THE MICHIGAN DAILY

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1950

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FOUR-TIMES-A-WEEK LIMITED:



Tired and Weary Railroad Keeps on Rolling Along

Ann Arbor Shops Brace
For Christmas Buying

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By CHUCK ELLIOTT
A few miles out of Ann Arbor,
on the main highway to Ypsilanti,
a rusty old railroad track cuts
across the road.
Four times a week, twice head-
ing north and twice south, an an-
cient locomotive chugs slowly up
to the crossing and stops.
A flagman gets out of the cab
of the locomotive and flags down
the cars on the highway. Then,
with the whistle blowing and
steam billowing, the train moves
slowly across the road and con-
tinues down the track, at a speed
of about fifteen miles per hour.
ACCORDING to J. W. Hachey,
stationmaster of the New York
Central station in Ypsilanti, this
car stop on the Hillsdale branch
of the NYC may be unique in rail-
roading-the only occasion where
the train stops to let the bars go
by.
The old line, now just an in-
significant section of a huge
rail network once was a flour-
ishing private road, running
daily passenger and freight ser-
vice between Ypsilanti and
bustling little towns all along
the line to Hillsdale.
Today, the Hillsdale branch
doesn't exert itself, taking two
days to make a round trip. Start-
ing from Hillsdale promptly at 10
a.m. on Tuesday and Friday with
about 12 cars, the train arrives
sometime between 4 and 5 p.m.
in Ypsilanti.
* * *
BY- THAT time, it is bereft of
most of its cars, having left them
at various points along the line.
After an overright rest in Ypsi,
the lcomotive heads for Hillsdale
again the next day, picking up
cars as it goes.
Stationmaster Hachey re-
called the days of the railway's
prime, when it ran every day,
equipped with a passenger car.
The car featured a small pot-
bellied stove at one end, and on
cold mornings passengers could
crowd around the stove to keep
warm.
Although the train nas never
had any provisions for avoiding
cows and pheasants, which
abound along the line, Hachey
pointed out that as it seldom ex-
ceeds 15 miles per hour, the cows
and pheasants can easily dodge
the train. .
The passenger service was

-Daily--Bill Hampton
EVASIVE LOCOMOTIVE-After foiling the diligent efforts of Daily staff photographers for two
weeks, the Hillsdale Cannonball obligingly posed for this portrait by cartoonist Bill Hampton. The
twelve car train is thought to be the only train in the country which stops regularly to let the
traffic clear before essaying a grade crossing.

dropped about a quarter of a
century ago, Hachey said, when
other forms of transportation
began to link up the small
towns hitherto dependent on the
railroad.
The line still furnishes the only
rail connection with Hillsdale. Ac-
cording to law, the line must
maintain at least token service
until the state gives it permission
to quite running.
If the state ever does give this
permission, Hachey said that the
line will probably close up with a
good deal more alacrity than it
has shown thus far in its history.
Atom Bomb Drills
LOS ANGELES - () -- Atom
bomb drills for school children
have started here.
Testing of self-protection ieth-
ods began with third grade pupils
at Clifford Street School. In a
drill the pupils, at a signal from
their teacher, knelt beside their
seats and buried their heads in
their hands.

HEALTHY STUDENTS:
Draft Blows Breezy Humor
At Detroit Induction Center

for Christmas Gifts...
A GOOD BOOK All the newest and best in fiction
--Non fiction--Classics-Sports-Cookery--
Hobbies-Art-Music-BOOKS FOR CHIL.-
DREN
STATIONERY
Beautiful boxes in white and colors by Montag-
Eaton-White and Wyckoff
FOUNTAIN PENS and PENCILS
Schaeffer - Parker - Esterbrook and many
other items,
CHRISTMAS CARDS
OVERBECKS BOOKSTORE
1216 South University Ave.

By JAMES GREGORY
Daily Associate Editor
The draft has a breezy side.
Ask the University students who
took their pre-induction physicals
in Detroit the other day.
* * *
THEY EVEN managed to laugh
when a sergeant announced, "I'm
glad to let you guys know that
we're giving you two choices this
time ' North Korea or South
Korea!"
While waiting in a gymnasium
to be, called for their exams, a
few of the students strayed ab-
sently toward one of the doors-
until a sergeant's crisp warning
rang out. "Do not go into the
other room or you'll find your-
self in Fort Sheridan at about
nine o'clock tonight!"
The door led to the induction
room.
* * *
PRE-INDUCTION physicals for
Michigan are held at Detroit's
Fort Wayne, a bleak group of red
brick buildings decorated with re-
cruiting posters.
But it wasn't the buildings the
students, minded, and it wasn't
the examinations.
It was the waiting.
*They lined uphfor their blood
pressure tests. They lined up for
their X-rays. They lined up where
a harried examiner leaned out of
his cubbyhole and surveyed the
waiting throng. "Are most of you
guys university students?" he
asked. "All right, then. When I
say cover your left eye, I mean
the left one, dammit!"-
ONE STUDENT grew visibly
during the exam.
Stepping up to a. height-and-
weight scale, he said nonchalant-
ly, "I'm six feet tall."
"No, you're not," the exam-
iner said. "The reading is 71

and three-quarters inches, not
72."
"Try again," the student insisted,
as he strained every muscle up-
ward. This time the reading was
72 inches. He saw it duly noted
on his chart, sagged back to a
comfortable 71 and a half, and
moved on.
* * *
THROUGHOUT the morning,
most pre-inductees watched de-.
jectedly as check after check
was marked in the "normal" col-
umn on their exam charts. Then
they took the Army intelligence
test.
If any University students
failed that, the Army wasn't
telling.I
One student with 1-A potential-
ities thought of the day's experi-
ences and also of June, and came
up with a quote from Milton:'
"They also serve who only stand
and wait."a
Santa's Mail
ArrivingFast
(Continued from Page 14)
One child got somewhat carried
away. "for Xmas i want a cowboy
suit and boots, a spy glass, box-
ing gloves, a streamlined train, a
gas station, a bow and arrow, a
football suit, a cork gun, a jack,
in the box and a rain coat." ]
All of the young authors had a9
good opinion of themselves, ex-
cept one. He could only say, "I
am trying to be a good boy."
But whether they have been
good or not, or get everything
they request, Santa and the rein-
deer are promised a good trips
Christmas Eve. Most of the letters
told of cookies and hot chocolate
for the travelers. And one pro-]
mised carrots for Rudolph.

By DON KOTITE
Daily Taste Arbiter
Anticipation of pre-Christmas
buying sprees has induced local
shop managers this season to
stock up heavily on popular com-
modities.
And several stores also indi-
cated they might need to supple-
ment already plentiful supplies
by next week, because of the ex-
tended December school calendar.
* * *
THE general consensus was
that students launch their sus-
tained buying attacks the day af-
ter Thanksgiving. Even this year's
Korean situation, most agree, will
fail to tighten Yuletide purse-
strings.
Ann Arbor men's shops are
shocking the conservative eye
with wide assortments of plaids,
in jackets, shirts, ties, socks and
topcoats-as well as linings.
The fad has also spread to cuff-
links, one State St. merchant
pointed out.
Knit-bottom shirts, bedroom
loafer socks and unattached ear-
muffs will also prove good custo-
mer fodder, another State St.
salesman noted. "Large novelty
pipes, cherrywood or briar, are
much in demand this Christmas
and going fast," he added.
Last-minute items, such as pa-
jamas, jewel accessories, flasks,
cigarette cases and the ubiquitous
tie, represent a goodly share of
Yuletide profits, managers con-
cur.
SEVERAL shops have already
started re-ordering, with cash-
mere sweaters and socks heading
the "most wanted" list.
In the women's department, fur
fabrics loom as th best-selling
articles. A Main St. apparel shop
reported nearly 100 requests daily
for fur scarves hats or vestees.
Although weather conditions
to date have stemmed shopping
splurges there, a Liberty St.
women's store is "well-stocked
and ready for anything," the
manager declared.
In addition to fur fabrics, he
predicted a big upswing in acces-
sory and lingerie purchases this
season.
LARGER department stores, it
was discovered, fear buying slacks
because of the newly-imposed
credit restrictions.
"We are only running even
now," the overseer of a downtown
department store noted, "too
many of our regular customers
are too far extended on their cre-
dit ratings already. And auto fac-
tory layoffs are a problem; no
one seems to have much ready
cash."'
But he added that the inevit-
able last-week rush will probab-
ly come regardless -'"people
have to give something," he
beamed.
More students than ever before
want reliable alarm clocks, a cam-
pustown jeweler pointed out.
Much of his pre-Christmas trade
has centered about higher-priced
alarms and the perennial watch,
he said.
SILVER patterns, too, rank
high on the student shoppers'
dope sheets. All jewelers con-
Bowl Glamor

tacted revealed they run out of
individual pattern items every so
often, and are unable, to order
new supplies in time.
Modern motifs please shoppers
in furniture as well as clothes, the
survey found. One furniture store
manager expressed surprise at the
number of students who this year
plan to bless Mother and Dad
with streamlined table lamps or
Dali-like knicknacks. "In previ-
ous years, students were non-
existent in furniture shops," he
maintained.
Partly because of their low-
priced offerings and partly due
to mailing service and colorful
gift wrappings, Ann Arbor's gift
shops anticipate another hectic
but gratifying Yuletide rush.
As in the past, this year it'll be
the bizarre, out-of-the-ordinary
gadgets that catch students' eyes
and help unsnap purses, shop
heads remarked.
* . *
BOOK and music stores, which
encourage browsing the year
round, were discovered looking
forward to just as profitable a
holiday as clothing stores.
Popular fiction and non-fic
tion definitely outstrip classics
in Christmas buying appeal, a
check of local bookeries re-
vealed. Children's books run a
close second.
The useful gift certificate is the
drawing card of one Thayer St.
music store. "Most customers are
at a loss when it's a question of
what to give the music lover. With
gift certificates, the problem is
shifted to the donee," he ex-
plained.

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4,' .--I-

Let Your Laundry
Wash.Itself
AT THE
Laundropmat


Fine Imported
Men's Furnishings
1119 S. University Phone 3-1920

rd I

4
1"
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510 E. Williams

Phone 5540

CHRISTMAS SPECIALS A
Ladies and Misses ALL WOOL
SWEATERS. Pastel colors.
Regular $2.98 to $6.95
y- Spcia a $1a9S
BOXED EMBROIDERED PILLOW CASES
Excellent Value. Regular $2.69 and $2.98
SPECIAL $1.98
EMBROIDERED ENGLISH NET '
DRESSER SCARFS
Embroidered muslin in cream and white.
Regular Price $2.98 to $6.95
SPECIAL AT 1/2 PRICE
CORNELL DEPT. STORE
211 SOUTH MAIN

RELAX

and


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11

MODERN APPLIANCE has a large and
ideal selection of all types to
supply your Xmas needs-
Included in our Stock are:

RADIOS, RECORD PLAYERS,
AND T.V. SETS
Zenith Table Model
Radios. .....$24.95 up
R.C.A. Table Model
Radios .....$21.95 up
Stromberg Carlson
Table Models .. ..$31.95
Record Players . . . . $15.95 up
R.C.A., Zenith, and

fI
IRONS
Sunbeam...........$14.95
G.E. .......$8.95 to $10.95
Traveling Irons. . $6.95-$9.95
Others from ..........$8.95

MIXERS
Sunbeam
Mixmasters $39.50-$46.50
G.E. .............. $39.50
Others from ..,.....$27.95

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