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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1932-09-22, Page 7INNOCENCE By H. E. BATES. A child had wandered from: the se- curity of his mother's potato -patch, .The afternoon was a silent infinity of shimmering heat, but in the field beyond the garden the young grass had begun to grow sweet again after bay -time, making a cool lawn in the waste of, July. Nothing moved across the flat..gxeen face of the field except a few flicker- ing butterflies electric with sunlight, odd scraps of turquoise and lemon, tortoiseshell and ivory, soft and light es flying flowers. The child regarded them with apathetic interest, his eyes vainly hunting them, Once he took off his broad white sunhat and held i% poised, but the shadow of it had scarcely fallen on the grass before there was. a mocking bicker of yellow brilliance far away among the po- tato flowers. He listlessly put on his hat again and solemnly advanced across the field, his hands deep in the pockets of his mi ziatt,re trousers. The sun -hat, too large for him, made him look like a little old man walking across' a vast bowling green in medi- tation. 'The butterflies seemed no longer to interest hini. It was too hot for him even to watch them. At the far end of the field stood a house, half -hidden by a .forest of flowerless lilacs, dirn laurels, and clip- ped fruit -trees. The faded yellow +bI'nds of the house • were drawn against the sun, and the doors stood shut and blistering, giving it a de. serted air. The garden was a wilder- ness of trees and sweet brier, untidy hollyhocks with shabby pink buttons just unfolding, blood -bright poppies that had sown themselves in thou- sands about the flower -beds and the paths and on the front doorstep itself. .The air seemed sleepy with poppy odor, but the brilliarti scarlet heads blazed like signals of danger. As the child approached the house he began to talk with a curious non- chalance. He squinted at something on a most distant horizon, and soin:- ttinmes he appeared to be searching in- tently for something in the grass or sky. The house might not have, existed. The child walked towards it with perfect, aimless innocence. Nevertheless, that innocence was suspicious, for he walked in a perfect line to a point where the garden fence had brtken, making a gap large enough for a dog to squeeze through under cover of the lilacs and laurels. 'As he approached the gap his inno- cence became ang. Tic. He steeped to pick a white cloverblooin. He sniffed it languidly, plucked another ,and sniffed that also. He' wandered in beautiful rings in the grass, ostensib- ly searching. All the time his eyes were upon the house, wickedly furtive end longingly alert. He presently sidled sleepily towards the gap. In his sleepiness he appear- ed to be not only innocent but blind. Nevertheless, his eyes in one swift flicker took in the. same emptiness of the field behind him and of the gar- den ahead. He vanished suddenly through the hedge with a flash of white, like a rab- bit. He crawled through the mass of trees and brier on his hands and knees and finally emerged into open sun- light, blinking like a man stepping out of a gloomy jungle. There he staggered to his feet and stopped. His eyes had lost their look of suspiciously angelic innocence. They were filled with caution and wonder, with guilt and pleasure. They gazed with a new unflickering inten- lsity. Before the child stretched a plaza ttation of raspberries, row after row of green and red luxuriance. Sexing them he had eyes for nothing else. He seemed for one moment paralysed by the crimson burden of the tall, thick canes. At home, side by side with the potatoes, his mother also had a plan- tation of raspberries, ripe, thick, aid lovely as these. To the child, however, the raspber- ries that his bother grew seemed sud- denly despicable. Moreover, she had forbidden hint fearfully to touch them The fruit before him was larger and More luscious than his mothers could ever be, and as he caught all at once the strong fragrance of the fruit and eaves in the warm sun his mouth was tortured, He plucked a raspberry. It melted iswiftl'y in his mouth like snow. Once agreat fish -net had covered the plan- tation, but the stakes had rotted away Minilitmeranmetorsisleituninewii and the net had fallen into useless tangles among the canes. There was nothing to stop his progress into end. less raspberry avenues, He walked at first furtively, stopping to listen, but the garden was silent and safe and deserted. Nothing but himself moved, and presentely he walked more boldy, rustling the Leaves cateless).y with his eager limbs, AU .the time he ate. He ate as though in a race against time or light. A: first he swallowed one by one, ber- ries that 'were like great crimson' thimbles filled with blood. Tiring of their very inagnificenee, he gathered smaller, sharper fruit and ate it by handfuls, tossing back his head and crimsoning his lips. There came a moment when the taste of even the loveliest fruit seem- ed curiously dead. He paused and sighed heavily and licked his lips, drunk with fruit. It marred to him to take of his hat. He began to walk up and down the avenues, filling it. There was still no sound or movement in the gat c:on ex- cept his own rustlings among the leaves. The juice of many raspberries began to stain .the whiteness of his sun -hat. He did not notice it, He was drunk with forbidden bliss. It happened suddenly that he came to the end of an avenue and there ;coked up. Beyond him stretched an open lawn, deserted and poppy -sown. He regarded it with the brazen indif- ference of reckless conldence, He plucked a raspberry and ate .it with lips, as though to defy the last dan- gers of the place, He turned to pluck another and stopped. A pale object, like a menac- ing vision, had appeared over the raspberry canes behind him. It was a panama hat. He gazed at it for one zecond with giddy astonishment. It moved. His heart leapt. A moment later the panama hat bore down upon him with noises of stentorian rage. The child fled. He darted down an avenue of canes with a wild terror in his heart, scratching himself and run- ning blindly. All thetime he was conscious of pursuit by the panama bat. He was terrorized by cries of rage and threats of annihilation. He stumbled and dropped his hat and dared not stay to pick it up again. Out in the field he paused for an agonized moment to take breath. Be- hind him a roar of rage was hurled like a cannon shot from amen the raspberries. Glancing back, he saw his white sun -hat picked up and brandished angrily. He fled with frightened speed across the field. The voice of the man pursued him. He dared not glance back. He ran. with unresting desperation until he could pause behind his mother's fence with security again. But even there he could not zest. He was trembling and exhausted. Finally however, he took a Ieng breath, and with a great effort nonchalantly strolled. past the potatoes and by the raspberries to- va; ds the house trying to look an- gelically at the sky. It happened that as he came from behind his mother's raspberry canes she herself emerged from the house. She was a wide, powerful woman, with a black, suspicious gaze. Seeing het, he stopped. That pause was fatal. She swooped down upon hin instantly. He remembered in that moment all the warnings she had given him about ber raspberries. how rr.ery times had she not warned him that if he laid e finger on them she v: onid flay him? She bore down on ltim as the panama hat had borne down on him in the garden. TI•r wrig- gled futilely to escape, but this time there was no escape. He made frantic signs of 'imiueence. 'I'll learn you!" she shouted. "X didn't—I never!" he moaned. "Look at your mouth!" 'she cried. She seized him mercilessly. His guilt was so vivid on his. lips that she belabored him until her arch whipped up and down like a threshing -flail. The child, as he howled his inno- cence of a crinie he had never com- mitted, dismally observed across the field an approaching figure. It was signalling terrible threats with a white hat.—John 0' London's Weekly. The American refused to be im- pressed by London. -'Slow kind of place," he declared to the English- man. who was showing him round; "no hustle like there is In New York." A minute later the visitor was haul- ed on to the pavement as a fire - escape dashed past, "What's that?" he asked in a startled voice. "That," said the Englishman, "was just the district 'i vindow-cleaner working a bit late." "A Clever Young Miss" Laverne Burden, five-year-old piano wonder, of Ohio, recently made her proud parents prouder still when she was requested co go to Chicago to have her playing recorded. Interesting Facts It is not generally known that the royal family of Great Britain is not supported by the nation: Kieg George gets nothing out of public taxation; he is not paid any salary. There are l..rge estates in England which have belonged to the Crown for centuries. From George IIT. to George V., in- clusive, the .lovereings on their ac- cession turned over the Crown estates t, the nation in return for a fixed annual payment called the "cicil list." The present king's civil list amounts to £470,000 and the provisions for members of the royal family (which includes £25,000 for the Duke of York but nothing for the Prince of Wales) to £83,000—in all £553,000. The sur- plus revenue from the Crown estates in the year ending March 31, 1927, was £1,010,000, which was paid into the British Exchequer. From this net sum no deductions were made for ad- ministration. If King Georgi had retained the estates he would have hag. a net revenue of £1,010,000, so actually he presented the nation that year with £457,000. Hay Fever Relief The news announced by Dr. Isabel Beck of Mount Sinal Hospital in the Medical Journal and Record that hay fever can be relieved at home by means of a filter which removes dust bacteria and pollen from the ai ,` Y news -at alls hardl Cit' 1zay' ; Y sufferers have long known. that:111e best place for them is an air -Condi- tioned motion picture theatre. For the air supplied to the theatres is not only cooled but washed and there- fore treated with a thoroughness beyond the powers of the. much cruder apparatus described by Dr. Beck. It must be admitted, how- ever, that it would be asking too , much of any hay fever patient to sit forty-eight hours—even if programs were that long—while a Hollywood versioir of a gangster's career flashes past on the screen. And according to Dr, Beck, marked relief is actual- ly a matter of forty-eight hours. Although ragweed pollen is main- ly responsible for hay fever, many odorless flowers of weeds and grasses are to be shunned. Dr. Ivor Grif- fith of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy makes the point that the pollens of aromatic Rowers are too heavy and adhesive to cause hay fever. They must be transported by bees and insects in carrying out the process of cross-fertilization. It is the wind-borne pollen that is to be feared. He finds that by rubbing various pollens into scratches on the arm the one to which the hay fever sufferer is peculiarly sensitive can readily be detected by the welt that it raises. Alcohol solutions of this pollen in small doses confer a fair amount of immiuiity, Logic "I put .butter on the cat's feet as you suggested, but he's run away just the same," "What sort of butter did you use, mum?" "As far as I can remember, it was Danish butter." "There you are—what can you ex- pect? He's well on his way bo Den- mark by now," MUTT AND JEFF— By BUD FISHER 6oT YOure CARD 5AYIf3G You HAD opeklets up A 4rrrt-E GTCRE- so BEiNG Youta Beal" FtZiChfo r'M GGNIVA TOSS YOU. SOME. 13U51NGSS.1koW nJc -I EGGS? A gUAt2TCR ADozatJJ: CRACK6'D GGGs ARG Twef,1TY CENTS A bo2CN: jvafvt; RP Ck'Eb EGGS ARE FIVE cceeTs A boze.N cHEAPGR. Ate 7NE QUARTER EGGS OF A `BETTER QUAuTY S Mystery of the Morgue Before the New York Evening Post moved to West Street, it was known as "the old lady of Vesey Street." Everything was prim and proper about it. A few years ago, before the reorganization of the filing system, there was occasion in the office to look up clippings of the Wall Street explosion. The hunt immediately be- cme complicated. Nothing was to be fo ind under "Wall Street," "Explo- sions," "Disasters," "Bombs," or even "Reds." Finally they telephoned to the home of the former archivist, re- tied. "Where in the name of the Villard family," demanded a frantic editor, "did you file the clippings of the Wall Street explosion?" "Ah," said the old gentleman, "look in the letter M cabinet. You will find it under `Mishaps'." -New York Morning Telegraph. THE STEP LOWER Little Dot came home flushed with excitement. "Oh, mummy," she said eagerly, "there's a carnival on in the town next week! Can I go as a milkmaid?" Mother shook her head. "No, my pet," she replied. "you are much too young for that." Dot looked thoughtful. "I know, mum," she said, after a while; "can -I go as a condensed -milk-, maid?" His Gift A man who had not been very good during his earthly life died, and went below. As soon as he reached the nether regions he began to give orders for changing the positions of the fur- naces and started bossing the imps around. One of them reported to Sa- tan how the newcomer was behaving. "Here," said Satan to him, "you act as though you owned the place." "Certainly," said the man; "my wife gave it to me while I was on earth." First Lodge Member: Looks as if you had been. dissipating. Second Lodge Member: I didn't get to roost last night until near- ly sunset. A crotchety Yorkshire farmer had a dispute with his neighbor and went to his solicitor about it. "Aw want thee to write a letter," he said, "and tell 'im that all this nonsense 'as got to stop." "Very well," said the solic-i tor, "and what do you Want me to say?" "Just tell 'im," replied the farmer, "that 'e's the blackest, low- downest, lyin'est, thievin' scoundrel on earth, and then work it oop a bit until tha feels tha can say summat really rude to 'im." Latest Findings In Science World ,study Made of "Hunches" Which, Lead to Discov eries—Trees of New York Discevery.of Brunches The "hunch" or intuitive flash of genius received its share of atten- tion at the recent meeting of the American Chemical Society at Den ver, A questionnaire sent to 1,500 re- search workers by Professor Ross A. Baker showed that inspiration is highly regarded, .although a minority thought it useless. Dr, Robert A, Milliken was quoted as saying that Einstein's photoelec- trio equation—the one that is practi- cally applied in designing the cells used in television—sprang from a mathematical hunch. One research- er in electricity confessed that the solution of difficult problems came to him on awakening from a sound sleep, the 'refreshed mind apparent- ly grasping what did not suggest it- self in hours of previous concentra- tion. A Cornell graduate announc- ed to a genial company his decision, reached with his professor's con- sent, to give up a problem. Then the solution flashed upon him. Some of these chemical Itousseaus confessed that hunches came while walking to work, fishing, bathing, dreaming or relaxing after dinner. Coffee and tobacco were considered an aid to inspiration, but not alco- hol. Apparently the organic chemists were especially given to hunches, their science being so incompletely theoretical that they must rely more on a kind of instinct or inspiration than on cold logic in selecting the most promising of a series of pos- sible synthetic compounds. The man who seemed to rely most on hunches wrote that at 4 P.M. he placed the failures of the day all be- fore him and looked at them "in- dividually, collectively, vigorously and generously," Thus a mental pic- ture was created that he could not escape. "The beakers do not seem to con- tain molecules, but rather maggots crawling where they will and out of my control," ho proceeded to relate. "Then. I go home. By 11:30 P.M. the house is quiet and I hear only the sound of manhole covers as automo- biles pass over them. I am rested, relaxed, wide awake and under the influence of coffee and tobacco. The picture stands out, the maggots be- come molecules and I have a basis for a new day's work," The skeptics were scathing in their appraisal of inspiration. "We certainly would not apply this 'method 'fin aging securities," argued one, quite forgetting that the public in general does buy on hunches, To another, revelations or hunches were signs of an immature mental devel- opment. It Is hard to draw conclusions from the varying experiences, But this one seems justified: Hunches, inspi- rations, revelations come only after deep concentration. The machinery of the mind seems to have been. started to keep on working even when we have temporarily thrust the problem aside. 'When the solution comes a message is flashed to the conscious mind that it has been found. How New York Got Its Trees A study recently made by Dr. John S. Kimball of the New York Botani- cal Garden shows how much we owe to the vast glacier that crept down from the north millions of years ago and gouged out 2uuch of Lake Cham- plain and the region south. Not only did the ice carry scouring b,old- ers from the north, hut seeds as well. • New York's vegetation, there- fore, came from the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. No tree, no soil could withstand that relentless sheet of southward moving ice. When It melted, the seeds from the north sprouted where they bad settled in an exotic soil ready for new vegeta- tion, "Southerly winds, as a result of the cool air from the glacier flowing into take the places of the rising warm air southward and floods re- sulting from the melting ice -front at the edge of the glacier both helped to push or carry the seeds of trees further south, gradually extending their former ranges," Dr. Kimball re- ports. "The agencies of migration were also doubtless aided by the birds and mammals moving south - What New York Is Wearing BT ANNEBELLE WQRTHINGTON Illustrated Dressnutkinq Lesson ruse. Wished With Every Pattern Here's a cute model with all the. earmarks of French chic yet is as simple and smart and is practical as any tiny girl would wish for. Light navy blue wool jersey made the original. Isn't the inset yoke cunning? It is vivid red jersey. The circular skirt gives smart em- phasis to the brief bodice. It is as simple as falling of a log to make it! Style No. 3302 may be had in sizes 2, 4, 6 and 8 years. Size 4 requires lei yards of 39 -inch material with '4 yard of 35 -inch contrasting. A plaided woolen in yellow and brown with plain brown is fetching. Then again in wool challis with white pin dots and vivid red contrast- ing, it's adorable, HOW TO ORDER PATTERNS. Write your name and address plain- ly, giving" number and size of such patterns as you want. Enclose 20c in stamps or coin (coin preferred; wrap it carefully) for each number, and address your order to Wilson Pattern Service, 73 West Adelaide St., Toronto. ward to escape the advancing cool climate." Eventually many of these seeds reached Florida and the Gulf States, Some of them sprouted there and thrived, As the glacier finally receded and the southward -moving agencies of dispersal diminished, the plants that had been carried down from the far North began gradually to creep northward again. Some, if they reached the South at alt, died there, Others—about thirty important trees —distributed themselves all the way between New York City and the Gull States, Those that could not stand the Southern temperatures doubtless migrated all the way back to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, distributing themselves plentifully around New York City on the way. A TRICK IT. Angus came home from the office feeling in a generous mood. "Maggie," he said to his wife, "to- night I'm going to gi'e ye a treat. Here's a ticket for the Plaza Theatre". "Mon, but that's right royal o' ye," she said happily. "What's the show all about?" "There's a coujurer there," replied Angus darkly, "and when he comes on to do a trick in which he takes an ounce of flour and one egg and makes twenty omelets, watch him very closely and see how he does It" LIFE IS HAPPINESS To exist is to bless, Life is Hap- piness. In this sublime' pause of things all dissonances have disap- peel•ed. It is as though Creation were but one vast symphony, glorify- ing the God of Goodness with an In- exhaustible wealth of praise and harmony . , , We leave ourselves become notes in the great concert, and thio soul breaks the silence of ecstasy, only to vibrate in unison with the Eternal Joy! Eggsactly Right No. lie. CRACKED EGGS /vizz& SUst J�5 mesl•4 AS 11ie csuiere S S rico CI AckMC A 'hozs-(.,, MUT a f f �q 1," f f You Ga"l" PEM k▪ . 1 l,, Attu F v� `.ho 8 VI