The Seaforth News, 1950-02-16, Page 3Scholarship Pays Off—Say you're a student in a certain school on New York's East ide
and yon got grades of 90 or more, or just 13 -plus or better, Run your report card over to
ice cream dealer Sam Miller and pick up, free, a half pint- of frozen custard. If vour grades
are lower, you get the cold- shoulder. Miller is seen doing a rushing Imeines after posting •
his sign offering ice cream awards for scholar.
Boxers Who Take
0 A All Comers
In Britain from Portsmouth to
Inverness and from Cardiff to Hull,
on every fairground of any size the
caravans pull in and the canvas
theatre is set up, with its boxing -
ring inside. Then, over the blaring
music of the fair, over the shouted
invitations of other showmen, the
age-old challenge to all comers is
repeated again and again.
The boxers are on view, standing
in line on a platform outside the
booth, lending point to the barker's
reiterated phrases: "Any weight
from seven stone to fourteenl Pick
your own man."
The charge for admission is small,
generally a shilling, but even then
it is difficult to get the fairgoers
inside until they have seen a con-
testant come forward.
However, the delay is seldom a
long one nowadays. Young men
who have boxed in the Forces are
always eager to "have a go." Be-
tides, every town and village has its
favourite local boxer, who can gen-.
_ (oraily be relied on to acceept the
challenge. As soon as a fight has
been arranged the paybox becomes
busy and the shillings flow in.
Seats are seldom provided, and
the grass of the fairground field is
the theatre's floor. In the centre the
boxing -ring is roped off, and the
crowd stands around it, With many
ceremonial phrases the contestants
are introduced, and the bell rings.
Long experience and continual
practice give the booth boxer an
initial advantage. Also, he knows
and has to know, every trick of the
fighting trade. True,' Ise may face a
top -rank amateur in need of a little
practice—and that night's pay will
be hard-earned. But generally he is
on his feet at the end. For if the
booth boxer loses too many fights,
"'You can put a lock on the Ice
box, Mother, eF*-r we're married,"
or is often knocked out, be ceases
to be a broth boxer,
It is a hard life by any standard.
Yet men stay. in it and like it. Joe
Beckett, later in the championship
class, was a booth boxer for years.
Jack Locicyer took on all comers at
fairs until he was long past fifty,
Red Pullen, a welterweight, has
boxed with a Wood's saloon for
twenty years, and is still going
strong.
They say that habit becomes sec-
ondnature, and that may be the
secret, Certainly my own first booth
encounter was with a grizzled, fat-
tish man nearly twice my age,
writes Jim Phelan in "Answers."
His midriff region looked so soft
that it seemed a shame to take the
five pounds. When he concentrated
on covering that soft spot, leaving
his jaw unprotected, 1 pitied the
poor, fat, old man. But I smote that
uncovered jaw nevertheless.
Nothing happened, and I smashed
at the wideopen point again. He
still hung back, covering his vulner-
able mid-region, and it was plain
that he dared not risk even one
punch on his solar -plexus, Where-
upon I myself risked everything in
one terrific slant at the rock -like
jaw.
Just before the punch landed I
saw a knowing glint in his hard,
small eyes. That time lie did leave
his midriff unprotected. But I didn't
know anything about that until
after i came round.
He knew no better move, that
grizzled man, and it served him well
ip a hundred different fairgrounds,
Night after night that unprotected
jaw lured strong young boxers, as
a I had been lured, into the all -or -
nothing venture that ends with the
monotonous chanting of ". , . seven
—eight—nine—out."
But what kind of courage must
• it take to go on doing that for years
in the fairgrounds up and down the
country?
It is difficult even to guess why
• men stay in such an occupation,
Money is not the answer—the booth
boxers seldom get any large sums,
Nor it is mere love of fightin, either
on the part of the booth boxer or of
the Man who accepts his challenge.
That type would not last long.
There is something deeper, per-
haps resembling the snap -and -slash
play of dogs or foxes, which is
really a training for the bigger
struggles of life, Certainly it needs
a vast reserve of courage to face a
different crowd each night with the
offer to take on all comers.
To take on all comers—it is not
a bad slogan, for a man or a nation,
Closet Held A. Fortune—Millionaire llotinv)' manufacturer Stan
tort Sanson and his wife, Maxine, look into the hall closet of
then' New York apartment from which thieves emptied eleven
jewel cases while both were ottt, 1VIrs, Sarson, an ex -model, said
it was a million -dollar haul, but police scaled the figura down to
1200,000.
Do T , eii- Dancing
la ` )- zr Knees
(uuliuiitrc, a- former Foreign Le-
gion outpost on the southernmost
fringe of Morocco, is the only place
In the t,orld where the ghedra is
being danced, And the ghedra is
probably the only dance in exist-
ence during which the dancer re -
Mains on her knees, without moving
legs or feet,
1 was recently staying at Gouli-
mine as guest of the French Com-
manding Officer, and on my second
night my host arranged the ghedra,
the dance that I had travelled hun-
dreds of utiles to see, writes Rou
Landau in "London Calling." We
were about a dozen Europeans,
chiefly French officers and their
wives, and after a ceremonial din-
ner at the officers' mess, we moved
into an adjoining reception room to
await the dancers.
It was nearly midnight when they
arrived—tiny, dark women, exquis-
itely dressed in floating, night -blue
robes that covered them from head
to foot. Though by profession they
ranked not so much as dancers as
courtesans, they behaved with the
dignity of duchesses, and moved
with the grace of gazelles.
There were about twenty of theist,
and as soon as they had shaken
hands with us, they let themselves
glide onto the cushions prepared
for them on the ground. Meanwhile,
in front of the dancers a semi -circle
of musicians formed, magnificent -
looking Blue -men, with the eyes of
hawks and the faces of eagles,
Goulimine is the heart of the Blue -
men country, so called because of
the exclusively blue garments worn
by the population. Sometimes, the
blue dye penetrates their skin, and
gives theist a dramatic appearance
unlike that of any people I had
ever seen.
Though there were over a dozen
of these men, only one of them
played an instrument—namely, the
ghedra, a large, earthenware jar
used as a drum. The other men
were to provide the singing, and
especially the hand -clapping which
forms the main accompainment to
most Berber dances.
Each woman dances solo for
about ten minutes, and is then re-
placed by another one. Having re-
moved. her top garments, she now
exposes the traditional silvery jew-
ellery that covers much of her
front, and her complicated hair -
dress of scores of little plaits, in
which tiny jewels and ornaments
have been entwined. Kneeling on
the ground she dances chiefly with
her arms, hands, and fingers in
rapid, jerky, but beautifully sensitive
movements that respond to each
beat of the drum and of the clapping.
Each new sound ushers in a new
movement sod a new pose of the
dancer.
You will naturally wish to know
why the women crouch on the
ground. The ghedra is essentially a
love dance; originally it was danced
by one woman for one particular
man. Since the desert Berbers all
lived—and, to some extent, still do
—in tents that are low and not very
spacious, there was not enough
room for the woman either to stand
tip or to move about freely, and she
was forced to remain kneeling on
the ground.
But because of these limitations,
she put al( her artistry into the
movements of torso and hands, and
I should be surprised if many tent -
dwellers could ever resist those
hypnotic staccatos of head and tor-
so, and the evocative rhymn of
those tiny, supersensitive fingers.
Parted 25 Years
Reunited By Radio
(The author of this real-life story,
Nina Epton, is in charge of B.B.C.
broadcasts to French-speaking Oen-
ada, and here she tells how a
chance encounter on an island in
Quebec Province led to a blitzed
Londoner being reunited by radio
with the family that had brought
bim up many years ago.)
Its radio, as its any other profes-
sion, one can go plodding along at
one's normal routine for weeks and
even months without anything pare
Ocularly exciting to remember until,
suddenly, the unexpected happens
—the "highlight" of au unusual oc-
casion, an extra good "story," an
encounter, perhaps, tlta.t makes you
realize just how worthwhile the
medium of broadcasting can be in
helping to build up friendly inter-
national relations.
That is how 1 atn feeling at the
moment of writing, after having
organized a reunion between friends
who have not seen each other for
25 years--onein Loudon and the
other on the Island of Orleans, in
Quebec Province,
It started while I was 011 a visit
to French-speaking Canada, seeing
some of the people I broadcast to
nearly every evening in our London
cnntrihutiun to the French "Actu-
ality Review."
Unspoiled Part of the Country
Just before we left Quebec for a
tour of the I stand of Orleans,
clown stream 1n the middle of the
wide St, Lawrence,• one of the chief
anuouncer,t slopped us to remind us
"to be sure and call on 1,1. Eudore
Letourneau, in the Village of Ste.
Fanitle,
We called on him at the very last
minute, because there had been so
many other people to see on the
island, which is perhaps one of
the most unspoiled parts of the
country near Quebec. This is still
the romantic part of French Canada
that has retained its old-world
charm. It is only a few years since
Orleans was joined to the mainland
by a steel bridge, and that probably
explains how the inhabitants have
managed to keep up the old,
French-Canadian traditions and
way of life.
i arrived on a bright, crisp,
autumn day, and the maple leaves
were flashing crimson between the
fir and the spruce, almost the same
color as the apples which Madame
Letourneau was carefully polishing
in the barn when we called. Her
husband rushed out to greet us,
very pleased to meet somebody
from Great Britain.
He said English visitors to the
island were rare, very rare—in fact,
the only English person he had
ever seen •an the island was his
protege, a man called William
Pearson, who had come to his farm.
as a boy and had grown up with
his own fancily. He scribbled an
address on a piece of paper: "Wil-
liam Pearson, Reginald Road, Dept-
ford, London." Could I, when I
got back, find out what had become
of him? Pearson had left the island
years ago -25 years ago, to be
precise. They had corresponded
intermittently up to the Second
World War, but, since then, tihere
had been no news from Deptford.
M. Letourneau was most anxious
to know what had become of mon
petit Anglais, as the called the now -
mature William, and one of the
first things I did when I got back
to London was to try to locate hien.
To my delight, after a few inquiries,
I found .him. He had been blitzed,
as I had feared, and had sustained
an injury to his spine which means
that he can do only light work now.
I wrote and asked him to come to
the B.B.C. and discuss the possi-
bility of broadcasting a message to
Eudore Letourneau. I doubted, of
course, whether he would be able
to remember any of his French
after such a long time, but perhaps,
with a little coaching, he could read
a short script.
To hay amazement, I discovered
that William Pearson was perfectly
capable, after a little preliminary
discussion together, of broadcasting
in French an unscripted interview
with me about his memories of the
Island of Orleans, ending up with
e personal message for Eudore and
his family, and he spoke French
still with the accent peculiar to the
island. I had cabled over to Can-
ada before the broadcast so that
Eudore Lcta'nrneau and all bis
friends on the island were advised
beforehand, and they all sat and
listened in, as they wrote after-
wards, "with the tears streaming
down our cheeks."
Since that day, the two of thein
are corresponding regularly again.
Personally, I feel sure that Milani
will manage to see his beloved
island and adopted family again.
With A Volcano
As A Neighbor
Ones again Nature has declared
war.
On December 2nd, as dawn was
breaking, Mount Etna erupted
from new craters, and the people of
Brame found a stream of molten
lava five hundred feet wide and
twenty feet high advancing upon
them at the rate of half -a -toile an
hour, They knew that no power on
earth could stop that advance, and
they did the only possible thing.
At ten o'clock that evening the
town evacuated its 20,000 inhabi-
tants.
Eighty times since matt started
keeping records Etna has caused
death and destruction. The last time
was in I928, when incandescent lava
completely obliterated a railway and
destroyed the towns of Hasratf and
Nunziati.
Living on the slope of It 'volcano
must be like living in a house on a
frontier and knowing that an
evems's entire heavy artillery is
trained on the house. When hos-
tilities break out you will be the
first to he hit.
Why do people live there, know-
ing that at any moment they and
their posvresions might he destroy-
ed'
1)ne good reason is that the sides
of volcanoes are often the most fer-
tile areas in the district. The slopes
of Mount Eula, for instance, are so
fertile that as many as five crops
are raised every year.
There are between three and four
It's Cocoa Time Belted and
bloused, this pure silk shantung
afternoon dress, done in warm
cocoa with white embroidery,
is shown in the French design-
er's salon. The full skirt is
topped by a belted blouse fea-
turing the dropped shoulder
line and full, long sleeve.
hundred active volcanoes itt the
world and the slopes of most of
them are inhabited. In some cases
the people know front past exper-
ience that they will receive good
warning before an eruption, but in
others they ntay have less than an
hour to clear out with whatever vale
uables they can take with them.
Vesuvius is one of the most un-
predictable, In A.D. 79 it erupted so
quickly and so fiercely that three
towns Pompeii, Herculaneum, and
Stabiae—were completely destroyed
Pliny, commander of the Roman
fleet, sailed at once to Ilerculatteutn
to try to rescue survivors, but
found the harbour completely chole'
ed by ash and lava. He sailed on to
Stabiae, only to find the population
dead, suffocated by fumes,
So well did Vesuvius do its work
that alt three towns were effectively
buried in lave and ash. Inurninte
dred years later- their very sites
were forgotten and the stories of
the eruption were treated as a le-
gend They lay hidden until 18(0.
From that day in A.D. 79 Ve,u-
v1U9 was giucsecnt. Tu all hitt-ins
and purposes it was an extinct vol-
cano, and towns and villages were
built on the slopes while the people
used to picnic on the lip of the huge
crater.
Then, 1,450 years later, in Decent-
ber, 1631, it awakened, Without a
moment's warning it erupted, and
18,000 people died.
Since then there has hardly been
a year when Vesuvius has not belch-
ed flames and red-hot lava, In 1900
the explosion was so terrific that
607 feet of the summit was blown
off.
The people of St. Pierre, on the
slopes of Mount Pelee, in Martini-
que, had plenty of warning but took
no notice of it. The volcano grumbl-
ed for several days, and then cover-
ed the town with a layer of fine ash.
A few days later it erupted, and
150 people lost their lives. Then a
sister volcano on a near -by island
'erupted.
The people of St. Pierre thought
that the fireworks were over and
continued their leisurely lives. But
thirteen days after the first grumble,
Mount Pelee exploded, and 40,009
people died before they could reach
safety.
Best Way To Send
Coins In A Letter
Next time you want to :nail a
quarter, dime or half -dollar to
someone, you'll probably wonder
just how to do it.
Many people use adhesive tape
or Scotch tape to fasten the coin
to the letter. But an editor says:
"Don't do it that way. Tape sticks
to the coin and causes trouble.
"Better way," he says, "Is to wrap
the coin in a piece of paper. Then
use transparent adhesive tape. The
coin won't shake off or out."
Ten years ago a Dutch scientist,
Professor S. W. Tromp, set out to
prove water -divining was nonsense,
Now he has published a 534 -page
research report confirming the popu-
lar belief that there is something its
it.
He thinks the power to detect
underground water may depend om
the electrical resistance of the skin.
Diviners can increase their sensi-
tivity by rinsing their hands in salt
water.
What's Cookin' In TV—Mont can cook her ham and watch
it on television at the same time, with this combination gas
range and television set. Mrs. Bea Reeder, above, shows
how the cook can stir up a delectable dish simply by
following a step-by-step instructions on video.
J ITER
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