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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1920-6-17, Page 2I ooAn nwth j r Wait Mason p''`..,. t Forsaken Farms o DERE are no toilers willing to stay upon the faint; to town they all are drilling; the hayfield has no therm. I • hear the faszuens watlirlg as they go forth to plow; tlidir etandhys all are failing. there are no ]bred men now. The yeo- man braves his motley. and cries, "Who'll work for me?" And (:eople drink its funny lee dire distress to see. The farmer :.00hs the village, imploring leuslt7 hien to help 11I)11 -with his tillage and raise big gripe again. He offers princely wages, he'd throw a chrome in, ail all the village sages just sit around and grits. '1'lte farmer'„ reeling acres won't roll up ample crops; his money - has no takers, no helper with him stops. There is no stalwart bumpkin to help him bale his wheat, he cannot thresh the pump- kin or shuck the sugar beet. The population's shifting to towns, we plainly see, and whither are we drifting, my friends, when such things be? If I were only younger I'd farm a strip of ln;um and help to thwart the hunger that threatens every hone. The farm lands of the nation must grow string beans and oats, or we shall have starvation, and lose our valued goats. First 1,000 Miles Are Important. The dealer has just left your new car at the door, and you invite the family to go for a short ride t) esn'ti the engine sound powerful and quiet? Your testa all are met satislaeawily,' and you realize that it msane sun.' flowers and red blood and that it with pay its cost in health for you wadi yours. But—are you interested ine year car's health? Do yea intend to; keep it fit front the start? Of tourse you do. After the first trip take a wrench) and go over every nut and bolt on the oar to snake certain that all are ti;,ht.j The engine parts should get especial. attention, for a defect here will re suit in misfiring and pour carburetion.' Make your inspections frequently for' the first 1,('110 utiles, until the ear' will have worn in somewhat. Then; you can relax your vigilance a bit. Make a thorough study of the in-; struction book. Look at the lubriea tion chart and familiarize yourself; with the location of every grease cup' and oil hole. Then see that all are' kept filled properly. This will insure against worn parts or scored bear -i ings and, incidentally, allow you tot learn the lubrication system thorough- ly. When an automobile is built the engine has been run but little, and the parts are fitted tight to make them snug after the stiffness has worn off. The car will not show much speed until these parts wear in. So don't exceed twenty-five•miles an hour until your speedometer registers 1,000 utiles. By so doing each part will "find itself" and you will be perfectly safe in exceeding thirty miles an hour. If you force a car before it has ob- tained the 1.000 miles it will result in a noisy engine and premature re- pairs. Drain off the oil every 500 miles and replace it with fresh. You will be surprised at the quantity of grit and dirt that conies from the crank case. The hearings and pistons throw off small particles of metal which, unless you remove them with the old o1, will work into the beeringe aiiit rause trouble. Perhaps your engine wv111 Show a tendency to overheat when new. Don't let. this worry you, for is merely the friction caused in wear- ing oil' the rough surfacee of the en - gin,, Drive intelligently and just give her plenty of oil and water. and soon this trouble will d'sappear. Every now and then the .new car should be jacked up, the wheels shaken and the looseness removed. As the bearings become accustomed to their work the need for adjustment will go away. Be careful of your gasoline adjust- ment on the dash. Do not leave it 'rich' any longer than ie necessary,( for this results in an extra amount of gasoline getting into the engine, which will, of course, thin the oil. The body cleaning should be clone very carefully for the first month or so. Use a simple flow -of water with- out spray or Lorre, If you don't the finish will be marred, The longer you drive without unnecessary cleaning the harder the varnish will become. Helpful Taints. Do not allow the engine to race or to run when the car is standing. Self- starters are made to be used and is good for the battery to be operated intelligently, IKcep the tires fully inflated --soft tires consume power as well as de- stroy themselves. Keep the carburetor adjusted at the leanest possible mixture—a lean mix- ture reduces carbon deposits, Don't try to economize by purchas- ing the "just as good" oil. Buy the right, best grade and change the sup- ply about every 500 utiles. You will find this the most economical in the long run, If you follow the car driven by an expert you will notice that he main- tains a constant speed, that he does not loaf along and then suddenly jump to forty miles an hour. You use more gasoline when you accelerate. Select a safe driving speed, making only grad- ual speed changes when it is neves- Bary. Save the Trees. The giant plants which we call trees suffer almost as much from man's de- predations as do the wild animals of the earth. If mankind were to be wiped oft the earth, the entire land surface of the latter would in time be covered with forests, save only the deserts. Trees are the dominant form of vegetation. Inasmuch as wood le one of our chief necessaries, It might be supposed that anxious care would be taken to con- serve the forests; but. on the contrary, the habit of the human animal has been to destroy them recklessly. Whole region; in China, which otherwise would be highly productive to -day, have been converted into de- serts by wholesale tree destruction which was largely accomplished be- fore the dawn of European history. We ourselves, in Canada. must con- serve our priceless heritage of forest lands, and curb the fire demon which yearly destroys vast areas of value - able timber. In Europe the leseues of an older civilization have taught prudence, and the forests are farmed with paiustak- ing care, yielding regular crops, Be- fore long we shall be obliged, whether willing or not, to adopt the same mode of procedure. British Dominions. Canada, with nearly 4,000,000 square miles, Is the largest of the British do- minions; the smallest is Gibraltar, lees than two miles square. The Legitimate Ian .ii -Stock Laughter le the great dissofveut, the great lubricant. Without it the world would he inconceivably hard and dry and barren. It relieves the social strain, offers a charming, flower - strewn path to close acquaintance, turns aside anger, Mellows greed and care and ambition, throws quarrels in- to the dust heap and gives friendship now and pleasant zest and perman- ence, Laughter is the sunshine of life. But even laughter has its rough lining. These who most abound with it and who are most. gifted in its vans - nue cltarni are likely to be thoughtless in the use of 11. it i0 such a treasure ;n itself, so profitable and so delight- ful, that it Is welcomed from any eource, 13th we 13011 too .:,icily not only t 1 aitrlpl., natiu•n3 01101000)110 laugh- ter but to laughter that is bar: 11, bitter end even cruel. When wo get our laughter from the doieg,, of -others-• :no i'V"ryone'e eohigs supply enough of it to those who know how to look -- We are 111,110 to wound and iujnre, not with the least intention of doing so, but merely because we are thinking more about our laughter than about their lives, more about laughter than about love• But there Is one legitimate lauglt- Just Man It A fire was destroying the village. There was no water system, no chem- ical equipment or other modern ap- paratus for fire fighting. A few men had tried to work the old village hand engine but had given up because it leaked and appeared to be out of order. There were not enough men to work the little machine that the life- savers had brought, and, though indi- viduals were trying to save what they could from their burning homes, no common effort of any kind was being made against the flames. No one saw the steamer Virgin:a plowing up the river, but a few min- utes later a ringing cheer sounded, and the people turned and saw three companies of soldiers from the fort racing up the hill toward the village. One company clambered over houses with buckets, axes and wrecking bars to destroy or save as ordered, and two companies manned the idle fire en- gines. Soldiers leaped to the machines wherever they could lay a hand, and some who could net get outside the handles got imide. Otlncrs got on ton and locked arms simply to hold the jumping machines down. When one man quit a dozen tried to get his place. The work that had been impossible for a few men was fun for the crowd, and two powerful steams of water were quickly thrown upon the flames, Before the people could realize it, the fire was out and the danger was over. There had been nothing really the matter with the old machines. They simply needed to be manned, The same is true in many a situation to -day. Sin sweeps through our villages and into our lives because, for one reason, we are not willing to co-operate with the church in its fight against it. People say that the church has failed because it has poor preachers; that the parish quarrels; that there is no vested choir. True, the meeting house le a bit old- feshioined, like the old hand fire en- gine; but all that it needs is men. If in stock, one at grhir.Il we may laugh you man it, it will work as well as gever. If every one of us does 1115 part, I all day and most of the night and do the church will sucoessfully combat no harm, one on which we can exor- the forces of sin that too often have cine an the cruelty we please and not ,be true. at 1s oiluSevas, 1 Th 1 We can 1100355. swept through our village and our fray Um sharpest harshest things on that topic; but we know that we shall tth if w do shall say no say em, o, e 1 them in such a way as to get the maxi- mum of amusement with the minimum of damage. We can la.ttgh at our mistakes, and what a field it is! Plenty of kind friends will laugh at them for us, if we do not, and often by the very fact of laughing at them We remedy them, so far as tliey-ean be remedied. We can laugh at our sufferings; even when they are strange and terrible laughter will win more sympathy than • wailing. At any raw. it will help us to hear and perhaps to forget. Above all, we can laugh at our triumphs and suceeeas. That is the most difficult. But hero again ours friends will gladly help us. If we forestall them, it wonderfully in- creases their 'tenderness. To view our greatest achievements under the as- pect of eternity is cure to make them and us gently ridiculous, and there is nn better cure for the dreadful plague of self-conceit. The Giver of the Gift Divine. Goes striden through the mar- ket -place, And cries his own munificence That men may see and know hes face. But when the sleeper twilight falls, The,giver of the gift divine Comes through the shadow of the boughs. And parts the tangle of the vine. And by all dim and devious ways Steals of to tho Beloved's place, And leaves his offering, and' flees, Lest the Beloved see his face. Life in Esthonia Esthonia, one of the new republics of the Baltic, was formerly one of the provinces of Russia. In Mr. Nevin 0. Winter's account there is a very interesting glimpse of an unfamiliar land. Esthonia cannot be called beau- tiful, he says, for it has neither the rugged picturesqueness of the moun- tains nor the well -cultivated and pros- perous appearance of fiat countries, such as Belgium and holland. Neither is it large, although it is not much smaller in -area than Ilolland, Belgium or Denmark. In some respects it is an undevelop- ed land, for the farming has never been scientific. Seven per cent. of the population awit almoet two-thirds of the land, and these landowners are al- most all "Balts"—German in speech and sympathies. Villages are not scattered over Es- thon'a as aver Russia. As a rule, the peasant lives in a detached cottage built of logs. IIe is paid about fifty dollars a year for his labor by the landlord and is allowed certain perqui- chickens. He is given firewood, and a few gallons of kerosene, and is per- mitted to cultivate about an acre for his pot^toes and garden truck. He is given almost a ton of rye for his bread, some wheat and peas, and some straw and hay for his stock. "A poor man can never get any- where," an old Esthonian peasant once said to enc. "If it had not been for i my boys I could hardly have kept even. We must have the land now. We have paid for it time and again. These Baits can go back to their Ger- many and be thankful that they escaped with their lives." The old peasant is not far wrong. There --is a saying current along that coast that Esthonia is an Elysium for the noble, a heaven for the clergy, a mine of gold for the stranger, but a hell for the peasant. WAS 11-1e... NAME. -I•a•1a - NAME. OF 11 -IE. 65.1,4E.R.AL WHO SAID "t 'DIE - HAP py.• lE- NAPPY. Locomotives That Rin Backw.tad A rather omens type of locoltiative ' is that In nae by a big Western 'United States system. This engine rune cub first, the mmoltestaelt bringing up In tho'rear. I'Ixpt'rtotco gained in operating these engines through tunnele and snow- sheds has • proved the desirability of placing the engine •caw where a bet- ter view of the track can be obtained. Accordingly this type was designed to 131)1 with the 11nchux ottl brat, and the tender back of the sniuke-box. With a coal -burning Iocnntutive each a plats would, of course, be impracticable, but no eiliiculty is eacounterod when using oil as fuel. - In this design the cab is entered through the side doorways, readied by suitable ladders. An unobstructed view of the track is obtained through the front windows. The cab fittings are conveniently arranged within easy reach of the engineman, who occupies the rlghtlulnd side when looking ahead. The ltagennet power gear is employed, and its cylinder le placed as on the previous locomotives. With this gear so placed it has boon 1leeee- em'y to rim a shrift 001005 the boiler back -head, h1 order to mem connec- tion with the operating lever. This i euenl love o• to A4a • lie alit, ilk t 1 1 v In 1 y teri'ores with the Convenlmte0 of the cab sittings, The nein frames are securely braced, under the cab, by 3t steel ease htg, to which the bumper is bolted. The latter supports a stub Met, The bumper is placed well forward to protect the comments of the cab from buffing and culllslen shocks, The deck -plate at the smoke -box end of the euglne is of cast steel and is provided with a chatingbluck and a suitable pocket for ilia tender drawbar. The toaster is of the standard design, with rectangular tank and equipped for ell - burning locomotives. The Swan Song of the Last House Fly. 0 than that sittest by the tine And smltest wildly when I come To settle on my heart's desire, The baldness of thy cranium— Blest member of the biped race, In sock and ,slipper warmly shod, Bethink thee in what evil case Chill Autumn finds the hexapod, If on the fender's shiny knob I lain would find a gentle beat, Too soon I feel a scorching throb Pervade my tender vacuous feet. And if to ease the smart I turn. And squat me on the windowpane, I find that cold no less can burn, So spread my weary wings again. No warmth is in the painted door, And all too rough the papered wall; And if I light upon the floor, The carpet tickles worse than all. Though once too often I defy Thy lifted stand and meet my fate, I know no fairer place to die Than on thy comfortable pate. And when this world is left behind, What shall come after? There's the rub. My awn hope is that I shall find Nirvana in Beelzebub. "REG'LAR FELLER S"—By Gene Byrnes The Daily Letter. Your daily letter from the front! It came A message sweet and eacred, telling me You lived, 0 heart of mine! how blest to see The dear, familiar lines, when battle's flame Was past; to know you safe and just the same! And every precious letter head- ed free; "On active service," brought an ecstacy Of hope and longing, leen& with dreams of fame. Your daily letter from the Trout! This said. No, no! It could no be that you were dead! This sent mo all the love you had! said you Were proving up the lino; and dear and true, To the last you wrote. But when Your letter came You'd left the litre; and an im- mortal name. The Passing of the Kimono. A class in dressmaking for Japanese who wish to learn how to make west- ern costumes has been opened in Tokio, Japan. It is being conducted by Miss Hanaya Sakamoto, who has studied in the United States and Cana- da. The class is attended by a num- ber of the wealthier women of Tokio, who are among the first to adept the new fashions of dressing their child- ren as western mothers de, and who wish to learn to matte underclothes as wall as outer garments. The picturesque kimono is giving way before the more convenient and economical skirt or trousers. Economy seems the greatest argument in favor of our commonplace Western costume. For everyday wear, to be sure, the Japanese have kimonos which cost rather less than our everyday clothes, but when they dress up their costumes are exceedingly expensive. Haut Doctor's Miracles Plant doctors and plant creators at Cambridge University are engaged in a series of progressive miracles, Acres of land on the outskirts of Cambridge. in England are growing literally Hun- dreds of brand new varieties of wheats, barleys, oats and potatoes; and many of these illustrate strange- ly newly discovered secrets of her- edity Sonne of the varieties are bred chiefly for yield. There is a new 'Wheat, known as "Yeoman," which has yielded 12 quarters to the acre. That is three times an ordenary crop —an event Of real world importance. But perhaps the most startling dis- coveries of the new science are in producing plants that are proof against specific diseases. The Cam- bridge botanists or doctors have now reached such a pitch that, as one of them said, they can matte almost sure of breeding plaits that are ab- solutely resistant to certain dis- eases. At present they are most eagerly in pursuit of the potato that shall be immune from the wart or scab disease, lately threatening to be- come a national calamity. But a special investigator is being turned on to each of the more common farm products—wheat, oats, barley, pota- toes and roots. The results are to be shown in the summer to a distinguished assembly of the medical profeseion, The infer- ence is that this strange secret of heredity known as the Mendelian law, by which the Cambridge botanists are helped to their most striking success- es, may be applied to men and other animals as well as plants! One Was Enough. . Visitor—"I wonder you don't stick up a scarecrow to keep the birds off." Farmer --"No? Wull, yew see I be about yere most times meself." A Rioh Man. "I know a man who thinks lie's poor, But he is rich, Mcleod, Ile has a chair, a friend who's sure, And throe good books to read!" Queerly Named Bibles Almost any child that has attended a religious ,school knows that the word Bible means boost, but it really means "books;" as the collection bound with- in one volume is a library of books written during more than twenty cen- turies. According to "The Baltimore Ameri- can," the first Greek Bible was the Septuagint, thus called because of the employment of seventy (or seventy- two) translators in making it train the Hebrew. The first great Laths Bible was translated by St. Jerome, in the fifth century, and called the Vul- gate, -front vulgare, to make ]mown, Several English translations were shade before the authorized or Icing James version in 1011, so called be- cause made under direction of James 1, Crannier'sy or the Groat Bible, print- ed in enormous size so that it night be read by the people in churches, had been published in 1530 and afterward revised by seven bishops as the "Mgt - ops' Bible." It was the Geneva Bible (1560) which •gained the name "Breeches Bible," because the word aprons in Genesis ill, 7, was translated "breeches." Russian Humor Por suc(inatreplies and nt isivoueee it would be delimit to equal tato ltue• 01011 petteme girl whom it magazine writer (300(01104 110 coming to hint in tulswer to ]tis call for a reek. The knob turned and an arm pr'eseed heavily agnieet, the door, ho Days, but nothing budged. "Unlocic!" ordered n voice outside. "Not ucedfnl, nirea31y iutlocked1" :I repl led. Upon which a powerful shoulder wee applle31 (11 well. Door, frame 11(131 leg wall crealtecl. Somtethht1 pier had to glue; there 103(5 at WW1 el ick and a sln•lek of rending llhrco, a greet splint - or ripped off the doorframe and ti placid poo.aant girl proceedea Meal? and serenely into the room. she.. "Be In good health.,, 0:11(1 "Sit down,;" mild I, She seated herself faring me and breathed a deep sigh. I hastily weight- ed down the Renee papers 00 1ny desk "So Mefodi sent thee to mo?" I asked, "Sent," echoed the shrill vole. "How de they call thee?" "Thee." "By Irina." "To thea how many yeare?" "To me?" "To thee." "Twenty and some." At times tho "some" proves to be twenty-five, but in this case It is evi- dent that It is not, "Art married?" "I?" "Thou." "Praise God!" For which? Now we know no more than we diol before. But if site is, lis will soon bo living in the kitchen, too, and we shall know within a for, days at latest. "Genet cook?" The "Vinegar Bible" received that name because, although printed at the fatuous Clarendon Press in 1717, the headline of Luke yx liar) the word vinegar instead of vineyard. There is also the "Beer Bible;" which has the word beer for strong „h„ "Thou." "Can." "oaust cook well "Nichevo!" Isere is a useful word! Literally it metas "neither nt what"; 1L is gener- ally translated "nothing," but it can mean anytllillg, If you asked a suf- fering soldier in hospital if the pain was (lard to bear and he replied "Nichevo," there would be no doubt what he meant. Or if ynu had occas on to say, "Num, if you mind my k'ssing you, you (lave only to say so,' and olio replied "Nichevo" again. you 0011111 know exactly what site meant. But this answer of Irina'; Is a poror. I)oo.; it mean that she tau (colt nothing at all, or nothing to speak of, or nothing to complain of? 1 decided to try an- other tack. "What met cook?" ,.I?„ "Thou." "What is it wished you to cook?" Wltat, indeed? Worse and wease, How do I know what I want cooked? I never }Vag a housewife before and for the life of me all th•lt I can think of is ham and eggs. I know very well that we don't want ham and eggs. Moreover, where should We get the halm --and whore should we get rho eggs? Surely 100 only thing to do is to take her on 0031 try her. So Irina agrees to come for eighty rubies a month, and establishes herself In our kitchen, Savages Worship Mushroom God. In or about the edges o£ woods one occasionally comes across an unpleas• ant -looping umbrella -shaped mush- room with a rod or orange -colored top that is covered with a slimy exuda- tion. Now and then, strange to say, people eat 1t. They die, drink In Isaiah xxiv, 9, Its sumo is very attractive to files. Tho "Treacle Ilible" reads: "There They gather upon it and Lhev die. In is no more treacle at Gilead" ins oad I Europe this species of rnt.,shroom is used as a substitute for fly -paper, The horrible - smelling "clat'arns" mushroom is. believed in Prance to cause cancer, French people call it the "cancer mushroom," Another species, which grows on olive trees, is so luminous at night that one can see to read by it. The Germans, for ligllting clgaes, use a queer sort of Gilder Mat is pre- pared from a kind of mushroom, Beat- on out, steeped in a soluttou of salt- peter and dried. An Aslatio species (Polyporus squa• mous) serves ae materiel tor razor - strops, Cut In autumn from the ash trees on w111011 It 'grows if is dried, flattened in a press and split into slices, which are glued upon strips of wood, Its efficiency for etroppitlg else, DOM is due t0 minute crystals it con- tains, hard enough to net on geol., Other hinds of mnehrooms aro used for making ink, for etanchieg the flow of blood and (hi Lapland) for killing bedbugs. A liiurogoan species is 01- pleyod to stupefy bees, and certain "puffballs" are said to have anosthetic proporl.ies. Tribes of semi -savages 111 nortliwestoru Asia utilize a Mush- room for snuff, But most curtain; of all is the Polyporus sewer, which in. Africa is worshiped as a gorl, of "Is there no balm in Gilead?" -(Jere- miah x11, 23)1 The so-called "Whig Bible" has the word placemakers In the sentence, "Blessed are the peace -makers." The "Wicked Bible" omits the word "not" from the commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus xx, 4, The "Bug Bible" (1551) gots ite name front the rendering of Psalm xci, 5: "So thou shalt not need to bo afraid of any bugs by night, nor for the ar- row that flyeth by day," The first edition of the authorized version contained a misprint in Ruth it, 15, the word "he" being substituted for "she," so it was called the "He Bible," The next edition, published in the same year, in which the word is corrected, is called the "She Bible," 6E NERAL MOLF Ri GH'Ti No W Da `(OU (tE.ME-NIBER- W HP -r BATTLE, IT WAS DUN -4V • 't'E,Pr( 1 1:1NON "metric t -r vias N1.5 (.Pts BATTLi,. To read to little and think a lot is more profitable than to read a tet and think a little. --Jean Blewett. With an 'English one -pound Halo a British soldier stationed on the Rhino bought a leather eerie containing three t1a?r.8 of ,good scissors, a snake -skin aa00..a huge shaving brnsh of real badger hair ane other odds and ends, At the normal rate of exchange his purchases were worth at Toast thirty-five dollars, or more than seven times what he paid for t11em.