The Brussels Post, 1915-12-30, Page 6cTee
usewzfe.
eor er
Desserts Without Butter and Eggs,
Suet Crust,., -..One-half pound flour,
% teaspoon salt, 3 mimes suet, cold
water, Sift the flour. Skin the
suet and put through the finest meat
grinder, using o. little of the flour
from time to time to keep the suet
from, getting too sticky; rub suet into
remaining flour, add salt and inix to
a stiff paste with cold water; roll at
once on a floured board, Beef suet is
the best.
Arrowroot Blaine Mange.-Ingre-
diente for 1% pint mold; 5 table-
spoons arrowroot, 1% pints milk, rind
r/s lemon, sugar to taste. Mix to a
smooth paste the arrowroot with 'd
pint of the milk; put the other pint
on the fire in a double boiler with
the lemon peel, and scald the milk.
Keep over the hot water until well
flavored, then add the mixed arrow-
root, sweeten to taste and allow it to
cook until it thickens sufficiently to
come from the saucepan. Put into a
wet mold and, when quite set, turn it
out on a dish and pour around Weenie
stewed fruit or garnish it with red
jelly or jam. The time required for
this cooking is about 3h hour, and it
is a dish that is seasonable at any
time.
• Arrowroot Sauce for Pudding. -A
good pudding sauce that requires no
butter or eggs is as follows: One
tablespoon arrowroot, 4 tablespoons
sugar, juice of 1 lemon, 1 cup water,
a little grated nutmeg. Mix arrow-
root and sugar; add to cold water,
put over the fire in a saucepan. Stir
over the fire until mixture boils. Then
add lemon juice and nutmeg. It is
then ready to serve.
Apple Charlotte. -Six large tart
apples, i4 cup sugar, 3h box gelatin, 1
cup cold water, 1 pint cream. Pare
and strain apples, then press through
a colander and add sugar to them
while. hot. Add the gelatin, which has
soaked for % hour in the cold water,
and stir until dissolved. Stand in a
pan of ice water and stir continually
until the mixture begins to thicken;
then fold in the cream, which has
been beaten to a stiff froth. Turn
into . a pudding mold and serve when
very cold.
Bavarian Rice with Pears. -Cook 1
cup rice in 2 cups of milk until thick
and smooth; stir into it 2 tablespoons
sugar, a few grains. of salt and 1
tablespoon gelatin soke in ?% -cup cold
milk; flavor with cinnamon or rice,
or pour into a mold. When rice is
cool, turn out the mold and surround
with canned pears. Serve with
cream.
Beckwith Pudding. -One cup grated
raw potato, 1 cup grated raw carrot,
1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup chopped
suet, 1 cup raisins, 1 cup currants, i
cup citron (cut fine), 1-3 cup orange
peel (cut fine), 1-3 cup lemon peel
(eut fine),' 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon
baking powder, 1 teaspoon cloves, 1
teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nut-
meg, 4 teaspoon salt. Mix alI in-
gredients together, put into buttered!
baking powder cans and boil 3 hours.
Serve with any sauce. Note -In all
steamed and boiled puddings put on;
to boil in cold water. The gradual
heating makes the pudding much'
lighter than if the mold or can is put
directly into boiling water.
Caramel Pudding. -Make a corn-
starch pudding, omitting sugar. When
milk and cornstarch are cooking in
the double boiler, melt 1 cup of su-
gar over the direct fire. When en-
tirely melted, add r4 'cup boiling wa-
ter. Allow this mixture to cook until
thick and syrupy; then combine with;
the cornstarch mixture. Pour into a!
mold which has been wet with cold{'
water. When cold serve with cream,'
Baked India Pudding. -One quart
milk, %. cup yellow cornmeal, 3h cup
molasses, 3h teaspoon salt. Put 1
pint ofthe milk into an earthen bake
ing dish and the other pint into a
double boiler. When scalded stir the
meal into the hot milk, a little at a
time until it thickens. Remove from'
stove and add •molasses. Pour this
mixture into the cold milk. Bake 4
hours in a slow oven; serve warm
with cream. A fireless cooker is ex-
cellent for this dish, When done, the
pudding, will be red and full of Miley.
Hints for the Home.
Spare ribs are much improved by
parboiling before roasting.
Roll raisins in melted butter in-
stead of flour; they will not sink to
the bottom of the cake.
Pumpkin Custer& are done if the
crust is a nice brown and the custard
hasa glazed appearance.
Salt added to potatoes when nearly
done insures flouriness and prevents
them going to pieces,
Prune tarts are a delicious change
in theway of pastry. Prepare the
stewed and pitted prunes.
Equal putts of linseed oil and tur-
pentine applied with a cloth to white
paint will 10ntove finger •mark
�neily,
The habit of eating plenty of.;lard
food is excellent, not only for the
teeth, but for Mho shape of the jaws
and Nee.
Marble can bo beautifully cleaned
i1 rubbed with a slice of lemon dipped
in Batt. Leave :for an hour and wash
off,
lightful crispness if it is plunged
deep into cold water for an hour be-
fore it is served.
If a cane seat chair is sagged, but
not brokeu, it can be tightened by
scrubbing with boiling hot suds,. Set
in the sun to dry,.'
Cabbage cut as it should be •for
role slaw,. put into cold water to
crisp,•then served as a salad with
French dressing is delieious.
Black silk can be very successfully
washed in the water which pared
potatoes have been boiled in. It stif-
fens and freshens both.
When boiled ham is taken out of
the pot it should be put one dish with
the rind side down, then the juices
will not ran into the dish.
Put a large sponge in the bottom
of the umbrella jar to absorb moist-
ure. It should be taken out on sweep-
,ing days and dried in the sun.
To make old fowl tender, rub the
fowl thoroughly wall, vinegar and
steam two hours before roasting. It
will be tenderas a young chicken.
1 To clean pans that have scorched
food adhering to them, sprinkle dry
baking soda in them and let them
stand for awhile. They then can be
Iquickly and readily cleaned,
! Some boot polish becomes quite dry
with keeping. Moisten it with a little
' turpentine. It softens the polish, mak-
ing it usable at once and also gives
a good gloss to the leather.
Do not fertilize window plants be-
fore they show signs of blooming or
they will run to leaves. After there
is a sign of blooming, give them a
weak application of some good plant
,food once a week.
I Should you mislay your tape needle,
which often happens to the most or-
derly person, do not think you must
give up what you are intending to
do with it, but resort to a safety pin.
A more excellent substitute cannot be
found. Put the end of the ribbon
through the pin, and when it is clasp-
ed use the twisted end for point, and
push it through the opening where
you wish it, using it just as you would
a needle, only, of course, more care
must be taken, as it is broad, and
; sometimes needs a little coaxing to do
'its work, It is splendid for tape as
well as ribbon, and is very handy in
an emergency.
SHELL MAKING IN ENGLAND.
System By Which Manufacture of
ilfunitions is Supervised.
The following facts as to the mak-
• ing of munitions are supplied to the
Associated Press by one of the heads
;of that department:
"The country is divided into areas,
leach of which has a local board of
management in control, acting under
the Ministry of Munitions. This board
of management leas representatives of
the leading engineering eta menu-
' featuring firms, and expert engineers
working the whsle time on the work
of the Ministry are attached to each;
board, and survey all the engineering'
resources in the locality so as to utile'
ize these as, highly as possible for the!
production of munitions. This work
has been carried very far, and machin -1
ery concentrated in suitable factories;
and every effort made to utilize all !
the lathes and engineering equipment:
in every town and district in the lo-
cality.
• "Each board of management is in
direct' touch with headquarters at the;
Ministry of Munitions, where there is I
an official who is in charge of every ,
particular district and is able to an-
swer all inquiries and help and ad- i
vise in•any difficulty which may or •
-
cur in that particular area, At the,
head of this organization is J. Steven-
son, a business man of wide experi-
ence. It should be noted that the pow-
ers exercised in regard to taking ma-,
chinery and factories by these local'
organizations acting under the Min-
istry of Munitions are very extensive
and very drastic.
"The national shell factories al-
ready established number 20, and are
chiefly situated in large centres of
manufacture, while co-operative
areas are arranged in more scattered
districts. In many cases the two sys-
tems
ystems run side by side, so that every
available means may be taken of in-
creasing the supply.
"The total number of controlled es-
tablishments is now 1,340, and there
are 1,000,000 , work -people employed
therein."
Her Reply.
As the happy couple were leaving
the church the husband said to the
partner of his married life -"Mar -
liege must seem a dreadful thing to
you; why, you were all of a tremble,
and one could hardly hear you say 'I
will.'" "1 will have more courage to
say it louder next time," said the s
blushing bride.
How to Work It.
"I. wish 1 could get my wife to
come home, but she'll stick and slick 1
till the last dance is over."
"I'll tell you how to do it,"
"How?"
"Just dance three times in sue- l
cession with the pretty young girl,
in the bright red dress and she'll take b
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON,
JANu4ny z:
Lesson L ---The Ascending Loral, Act
1. 1-14. Golden Text,
Epic. 4, 8.
Verse 1. The former treatise -Th
margin Greek, "first" le superfluous'
at this period Greek did not make an
difference, The claim of the writ
to have composed the third Gospel i
abundantly supported by the evidenc
of a remarkably individual style, In
Luke 1, 3, Thcophilue was "most ox
eellent," as a member (not necessarily
very highly placed) of the Roman
civil service;' the absence of the el)
ithet here may show he was out -
offiee now. Began -So this book i
really "The Acts of Jesus-contin
ued,"
2. Apostles -A title not originally
given to the twelve -Mark hardly
ever uses it -but characteristic of al
pioneer "missionaries" of the gospel.
3. By many proofs -For, as verse
12 showe, the supremo function of the
twelve was to tell the people that
their crucified Messiah was alive
again. To achieve certainty in their
own minds, he kept flashing into sight
and vanishing again through a period
of some six weeks, till they had learn -
of their lesson: that he was always
there, even when unseen.
4. Ye heard from me -The prim-
ary reference is' to Luke 24, 49, but
John 14. 10, 20; 15, 26 amplify the
promise richly.
5. John's rite of immersion was an
acted parable to set forth the cleans-
ing of a penitent soul of God. The new
immersion in the Holy Spirit was pos-
itive -not the undoing of past fail-
ures, but enduing with power for fu-
ture success. John himself recognised
the partial and subordinate character
of the water baptism (see Matt, 3.
11.)
0. The time seems indeterminate:
neither here nor in verse 4 does Luke
apparently know of a• particular oc-
casion. At this time -That the earth-
ly kingdom of David would be set up
again some time was taken for grant-
ed. Judas was the only one of the
twelve to realize that the Master's
throne would not be in Jerusalem.
7. The knowledge of tines or sea-
sons in the future is .incompatible
with humanity as such; the Son of
God himself must leave it behind
when he becomes a man (Mark 13. 22)
It is only false prophets who know
the time of the end.
8. Power -Which is far better
than knowledge and indispensable for
the most Herculean task ever laid on
weak humanity. But it was achieved.
Judea and Samaria -United in the
Greek by'one definite article. Hated
beyond the Gentiles, the mongrel
Israelites of Samaria had already
come within the range of the Master's
sympathy and love. That the mission
was to be world-wide had been implied
in his earlier teaching. See especially
Mark 7. 27 ("first"); 13. 10.
9. Taken up -This, of course, does
not imply that his physical form was
lifted into some wholly needless piece
of speculation. It was a dematerial-
ization . of the same order as those
that proceeded it; but it took the form
of an upward flight, since "upward"
always symbolizes "Nearer to Thee,"
and the sky inevitably suggests heav-
en. See also verse 11. The inter-
position of a cloud has marked his
temporary resumption of the "Body of
Glory" at the transfiguration.
10. Looking steadfastly -LA char-
acteristic word of Luke's. White -
The color in which the light has no
obstruction always symbolizes the
glory of the other world. It is Shel-
Iey's "white radiance of eternity."
11. Men of Galilee -And as such,
far away from their home, a symbol
of those who were to: know themselves
as strangers and sojourners on earth.
Why -why not? we might say. The
angels' question recalls them from the
past to future, from a wistful looking
for the old relations restored, to the
great Advent trope. It is Jesus, their
Master as they knew him, who is to
return "on the clouds of heaven." So
for the last time occurs the great ap-
propriation of the Daniel prophecy
(Dan. 7. 13) which Jesus had claimed
at his trial to be the sealing of his
fate.
12. Olivet -Latin, olivetum, like
the Greek word here, means a copse
of olive trees ea abundant as to give
a name to the hill opposite the city.
A sabbath day's journey -About 000
thousands yards, a distance fixed by
the rabbis by a purely arbitrary ex-
egesis. ,
(Meek 8,' 18), which is p traneliter-
anon of en Aramaic word meaning
"zeal" The Zealots composed the
physical -force party, A tax gatherer
and a Zealot brought together by Him
who forbade reslstancel
14. Mary-ITIere last mentioned, a
fact which makes her early death
probable. His brethren -1t is much
disputed whether these were older
brothers, Joseph's sons, or younger
sons of Joseph and Mary, The latter
seems decidedly more probable, The
e other view may well have arisen ,in
spite of the, most natural reading of
y the relevant passages, through the ase
er cede tendency which forgot the un -
s approachable sacredness of the word
e "mother."
4.
I GREATEST GUNNERY EXPERT.
Sir Percy Scott Will Get the Zepps
If Anybody Can.
of
1 thegun de -
e, Sir Percy Scott took on ce
_ • fences of London at the psychological
moment, Several citizens had seen a
Zeppelin overhead the day before his
appointment was announced. To some
of them it had appeared no bigger
than a thimble, to others 'it looked
like a Cigar, and to others like a,soda-
water bottle, and yet again,. t0 other
few, it had seemed as long as the
largest .size in cucumbers. But on
one point the spectators were agreed:
while it cared to remain overhead,
there was no way of dismissing it,
-it was out of range.
It was not easy to' gather from Mr.
Balfour's well=turned answer to a
question in the'House why Sir Percy
had not • long ago been put in com-
mand of 'London's gaps; but, taken
as it stands, Sir Perey's advent is
thoroughly characteristic of his whole
career, and quite to his liking. He
was always an eleventh -hour man.
When, as commander of the Terrible,
1 he mounted hie 4.7 -inch guns on
!carriages that were conceived and
built within 24 hours, and got. them.
across country in'time to save Lady-
smith, he did what any well-educat-
ed naval expert would have told you
was impossible. When, in 1890, the
Scylla scored 80 per cent. hits in
!target practice -the old average be-
ing 87 per cent, -the wiseacres react
• her report with incredulity. When
they did believe, they were at first
inclined to look upon the ship and her
• commander as freaks. Percy Scott
j was not bothered by either view. He
could repeat or break his own re -
13. The upper chamber -That of
Mark 14. 15, and perhaps in the house
which was still the Christian meeting
place in Acts 12. 12. The other lists
of the twelve have variations in the
names of. the least conspicuous, those
at the end. Judas the Ron of Jaynes,
nems to be identical with Thaddeus:
'Judas the Twin," whom we know as
Thomas, lost his propse name entirely
xccpt in Syriac texts, and Judas
Thadducus lost his except in Luke's
lets and John 14. 22, No apostle
wanted to keep the traitor's name,
The margin (brother) of James rests
on the wholly improbable notion that
tic writer' of the Epistle of Jude was
an apostle•,, he and James "the Loral's
tether" was not of the twelve (see
John 7. 5.). The Zealot---Cananacan
Wilted ccler;; will tonic up to a de- you home in 00 hurry."
Sir Percy Scott.
cord at will, for the simple reason
that it was the fruit, not of chance or
of such a fluky thing as the human
eye, but of science. The "dotter" and
the "deflection teacher," otherwise
known as the "ping-pong machine,"
were worked out in the lonely night -
watches of a man of brain.
They had nothing whatever to do
with Admiralty Boards or Commis-
sioners. His inventions were his own,
and put into practice without warn-
ing under his own eye on his own
ship. Later on, three months before
his promotion to the rank of acheiral,
they were finally incorporated and
given to the nation in the famous
"director -firing" apparatus, for
which he received thanks in the shape
of a baronetcy. A grant of £2,000
was the rewatd-save the mark -of
other important inventions; and he
received his K.C.V.O. in consideration
of the part he played in the scheming
of the dreadnought, the first of the
all -big -gun ships.
But Percy Scott is afraid of no
man, not even of himself, and he did
not hesitate, on the eve of the war,
to declare the impotency of the big
ship. Itis letter to the Times, in
which he foretold that above -water
fleets would be swept off the seas by
the submarine, was something of a
bombshell from a man who bad been
associated with the perfection of big-
ship gunnery.
With another school of sailor he
had little sympathy. Isis famous
signal at Portland, "Paintwork ap-
pears to be in more demand than
gunnery," brought an old antagonism
between the ornamental and the
practical to a head.
He is the only admiral you could
possibly mistake (in mufti) for Sir
Oliver Lodge. He has the imagina-
tive eye, and a thoughtful brow.
When he is not at Ascot, he lives he
Sou' -Sou' -West Audlcy Street, and
knows his London well,
Y
White and light-colored flower's 01'e
the most highly favored in the matter
of being sweet smelling.
ELES FOR SEVEN.
By A,, P. Marshall,
What to do with a vacant lot that
hacl been used for two seasons to
yard chickens in was the problem in
the spring of 1915. The soil needed
some refreshing, and how to do it
and get return for the trouble was
the question at issue,,
About this time, owing to the war
and probable very high prices for food
stuffs, campaigns were carried on re-
commending more production and
suggesting the utilizing of all even -
able land to groiv some usable crop.
This, coupled with a desire to practice
greater economy, Prompted the idea
of working this lot of about 50 feet
by 120 feet in vegetable crops suit-
able for a table where young but
hungry mouths let nothing go to
waete and are ever ready to tuck
away a good healthy quantity of all
that's good when every meal comes
roud.
Sinnce part of this must keep the
Pew breeding hens; a small part was
yarded for them, leaving all of the
balance free to be used for garden
purposes.' Owing to the nature of the
land it looked like a` -very difficult
matter to accomplish anything, and,
as the neighbors said, as soon as dry
weather started the ground would
bake hard and everything would dry
up. It was natural to almost lean to
their view, but if the land was to be
refreshed in any case it was worth a
trial,
Not having developed the idea un-
til well alongtoward spring, the land
could not get any fall preparation, but
we got a little stable manure, used
what hen manure was available, and
sprinkled the soil with a little air -
slaked lime, and had a man plow and
harrow the land, well. If we could
have had a disc harrow, better pre-
paration could have been made of the
land, making less work afterwards,
but the harrow was too big to get
through the gateway. How everyone
in the household appreciated the ]lig•
variety of fresh, crisp vegetables was
ample repayment for the effort, .and
as we were able to have crops as
early as the market growers and
earlier than our neighbors in spite of
poor first conditions, great satisfac-
tion was felt with the effort.
In the meantime, before planting,
time wasspent in carefully selecting
a good variety of seeds to give a
steady supply once the crops started
to bear. When these were finally
selected there was just $3 worth to
order besides a peck of local potatoes,
35 cents, and two dozen tomato
plants, 25 cents, making $3.60 in all.
The teaming, manure, plowing and
harrowing cost $2.75, so that the to-
tal cost was $6.35. When we consider
the healthful occupation it gave, the
satisfaction of our own supply as we
wanted to pick it, and the big saving
for these products, the experiment
was a huge success.
In dividing up tite land, three long
paths were made the full length of
the garden, divisions being made to
make each bed about 0 feet square,
except for vines, where email, round
tapering beds were formed to let the
vines run. With a late start and no
time to lose, plantings were begun as
fast as the beds were got ready, and
plantings were made each week -end
until all the seeds were used. With
each kind of seed, however, only a
small portion was used at each plant-
ing, so that new lots were coming up
to give continuous supply throughout
the season. In some cases where
frost got the first plantings, later
sowings came right along, and fol-
lowed so close as to get right in as
early as it was possible and avoid
the frost.
Our varieties consisted of: -3 var-
ieties of peas, 4 of beans, 2 of beets,
1 of turnips, 2 of. carrots, 2 of lettuce,
2 of radishes, 3 of corn, 2 of parsnips,
1 of parsley, 1 of cabbage, 2 of toma-
toes, 1 of summer squash, 2 of squash,
2 of. pumpkins, 1 of muskmelon, 1 of
watermelon, 2 of cucumber and pota-
toes with sunflower and mangles .for
the chickens. Our'potatoes were used
ip as soon as they produced without
waiting for quantity, and supplied
seven of us from early July until the
end of August, when there was no
trouble securing all we wanted at a
fair price.
0f the other vegetables, we obtain
ed all we could eat, being obliged to
give away and sell some of it to pre-
vent waste. All tops and unused
parts went 'to the chickens, turning
everything into seine use. Ae the
crops were taken out it became pos.,
Bible to enlarge the chicken yards,
and finally, by yarding tender guff,
the whole place was given over to
them. ]3esides this, beans, peas, to-
matoes, cucumbers, and such like ever°
put up in jars .f or winter use, spread-
ing the
pread-ing,the use of the crop over the whole
season. Pumpkins, squash and such
things lie in the cellar to gladden the
hearts of the little ones as well as
the grown-ups when turned into
pumpkin pies, etc,
Of course this crop did not produce
itself just by preparing tho soil and
putting the seeds in the ground, Here
was a problem, where left to itself,
hardly anything would grow, for most
�pf the land would bake 00 hard as a
briak unloes kept worked up. The
sineple plan followed was to make a
hurry -up job of hoeing the whole
Ogee as quiolcly as possible after
ovary rain, Having na facilities for
watering, this looked like the . only
09urse to follow, and it worked well,
Of course the vines were sprinlcled
with lime occasionally, to keep off the
bugs, and this we found the most
effective thing We have cvcr,used,
Looking back, we attribute the re-
sults entirely to a little preparation
of the soil, good seeds, very frequent
hoeing, especially after every, rain,
and never allowing the eon to get in
the condition this soil would if left
alone, to choke off all the growth that
starts. Anyone who wishes can figure
what seven healthy people will eat in
a season and then add considerable
to that andeasily decide whether this
work to utilize such a vacant lot was.
rofnot,1
profitable i or By planning a little
o
now one can arrange to take advan-
tage of every opportunity for getting
the best results the next season,
,b
MID CLASH OF WAR.
Most Wonderful Clock in World is
at Strassburg.
One of the most wonderful of mod-
ern European sights is the mammoth
clock on the Strassburg cathedral.
As Strassburg bids fair to get in the
way of the rival armies in Alsace-
Lorraine, the great clock' may go the
way of the University of Louvain and
the cathedral at Rheims.
The clock is more modern than
either of these, however, having been
made by Jean Baptiste Schwilgue in
1842: It is twenty feet high. Beside
various astronomical devices indicat-
ing true solar time, it has a great
planetarium in which the revolutions
of the planets are represented, _so
that the relative positions of each at
anytime can be seen at a glance.
Then on a platform above are
movable figures representing the four
ages of man. At the first quarter' of
an hour a child strikes the bell with
a rattle, a youth in the garb of a
hunter strikes it with an arrow at
the half-hour; at the third quarter
a warrior strikes it with his sword;
and at the fourth quarter an old man
strikes it with his crutch. Then a
figure of death appears and strikes
the full hour with a fleshless bone.
On the highest platform is a nat-
uralized figure of Christ, and when
death strikes the hour at noon the
twelve Apostles pass before the feet
of their Master, bowing as they do
so. As Peter passes, a large cock
perched off on one side flaps his
wings, ruffles his neck, and gives
three times a loud and perfectly nat-
ural crow.
NEW TRIBE DISCOVERED.
Strange Dwellers in Congo Paint
Themselves in Red.
A strange tribe of hitherto un-
known African natives, who render
themselves invisible by means of dull
redlines painted in various directions,
across the body, has been :discovered
by Dr. Cuthbert Christy, the well-
known traveller and authority on
sleeping sickness, •who has returned
from a three years' scientific expedi-
tion in the Congo, undertaken for the
Belgian Government.
It was in an unknown part of the
Ituri forest that he came across these
people. They organize great drives
in the forest, catching the animals by
means of nets. They are very shy
and quite naked.
Dr. Christy was the only white
man; and by the help of the Bambuti
dwarfs, with whom he lived, he pene-
trated to the haunts of the okapi.
He shot one of these animalscand suc-
ceeded in collecting four.
His great difficulty was to get
through the forest in a catlike and
noiseless way, like the Bambuti. The
work was very trying. Constant rain,
continuous twilight, and a plague of
flies and ticks made progress hard.
Practically the whole time rnarching
was through water, often waist deep.
Sometimes the traveller had only
a few bananas tied to his belt, and
often had to subsist entirely on wild
kola nut.
JAIL POPULATION LESS.
Enlisting of Prisoners Is Successful in
England.
Although the decrease in prison
population in England is attributed
by the prison commission chiefly to
the enlistment of many habitual petty
offenders, the restricted hours for
the sale of intoxicating liquor and
the great demand .for labor, which
has made regular employment un-
usually profitable add attractive,
prisons have been further depleted by
an order issued early in the war by
the Home Secretary allowing certain
prisoners a remission of sentence in
order that they might join the army.
On' the recommendation of ' the
military authorities, prisoners con-
victed of minor offenses who had pre-
viously served in the army were al-
lowed to -rejoin their old companies,
Arrangements were also made to per-
mit selected eases of intnates in Bor-
stal'reform institutions to enlist. Bo-
der this provision 840, boys detained
in these institutions had been released
up to the first of last May,
. The conduct, of then°recruits has
been carefully watched, and .11 is re-
ported that 80' have received non-
commissioned ranks; 10 have been
killed or wounded, and only 17 have
committed fresh offences, ,
SNIPING IS THE
GREATEST WORRY
IT WORRIES THE MIIN IN THE
TRENCHES.
But the Majority of an Army's Casa
mettles Aro Possibly Eaused By
Shell Fire.
A correspondent writing from Brier
tish headquarters in France says:
It would be interosting, ,if such a
calculation were possible, to classify
the agencies to which our total daily
casualties are due. And the calcula-
tion would be interesting very largely
on this score, that, whatever the eta
ti might stiOs m g t prove, the meet formxda
hie agency is still the sniper's bullet,
It is possible, perhaps even probable,
that the majority of our casualties
would be found to be attributable .to
shell fire. It . might be found that.
along a particular line of trench the
bulk of the men are knocked out by
hand grenades. But the sharpshoot
er's bullet has a special formidable-
ness of its own as is enjoyed by no.
other weapon,
The shell, the rifle grenade, the
trench mortar, at least give some
warning to the ear; the bomb and the.
aerial torpedo are visible as they come
through the air in day time, and may
frequently be dodged. The "listen-
ers" are generallyable to give some
warning as to the operations and pro-
gress of hostile miners. The bullet
alone is absolutely unobtrusive, in•
stantaneous, and unceasing. One may
take a certain amount of liberty; as
it were, with shell fire. A single man,
or even twomen, provided that they
are not obviously people of impor-
tance, may risk a walk along a
stretch of ground in view of the
enemy's guns, simply because it is
not worth a gunner's' while to shoot
at every individual, enemy he sees. No
such familiarity is safe with a
sniper.
The Old Sniper.
This static trench warfare has
largely curtailed the activities of the
old type of sniper who concealed him-
self in some neat piece of cover and
with the aid of telescopic sights, pick-
ed off individuals at a long range.
And this for two reasons. In the first
place, as soon as the two armies rea-
lized that trench warfare was likely
to last for months, they set to work
very naturally to elaborate their de-
fences, and have largely defeated
the sniper proper by the very elabora-
tion and multiplication of their com-
munication trenches. And, secondly,
the immobility of the front has meant
that very many of the sniper's haunts
have gradually become found out and
are so carefully watched as to be al -
moat untenable. The old sniper has
thus been forced more and more into
the background, and finds it increas-
ingly difficult to get anything like a
good day's bag.
Tho other afternoon I was with two
snipers when they at last potted a
German sunning himself in a field.
The distance was made out to be just
over 2,000 yards. Each of my com-
panions was a well-known big game
shot, and they each fired a couple of
rounds at the enemy. The bullets must
have gone uncomfortably near the
mark, for after each shot the man
stared about him with a puzzled
movement, hut -he stalked off unhit.
This was, of course, an extrema range,
but the marksmen were exceptionally
good, and their failure to find any-
thing but so unpromising a target
shows clearly enough that the only
possible marks are frequently set at
virtually impossible ranges.
But with the temporary extinction
of the sniper proper, there has grown
up a host -of trench snipers, men who
are constantly firing at from 20 to 800
yards or whatever may be the ridicu-
lously small distance separating the
opposing lines.
The New Style.
One of the saddest, and, to many
people at home, perhaps one of the
most bewildering features of the war
in its present stage is the daily pub-
lication of long casualty listsat a time
when there is nothing sufficiently im-
portant to justify a communique. As
a matter of fact, it is the shortness,
rather than the length, of our casualty
lists which needs to be reconciledwith
the unceasing activity of the trenches.
For, behind the rows of sandbags,
which face one another with such ap-
parent purposelessness, there are the
snipers who will spend hours waiting
for the opening of a loophole, the
sight of a cap or a hand incautiously
raised above the parapet, the hoisting
of a periscope, a shovel -anything
which may betoken the least undue
activity.
There is a constant pitting of pa-
tient vigilance against ignorance,
carelessness, or the sheer recklessness
born of physical fatigue. The strain
of being under shellfire'and other of
the larger projectiles may be more
acute while it lasts, but, in the long
run, it is the unintermittent crack of
the bullet which jars the nervous sys-
tem most permanently, and leads to
the majority of what might be called
avoidable casualties.
When iron, gets red-hot it viu,',itos
about 477 billions of times in a eve
tad.'
fir