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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1925-09-24, Page 3.41 For the Boys an Girls NUMBER TEN BY EI,SIE LEIGH WHITTLESEY. In a little, old, brown house by the roadside, with a.speck of a garden in the reer, and a row of half-dead pop, lars in front, George. Durrell was born There were already Mae girls and five boys in the small frame house when George came, a dark -eyed, tawny -haired baby, whom no one was particularly glad to. see, save, per- haps, his mother, for there were so many Durall children that it did seem to a superficial observer as if Num- ber Ten couldWell have been dispens- ed with altogether. But George came, and grew plump and rosy as other babies, born under more favorable circumstances; and his mother—a care -worn, worried - looking woman, whose face always wore an anxious, asking expressiop, as if her mind was in a constant state of doubt as to where the next meal Was to come froin—if she secretly regretted his arrival, she only did so' because bread and clothes for so many little ones were hard to get, and she knew the read must needs be rough and toilsome wherein the little tender feet would be called to walk. The whole ten, hoWever, managed, to live after the ordinary manner of poor folkschildren, working around among the neighboring farmers as soon as they were old enough to be of any use, going to school at odd times, when they had , nothing else to do, picking up here.and there such' stray bits of useful knowledge as chanced to fall in their way, and making the most of what they learned, no matter how obtained or how applied. The two eldest, who were girls, married young, and went West with their husbands, poor, bard -working men, but nevertheless men who had a good deal of the money -making spirit in their natures; so the girls did very well, all things considered— so well, in fact, eithat they never thought it worth their while to come home again. Then came three boys—Asa, who was ambitious at one time to be a lawyer, but thought better of it, and became a machinist; Will, who struck for Colorado while yet a mere lad, and proved so indifferent a corres- pondent that his family seldom heard from him; Sam, who joined a travel- ing circus company that happened to visit the town near which he lived, and in the course of a few years had the pleasure of seeing himself billed as the greatest bare -back rider in the world. George at this time was a serious - eyed boy of seven or eight years, who ran barefoot from March to Novem- ber, and was not esteemed of much account by his brothers and sisters. But he was his mother's darling, and when the twilight began to shafts' the poplers, and the old house grew still after the hurry and clatter of the day, she would take him on her knee, part the clustering curls from his forehead, and hush him to sleep in her arms, just as she used to do When he was a baby. •Her hair was now. quite white, her figure stooped, and time and care had left their furrowed impress on cheek and brow, but her lips „liad not for- gotten their cradle -song, nor her hand its gentle, caressing mother -touch. True, it was imperative, their par- ents and new interests and new affec- tions had taken possession of their hearts. Somehow those five children who had left her had done so seemingly with very little regret, and had not thought -much of either the old home or the old =ether, when once away from them, being so poor, that the children should early learn to do for themselves, but the mother could not help sighing a little when she thought of it; for were not John and Harry about to follow the example of their elder brothers, and were they likely to be less forgetful than the, children who had so gladly turned their backs on the old, brown house, and never Mired to enter -its low, dingy doorway 'again? Time Went on. One by one the sons and daughters left the old, weather- beaten house, till George alone re- mained beneath the homely, moss - grown roof, that had sheltered se many young eyes open to the light. His father died, and was buried in a weedy corner of the village ceme- tery, the summer preceding George's twentieth birthday; but old Mr.. Dur- rell had not lain long in this quiet cornerbefore the weeds disappeared, a neat stone was put up, a rose -bush or two planted, and the grave nicely sodded. George did it ell, and to quietly that the stone was up and the roses blooming before anybody knew much aboixt it. People were wont to speak of him- as being "the best and bright- est of the Durrall boys ;" and so on, chancing to find him alone one after- noon, not far from the poplars, I said: "How is it, George, that you plod e on here, when you might be doing so much better somewhere else?" "I'11 show you," he replied, "Come with me." I followed him up the garden -path and around to the back of the house. Beside 'the open window, In a low splint -rocker, sat an old woman, with snow-white hair, pale, wrinkled face, and spare, bent figure. She was mending some worn, faded garment, that looked as if it must soon be consigned to the rag -bag, and was so deeply engaged in her work that she neither saw nor heard us. You see the reason," said George, taking off his straw hat and fanning himself, reflectively. "Ever since I can remember, she has been working for some ono of us, just as you see her now. It was always. toil, save, scrimp and worry, when we were little, and, when we grew up, it was every one for himsele—a maxim which poverty wonderfully intensified—and, in the all -absorbing scramble for bread, the old folks were forgotten. I could do Midi better elsewhere, I have no doubt, but, while my mother's gray head is above the earth, I cannot leave her." I gently laid my hand on his shoul- der. "Noble boy! Nprnber Ten, after all, proves the one child worth the hav- ing." George ran his sun -burned fingers through his tawny hair, and smiled queerly. "Number Ten, I well recollect, was thought to be a Durrall superfluity; but there is room enough hathe world, I think, for us all. I was the last to come, and if I was not very welcome at first, I've been fortunate in being able to live down early prejudices, and win -some small share, at least, of respect and love." "That you have, my brave boy—the respect and affection of everybody. It is proverbial that the last is always the best, and sure success awaits the son who eemembers. and is kind to his mother." — He did not reply, but, when we part- ed at the gate, he pressed my hand warmly, and I knew that I was under- stood. George did go West after a while, but he took his mother with him, and, in a few years, he was master of a handsome fortune. All he touched turned to gold, men said—a fact which his brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and nieces and nephews, married and single, were not slow to avail them- selves of. "George had such a knack of get- ting along, it Wasn't at all difficult for him to make money," declared the dear relatives, whoeturned up in such alarmingly large numbers, when George began to grow rich, and have about him the air of a moneyed men. George smiled in his quiet way when he heard their pretty sPesches, for hearnew his "knack" consisted of nothing more puissant than honesty, pereeverance and energy, exercised in the right direction. Bat there is a little white-haired old lady in his home, who explains it all in a very different way. France's tribute to the Second Australian division at Mt, SL Quentin, where the Ausoles suffered their heaviest losses., Trimming Thackeray's Whiskers. In A Nineteenth Century Childhood, her recent volume of reminiacences, Mrs. Desmond MacCarthy, niece of Lady Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter, relates how she once accompanied her beloved "Aunt dimly" to Westminster. Abbey on an errand that was eertain- ly unique. Never before had those solemn and sacred precincts been the scene of a barbering operation, nor is It likely that they ever will again. "For many yeare, wheu ever she went to the Abbey, Lady Ritchie had deplored the length of whiskers on each Mee of the face of her father's bust. The Italian sculptor, Marodhetti, made them too long, and they spoiled the likeness for her. She longed to have them clipped, and so at last she begged Onslow Ford, the sculptor, and the Dean of Westminster, to let her have her wish. Rather reluctantly they consented, and one morning thes two ladies, 'Aunt Anny' a trifle ner- vous about the 'odd little errand,' and her young niece awed and excited, drove to the Abbey, where they found the Dean ready for them. He ton - ducted them down into the crypt, where they found Mr, Ford, his as- sistant, and the buil` of Thackeray that had been moved there from the Poets' Corner. "Chip, chip, chip, fly the bits under the white -bloused assistant's chisel. Mr, Ford stands by, very cross, for he does not like undoing another sculp- tor's work, and If the daughter of Thackeray had not happened to be such a charming old lady it is prob- able she would not have bad her way. She laughs; admits that there is something absurd about the commis- Mon, but is firm that it shall be car- ried out; so she talks to him without paying any attention to his crossness and makes him at lest smile as he superintends. the work. Finally the bust is flicked over with a cloth, as after a shave, and it is carried up into the nave and back into its own niche, and the' silence and dignity of the Abbey receive it again. We all slue vey the bust in silence and then dis- perse. "Aunt Anny Is a little emotional as she gets into the victoria, smiling at her tears, then. weeping again as she smiles;—she is triumphant, for it has been a great relief to her mind," • She --"Money talks with me." He—"It never even notices me," , --- Militaristic Old Lady. The pretty nursemaid asked 11 she could have the day off to see her aunt. "Oh, please let her, mummy," put little Peggy, "her aunt's just been made a sergeant." LIFE WHEN EARTH WAS YOUNG A study of the universe and of the rocks forming the crust of the earth shows that -conditions were -such many millions of years ago that no life could have existed on this planet It, is therefore evident that living things at some time in the past must either have been developed Moat lifeless ma- terial or reached the earth from some other heavenly body. Scientists find no evidence in favor of the latter theory, and we are there- fore forced to believe that at some period after the surface of the earth became cold, spontaneous generation occurred, i.e” a particle of Melees earth was tran.sforined into a living thing. The conception of the ancients as web as some of the more modern philosophers In regard to the origin of animals is entirely erroneoga Aria - tole bold that some animals spring from putrid matter, that certain in- sects develop from dew, that .worms originate in the mud of wells, that fleas arse from very small portions of corrupted matter, and bugs proceed from the moisture on animal bodies, and lice Mem the flesh of other crea- tures. Van Helmont, of the sixteenth cen- tury, gives detailed directions for creating mice out of wheat and stag- nant water. The Maenad Alexander Ross, about the year 1700, declares there is no doubt that worms are gene- rated from cheese and that butterflies, locusts, grasshoppers, snails, eele and such like originate from putrid mat- ter. Before the daye of the compound microscope and careful scientifie re- eearch, spontaneous generation was thought to be going on -continually, but by numerous oarefully conducted ex- periments of Spallanzant, Schultze, Scliwann, and Pasteur it Was demon- strated about 1850 tba.t spontaneous generation does not occur under pre- sent conditions in this world. All ani- mals originate from their parents by means of fiesdon, spore formation, buds ding, or eggs. SIVIIVI--AND RE WELL By . David Edlington; the Champion Swimmer. ,. Of all athletic exercises:, I consider swimmer emerges from a two. or four swimming the ggeatest of them all. It differs from other exercises and sports in se tar that it is not only au exer- cise, but an art. Most medical men are agreed (pro- viding that no unusual weakness exists In the individual which melees swimming risky) that no exercise is better or more calculated to develop the body uniformly and well. In ad- dition to this, it is exhilarating, cleata ly, and healthy. Swimming is a plea- sant pastime; it is anexercise which develops the body symmetrically and thoroughly; spmetinies it is the means of protecting and saving life. As a pastime it has few equals. The plea- sures of bathing—whether outdoors in summer or Meteors in winter ---can be fully appreciated only by good swim - MGM Real Health. Of the value of swimming Morn a hygenic stanapoint, very little need be said. Its very cleanliness ensure health; Mor cleanliness Is the bedrock of good health, just as uncleanliness le the principal cause of disease. Swimming as a means of developing the body has Isa' equals, There are very few exercises that develop the body as symmetrically as will swim. - ming And by symmetrically I mean proportionately and from head to foot, with no muscle developed at the ex- pense of another. I have heard it said that a swimmer has no muscles at all. That may be true, if you look at it only from one point of view. When you look at the average good swimmer, you do not Sea the abnormal, hard, knotty muscles that you see on the weightlifter or wrestler. But he is possessed of the only pliant, loose, and supple muscles that will benefit an athlete, that never tire or become muscle-bound. It improves the wind, and has the great advantage of strengthening the muscles without hastening them. A wee s per o g, g the pink of eondition, and with the exhilaratiug feeling that makes life worth Hying. There are a nertain nunther of ath letic thalams who forbid men swim- ming in the water during training. They are either Ignorant or cannot trust the athletesthey are trebling. No one can convince me that a daily swim of three or four minutes is not beneficial to an athlete, or that it doesn't tend to increase .his vital energy. I can quote in support of my contention such well-known .athletes as Heckeaschmidt, the Qhampion wrestler, and Tommy Burns, the champion boxer. In their training for their different matches, they always included a short, sharp swim every day- as a means 01 hx'aelxxg tliemselyee up and keepingthernselves supple and ti Swimming is not only a splendid aport for women, It it the one sport with the poestble exception of danc- ing, In which she can fully compete with men. Swimming is a -great beau - =en It combines the benefit of a splendid exercise with the invigorat- ing Mute of a plunge batk. To swim successfully one must have control of the =metes. Musculer control gives poise, and poise is essential to beauty, grace, dignity, and confidence. It Is undoubted that every man and woman owes it to themselves to be able to ewim. In recent yeare there has been en enormous increase in the number of children who are taught to swim, mostly these, attending ellementarY s.chools. At the same time, a belief seems, to be prevalent among parents that children should not be taught to swim until they are over ten years old, and that to teach them younger Is injurious to their health. Where the idea could have originated I do not know; it is absolute nonsenee. 11 TOURIST TRAVEL IN NATIONAL PARKS 7 Never before In their history have the Canadian National Parks in the Rocky mountains had such an influx of visitors, both by rail and by auto- mobile, as this present season. The world is now "on wheels" and the fore- sight of the Parks' authorities in open- ing up motor reads through the parks to connect with the great lines of motor travel, both in Canad18 and from the United States, has resulted in an immense increase M the number of automobile' touring parties entering the parks. Last year the number was twice that of 1923 and this year, from the returns already in, it is certain that the 1924 figures will be greatly exceed- ed. aVhat this menus will be seen when it is stated that last season there passed, both ways, through Kananas- kis Gate, the ()astern entrance to Rocky •Mountains park, 15,448 ears carrying 61,222 passengers. Large as these figures are, they will be much exceeded this year since they have been practically equalled by tbe totals to the end of July, 1925. The figures for the western entrauce and for tbe Banff -Windermere highway shows a proportionate advance. The various motor camps in the different parks are recording a greater number of parties than ever before. At Mount Rundle camp, in Rocky Mountains park, the number of camping parties up to 21st. July was 1,950 as compared with 1,280 for the same period In .1924. On one day this year there Were 458 parties totalling 2,081 persons under canvas in this camp. The number of visitors arriving by rail shows a gratifying g-rowth, and this, combined with the Increase of visitors by motor car, is reflected in the increased demand upon hotel space and in the greater use of peek facili- ties. At Jasper Park, where the hotel accommodation was recently doubled, the Lodge has been taxed to capacity many times this season. The year 1924 was the record one for the number of bathers at the Upper Hot Springs and the Cave and 13asin. In Rocky Mountains park but at the middle of July this year the number had gone over 20,000, which was sev- eral thousand In advance of the same ----------- period in 1924. The largest single day this season saw 1,078 bathers at the different pools, which was nearly fifty per cent. more than tbe record day of last year. I Similarly the eighteen -hole golf course at Banff has been in almost con- stant use, while the new course at Jas- per, opened by Field Marshall Earn Haig on his recent visit, Is well patron- ized and is receiving unstinted praise. This state of affairs is encouraging from every standpoint. It shows that thousands of Canadians by "seeing Canada first" are keeping money circu- lating at borne; It.indicates that other thousands aro coming from abroad to visit our great playgrounds and view our unsurpassed scenery, and are thus adding to our national income by the "purchase" of the only exportable com- modity which never diminishes:. and, above all, it Is a barometer which in- dicates the approach of better Gales for Canada and for the world. Two Opinions. 'You regret That memory Is a tiny cup So zoon over -brimming. Ah, Tung Lung, Would that the tiny cup Were deeply cracked, Retaining nothing! —Paul Eldridge. The Effective Coat of Tan. Mother—"I suppose thit handsome lady-killer we suet at the beach relies a good deal on his many fine clothes?" Daughter—"No—depends almost en- tirely on his simple coat of tan." Parisians Go Collarless. Forty Parisian men have sworn to wear no collars for six months, in the hope of introducing tt new fashion. Be- fore you laugh at them, consider the size of your laundry bills. .eaq RECLAR FELLERS—By Gene Byrnes. wHeixeYouR UL' BROTHER "PINREAtil, HOME • SPUTA A COLD lel THE HEAD' THATS WHAT HE CeETS FOR • Grate' wrrtiotyr A coA-rt YOU DO _ esT A cod) Ibi -rvk HEAD THAT WW1 (0t.) &ET GeTTinV •louca FEET wsT! S -2I eaaES' Ata' Tor:: p,1 Ss? ;;;;At c4A-ti akoT:14;:, The Value of Being Tali. o THEte CANT &ea' A COLD ON AccOuNT OF WHEN. I &ET aes( FEET SOT VI TA14S9 TOO LANS 'to CST UP TO MY 40a.. HVADI ht, 1925, 11,, Ti, 13,5 S rtdicate. see SliARPEST BLADES ' NEVER CUT No. No. matter how sharp a ,blade may be It never actually cuts anything. When, for inetance, a blade passes through a loaf of bread it parts the bread, but it does not cut or destroy the pellicles which make up the loaf. All the blade does is to separate the atoms, to push the tiny things aside end pass on to the next. . An atom is such a wee thing that it cannot bo distinctly seen even theough the strongest mieroscope. The only way to see an atom is to look at a • masa of atoms under a Estess. because the actual individual atones are too small to be seen, The hoed of a pin contains so many minute pieces that it would take an experthour to e down figures to represent the number of atoms,' Atoms cannot be actually cut or destroyed, they are too smell. They are never destreyed. When. you burn a log of wood you apparently destroy it, and so you do, you destroy the log-, but you do not injure the atoms which remain as they were, although separ- ated Into smoke, gases and ashes. The individual atoms are there just as they were before, but they do not cling to each other because— the ileat has tern them more or less apart. Nature of Atoms. Atoms are round and they escape by rolling away from danger. They are like the seeds of' a melon. Press thane and they slip away and save themselves, Atoms are attracted to each other by something of which we • know nothing, although the attractioa is supposed to be electric magnetism. These tinithInge roll to and against each other- and stick together by the billion so that in the end they form one particle, thee a number of these partieles rot' together in tune -and so on and on until they become a large mass, and in the end the billions. et masses form. a loaf of bread. Atoms stick to each other, not be- cause they are "sticky," but becalms each one is a magnet. To see magnetic atouis In action push. a top magnet slowly toward a pinch of steel filings on a piece of glass. Watch them collect. Lok very carefully and emu will see the particles roll ep to the magnet, push each other to one side and cling to the mother ma,gnete Such particles as are unable to crowd between the more for- tunate ones and thee reach the mother magnet do the next best thing, they cling to the fortunate ones. This constant struggling may be seen very easily if the particles of steel aro long and thin like tiny need- , les. The nest one to reach the mother magnet *111 spread bis entire length on her but the newcomers push them • up on end, squeese in between end eventually you will see all the pieces of steel standing on their heads. A loaf of bread is, merely a collec- tion ot round atoms which have mag- netized each other into *larger balls known as cells, The loaf Is therefore nothing but a bunch of round balls. In passing through the bread the blade pushes aside these billions and billions of balls and goes on its way. The sharp blades push the balls melte easier because the sharp edge can get easily between tho spaces made by the balls. Dull blades. do not "out" well because their edges are wide and they have to push aside many times more balls than do the slim blades. When you ST/111.1 through the water you. push aside so many atonia that all the figures ID. the world could not number them. When you stick a shovel into a heap of mustard seeds, you are doing exact- ly what the blade does to the atorus. When Mendelssohn Becama A Journeyman. When Mendelssohn, at the age of 111 - teen, had passed certain examinations and test's which delighted his teacher, Carl Priederich Zelter, the latter felt that he ought to show some :special consideration to the boy for his at- taimments, Therefore, on the fifteenth birthday of the prodigy Zelter de- clared at the boy's birthday party, in the language of the ancient "My dear son, from to -day you are no lenge an apprentice, but a journey- man; I advance you to the dignity of a journeyman In the name of Haydn, 1n the name of Mozart and in the name of the old master, Johann Se bastian Bach." Little did Zelter realize, however, that the boy in lass than three years would produce an overture which is still classed among the greatest in the form—the overture of the "Midsum- mer Night's Dream", That's the Question. Young Robert Rogers had gone out to the Far East when he was quite a lad. He heel made good to some tune, and wixer he iirolerto announce that he was coming home, his parents and friends in the old village resolved to turn out in force to meet him. , In due course the appointed day ar- rived, and, on alighting from the train. Robert found himself thrown into the midst of the waiting villagers. • "Well, my lad," said les cad father, embracing and kissing his son; "how you have grosved!" "Grown, dad—grown!" corrected his careering gently.. "Well, Int blest!" said the old mitn' irritably. "Rum notions you pick up abroad, On this, day of all days, what hays I got to groau for?"