Though spring made a brief appearance in the county last Saturday, the coming week will return to colder conditions, with daytime highs remaining below freezing and average temperatures falling below normal. Despite the chill, the days should be marked by sun and generally calm weather through the weekend. By Sunday, however, a system is expected to bring three inches or more of snow, with heavier amounts likely inland.

The principal event in town will take place on April 16, when the play The Americanization of Canavas is to be presented in English. The production is said to depict the experience of an Italian immigrant family adjusting to life in this country, a story not unfamiliar to many whose fathers and grandfathers made similar journeys. Following the play, the community will observe American Forest Protection Week from April 18 through the 25th.

In other developments, a United States Forest Service timber cruising party, which has been in the field since December, has returned to town after surveying stands of mature timber. At the same time, the state has announced plans to resume beaver trapping within the Superior National Forest. While some welcome the move, the Northern Fur Trade Company of Winnipeg has criticized it as an unwarranted intrusion into the market.

It is curious how often fortune gathers company. When resources are plentiful, interest follows close behind. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote in her poem “Solitude”:

“Laugh, and the world laughs with you;

Weep, and you weep alone.”

As timber grows scarce, men range farther to find it. As the beaver returns to our streams, more hands reach in to claim a share. It seems that both joy and opportunity are rarely left unattended for long.