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APRIL 8, 1971 TERRACE BAY NEWS PAGE 19 .Bonspiel = cont'd from page 18..... 4th Event = 1-Don Ross (Thunder Bay), Jim Ngwalo, Bob Koslowski, Ken Bryan; 2-Earl McDougall (Mara- thon), Denis Richardson, Elvin Rydberg, Jerry Price. 3-Jim MacDonald (Thunder Bay), Ted Mayes, Frank Mauro, Garnet Valiquette; 4-S. Yakimov (Thunder Bay), Nick Wasylenky, Peter Doig, Ray Coombes. Watch next week's Terrace Bay News for pictures from the bonspiel. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING This will be held in the Curling Club Lounge on Thursday, April 15th at 7:30 p.m. All members are urged to attend this important meeting. WIND-UP BANQUET AND DANCE Saturday, May 29th = you'll be hearing more about this soon, but keep this date open!!! THE BILL SMILEY COLUMN The Argyle Sitios JULIUS DIDN'T ENJOY MARCH IDES EITHER By Bill Smiley One last boot in the behind for March, and then let us leave it and the whole perishing winter that has embattled this land, this year, and move on to higher thoughts. March is known for very little, beyond giving every- one the last, and worst bout of 'flu for the year. However, we'll give it its due. One of its oldest associ- ations is with Julius Caesar. Wealthy, dictator of Rome, outstanding general, and well on his way to becoming the first emperor of the mighty Roman Empire, he was a victim of March. Big Julie was taking part in a procession during the Feast of Lupercal, which is neither here nor there. As the parade wended its way to wherever it was going, through the terrible traffic of Rome, which is still terri- ble, a seer (this is usually a chap who can't see, except into the future) stepped in front of Caesar's chariot. This is a custom, I under- stand, that is faithfully fol- lowed by pedestrians in - Rome to this day. Anyway, the old nut croaked in sepulchral tones, "Beware the Ides of March". Now, in those days, the Ides of Marci meant the fifteenth of March. This was just a few days away. And when a seer tells you to be- ware, you'd better be wary. Those seers don't mean you're going to wake up on the given day with a hang- over, or even worse, a hang- nail. Unfortunately, Julius was a bit deaf in one ear and also had his annual March cold and was coughing so loudly he couldn't have heard the last trump. So he missed the message. You guessed it. Right on the nose, on the Ides of . March, he was filled full of cold steel. Not by student activists, or black militants, but by trusted, nay, beloved fellow-members of -. the Roman Senate. It should, perhaps, be pointed out that the Roman Senate differed in some re- spects from the Canadian Senate. In those days, sena- tors were not just old politi- cians put out to pasture, or party bag-men. Some of them were under forty, and they all knew how to handle a shiv. That sort of thing just couldn't happen in the Canadian Senate. The worst that could occur would be tripping over a cane, or being run over by a wheel- chair, or bludgeoned to death by a speech. However, that is all, as the saying goes, ancient his- tory. The only lesson to be learned from it is that when you hear a seer, don't sneer. Especially in March, Ides of. Another event for which March is reasonably well known is St. Patrick's Day, the 17th. Perhaps "reason- ably" is not the word here, since it is a celebration of one of the patron saints of Ireland (the other is King Billy), and who ever met a reasonable Irishman? I'm almost pure Irish, on both sides. But let them keep their precious saints, both Patrick and Billy, in Ireland, where the bog- trotters can bash each others' brains in, their fa- vourite sport. Must say, it makes my blood run a bit cold, though, when some Cana- dian with eight drops of Irish blood in him decks out in a green tie and a sham- rock and gets into that "Top o' the mornin' "' rqu- tine. And it makes me want to throw up, every St. Pat's Day, when a Jewish comedi- an starts tossing around "Begorrah's' or an Italian tenor, all misty-eyed, war- bles, "When Irish eyes are smiling." It's as incongruous as a Canadian seventh-generation United Empire Loyalist making a big fuss about St. Wiladislas' Day, or Channu- kah, or Buddha's birthday. Each to his own, and vive la difference. See how the month of March gets me worked up? Other months rhyme with something" pleasant. June with moon and swoon. July with fly -- to Europe or somewhere. September with remember. But March goes with such delightful conno- tations as starch and arch (as in fallen). The only other thing for which March is noted is the vernal equinox, the 21st, the first day of spring ha ha. Vernal suggests green. Take a look out. Snow white or mud brown. Equinox is from the Latin: equus -- horse; nox -- night. Spells nightmare. March, right? Adieux, farewell, auf wiedersehn and aux revoir, March. May you rot in July. The Argyle Syndicate "At least she's never late . . ."