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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1917-6-28, Page 6Between Cousins; OR, A DECLARATION OF WAR. CHAPTER IL—(Cont'd,) The child over whose cradle poo Ella had shed such bitter tears on certain agitated evening long pas has developed into a big, well -buil but alas! carrot -haired young woma with her mother's light -blue eyes, onl of a smaller and sharper make, an with a shower of those pale -brow freckles almost inseparable from th wrong shade of red hair. Throughou the three children the red M'Donne strain had triumphed over Ella's flax en locks, though with widely different results. When a year after Julia' birth Ella had presented her husban with the son he had coveted, the un mistakable tint of the soft down cov ering the tiny skull had awakened 1 him a secret hope, for might not th affinity in complexion denote a simil arity of tastes? Another vain dream its vanity more surely proved wit every year that the boy, whom Ella in defiance of all associations, had in sisted on christening Albert, grew up Even the physical likeness betwee father and son served but to em phasise the moral differences. Th small, narrow head was there, with it close -grown crop of ruddy gold, bu yet in its very poise, and in the nery ous rapidity of its movements, wa obviously the head of another sort o man. That spareness of feature which in the father suggested the ascetic, made for businesslike keen ness in the son. The brown eyes were there too but with all the differ- ence that lies between the gaze of the mystic and that of the positivist. A certain restlessness of his thin lips i let's make a virtue of neeesslty, and brazen it out, It claims to be the r' only • ithe picture, and spits at every colorrival.n Nothing for it but to let '"t have its own way." n'! "The white hawthorn, then. . Janet, hand me that trail, Do keep quiet for a few minutes longer, child! You know how terribly important it is that n you should look your best to -night." But there's a pin running into my l I shoulder, Julia! and that ribbon round 1 my neck is choking me." Take it off altogether!" dir,egted Albert, with the same sharp decision aa before. "Ribbon necklaces are all very well for old women with wrinkled throats; but you've no parti- cular reason for hiding your throat n that I know of. Yes: that's much, o better," "You will soon learn to overlook such trifles as pins;' argued Julia, in h, the soothing tone of one comforting a child. "With the dance music in your ears, I don't believe you'll even feel them. One has to suffer, in order n to be beautiful, you know; and I'm - sure I wouldn't mind a whole paper e of pins running into me if that would tbuy me your looks." Julia laughed good-naturedly as magnanimously she - added:' But I'll try and find this parti- s culer pin, if you like. There!" she announced, a moment later. "That's all I can do. Like to have a look at yourself? Janet, don't stand gaping - there, but get away from before the mirror." With a breath of relief Fenella stepped cautiously to the ground. Mounted upon the footstool she had appeared over -tall, but revealed her- self now as of merely medium height. Julia, having scrambled to her feet, overtowered her by well -night half a head recaueo urs moaner, nut was more likely a reflection of that modern dis- quiet which stands for what used formerly to be healthy activity. For this descendant of generations of quarrymen had been caught by the spirit of the age, or by as much of it as he hail been able to assimilate dur- ing the years of study, which miracles of economy on the part of the family at large had rendered possible. The result was clearly visible upon this face of twenty-three, whose keen brown eyes and clean-shaven set of jaw spoke far more of twentieth cen- tury precocity than of that joie de vivre which used to be the privilege of his years. As now, clad in a black tail -coat, of whose defects of quality he was bitter- ly aware, he sat half -turned upon his chair, one elbow resting on the back, and his eyes fixed critically upon the figure of the girl in the white dress, his expression testified to his powers of mental concentration upon what- ever might be the question of the mo- ment. Just now it was the question whether Fenella should wear white or colored flowers to -night --a point which to an outsider might appear ir- relevant, but which neither he nor Julia were inclined to treat carelessly. As to Fenella's own views on the sub- ject, they appeared to be of minor im- portance. Moderately patient and slightly bored, she stood there upon the footstool which she had obediently mounted, in order to give Julia a bet - command of her flounced skirt, her bare, white arms hanging down be- fore her, her hands lightly clasped. "Pink, of course, is impossible," argued Julia, still upon her knees. "That unfortunate color of hair leaves one so very small a range. But what do you say to this bunch of forget-me- nots, Albert? I think the effect is rather good;" and she held a tuft or artificial flowers against the white sister's dress. Albert put back his head, shading his eyes with his hands, and gazing hard at the forget-me-nots. "I'm sure they will do very well," remarked Fenella, beginning to fidget upon her footstool. "No; they won't do," decided Albert, in a tone which admitted of no con- tradiction. "Away with them! White —unbroken white—that's the thing for our money, The M`Donnell hair won't he hidden, and that's a fact, so Has Nothing b to Hide Now that the Government has nbsolutelyprolribited the use of any artificial coloring matter in sugar, we tell you again that we have —never used Beets —never used ultramarine Blue —never used Aniline Dyes —never used Pegetable Dyes hi refining any of our sugars. This means that every pound in the hands ofyour grocer is pure and uncolored. So—why take chances? Why not insist on having Lantic— the Sugars that have always been pure, and cost no more than any other? Look for the Red Balt Tradeanarle on every Carton and Sacra 124 There had been a trifle of ill -humor, mixed of fatigue and impatience, upon Fenella's face as she accepted her de- liverance, but in the moment that she stepped before the mirror every cloud vanished. The picture reflected there was indeed calculated to stimulate the spirits even of people who were not standing upon the threshold of their first ball -room. Albert had been right. The un- broken white was the thing. What need of any artificial color, beside the glorious depth, . the triumphant warmth of these heavily -wound tresses, beneath whose • weight the small head might have been in danger of drooping had it not borne itself so straight and fearlessly, with just the slightest tilt beakwards, dictated by the exigencies of balance? The face itself was small and exquisite, with all those delicious roundneases of chin and cheek and throat which are never carried' very far out of childhood, and with dark -brown eyes under delicate- ly level brows supplying just the point of contrast necessary to the wonderful copper tints of her hair, When a red-haired woman's complexion is good at all—that is, when it has es- caped its besetting danger of freckles, —then it is usually almost perfect;" and Fenella had not only escaped that danger, but in the matter of sunburn and frost -bite, and all the other perils to the female skin, had been watched over with a solicitude es assiduous as any that ever fluttered around a pro- fessional beauty preparing for a Lon- don carreer. The average British maiden decolletee is apt to startle by the hard-and-fast line on throat and wrist, representing the limit of ex- posure; but between Fenella's face and her spotless shoulders no note of disharmony could have been discover- ed. I drink she will do, won't she?" asked Julia, looking ,exultingly to- wards her brother, who had risen from his chair, and with hands behind his back was taking final stock of the result of many days' labor and reflec- tion (To be continued. Old Shop Disappears. An interesting trading link between the past and present centuries is pass- ing away in the disappearance of the old pastry -cook's shop in Rupert Street, Piccadilly, London, which has a history covering considerably more than a century. Over the dismantled shop there may still be seen an ancient signboard bearing the inscription: "Muffin and crumpet baker to Her late Majesty"—presumably the con- sort of King George III.—"and to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. Estab- lished one hundred years." The his- tory of this ancient house, could it be unravelled in detail, would furnish in all probability one of the romances of nineteenth century London. People with a garden, and the neces- sary time, can greatly lessen the food cost by canning their own fruits and vegetables. Preserving Strawberries. Strawberries are a favorite fruit, but mus., be given particular care in canning if they keep well. Wash and drain the fruit after hulling. While doing this, have cans and lids both heating in hot water. Measure the drained berries, and for each gaart of berries allow one cupful of white su- gar. Place the sugar in an alum- ir.um or granite kettle, and add a few spoonfuls of water to keep it from I burning until it melts, When the sugar has boiled long enough to drive !all air out of it, add the berries. As these boil up gently, stir them down. When they have boiled up the second time, lift off the fire and can, taking the cans from the warm water one at a time as you can; put on the lid be- fore filling the next can, tighten the lids, turn the can upside down, and leave in that position four or five days. The berries then, when turned, will re- sume their proper position in the cans. I never lose strawberries when I fol- low this recipe. For preserving I use only firm ber- ries, and prepare as for canning. I measure the berries, and for each quart of berries allow a full quart of white sugar. I place this sugar in the preserving kettle with enough water to keep it from burning until the su- gar melts and boils. I allow the su- gar to boil, stirring it until it strings from the spoon. I take the straw- berries gently from the vessel they have been drained :n, and gently add them to the boiling sugar. This cools the sugar, but they soon boil up again, and I -stir them down. When they have thoroughly boiled up again I consid- er them done and put them in the cans, You see, I make but little dif- ference between preserving and can- ning, with the exception that I give more sugar to the preserves and al - ']ow it to thicken before adding the berries. It is the surest way of get- ting them to keep safely that I know of, and to retain their shape and color. Too many housewives cook the straw- berries too long. Sun preserves of strawberries I make this way: After preparing the berries I measure berries and sugar to equal amounts, placing the dry su- gar on the berries, then set them on the back of the stove and let them cook gently until the sugar has slight- ly thickened. Then I spread on shal- low dishes set direct in the sun, and cover with mosquito netting on frames to keep off flies and birds. One day of hot sun should thicken the syrup, leaving the berries a bright red; but if it doesn't, set them back on the stove and keep merely warm until the sun again shines. A Little Bey and His "Pal." Sometimes one wonders if, after all, these stories about the child who asks so many questions have not another side. Th; other day coming down in the Fifth avenue 'bus, says a New York writer, a little fellow about eight was asking his mother the usual string of questions about everything under the sun. But to the surprise of the oth- er passengers the usual reply, "Oh, my dear, don't ask so many questions," was not forthcoming. In this case mother was rigLt there. "Mother, why does a little automo- bile rattle more than a big one?" The passengers smiled, but mother replied promptly:— Because the big car is heavier." "Mother, look at the lady soldier. _F3 she goin' to war?" "No, son; that is a Campfir.i Girl." Here followed a detailed account of the activities of that organization. "Look, mom, at the officer. Does he ride on horseback?" "No, dear; you can tell by the in- signia on his sleeve that he belongs to tyle artillery." By this time the passengers were gazing with much interest at the lady who could actually answer a little boy's questions. Then came a poser as the 'bus trundled past a downtown club where the flags of all the nations who are fighting with the Allies were fluttering, "Name 'em, mom," commanded the boy. And mom did—every one, from the flag of Cuba on through to England and France. A gray haired man gazed thought- fully after the pair as they alighted at Thirty-second street, the youngster still chattering and gazing eagerly into his mother's serene face. "I wish my kid had a pal like that," he said wistfully to a friend. Recipes Tried and True. Strawberry Shortcake: -4 teaspoon- fuls baking powder, >A teaspoonful salt, 2 tablespoonfuls sugar, IA cup butter, °/s cup milk, 2 cups flour, 1 quart strawberries. Mix flour, bak- ing powder, salt and sugar and sift twice. Work in butter with fingers, Add milk gradually. Put on board, divide into two parts, and roll out to fit the cake tin; using the least pos- sible flour to roll. Put one part on tin, spread lightly with melted butter, then place other part on top. Bake l minutes in hot oven. When baked, the two parts will separate easily without cutting. Mash berries slightly, sweeter, and place between cakes. A dozen or so whole berries may be placed on top for a decoration. Lennon Sauce for Puddings:—Mix 1 cup sugar and 1 tablespoonful flour, add 11/$ cups boiling water, put on the fire and when it begins to boil add 1 heaping tablespoonful butter, 1,4 slic- ed lemon and pinch of salt. Cook until it has the consistency of cream, Serve either hot or cold, Orange Sauce is made by substitut- ing oneorange for the lemon. Chocolate sauce is macre by adding 2 squares of Baker's unsweetened chocolate to the orange sauce, FARMING IN AUSTRIA. Tillers of the Soil Live in Central Vil.. ]ages, Not in Farm Houses. In the agrarian districts of Austria, folk do not live in isolated farm houses but in some village central to the farms about. Someone, usually an aged matron, is assigned to set the house to rights and prepare the mid- day meal, The others go out, gather the tools, hitch or yoke the sturdy oxen to some wagon for the day, and then ride out to the field. There, men, women and children till or sow or cultivate or reap, according to the season. ,At noon they stop long enough to dine; then once more they toil until dark, With nightfall all clamber aboard the open cart, and the oxen, used perhaps to draw the plow, or to do other similar work during the day, are made to draw the laborers back to the village. Someone walks at the head of -the oxen, though they know the way, as with steady, unbroken gait, for which the patient animals are noted, they soon cover the long stretch home. The Talmud enumerates rue among the kitchen herbs and regards it as free of tithe as being a plant not cul- tivated in gardens. The name rue occurs only in Luke xi:42. BUTTER PAPER Butter Makers, get our low Prices on finest quality Butter Paper, BRITISH WHIG PUB. CO. KINGSTON, ONT. aDon to os ms IIlnptrated Sookiet DIA1VION �F —It's rime L. J, POTTS, 1710 Royal Bank Bldg, TORONTO lse y obstinate s l; de ganner9s wile w o insists on quality -- and who buys only the best sugar—because ST. LAWRENCE RED DIAMOND GRETA —admittedly without any superior—will never cause preserves to ferment— as it does nct contains the organic impurities which start fermentation. SIMPLE PRECAUTIONS. To Succeed with your preserves, buy good fruit—it must not be over -ripe. Buy Good Sugar= St. Lawrence Red DiamondGranulated. Sterilize your jars thoroughly. These precautions preventthe usual causes of failure. WE SUGGEST that the 100 lb. bag of St. Lawrence Red Diamond Extra Gra- nulated, is the best for the Farmers' Home. It ensures full weight of the best sugar and avoids frequent trips to the store. Your dealer can supply Red Diamond in Coarse Grain, or Medium, or Fine, as you may prefer. Good Fruit deserves Good Sugar—get the ST. LAWRENCE RED DIAMOND GRANULATED Sold in many ntyles and sines of Refinery Sealed packages. ST. LAWRENCE SUGAR REFINERIES LiMITED, TRAWLER DEFIED U-BOATS. Two Submarines Reported Sunk After ' Encounters. Stories not hitherto published of lively encounters between British trawlers and German submarines in the North Sea were told by Robert Lowry and others at the recent meet- ing of the Mission to National Sea- men. One trawler, Sir Robert said, became such a terror to U-boats that four of them lay in wait and eventu- ally destroyed it. On one occasion, this trawler armed with two light guns was attacked by a submarine. One shot went through the deck house, another smashed the wheel, "but the skipper went on steering with broken spokes." Another shot carried away the cook's galley, but the trawler's gunner hit the submarine, , which then had enough of it and went under. Another unarmed trawler saw a submarine on the North Sea and macre a dash for it with the result that the U-boat quickly submerged. "It went underneath," said Sir Robert, "because it could not imagine it possible that a trawler would have the courage to attack if it were not armed." Sir Robert related how they learned of the sinking of two submarines by the bodies of the crew floating to the surface, although five or six days later a report was circulated from Germany that the boat had returned to port. BIRDS WARN SOLDIERS. They Are First to Distinguish Odor of Gas in the Trenches. One of the favorite characters in the folk -lore -of all nations is the kindly -disposed fish, or bird or. frog, or rabbit, who heaps benefits upon the hero, coming to his rescue in moments of peril at the very nick of time. This pretty fairy-tale is coming true at present for the heroes of the battle -front in places where trendies have been dug near a forest 'or or- chard. For the birds overhead give warning of the approach of the noxi- ous fumes of asphyxiating gas before it is perceptible to the senses of the soldiers. MONTREAL. 4-4-17 ,Dr. Cabanes, writing in La Chroni- que Medicale, says that the birds are aroused from their slumbers before the odor of the gas has been detected in the trenches, and at once begin to make a confused clamor as they hast- ily take their flight to the rear, thus warning the men behind the guns to don their gas -masks and be ready for the deadly unseen foe. This circum- stance is in accord with the well -1 known use of a canary to detect foul air in mines, and it. seems probable that the superior sensitiveness of birds in this respect is due to the highly oxygenated condition of their blood, causing them to suffer from the slightest lack of oxygen. Wood can be preserved from the ravages of insects by the injection of turpentine. Plenty of water should be supplied for the calf from its birth, but water should never be mixed with the milk. It is estimated that an acre of beans will produce as much' food material for human consumption es five .to' fifteen acres of pasture. 2 and 5 ib. Ca tons— i0, 20, 50 and 100 Ib, 13p$a, From "Ye Olde Sugar Loafe" of grandmother's day, to the sparkling "Extra Granulated" in your own cut -glass bowl, Redpath Sugar has appeared three times daily, for over half a century, on thousands of Canadian tables. "Let Redpath Sweeten it." 7 Made in 011e grade only the highest THE LIQUID- FIRE BOMBS WEAPON OF "FRIGIITFULNESS" IN MODERN WARFARE. No Instrument of Present day • More Horrible Than the Destructive Incendiary Bomb. The wonders of chemistry have lent descriptive inspiration. to the pen of many a writer. But mankind, to' get a horrors of chemiatry, lies hadnotion toof waitthe for the present war. The conflict now in progress is mainly, as one might say, a warfare of the chemists. Without their diabolical products, ranging all the way from high explosives to poison gases, it would have few of the eharacteriatics of ultra -frightfulness that• render it unique in the history of international struggles. But of all tip instruments of de- struction used"in this war, there is none more horrifying than the so-call- ed "incendiary bomb," which sets in- stant fire to whatever it touches and which spreads flame in a manner so terrific that three or four such grav- ity -projectiles dropped the other day from an aeroplane (undoubtedly Ger- man) burned up the whole of a peace- ful Dutch village in a few minutes. Now, what is the fearsome stuff with which such bombs are loaded? A new chemical compound? Not at all. What they contain is simply a mixture of two of the most harmless things in the world—oxide of iron (which is simply iron rust) and powdered alu- minum. An Infernal Compound. When these two innocent substances are mixed together the result is a com- pound truly infernal in its potentiali- ties for mischief. It is not an explo- sive, but if set on fire, it turns with an intensity that is positively appal- ling. Nothing will put it out; no quantity of water has any effect upon the raging flames it engenders. This is the material used for load - ng incendiary bombs. It is ignited in such projectiles by a mercury -fulmin- ate cap that sets off a fuse containing powdered magnesium—the stuff pho- tographers employ for flashlights. These bombs are thin shells of steel or iron—mere containers for the mix- ure before described. They are so contrived that the fuse is instantly gnited when they strike. Whereupon he shell is melted by the heat gener- ated within it and a flood of fiercely urning metal is scattered in all direc- ions. All of this seems rather extraordin- ry, and it is worth explaining. Oxygen has an affinity for iron, eadily combining with the latter — which is the reason why iron is liable o rust. This rust is a chemical com- ound of iron and oxygen; in other words, oxide of iron. But oxygen has a much'greater af- nity for aluminum. And so, when he two metals are powdered and mix - d together and heat is applied the xygen flies out of the iron rust and ombines with the aluminum. "Fiery Dragon" of Middle Ages. The process is started in the bomb y the burning magnesium. And then be oxygen passes out of the iron and o the' aluminum so rapidly that an normously high temperature is de - eloped. It runs up to 3;500 or 9,000 egrees Fahrenheit—which means, of ourse, a tremendous combustion. The ixture of aluminum and iron burns ke so much tinder—though such a ay of putting it is absurdly feeble. The present war has been conspicu- usly marked by reversions to ancient ethods of fighting. In this line the cendiary bomb offers an excellent il- stration. It is in effect merely an daptation of an idea utilized by the areeens—we should call them Turks owadays—in their warfare with the rusaders of the Middle Ages. The instrument of war most dread - 1 by the Crusaders,'as they found it the hands of the Turks, was the in- ndiary bomb—a projectile that flew rough the air "like a fiery dragon" a they described it and set fire to hatever it touched. Sometimes it was rovided with iron barbs, by which it uto bui. Things was oneildofngsthe ways in which the Saracens employed the celebrated "Greek fire" -an inflammable com- pound that is understood to have been a mixture of petroleum, saltpeter and pitch. The chief horror of it, from the Crusaders' point of view, was that it was unquenchable. Mere water had no effect upon it. Hence they were sure that it must be of diabolical ori- gin: It is easily seen that the up-to-date incendiary bomb is a great improve- ment on its original of the Middle Ages. The modern contrivance is thoroughly scientific, and it does its destructive business with certainty and dispatch. A paint that is said to be both fire and water proof is made from the oil of a bean grown in Manchuria. One of the great dykes of Holland is 40 miles long, starting far up in the country, near the Vase' , River, and continuing across the Hook of Hol- land to the sea. It was built in sec- tions, and for seven centuries has held bark the waters from the low-lying fichls, It is forty feet broad at the leise, 25 feet broad at the top, and it h..'tcht varies from 25 to 85 feat.