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The Seaforth News, 1924-01-24, Page 7— I . They Who Serve. Men have a rare religion born of awe; They talk of God; their words up- hold His word. When multitudes flocked to Him, Jesus saw How readily the thoughts of men were stirred To grasp the new; and men lee chose. to boar Tlisle PORCUPINE IN WESTERN CANADA For the: and Girls 1, o s Along the years the standard of His BY DAN McCOWAN BANFF, ALBERTA. truth. Religion is a reverence' they wear In Western Canada the rodents or The black bear is credited with hall- To crown old age, or halo all their gnawing animals vastly outnumber' all ing the power to kill the porcupine' by youth. other' mammals. On the wide prairies inserting a paw under the head and the beaver, the muskrat and the body of the victim and then Sipping But women; who are not so brave, or "gopher" are to be found in great him against tree or rock. Evidence wise, Must mold religion -to the day's de - mends; It is the tenderness that lights their the cony and the marmot. Included erence to danger the wolverine at- eyes, in the long list of sharp -toothed beasts tacks and kills the porcupine, bwt'in The warm brown comfort of their of this order are many whose habits so doing suffers more or less serious toiling hands, are quaint and curious, whose man- injury. The one carnivorous animal The peace that stirs the trailing gar. ners and customs and traits present which has successfully maetered the mint tem; to the nature [Strident problems which defence of the porcupine is the fisher As though they carried God about with may only -be solved by years of close orpekan, as he is Balled in Eastern them. observation and patient experiment. Canada. - Approaching his victim —Helen Frazee -Bower. 'silently and cautiously he, with a dex- PERPETUAL ENIGMA. • tertius twist of his paw, turns the The First Submarine.' Oustanding amongst this large fain- porcupine over•, ftthereby exposing the The earliest anceskar of he .ily is Spiney the porcupine, a per- throat and the equally unprotected marine was a glass box covered twith sub- petual enigma in himself. His bio -underparts. It is an extraordinary graphy might well be bounded with' circumstance, that the quills of the asses skin, made to order for Alex three marks of interrogation—one of porcupine, capable ofdeadly hurt to ander the Great to the fourth century them at the beginning and two at the most .creatures, are apparently harm- end. The mystery animal of the less to ,the fisher. Quills . which are woods, he is at all times apart and swallowed pass through the intestines aloof from the wild life in and about without damaging these vita'1-organs. his habitat. With apparently no de- Others which become attached to the finite aim or purpose in life, the pore skin and flesh of the fisher do not pro- cupine` wanders through th woods at; duce the usual inflammation, but in all times and seasons,` the while glv-: course of time either work out or else ing voice, to his feelings in a succes- become encysted under the hide. So cion of grunts, groans and monotoned long ago as 1829 Richardson the emin- whines, each one pleasing and melo- ent naturalist who was with Sir John dioue as .the perpetual plaint of the Franklin on the north-west explora- ehronic pessimist. The porcupine has` tions, observed and made note of the no fear of man and as a rule makes fishers fondness for the flesh of the no effort to avoid his presence. His porcupine. • enemies amongst the birds and beasts are but few. With a desire for soli- tude and seclusion he preserves an armed neutrality towards every crea- tures seek safety in flight The porta- numbers; in the forests live hosts of regarding this ping -pang perform sgnirrel5 and chipmunks; high on the ance of Bemire is somewhat scanty mountain -side is the sure refuge of and unreliable. With its usual' indif- PALLS A' -VICTIM.. When the careless camper sets the woods alight most of the wild crea- ture who respects his wishes and pine, being slow and sluggish, has no means of escape and falls 'a victim to smoke er flame. The porcupine is destructive to for- est growth, feeding as it does on the inner bark of trees, particularly that of the spruce and pine. In obtaining this food it girdles the tree, and in this way is capable of destroying val- uable timber. It is fond of hemlock twigs and esteems lily pads a great delioacy. •In orchard regions it helps itself to apples and other fruits. In the Rocky Mountains it feeds largely on the leaves and stems of the great willow herb or fire weed. Possessing en inordinate love for salt, the porcupine does considerable damage around camps in satisfying its .craving for this substance. It is quite partial to a meal of • harness leather, apparently finding nourish- ment in the salty grease and oil with which the belts and straps are occa- sionally anointed. The family life of the porcupine is somewhat obscure and but little is known concefning its mating habits. The young, born in April or May, are amazingly large and well developed at birth. - By reason of his fear -in - The moat striking peculiarity about spiring armament the porcupine is to the' porcupine is the specialized de- a great extent diurnal and may often velopment of the under fur into bo seen wandering on the forest floor sharp -pointed quills. These quills are or sunning himself in a lofty tree top. white with black tips and the body of Buoyed upby a multitude of hollow the animal is almost entirely covered quills he can swim for a long distance and protected by them, only thernuz- without much "effort. His favorite zle, the belly and the legs being ex- sleeping place is in a rock cavity or posed. Interspersed with, and over- in a hollow log. With head in and lying the quills are long coarse hairs tail out, the slumbering animal is in of a pale yellow color. The quills lie little danger from a surprise attack flat on the body at normal time, but and is seldom caught napping. when the bearer is disturbed or alarm- The economic value of this species ed they axe raised by muscular con- is very small, if indeed it has tnysuch traction into an almost impenetrable value. In the embroi 1 'of. coats array of bristling dagger points, from and moccasins the.-tmill were used one-half inch to over three inches. by the womenF;of the Iridian tribes. Those on the tail are shorter but are Dyed withoe1roots, berries, baric, or set moreclosely. They are so slightly lichens, lite were worked into r many attached that when the points touch colored.rpatterns which were often and enter the skin of a molesting pleasing and artistic. beast or laird they are at once freed When all has been said and written -at the base. Each quill is so barbed, there still remains the problem of that, being set in the hide or fiegh Nature's use and place for this quaint leaves him alone. LACHINE IN BEAUTY. The porcupine is to be, found throughout the coniferous forest area of. Canada. It is entirely lacking in beauty and grace, having a clumsy shapeless -looking body set upon short stubby legs. In walking the feet are placed ficet on the ground in like man- ner to the raccoon and the bear. When travelling, "Spinet'"' never changes gear, because he has only one speed and that slow. From, the nose to the tip of the tail a full-grown animal measures about three feet and has a. weight of from 12 to 20 pounds. When winter is nearing, the members of this' family are usually "hog fat" and at such times may scale as high as 40 pounds. The porcupine is of a dull brownish color, shading, in many instances, into a near black. The eyes are small and lustreless, the face dull and unattractive. - 'The front teeth are of a deep orange color, and being long -and chisel sharp are well adapted to the tree -gnawing habits of the animal. BTRIRING PECULIARITY. B,C. That bold general, says Capt. J. G. Sutherland in At Sea. With Joseph Conrad, must have bean absolutely fearlese,!far in those days it required' no small courage to allow yourself to be shut up in a box and lowered below the water. Apparently it tried even Alexander's nerves, for he saw many moil tera and some things so horrible that he would not speak of then till the day of his death. it must be remembered that he would be able to see ,little; so prob- ably invagination played a large part in malting him think he bad seen the things that he said he saw. There are many accounts of the ad- venture in existence, and all are more or less wonderful; the facts appear to be that the great general got inside the door, was sealed up, with tar and lowered to the bottom by a chain. Be an.accident, which in those days may or may not have been intentional, the chain was let go ,from the boat, and the king was left sitting in his box on the bottom, looking at and being look- ed ooked at by "horrible things." However, to the relief' of his friends and pre- sumably`to the chagrin of those who had "axes to grind" the box broke, and up his majesty shot to the surface and was rescued, a wetted and a wiser man, That episode stands out alone he ancient history; it is not on record that any other person went under water in a completely enclosed vessel until comparatively modern times. A Helpful Suggestion. She—"What are you writing so busily?" He -"Jotting down my thoughts." Slee—"In a blank book?" eteeltesie Probably the most romantic figure! in .the British political field to -day is Margaret Bondfield, the charming wo- man who will probably become Minis- - tar of Health in the Ramsay MacDon- ald cabinet -should' he be called upon to form one: ' Miss Bondltald, who is fifty-one years of age, butlooks many years younger,. is an example of what a woman may attain by the exercise of a combina- tion of brains and charm. She is one of the pioneer women leaders of Eng- land, and has invaded domains there- to denied to women and has excelled in many of them. Miss Bondfield has a delightful face radiating good will and expressing a rare sweetness of character. She lute the unique gift of being abie to quote statistics and make them sound like romance.', She has magnetic qualities as a speaker and in, recent labor gath- erings in England has been regarded as the outstanding figure, She speaks in a low musical voice, has never lost control of her voice or her emotions; and has that saving grace—humor, which she instills into awkward situa- tions. of another animal, they can onl extracted by the exercise of conder- able force. There are close upon a thousand barbs on each qurl , as can readily be seen by micrfseopic ex- amination. If moisten0, the barbs curl outwards from tleee quill stem. The porcupine seen not and there- foee does not "throw" its quills. Nor does he curl evercnto a ball when at - backed. H'•s'Inethod of defence is to thrust e unprotected snout Into a "I can hardly tell you," the boy re= — lee unsteadily."I — haveat dI I last hole - plied 0 SF ador's to .with shed g Then arched proposal—and have been turned jand with feet firmly set he erects down." a formidable array•;of needle-sharp "Tut -tut" replied his employer spikes and awaits the onset of his enemy. His weapon of offence is the cheerfully. "It will turn out'all right tail, in very truth a murderous blud- in the end. A woman's 'no' often seen. When an assailant venture means yes."Perhaps it dons," was the sorrow - within range, thisclub tail' with its ful reply, "but thiswoman didn't say myriad stinging thorns swings with no she just laughed" an amazing speed and usually "con- nects." This rapid 'movement of the tail has probably been responsible for the Widespread belief that the porcu- pine "shoots" its quills. be quill -clad creature. ells Depression Was ,Justified, He was a sentimental youth who had been suffering for $ome time with severe love -sickness. One morning lie turned up at the office looking the pic- ture of abject misery. "What's the matter?" asked his em- ployer. GREAT ARMAMENT. With such an efficient armament it might reasonably be inferred that the porcupine is wcil-night invulnerable to attack. Yet he has a few enemies who, must' be compelled to exercise considerable ingenuity inorder to bring about -his destruction. Driven by the urge of extreme hunger, the lion, the lynx and the bear will essay to convert "Spiny" into a meal. Eagles on .occasion venture to give battle, and eveh the great horned owl has courage enough to clash with the prickly one when he is to be found in A tree -top. To have an invention protected in all parts of the world it is necessary to take out at least seventy Efferent patents in as many different conn- tries. The estimated cost is $26,000. At thirteen she was teaching school, and two years later became a clerk in a dry goods shop and later -went in- to ntothe same work in the British' capi- tal, where .she became interested In the labor movement and soon demon- strated her organizing ability. Of recent years she •earned the hon - THE FIRST, WORLD POWER CONFE.EF'°CE A,s rhe, time approaches for the hold - Ing of the First World Power'Confer- ence—London, June 30 to duly 12, 1224 interest in the subject increases throughout the Dominion: 'Phis was evidenced by the representative at- tendauco of delegates from every pro- vinai at a meeting held in Ottawa on December 6, when Lion. Charles Stew- art, Minister of the Interior, explained the purposes of the Conference and - stressed the necessity for adequate Participation by Canada. The minister declared it to be his belief that when the present situation in Europe had passed, Canada would be10d1ng keen competition from that side -9f the .Atlantic. Power would p� feeemen neepart in cheap pro. duo on ,and Canad'a's unique and un- rivalled water -powers would be one of the^factors whio1i would enable tels country to meet overseas,' competition successfully. "Men, money and mar- kets"were the chief advantages which the Minister expected Canada would secure from participation in the World Power Conference. He hoped that Bri- tish =petal would, be attracted to,Can- ada to des -slop her great water -powers and the resources dependent thereon: Tie stated that the aim of the Depart- ment of the Interior in all water -power matters was, by co -operation -with ap- propriate' provincial, authorities, to render assistance to any effort which will facilitate the .development, distri- bution, and use of hydro -electric ener- gy and thus advance the general pros- perity et the Dominion. The Director of Water Power of the Department of the Interior, Mr. e B. Challies, who attended a preliminary international conference in London and Paris in August of representatives of the various participating countries, said that as Canada was already re- cognized as one of the greatest water power. countries in theworld, the Do- minion's participation must be ade- quate to her unique achievements in hydro -electric matters. Great interest was being taken throughout Europe in the Progress of Canadian power de- velopment, in every aspect, of which Canada had to her credit remarkable hie eve or` of being the first wornan to be named to the Parliamentary Commit- tee ommit tee of the Trade Union Congress, and is now the president of the General Council of the Congress and is in line for the presidency of the next Trades Union Congress, an honor"'unique in the history of the labor movement. For a woman to have' reached these official heights is food for thought. The fact that she Is loved by all her associates is still more amazing, She had much in common with the wife of Ramsay MacDonald, and the two wo- men were Last friends and co-workers. They possessed the same sweetness and ea'rneat loyalty, and the same am- bitions for laboring women and the Labor party to which .they were both devoted. Wiles Bondfield's accession to office in historic Westminster will mark an epoch in the history of the woman's movement. The pictures above show Miss Bondfield, and also a view of the home of the "Mother of Parliaments; where in the course of history so many precedents have' been establish ed for the rest of the democratic world to follow. Musicians Are Better Thinkers. One o the claims made for music is ten it. Of Mascsgni he said: "He has In his predecessor, Verdi, his own suc- cessor, who will live long after him. Once when sailing on an ocean liner that it quickens the mental processes. he looped longingly at the musicians i right. ht. and remarked: "How lucky those fel- This contentions g c n t their lunch Students of music are invariably laws aro. They a ea r e. or advanced n" n When a person thinks of a. piano than al aff who have no interest s- Von Burow was only one of thous- keyboard, and the beautiful white musical affairs.. Furthermore, our as- ands of musicians whose wits have y sedation with musicians has caused sparkled continuously.. ivory keys, does he automatically us to marvel at the alertness of their ' think of the tusks of the elephant and minds when applied to problems other o than music. At repartee none' is quicker than the tongue et_ the inns'. clan. Von Bulow's wit, for example, was instantaneous. His rivals could 1 FROM ELEPHANT ' TUSKS TO. PIANOS l b tt d d i thethinking line without music." Good Reason for Dislike.' Sister's .Suitor—"How is it, Johnnie, that you have such a dislike to me? I have never done anything to deserve never get the best of him. Of one of it" William Sterndale Bennett's compose- Johnnie—"Yes, you have. When tions he once said: "It is so much like you come to see our Kate she puts Mendelssohn "that one might have the cloak back, and it makes me late thought Sir Julius Benedict had writ- for school, and I get thrashed." r the New Game Mah=Jong Rules "Mah-jong," the Chinese game which has created a -furore in England and has obtained a firm footing in the United States and Canada, Is thus des- cribed by Olga Raester, author of the Standardized Rules of the lliah-Jong League; No-rfeed to speak of age where Mah- fong is concerned. Everybody knows that it comes from China, and it is as old as Teoquew, another national Chinese game which was played' in the. far -distant centuries, In England, however, Mah-Jong is very young, and inclined; like all young things, to epaw1. Everybody is playing it, every- body is playing it differently. According to . history and legend, Mah-jong was played by Confucius; it commemorated the Great Wall of China and 108 revolutionaries who were banished by the Emperor during the Sung dynasty. A fisherman is supposed' to have thought' of it as a cure for sea -sick- ness, and a Chinese general of the Im- perial Army is said to have added the Winds and Dragons to keep hia sol- diers from falling asleep. All this you may believe or net. It is certain that there were 108 cards in the .original game and that' the addi- tion of Winds and Dragons brought the number to 136. The ivory carvers of Ning Po turned the cards into "tiles,'" as the dominoes 1101V used are called, and it is filth 186 et these that the regulation game is played. Mah-Jong means "sparrow," because the players, like the sparrows,; pick up the chance crumbs discarded by others. There are three suits running from 1 to 9. They are called "Characters," "Bamboo," and "Circles." There is no need to describe them as they are easily distinguished by their names. All the •three sults, with the exception of the 1's and 9's, are clawed as "minor" pieces, and In the scoring count the least, Four Winds. There are also four Winds, four: of a kind to each Wind; East, South, West, and North. Not to be Trusted. These four Winds and the 1's and 9's of each suit are "major" pieces, "I wouldn't trust that fellow out of my sight!" • � slid ,tomo next in rank and value:. "And 3 wouldn't trust him till he Finally, there are the three "Drag- ons" in state of four: White Dragon, was—'way outt Red Dragon, Green Dragon. These are classed as super -pieces and have the highest value of all. In the casket there are also tour "Flowers" and four "Seasons;" pretty pieces which merely give high scoring but do not represent any skill in play- ing. There is also the "Box of Winds" and the counter made of short pieces of bone and inscribed with dots: Five for five hundred, one for one hundred, tett for ten points, and two for two. A thousand points, with a limit of 300, or 600, makes- a good proportion for playing. The object of each player is to melte up a hand of fourteen "tiles," and in some cases more (if sets of four have been gathered), and to declare this hand before any of the other players. To make up this hand the player col- lects threes or fours et a hind in any suit, numeral sequences in any.` suit, sets of Winds and Dragons, and a pair. These eats may be compared to • the tricks made in Bridge, The game starts by four players standing round a table, and going through the process of the allotment of seats. n a formal man, This may be done i men which necessitates four throws of the dine iiefore East tor the round is decided, or in the friendly fashion of each player throwing the dine, the highest throw settling the .place; to be occupied by East. All counting is to be done anti -clock- wise from left to right, on the persons sitting round the table, beginning with East. After this the four walls are built, each player setting uu a wall of 84 pieces before him in two. layers of 17 each. The walls must be pushed close- ly together to form a square, East .then throws the •dice to decide which wall is; to be opened, and, • the number being counted out on the other players, the player to whom the num- ber falig then throws the dice again to see where the wal lea to be opened, The, number thrown is, counted along the wall from right to left. Where the count Stops. the,two "tiles" must be lifted out and placed on the top of the opening to the right. Then East takes the first Pour "tiles" to the left of the opening, and the other players follow in succession from left to right. Each player has 13 "tiles" East takes one more, making 14, and East discards one "tile" into the court. Then comes the turn of each player round the tahle from left to right, but all must draw one "tile" from the wall before discarding. East, after the first. discard, does likewise. Each discard, can be taken by any of the other players for a set of three or a sequence, until the next discard is thrown on the table, after which it cannot be touched. The discards are acquired in the fol- lowing manner: By a "Pung"—that is, taking a "tile" that matches two of a kind already in the player's hand. The three must be once laid on the table beside the player. Ilya "Chow" —that is, taking a discard that makes a numeral sequence of three, two of which are already in the, player's hand. Counting the Score. It must be remembered that a "Chow" can only be taken from the discard 01 a player on the left. When a player has completed a winning hand as described above, the fact is proclaimed,. Every player ,shows his "tiles." The score is counted up, be - gluing with the winner. If East has won, East, is paid double `by all the other players; if East has lost, East pays all the other players double. There are no "post-mortems," each player has his own sorrow or joy. There ;are many points in the game which cannot be gone into in this limited space. One is getting sets of four called "Kong." These are obtain. ad, by taking a discard which makes a fourth t oa set,of three already in the ,rand; like a "Pang," they mus be put on the table, but the playa must draw a "Loose Tile" and no from the walla The "Loose Tiles" are those which were removed to open the .wall and welch lie on the top of the "Dead Wall"—that is, "tiles" to th number of fourteen which must b slightly Separated from the main wall and which can only be drawn upon r e e far -away Indian or African jungles, the haunts of the elephant? Or.does he merely think of a certain number of keys which when depressed unlock the gates of melody to the player? If the latter, then one does not think very far. For without the elephant, these wondrous, lustrous, white ivory keys world be an impassibility. There is a decidedly interesting ro- mance woven about the habits and ma- terna of elephants which makes'good reading material for the music lover, particularly the piano player. These elephants, from•whose tusks are taken the ivory that goes into tee bulk of our Ca.nadian•'planos, are a curious lot. Lord Frederick Hamilton in his de- lightful book of reminiscences, "Here, There and Everywhere," tells of•an oc• caseon when he and some friends were returning to cernp from a big game hunting trip. So they thought they would like to ride the elephants them- selves, and accordingly instructed their mahouts to get down. "The lat- ter had no fancy for walking two intim back to camp," says the narrator, "and so, in some mysterious manner of which they have the secret, gave their charges Private but definite orders. "I seated myself," the writer of the story goes on to say, "on Chota Be - gum's neck, put my feet in the string stirrups, and took the big ankus in my hand. The others did the same. I then ordered Chota Begum to go on, using the exact words the mahout did. Chota Begum commenced walking 'round and 'round in a small circle,. and the eight other elephants all did the same. I tried cajoling her as the mahout did, and assured her that she was a 'pearl' and my 'heart's delight' Chota Begum: continued walking 'round and 'round in a small circle, as• did all the other elephants. I -changed my tactics, and made the most unmerited insinuations as to her mother's ,per- sonal character, at the sonic time giv- ing her a slight hint' -with the blunt end of the makes. Chota Begum con- tinued stolidly 'walking 'round and 'round. Meanwhile strong language arose from other members of the party,' who were also careering 'round and 'round en small circles. Finally an Irish A:D•C. summed up the situa- tion by crying: 'These mahouts have as beat,' whereupon we capitulated, and a simultaneous shout went up, 'Otte,' Mahout•lagi' " It is' but .seldom that one sees a native of India laughing, but those ma- houts, when they emerged from the cover of some bamboos, Were `simply bent double with laughter, How they. had conveyed their: wishes to the ele- phants beats me still." when a "Kong" is made,. From this..necessarily brief descrip- tion It wil ibe gathered that Mah-Jong is a well -organized game; skill only conies with time, and one of the great- est points is to learn a good system of scoring so as to know what to play for, men ac v m s• Mr. Challiee states that the objects of the Power Conference were to con- sider how the industrial and scientific sources of power may be adjusted na- tionally and internationally: By con- sidering the potential resources of each country in hydro -electric power, oil, and minerals; by .comparing ex- perienees in the development of solea title agriculture,. irrigation and trans- portation by land, water and air; by conferences of civil, electrical, me. chemical, marine, and mining engin- eens, technical experts and authori- ties, and by industrial research; by consultation of the consumers of power and the manufactures of the in- struments of production; by confer- ences on technical education to review the educational methods in different countries, and to 'a -molder means by which existing facilities may be im- proved; by discussion on the financial and economic aspects of industry;. by conference on the possibility of estab- lishing a permanent world bureau for the collection of data, .the prepare. tion of .inventories of the world's re- sources and the exchange of industrial and scientific information through am pointed representatives in the various countries. Raising Tower Bridge Costs London Quite a Sum. It just has been discovered that "see. ing the bridge go up," one of the de- lights of London's children, and quite a number of her grown-ups, too, h1th• erto looked on as an inexpensive form. of amusement, coats the city of Loa don authorities quite a sum. In /act,. everytime the bascules of Tower Bridge are opened to allow a ship to pass down goes the city's finances by $10. The bascules are raised and lowered by hydraulic power, and extraordinary care has been taken that there shall be no bitch in the operation, which al- lows vessels to pass up or down the Thames. Almost every part of the en- gines is in duplicate, and the more im.Portant parts parts are even quadrupled, so that in the event of one set 01 engines not working smoothly a second set can be used. The bridgedoes notgo up for every boat; it is only at high tide, and tides on the Thames can be very high in- deed, that it is necessary to raise it so that river traffic cangoon its way. The present bridge has been working for almost thirty years, arid thus far nothing serious has ever gone wrong with it. As He Sees It. Teacher—"Freddy, what 0ayses the daily revolutions of the earth?" Bright Boy—"TheBolsheviks."' '1 Don't fear to swallor w your anger! tt will not cause indigestion, Stole' Nothing of"Worth., 180, Flapper. ---"Don't Mayme knew thatnan she goes with is a burglar?* - 211 Ditto -"Sure she does. --but he don't ever steal nothing but kissed from her." t ok pleasant; some ono is alwa taking your picture.