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'
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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.'
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