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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1924-06-19, Page 6For . "the.-.els Boys and Girl THE ORIGIN OF THE CAMEL. A tomcat arching up his back To meet an angry; dog's attack, Discovered, when the fight was over And he'd annihilated Rover; That all the muscles of his back New had a most ppeculiar lack Of suppleness; they stayed the way They were throughout the angry fray. Arched -up his back remained, alas! And never did that stiffness pass, He grew in size and looked so queer That people, seeing: him, would jeer. Ile ran away to foreign lands, And once he reached Sahara's sands, Decided that this quiet place, Where dwelt a very peaceful race Who didn't mind his shape at all Was good enough his home to call. This happened many years ago, .And I am sure by now you know He was the earths first camel, . Now Will some kind reader tell me how Giraffes their lengthy necks acquired (Much shorter ones they all desired); .Aad how the leopard got his spots, That look like giant polka dots? THE CHAMELEON ENEMY. The natives of equatorial Africa cannot understand the chameleon, and therefore they are afraid of him. If a black man sees a white man letting the little animal take liberties with him, running up his arm and around his neck, he can't help giving a warn ing: "0 white man, you will surely die: The chameleon is a terrible enemy" It is that color trick of the chain eleon's that makes him so terrifying, They can't believe that anything which changescolor so easily as the chameleon can, has anything less than a devil or some evil spirit back of it. The black men watch the suspected. one pass from a patch of grass to the yeliow sand, and then on to a piece of red sandstone, changing color as it proceeds, and they cannot understand that the little fellow is merely handing them a sample of the only reliable means of defence—matching himself so perfectly to the object he is stand- ing on that his enemies cannot find him, To the natives this changeableness is a symbol of deceit and treachery, the very things the Devil uses to put across his schemes. He could never in the world get by with some of his plans if he appeared before his victim just as he is. He therefore escapes detection by taking on the color of our thoughts, our feelings, and even masquerading as one of our virtues. —Robert H. Milligan. OLIVER'S OVERCOAT AND SWEATER By Hilda Richmond. 1 7 "You sea, Florence," said Mrs Banks, "we divided the society into as many parts as there were members o the family, and you are the chairman of one committee in your mother's place. No, I positively can't come in and sit down. We pack tare box three weeka from to -day; so have your things ready by that time" "But I don't understand," said the young girl. "Please comae In and tell ms" "Well, just a minute," Airs.' Banks seated herself on a chair and opened the paper in her hand. "You have Oliver; he's seventeen and needs a sweater and an ovrcoat. His dimen- sions are given Lere. Oliver wants to go to college, and he is pretty well fitted out with things his mother made from the contents of former mission- ary boxes, but he lacks those two ar- ticles. You have a lint of persons to solicit, and you must have the articles at Mrs. Percy's house by the fifteenth." "Well, of all things!" cried Florence as she looked hastily at the list of names, "Here's Mrs. Trent, a lone widow, and has been for ten years. Where would she get a sweater or the money to buy one? And here's Mrs. Block. She wouldn't give a penny to anything or anybody. I must say they gave me a nice list." "Florence," said Mrs. Banks, trying to keep the chuckles out of her voice, "your mother and I have been imposed upon in the missionary society so long that we tamely submit. I did try to say a word for you, but you know how it is. I'll admit that your committee is encourgaing; but do your best, dear. The minister's wife sent a brave let- ter, but the case is very pathetic. They are up in the bitter cold weather of Montana, trying to minister to the needs of the forlorn miners, and they deserve encouragement. There are seven in the family, and the salary Is ;pitifully small; Mrs. Erarson took the baby on her list; the others are well l{rrovided tor." "I'Il do my best," said Florence, "You have an easy task," said Mrs. Menke. "Ask Jack Hughes or John Temple or some of the boys in your er0wd for the overcoat and the sweat- ier and collect what money you can for ?esokties, shoes and the small articles Abet boys need at college,' i "I dou't see anything easy about it, Jeers. Banks. Here I am housekeeping 'ear mother while she's away for the ;winter, and tatting care of little Paul- l/le for my married sister, and,—" "Tel trade with you," said Mrs. Banks soberly. "I have the minister; ,and all be needs is a fur coat, a heavy lap robe, a sweater, a pair of—" "I'll stick to Oliver, thank you," in- terrupted Florence hastily, The instant that Mrs, 'Banes .left the house Florence Orton rushed to ,the telephone. A few moments later elle was saying into the transmitter, :r'Jack, can you spare an overcoat or a sweater?" "A.n overcoat?" carne baok over the wire, '1 want an overcoat for the mission - my box," explained Florence. "You have too many clothes • for one young Man, and out en tlua'frrontier there's a boy who needs an overcoat•a.nd sweat ler, Oh, thank you! You 11 have them flown here sure by the twelfth, Thank ,sen!" But as she; bung up the receiver she remembered that Jack Iinghes . was. I orgeLful it night be well to try an- rather, place. So she :telephoned to ;Fred Vincent and explained ence more. Of course I will," said the young (rran cheer•fltliy. 'I've been thinking lof: giving two sweaters away to the �'g`arhage 014n. I wore them at col- lege, and they aro good, blit I leve no Wes for thein now." it With the aid of the telephone Floe - plea solicited all of the person t on her list, and by night she had a neatly written memorandum of articles and of sums of money promised for Oliver, "I'm sorry I made such a fuss," she said penitently as she looked over her paper. "It was easier than I expected, and, Oliver will be nicely fitted out. I'll use the money to buy pretty ties, handkerchiefs, books, school supplies and gloves—no. I won't do that. I'll ask some of the ether hogs for those things and send him the money." Oliver's clothes soon came to be a joke among Florence's friends, for every young man was personally solic- ited time and again for some contra bunion. The more Florence worked the more interested she became. In glowing terms ebe pictured the boy's struggles to get an education, and so often did she repeat the tale that it grew to be very funny to all her friends, "Florence, I haven't had time to bunt up that overcoat and sweater, but I will," said Jack Hughes when he met her on the street one snowy day. "If you find a pair of discarded over- shoes bring them too," said Florence hastily, "I'm on my way now to so- licit seine reference books from Tom Gresham. Do you know, I'm getting a little bit worried about the clothes that have been promised. This is the Itentb, and nobody has sent anything." "You can depend on me," said Jack, "I hope so," replied Florence, There's Bruce Corbin; I'll see if he cant' spare some neotaes for Oliver." As she sped down the street in great baste after the other young man Jack laughed softly to himself. On the morning of the eleventh Florence was awakened before day- light to tell a man at the door what to do with a large box that he had been paid to deliver at the Orton house. "There must be some mistake," said Florence sleepily. "I have orders to bring it hers. I'll dump 1t on the porch. It says: 'Miss Florence Orton' as plain as anything. Florence was back in bed again when the maid came softly to say that another box had arrived. Her little niece, Pauline, began to tease to see what was in the boxes, and Florence, now thoroughly awake, dressed in a hurry and ran downstairs. On the front porch she found the second huge box. She went back to dress Pauline, but before she had finished the maid came to the room again and exclaimed "A third box! I wonder what's hap- pened, bliss Florence." "I don't know; but as soon as Pete oomea to attend to the furnace have him pry off a Cover.e W must see what is the matter." Pete obligingly pried off some boards, and Florence drew out neatly wrapped parcel. At that moment three more boxes arrived, "Sweaters!" said, Florence as she ran to the sitting room to examine the parcel, "From Jack Hughes." By nine o'clock, afterseveral more boxes had come, Florence discovered that the young men had played a joke on her; but she was far from resent- ful, She was to busy telephoning here and there to think of being angry. Two dozen girls receivedhurried calls to report at the Orton house at once. The busy maid served no luncheon that day,' Pauline was sent to the home of a .neighbor, and Pete tried to run three ways at once in doing what the girls told him to. do, "Hello! . What's this? said Jack Hughes that afternoon as he and John Temple were on their way to call at the Orton borne, A grinning small boy on the street corner had thrust a handbill at him, " 'Great, Sale of Clothtug Good as new,' Jack read- " 'Sweaters Once Worn by the Famous Football Star, Jack Hughes!' What do you think of that, John? Florence has turned the joke on us sure enough. Temple heldanother hill In his hand and was staring at the three inch let tars: "Articiee` Generously Donated, by our Celebrated Fellow Townsmen! Bale Now Going On in the Brown Block! Neckties, Slane, Gloves,: Over- coats, Sweaters and Articles too Num. General Sir George Higginson (seated) age 99 Years and the oldest gen- eral in the British army, chatting outside Westminster Abbey at the instal- lation ceremony of the Order of the Bath. erons to Mention. Come! Come! Come! Come!" "GW'o'll have to be game," said Jack, "They've evidently hired that empty store on Rain Street, The two young men quickened their pace and soon reacbsd the Brown Block, There they found a good-na- tured, laughing crowd of mon, women and children fingering geode and tail: ing and buying. "Those girls must have worked like beavers!" said Jack as be elbowed his way to the sweater department, "I thought we had begged, borrowed and dug up enough old duds to swamp a second-hand store, but they have sys- tem and order here. I can't resist the temptation to buy something. Madam, what do you ask for that beautifril all -wool sweater?" he asked as one of the girls came to wait on him. "You may have it for two dollars," said the young lady. "It was once worn by the celebrated--" "Yes, that's the reason 1 want it," interrupted Jack, getting out the money, "And I'll take this one," said John Temple. "I see it has been worn by the famous I,Ir. Temple; so I must have it before some one else comes this way. Bruce! Bruce! Here's the thing you've been looking for!" he added, turning to a red-faced man who had just come M. "Here's a bargain! A sweater almost new marked sixty- nine cents and once the property of the distinguished Mr, Corbin." "ell take it," said Bruce Corbin, pro- ducing a dollar. ""ever mind the change." Finally the crowd thhrned a little, and the tired, hungry, excited clerks had a chance to get their. breath. "This afternoon we took in ane hun- dred and nicety -one dollars and eleven cents," said Florence when she had counted the cash on hand, "And look at the stock we have left!" The great sale of clothing lasted three days and more, and in the end everything was converted into money. When the box reached the poverty stricken home ou the frontier, all the fancily gathered round to unpack ft, "Nothing at all for Oliver except that envelope!" said tittle Amy in a disappointed tone, "No overcoat! No sweater! That's a mean shame, Oliver was gazing wide-eyed at a strip of paper that he bald in tremb- ling hands, "Yes, there Is something, baby," he said. "Here's a cheque for enough money for overcoat, sweater and everything, and with the work that I'm going to do there'& enough to see me through several years of col- lege!"—Youth's Companion. Along g t o ile Norfolk and d Suffolk coasts thirty acres of England dis- appear annually as a result of sea erosion. Fortune turns her back on the man who turns back. Enmity to Britain of Long Standing. The enmity of Emperor William II. to England is shown anew in German Foreign Office document's, Volume XIII. of which is about bo be publish- ed here. In 1897 he discussed with Chancel- lor von Hoheniohe and other German statesmen the formation of a Conti- nental European League against Eng- land, but they dissuaded him from his purpose, When the Anglo -German Comrner- cial Treaty was denounced by Eng- land 01 the summer of 1897, William saw in her action the beginning of what he called a "war to the knife" against Germany, and declared that England alined at the annihiliation of German industry, and would attain her purpose unless Germany built a big navy. He also used other happenings la the same year t0 impress upon Ger- man statesmen the necessity 'of Ger- many increasing her navy. Documents contain numerous mar- ginal notes in Wiliiani's handwriting. The final publication will be of documents dealing with the outbreak of the World War in 1914, Still Too Red, "I see your radical friend is less red than he was." "Yes; but hasn't yet attained that pink of perfection we'd like to see," It Sounds Reasonable. "Mother, wasn't that a tunny dream I had last night?" said a little boy Who was busily engaged with his breakfast cereal, "Why, I'm sure I don't know!" re- plied his mother, "I haven't the slight- est idea what your dream was about." "Why mother, of course you know!" said the boy reproachfully. "You were In 11." —g Unexplored Part of U.S. One of the largest unexplored areas in the United States lies in a triengu. Jar space between the Colorado aud the San Juan rivers, in southeastern Utah. Here an area, as large as some of the smaller eastern states still ,re- mains practically unknown to white men. The misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come, ray 441 `(Ut DONT khJ•Ov" -((SIS ONkmeaSE viten OF INDEPENDENCE Si GNe.i) eee a. til. --•.4., FICA GT THEIR WA's TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD Will Captaii Geoffrey Bruce aind, His Band- of British 'Ex- plorers `Mille Good Their'Challenge to Mother Nature in Their Present Effort to Attain Lofty Peak of . Mount . 'Everest? "Just you wait, old thing; we'll get you yet!" That threat was made by young Captain Geoffrey Bruce, of the Sixth Gurkha Rifles, two years ago when standing et the world's .record moun- toinaering altitude -27,235 feet above to sea level, on the slopes of Mount Everest, the world's. bigbest ,mountain. There is a possibility that be will be unable, to make good his promise, for he has been 14 with malaria and may not be euMcfently recovered to ac- oompauy the party on the 1924expedi-_ tion, The challenge to Nature was'utter- ed as the captain glared back at the virgin' summit of the "Roof of the World" and shook his :flat at it. He" had been forced to give up the unequal struggle against the icy blasts blow- ing at a hundred miles an hour across the Himalayas. Present Expedition le the Third. There have been already two ex- peditions to Mount Everest—one in the form of a reconnaissance ltt 1921, the other a serious effort in 1922. But though the 1922 expedition 'broke all high -climbing records, yet its members failed to reach the actual summit of the great mountain by fewer than 1800 feet, It is believed by those best able bo judge that.the 1924 expedition will achieve macess. They will be aided by the past experiences and the valuable knowledge then gained re- garding the best method of surmount- ing urmounting the terrific obstacles confronting them. And among those now trailing across Tibet are six of the members of the two former expeditions, Whether or not the 1924 attempt will succeed depends chiefly ou incal- culable factors of wind and weather; but nothing _that experience can dic- tate or that supreme courage can ac- complish will be left undone by Cap- tain Bruce's nieii next month. Those who saw the remarkable pic- tures taken by Captain Noel with his Cinematograph machine on the slopes of the mountain In 1922 will have real- ized something of the heroic endeav- ors of these mountaineers in lighting the forces of nature against almost superhuman odds. Those daring men who participated in this great adven- ture in high altitudes are truly the lineal desoendaats in Adventure's family tree of Drake and Frobiser, of Stanley and Livingstone, and the coun- terparts of Peary and Scott, Two years ago the high climbers succeeded in proving three well -ac- cepted theories of scientists and doe tors to be wrong. The first fact 1 proved was that It Is possible feel human beings to live at very high alta-, Ludes without the aid of .oxygen gas, even at a height of 27,000 feet, and yet not suffer any ill effects as a con -1 sequence; -secondly, that cigarette - smelting adds greatly to the comfort! and breathing of the mountaineers at high altitudes, and thirdly, that aim - holm stimulant is helpful at high alta. Ludes when climbers, are exhausted, Canadian's Endurance, Dr, Wakefield, the Canadian mem, ter of the 1922 expedition, lived at the high altitude of the third Camp (the advance base) with a number of the Sherpa porters for weeks on end with. out going down to lower levels for a change and rest. And some 01 the climbers — Leigh -Mallory, Norton, Somervell and Morshead --reached fif- teen feet below 27,000' test without ;the aid of the oxygen apparatus. And none of them suffered afterward from heart strain, Those who went up to camps at alti- tudes of 25,000 and 20,500 feet admit that the act of breathing was difficult; but it was not painful. The second climbing party—Finch and Bruce— used the oxygen gas in order to reach 27,235 feet, but their experience seem- ly proved that oxygen made the labor of climbing easier, At the very high- eetoanip oxygen was used to belp the climbers to sleep properly so that they could be tit next day for their strenu- ous efforts to roach the summit of the Mountain at 29,002 feet. Captain George Finch, who hse charge of the oxygen apparatus in 1922—and does not accompany the Pre- sent expedition -gave urea some in- teresting sidelights on the wardrobe of mountaineers. He said that he al- ways wore four complete suits of un- der•clothing; and, on top of all his other items of clothing,' he wore an elaborately quilted coat es an added protection against the cold. ' He says that woolen garments are not so good Against the icy winds as silk, or loath, er ones, and it was for this reason that the Gurkha, Tejbir Bura, failed to keep up with Bruce and himself when they reached the record height of 27,235 feet. As a rule he first put on a suit of silk underclothes, then one of light wool, next one of medium -weight wool, then a fourth of thick wool, next a fifth suit of the very thickest sub- etanoe he could discover -and then he really began to dress in earnest! In the attempt of 1922 the whole, climbing party was snatched by an avalanche of snow from the mountain- side and swept down tor hundreds of feet toward the cliff of a glacier; and seven of the cheerfuland courageous porters with the party were swept t0 instant death over its brink." The others saved themselves by swim- ming the breast stroke in the snow, and only came to a halt on the very edge of the five-nundred-foot drop over the glacier's perpgndlcular reds, Captain Noel, the official photo- grapher of the 1922 expedition, took his motion -picture camera higher than any one had carried one before; and he spent fournights and live days at an altitude of more than four miles above the sea level in order to record the assault on the summit. His pic- tures show the huge glaciers of ice, the vast snow -fields, the awe-llama/lag storms that rage around time remote regions, and the range upco range of icy pinnacles, many of which stand a thousand Peet In height. Taken at re- cord heights, the pictures were then developed --sone in a tent on' the talopes of the Rongbuk Glacier and some in the aid Tibetan fort at. Gyantse, Will Follow 1922 Route. The present expedition will follow the same route as in 1922. They will climb and establish their high camps up the East Rongbuk Glacier, There is the key to the position. At this point they will be level with the high- est mountain in any other country in the world; but they will still have an- other 6000 feet to -climb in order to gain the summit of Mount Everest, Two years ago the Indo of the weather—more than anything else— was, against the success of the expsdi- Lion. The weather tactor is a most important one. It is hoped this year that the monsoon will not break a week earlier than its custom, as it did in 1922, for it covers the steep rook sigh of the mountain with new snow and makes the dangers of the ice -Clad ascent infinitely more difficult to over- come. With better weather condltione this year, it will be possible for the climbers and their native porter.% to carry their high camps to altitudes which will make the final dash shorter and, therefore, easier at one effort. If they can place two more camps at elevations of 27,500 and 28,000 feet, the remaining thousand feet will not be so difficult to accomplish. To Aid Lagga, _ . ndustries. What amounte to a seoon;} "oaures- dayBook" is being prepared ed at o ill, new County Hall at Westminster, the work of the Rural Intelligence Bureau, which aims: at the regeneration of the lite of the countryside, says a London despatch. The bureau started work In 1921 and now has amassed a heap of infor- mation about rural industries, mar kete and the obsolete methods in use In many country places and the best occupations far' individual workers to take up. Tito bureau is trying to en- courage the adaptation of up-to-date methods in the country, methods uuore. suited to modern needs. For instance, although .the motor trade far over- slradowe horse traffic and the lattor's needs, few-oountry garages have in• terested themselves ,h1 the repair and maintenance of agrlculta cal machine- ry. To take one county alone, Oxford- shire, fifteen to twenty years- ago there was plenty of work for three or four b1•acicsmiths; new one is sufficient. Where three saddlers formerly i'otrnd employment one nowadays finds - It. difficult to get enough wont, ;The rural blacksmith' upsd to, wait for work to come to him, but to -day he cannot af- ford to do this, and the bureau is' try. ing to help him find other occupations: 'Last year Mere than a million dol - tars' worth of feathers were imported into this country, to be -ailed for til1- ing hed5 end 'cushions and for lnfllin-, cry, and yet the bureau found country poulbry keepers throwing feathers away. .Dive industry which the; bureau already 'lute started in the •country is the naking of s tri W Tope9 and enve- lopes lopes for shielding bottles and polish- ed work in transit, an industry which 11;werly was practically.unknown to the '1,115,,11*, countryside The bureau bopes that•`teeeld country occupations fade away under`nr3 ern conditions It will be able to suggest'nsw occupa-. tions• to the meal workers. a. • .1 ' Only a Rest Left, "Rockabilt, the great multimillion- aire, is going to take a rest. "Can't help hfinself, I guess --it's the only thing left he hasn't 'already taken." Honesty is best whether it is policy The wrist watch is usually consider- ed a modern -development of the watch and clock industry, but Queen -Eliza- beth wore the first ono about the same time she introduced silk stockings. The Oldest Superstition` in the Word. - We all feel very wile nowadayA about the moon, and smile indulgently, ' as we relate takes, of its lonely old Male Inhabitant to the young. O'nr ;wtledgni, 'based as it is upon maps andi,,Pkotographs and scientific theories, is, however, of very recent origin. .The moon for generations. was the greatest' mystery of mankintle- greater even than the sun. When Galileo, in 1609, first turned his tele- scope upon the moon, he created throughout Europe a much greater sensation than did Columbus when he discovered America. Till then the scientific men had be- lieved . in Aristotle's theory, that the moon is a perfectly smooth and round body, its markings being bhe eon- tinents of the world, reflected, as fa' a mirror. Everyone else explained away the mysterious' marks with myths. There is nothing more remarkable in history than the strange resemblances which exist between the explanations given by different races. Eternal Isolation. Almost ail of them interpreted the marks as being a man carrying a' bundle of wood. Furthermore, they all seemed to regard him as one xrho, on account of a crime, was condemned to eternal isolation on the moon. He was, indeed, a horrible example to young and old alike, In European countries the story gen- erally had a so'eailed Biblical' signi- ficance. In England, it was Moses who. found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and expelled him to the moon. The reference sesme to he to a passage in the fifteenth chapter of Numbers, but the resemblaaoe is only slight. A Peasant's Punishment. In France, the man in the moon ie none other than Judas Iscariot, and the wood a load which lee must always carry are a punishment. The earliest English record appears in the writings of a St. Albans monk, It is a slight variation of the usual tlrame:— A rustic in the moon, Whose burden weighs him down, This changeless truth reveals, He profits not who steals. The German version dealt with a peasant who was reprimanded by an angel for gathering faggots on a Sun. day. He replied, "Sunday on earth, or Monday in heaven, it is all the sante to me." For this, he was sent to an eternal moon -day in heaven, Origin of Jack and JIII. A uniqueversion is the Scandinav- ian. It attracted the attention of the late Rey, Baring -Gould, who traced It to Its. origin: In Norway, not only was there a man in the moon, but some other of the marks were deciphered as a woman. Their names were re- epeetively Hjuki (pronounced Suitt) and Bil. The myth is that first Hjuki disap. peered, or fell, and then Bill. When the moon was In this ,phase, there was supposed to be much rain. Iu our nursery rhyme, Multi becomes Jack, Bill becomes, Jill, and the rain 10 noth- ing more than the upsetting of a pail of water. In certain raoes the man In the moon, far from being a criminal, 10 a being who, on account o8 great wis- dom, was transferred to the moon, from which he could see all. To the Chinese hs is Yue -Lao, who arranges all marriages. The medicihe men of ,the old Red Indian tribes re- ceived their power by departing into the middle of a lake and holding con- sultation with the man in the moon, Town and Country. "Sally says there are no fairies, Sally laves in town, Bally s a , My haface as browhitewn;face People in the town are clever, Country talks are slow, Seely: don't_ believe in fairies— Townspeople airies— Town p eo le know. s w p p "Sally says if flowers were growing Where the Children play, Harebells on the hilleicle, Red poppies gat. Daisies white in greenest meadows. Buttercups of gold,. They'd be tied in penny, bunches And quickly sold. "Sally"capa,�y�s'-there are no linnets Single- u the tree Cages are for.song-birds, Not liberty; `\•,, All a pack o' country i3Ontiense Skylarks on the wing-_ Sally says we have n0 music, `�„ TOwrr-birds can sing. "Sally says the wind dont w-hiep01 Stories of delight.: Wonder -tales of old-time, Goblin ant. sprite: Never hint of wreck and iceberg Comes on winter gust Sally says the wind Just freezes Or chokes with dust, "Sally don't believe in, fairies, Sally lives in town, Sally as a white face, My face Is brown; People: in the town.are clever, Country folk are slow, Ah, but Sally, let, are teach you The things I know." •-Westminster Gazette. The rich of to -clay were the Poor og yesterday. Career ups •