Sunburned Sods are ripe in the Land of Mears

A prayer for today : Dear God , we come to thee on this sultry Friday morning to invoke thy manifold blessings on the maples and inhabi- fants of Mears , thanking you for the sprinkle we got yesterday . We heard you sent a good rain to Ferry on Tuesday and to Crystal Valley Wednesday . But we realize we have three or four wicked people in Mears and we do not so richly deserve the liquid abundanc of the skies on our parched and thirsty land . Nevertheless , the dryness of the earth is a minor matter for we can go forth with our sprinkling cans and alleviate our lawns . But there are those among us with dried hearts and stong fields within them , who are minus the green pastures of faith in a better Mears . They butcher our high school and throw it on a wagon and send it to Hart . They diminish the revenue of our stores . They rip the furnace out of our church and leave it cold for many months , as physically chilled as it is in spirit . We pray that you will bless our main street and especially that you will bless and encourage those who had the faith in our town to raise up new establishments . May people from far and wide smell the fresh baked goods Elmer Krantz stocks in his window . May they come to him for their daily bread and remember that Art Anderson sells butter next door , also buttermilk . And remem- ber Carl Brandel's new service stution on the corner , how for months be toiled to put up this fine building to aid ailing automobiles . Let the eyes of those who turn the corner see his neat and shining gas pumps and run over his signal hose and pause at his " island " for gasoline and air . May those who pass through our maple village bny a few post cards from Corliss and L. D. Estes and mail them in Crystal Younts ' post of- fice that our Mears postmark may find its way to all corners of the world from Yucatan to Ethiopia . Open the eyes of the people to Violet Tenton's hardware where they can buy bath tubs and ten - penny nails to build new homes and hen houses . As to the church.on the corner . God . if you will listen some Sunday you will hear them sing , " Help Somebody Today , " but the next day they forget all about the words and music . We had one minister once who lived in Mears and earned his living here but he never pretended to buy anything in the village except a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread for convenience sake . On the church steps after service a couple of the " deacons " plot on sending e school printing to Hart , and the high school pupils also . And we who helleve in Mears and try to hold the old town together need your help . God , to wake people up , so they will have eirie pride and community

consciousness . Let your stars shine down tonight on the church steeple and the stores , on the school tower and the bakery , on Corrine Krantz setting out the doughnuts and sundaes , on Mexican senoritas listening . to the soft music of Ted Hamilton's guitar , on the marginal shadow of a bolero , on the outdoor cinema screen in yonder field . Today we live , today we encourage each other , up and down main street . And when the amber and crimson lights of Elmer Krantz's jute box start playing to- night , " The Sidewalks of New York , " there is more fellowship and good will and religion afloat and more hope for Mears than the long- faced deacon will dig up in 40 years . Say " Amen , " God , you made the flowers and the butterflies to keep the world cheerful and

happy.-

Mrs. E. F. Porter could be dean of women in a college this fall but she wants to go to Chicago as her daughter enters high school . - Long years ago Mrs. Anna Thorson used to live at Round Lake . She was back here last week to visit her sister , Selma Pearson . Milton Swanson look- ed on Silver Lake but did not see any swans , although they come there once in a few years . Milton's mother , Mrs. Martin Carlson and her hus- band occupied a cottage at the lake . Lake Michigan National Resort is the name of a new colored colony being started adjacent to Cedar Banks Park . They have purchased 575 acres including 3000 feet on the big lake and considerable back land which they are subdividing into 2700 lots . King S. Range of Chicago is the promoter . He is assistant pastor of the Olivet Baptist church which has 14,000 members . The re- sort is not a religious organization , however , Mr. Range points out . Henry G. Reynolds of Muskegon is also assisting in the promotion and was present on the grounds Saturday . He showed me a blueprint map on a board between two trees . A mosquito landed about three inches from Toliver Ave. near Booker T. Washington drive and Mr. Reynolds had an altercation with the mosquito and blotted it out and there was blood shed in the street . 48 acres are set apart for the underprivileged ehildren from 48 states , About 100 people were at the opening Satur- day , mostly from Grand Rapids and Chicago . - John Johnson , who used to go to school in Mears a few years ago and lived at the Jesse Davis farm , was back the other day with a pretty girl named Pauline Teays . -Charlotte and Gene Todd cast their happy eyes upon our sod , bring- ing little Andrew , Michael and Tasie . Anastasia is her full name but no relation to anaesthesia . Melinda Bates and Bennett Bates say the hot weather is unabated . Kenneth and Corrine Moore say we will have more of the same . Edmund P. Yerkes will get back to Northville before Dr. D. C. Miller gets back to Columbus , Ohio . Columbus discovered America before his discovered Ohio . - Out at Paul Wiener's Silver Hills Farm one of the registered Guernseys , Scottland Farms Modesty , has a new bull calf - Charles M. Dunning of Oklahoma says Silver Lake owes him a good time . He has been coming here for 28 years . Mrs. Rodaman runs an army surplus store on Miller street in Hart - Paul T. Ward and his wife , Catherine , have two sons , Charles and Don . s they named their Silver Lake cottage Paucatchadon . Linda O'Connor comes over from next door and the boys sing her a song , you know what . Harry Hall , the researcher , has with him at the lakeside his wife and the little corridors , six year old Donna , four year Bubby and Richie , five months . Homewood , Ill . , is their home . Scott McCurdy . church organist from the Rapids who pulls out the celeste and dla pason stops , would rather be summering at the lake than simmering ur the Rapids . While his wife rides with Mildred Schuilling little Richard and Donald can chase eaterpillars , Yesterday on Shelby's main street a hundred tent caterpillars crawled their fuzzy way . They came from a walnut tree back of the news stand . Glen Ryder might be a hiperte rider and Lois and Richard might be tricycle riders but Beverly is 10

and would rather ride a horse . - Wm . DeWard made some beautiful lantern slides of birds that hum and flowers that sing and he might show them to the Silver Lake Betterment Club some day if Mabel Quail can spare a sheet . - Rev . Schipper of the Rapids is at Silver Lake this week with his beautiful Dutch wife and his daughter Eleanor who develops pictures in a photo lab , and his three sons , Roland , Gordon and Edgar . Doesn't this Cliff Nederveld think that Eleanor herself is de- veloping into a handsome picture ? She's 19 now . Mrs. Herb Hawley has 14 rooms to dust in the big house . Mr. and Mrs. Neal DeKoster present Wm . G. Popma , both pop and ina . Yvonne Farrington will study astronmy any night with Herman DeKoster and will drink a lit- tle dipper of lemonade . Helen Vanier says telephones are her bread and butter but Bettie O'Connell is a secretary . They are both relaxing in Pentwater . T. W. Williams came to Mears with Lewis Capen from Millbrook to climb the Odd Fellow stairs and see the local boys.- Sweet's Service strengthens batteries , fills gas tanks , heals inner tubes , lubricates automobiles . High pressure greasing and light repair- ing . In Hart on US - 31 at the trax , across from the Wesleyan church . SEE US for buying or selling all kinds of real estate , resorts , farms and business property . Oatman Farm Agency . Wm . C. Wade , Shelby .

I went to Camp Morrison and asked Mr. Morrison what he knew about the beginnings of Bass Lake colonization . He told me that he started his resort in 1913. Originally the settlement out there was Pentwater people who organized back about 1890. W. E. Ani- blre was president of the association , E. D. Richmond was secretary , F. members Nielson , treasurer , and H. H. Bunyea , superintendent . The paid five dollars a year on the first day of May and could keep a cottage on the lot . Down by the spot where Dr. Gilbert's cottage is now there was a pavilion for all the members . When cleaning out the old bank building in Pentwater recently a copy of the by - laws was found and I have it before me in Mears . By - law No. 24 says that ball , ten - pins and croquet could not be played on Sunday . So if Betty Gilbert had lived in that day she could not have used Indian clubs for ten - pins more than six days in any one week . In 1905 or 1906 fire swept through the woods and burned up the architecture and after that some people from Oak Park and Austin , Ill . , began to come in . Harry Hillman is one of the old - timers who still comes to this popular coony by Bass Lake

Anderson's Grocery in Mears sells cabbages aud cream , bacon & eggs

Bring your garments in now for dry cleaning , pressing and dyeing work to the Hart Cleaners & Dyers , expert cleaners , across from the courthouse , for new life and freshness . Harold Frazee , proprietor .

The Shaw Insurance Agency in Pentwater insures your rolling auto- mobile , your standing house , your children and your barn . Real estate . IF YOU CAN'T GET A NEW CAR but want your old one to look like new , take it to GLEASON & HOWARD , Hart , back of Wesleyan church .

Fine jewelry . Harold Moore , Hart Fresh baked goods daily . Elmer's Place , Mears

-Smorgasbord will be served at the Jenny Wren Tea Room in Pentwater every Wednesday , 6 to 9 p . m . $ 2 , but children under 7 , $ 1 . Prepared by Bruno , who opened the Kungsholm in Chicag BATTERY CHARGING AT CARL'S SERVICE IN MEARS .