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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1960-11-10, Page 6'5e ret Of Work's Most 'Ctnous Smile t'::. r. art i'ac Gary making Apeaaa ala a has just delivered the waist exacting order - in its history. an extra fine and thin bullet-proof pane, thirty -ane by wilily—ciao inches. •rbc glass .was ordered by the l.ocv la authorities to protect the tiler' famous anile in the world t1-1 of Mona Lisa, the famous - p,,r: ra_it by Leonardo da Vinci. 14 .rat already has two ttni- formed attendants and a plain- clothes police inspector to guard her, a$ well as a fence to keep people off. the glass, it is hoped, wilI prevent damage from kni- ves and stones which people have been known to uitn at the canvas. Noe tote: ago a Bolivian • visitor to the louvre was ar- rested after he 'had hurled a .stone at it. • - Of the 100,o00 foreign vi'icor; to the Louvre each year, nine V+Y ten come primarily to see the ,t,Nfona I.,isa. On days when the light is good, scores of people are packed around the immortal Iyaint 9n r;. One man arrives each morning •hlefo:'e the doors are opened and stays until closing time. He has peen doing this for six years. Tile Louvre reeeivell a film Qatar fan mail for Mona, Some p,e1' <t tsritu to her as if she veno a living person. Many your... and ?Indent Frtte!e1t. dedi- *rata poetry to her: Acloration of then Mona Lisa has 1. - -n going on for more than 400 ; :a., ever since the time in Florence, about 1500, that Leon - Sew 'n1 Save PRINTED PATTERN L 4615 SIZES 2-6 y 444 Yes, you CAN afford the finest flannel, tweed, or plaid — you save so much when you sew this t( 4t and leggings set yourself! The. lines are the simplest, bon- n•tt will delight daughter. Printed Pattern 4815: Chil- riren's Sizes 2, 4, G. Size 0 outfit ta':es 2•1a yards 54 -inch. Send FORTY CENTS (stamps c :mhot be accepted, use postal :,•..te for safety) for this pattern. i' .:a c: print plainly S I Z E, NAME, ADDRESS, STYLE Nt'.MIIT,R, Send corder to ANNE ADAMS, E-_. !, 123 Eighteenth 'St-. New Tors;idn, Ont. • i4EN1) NOW! Big, l!e'allt.ifu1, COLOR -)FIC Fall and Winter l'atcr1 Catalog has over 1011 styles I.') :'1:W -- .5"i lrhl1, C1.1 Only 33,2 It'd() da Vinci, then aa.31 li111 received a \i41t from Ui' eity's magistrate, Francesco di Bartel- omco del Cliuco:Id.la. Ile asked Leonardo to Paint a portrait of 1415 wife, in an attempt to console her for the loss of a little •laugh- te'r. The artist was reluctant. lie did not paint portraits and he was very busy. But, he changed his -mind the moment's he saw the magistrate's wife. At the age of twenty -tour, she was the opposite of the slender women with delicate features and narrow shoulders, then so much in vogue. Mona Lisa was a wornan of full contours. Above alt. she hod a most captivating smile. To fix the smile, he staged an unusual setting. In his studio, Slut;ielans played instruments which he himself had made; singers and clowns performed while Mena Lisa posed, The pus- ing session. lasted a year—then de Vinci was ready to begin Work. • A few years later, Francis 1 of France bought the painting from da Vinci for 4,000 gold crowns. But it was not merely a portrait of the wife of a Floren- tine magistrate that he bought, Mona Lisa had become an ideal imrge of beauty, .An Itaikal art historian wrote: "At one and the same time, gentle and perverse, cruel and compassionate, gracious and fe- line, she smiles," Many people have attempted to solve the mystery of the Mara Lisa smile. Every day the Louvre permits artists to copy the treasure, confident that a perfect imitation is impossible. Shortly after da Vinci's death, the Florentine masters of his schen' believed that by unveil- ing the Mona Lisa they would rob her of her. secret. So they painted the magistrate's wife in the nude. Dozens of these pictures were painted and sixteen are in exist- ence to -day, but not even the beat•—in a museum at Chantilly —has succeeded in revealing the secret of the magnetism of da Vinci's masterpiece. The Marquis de Sade said of her; "The Gioconda is the very essence of femininity; she shows reticence and spirit of seduction, devoted tenderness and avid sensuality." Whatever she has, Mona Lisa certainly impresses tourists. When viewing any other picture in the Louvre they comment freely. But when in front of the Mona Lisa they remain silent, in awed admiration. Purple No Longer Only For Biisg. Shots Purple is popular this fall. Coats, suits, dresses — even underwear — are appearing in this colour once reserved for the Roman emperors. Symbol of pomp and power, this imperial colour has a lung history. Fifteen centuries 13.C. the Phoenicians made purple dye. They had discovered the secret of a Mediterranean shellfish, When its' yellow juice was ex- posed to the sun it changed through all the colours of the spectrum till it finally remained a brilliant and unfading purple. But they had to crush so many thousand shellfish for so little dye that purple w•1$ only far the rich and mighty. The high priests in the tem- ples of the Israelites wore pur- ple robes and so did the Gre••k generals. The Roman emperors, Caesar and Augustus both de. creed that none but the em- peror might wear the purple. Under Nero, t!he wearing and even the sale of purple were punishable by death. In those earlier centuries there were only two authentic• shades of royal purple — a dark bluish shade, -and the deep red Tyrian purple. Today the world of faslitan has at its disposal a variety of shades from the palest cyclamen to the most vivid fuchsia BIG {IME IN ARIZONA . Co sfree, Ariz„ a holf•hour's drive north of Phoenix, possesses one of the world's Largest sundials. The arm is 60 fMet long and rises to 50 foot in height, Face of dial mfrs:,'tray 90 feet in diameter with a 284.foot circumfer- ence. VERY HIGH FASHION — This moon suit is being testedalRe- public Aviation's space laboratory. The aluminum garb would weigh only a few pounds on low -gravity moon. Tripod drops down to permit astronaut to rest on a small suit inside. NWWL S GES. Geezei.d.oas se 17 Cleszeke Was there ever a nicer Indian summer than this? Here we are into Oct, with roses still in bloom, to say nothing of petunias, snap- dragons, salvia and other sum- mer blooming annuals. Wonder- ful weather for working outside too, although in some ways it is a hindrance. Flower beds 'need to be dug up and bulbs planted. But who wants to pull up plants by the roots while they are- still in bloom? So, in company with a lot of other home gardeners we are letting nature take its course. Not that I worry about outside work just now. I am still paint- ing, I told. you, didn't I, it would be like a serial story? I have got three rooms done, finished the spare room Saturday. Now I'n, ready to start on the lien, With all the books and papers I've got in it, that's going to be quite a job. However, Partner is always on hand to help—with everything except the painting. Shit ting furniture, cleaning floors and windows and putting rubber feet on the stepladder so I don't break my neck! Last week, working part time in the house, also gave him a chance to watch the World Series, He probably would have done that anyway but with indoor work to do he was able to make a virtue of tleceesity. My, how time goes v: hen one gets enthused with a job. I was ten days overdue with my li- brary books and didn't even know it until I got a reminder card. I took them back in a hurry—and brought nut four more. One in particular I find most interesting. It is called "The Nature of Retirement" by Elon H. Moore, Ph.D. I can heartily recommend it to all thinking persons before, and afte,', they reach the age of retirement. It deals -frankly with the many problems thea confront people who, after Working hard all their lives, have finally rc'irhed the stage when they can take life a little easier. having more or less passed the crisis of adjustment our.selve, we ear. recognize the wisdom of the advice given in this book—and wish we had road it soother. It sort of explains us to ourselves. Sorrc•tirres I have felt a little guilty 11111 we have b' en able to • settle down so happily in a new environment, 1 felt it sev- nured a little of disloyalty to old times. and old friends. But ac- cording to this honk it i; the only • .,a r„' approach; that the older el, gets the nwre it r\' to mal:c t:1 r; 11i4ruis and yet it:'t for -•t tha• 'id. It cites the case '.t' a v,nnn,n stilt live , of :4;.;.11', 1h,• Iime: spa' win. i0 •.II the futi•ovlr friends .;he had 1:;. r c•n 7t1 50 heti teeeed cm:e se, et E0 she nal!) have hien a very loiitly Iran =„r: ltad .1:e mitt made new and younger ttit•nd--. But. .-he• did, and they uJl; fl Mil to rn•iintgrin all Intel• in the- t;rc•:'.eut and 10 maim thin 0 eliverfnl and uncOlt:plain• int; 1,114Ir, l; on life. ller ;dory remind:, nae of as enurin 1 united in Finglald Wive you. ago. She v is 110, living as 't fraying t;u,,1 in a home for the :e);'d. It tvhs 1a 14eanitif141 ;dace, with accom- modatinn ,or about 20 ttuests. My rosin's only complaint tvas that ',hr 1;111 go tired of living, with old people all the tint•! 1 hnrol that 1 also have readers of this column who are ,just Os wonderful as these tWO elder!v I. ladies. Dr, 6tor.re also p;4)nIs (JUL that the wife of a retired man—bus- inessman or farmer—often finds it difficult to get used to having a neon around the house all the time. That used to be my trou- ble too. Not that one really objects—it's just hard to get used to. On the farm when Partner started chores I knew he would be gone a couple of hours. Out in the field Ise would be away until the next meal, Since we retired, although busy most of the time, he is often in and out of the house, That inter- rupts my work as we stop and talk, maybe just about the work he is doing outside. It just means that I accomplish less now than I did on the farm. But how I longed for those interruptions when Partner was in hospital just recently, At a time like that you wonder why they ever bothered you, Anyway I never did share the sentiments of a friend of mine whose husband is reaching the age of retirement. She says—"I'm dreading it. 1'11 just go crazy with Jim around the house every day, He has no hobbies—I know he'll be bored and miserable." Incidentally, I'm going to phone my friend and suggest she read the book I have mentioned. Well, we had an unexpected pleasure yesterday—Sunday. We went to see the March Past of the Girl Guides, South -East Tor- onto Area, at Withrow Park. It was the first time we had seen Daughter in her official capacity as District Commissioner — and we were proud of her. She join- ed the Guides when she was about twelve and her interest has grown with the years. Among the companies taking part yesterday there was a small group at the end of the parade that brought a lump to my throat. . . a group of deformed and retarded children of various ages, most of them in wheel chairs. Dee says some of these unfortunates are as keen on Girl Guide activities as normally ac- tive youngsters. Obviously cour- age can sometimes be of the spirit more than the flesh. "Nature works her own won- ders," says a professor. Yes, who else would have thought of growing -a fly swatter at the end of a cow? • Guessing ,Acs Is Her Business A:!i'ratloth R:11ph c:en tad,,, sl piece of beans from an old temple, the hide from a walrus, or the charred rt•ntwim; of an ancient camp site and tell elm how old that temple, that wal- rus or that camp site. is. She call do this up to 40,000 years with a margin of error of only 1 or 2 per cent. Miss Ralph is head of the Car. bon 14 laboratory of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and re- ceives material from the Arctic, Central and South America, and the Near East, wherever the university museum's archaeolo- gists are working. "In the Arctic this dating process helps us learn more about the migratory habits of the ancient and modern E,iki- mos," said Miss Ralph. "This is also the area which gives us the most trouble. Because of the frozen ground our men work quite close to the surface. Bones and antlers they find are often contaminated by ground water, "Carbon is only a small frac- tion of the total elements of a bone and is held in a loose mole- cule easily replaced. The ground water may contain dissolved limestone. Unless all of this is removed from the object, it will appear older than it is. Or the water may contain humus which would suggest a younger date." Carbon 14 laboratory played an important part in the uthi- versity museum's diggings at Tikal, Guatemala. Here there was a dispute between the his- torians and the astronomers. They were trying to correlate the Maya calendar with our own. Through counting the Car- bon 14 content,in a temple beam, Miss Ralph was able to say, "This calculation is correct." An interesting task is yet to come from the Near East where university scientists are working on a sunken Bronze Age ship off the coast of Turkey. Word has come back that the riggings are still intact so it is hoped that there will be enough to place the age of this ship, writes Erma Perry in. The Christian Science Monitor. It costs about $150 to date an object. The material must be treated first with acid to remove inorganic carbon if limestone has been washed in. Then sodi- um hydroxide dissolves humus or other intrusive particles. After washing and drying, the material is burned. Gases are run through a long series of traps which collect impurities, both electro negative and radio active, The presence of other gases is then reduced to one part per million. This very pure car- bon dioxide is then put into a proportional counter and the amount of Carbon 14 is recorded. Miss Ralph points out that every living substance has Car- bon 14 in it which is in balance SALLY 5 SALLIES 'So you're making -up for last weekend. Shall 1 walco 341 n Monday morning'?" 1.V-1)11 the air. When. tdmn,'1(1 .. re is nu 101)1e17 lneatlled, this radia• alive rltaul•ut ,slowly decease's, and this dates rut object. '!'here are 40 of these Carbon 14 labclerldnries thronr,hout than world with about 13 is this country, Miss Ralph has ,cle .d.• Med part of her lima' this tall ctut'clopine tv•inatrnm, its, Twee of ntthlu1y'rt helpful op.'s r1,IW in existence are the resistivity instrument used to te:,l di:durh- antes of the soil caused by buried - object.; and the prima* lnagnetonleter used to d 1.,i't buried kilns, pottery, or into 01)- ]et•t1, j' odern Etiquette Fly Anne Ashley Q. When a boy with whom a girl has heel'going for same tine invites her to his home tar • dinner and for the purpose of meeting 11!5 parents, is it proper - for the girl to take his mother some sort of gift? A. No; in tact, it would be in bad taste. Q. 111y pnrenis are planning an engagement party for ole. Should my' fiance present my ring to elle at this party, or beforehand? A. This 13 a personal platter, and your fiance should present - you with your ring before the party. 60 -Inch Cloth Magnificence made EASY! Rounds of pineapples create an elegant cloth for dining or to decorate a table between meals. Round cloth — decorators' fa- vorite! Crochet in string or No. 30 cotton. Pattern 845: directions for GO -inch cloth in string. Send THIRTY-FIVE CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety!) for this pattern to Laura Wheeler, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St., New Tor- onto, Ont. Print plainly PAT- TERN NUMBER, your NAME and ADDRESS. JUST OFF THE PRESS! Send now for our exciting, new 1901 .Needlecraft Catalog. Over 125 designs to crochet, knit, sets, embroider, quilt, weave — fash- ions, honhefurnishings, toys, gifts, bazaar hits. Plus FREE—instruc- tions REEinstruc- tions for six smart veil caps. Hurry, send 25e now! • ISSUE 45 — 1960 MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS •-- World War 11 airplane,parts were used to build this touring car being polished by owner Bud Cohn. The auto was built by RAF Flight Commande' Ken- neth Wallis. Engine: 7.5 liter Rolls Royce fire truck; headlamp cowlings: starter motor hous- ings from German jet aircraft; engine magnetos from Spitfire fighter; inside door handles: throttle levers from a Lancaster bomber, The entire coachwork ', <•(s and ski/. of the car arts constructed of unused aircraft materials.