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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1908-9-3, Page 6NOTES AND COMMENTS Home grown ties and timber is the watchword of a big railroad company which hits, planted 625,- 000 young trees tbia year, making a total of 2,426,000 trees which have been set out since the road under- took seientifie tree planting :on a comprehensive aeale, the largest forestry plan undertaken as yet by any corporation, To prosecute the planting operations economically on large scale necessitates at pre- sent the 'importation of part of the plant material, beoause European foresters, on account of the degree of perfection to which they have brought their work and the cheap - teas of labor, are able to supply certain forest trees for less than they can be purchased in America. This applies not only to native Eu- ropean species, such as Scotch pine and European larch, but also to our own trees, particularly white pine and Douglas fir. This year the company has begun the propaga- tion of ornamental trees and plants for beautifying its shrubbery and hedges for the protection and orna- mentation of the station grounds and rights of way. This work will be continued until all station grounds and unoccupied spaces on the right of way are park- ed that they may afford as much pleasure as possible to the public. Besides reforestering old farm land and other open areas, as in the past, the field planting this year has restocked certain areas which were logged during 1907, and has underplanted certain old locust plantations which needed inter- spersed trees to stimulate their growth in height and to regulate their form development. It is be- lieved that the conservative lumber- ing and forest planting which the companyis conducting on its wood lots and farm lands which are not now needed for other purposes will serve as an object lesson for farm - ere and provide an incentive and intelligent forest development on the part of the public generally. It is expected that in case no substi- tute for the wooden tie is develop- ed during the next thirty-five or forty years the company will have ready a part of the enormous sup- ply of timber needed for cross ties, which at the present time are be- coming exceedingly costly. A mosquito trap looks big in im- .portanee and small in size. It is e the invention of Maxwell Lefroy of the Indian entomological depart- ment, which has found it distinctly effective in a tropical residence. The trap is a small box some twelve inches square and nine inches wide fitted with a hinged lid provided with a small orifice, over which moves a sliding cover. The box is lined with dark green baize, and has a tin floor. The trap is placed in a shady corner of the room, and the mosquitoes upon entering the house in the morning seclude them- selves therein to escape the sun- light. When the insects have duly settled, the lid is shut, and about a teaspoonful of benzine is inject- ed into the box. Within a short time the mosquitoes succumb, Mr. Lefroy continued this process daily until the mosquitoes ceased to be troublesome, and within thirty-one days he caught and killed over 2,- 300 of these insects whose ravages are familiar to many outside the torrid zone. AT FIRST SIGHT, "When we were married a year ago," said Mrs. Oldby, "you were constantly telling your friends that our marriage was the result of love at first sight on your part, and now you are always finding fault with mo," "Yes; it is true that it was a case of love at first sight when I mot sou," replied Oldby, with a sigh, and I'il never forgive myself for leaving my spectacles at home that morning.' SISTER KNEW. "I say, 'Pommy," said Mr. Green, who had been warring in the parlor for half an hour; "you might run upstairs incl tell your sister I'm here," "Oh, she knows right enough," replied Tenmy, "When you was eornin up the walk she looked through the blinds and said, "Here's that empty-headed idiot Gamin' again,''" Pusher --"}usher is reit very happy in his choice of adjectives." lesher---Why sol" Miss qurnms fished fir a compliment by asking hint weeie he thought of her slip- pers." "And whet did he says" «lie sail they were immense."' THDox' body of their king and his sons, 11'hen David becanro king one of his E 0 first t rs acts was o send a message of The Man Wno Makes This Life an Empty Thing Despoils It of the Divine. God is not in all his thoughts.— Fa x. 4. There are at least three kieds of atheism—that which denies the ex- istence of any infinite and eternal. spirit; that which, while affirming, with much emphasis and elabora- tion of detail, the existence of such a spirit, yet lives as if there were none; and that which, whether af- firming or denying the fact, puts nothing of the divine into actual living. One's intellectual conclusions as to the existence of such a God as men of the past may have been able to picture may have little import- ance. The fact is that, as to the specifications of the Deity as con- ceived by others, and particularly as pictured by the past, we must all be, if we are living thinkers, atheists. The important thing is not whe- ther we can all agree as to the pre- cise details of the Deity; the im- portant thing is whether we will P.68 somehow the divine in our lives and somehow come to express that in our living. Many a man in all. honesty that he cannot believe in a God simply because he has failed to cramp his :intellect into concep- tions long since outgrown, which have been offered to him as essen- tial to FAITH IN THE DIVINE. Yet the man who cannot believe in a God in that way may still have the sense of a higher life that some- how wraps us all in itself; of reach es of being far beyond our discov- ering and charting; of a life from which all our life springs, and of a goal and ideal of life to which all our best life turns, The divine is not a matter of de- tails. God is not a matter of gram- mar. Faith in the divine is always the consciousness and hope of that which defies description. You have no right to call yourself an atheist or so to label another simply be• cause old descriptions are rejected. Be is the true atheist who seeks to bury bis life in the dust and away from the divine, He may be well informed on theories of the di- vine; he may be that dangerous per- son the piously orthodox atheist. The man who makes this life of oursan empty thing, who robs this world of its beauty and glory, who steals from life's song the note that the morning attars sang together, the heavenly chord, is simply he who despoils life of the divine, of its ideals, its hopes, its sublime sac- rifices, who casts the cynics sneer over youth's dreams, over love's devotion. It may Snake little difference whe- ther you can agree with your neigh- bor in your descriptions of the di- vine, It would be an unfortunate thing if your idea of that infinite life and love could be so localized and stationary as to permit of sat- isfactory description. The thing that matters is whether to that neighbor you yourself are reveal- ing something of the divine and the eternally good and true. WE NEED TO PRAY to be delivered not from intellectual atheism; that will hurt no one. We need to pray to bo delivered from practical atheism, the life that de- nies the divine; the heart that emp- ties itself of the high and holy by its avarice, its passion for the things that are low and debasing. We need to seek to eseape the dia- bolic delusion of the life that ac- knowledges the fact of a God and yet denies his likeness in the living. You and your neighbor might quarrel forever as to your concep- tions of God, but let each one seek to express that ideal of the divine in the daily doing, and you shall find yourselves walking in the same way, bonncl on the same errands, and your feet shall carry you to- gether to heaven's door as you seek tho ways of the needy and the sad and suffering. This world needs God. It never will be satisfied with pictures of that great spirit of love and life, .It -till know God only as we show that love and life. We might well spend less time preaching about God if only we would 'practice that for which our ideals of God stand. If that word means to you, as more and more it must mean to men, in- finite goodness, tenderness, helpful- ness, affection, then the measure of your .faith in such a being and such qualities is your own projection of them into the world. It is time that we ceased to quarrel over de- finitions and descriptions of the di- vine and began to do the deeds di- vine. HENRY F. COPE. THE S. S. LESSON INTERNATIONAL LESSON, SEPT. 6. een Lesson X. Saul and Jonathan Slain in Battle. Golden Text, Amos 4. 12. Verse 1. Now the Philistines fuugbt against Israel—This was no border skirmish but the open clash of the massed strength of two na- tions. The mastery of Palestine was at stake. Mount Gilboa—A mountain peak, and also the range of adjoining hills. It formed the eastern boun- dary of the large plain of Esdra- elon, and though mentioned in the Old Testament only in connection with this particular battle, it fig- ured in much of the military his- tory of Palestine, AIong its ridge the Philistines fought and pursued Saul's forces, 2. Sons of Saul—One son Ish- bosheth (or Esh-baal) was either not on the field, or escaped notice, for he lived to claim Saul's throne for a time. Three sons are said to have paid the price of their prom- inence -in the line of battle. 3. The battle went sore against Saul—The Latin version translates this, "The whole weight of the bat- tle was directed against Saul." The archers—Tho Israelites do not seem to have been pre-eminent m the use of the bow, The Philis- tine archers advancing rapidly in their war chariots and singling out the leaders for their aim caused a pane of fear. Re was greatly distressed — "In great straits." Whether this terns means a condition of inward agita- tion or of personal danger is hard to tell. There is some weight in favor of the Septuagint which reads, "ho was sore wounded. According to the story of 2 Sam, 1, 6 he "was leaning upon his spear." 4. Armor -bearer — An office of honor, and involving the duties of protection to the king's person. TJnon'cumcised—As oireumeision had both a national and religious significance, this term would hold all the meaning of Cru: words "alien" and "infidel." Abuse me—"Make sport of me." Saul was thinking, not of the muti- lation of his body after cleath, but of the indignities sure to be heaped upon him as a prisoner. Recall the case of Samson. Be was sore afraid—A mingling, e,i Ioyelty to his general and rever- ence for the person -of rGod s anointede* Therefore Saul took his sword and fell upon it—Nothing but the extremity of despair would lead a Hebrew to take his own life ; his ideas of the next life as a shadowy, unattractive existence far away from God, made him cling to this life. There are but four examples of suicide in all the Scriptures (2 Sam. 17. 23; 1 Kings 16. 18; Matt. 27. 5). 5, His armor -bearer .. ,died with him—It was the part of an Eastern servant to share the fate of his lord whatever it might be. - 0. So Saul died—In 9 Sam. '1, 1-16 there is another account of his death, told by a messenger who comes to David expecting a reward for the news. The story may be understood as a fabrication by the messenger, or as another case of a second independent record of the historic event. In any case the most trustworthy record is the one before us. All his men—This does not mean every man in the army, but is a brief summary of the awful fatali- ties of the day, 7. On the other side of the vallee —This could mean across Esdrae- Ion to Carmel on the west, or Ta- bor on the northwest, or across the valley of Jezreel northward among the hills of Issachar, Zebulon, and Naphtali, From any of these points the inhabitants might have been watching with eager interest the outcome of the battle. Gilboa jut- ted out into the plain in such a way that the happenings on its ridge could be seen for nines in almost every direction. All the neighbor- ing cities, as far as the Jordan, were left unprotected by the fall of this stronghold. When the Philistines came to strip the slain—Tho unconcern with which this custom is mentioned throws light upon the inhumanity of ancient warfare, Compare David's treatment of the Philistine giant. 9. They cub off his head and strip- ped off his armor—"The anointed of Jehovah fares no better than the uncircumcised Goliath now that God has forsaken him." The hear] of a foe and his armor were proud- ly displayed as trophies, 10, The house of the Ashtaroth— Or, the "temple of Astarte," .of which there was one at Askelon, Beth-shan—A fortified town on the eastern point of the plain of L:adraelon, near Gilboa, It looked out over the deep Jordan valley and guarded western Palestine against an invasion from the east, 11, Jabesh-&lead-A strong town eentraily..loeated east of the Jor- clan. When 11 was in danger by an attack of the Ammonites tinder Nahash, Saul had gone to its help 1 sac, 1.1 -, and, now its inhabitants (( grateful morn rescuethe blessing to the siren of this city for their brave deed (2 Sam. 2. 5). 12, Valiant mon—Another term for "mon of arms," Went all night—The distance by the road it was necessary to travel, being somewhat over ten miles, most of it through territory now held by the Philistines, From the wall—This fact of tak- ing down the bodies and escaping unobserved could be accomplished if —as was probably .the case — they were hung from the gate of an out- er wall which enclosed the market- place just outside the city wall it- self. Burnt them there—By a slight change these words would read, "made lamentation for them there," This is thought necessary by some because of the Hebrew's abhorrence of cremation, and especially sinoe they later took their bones and buried theme and still later David reinterred them in Saul's own territory of Benjamin (2 Sam, 21. 12-14). PROPHET REVEALS TERRORS. Disaster on Disaster Will Follow in 1909. There is no falling off in the num- ber of disasters predicted by "Old Moore" in his almanac for 1909, says a London letter. The sudden striking down of a statesman, a very destructive city Are, a most terrible railway disas- ter, and a "violent storm in the of- fices of a city newspaper," are some cheerful happenings predict- ed for January, but no hint is given as to the nature of the last-men- tioned eruption, February is earmarked for a dreadful theatre or public building catastrophe in the Manchester dis- trict,, March will be a bad month for rulers, April will bring disgrace s,nd death to a prominent financier, a tube accident in New York is ere - dieted for May, and the disco•, 'pry. of mountains of silver ore in Mex: o will upset the bullion market in June, a month which, will witnecs alarming riots in Liverpool. In July an earth tremor will shake Birmingham, there will be a railway disaster and an excursion boat calamity in the Irish Sea, Many members of Parliament will pass away in August, "causing much election excitement," and there will be a terrible disaster in Hull or Grimsby, and "fashions will run very eccentric this month with the ladies." An awful earthquake in the West Indies is promised for September, and explosions may be expected in the north during this month. The American eagle is expected to scream loudly in November, but otherwise the month will be emu- paretively quiet, and the year will end with hard times on the east coast. B.d.D FOR. MOTORISTS. New Law Enacted in Austria Spells Ruin for Them. Consternation has been caused among motorists in Austria by the new law regulating motor traffic, the full import of the measure hav- ing been expounded by Dr. Emil Frischauer, a well known Vienna solicitor, Dr. Frisebaner says that there is absolutely no limit to the amount of compensation that may be ex- acted from a motorist for damage caused by or due to his car. He is responsible for the damage done by. frightened horses, and the amount he has to pay may be fixed by any small local tribunal. There ie no "damage limit," and in view of the notorious hostitlity•of certain districts to motorists a fortune might easily be lost on a single journey. In Germany the "damage limit" is fixed at 812,500. The sec- retary of the Vienna Automobile Club asserts that the position will be most serious if the law is rigor- ously administered. Dr. Frischauer says that but one avenue of escape appears to be open to the motorists, and that is to evade the law by the formation of limited companies. Several motor- ists will join to form a company, each subscribing a certain sum, perhaps 85,000. A company with five members will thus have $25,000 at its command, and will purchase the cars of the five members, giv- ing $5,000 each. The company now becomes liable for all damage done. Being a limited liability concern, it is only able to pay fines or com- pensation to the limit of the funds in hand, and then becomes bank- rupt. Dr. Frischauer considers that such a company would be in a chronic state of bankruptcy, but it would be the only way of evading. the new law. ONE MAID'S WISDOM. "Darling," pleaded the infatuat- ed youth, "I would willingly die for. you." Nothing doing,r replied tho practical maid, 'What I want is a man who is willing to live end earn a living for me," MORE EXPRESSIVE., Ile was looking for a rich wife, and thought he had found what he required, I love you," he said in soft, warm tones, "more than f lean tell in words," - Try figures,,, she replied coldly, +++-++++-f+++++++++++++ +++++f++++++-+4 -4-+++4 +-fi Crows' Nest Pass Region Vast New Treasure -House of Coal +++++++++++-4--+++++++++4 rf+++++++-$+++++++4+++ Forty-five billion tons of coal, ire eluded in the greatest coal -fields in western North America, will be available as soon as railroad ex- tensions now in progress tapping the Crows' Nest Pass region are completed, going far toward avert- ing the predicted fuel famine. This vast storehouse is located in a rectangle 150 by 200 miles in ex- tent, eomprisiug 30,000 square miles or 19,200,000 acres. To put this tract in direct com- munication with the outside world two opposing engineering parties are strenuously at work. D. C. Corbin, president of the Spokane International railroad, has secured a charter from the provincial gov- ernment of British Columbia for a railroad connecting with the Cana- dian Pacific, east of Michel, B. 0., and extending in,a southerly direc- tion fourteen miles. Construction gangs are now in the field, rushing work. The line will open coal lands in seventeen sections, a total of 10,800 acres, for which the com- pany holds crown grants from the provincial government of British Columbia. A branch of the Great Northern railroad, known as the Crows' Nest Southern, was extended from Rex- ford on the main line in Montana to Fernie, a distance of sixty-two miles, a few years ago in order to render accessible the output of the coal mines at Morrissey and For- nie. This line of road has now been extended twenty-three miles further up the pass to Michel. En- gineers at present are engaged in making a permanent location of the line of this branch road up the Elk river, with fee apparent intention. r the -ultimate extension to the head of the rivet thence across the divide to the Alberta side and from that point on to Calgary, which is Great as such a total appears, however, there is, in view of mare recent exploration and developings, little doubt that it falls far short of the actuality. Instead of an arca of 230 square miles, used as a basis by Mr. McEvoy, a study of the map and the facts as to the out- croppings of from twelve to sixteen veins of coal on the eastern slopes of the Rockies at Cat mountain and upon the property of the Leitch Collieries Company at the eastern gateway of the Crows' Nest Pass, discloses that this great coal field is not confined within the restrict- ed area of 230 square miles, end the calculator might have doubled his figures and called his total 45,010,- 400,000 tons and still have been within actualities. The confines of this vast fuel treasure -house are not hard to de- termine. The east line of the Ida- ho Panhandle, if continued north- ward on the 116th meridian of west longitude for a distance of 150 miles, would cross the boundary line which separates the province ofBritish Columbia from Alberta at, the summit of the Rocky moun- tains, and intersect the main line of the Canadian Pacific railroad a few miles northwest of Banff, in the Canadian National Park, If a line were run from this point ri intersection with the Canadian Pacific directly east for a distance oT 200 miles to the 111th meridian of longitude and thence south 150 miles the international boundary line would again be crossed at a point one longitude degree west of the midway point in the northern boundary of the state of Montana, and if continued south through the state would pass east of Great Falls at a distance of only twelve miles. In Alberta this same meridian passes but a few miles west of Me - WHERE THE NEW CCA L DEPOSITS WERE,FOUND. Crows' Nest is nearly in the centre of the map and of the region which the great coal deposits occupy. the railway centre of the southern part of Alberta. The amount of coal lying hidden away waiting the coming of min- ers and transportation facilities al- most surpasses comprehension. From the reports of Canadian geo- logists and of mining engineers `t is apparent that there is approxi- mately 100 feet of workable coal underlying a territory which ex- tends from the Elk river on the west to and beyond the Livingstone range, east of the summit of the Rockies, and from the headwaters of the Elk on the north to the in- ternational boundary on the south. On the basis of the report of Dr. Selwyn, of the dominion geological department at Ottawa, of the out- cropping of those seams as they are trbe found three or four miles north of Morrissey, James McEvoy, geologist for the Crows' Nest Pass Coal Company, estimates that there are over 22,000,000,000 tons of coal available when transportation fa- cilities have been secured. According to Mr. McEvoy's fig- ures, the outcropping of coal just north of Morrissey measures a to- tal of 216 feet, in layers running in thickness from a few inches to over forty feet, and these layers of rock are interspersed through strata of rock which form, together with rho coal seams, a depth of 4,736 feet from the upper to the lowest seam of coal in the: series, "Mr. McEvoy estimates that at least one hundred feet of this total of 216 feet of coal s workable and marketable. "AIthough the extent of the coal lands in the entire area can only be somewhat roughly estimated, the estimate of 230 square miles should be near enough to the truth to be used as a basis for the calculation the total available coal supply," says Mr. McEvoy. A little figuring discloses what this means. Two hundred and thirty squers miles re- duced to acres gives a total of 147,- 200 acres, One acro of coal of a thickness of one hundred feet would yield 153,480 tons, and the total yield ef the 147,200 execs would be 22,505,800,000 tons, dicine Hat, a town situated on the south branch of the Saskatchewan river, where the Canadian Pacific main line crosses the stream. A few miles east of Medicine Hat the Crows' Nest branch of the Cana- dian Pacific joins the main line at Dunmore Junction. These four lines bound a rect- angle 150 by 200 miles in extent, 30,000 square miles or 19,200,000 acres, Fully three-fourths of this rect- angular territory lies east of the foothills of the Rucky Mountains. Coal has been found in almost ev- ery part of this district; at Medi - sine Hat, just over' the eastern boundary, where natural gas has also been discovered and is being used by the railway company and by the citizens of the town for do - 'nestle purposes; at Banff, in the northwestern corner; all along the eastern slope of the Rookies; at the Knee Hills, northeast of Calgary; on Sheep Creek, whore it has been mined for domestic purposes for many years; and on the headwaters of High River, whore it has also been taken out for use by the ranch- ers for the last twenty years. Hundreds of tons of it are mined daily at Tabor, thirty miles east el Lethbridge. At the lattet' place are situated the mines of the Galt, Company, the oldest coal company in the territory, and other mines of other companies of more recent de- velopment. South and west of Pincher Creek, along the foothills of the Rockies, it is found in large beds, while on the Crows' Nest railway from Lundbrock, forty miles west of Macleod, to Morrissey, nine miles below Fernie, numerous mines are in constant operation. North of the railway through the pass, on the upper Elk, from the point where Michel Creels empties into the silk River, large tracts of coal lands have been taken up and ere being surveyed ands prepare tions ere in progress to develop some of "these holdings on a largo scale, On the eastern slope of the ltook- ios these great coal measures re- veal thernselves at various points, where the have boon o d the upheaval of the ,iviiegstone range and et Cat Mountain. Thus. while it is known that coal exists in paying quantities in almest all' parts of this vase territory, what 13 commonly known as the Crows' Nest coel field occupies but a por- tion of the southwestern quarter of 11, extending from the E11c River on the west to the foothills of the. Rockies on the east. A single wain re coal ranging in thickness from thirty to forty feet has been cue through at Morrissey, Coal Creek, Homer and Michel, and is of the same thickness as exposed at Cat. Mountain, on the eastern slope of the Rookies and nv other places up, the Elk River. With the opening up of the rect- angular territory to the railroad' the problem of marketing the coal' will be solved, With the speed be- ing made by the construction gangs, the day is not far distant when the. Crows' Neat Pass region will fig- ure materially in the fuel aupply problem of North America.—F. G. Moorhead, in the Technical Worlds Magazine. LABRADOR GENEROSITY. A Striking Instairce is Recorded b;f- Dr. Grenfell Among the qualities developed on, the stern Labrador coast, writes, Doctor Grenfell, one is very con- spicuous. That is the way in which. every one scorns interested in you, and your affairs, and seems anxi- cos to further your projects, often. going to great trouble for the be- hoof of a complete stranger. A striking instance of their generos- ity is recorded as coming under the, de.ctor's notice, I was stranded last week, in the evening, about fifteen :Hiles from home. Owing to the crowd in hos- pital and my colleagues being away south, it was imperative that I should get home that night. No dogs were obtainable, so 1: s. ught tate help of a poor fisherman, the only man available. His right, arm and leg had been "scrammed" with a "touch of the paralyze" when he was a boy. With an imbe- cile sister, a mother and a brother dependent on him, and only his crippled limbs, he has lived in an, uninterrupted state of poverty'. His tiny shack, crowded already, had an aged and still poorer stran- ger occupying the best part of the. floor space, whom he begged me to examine while he "unspanned," This I did, but when clear of the house I reasoned with him against. increasing his liabilities and bur- dens. He replied : "He is scrammed a bit just now," His dogs were, alas! little better fed than he was himself. One has. t,,, ,put it that way, because they shared equally with him, living in the house. But his standard of diet was not ours. He was so delighted' at carrying me, even at that hour of night, I ventured to offer a trif- ling remuneration. He answered it was "not his 'fashion," and for a. while after spoke only to his dogs. When we reached the hospital, T begged him to let me feed his dogs. and give them a bed for the night. "It's got to take this parcel to Snag Cove," he replied, "so T won't stay. I give you thanks." "Why, that's eight miles. What is the parcel, anyhow I" "It's a bit o' mutton for Skipper Alfred, what's sick there. Good- bye, doctor, I's'll be home again by - breakfast." I slammed the door and turned in, feting ever so small. THE WONDERS OF WATER. Almost Every Body Contains a Large percentage of Water. The extent to which water min- gles with bodies apparently solid is wonderful. Tho glittering opal,' which beauty wears as en orna- ment, is only flint and water, The air we breathe contains five grains - of water to each cubic foot of its bulk. The potatoes and turnips which are boiled for our dinner have, in their raw state, the ono '5 per Dent, and the other 90 per cent. of water,. If a man weighing 140 pounds were squeezed flat in a hydraulic press, 105 pounds .of water would run out and only 35 of dry residue remain. A man is, chemically speak- ing, 45 pounds of carbon and nitro- gen, diffused through five and a. half pailfuls of water. In plants we find water thus mingling in no less wonderful a manner. A sunflower evaporates one and a quarter pints of water a day, and a cabbage: about the sante quantity, A wheat plant exhales in 172 days about 100,000 grains of water. An acre of growing wheat, om this cal (elation, draws and passes out about ten tons of water .per The sap of plantsisis the : medium throe h svhieh thisfluid g'Mealof t olds is convoyed. It forms a delicate pump by .which rho watery particles run with...the rapidity, of a t ift stream. By the maim of the sap, various properties may be communicated to the growing plant, Timber in Franco is, for mstanee, dyed by various colors being mixed with water and poured ov.- the root of the. tido, Dahlias are also colored by a similar process, :flatter ' a tramp et Ilse woods than n hobo in the woorr.,hcii.