HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1952-7-30, Page 9No Women Allowed For 1400 Years
Though in a fast 'plane one can
hop the Attentie in a mutter of
hours, the Pacific in days, and sci-
entists are new contemplating trips
to the tomtit, there still remain cake/
that one canfrot enter:
The best known of these is
I:hassa, the capital of Tibet, a
country which recently was, closed
to all foreigner's. Perched Sonne
36,0011 feet above the, sea; storm
raked Ilimalayan passes must be
crossed to enter it, and the country
is swept by freezing gales.
Its great palace of Potato, tow-
ering higher' than the done 01 SI.
Paul's, is one of the most impres-
sive buildings is the world, Tibet
has ever been a country hostile
to strangers and to nein ideas, and
Mimi some year's ego a body of
young Tibetans, after studying en-
gineering and science .in •Europe,
returned home, they. took back ma-
chinery with the intention of set
ting it up for the common weal.
But the lamas hurled the machinery_
over a precipice,
In 1934, permission was actu-
ally granted for the lighting of
sprite government offices and streets
by means of electricity. After por-
ters had manhandled hundreds of
tons of material over passes higher
than Mt. Blanc, the cases were
loaded on yaks and carted to
Lhassa, where Mr. R,"D, Ringang,
a Tibetan who studied in London,
had topaint • out all cult eau
sacriligeous
g
foreign lettering and substitute
Tibetan characters,
Mecca is another renowned holy
city ivliich is taboo to all but gen-
uine believers. Richard Burton lift-
ed the veil from Mecca, and after
flim a few intrepid Europeans. All
went there in disguise, for they
realized that if''denounced a Palh-
MI death would follow rapidly.
I•rardwar, a , town in Northern
India; is not a ,safe place for the
European which the' annual festival
of the Hindus takes place. A special
festival is held every tweive ears,
the at this period the city beeoines
exceedingly dengaioitt.'Iiarewar is
the first town touched, by the holy
Ganges on its tortuous journey
through the plains't6 the dear'Be-
cause• of this,It„has became sanc-
tified. Holier far, and infinitely more
Inapeessiblcis 'Kalil,' high `in'the.
lofty, icy Himatayras, ;the ,goal: ,9f
thousands of pdgrints,
' "Once the mountains 'are' readied
there are no friendly caravanserial
and food is scarce. Few, indeed,
have the nerve to face the final,
dreadful stretch—the terrible, sway-
ing ropeway, stretching 2,500 feet
from the edge of,one-precipice to
another. •
A hard wooden seat is suspended
from the rope by, a pulley, On this
the pilgrim 'seats himself and is
pushed off. The rude conveyance
ti'avelt at such a speed that smoke.
issues from the rapidly heating
rope. Sometimes a passenger loses
his grip through sheer' terror or
dizziness and is dashed to pieces
many thousands of feet below, in
which case his sins are automati-
cally washed away. If he survives
the ordeal he is supposed to have
*cquired sufficient merit to prosper
during the corning year!
Then there is Ordam Padshah,
second only in holiness to Mecca,
which lies in the hinterland of
Chinese Turkestan. Itis a lost
city in the desert, its nearest neigh-
bours being the romantically sound -
Ing Kashgar and Yarkand.
Kissing; , Deadly Sin
Ordain Padshah is another city
in which the stranger would find
if' inconvenient to be discovered.
It is as hot as a bakehouse, yet,
during the month of. Ramadan,
when outsiders who are Believers
ire allowed in, no food must be
eaten between dawn and sunset.
To kiss a woman in such 'for
is a deadly sin for
which the most rigorous penances
are enforced..
Another' very holy place, guarded
most carefully against intruders, is
Jebel Sinjar. It lies in a narrow,
sunbaked' defile near Viii Setin,
which once harboured a quarter of
a million inhabitants—the last of
the devil worshippers. Now, only
60,000, of Kurdish stock, remain.
'1115 holy place at Jebel Sinjar
is the tomb of Sheik Adi, and those
fortunate enough to slip past thee
guardians may listen to the preach-
ing of the 'tiles` (preachers who are
also hermits), and. striver ,as the
'ilurhags' ( musicians) '' clash their
cymbals. They can watch fascinated
the pantheistic rites and the fakirs
who 1141115 dizzily till blood oozes
from their lips and noses.
Says Handsome Men
Lack "That” Appeal
Who makes the best husband—a
ltundemue ratan or a plaiit one? 'Ask
film star Doris Day who has some
definite views about plait sten anti,
according to a Hollywood report,
actually prefers. them.
Says Doris: "Handsome men lack
sex appeal." ,That will' shock a lot
of teen-agers, I brow I She also
thinks that the handsome man IS
oftenselfish 'and inconsiderate and '
that a woman who marries a
"matinee idol" has a lot of worry-
ing to do about him. •
And the plain man? Well, he
develops a personality more. quick-
ly, gives a woman more material
comforts and loyalty, thinks about
his job more deeply and seriously,
and doesn't spend a lot of time
trying to impress others. Some ugly
men,, in fact, become magnetic
etic
characters, 'Doris declares, But a
handsome man can often be a bore
—too much in love with himself
and his good looks)
M. Andre Maurois, the French
author, once said that ugliness pre-
vents' a man from becoming con-
ceited, deprives him of too easy
conquest in love and spurs him to
efforts which bring forth brilliance.
He said this after- looking. at the
portraits. in the National Portrait
Gallery of all the men who have
been- important in every profession
i1 England for 400, years. "I was
struck by their prevailing ugliness
-great archbishops, distinguished
scholars; sthtestiidu and 'sten of
affairs," he added
WHAT A BEAST
"What . -a nobles animal," said the
man as he gazed, at the lion. "What
strength 1 What magnificence 1 No
wonder every 'other animal quails
at the thought. of him no wonder
every other animal admits him to
be the king of beasts."
"Confound that flea 1" said the
lion, as he made one more attempt
to rid himself of his tormentor.
Fishy Idea -dimply, ;.J7 -year-old
Korean lad adop ed by the 3rd
Air Rescue,. Squadron in Korea,.
hangs 6 ' Kbinoiibri'rtto replete
the standard wind sock, which
is in short supply. The "Koino-
bbri'"' is a cloth -covered model
of a carp, used by the Jananese
to denote the presence of a boy
in ` the house on "Boy's Day','
an annual holiday.
t}t:
C til tetlY3P4Airl , Y elcfs;Nf rev' pki rt4t sciflifigai ^iiy11Aee-
yetir rotation of grain, alfalfa and potatoes because the preced-
ing crop was hard to plow under, NritktaCrause decided that a.
shredder was what he needed. He weatrylfft a manufacturer and
bought the machine, above, which was to ended for mowing and
chopping grass for silage. Rather than4J716w the chopped grass ..
into a wagon Krause puts it back on the field at "green manure,"
He says it will increase :potato production.
tht;r .S 4 ~lads;
"Hearse" to You Nurse Viola Irtobden, left; and Mrs. Rosemary Brown examine a :unique safety
reminder outsidt3't amj 1p,. dubbetff plant. The 75 -year-old horse-drawn hearse serves as an un-
usuial billboard for the safety messr1ge.
TllflA1N FRONT
Prevention of. accidents on the
farm is a"subject I have frequently
written about in this column. Still,
the warnings you heeded yesterday
'won't do you any good if you forget
all about ,them .today: so the fol-
lowing taken from an article in
"Canada's Health and Welfare" are
well worth reading — and profit-
ing by tool
*
Canada, with a population of
roughly 14 million, has 'a farm
population" estimated• at three and
one-half million and this group
represents a segment of the popu-
lation which is extremely vulner-
able to the effects of fire, accident
or illness, On a farm, where illness
or accident to one person may
bring production to a standstill for
'many days, there is much truth in
the slogan "one out, everybody
out."
If a store in a town or city burns
there is generally some other place
where the business can be carried
on. When farm buildings burn,
years of work and an irreplaceable
harvest often go up in the flicker
of an eye. Illness, accident or death
on the farm are often vastly more
important in the production pic-
ture than similar events in urban
areas.
# * k
And the' farm, through the years,
has been the, site of a relatively
high percentage of accidents. The
accidents occur on all parts of the
farm—in 'the fields, the barns and
the home.
k * *
Surveys of farm ,accidents indicate
that falls, encounters with cutting
or piercing instruments, and crush-
ing account for 71% of the total '
of lost time through accidents. Al-
most 27% of the time lost is due
to accidents such as kicks from `
farm animals and misadventures
with tractors end motors. Burns
are responsible for the balance.
Unfortunately for farm produc-
tion, statistics indicate that by far
the majority of farin accidents hap-
pen to people in the working years.
In fact, 84% of all Lan accidents
happen to people between the ages
of 14 and 64. Fifty-eight per cent
of the accidents occur in. the ;fields
and 27% in the home or outbuild-
ings, so ,naturally the provinces
with ,the greatest acreage under
cu1'titratibrt itt proportion tai the
farm „population- will have the high-
er' hie -fame. 1& other •nbrcls, it
, setus that.accidents are more apt
fb' occur on large farms ivbrkcd by
g� Jew people than on small, more
iidavily' -staffed farms, ` '
• ,' *
Fire is the worst accident hazard
on most farms. Many farm homes
are of highly inflammable construe -
tion and employ .heating ,methods
that are relatively dangerous from.
the, _ point.pt viewof fire hazard.
Iia addition, litany farms stiil"ctn-
ptoy, tttrthods,:;pf; illumitiatidd' in
home or barb that are potentially
dangerous, A sizeable' percentage
of tater farm,hot,tes. have becitott-
structed by inexperienced, if will'
jjjj;, c.laber, and'often• the thinteleys
and stovepipes could be eon'hlered
a menace.
Another factor in farm fires is
the type of,itfood burned in many,
stoves and ranges. Generally
speaking, the wood is of whatever
type happens to be easily access-
ible and it may bit1ithe, of a type ,
that burns rapidly; carrying off
large voluisies of slis •ka which may
'endanger Woodenroofs or adja-
i cent' buildmgir" 1
;. i111": 4;co3
•Cetisi0driu trttf,eOeiprd0orti011 of
farm residgtath , to, they"population
as a whole, it is significant to note
that during the years 1946 to 1949
there were 321 rural homes destroy-
ed by fire as compared to 30 urban
dwellings. Thus an average of 130
,farm homes„ per year are lost
through 'fire. The' death tolls
daring this four=year• period were
516 and 553. respedtively. Fifty-
five per cent; of the victims in rural
aFreas and 51% in urban areas were
children.' Farm hones are often
partictlariy vulnerable to fire be-
cause 'of their remoteness from ef-
fectide firefighting equipment and
the ;lack of an adequate supply of
trate' under pressure.
Authorities are agreed that edu-
cation presentsthe only, ,permanent
solution to the ' dangers of farm
accidents. To this end many volun-
tary and government groups are
directing a great deal of time and
effort
r * d
In the forefront of this campaign
have been the large Canadian oil
and farm implement companies,
federal and provincial departments
of agriculture and the Dominion
Fire Commissioner's office.
With an eye to the future, much
of the accident prevention educa-
tion in rural areas is now being
directed at the children, the farm
owners of tomorrow. Schools, ju-
nior fanner clubs, boy scout and
girl guide movements and' many
other groups have played a large
part in the - continuing plait for
farm safety. It is to be hoped that
the results will soon be reflected
in a marked lowering of the acci-
dent rates, among Canada's rural
population. •
'Telephone `Manners
In spite of the nice educational
program the Bell Telephone Com-
pany conducts to train people in,
correct telephone procedure, far too
many people, the nicest people to'
talk to under normal circumstances,
act like complete louts when a tele-
phone is placed in their Bands,
They, scream into it or mumble
into it, they slam the receiver clown
in your ear, they let it ring and ring
before answering it,: they get a
wrong number and hang up on the
poor unsuspecting gtiy who answer-
ed the phone without so much as
an apology.
In short they do the very things
they Would fled unbearable in others
but ttever give their behaviour 0
second thought—just because it's a
telephone they have in their hands,
"Jazz will endure as long as
people hear it through, their feet
instead of their brains," (John
Philip Sousa).
(14
UNDAYSCIIOOL
LESSON
By Rev. R, Barclay Warren,
B,A„ B.D.
'1Jti rBeginningl,o.61 t'he:'Kingdom
Samuel 9;1-2; 10:24-27; •
13:5-7; 1942.
Memory Selection: The Lord
will not' forsake his 'people for his
great names sake: because it hath
pleased the Lord to make you his
people. 1 Saipuel 12:22
Unfortunately Samuel's sons
were not as their father but "turn-
ed aside after lucre, and took
bribes, and perverted judgment"
This, together with the desires to
be like the nations round about,
prompted Israel to ask for a king.
The desire to "follow the crowd"
is strong in individuals and in
nations.
Samuel under God's direction
made choice of Saul as' king. He
was very tall. The people were
well -pleased. When he was pub-
licly presented they shouted and
said, "God save the king." Other
qualities being equal the man of
greater stature will be the people's
choice= Sant had some good quali-
ties, too. He did not seek the of-
fice; the office sought him. He
felt weworthy of the honor for his
family was the least of all the
families of the small tribe of Ben-
jamin. Moreover he got along with
his father. He did not think it be-
neath him to take orders, even to
do the meaner chores, such as
looking for the lost asses. When
Saul and the servant were delayed
in their search, Saul became con-
cerned because he feared his fa-
ther would now be worrying more
about then than about the animals.
When the servant suggested that
since they were near Rainah they
might visit the prophet Samuel,
Saul was eager to avail himself of
this privilege; It is always a Com-
mendable thing iet the young that
they wish to 'consult the wise and
the good. Saul was thoughtful,
too, in that he hesitated to visit
the prophet without a person, a
token of respect. But most impor-
tant of all in his preparation for
this office was the fact, that after
lie `was anointed by' Samuel;' "God
gave hint another heart -sand the
Spirit of God cane upon him,"
God's sanction was upon his leader-
ship. With such' a promising be-
ginning it is sad to think that the
subject of our next lesson is "The
Tragedy of Saul."
Chickens See Red
It is believed, :that turkeys are
blind to certain other colours.
Experiments with chickens some
years • ago ''established that they
scarcely noticed violet, indigo and
blue, In a dark roots with seven
colours projected on the floor, a
scientist found that the fowls at
once picked up grains of rice lying
in the red, yellow, orange and green
rays, but paid no attention to the
food that was,coloured'blue,
His theory: was that chickens and
all b'ir'ds that fly by day see the
world as it would appear to us if
we ' wore glasses with yelloty-red
lenses 1
Travelling By Train In'Modern India
Just Like "Good ()Id Days" Of Jesoe James
By TOM A. CQLLEN were 849 train robberies' and tltefttt
last April alone. _
Most exponents of fair -play felt
that things had gone a bit too fay
when an ex -cabinet minister WM
slugged and robbed on the Boni
hay -Madras gall recently by a
pair of thugs, ,one of whom was
armed with "a rusty dagger," ac'
cording to press reports,
His assailants gained entry by
using a slim youth who slipped his
tread and shoulders into the nar-
row space between window bars:
lit the minor leagues, traveling
without a ticket is a sport which
has a sizeable portion of the poptt»
lation as enthusiastic adherents.
Nearly e i g It t million dead -beat,
were detected riding on trains last
year, and the fares 'and penalties
collected from them amounted 10
$4,000,0000.
Recently the I r a in, itt which 1.
was traveling to Calcutta sudden-
ly stopped near the outskirts of
that city as the result of some''
one pulling the emergency aiarnt
signal (penalty for misuse: 50 ru-
pees, or $10).
About a hundred villagers,` or
"upcountry" people, as they ars
called, each loaded with a large
bundle, got out of thekthird-claSa
carriages.
"What's up?" I asked a fellow-
passenger,
'Sm•ugg1e l te explained,
e P l
r s
"They're smuggling rice froth
Burdwan to Calcutta."
Food grains. being -frozen" to
most parts of India, it is unlaw.
ful to transport them from one
district to another.
Another time, our train was
stopped by police who searchea
the comportment in which 1 was
sitting without' success.
When the police had left the '
,iliensnun ul pamaas s,ta8ttassa¢
lriglt spirits. "They are laughing,!."
„
a passenger told me, "because the
bags of rice are in the women's •
compartment, and the police dare.
not enter it.”
Train travel itt Radia leas all the
thrills of riding an old mail train
into Jesse James', territory with the
guards deep in a poker game 10
the caboose.
Not only are Indian trains the
most crowded in the, world. They*'
also hold what is probably the
world's record for crime commit-
ted on railways.
To ,get an idea of the over-
crowding on Indian trains, double
the number of passenger's who
ride the U. S. rails and reduce the
number of 1.1 S. passenger coaches .
by 40 per cent. The staggering
total of 1,307;000,000 passengers,
or the equivalent of more than
half the world's population, rode
- Indian trains last year. .
The crines these passengers
faced ranged from murder, with
robbery as its motive, to the filch-
ing of light bulbs from third class
compartments, a seemingly uni-
versal practice.
Although the chances of a train
being wrecked by sabotage are
fairly remote (only 23 out of 229
attempts at train -wrecking were
successful last year), the possibili-
ty that it may bit, a cow is a live
one; it accounted for 5176 accid-
ents, or 23 per cent of last year's
total,
Inasmuch as almost all robberies
occur in first and second class
coaches, these upper classes of
travel have become increasingly
unpopular.
No feudal baron ever secured
the gates of his castle with more
care than that exercised- by the
average first class passenger in
bolting the doors and windows of
his compartment before retiring at
night.
The windows, themselves, are
protected by iron bars, giving the
coach the appearance of a prison
car used . in hauling chain gangs.
Despite these precautions, there
Everyok a Has Fun When
Gabriel Plays His Piano
by JACK P. GABRIEL
Pianist Bernard Gabriel is hav-
ing the fun of discovering that
while a 'first experiment can be a
flop, the next try can succeed, He's
finally made the grade with his
novel, "Piano Recital of Tomor-
row."r
"Audiences have been getting the
sante routine treatment at concerts
for -so long that they are apath-
etic," the dark-haired composer -
teacher says. "I thought I'd try
something newt"
Gabriel's m_yys,,terious announce-
ment of a "different3' recital stir -
ed up a lot of interest, but it
didn't work out.
"I was held up more than half
an hour in starting," Gabriel ex-
plains, "and that didn't put the
audience in a mood to be recep-
tive to anything."
The stage was set, complete
with comfortable chairs and sofas
and embellished with lamp s, to
look like a comfortable living room
in a hone. Some of the pianist's
personal friends sat on the stage.
Between numbers he joined them,
leaving the piano but not the stage
for a chat or a cigarette.
But. the'audiencc, accustomed to
musicians deserting the stage for
a few minutes which gave theta
time to chat, sat in silence, won-
dering what he would do next,
When he merely returned to the
piano, they shared a sense of frus-
tration. It was not enough of a
novelty and critics denounced the
attempt,.
"I gave up the idea of trying to
change anything," Gabriel says
now. "It seemed the public want-
eed to do exactly what they haat,
always done, but what the box
office indicated they had Wearied
of."
A few days later, at' a session
- with a pupil, pabriel had an inspi-
ration. "I began to get other ideas
about my attempted change in
concert form," be said, "It occur-
red to me too late that I had miss-
ed the boat about a, lot of things
that would have made my, concert
more interesting."
Gabriel made a brave decision;
if he tried it again, and the at-
tempt flopped once more,; it would
seriously damage his reputation for
further concerts,
Onec more ammuncetttents were
sent out for a "Piano Recital of
Tomorrow," and when an Audi -
mice 'hart assembled they again
found the stage decorated like a
room: But this time they were
part of the act.
Before the concert began, Gab -
:'a
BERNARD GABRTEI.. es
ready to break there
for others.
riel appeared in a• comfortable
smoking jacket he'd had made to
add to the complete informality.
Briefly he explained his purpose.
"I told thein what selections 1 had
prepared for my first group and
asked them which they would pre-
fer to hear," he explained, The
response was hearty and Gabriel
obliged with the most popular re-
quests.
Between groups, he again sat
onstage with his visitors, but chat-
ted also with those who had paid
to hear tile niusiC, `
The audience participation did it
Everyone bad a good time, sharing'
the feeling of being, guests at a
party where the host was most at.'
teutive, and this time,. the Denver-
born pianist knew his gamble had
wort.
He's not going to settle for hav-
ing once been a pioneer. Bernard ,
Gabriel intends to make further
progress, thus breaking the ice for
others.
"It's extremely difficult for be-
ginners to get engagements these
days," he s ay s, "and I have `a
scheme to group several together)
pianists, singers and other musi-
cians, and give my Concert of To-
morrow in that manner."
JITTER
11