HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1949-8-31, Page 2A Tall Tale
Of The Sea
ralhere 18 an old saying that 'the
sailor can't lie in the teeth of the
storm,' but he mattes up for lost
time when he gets ashore before a
Board of Inquiry.
That, of course, does not mean
that all sailors are romancers, but,
through the ages, many of the men
who went down to the sea in ships
have shown a marked aptitude in
the telling of tall stories.
The first iso told by Lucian of
Samothrace, a Greek who lived
some 2,000 years ago. His seaman-
ship must have been good; and I
think that his imagination must'
have been better, writes William
McDowell in "London Calling."
According to his story he got
tired of his Mediterranean home
waters and decided to venture fur-
ther afield. He fitted out a good
ship, manned her with fifty picked
men, and sailed from Rhodes. Being
a cautious yarn -spinner, Lucian
gives no indication of the course
he set.
'It Must Have Been A Big Windt'
On the first day out, his ship ran
into bad weather and it became so
dark that they could not see, and
just had to let the ship run. After
eighty days, the sun broke through,
and they found themselves off a
mountainous island where they
landed for some much-needed rest.
They set aetil again on the follow-
ing day, the storm still blowing
hard. Suddenly, a whirlwind caught
The ship, spun her round, and lifted
her bodily into the air to a height,
Lucian says, of 3,000, furlongs,
Nearly 400 miles! It certainly must
have been a big wind!
For eight days the ship was
blown through the sky until it came
to a 'shining island glittering with
light' It was the moon. Lucian and
his men landed, and found the
planet inhabited by a race that
called themselveses Hippogyphians,
fans
ro
and they rode monstrous, three
-
headed vultures instead of horses.
But they were a kindly people, in
spite of that.
They took Lucian to their king,
who, surprisingly enough claimed to
be also a Greek, snatched up from
earth while he was asleep. The king,
who introduced himself as Endy-
anion, treated the party well, loaded
Them with presents, and even pro-
vided an escort, presumably of
vulture -riders, to set them on their
way.
Leaving the moon behind, they
dropped in on the Morning Star to
take in fresh water, and then cruised
about the firmament, passing near
the sun and visiting various other
planets. One of these was peopled
lay 'glorious and resplendent' crea-
tures who invited them to stay.
They did not like the look of them,
however, and went on their way.
Four days later, to their great joy,
they came gently down wind, back
on to the sea.
You would have thought that
journey to be enough for most
people, but Lucian was apparently
a glutton for adventure. He goes
on to tell how, after feasting and
merry -making, he and his men set
gait again, and after three days ran
into many monstrous fishes and
whales. One whale was bigger than
the rest. Lucian, with that attention
to accuracy so noticeable in the
best story -tellers, estimated it to be
1,500 furlongs in length—a mere
187 miles—and having teeth as long
as trees. This fearsome creature
made for the ship with open mouth.
Feeling that their last hour had
come they embraced one another in
farewell, while the whale swallowed
ship and all. By good luck, however,
its teeth did not close on the ship,
which slipped through a gap, down
the gullet, into the•whale's interior.
it was dark, Lucian says, except
when the beast obligingly yawned.
Then he saw that his ship had come
to rest by a wooded, hilly island
which, he presumed quite reason-
ably, must have been formed from
the mud which the whale had swal-
lowed- in the past. From his de-
scriptio-, the island would seem
to have been about the size of
Moala in the Fiji Island,.
-'--They' made the ship fast and
landed to explore the woods. To
their surprise they found a temple,
erected to Neptune. and judged the
island to be inhabited. Going fur-
ther, they saw smoke, and heard a
dog barking, and soon cane across
an old man and a youth busy gar-
dening. Theetwo were overjoyed at
the meeting, and insisted on taking
Lucian's party to their home for
food and wine. The old man ex-
plained that he was a merchant of
Cyprus, whose ship, like Lucian's,
had been swallowed but which, un-
like Lucian's, had been chewed up
by the whale, leaving these two the
sole survivors.
They had lived, they said, twenty-
seven years inside the whale, feed-
ing 011 herbs and nuts, and fish
width they caught by casting lines
limn the beast's gills. They had
long given up hope of escape and
reconciled themselves to their fate,
The old man explained that life
inside the whale was not too bad
except for their neighbours, The
woods were populated by five sep-
arate tribes. One of these, the most
warlike, looked like eels with lob-
sters' faces, Another, less offensive,
Were half man and half cat, and the
old man and his companion were
left in peace only by paying a
yearly tribute of 800 oysters
She Knows A Better Way—While Shirley May France and
Qther swimmers train for the grueling task of swimming the
English Channel, Mrs, Eetta Hills, above, of Southsea, England,
prefers to make the crossing in a more leisurely manner. Astride
her "waterbike," Mrs. Hills chats with radio announcer Derek
Roy, who has arranged a race across the Channel between Mrs.
Hills and a gentleman challenger. The English housewife
pedaled across the Channel as a young girl, and is confident she
can beat all comers,
PORT
-, A Swai
0 -
1C
"We have compulsory vaccina-
tion against senallpox, and inocu-
lations to prevent measles and all
sorts of other things" remarked
a friend of ours not so long ago.
"But in any opinion it would be far
more sensible if we made it com-
pulsory for every Idd to learn how
to swim and, later on, to drive a
ear properly."
* * *
All joking aside, we honestly
think he has something there. Death
from the automobile is a far greater
menace today than death from
smallpox has become under modern
sanitary conditions. Yet any experi-
enced traffic cop will tell you that
the percentage of those tooling cars
along our streets and highways who
really know HOW tt. drive prop-
erly is amazingly low.
* * *
This includes not only beginners
and screwballs, but many who have
been driving cars for years—pre-
sent company NOT EXCEPTED,
barring ourself. (We have never
driven and never intend doing so).
dk * *
As for the compulsory swimming
lessons—well, you have only to
open up any paper during the sum-
mer months, and especially on a
Monday, and be sickened at the
thought of so many Yves lost in
the water—lives which might have
been spared had there been even
a rudimentary knowledge of swim-
ming.
* * *
In this connection, it is interest-
ing to note how many swimming
fatalities, at the seashore and on
lake beaches, are attributed to what
is called "the undertow". According
to general belief this undertow is a
broad, powerful current running
below the surface, and returning to
thte lake or ocean the water which
the waves had piled tap upon the
beach,
e * e
Encyclopedias, dictionaries and
EZZARD CHARLES
Heavyweight
even textbooks on geology give
i theoriesaboutundertow,
their the ow u i
r
their explanations running along the
line just quoted above. But it ap-
pears that, until lately, • 110 scien-
tist had ever bothered to check up
and find out whether or not the un-
dertow theory was correct
* *
A week or so ago Dr. Francis
Shephard, a very noted marine ge-
ologist, came out with some state-
ments which all who like to dis-
port themselves in the water, whe-
ther swimmers or not, might do
well to note for future use. Writing
in the magazine PHYSICS TO-
DAY he tells of extensive experi-
ments and measurments of beach -
side water flow. And he says that
—"The net movement at the sur -
Lee i ordinarily in approximately
the same direction as it is at inter-
mediate depths and even near the
bottom,'
Dr. Shephard hastens to explain
that this does not mean that there
is no seaward current. Water
brought in by the waves has to get
back somehow, and everybody
knows that bathers are often drag-
ged out beyond their depth by some
hydralic force, But this counter-
movement of the water is not a_
GENERAL UNDERTOW. It i5 a
well-defined and LOCALIZED rip
current, (sometimes ' called a rip
tide.)
*
A rip current is formed when an
incoming wave is bent by a ridge in
the lake or ocean floor, or even by
a pier or jetty. The ends of the
wave converge in a pincers move-
ment, causing a pile-up of water.
Then the piled -up water rushes
back, generally along a narrow
pathway defined by a miniature sub-
marine canyon. Beyond the breakers
this rip current fans out and loses
its force.
A poor swimmer, Shephard warns,
should be on his guard against rips
when breakers are more than 3 feet
high, The height can be judged by
standing knee-deep in water during
upsurges and gazing. seaward at the
horizon, If waves breaking near
shore do not cut off the view of the
horizon, it is pretty safe to assume
that the surf is not violent enough
to cause dangerous rips.
He gives this advice to swim-
mers: 'If the breakers are large,
the poor swimmer should keep in
shallow water, never getting deeper
than waist high even during the
largest waves, He should also avoid
bottom irregularities, which indi-
cate the existence of channels cut
by the feeder currents of the rips.
Even if the water in the channels
appears to have little current, a
series of large waves may send a
concentrated surge along the Chan-
nel, sweeping the bather off his feet
and out into the zone of large
breakers."
The bather who blunders into a
rip and feels himself being carried
out beyond his depth should con-
serve his strength and not try to
tight his way to shore against a
powerful current. Since rips are
narrow, the best strategy is to head
at right an ;lee from the current and
;walls! te the beach, A few strokes
will , , .„ lain the swimmer on a
shr„ it rdr ring the rip channel or
at ier. i e llit•ter water.
OES ON
1N THE
L
NormanBlaiv
PALESTINE
Shouting for "Bread and Work"
some 400 Israeli broke into the
courtyard of the Parliament Build-
ing at Tel Aviv and battled with
the police" One New fork news-
paper correspondent reported that
at least 15,000 of the new republic's
population are seeking visas that
will permit thein to emigrate to the
United States; and a Times report-
er, after visiting one of the 330
camps housing 66,000 immigrants
found the inhabitants "enveloped
in hopeless idleness and too tired
to understand that the State (of •
Israel) is new and that its funds
are inadequate."
After fifteen months of existence
the Israeli Republic appears to face
a bleak future. It is over populated
and under capitalized. At the be-
ginning of the year immigrants
were arriving at the rate of 225,000
annually, while homes were going
up for less than a quarter that
number.
Alarmed at the effect in foreign
lands of reports on the existing
situation, the Israeli Finance Min-
istry called in reporters a few
weeks ago and scoffed at predic-
tions of the country's collapse. Dur-
ing the first half of 1949, according
to the spokesman, $60,000,000 had
been invested in Israel, while im-
migration had dropped by almost
one-half.
But to sustain the Finance Min-
istry's optimistic outlook, Israel is
going to need far more capital
than it is
getting
from outside,
ds
Large private investments are slow
to develop. New businesses, accord-
ing to the Official Gazette, are gen-
erally capitalized at around $3,000.
And a speaker warned the Tel
Aviv Commercial Club that 200
American business Hien, represent-
ing an investment potential of one
hundred million dollars, had visited
the country and then left without
signing any contracts at all.
In other words shouting for the
new Republic and damning the
British for retarding its creation
was one thing. Investing hard cash
in it, now that it has got started,
quite another!
CHINA
United States experts are trying
to line up the Western Zowers in
an agreement not to extend any
credits to Communist China. They
figure that without big credits from
the West the Chinese Reds will
have to turn to Russia for ex-
tensive help — help that Moscow
cannot afford to give without mak-
ing either the Russian people, or
other Russian satellites, go short.
Thus, in theory, if the West
etends firm in refusing economic
help, world Communism is bound
to suffer, no matter what policy the
Kremlin adopts.
Only time, of course, can prove
whether or not this theory is sound.
But. there seems to be no doubt
that the Chinese Communists are
having their troubles. Depression
and inflation are crippling both
Nanking and Shanghai. Since the
Reds took overe checks passing
through the Nanking clearing -house
have dropped from 20,000 to 200
a day.
Up to a week or so ago only one
strip had, dared to run the National-
ist blockade into Shanghai — and
her cargo of cotton just doubled its
value in the course of a voyage
from Hong Kong.
Trying to keep the city adminis-
tration going; the Reds increased
the Shanghai land tax one hundred-
fold. And in an effort to impose
discipline on the hopelessly corrupt
city then even cracked down on
the mah-jongg gamblers, rounding
Skean up in droves and putting them
to work cleaning lavatories and
sweeping the city streets.
THE UNITED STATES
Mr. Truman has been having
rather tough going since he pulled
the great surprise last November;
but even his worst enemies cannot
deny that he, personally, has .been
doing his utmost to keep his elec-
tion promises, in the face of stiff
opposition from all sides, including
his awn,,
Hia most clear-cut triumph, up
to now, was the passage of a fed-
eral housing bill over the opposition
of a well-financed real estate lobby.
This measure wi11 provide Rinds
' JITTER
505'- THAT'S TNM LISP -
(
41 OrtRNs WILD Goefereooteew,
NERD NONYERS
for an immense program of hous-
ing for low income families, slum
clearance, and rural housing im- -
prnvenlOnts.
Then, just a couple of weeks ago,
the House of Representatives ap-
proved a bill to broaden the cover-
age and raise the benefits of the
federal social security system. Av-
erage benefiits for old age would
be raised 80 per cent, and 11 million
workers would be added to the 35
million now covered by social
security.
Passage of this pleasure at the
next session of Congress is now
regarded as nearly certain; and al-
though it is somewhat less than the
President originally requested, it
will be the most important social
security improvement in the 'past
decade.
There are those who say that
thegre is a certain lack of skill in
PI ea i d e n t Truman's leadership.
Nevertheless the stubborness with
which he fights for his liberal con-
viotions are undoubtedly bearing
fruit — backed, as it appears to be,
by a strong tide of public opinion
behind his social reforms.
INDIA
India has just celebrated its sec-
ond anniversary as an independent;
and the record of accomplishment,
in that comparatively short time, is
surprisingly good.
Because of Monsoons and other
disasters to crops, India has had
more than t n
h normal
1e
r
to cope
with
he
shemet t
i a
food shortage. ge, But
emergency by the importation of
foodstuffs and by the most ambi-
tious rationing scheme ever at-
tempted anywhere — a rationing
system affecting 140,000,000 people.
And this scheme proved amazingly
effective.
Now India, handicapped by an
unfavorable balance of trade, wants
to end her importations of food and
aims to become self-sufficient in
the matter of food by the end of
1951.
This, in a sense, is bad news for
Canada, which shipped 10 million
bushels of wheat to India in the
past 12 months.. Nor is Canada's
export outlook brightened by. the
new Indian program of locomotive
manufacture. India has been im-
porting railway stock from Canada
and other countries in the past, but
hopes to be making her own within
a year and a half.
But an increasingly prosperous
India should eventually develop a
higher standard of living, and will
not only require Canadian goods
but will have goods of her own to
trade for thein, At all events the
progress has been made since India
struck out, "on her own" is far
greater than nine -tenths of the
"experts" were predicting two years
ago, when the great event finally.
occurred.
Some Party!
Two Scotsmen who had been eat
a .party met the following morning,
and one said to the other: "Weel,
Donald, and did ye get haste all
richt?"
"Aye," replied Donald, "1 got
hame all richt, except that just as
I turned a corner a policeman trod
on 1011 knuckles,"
Naturally!
An artist who always painted
pictures of people with no clothes
on was asked:
"Why do you always paint people
in the nude?"
"Oh," he replied, "I suppose it's
because I was born that way"
E1D'S HOUSEHOLD
INSECT P'.WDER
A sure killer!
Of floes, ante, bedbugs,
roaches and other insect
yFeah.
ideal for kitchen, bath. 0ot-
toge and gsrnge. In bendy
tone-eboped Dhaka -dispen-
ser, Get RaID'S today)
At all
Drud and
Hardware
Stores.
..0 assified Advertising
ALI10:N4 rtVANTED
OILS, GREASES, TIRES
Umeancldee, 211eetrle Pence OOntrolloro, Flans
and Sara Paint. Roof 000115ge, etc. 050101n
are wanted Write Waren Grea*e & 011
LIMned. Taros to
TRE ONE CHANCE at your lifetlmel Four.
day week. 360 commission Yon can retire
on repeat auditions, Income 'rax Serviette,
1785 Avenge lid., Toronto. Redfern 1145.
antes Ot71Ctt.
FREE BASUN MILL19TS 19 weeko to laying,
Pure breed* and crone breeds, Also day old
sheens available the year round. Itoe cata-
logue. '.twaddle Cbiek Hatcheries Limited,
Merges, Ontario,
01131NO AND OLBANINO
HAVE 3071 anything needs ,15ebts or clean.
Intel Write In us for Information We are
glad to anawel vont Questlnno Department
1.1, Parker's Dye Werke Limited 701 Yenta
Street, Tomato. Ontario
FA1t018* FOR SALE
50 ACRES—Good land, location, buildings
58,000. Lovely located home edge Realist -
villa Sloe lawn, trees and 4 acres 57,500
A good choice in all else farms—Write Re-
nterements. Charlet Pelton. Reattm', Kempf -
✓ ille, Ontario.^
POR SAldt
ALUMINUM ROOFING & SIDING
Crone-Crlmrod corrugated ane ribbed etylee,
8 to 10 ft lengths Immediate delivery from
*tock. Write tot samples and -estimates Steel
Distributors Limited. 600 Cherry St Toronto
PAINT RALE—Outelde gloss, white, areal,
brown, red. grey, green ,. or black Sale
Is new stock
Paint • .5348
01 5%pr rsurplus stock. Regular retort
Price. 50.30. Mall orders sent 0.0 D Mylo'e
Cold Storage, Vienna.
CHIMNEYS —" Patented, prefabricated, ap-
proved, lightweight, handyman installation.
Free literature. The Loc1harts, Terminal A.
Box 182, or Mldwav 4653, Toronto.
FARM EQUIPMENT
ONCE USED GRAIN, potato, onion, cabbage
bags, etc. (hied bags bought and sold in
any- quantity. Over quarter century emNlclng
the trade Write or 0011 London nag Com.
peal', London, Ontaei1
SEED rye: Peened In two bindle) sacks de-
livered Your station at 82,25 per bushel.
Please send money with' order. Sack Cribs,
London. Ontario.
OUSINESS F011 SALE
FARD Implements' for gale, small town, 80,-
000 volume. reeler lines. Box No. 40. 153
Eighteenth Street, New Toronto, Ont.
GIFTS canna babywear and library.. Living
quarters. Low rent louse. Good turnover,
2028 Main, Vancouver. • .
GENERAL store and 7 -roomed apartment
combined. Meats, ice cream, tearoom, flour.
ascent lighting, Kelvinator -refrleerater, very
Profitable turnover, priced right for quiets sale
50,500, 80 miles from Poterb0re. Leonard's
Store, Coe Hill.
II 1Tn AFIELD
OBa S
xl o
A monthly maga fie of Hounds and Hunting—
for the sportsman, Hunter, Breeder e-
10
Fender: anti
aturese1,00ti 1111 theldhound dbreeds—
hunting
notes
—Exclusive
iye shooting—Plast Trtale and notes
Bxciusive articlea. illustrated. 52.28 per
year,
HOUNDS AFIELD, ORT0N, ONTARIO,
MOUNT FOREST, ONT„ for sale: White
brick, eleven room duplex home, all con-
venlenoes, near highway and two rallways;
two storey ,out building with over ,8,000 so
feet floor space; hen houses; five acres of
land, hydro, telephone. John Gillespie, 00,,
88, Mount Forest, Ontario,
FOR SALE—Model A Ford sixteen passenger
school bus. Nicholson and Pelton, Young's
Point, Ont.
FEMALE COCKER SPANIEL, four Years,
good pet for woman or girl. Produces Mee
easily sold puppies. Fiteen dollars. Mrs,
Brodie, Aultavillc, Ont.
HELP 1VANTEO
QUALIFIED -TEACHER for Whlteneh Falls
School, t0 teach Oradea 7, 8, 9, 10; Must
be good .d1e01nlinarinh; salary 81,800, inns
heated and partly furnished toacherage, Rev,
R, W. 5tempa See., Whitefish Falls. Ont,
QUALIFIED PROTESTANT TEACHER for
No, 0, Begot. Apply stating ealerY
and qualifications, to furs, Lewis Emon, See, -
Trona, C.ninbngle, Ont. R.R, 2,
—WANTED
Old gold. 4lw•ellevy, sterling saver,
dental gold, antique Jewellery, pearl
sunbursts and watch eases.
'Gather together your forgotten articles
and turn them into 'dotterel at The
Gold Shopp0 (ornwfordo), 189 Tense
Street, Toronto. Prompt valuation on
• nailed parcels,
PIL'S
When you remove th internal muse of
piles you .gat worthwhile emits that last.
That's the simple reason for Pyltone's
great success. No matt r' what you have
dons for this torture, or how long-standing
and stubborn your ono modern reience haft
the unmet in the new ono,
Treatment
(A liquid taken by mouth). Your drat bottle
proves this or the price refunded OL once.
That's our guer0ntee of Pyitono'e quality.
4$81.75 at all modern druggists. PT -1
BIEUICAL
1T'S PROV30N-3050r0' sufferer of Rlasuna1 io
Paine or Neuritis should try Dixon's Roma
Ay. Munroe Drug Store, 085 Elgin, Ottawa.
1 1
Postpaid b .00.
SATISFY YOURSELF—Every eufferor 55 Mots
matte Pahos or Neurula *hould try Plzen'.
Remedy" Munro'0 Drug Stere, 000 Elgin, Ob.
1awa. Pootnald 51,00.
PATENTS
IOETH17RSTONIIAUGI.1 & Company Pate/18
Sollaltere llatabllahed 8800. 060 Hay Street,
'Vornnto Henklet of Information on request.
OPPORTUNITIES for 0IEN and WOMEN
BE A HAIRDRESSER
JOIN CANADA'S 14E41,1N0 808001
Great Opportunity Learn
Hairdressing
Plen0uni dignified nrofeanlon, rood wa11ee,
thnueando suc0esefui Marvel *21205150,
Americ0's greatest mutton) flluotrnted eat&
login free. Write or Call
Id A nVIOL IIAII;nrossaT2170
8015QOL5
888 H1000 5t W Parente
srandlea. 44 Icing at. Hamilton
& 72 Rideau Street, Ottawa
MoKELLAR GENERAL IIOSPITAL, Fort
William. Ontario, afore a three year courses
in *eating under cheerful and interesting
OUrroundings. Applicants must be 18 years
Of age and hold secondary school graduation
In Ontario, Simko, uniforms, are supplied be
the Hospital. Applications now being received
80r tall 01500. App1Y, Superintendent of
Nurses, OIOXOIlar General Hospital, wort
William. Ontario.
CONCRETE BLOCK PLANTS, why work Pi
the other fellow? You eon Darn a good
living running a block plant. See 37001'0 Bros„
01 Nelson Street, Teront0, AD1701, lOr
machinery.
PERSONAL
PRES SAMPLES—nla0tlo comb, Send dim,
for postage and handling or 4 for 050, 011106
2, 1184 Yonge Street, Toronto,
WANTED
APPLICATIONS for Student Nurses aro rd.
attired al the Sarnle General Hospital,
Sarnia, Ontario, Tido 1s an approved School
of Nursing. Honorarium after preliminary
term is complete, 528 per month.
BROCCOLI plants wanted, 00210010 for Irano-
Planting, any quantity. Phone El. 7128, or
write 5. Lightfoot & Son Ltd., 23 St. Law-
rence Market, Toronto,
GRAIN eeporalor, In good condition, at least
28" cylinder, ,State fun particulars Inelud-
Ing price. GOrden Dixon, 00.R, 1, Port Dover,
Ontario,
WANTED
YOUNG WOMEN
for
Harvesting Peaches Plums,
Pears, Apples, Grapes, Tomatoes
and
other Fall fruits and vegetables
Accommodation in
Farm Service Force Camps
August 15th to November 15th
Campers must bring
blankets, sheets and pillow cases
•
For further information write:
Ontario Farm Service Force
9 Richmond Street East
Toronto 1, Ontario.
Auspices:
Dominion -Provincial
Farm Labour Committee
t0 e
MINARD'S
LflHMENIT
Apply freely, and rub.
2.9 That's all. It'o grcaseleer,
fast -drying; has no strong
odor" And it brings quick
relief to muscular aches and
pains, neuralgia, lumbago.
LARGE ECONOMICAL SIZE 65C
ISSUE 35 — 1949
43:
For constant Smacking 6lsastare
0"414/4'
Cigarette Tobacco
f,p
tYt�_
:'�•1't"t�liS
ALSO AVAILABI
illib Iia
115Vumm TrIZIF
By? Arthur Pointer
*Mg( WFNADA RAFT,
'Ng oeuen nota DOWN TNIt3
fiam AND C%PLORia 1 ,.. No
cghLlN' WHAM WS'D tatsc0VSR/
YEA 8UT vosizo
ARS W i'Go,N 'r0
(MA ARAPT7 •
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