and try to live in the city. Mrs. Smucker stumbled across the idea when she was liv- ing in Chicago while her husband studied at the uni- versity. She met an Indian woman who was trying to live in the city. “I got the story idea from her," she said. "Her apartment was full of Indian rugs, baskets and other relies and she was so homesick for her reserve. Her apartment was just like a Wigwam in the city." ' Two of her earliest works included Henry's Red Sea, Which also deals with the flight of Russian Men- nonites and Cherokee In, which deals with a Men- nonite community in Kansas. Both works were pub- lished by a Mennonite press and the latter is no longer in print. One of two works which never made it into print dealt with Medieval England. The author agreed with the publishers that her efforts on this book were un- successful. “Wat‘s not where I belong," said Mrs. Sniucker. "It's hard to write about something when Jou are not a put of it." ' _ The author said it (takes tinie to find an area of writ- ing there you excel] and one tends to specialize in this area once it is recognized. For her it is writing for juveniles. There is a definite art to writing for chil- dren and she feels she has mastéred it partly on her on, through reading numerous books on the art and children’s books by other authors and by taking cour- ses in children's literature. Mrs. Smucker did not start writing children's books until she was 40 years of age. She had always been in- terested in writing though and attributes this interest to her excellent mush teachers. "Creative writing was just something I could always do better than anything else," she said. "l was bad in art. I couldn‘t draw at all." _ At the moment Mn. Srnucker is too busy speaking at schools in and arm-id the area to get involved in another boot but he said a wriier never stop: getting ideas. She would love to be like Guelph author, Jean Little who writes one book a rear, but for now her speaking magma; her family and her job in the Mrs. Smucker worked on newspapers for awhile and tried her hand at teaching. She started to work in a library and for a period her career was interrupted while she raised her three children. . library it Bimini: College have tier fully oécupiod. Author ' , recreates historical event Thing, theatre arts, drafting, Canadian law, ac- counting. English and math- ematics - they are all being included in the Waterloo County Board of Educa- tion's summer school pro- gram. This summer the board will be. offering al- most 40 secondary school credit and general interest courses at two summer school locations, Cameron Heights Cl. and Galt C.I. 'Summer school principal is Bob Schmidt, guidance counsellor at Bluevale cr. He will be assisted by two summer school program directors: Mr. Peter Rit- chie. language department Tho Big Push for Big Siotoro netted the organization $4.900. Tho bus push. tho fourth annual ovont sponsored by tho University of Waterloo Enginooring socioty. was hold on March , 6 and Brad McKay. loft. proudly prooontod Carol Jankowalxi. president of tho Big Siotoro of Kitchonor-Watorloo and aroa with a choquo for $2,180. Tho choquo prosontation also tlos in with the fact that this is Big Sistors' Wook. The wool: will looturo a rocognition dinnor for tho Big Sisters and a garago oalo. to be hold on Saturday. March " at 149 Dulto St. E.. Kitchonor. - t By Rick Campbell Chronicle - qdttor It is the fourth largest organization of its kind in Canada. . Yet sadly, it is still not big enough. But the Kitchener chapter of trd Brothers of Cana- da is hoping to ameliorate that situation Sunday May 25 when it will be one of " cities across the country to stage a "Big Run for Little Brothers." The toaikimetre race will be held on the same cour- se " the Waterloo lo K Classic to be held in June, meaning the start and end point will be Seagram Sta- dium. Organizers are hoping to make it a fun event that the entire' family can participate in. As such, prizes are up for grabs but are secondary to the main goal of the run, that being to increase public awareness of the Big Brother program and more important to decrease the waiting lists of Little Brothers around the country who are sadly in need of friends, a man to look up to. "We are the third largest Big Brother organization in the province," said Kitchener Big Brother execu- tive director Peter McGhee at a press conference last Thursday to launch the campaign for participants. "locally we have about 250 Little Brothers with an- other 100 on a waiting list. The purpose of the Big Run is not to raise rmney. it's a fun event. There will be prizes but the main goal is to make more people aware of the Big Brother program and what it's all about." According to a brief from G. Michael Wolhmeperg. chairman of the National Committee for the Big Rm, there are over 4,000 Little Brother: country-wide who sometimes must wait a year or longer before being coupled with an adult male friend from the com- 40 summer courses. offered CL - I I lb [,i,'l,eiiji; BIG Rllll 'Peter" FOR LITTLE BROTHERS May “255 head at Eastwood CI., who will be based at Cameron Heights, and Lynn Myers, history teacher from Grand River C.I. who will be, acting as program director for the Cambridge Centre at Gait "Both locations will be of- fering four hourmorning classes for students wishing to take courses for credit or to improve their current year grade standing. As well, many other students and adults will be enrolled in general interest courses. The specialized English for new Canadians program has been expanded to meet the needs of the growing A physical education lea- dership course designed for students interested in athlei tic leadership skills, outdoor activities and camping is available this year and in- cludes a week long canoe camp excursion as well as the four hours of daily classroom instruction. Due to the growing number of newcomers niow residing in the Water oo County area, a large in- crease in the enrolment in the English for new Cana- dians course is expected this number of new Canadians, especially South East Asians now living in the area," said Mr. Schmidt. ln addition to the valuable contributions of " Track and Run Canada, Waterloo Square, Conestoga Mall and Market Square malls are all throwing their publicity weight behind the event with prizes and sup- port to insure its success. But ultimately. success will be measured by the number of participants. and how well the message gets across that somewhere out there, a Little Brother needs a friend. . Anyone with; information on the Big Run for Lit- tuBrqttttergeartemttaet Butch Brdlmanat‘MHdIor the Big Brother Association at 570-5150. Organizers at Thursday's press conference were most emphatic about praising the efforts of both the Canadian Track and Field Association and K-W Minor Track and Field Club, whose volunteers will be re- sponsible for the technical execution of the race. The race will be run at 9:30 in the morning to avoid possible problems should the day be overly-warm, and organizers urge anyone who would like to take part to prepare properly, with proper footwear, plenty of warmup exercises and a program of gradual build-up leading to the actual event. "It was decided that the run concept would be used because in thisday and age there are so many-people into jogging and running, organizers felt it was an ac- tivity that would appeal to the masses, something they could, definitely relate to," said Larry Simpson, a member of the local publicity committee. "We're expecting a minimum of 500 participants, but it could go as high as 1,000," said local contact Butch Brohman. "Of course the main goal is public awareness, if we can eliminate 25% of our waiting list, then I think we will have accomplished some- thing." year. It is open to students 10 years of age and over and includes excursions to areas of interest as they relate to the Canadian scene. Most of the courses being offered are for secondary school students but grade eight mathematics and Eng- lish reinforcement 'courses will be open to younger stu- dents. Adults are welcome to enrol for credit and in- terest as well. Registration for most credit and interest courses will run until June 4. Registration for make up and upgrading courses will be held June 25 to June 27 at Cameron Heights Cl. and Galt C.l.