December 25, 2019 Page 9, Neillsville, Clark Co., Wisconsin

In the late 1920s, Joe Zilk, who was a Rawleigh products salesman at that time, modified a small pickup truck so as to have a set of skis on the front axles rather than the standard wheels, also changing the back wheels so as to have better traction while traveling over the snow-covered roads. This modified vehicle enabled him to travel and call on his customers during the winter season.

Reminiscent of the old days when the horse was supreme, farmers unable to make use of their automobiles because of snow-filled roads have been coming to Neillsville in sleighs the past few days. The city’s horse sheds, which have stood almost totally unused for many years, are again sheltering teams as rural residents attend to their shopping in the city.

Although the main highways have been made passable by plows, many of the side roads were impassable to cars during the first few days of the week.

Rural mail carriers had difficulty in getting over their routes. One farmer living south of the city reported he had received mail Tuesday for the first time since Friday. In a few cases, milk trucks were unable to reach their patrons.

One of those latest up-to-date De Luxe South Bend Ranges in Pearl Tan, high shelf, reservoir of extra large capacity with French key plate, priced right!

Preliminary plans for purchase of the Neillsville Armory by the city for use as a community building were discussed at the council meeting Tuesday night, and the question will be submitted to a vote of the citizens sometime this winter or in the spring.

Monday noon, Neillsville Kiwanians listened with great interest to an address on Hitler by Miss Lucille Bentz, teacher of English in Marshfield High School.

Last year, while a student in the University of Wisconsin, Miss Bentz, whose home is in Milwaukee, made an intensive study of Hitler from many different sources and won a prize by an original oration on the subject. She accounts for his ascendancy and apparently, complete dominance of the German people by the chaotic political condition in Germany before he took control, his magnetic personality and wonderful oratory and his appeal to egotism. His many acts of cruelty have ben condoned by even the best of his countrymen on the plea of necessity. His persecution of the Jew has also injured Germany commercially.

A request came before the Neillsville Kiwanis Club Monday noon asking support for the plan to have business places in Neillsville close at six o’clock on Christmas Eve.

The members appeared adverse to adopting any resolution that might appear dictatorial, but finally adopted the following: “In view of the request for our opinion as to business places closing Christmas Eve at 6 o’clock, we will agree to do our trading before such hour, so as to permit business places in Neillsville to close at 6 p.m., Christmas Eve.”

A further motion was made and passed, asking the City Council to have a skating space cleaned on the pond and kept clean, it being reported by Mayor Stelloh that there was a possibility of relief workers being available for that purpose.

A complete list of children is being taken of those who were taken to orthopedic clinics at Eau Claire and Stevens Point. As many crippled and underprivileged children have been reported to the county superintendent’s office, these cases could not be taken care of at this time. In order to secure a complete record of the unfortunate children throughout Clark County, Superintendent L. Millard has appointed one teacher in each township to have full charge of the work such as looking up cases, gathering data, etc., so that all needy children may have the benefit of the clinics in the future.

S.A. Smith reports that his son was recently cutting up a tree, for fuel and found imbedded in a large limb, a horseshoe in good state of preservation. There was no flaw or mark on the outside of the limb to indicate any foreign substance inside and Mr. Smith battered an ax and saw on the iron before he discovered what it was.

Sixth-grade girls of the South Side School have organized a sewing club under the supervision of their teacher, Miss Tucker. The first meeting of the W.W.W. Club was held at the home of Marcia Russell Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m., in the afternoon.

“London Crusade,” an hour-long documentary of the three-month campaign held by Evangelist Billy Graham, will be shown here December 3 in the Neillsville Armory at 8 p.m.

Filmed entirely in England, “London Crusade” in Britain’s own story of the three-month campaign. Narrated by Bishop Barking, one of the most respected leaders of the Anglican Church, the saga is a complete, ripping portrayal of the events as they transpired.

The doors of the Armory will be opened at 7 p.m. with service beginning at 8 p.m. All seats are on a “first-come basis,” with no admission charge.

Miss Ardis Lindow and Frank Arbelovsky were honored at a coin shower Saturday afternoon in the church parlors of the E.U.B. Church at Chili.

The following Clark County men left the City Hall, Neillsville, by chartered Greyhound bus on December 1, 1954. And were inducted into the Army at the Minneapolis examining and induction station:

Raymond E. Miller, Jr., Colby; Ronald B. Braun, Greenwood; Robert P. Gregorich, Greenwood; Forest J. Larsen, Neillsville; Waldren W. Gravenunder, Spencer; Milton H. Molle, Unity; Vernon W. Wenzel, Withee.

A mammoth Christmas display has been mounted on the roof of Memorial Hospital, Neillsville. The display pictures the Nativity scene, the Holy Family at the center, the shepherds with their sheep on the one side, journeying toward the manger, and on the other side the Wise Men, complete with camels.

The display is the work of John Bergemann, who has had the assistance of Alfred Wegner, Herbert Smith and Larry White. The preparation of the display has been no small task. The nucleus of it was the display originally intended for the Bergemann Funeral Home, but it had grown beyond that, and Mr. Bergemann planned its further extension. With the help of Larry White, he reconditioned his own figures and added others. The scene includes 14 trees, one or more of them having height of 20 feet.

The display has flood lighting and shows up to best advantage a night. It is of heroic size, stretching along the rooftop for 80 feet or more.

Not a few members of the community have already discovered the display and have been visiting it in the evening. It will be increasingly sought out as Christmas nears.

Christmas trees for all who wish to cut their own, this is the arrangement announced by Mike Krultz, county clerk, who is the manager of the county forests. The trees may be cut in three designated localities and under the conditions announced here by Mr. Krultz. He states that this arrangement of cutting Christmas trees in the county forest has become very popular, with hundreds of householders availing themselves of the opportunity.

The cutting of Christmas trees will take place all day on Sunday December 12. The places are as follows:

Hickman Swamp, south side of U.S. 10 about two miles east of the junction of U.S. 10 and U.S. 12.

At each of these swamps there will be a representative of the county forest department, who will be empowered to collect money and to give receipts. The price will range from 30 cents per tree and up, and with a seven-foot tree costing 35¢.

This will be the only opportunity to secure legally a Christmas tree from the county forest. Mr. Krultz warns that no other cutting may be done, except at the time and places indicated. Last year seven arrests were made of persons who cut Christmas trees illegally.

(It is interesting to learn the names of these three swamps within the county forest region. There has to be a story associated with each of those names. Maybe some day we will learn of those histories of each swamp. DZ)

Friends and relatives held a housewarming for Mr. and Mrs. William Seelow, who just moved into the house purchased from Alfred Dux on the North Side. Lunch was served after an evening of playing cards and visiting. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. Ed Zschernitz, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Wasserburger, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice May, Mr. and Mrs. Arni Carl and Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Harrington. Seelow’s daughters, Birdella, Lila, June and Cleone, were hostesses.

Dennis Lukes, Abbotsford, Joyce Kurth, Abbotsford, married at Neillsville, December 3.

Wendell Elmhorst, Town of Grant, Bonnie Botnen, Neillsville, to be married December 11 at Neillsville.

A Christmas Hymn Sing will be held Sunday, December 19, 8 a.m. at the West Side Evangelical and Reformed Church, Greenwood. The program will include special numbers in both the English and German language by the junior and senior choirs. The Rev. Charles Koch is pastor.

Mrs. Kenneth Speich and twin daughters, Patricia Ann and Pamela Jean, who were born December 6 at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield, arrived at their home here Saturday.

Mr. and Mrs. George V. Klein of Loyal will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary with an open house from 2 to 4, Saturday, December 18, in the municipal building.

Pvt. Dick Catlin, who has just completed his basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., is spending a 14-day furlough with his mother, Mrs. Ann Catlin. When he leaves, he will be stationed at Ft. Bliss, Tex.

Corp. Glen Henninger of Ft. Knox, Ky., is spending a 20-day leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oswald Henninger.

The Old Town got a going over last Thursday evening at the meeting of the Parent-Teachers Association. A sound movie was shown, through the help of Stanley Ihlenfeldt, county farm agent, that pointed to various community movements in the smaller Wisconsin communities. Among the illustrations was that of the Danish Church at Withee, where community forums are conducted. Various communities have emphasized different projects, according to their interests and need. Among them a community reception for persons new in the area; something, which has not been tried in this vicinity.

On that day Sheriff Frank Dobes will move out, and Undersheriff Ray Kutsche will move in. Dobes, who will act as Kutsche’s undersheriff, will move into Kutsche’s house at 110 East 9th Street.

Jerry Quicker, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Quicker, fractured both bones in his leg while on the ice Monday night. He was taken to Memorial Hospital, where the bones were set.

(Does anyone make mincemeat pies for the holiday menus? That is something I haven’t had for years. I remember when I was a youngster, my mother canned mincemeat to make pies for Christmas, which was Dad’s request due to his heritage.

Mincemeat pie is of English origin. It is made up of minced meats, suet, arrange of dried fruits and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

Plum pudding is also traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner, the custom being brought here by British and Irish immigrants. The pudding doesn’t contain plums but does have raisins. It also contains 13 ingredients, symbolizing Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, which includes flour, sugar, baking soda, many dried fruits, eggs, suet and molasses, and is flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice. The pudding is then aged for a month or more, even can be up to a year, which results in a high alcohol content that prevents it from spoiling.

In the early 1900s, traditional plum pudding dinners were held at the Methodist Church located on Pleasant Ridge, between Granton and Neillsville, an area where several English immigrant families settled They were labeled as part of the “Buffalo Tribe,” having landed in Buffalo, NY, in the mid-1800s, later traveling to Clark County where they settled to farm, being the first farmers in the county. Two of those original families still have descendants living on the family farms. DZ)

(Back in the days, I used to can a mock mincemeat, made with no meat, but green tomatoes, apples and raisins and spices and then would have it to make pies. Dmk)

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