The Brussels Post, 1951-4-4, Page 7Language
Ely Richard H. Wilkinson
Shortly before noon on the day
the Garri-ous left Laredo for
Mexico City, their motor went dead.
Mrs. Garrison teas greatly disturb•
ed. "Oi all places!" she said, "to
have this happen, 1 declare, you
should have had the car looked at
in Laredo."
"1 did," said ver. Garrison, Llis
voice was muffled because his head
was beneath she hood. Rut Mrs,
Garrison teas paying no attention
anyhow. She was gazing about the
wild, rugged, treeless country In
which they had stopped, ,as if ex-
pecting Lancho Villa and a horde
of vicious looking henchmen to rise
up from behind a rock. Five horse-
men suddenly appeared outlined
against the sky on the crest of a
nearby hill.
lvlrs. Garrison lel out a squeak of
fright. limo her mind there flashed
stories of tlii roving hands of nnt-
laws that inhabited the hills of
Mexico.
Mr. Garrison lifted a grease -be-
smeared face and stared at the
horseinen. 'Chen he looked at his
wife and saw that her checks were
white. "Rubhishl" he Said. "No
need to be scared," •Put his own
heartbeats had increased in volume,
The horsemen were coming down
the hili, firs. Garrison had a wild
impulse to flee. She could see the
leader of the quintet and his appear-
ance confirmed her fears. Just as
the stories had said„ he was dark
and handsome and oily.
The leader of the group doffed
his hat and said something in
Spanish that neither of thegGar-
risons understood. They re-
garded each other with fright-
ened looks. One of the hench-
men dismounted and proceeded
to examine the car.
"They're wondering if it's worth
anything," Mrs. Garrison 'said.
"1t isn't," lir. Garrison told her.
There followed a rapid jargon of
speech between the riders. Presently
two of them uncoiled ropes and
attached the ends to the automo-
bile's bumper, It was quite evident
that they: planned to tow the thing
away, and the Garrisons were con-
gratulating themselves on escaping
with their lives„ when the leader
signed to thein to enter the vehicle.
Mfrs, Garrison shrieked and clung
to her husband. "They're going to
kidnap us. Oh, Lord, have mercy!"
Mr. Garrison was more practical,
"I doubt if they harm us if tee do
what they say, If we don't—they
night cut off our ears."
'fiats having set his wife's mint(
al rest, he preceded her into the
car and sat behind the wheel.
An hour later they turned into a
side road and presently the car
slopped before a great rambling
ranch house.
The prisoners were ordered to
alight. A wizened, copper -colored
Mexican unloaded their handbags
and led theta inside and 'o a bed-
room,
"Not bad fora kidnapper's hide-
out," her, Garrison commented.
ell will probably take every
cent we have to pay the ran-
som. They think we're rich."
Some one knocked et their door
and they both started, .But fl was
the same (wizened servant. He beck-
oncd to them and they followed hits
out and along the corridor and into
a dining room. The leader of the
kidnappers was waiting for them,"
The Garrisons were hungry and
so they ate. By the time the meal
was finished ail (rands felt pretty
gay.
Footstep,, sounded on the porch,
and It young girl entered,• At sight
of the Garrisons, she hesitated„ but
their host greeted her warmly, and
boohooed her to hien. There follow-
ed a jargon of speech bcfween the
inter and girl. The girl's fact sud-
denly lighted and she looked at the
Garrisons.
"My father," she' said in perfect
English, "regrets that he does not
speak your language, But he trusts
yon have been made comfortable
and will stay with him a few days.
He has many American. friends and
and whenever the chance offers he
likes to extend therm the hospitality
of bis home. He tells ole that yonr
car has been repaired and is tveil-
iHg,"
Mr. and firs Garrison looked at
each other, Iters. Garrison said:
"Ola aryl just imagine! iso let's
slay, Henry."
• And Tlcury sand:: "0,l:." And
for no acconntablc 'reason he
ss grinned ;and felt tenderly elf his
ears.
Sun Could Drive
Factory Wheels
Today. we rely upon coal and oil
for a lot of our power. But neither
of these will last for:vcr; they are
wasting I(4se1s, 14n1au ,lay, the sup-
plies mill peter out and eve shall
have to use some other source of
eucrgy. '1'bal's why we're putting
,o much work into our atom Malts,
But atomic energy is difficult and
dangerous to put to use. It is in•
Volving us •in endless trouble and
expense Anil ,tlie minerals that are
used are, like coal and oil, in limited
supply.
Unused Energy
Vet is the sun itself we have a
huge atomic energy nlarhine that
has been working efficiently for
billions of years. The sunshine that
we see now and again i5 just as
much atomic energy as the heal
that scorched Hiroshima.
And it's there in unlimited quan-
tity—all free and Waiting to be used
Even in temperate climates like
ours, the sun pours a steady stream
of energy on to us throughout the
day. If we could harness it, this
would give us all the power we
need, it has been estimated that
over an area the size of Egypt
enough sunshine could. be trapped to
supply power for the world.
Scientist and engineers have been
experimenting for centuries to try
and put the sun to work. A twenty
square yard reflector concentrated
the sun's rays on to a boiler and
generated one horse -power at the
Paris Exhibition in 18113 Others
built in Egypt, Australia and Mex-
ic,. have .raised as much as 50 11.p.
Most of these machines have de-
pended on the concentration of the
sun's rays by large reflecting'mir-
rors. A plant of this sort was work-
ing in Cairo before the First 1'Vm9d
War,
It was made from a series of huge
mirrors shaped like long troughs
that focused the sun's ray§ on to
water pipes running down the mid-
dle of each trough. The steam rais-
ed was used to pump water for
irrigation.
The capital'cost of this sort of
sun engine is liable to be high. But
modern deveiopments such as the
use of aluminum mirrors could soon
reduce the cost.
Chemists have started using small
solar furnaces of this type to reach
extremely high temperatures. One
furnace was built in Paris in 1946,
using searchlight mirrors to con-
centrate the sun's rays. It reached
temperatures as high as 5,000 de-
grees, and will melt lime or plat-
inum.
But mirrors and lenses for con-
centrating the rays aren't the only
ways of harnessing energy from the
sun. We can convert light directly
into electricity by means of the
photo -electric cell.
We use these in the 'electric eyes"
that do all sorts of jobs from count-
ing passengers on trains to making
burglar alarms. But there's no rea-
son why they shouldn't be used on
a really hig scale as a way of gen-
erating electric current from the
sunshine.
Some chemicals like Glauber's
salt have the useful ability of being
able to absorb Treat from sunshine
like a sponge soaking up water.
Then the chemicals will release the
heat again when it's wanted.
A house has already been built in
America in which the central heat-
ing is done by absorbed sunshine.
Under two glass plates on the roof
there is a blackmetal sheet that
serves as a sunshine trap.
Behind the metal sheet a current
of air circulates, picking up the
heat and carrying it oft to special
heat storage bins containing Glau-
ber's salt,
The chemical liquifies as it takes
up heat from the air stream. Then it
solidifies and releases the heat again
when it's wanted. It's one of the
few houses in the civilized world
where there aren't any fuel hills.
One method of using sunshine
supplies in 11 really big way is to
short -circus the coal -nine by using
fast-growing plants,
Sunshine can be packed into tro-
+�I��� Caro Sop's
IF home space were sold by the
bag, most of us would tush
right down and purchase a couple
of dollars' worth every payday,
Unfortunately, extra floor area
is not come by so easlly, If high
rentals or building costs are pre-
venting your acquiring it in the
usual fashion—by moving to a
larger apartment or adding a spare
room onto your home—then you
must resort to planning to attain
those precious inches.
One solution, if your husband is
a handyman or your Carpenter
reasonable in his prices, Is built-in
furniture. You can utilize one
wall for all the shelf and bureau
space you need, leaving the rest of
the room uncluttered. An addi-
tional advantage Is planned stor-
age. You can make every inch
count by planning beforehand just
what you wish to store in each
spot,
For each room, it's usually a
good idea to include drawer space,
open shelves and enclosed shelves
The framework of this built-in
furniture should be constructed of
sturdy wood. For cabinet doors
and drawer fronts, plywood is a
good choice.
If you are not yet permanently
settled, you may prefer having
these wall pieces made up into
separate, easy - to - move units.
Make certain, however, that they
match in height and width in order
to give a feeling of unity when
they're lined up together.
1J Storage spo
Problems
Built-in rows of drawers, cabinets and bookcases give this master -bedroom plenty of extra storage
space and a handy counter along the Windows. The same type of built -In is ideal for youngsters,
too. The built-in and valance above it are made of birch plywood.
pica( vegetation which grows very
quickly forming chemicals like
sugar in the process.- These can
their be used as fuel without waiting
a million years for theist to turn
to coal.
Even today. sugar cane used like
this could give us a fuel costing
only about ten times as much as
coal. Research could soon bring
costs of this sort tumbling down.
The atomic energy process that
provides the sun with its energy
has been going on for millions of
years. But there's no sign of it
petering out just yet.
It seems a bit unreasonable, with
all this free' energy and power pour-
ing down on us every day, that we
should be going to all the trouble
and expense of backing out coal
and splitting atones,
Money diverted from the atomic
research budget might enable us to
harness the power from Old Sol.
"Foiling" the Mice
Fruit breeding farms are using
aluminum foil in a fashion which
produces a new twist to the "Baric
worse than bite" adage. Mice, which
formerly did considerable damage
to the valuable fruit trees by gnaw-
ing at the tasty barb, are finding
pickings thin at the Minnesota Fruit
Breeding Farm,
Aluminum foil, easily crimped
about the base of the trees, is prov-
ing too much for the marauding
little rodents.
The Canadian Grower reports "its
a cheaper material than hardware
clout.
A heavy-duty aluminium foil
should be used. The foil can be cut
as it is used and trees 1 inch in di-
ameter require 8 to 10 inches of foil.
On these small trees the foil is
crimped into place. On trees over
2 inches in diameter, it must be tied
and will probably require too much
material."
The voice probably find it confus-
ing, and not at all amusing, that
their favourite delicacy, cheese, is
in many instances wrapped in aium-
inius foil so that its fragrant fresh-
ness May =till intact. This same
foil is the barrier that prevents theist
from scoffing the delicate bark of
the fritrt trees.
It is true that a mouse attempt-
ing to alcviale his hunger at the
expense of a growing .fruit tree, pro-
tected by aluminum foil, finds the
bite considerably less edible than
the bark.
Fashion Note
Fast Blinkers Are
Most Dangerous
Slow blinkers make the finest
footballers and cricketers, accord•
ing to Dr. R. W. Lawson of Shef-
field University. Fast blinkers are
more dangerous on the roads be-
cause they have more frequent
black -out periods—fractions of a
second when they are driving blind.
They are poor tennis players be-
cause when they blink they lose
sight of the ball.
Most of us are completely black-
ed out for about ten per cent of
the time we use our eyes. The aver-
age person blinks once in 2,8 sec-
onds, and during the blink ow eyes
are completely closed for about
three -tenths of a second.
This exphrlus why many of those
fancily snapshots short us with our
eyes closed. The camera shutter
niay have heen -,pen for only onc-
twenty-teeth of a second or less—
time enough to take our Picture
while we were indulging in our
three -tenths of a second "nap."
The blink is preceded by a move-
ment , of the eyeball which adds
about another quarter of a second
of indistinct or uncertain vision, so
that the average man's sight is un-
reliable for about 20 per cent of the
total time.
Scientists find this embarrassing
when they are collecting certain
physical measurements observed by
the eye. They make a special allow-
ance for it in their calculations by
using what they call their "person-
al equation." This takes into ac-
count the length of their own
black -outs,"
Fourpence Per Day Keeps
Gibraltar Monkeys Happy
The Rock of Gibraltar turned up
for mention in two widely separated
places a few days ago—on the floor
of the house of Commons and in
the newspapers of Madrid. The fa-
cet of Gibraltar life that concerned
the honourable members of Com-
mons was 'tire well-being of the
monkeys resident on the Rock, a
type of Barbary ape that has lived
there since the days of the Romans.
Oue member of the Commons in-
quired, with some apprehension,
whether those monkeys are in good
health, whether a daily subsistence
allowance of fourpence per monkey
is sufficient for ticeln to thrive on
and whether, perchance, their num-
bers have increased,
# *
The Rock, monkeys and alt; has
been held by the British since 1704,
when a British admiral, acting on
his own responsibility during one of
the minor wars of history, grabbed
it. Instead of reprimanding him,
Queen Anne gladly added it to the
string of British possessions The
British saw it for what it was: a
it covers the western approaches
of the Middle Sea it is one of tete
key points of the world. The .floors
took it in 711 and, like the British
a thousand years later, fortified it
as heavily as they could, The Spau-
islt took it back in 1309. The Moors
retook it in 1333. The Spanish got
it back in 1462 and hired the (lest
engineers in Europe to make it im-
pregnable, yet the British, with
Dutch help, took it easily in the
sunnnier of 1704, The Spanish be-
sieged it in the autumn and again in
1726. From that time on they have
always hoped to get it back.
u * *
In 1779, while Britain was busy
with trouble over here, the Spanish
set out to besiege the place in ear-
nest. That siege lasted, with more
or less continuing intensity, for four
years. It was rather a series of
watchful attempts to cut off all
supplies from the Rock along with
occasional bombardment and sharp
combat to rout the British out, Two
or three tithe British ships managed
to gee through 'to relieve the Rock
and to bring supplies to the be-
sieged. At other times they were
near starvation, scurvy and threat
of mutiny, In 1782, with the gar-
rison still holding out, the Spanish
planned one great combined attack,
with specially built ships, "fortified
six to seven feet thick, with green
timber—bolted with cork, iron, and
raw hides a 'µ * and bombproof 011
top," On the north, the Spanish
side, were rows of new batteries.
In the first hours of the attack
the British gunners on the Rock
could do nothing with the green
timber, the cork, iron and rawhides.
With time on their hands, the artil-
lerymen had done some experiment-
ing and now began to answer the
Spanish fir' with one of their own
inventions — red-hot shot. That
saved the British on the Rock...13y
noon of the next day every one of
the Spanish ships was blown up
or burned,
MSAIIWN)40' ON A NaARBY'FIsH TUG..
SURE 'N
IEGORRY, 're
LEAD
-zRaesko5 W9`
CAUGHT US A
w11ALE. )..
Since then, and particularly in
recent decades, the British have
fortified the Rock with about as
much metal as it could carry hidden
deep in the limestone caves and
rarely seem by any visitors. Aliens
need a permit to live on the Rock,
The Governor of this Crown colony
has about 25,000 people to care for,
along with the many Spaniards who
come from the "Lines," the Spanish
town just beyond the Rock, as day
laborers and go home at night. The
Governor also has to look out for
those Gibraltar monkeys. For what
was probably back of that query
on the apes' health on the floor of
the Commons was ancient supersti-
tion, and an odd place it was for
that to turn up. There has long
been a legend that as long as the
apes remain on the Rock the Bri-
tish will keep possession of it.
The Colonial Secretary, Mr. Grif-
fiths, in whose keeping the monkeys
are, handled the query with fitting
dignity and competence. The mon-
keys, he reported with appropriately
solemn mien, are doing well on
their fourpenny subsistence allow-
ance and there have been no com-
plaints from any of them. They are
enjoying excellent health. With
sonic modest satisfaction Mr. Grif-
fiths added that the monkeys, who
were twenty in number at the end
of the war, are now thirty.
(7/c E
TM?'
Here is the Secret
It's not a matter o+ luck but
good jndgnicnt: when it comes 10
buying and planting or tratlsplattt-
ing shrubbery, plants, trees and
suclt things,
There is a great variation ie
prices and there is evert a wider
variation in quality. Good healthy
stock is green, pliable, moist and
equipped with sound buds, but not
in leaf. It is only with such stock
that one can be 'lucky." When
purchased, good stock will be well.
wrapped to keep in moisture and
keep •out the air, especially about
the roots. The buyer should matter
sure lie keeps it that way.
If not ready to plant immediate-
ly the stock should be "heeled in";
that is, planted in a shallow trench
with soil pressed firmly about the
roots and over tate lower part of
the stem.
In planting permanently, set a
little deeper than previously, spread
roots out well, cover firmly with
a fine, rich soil, water generously,
then tramp down hard. A small
tree or shrub should have more
watering for the first 'few weeks.
Trees should be tied firmly to a
stake for the first year. This will
give the tiny, new roots a chance
to get firmly fastened in the new
location. Without these fine roots
which absorb food, the stock will
die of starvation,
8' ♦ 5
These Go First
In most cases there is one corner
of the garden which dries before
the rest. This is the spot to plant
the very early things, hardy vege-
tables and flowers that can go in the
ground just as soon as one can get
out and, dig. Frost and snow later
on will not hurt these, and soma
of them must matte their first
growth while soil and air are cool.
Among the vegetables in this
category will be radish, leaf lettuce,
spinach, early onions and the har-
diest of the garden peas. Of course,
this refers to first plantings only.
Main plantings should go in later,
and final plantings after that With
vegetables it is important to string
out the plantings so that the har-
vest will be equally cxteuded. Ali
the vegetables mentioned can he
planted at least three times, a fort-
night apart, and some like lettuce
and radish, carrots, beets, beans,
etc., can be planted at intervals
right up to the first week in July.
Among the hardy flowers will be
things like cosmos, marigolds,
pansies, sweet peas and anything
else listed as very hardy in a Ca-
adian seed catalogue. Some of
these are so resistant to frost that
they sow themselves and come ose
as volunteer plants in. the spring.
Some of them especially sweet peas,
must be planted just as soon as
possible in the spring if they are
to snake proper growth before tine
hot weather checks them.
The Newest Version of the shirtwaist look . Fashion
Guild's garden print, 'with taiored top and draped shirt.
By Arthur Pointer'
t� y wP
AMI scEIN'
ie THINCS-NAT, Cox
IS IT Til' LIkaS OP
ytt• A MONKEYx
4.7
SLIP COVER1 TFI1CI' ugh' $101,04
RUBBER PADS TO 'HOLO SLIP OciVOti
IN PLACE AND KEEP THEM FROM
PULLING- OUT OF SHAP{ ...