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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1948-12-15, Page 7Like II Was Telling Y* By BARTL1:Y BOVirilA3t Paul turned a quizzical eye on his companion. She had bright blue eyes that darted happily about the dining car, missing nothing. "Like I was telling you," she said in a birdlike voice, "people don't usually show their true selves. You never can- tell just what a person Will do providin', of course, he's given an opportunity," Delicately she nibbled a roll. "People are funny, they really are. Don't you think so?" Paul nodded silently. So far he hadn't been given an opportunity to speak but he didn't mind. This lady reminded !tint of his maiden aunt, an extraordinary woman who had been mother and father to him. She had been gone now for tt'iao years. Miss Harrington, Miss Abigail Harrington, began again, "Take my husband, for instance," Paul lifted an eyebrow. - "You're wonderin' how 1 could be Miss Harrington, aren't you, young man? It's simple. The judge gave me permission to take my maiden name back. That's what I want to tell you about. It's almost unbe- lievable the things that people rdo. Arch, my husband, had a fine edu- cation and a marvelous personal- ity.". She dipped her head and peeked coyly up. "Suppose it's hard to•believe; but I was not so bad myself. "Arch was downtown one day doing some shopping for me. He was waiting for his package and what do you suppose?" Paul shook his head. "Well, sir, the woman next to him moved on and left her purse right in front of him. A nice, juicy purse, Now Arc:, had good pay and everything nice but there it wa,s—in front of him—the big purse—the opportunity: The temp- tation was too much. Arch fell!" She laid her fork down and wrung ♦ her hands. "Naturally I begged him to take it back, pleaded until I was, blue in the face. I'll bet you cast imagine what he did?" Paul shook Mg head. "I -Ie wouldn't tight with nae, of She picked up her purse no benme•t. • course, and he wouldn't take the purse back. He bought me the loveliest dressing gown you've ever seen." Iler eyes glowed. "I looked beautiful in it, too, But it was ill- gotten, I was never happy in it." Paul was silent. "Things got from bad to worse. Arch was clever but the police got on and we were. hunted all over. I stayed with hint naturally because he was my husband and he was good to me. But they caught him." A. shadow crossed her face. "They tricked hint, That wasn't fair, was it?" i'attl shrugged. • Abigail Hiiarringtou looked up, •her sprightly self again, "That's my story. I'm sorry if I've bored you but I've always thought it was a good example of what people will do if given opportunity." Paul nodded silently and paid the bill, She picked nu her purse and beamed at him,. They rose togeth- e: and Horde their way back to their seats, Por the next two hours she prattled on about ,Iter family and friends, his family and friends. She asked many questions and answered them herself; The journey was over too soon to suit Paul who was en- joying hinmself'immensey. The train pulling in was giving spasmodic jerks so he placed a protective arm to steady her, He jumped down and turned to help. Too late; he saw that one of her heels had caught on the step and thrown Jim. off bal- ance, He caught her ne�ctly, "That was close," site gasped. "Thank you, young pian." She adjusted her hat and Paul stooped to retrieve her purse and Its scattered contents With a bow, he returned the articles, all except ane. It was a gentleman's wallet his wallek His eye, raised to her. "Like was telling you," she quavered, "people are 1Sony. You never can tet what peonle will do, given the • '•'mrn tunny," o. 1F, There are quite a number a assorted, interesting ---I (tope—items which I've hecn saving but haven't got around W using, as yet. So it look; as through this week's column night develop into a sort of hash, . (Which reminds me of the old vaudeville act in which the waiter was taking the customers' orders, then shouting then out—in langu- age of his own—to the cook. One man ordered hash. "Clean up the kitchen for one l" yelled the waiter promptly. Yi * * Over in Great Britaiu they're trying out a new method of storing apples and other fruits, as well as potatoes, using ordinary woodland moss to park the stuff in, Until next June, when the 500 tons of apples packed this way as' an experiment are uncovered, it won't be known whether the system is salted to British climatic conditions — but they're hoping it will spread their home-grown fruit supplies over a nine -mouths period, instead of six, as at present. This system of moss storage was discovered accidentally some years ago by a Swiss engineer, who want- ed to get some rare orchids he had found in the Flintalayas home alive. He lined a wooden box with damp moss; gathered at random, then placed the orchids inside, and hoped for the best. When he opened the box in Switzerland, the orchids were in perfect condition * 't Y: So next he experimented with fruits, and found that the moss— according to its degree of dampness —had the power of releasing moist- ure, or of absorbing it from the atmosphere, thereby maintaining a constant humidity. Furthermore, because of the evaporation which took place, it had a eudency to lower the temperature and hold 15 steady. In addition, it purifies and regenerates the atmosphere, be- cause the moss "breathes"—or ab- sorbs air. * * 4 Now on the continent, railway trucks are equipped with the moss system of storage—and it has even been used successfully as a method of keeping cheese fresh. The Swiss engineer has developed it on a com- mercial basis and is meeting with great success Sounds like some- thing worth giving a trial, * * * Th "public opinion poll" boys are still at it—or maybe this one took place before the, TrumansDewey thing knocked them for a loop. Any- way, several hundred farmers were askd this qustion—How do you de- cide whether a man is a "success- ful farmer?" A good share of then replied, "He's the ratan who does a really good job of soil conserva- tion." Men who got big yields, or who made a lot of money, didn't rank nearly as high in the opinion of their fellow -farmers. Which brings up the tale of the man who was driving through some very steep hilly country and, notic- ing cattle grazing, asked farmers in the neighborhood just how the stock did on such "pasture," "They don't get any feed," one Man jokingly replied, "but they sure do get a lot of exercise," * * *. But lettting 'hock graze on such land is just aboutttlie worst thing that could be done. The cattle crop the grass short; then the water slides off the slopes as if the hill- sides were greased. That water conies rushing down to gouge out -new gullies on the good farmland below. * * * The same man drove a little further along and. tante to some hills that really had a lot of grass on them, He asked a Soil Conseryation expert "l lots collier" ''Those farmers fenced the stork off and let the native gras,es do a enure -back," was the answer. "Now they pasture those hills only about two months every other year." This might be a good time for a reminder that water pipes less than three feet deep in'the ground should be covered with straw or spoiled hay to prevent danger of freezing, Also that sparrows in poultry houses are parasite and disease carriers.. The higher openings in the poultry houses should have screens. * * *. There have been many- warnings in the past about the danger of feeding treated seed oats to live- stock. But there are always a few farmers who think they cad get away with using just a few bushels as feed. * * N Well, recently at an American University a test was made. Eight pigs were divided into four lots. Two were fed untreated oats and water. The others were fed oats treated with one half ounceof Ceresan 11I per bushel for periods of 10. and 80 days. * ' #1 * What happened? The pigs that ate the treated oats for 10 days lived through the test. Pigs in the 20 -day trial lived through the test period, but died later, The 30 -day test couldn't be completed as the pigs died before the time was up. • * * Which should be just about enough hash, I imagine, for one serving. Car Tires Made With Soap, Sugar Motorists can look forward to bet- ter tires of synthetic rubber, made according to new recipes employ- ing soap and, sugar, according to a prominent Illinois scientist. The quality of GR -S, the synthe- tic rubber blended with natural rubber in all tire treads, has been greatly unproved by the recent de- velopment of an amazingly rapid 'redox" process, according to Pro- fessor Marvel, who directed an im- portant phase of the World War II research on synthetic rubber. This new method makes it pos- sible to manufacture rubber at freezing or subfreezing tempera- tures instead of at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the conventional tem- perature, he said, asserting that the quality of GR'S and similar rub- bers seems to go up es the tetnper- ature goes down. GR -S is essentially a combination of two liquid petroleum com- pounds, butadiene and styrene, which are made to unite (polymer- ize) by a chemical stimulant (n catalyst). Itt the redox process, the compounds are first emulsified with a soap, and the reaction is started by a type of sugar, which is called the activator. Life's .Like That "Everytime I come to one Ijust close my eye,s and step on the gear' WEEK BEDTIM By GLUYAS WiLLIA SAYS 600D -NIGHT TO WIFE VERY TIRESETTLED FROMLEEP, CHRISTMAS SAorSING 16 JUST pR NG orF WHEN WIR MURMUR HE'D ETT bE SO g B{t T M '1156 TREE,AMOST OF LAST YEAR'S GOT SROKEIt MUTTERS To REMINIY HIM 1N THE MORNING AND CLOSES eves FIRMLY WIFE ee•� i6 15 1RVIND lO ceouG IF END TF1666666E WIMFL0S �� p qq gg pp\"N AOBOUTQgGBVI RESENT RINGS HIMTWIWDI �- SOMCTI SES 4tU pN(¢iR HAT SHEt g Tome TE T 008 'T OUSIN !ERIE' m AAf*TH'1HIqTki WI4 �y !it°UN9P T4 eleie o'N,6E7T� No 1YY{!! 14 OFROM e. i Pp 110 That's Orson and Tyrone, A11 Dressed Up—While making a movie in Rome—based on the life of Cesare Borgia, Orsotet Welles, left, and Tyrone Power, right, wear the colorful cos- tumes of the Fifteenth Century. Actor between is unidentified. "Our Gracie" Works With All She Has Everyone knows Gracie Fields, "Our Gracie," tate large -hearted, humorous character, who interspers- es comedy songs with serious ones, sings Schubert's "Ave Maria" after "Turn Herbert's Face to the Wall, Mother l," and gets away with it; the Lancashire mill girl who, with no pretence at being a lady or "talking posh" has endeared herself to mil- lions of people everywhere by her inimitable- personality and inex- haustible vitality. That is the • --Gracie heard on the air and seen on the stage. But what is she like at rehearsal? She is amazing then she fa re- hearsing in a radio studio; she works hard, never questions the pro- ducer's decision, sings each song as many tittles as he wants without complaint, and accepts cuts, or sings extra choruses , without a word of protest. When the orches- tra is reharsing alone she sits quiet- ly resting, sometimes pushing her hand through her blonde curls, or perhaps playing with the black beret she often wears. But when she gets to the micro- phone the fun begins. Site will prob- ably go up the few stairs to the stage bent almost double, lifting her legs with her hands as she makes awful clicking noises to symbolize the creaking of her ageing joints; she will sing a serious song and, noting somebody passing at the back of her, will stick out her foot and- trip him; she will fling out her arms in a graceful gesture when she _ gets the feel of a popular number and a moment afterwards sway from side to side like a woman hav- ing a fierce argument with her butcher. She cannot resist guying a straight number and for a really comic one will crush on the beret, wearing it at some peculiar and most unorthodox angle and, letting herself go at full tilt, steps back from the microphone and screams raucously "What 'as SHE got, that I 'aven't got?" Immediately after- wards as she is singing a really sen- sational number, she will push the beret over her nose and pull a hide- ous face yet, so powerful is her con- trol over en audience—which in this case is the orchestra, a few engine- ers and one or two others, that no one laughs, although she is looking extremely funny. Guying her songs is part of her personality and not just put on for the occasion, for when Gracie has an audience, no matter how small a one, she reacts to it like a flower to the sun. At rehearsal she doesn't bother to put on any glamorous stuff; there site is, the strapping, big -boned Lancashire lass, singing away like a lark—or a jay. Audi- ences In the theatre, or on the air, can either take her or leave her; the vast majority take her. How "Swat -the -Fly" Campaign Began In the Kansas of 1905 there were " too many case; of typhoid fever, tor, many deaths from it, and far too many flies. Residents of the State took flies for granted. They called them a nuisance, and let It govat that. How could any doctor convince tttent that the insects carried typhoid germs, and could even cause epidemics? To persuade all Kansans to join in a war on flies was the job of Samuel J Crumbine, intrepid To- peka public-health expert, who had learned through the Spanish-Am- erican War that flies meant to medicine. Cruntbitte published and distributed a 'Fly Bulletin," ex- plaining the menace of to initsect He advocated house screens, and mailed out recipes for making fly paper. A Slogan Born Then came what Crumbine calla >."the most productive day of my life." He was watching the West- ern League baseball club's opening of the season. With one man out and a runner on third base, the next batter carne to the plate. Excited fans yelled "Sacrifice fly!" When the batter swung and missed the first hall, a tentnrian voice boomed: "Swat that ball!" An idea began to emerge itt Crunmbine's brain. "I have it," he yelled. "Swat the fly!" Taking an old envelope from his pocket, he jotted down the slogan that was to sweep the country and become part of the American vocabulary. Crumbine was born in 1562 in a log cabin. He worked his way through two years of medical school and then hung out his shingle in the cow -country capital, Dodge City, Kansas. Always A Crusader Lt those days the West was the haven of tubercular Easterners. They travelled across Kansas in trains or wagons, bearing jugs of "rock 'n' rye," the only medicine prescribed for the disease. Crum - bine". as secretary of the Board of Health, began to investigate the cause and transmission of the White Plague, One hot day in 1907, while riding a Missouri Pacific train, Crumbine went to time water cooler for a drink. Ahead of him was a tall, thin man with a racking cough, and a tow- headed 5 -year-old , girl. The man filled the train's only drinking cup with water and drank. Then the little girl eagerly swallowed frotn the same cup. Crumbine was on his way to in- vestigate a smallpox epidemic, but the scene on the traits made that trifling. There ihould be a law for- bidding the tin cup, attached to tate chain, ht every coach. The doctor went to work. The railroads ob- jected. It took two years, but in March 1909 Kansas passed a law prohibiting the common drinking cup. Soon after that, the roller towel also met its end. With the Movie and Radio Folks By Grace Sharp Right after hearing Fred Allen's first radio progratn---tlte one 10 which he did that screancitlgly funny burlesque of "Stop the. Music"—I wrote something to the effect that while that sort of thing was O.K. for a "single shot", keeping It up would be a mistake, Talking too much about your competitors' goods is a bad thing in merchandising— tending to "back -fire" on your own wares—and the same thing goes in chow business. * 4 * Now it's reported that "Baggy Eyes" may abandon his Insurance plan which guarantees listeners against lops on "Stop the Musk" payoffs while they're tuned in to the Allen show—and I hope its true because, from the way I look at It, such an offer should never have been made. No claims for such in- surance have been made es yet—at least not legitimate ones. More than that, Fred's stunt hasn't affected the giveaway show's popularity, which is still ahead of Allen's. And'now they say that "Stop the Music" is considering a plan to offer—just as a gag, of course— copies of all the best jolcea Allen puts on the alr-waves to its own listeners' on request. Sounds to ma aa if both sides would be better i try and "act their ages." They've made movies about the doings of practically every famous personage, from Cesare Borgia to At Jolson, now comes one about a famous horse—the great pacer, Dan Patch. Charlotte Greenwood wilt have a big comedy role in the flick- er; and If the horse that playa the part of "Dan Patch" is as good an actor as the original, Charlotte will have her work cut out to "top" hint. * 4 * For although I don't remember him personally, those that know tell me that the real Dan Patch—be- sides being a wonderful paeer—had a huge streak of "ham" in him. After leading his opposition to the wire he'd parade past the crowded stands, actually "bowing" in response to the applause. * * * Once, when he "broke" coming through the stretch—whatever that means—Dan Patch was so ashamed of himself that he refused to face the spectators but, instead, ducked through an exit and headed for the stables. And It is said that there was a standing bet that no camera man Just For Fun The teacher, explaining to her young pupils that the earth was round, asked questions to bring out her point. "Herman," she asked, "coulc' you walk around the earth#" "No, ma'am," promptly re- plied little Herman, "Why not?" asked the teacher. "Because my mother won't al- low me' to lease the back yard." "No," the youngster replied, "but I have two brothers and they have a sister." And then she joyfully, added, "And I'ttt the sister!" could tette a picture the horse that showed him otherwlse than facing atralght into the camera. Ile seemed to sense the ptewnre of et camera—and try as tltd} might to *etch him sideways, before the shut- ter allcked, Dan would be staring proudly atralght to the lens. * * * So, as I said before, if the new Dan Patch le anything like the actor the original was, Long-legged Charlotte Greenwood will have ass awful time "stealing" :any scenes from the pacer, 4 t Back to the screen, after an ab- senee of six years, comes Anna May Wong, one of my real favorites a. yore. She'll be appearing it: an opus titled "Impact" along with Brian. Donlevy and Ella Raines. Just why shes getting a chance to de this comeback through one 01 those queer switches that could take place only out in Callforn^a. Time part was originally that of et Swedish maid. Then the producer decided to use San Fransieo'e Chinatown as a background—so in- stead of a "Yetta Yensen" type they decided to use the Chinese-Ameii• eau darkeyed beauty. At all event* I'm glad that we're to have another peek at Anna May, and imagitue there are plenty more like uta. White will have to be alt for just now. Great Lake off Pitch Source of Unlimited Supply of Asphalt One of Nature's strangest Phen- omena is Trinadad'a famous Lake of Pitch. During the past one hun- dred years or ao, millions of tone of asphalt have been dug out from ata surface and exported to pave she streets and highways of moat of 'the world's principal towns an&. allies. Yet, for alt this, the quantity of the asphalt in the lake shows no visible algia of diminishing. Up to the present, no satisfactory mechanical device has been found for extracting the asphalt. Every pound, takea from its .114 -acre sure face has to be laboriously dug out by hand -wielded pick and shovel. As the asphalt is removed ton by ton, pits and breakages are left in its even surface. Yet within a few days they are fitted with new pitch,. pushed up from below front some hidden and apparently inexhaust- ible source. The surface of this lake is al- ways on the move, although its movements are ao slow that they escape the eye. 'Its mass turns And folds over upon itself continuously. Sometimes it claims forests own any object that may have been care- lessly left on its surface, and ate other times some ancient fossil or long -lost treasure that had disap- peared many years before is ex- purgated. It is because of this dangerous movement of the lake's surface that the light railway which runs out across it to carry away the asphalt as it is dug has to be relaid daIi5' so that it, too, shall net sink out of sight. Scientists have not decided oa the origin of the lake, but they agree that the pitch is sufficient to supply the world's needs fear many generations, You Just Cut Them Out and Blow Them Up—It is customary for Canada to import new ideas itt children's toys from souttti of the border—but this time it's different. These new Walt Disney character toys not only show children how to use the scissors carefully but also furnish them with a lot of tun. Made of strong Vinylite plastic, each toy is equipped with a novel self-sealing valve. Of Canadian design and manufacture, that toys will soon be marketed in the United States as well as throughout the Dominion.' - LOOK • AT MR ' '' "4s(IGHTOWER5 M MRCS NOT LEAP' V ' V ; 1�1S�i��ll,�•�`titil eti ,l ��i4'ii li` +,i:: rallig LAWNY. A 1 ON IT1 V 1� 1 1 jr...0 ANO WHEN I -GETnu HONE.. YOU HAVE `e EVERY' LEAF GOiNE —.14 t�� �a' :s ale . -"~ #11,3...W.,,'% i,, ',, u ,: r f t ttv:*0 N`o�'i t`t` tll ;iat1o',t; ;y �,�b y o A