The Seaforth News, 1923-10-25, Page 3My .Utile ' Friend.
e', Partridge
The Story of a Valiant Little Mother Burd Who Reared
a Large Family -By E. L. Chicanot.
Although in the course of some
years' stay in Alberta Ihave shot
hundreds of .partridges, the most poig-
nant memory I' possess of these game
little birds is not of the slaughtered
onee.brought inat close of day to ap-
pease appetites, justifiably created,
but of a little bird I never shot, one
I would like to think never fell victim
to the gun of sportsman or farmer but,
at a ripe old age, passed'serenly out
of this world to another where the
existence of wild creatures is not one
continual succession of dangers and
hazards.
The facts I will here relate occurred
at a time and under circumstaribes
when man had to make his friends of
the dumb animals or do without them,
and it is surprising how many of the
creatures of the wild will come half
way to meet man's advances.
One morning I was made aware of
the certainty of spring's arrival by
the loud and unmistakable tatoo of a
male partridge upon a drumming log
in the copse at the- back of our cabin.
It rolled long and insistently, imperi-
ous and commanding; brooking no re-
fusal, and echoed widely in the still
air of the wood. There could not re-
main in the minds of hearers any
vestige of doubt but that this strenu-
ous drummer had been left the sole
and undisputed monarch of that par-
ticular domain. By the way he was.
advertising his presence,' however, he
was not so keenly desirous' of remain-
ing alone.
PRAIRIE PARTRIDGECOURTSHIP.
It required most cautious stalking,
and r made several unsuccessful at-
tempts, to obtain a view of him on
his log. But it was worth the Waiting
and trouble. A finer example of con-
centrated vanity and egotism it would
be most difficult to find. Although he
pretended not to know, he must' have
been aware that a shy little hen part-
ridge was closely observing him from
some place in the brush neither of us
knew, and ho was engaged in exhibit -
Ing his fine points in a most scrupu-
lous manner. His pompous strutting
up and down the log left not a thing
to be imagined. The ruffle about his
neck stuck out, symetrically rounded,
like an Elizabethan collar. His mag-
nificent tali with its semi -circular pin
feathers was showing to the best pos-
sible advantage. He was certainly on
exhibition and knew it and exerted
every dandyish lure to bring the little
hen to his feet.
At the next observation I managed
to make I found the compelling attrac-
tion and conquering hero attitude of
the male bird had overcome the mod-
esty of the little hen and she had com-
pletely surrendered to her wonderful
mate. He strutted about as magnifi-
cently as ever and she seemed quite
sensible of her good fortune in having.
secured so 'splendid a matrimonial
prize. He was early training himself
for family affairs, however, ..and
scratched longer and more vigorously
In the rotten wood, pausing, occasional-
ly to draw her attention to some
dainty he had unearhed. From behind
a screen of willows I followed their
progress down to the creek where they
drank together.'
Then carne a time when I suspected
the male bird came to the copse alone.
Every morning `I heard the drumming
on the log but on the one occasion'I
could approach sufficiently close to the
locality: he was unaccompanied, and, I
imagined, different. He was still a
bird supremely conscious of his own
worth, but some of the conceit seemed
to have been taken out of him or his
vain. shallow, egotistical bachelor atti-
tude had disappeared under the res-
ponsibilities of a pater families.
DISCOVERED THE NEST.
I was returning to the shack one
evening, partridges being positively
the last thing upon. my mind, when al-
most at my feet a bird arose so
abruptly' and noisily that for the mo-
ment I was startled and unnerved, I
turned my glance towards the spot
whence the bird, had risen and by the
strangest chance my eyes fell directly
upon the nest with its eggs. I walked
up to it, losing some of myrespect for
birds, for the location seemed absolute-
ly open and unscreened. Two large
poplar trees started at an acute angle
from a common root. and between the
two was the nest with its nine eggs.
A prairie fire had come right up to
the edge of the wood and denuded the
•ground of all verdure and shrubbery
so that .the nest had not a blade of .
grass to conceal it. In a negligent,
manner'I marked its loc.vtion by near-,
by trees and went away. �
My respect for the instinct of the
partridge went up somewhat on the
followingclay when I spent .an hour
and a half in seeking the nest. I really
couldn't afford the time but it was too
baffling to be defeated in that way''
Never: was I very far from the spot
and must at times have passed' within
a foot or two of the sitting bird.
There she was sitting, as my eye fell
suddenly upon her, just as if the pic-
ture had been pushed into view, com-I
posedly watching' me with one eye,
and so obviously in the open that I
began to distrustmy own ability to
find my way about and wonder Trow
she and her eggs ever escaped the
many depredators of the wood. Then
I began to look into things and came s
to appreciate how the nest in the ma- s
teriais of its -composition and the
sombre coloring of the bird harmon-
ized with the general surroundings
and the bare, coverings of Nature in
the early spring.
I took a step forward, and then an-
other, She permitted me to approach
within a few feet and then rose with
a disconcerting "whir -r -r." She can
• hardly .have realized that I had al-
ready spotted thenest for she flopped
on the ground a foot or two from me
and struggled away "with, her wing
dragging as if broken, moaning the
while. Having had previous experi-
ence of this subterfuge I was not to
be drawn away, and still feigning
lameness she made a complete circle of
thetwotrees and finally retired into
some saskatoon bushes from which, no
doubt, she kept a careful 'eye on me
until I was satisfied and retirecL
A RIPENING FRIENDSHIP..
Every day afterwards I visited her
nest and slowly she came to realize I
intended her no harm, for, little by
little,' I shortened the -distance between
us until I was permitted to -approach
quite closeandsit watching her with-
out her exhibiting any uneasiness save
to turn an occasional beady eye upon
me. Another egg was added to. the
nine and on the nestful she sat, soli-
tary all day, except to adjourn at feed-.
ing time to the drumming log or to the
creek to drink. During the period of
incubation the warm sun and fertile
rain brought forth luxuriant grasses
and shrubs and soon the prairie round,
which had been shorn by the. fire, was
a mass of young green foliage, com-
pletely burying the nest and forming
a protective alcove over -the sitting
bird.
My periodical visits were interrupt,.ed by several days of heavy rain which
discouraged excursions into the sod-
den and dripping timber. I rather
wondered how my little friend was_
getting along in the downpour and,
as soon as the • weather was fine.
enough, went back into the wood. A
deserted: nest greeted me, Nothing re-
mained but a mass of empty egg shells
and one whole egg which had failed
of its issue. The' last of my little
friend, I thought, and proceeded once
again to forget all about partridges.
THE "BROKEN WING" RUSE.
A few days later I was strolling
along an old buffalo trail which ran
past the discarded nest when "whir -r"
and my old friend, now a mother of
nine, flopped lamely at my feet and
as if exhausted from wounds,rolled
painfully along the path, a wing drag-
ging in the dust. Simultaneously I
caught a glimpse of several brown
speckled little balls which as suddenly
..disappeared with the rapidity and per-
plexity of a conjuring trick. First
they were there, -then, they weren't.
There was no sound: save the pained
cry of the mother bird enticing me
to follow her and get away from her
offspring. I had not•moved and. knew
exactly where those brown specks
ought' to be though there was not :the
slightest stir to indicate their pres-
ence. Carefully I took one step for-
ward and - there was .a frightened
"tweet," the tiniest sound, barely aud-
ible, but the another had heard it.
There was a blood -curdling cry that
reminded mo of a wild cat and scarce
seemed possible to have issued from
the throat of a tiny bird. The noise
she made,.. too, coming through the
bush was suggestive of the progress
of some large, heavy animal. Straight
at me she came, a pathetically tragic
little bird, beak open, hissing and
shrieking, the ruffle of her neck flung
out aggressively. It seemed unbeliev-
able that this could be the same timid
little bird I had observed for so. long.
Forgotten were our frequent tete-a-
tetes, everything obliterated by ramp-
ant mother love.
A MOTHER AROUSED..
She seemed in such positive agony
that I moved away but again stepped
near a chick for another frightened
cry brought the mother bird again
directly at me, completely heedless of
her own safety in her frenzied anxiety
for her children, flapping my very
boots with her wings, hissing wieltedly.
Hor terror for her• family was so mov-
ing that I' hastily backed into' the
thicket and sat down to wait in silence.
But the mother knew "I was there and
her brood was obedient' to her, for:
never a leaf stirred nor was there a'
sound whilst I remained, It was futile,
to stay longer and I retired without
seeing her gather up her family.
Many times afterwards I saw the
little family out in the woods. Each
time the chicks had grown a little
bigger and soon the mother could
never have covered them with her body
or shielded them from the sun with
her fan-like tail. Later the family
was reduced to seven, from what cause
I never discovered; and filially
t the lit-
tle brood so developed that it was im-1
possible to tell the mother -from her
offspring. November blasts calve along
and scattered them each, no doubt, to
make a home of his own in the spring.)
In the following March the old
drumming log by the creek again gave
out .its familiar tatoo and a your .,
cock -partridge strutted in ally
his glory
up and down the prostrate tree. He.
might have been one of the old wood
brood'' --I liked to think he was -whilst
omewhere else, her family raised with
uch difficulty and tribulation forgot -
ten, his mother was beginning to build
another nest and so continuing to
carry out her destiny until ono of the•
many fates which await the wild crea-
tures overtakes her.
Misquoted Quotations:
It is surprising how, many "familiar
quotations" are recited wrongly.
Many Pea•pie, make a hash of a
phrase from Gray's°Elegy. They say
"'Par. from the maddening crowd" in-
stead of "madding," the word the poet
coined and. used. Similarly they say
that someone is seeking "fresh fields
and pastures new," whereas Milton
1 wrote "fresh' woods."
Then there is the misconception
whloh attributes civil warfare to the
passionately .patriotic ancient Greeks,
who stood so valiantly side by side in
defence of their country.
It is. an insult to these heroes to say
"When Greek meets. Greek then comes.
the tug of war." The 'quotation sane
"When Greek loins Greek" -that Is to
, say, when they stood shoulder to
shoulder they were almost iniposeible
to overcome.
Even the Bible does not escape.
How many people, for instance, call
the last book "Revelations," when its
real title is "The Revelation of St.
John the Divine," and its abbreviated
form, in the Bible, "Revelation?"
Chinese Sea Superstitions.
The Chinese practise many strange
rites. Crews of liners believe that the
"Wind God" . follows all Vessels and
attempts to sink them whenever pos-
sible. In order to humor him before
leaving port they offer up. a sacrifice
of pork, fruit, and candles. Another
favorite practice is to - hang out' long
scrolls. of paper covered with fantas-
tic designs calculated to mislead the
god as to the direction the ship will
follow,
Fishermen maintain that nothing
can be accomplished satisfactorily dur-
ing the day unless the evil sea spirits
are first put off the track. It' is be-
cause of this superstition ,that. the
crews of Chinese junks will run their
vessels right across the bows of an
approaching liner. They consider that
by in front of another boat the.
Wind God will be deflected from their -
trail.
The dragon is regarded as a symbol
of good luck. It is invoked by means
of dancing and music.. A• dancer ap-
pears on deck wearing a dragon's
head made of papier-mache, and as the
music gets louder and louder the head-
gear shakes with "rage," The music
then becomes' softer, and the supposed
dragon becomes quiet, receiving as an
offering a large lettuce. This cere-
mony is believed to bring good fortune
for the rest of the voyage.
Measuring Ozone.
Before long it is likely that among
other attractions of a seaside'resort
may be included announcements of
the proportion of ozone in the air.
Experiments have shown that it is
possible to discover the amount of
ozone in the air with fair assuracy,
Slips of white blotting paper are
soaked in a solution of iodide of - petits
-
slum and starch. These, protected
from sunshine and rain, are, exposed to
the air for a definite period. • Accord-
ing to the amount of ozone present so
ie the paper colored in varying shades
of yellow. If ozone is abundant the
paper Will be a very deep shade.
Banff Park.
The Banff National Park, Alberta,
contains three groups of -mountains,
the Assinihoine group to the south, the.
Laggan group, centred about Lake
Louise, and the Howse or Waputik
group along the crest of the Divide
north of the railway.
You may inherit wealth you have
not .earned, but only work will enable
you to keep it.
Youth isa folly for 'which age would
gladly barter, all its wisdom.
WHEN PADDY GOES
A -WOOING
�.. ..., 1
Courtship •in Ireland is not the
simple affair that it is in most other
countries. In fact, It is hedged round
by formalities, and the preliminaries
that lead to en engagement would cool
many a lover's ardor.
Paddy; moreover, however unprr.0-
deal he may seem in his political life,
has always an eye to the main chalice,
so that he rarely becomes engaged to
a girl who has nothing but • looks iu
her favor.
Having noticed a girl that he fancies
Paddy does not proceed to make loves
to her. Oh, to! : That would create a
scandal. Instead, usually he seeks
-go-between to plead his cause and to
approach' the father, whose consent is
always necessary before a. young man
may even walk out with a girl. This
go-between, pr metebmaker—who le.
called the "Mountainy" man—is found
in every; village, andis usually blessed
with the gift of gab and no lack of
audacity.
The matchmaker : first insidiously
creates anatmosphere,so that very
soon, the whole country -sifts knows
that Paddy wishes to marry and who
is the girl of his choice. Then, when
the girl herself and her father have
heard the rumor, the mountainy man
sallies forth to the village with the
lover and 'calls on the father, a large
bottle er whiskey, provided by the pro-
spective bridegrooms, in his pocket.
Striking a Bargain.
Opening the conversation, he begins
by reminding the father that 1t is high
time his daughter were married,' this
remark being followed by others equal-
ly ; uncomplimentary, evidently in-
spired by the desire to make as good
a bargain as passible.
"Sure, it's time that daughter of
yours was off your hands," says he.
"What way would, she be leaving
this place yet," retorts the father, "and
she only a slip of a girl not much out
of her teens? It'll be a sorry day for
me when she goes, for there's not her
like at malting butter or cakes this
side o' the ocean."
Then, with many glasses of whisky
and good-humored' banter, the match-
maker cleverly ascertains how many
cows and pigs the father is likely to
give with his daughter, and, pointing
to the young man, who has remained
silent throughout, he indicates what
a fine fellow he is and what a grand
home his farm would make for the
cows and pigs, and, incidentally, the
girl.
Then, 1f both father and match-
maker are satisfied that they can
strike a good bargain, they clinch mat-
ters over another glass, and the father'
goes to the door—behind which his
daughter is listening— and drags her.
In, protesting and giggling, to a seat
near her lover.
Kept Up to Scratch.
And so the two become engaged,
and,, after a short courtship, are mar-
ried, the wedding festivities• providing
a further occasion of bouts of merry-
making, after which the bridegroom
and his friends leave the bride in her
father's house till the morrow, when,
with bis best horse and cart, he cornea
over to bring her to her new home.
As will be seen, an Irish courtship is
rarely improvident, and woe betide the
father who fails to carry out any
clause of his daughter's marriage set-
tlement. In fact, a lawyer in Mayo
once told the writer, a week after one
marriage, the irate husband came to
see him, threatening to turn his wife
out if her father did not immediately
hand over a particular cow that he had.
promised him.
NOT IF PAPA KNOWS IT
—From the Cleveland Plaindealer.
How Earthquakes esAri Measured
The awful cataclysm that plunged
the Japanese Empire into mourning
has roused scientists all over ;the
world in their, endeavors to foretell,
with some , degree of accuracy, the
coining of great earthquakes,
These terrible volcanic upheavals
are already recorded, and tabulated by
amazingly delicate instruments, .but
all thedevicespossessed by science
have not yet been able to predict when
and where the overwhelming forces of
Nature will next break loose.
Seismology, or the science of earth-
quakes, is one of the oldest of known
sciences. for when the Romana were
subduing ancient Britain the Chinese
completed an instrument designed to
record the shocks that so constantly
harass the Eastern Empire.
This took the form of a copper
sphere, about twenty -flue feet round,
with a long pillar at the top which was
suspended so that it could swing in
any one of eight directions.
The sphere contained eight dragon
heads, In the mouth- of each was
placed a ball, so that when the pillar
was moved by any trembling of the
earth it would knock a ball down, thus
showing in which direction the earth-
quake had occurred.
The first British seismograph was
simply a basin full of treacle. When.
the earth shook the treacle moved,
and left a mark on the side of the
basin that indicated from which di-
rection the shock had come.
The instruments are much more
complicated now, and shocks can be.
corrected and measured in observa-
tories fully 10,000 miles away from the
scene of the disturbance by means of
the sensitive Milne -Shaw seismograph.
This consdsts of an upright column
supporting without friction a horizon -
tai boom which sways according to the
earth tremors: A needle at the end of
the boom is slit to allow a spot of light
to fall upon sensitized paper, and this
shows a straight line when the instru-
ment is at rest. When there Is any
movement, however, the light shows
it, and a 'clockwork attachment re-
cords the exact time of each "tremble."
The place of origin pf the shock is
located by the time taken for the
shock to be recorded, for there are
three types of earth "waxes," which
rush outwards at varying speeds. The
observer knows that if, say, 166 sec-
onds elapse between the first and sec-
ond shocks, the earthquake. is 1,000
miles distant, and so on,
By means of records taken at two
or three different points, it is possible
to determine almost exactly where the
trouble lies and the area aver which
it operates.
At the West Bromwich Observatory
in England about 4,000 distinct shocks
are recorded every year,although, of
course, nearly all Of these are very
slight, most of them being the result
of disturbances beneath the ocean
bed.
According to the most up-to-date
authorities, earthquakes are caused by
the solid outer "crust" of the earth
gradually "creeping" northward. This
movement, however slow, causes an
enormous strain in places, and when
the strain becomes, too great the earth
cracks.
In order to increase their knowledge
of earthquakes, some of the world's
greatest scientists have experimented
with artificial explosions in mines, and
they hope that in time they will be
able to warn the inhabitants of vol-:
came districts when disturbances are
likely to - occur,
Elephant Artillery.
One branch of the military service
of India is. the Royal Elephant Artil-
lery, which is trained like desciplined
Operating a switchboard in a busy soldiers.
telephone exchange is so groat a strain
that few girls can stand it for as long Mothers in Nigeria carry their ba -
as eight years. bies in a calabash shell.
My Teacher : A Belated Appreciation
• BY WALTER A. DYER
I read in the newspaper the other
day a brief notice of the death, In the
city where I spent my boyhood, of a
woman whom I shall call Miss Robin-
son, since that was not her name. I
had not seen her -I suppose I had
scarcely thought of her—for thirty -odd
years. Yet there was a time when,
that woman and I came in daily ,con.
tact with each other, and I saw as,
much of her, I think, as of any mem-
ber of my family.
And as I read the modest obituary
it came over me that in forgetting her
I bad sinned against the simplest
standards of kindness and gratitude,
For I' can realize now that in those
long vanished days I was the cause -of
bringing some shadows into her life.
If I brought also some little sunshine,
it was, not because I intended to do so,
but because she hadthe grace to find
it. There were times, I fear, when I
made life about as hard for her as I
could without suffering serious conse-
quences. And I have let these -wiser
years slip by. without an attempt at
reparation..'
She whs not an angel; she was hu
man. And we—1 think we were little
barbarians. Sometimes when she
tried to brighten things' up a bit we
said she was sIlly..; There were morn-
ings wben we 'said she was cross; very
likely she was. Who Is never cross?
On the whole, I believe we liked nor,
but not for worlds would we have let
her know 11. I litre her now, bet it is
too late for her to know.
I can see now that site had things
to fight against, and she fought not
unsuccessfully. I can see that she had
cultivated the virtue of patience to a
remarkable degree. There was some-
thing of .the stuff of a martyr in that.
teacher, I honestly believe.
I have allowed myself to forget
n}eny things that I should have re-
membered, but r can recall :.vividly
enough just how Miss Robinson looked
as she sat al her desk and opened the
morning sessionwith the simple re.
ligious exercises that were then in
vogue. Her sincerity showed itself
there. And. I can still see her as she
arose and cable down to stand in front
of lrer desk, her brow puckered with.
earnestness in her effort to make us
understand.
She was a good teacher, I think.
That is, she was conscientious and in-
telligent and eager to have us learn,
and I don't know that any teacher can
be mush more than that.
I wonder what she got out of it all.
I wonder what were her conpeosations
for the nerve-racking strain of keep-
ing order among thirty boys, and girls
bent on mischief. The salaries paid
to public -school teachers are not large
to -day; they were much less thirty
years ago. And I think I knew that
she was ,supporting tier mother: with
her slender income. I wonder if there
were some 'few pupils—among the
girls, perhaps -who repaid - her in
some Measure for hal labors by some
conscious or unconscious response of
mind or affections. I hppe thatothers•
have proved themselves less forget-
ful and less ungrateful than I.
I' do not so much blamethat. young ,
pagan : who whispered and snickered
and threw spitballs and rattled the
windows and brought toads and snuff
into school. His was but a half-
awakened ooheclence. He wrought
after the manner of his kind. He had
not looked into human hearts to know
them. The person I blame is the so-
called Christian gentleman twenty,
twenty-five, thirty, years later, who
had walked out of that schoolroom
with never a regretful backward
glance, and then forgot his teacher.
He should have known better,
'1 wish it might bo that cher sacrifice
could be turned to some other's gain,
that this :confession of mine, these
words of belated appreciation, might
quicken the memory of some other
teacher's pupils, night stirin their
hearts the thing that has stirred in
mine too late.
Teacher, with theearnestfrown and
the nervous little smile, I am sorry, I
ant sorry for the mischief I did so long
ago, when you were thirty and 1 was.
ten. I ane sorry for those innumerable
acts of :nine that added to your
full
measure of burdens and worries. I am.
sorrier still for my thirty -odd years of
silence. But if I know you as I think
1' do, I believe you will not withhold
forgiveness,
I would not lay a flower now on
your grave if I could, since -I lost ,my
chance to send a rose to the living;
shame would forbid, I can only hope
that you found others kinder than 'I,
and that before you lay down for your
final rest. some of thorn, things, for
which you hungered--whalever they
were—came into your life to reward
you.—Collier's, - -
Arctickilsh Experiences.
Two explorers of the fur north were
relating their experiences to each
other and naturally drifted around to
the subject of temperature,
"Would you believe it?" narrated
the first, "In 1911. It was so cold up.
around Baffin's. Bay that if a man
wanted to get downstairs in a hurry
all he would have to do would be to
threw a bucket of water out the win-
dow and slide down the icicle."
"Call that cold?" ridiculed the other,
"Why, up in Greenland: on the hottest.
days of the summer we had to build.
a fire under the cow to keep her from
giving lee' cream."
Ma, the Fixer.
"No, mother. With all his money I
cannot marry Jack. I do not love
hint."
"But 'haven't I teld you he has a
very weak heart?"
c
FRAGRANCES THAT
FAIL
e.
Scent in the world of flowers 1s
something of�which very little is
known, formerly, it was'regardee es.
one of the constant elements in flower
life, and, 'being taken as a /natter of`
course, was ignored'. Now we are not
$0 snra 11 11 I's a constant element, and
are paying more attention to it.
All ancient nations who attained to
civilization were addicted to the use
of: perfumes, not merely as luxuries;
but also for purposes of religious fere
menial, especially in the solemn rites
of burial.
Myrrh and frankincense doubtless
emit to -clay the same odor as they did
thousands of years age. Myrrh odor -
ata still bears the umbels of fragrant
white flowers, the gum resin of frank-
incense continues to exude from the
pines of Somaliland.
World's Most Delicious Scent,
Then, too, the rose -fields of the vile -
yet of Adrianople, extending over
many thousand acres of land, yield to-
day a seemingly inexhaustible supply
of attar of roses, These ° vast gardens,.
full of life and fragrance, with hun-
dreds of Bulgarian boys and girls gath-
ering the dowers into baskets and
sacks, have for years presented the
same animated activity,
Here it is that the world's stock' of a
most delicious scent is procured amid
scenes enlivened by songs, dancing,
and music. The essential oil is ex-
tracted from the petals by the ordin-
ary process of distillation,
The attar is bought up for foreign
markets, to which it passes through'
Constantinople and Smyrna, whence
it is generally dispatched to undergo
a process of adulteration with sandal-
wood and other oils, In British mar-
kets the attar finds a readier sale
when "blended" than in the pure state.
The most remarkable feature in con-
nection with this rose culture is the
unchanging character of the resulting
perfume.
Such constancy, however, is not ex -
elusive to the subtle perfume of attar
of roses, or to myrrh— and frankin-
cense. The whole range` of the hedge-
row, with its honeysuckle and sweet -
briar; the meadow, with its balm and,. ,.
dog violet; the garden, with its wall-
flower and carnation, all produce per-
fumes absolute in their constancy.
Banished by the Hybrldiser.
For countless years It has been so.
The floral world has emitted its varied
odors true to type Neither soil, cul-
ture, nor climate seem to affect these
distinctive perfumes. Tropical plants,
when < housed in Great Britain under
favorable conditions, impregnate the
atmoephsre with the same, heavy, se-
ductive odor as they give forth in the
stifling swamps of Africa,
A break In continuity or scent hie
occurred in some cases, however,
causing the doubt as to its constancy,
referred to in the beginning of this ar-
ticle. Where the hybridiser has been
busy, there, very frequently, scent has
fled. One cannot play fast and loose
with Nature's laws, and the beauty of
color and symmetry of structure we
admire in the new creations of bort!.
culture have. been purchased at the
cost of the fragrance which still clings
to the petals of their humbler rola-.
tines,
Many who purchase roses to -day are
astonished to find they produce scent-
less blooms. Their progenitors Omit-
ted
mit
ted the same delightful odor as, those
in the rose -fields of Adrianople, but
the meddling hand of man has sealed
up their scent cells.
A still more striking example of the
fugitive nature of flower perfume is
provided by the case of musk. Twen-
ty-five years ago no English garden
was considered complete without a
bushy growth of this sweet smelling
plant.
Perfumes of the Past,
It was grown, not for its beauty of
foliage,. and not for its attractive
blooms; iE Was essentially a scent
flower. A sprig of musk was picked
on Sunday, wrapped tinny lady's hand-
kerchief, and thus she was perfumed.
The lord of the manor's last duty be-
fore setting out for church was'to
place a: few leaves' in his hat.
In many old churches this "musky
smell" became an almost essehtial
part of the service, The regretable
fact must be recorded, however, that
musk to -day is scentless, and the plant
is: no better than many wayside welds.
No one can give a satisfactory solu-
tion as to where the scent has gone.
The hand of the hybrldiser cannot be'
charged with the crime, for in this
forof plant -life there is little scope
for his work.
Prior to this, indeed, it had been ap-
parent'to lovers' of Nature that sonic
subtle change Was taking place in this
plant, and that its fragrance was grad -
wally becoming less. We must just
write the change down as one of the
unexplained mysteries of plant -life.
There may, of course, be a few
tants Mill retaining the iuusk odor,
If there be such, the owner could," if
lis
-cared, secure a ready market for
uttings, .
An Oily Nut.
Guatemala produces a nut whose oil
ontent is 65 per cent.
In Stornaway, the chief town of,
Lewis, one of the Hebrides, there, are
d
pleasant villas, and the ladies ress in
he latest style. Yet in the interior of
the,isiand are to be found people who
0 not understand English, and eye
foreigners" with suspicious reserve.
Should Prove Effective.
A farmer in Scotland had a stroke
of paralysis., and the minister of the
parish gave him electrical treatment
with a galvanized. battery. A neigh•
bor called' to inquire about the suffer -
(ng man,:` and asked his If how he
was-progr•eesing. ""Oh, mildlin' bad," ;
she replied, "but I'm'thinkin' he'll
maybe soon bebetber, for the ..minister,t
has been here and gave him a shock
wl' a thing ca'ad a Calvinistic bat-' d
tory„ I c