After driving to St. Cloud last weekend I am convinced that we live in the garden spot of the world. The crops looked very good until we got to Hutchinson and from there on the corn was burned to a crisp in the fields. Many fields had been disked and plowed as it was a total loss. There were many, many fields like that all the way to St. Cloud. I know we are very dry and could really use a nice rain and hopefully, it will come soon as most fields are looking all right as yet.August means harvest as far back as ancient Gaul. The first day of August marked the beginning of the Guil of August, one of the great pagan festivals of ancient Britain, celebrating the first fruits of the earth. Most of our communities today celebrate the harvest with their county fairs where they get together to share in the harvest. Even if we have had our share in the hot, humid weather it hasn’t been as hot as it was one year back in Ohio where the milk cows were giving evaporated milk. Now that’s pretty hot!The Steen softball team will have their annual Labor Day Tournament on Labor Day weekend. The first games begin at 7 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday. The tournament continues at 9:30 a.m. on Labor Day. A special dedication service honoring Duane Sandbulte is at noon. Mildred Paulsen left last Sunday afternoon for Lakefield where she met Sylvia Hasara. From there they traveled to St. Cloud to attend the meeting of volunteer advocates and ombudsman training on Monday and Tuesday. The final agenda was "Mental Health in Long-Term Care." They returned home on Tuesday. There will be an open house in honor of Elizabeth Elbers’ 95th birthday from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, in Steen Reformed Church Fellowship Hall. Happy Birthday to her!The Bible Conference for Steen Reformed Church is from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, Labor Day weekend, on the shores of Lake Okoboji. The featured speaker is the Rev. Ed Baker, pastor of Orchard Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Congratulations to the Steen softball team who participated in the Hills softball tournament this past week. They made it to the finals where they played the Hills town team for the championship game Wednesday evening. They defeated the Hills team and won the championship. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Anna May Berghorst, Joyce Bristow and the Tinklenberg family on the death of their mother, Hermina Tinklenberg, who passed away on Sunday, Aug. 17. Funeral services were at American Reformed Church in Luverne with burial in Edgerton. Melba Boeve joined the Prime Timers from Luverne for a mystery trip which took them Wednesday to Eau Claire, Wis., and other interesting places. They returned home on Saturday. Henrietta Huenink was a Sunday dinner guest in the home of her daughter, Norma and Wayne VanWyhe, in Lester, Iowa. Harold Wissink was transferred from Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls to Luverne Community Hospital on Friday where he remains a patient at this time. Melba Boeve helped her granddaughter, Malinda Boeve, daughter of Brian Boeve, celebrate her 19th birthday on Sunday. A Sunday morning brunch was served at the Dries and Laura May Bosch home for their family. Those attending were Paul and Diane Bosch, Brandon, Nathan and Erick Bosch and Tom and Amy Bosch, Isabel and Emma, all of Sioux Falls.Thursday afternoon visitors in the Arnold and Jane Bonnema home were Dries and Laura May Bosch. Orrin and Bernice Aukes visited in the Iona Eckhoff home in Sioux Falls Thursday. She is the wife of the late Herbert Eckhoff who passed away several years ago. Word was received here recently that Gloria Gangestad was injured in a head-on auto accident in Hawaii. She is the daughter of Gladys and Otto Van Wettering, former residents of this area. She and her husband live in Wyoming. Her husband was more seriously injured and remains a patient in the hospital in Hawaii at this time. Don’t forget the school bells will ring Sept. 2, the day after Labor Day. Summer is over and we will all be back in the old routine. A Psalm and hymn sing was at Tuff Home in Hills last Thursday. Those participating from Steen were Bill and Bertha Bosch and Jo Aykens. Lori Scholten (Rick) underwent correctional back surgery at Sioux Falls Surgical Center on Monday. She was able to return to her home on Friday. There are many things in our world today that are changing. One of the more important ones is our education system and what is happening in our schools. One of the issues is what we should be and what we should not be including in our children’s education. I found this article titled "An eagerness to go on and on in learning." This was written in 1972 but I think it gives us much food for thought today as well. This was a gripping and meaningful address on the problems of education as delivered by Mary E. Meade, an outstanding educator and, at the time this was written, was a member of the New York City Board of Education. Ms. Meade’s remarks came from the heart, as well as from the mind. She declared, "Our schools today must give the young people what they need: Standards to live by as well as standards to live. The underlying purpose of education is to give young people an understanding of life, of how to live successfully, so that they won’t get into the drug habit along the way or something worse.The spirit of education should be to inspire the individual with the desire to learn — and to keep on learning and growing no matter what field of work, profession or vocation may be." Ms. Meade supported her own firm views by quoting Dr. Thomas Briggs, one of her teachers in Normal School. "The first duty of the school is to teach the children to do better, the desirable things they will do anyway. The ultimate aim of education should be to develop in the children the habit of education — an eagerness to go on and on and continue in the field the school has led them only a little way into. Each one of us should realize that good education for our young people is basic to the solution of many of today’s problems — and to the prevention of future problems. However, it takes more than efforts of the educators to provide good education. It takes cooperation on the part of concerned citizens."This is your food for thought! But since school is beginning soon or has begun I want to give you something to think about and wonder if you know the answers to these questions: oWhy is a naughty boy like a postage stamp?oWhat is the difference between an engineer and a teacher?oWhat is the difference between a teacher and a train?oWhat did one arithmetic book say to another?oWhat letters of the alphabet are bad for your teeth?oWhat happened to the plant in the math class?Answers to the quiz:oBecause you lick them with a stick.oOne minds the train and the other trains your mind.oOne says choo, choo, and the other says spit out your gum.oI’ve got problems.oDK (Decay).oIt grew square roots.
