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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1924-01-24, Page 3Stories About W eH iown Peep; A E A E, SANCTUARIES Mr. Baldwin'a Boyhood. deliver their opinions. Next to this, My best friends as a boy were two bis most valuable asset is hie discre men who represented.two aides of life, the agricultural •and the industrial, One of; them was a dear old ' apple. cheeked shepherit; who could 'neither read.' nor write. The other' was a fac- tory worker who, by sheer bard work, rose. to be manager. Both these men were a great deal More intelligent than many a man Who has received a formai ,education: " These • words were spoken a few daYs,,ago 'by Mr. Stanley Baldwin, iu recalling his boyhood in. his native county of Worcester. Few people are aware that his family passed through' •critical times before attaining its pre- sent eminence, As Mr. Baldwin point- ed out, at one time only a few pounds stood between the family and ruin.• -Man of Many Secrets. When Mr. Baldwin and M.•P:olneare, the French Prime- Minister, met re- cently to discuss international affairs, only one other person was present at the interview—the Official interpreter, Who shares the secrets of most of the world's statesmen of to -day. The interpreter: in question is' M. Carnerlynok, distinguished French scholar. Probably no pian has.a more complete personal experience of • statosnien•than he has had in the past .five years, His feats of translation are the won- der of those who meet him officially. He interprets as' fast as the speakers. ifs tion. An intrepid Woman. A remarkable achievement, was that of Nfrs. George Duller, wife of the well- known English jockey, who the other day, at Brooklands, broke two motor - racing records, in the course of which she drove a giant car at a speed of over 106 miles an hour. Though not many men would Dare to attempt. such a feat, when she had finished the intrepid woman smilingly declared that she would do it again any'dayl A Place in Pariiament. Lady Terrington, M.P. for Wycombe, England, is one of the pleasant band bound to introduce a more harmonious note into debates whentired men get cross and angry. It is nearly six years now since, as a widow, she married again, her hus- band being the. heir of the first baron, who was a'mercilant prince, a lawyer, and a power in railway and banking' circles. Lady Terrington and Mrs. Wintritr - ham are the two Liberal women mem- bers. The Conservatives have three, „acid so have the Labor Party, so that there are now eight women in the House -Lady Terrington, Miss Bond- field, Miss Lawrence, the Duchess of Atholl, Mrs. Hilton Philipson, Miss Jewson, Lady Astor, and Mrs. Wine ringham. Will Attempt Round -the- World Flight. • British aviators wile try to match exploits with the United States air- men when the latter start their round - the -world flight from Seattle next. ,April, by a flight in tire opposite direc- tion. Equipped with a powerful: Vimy Am- phibean plane of , 460 horsepower, Squadron Leader A. S. McLaren, dis- tinguished British pilot, of long war and post-war experience, will attempt to circumnavigate the globe soon after the• United States teams start. lie will be accompanied by Fying Officer. W. N. ?lenberleith and Engineer -Sergeant Andrews, taro other veterans of the air. • As far as possible, ..the airmen will follow the route taken, by the late Sir Ross Snaith. The Sight is backed by the British Air Ministry, which has given the leaders •a special. course of training. The route willbe by way of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, Burma, China, Japan, the Aleutian Is- ^lands, Canada, New York, St. John's, Nfld., and thence to Greenland, Ice- -land, returning to London. It is. possible the Britishers• and United States fliers will cross .one an- other's path in mid -ocean, and the flight will create an animated friendly, rivalry between the United States and Great Britain for suremacy. in interna- tional flying. Apartfrom the credit of the first encirclement of the globe, the enterprise will form an interesting test of endurance for the .machines 'and engines. The British authorities recognize that the winning of such a triumph apart from its sentimental value,has a material side. They say the United States .Government also realizes• this, since the United States victory in the great Schneider seaplane contest here, which resulted in a tremendous ad- vertisement for the United States aero engine, and the placing of orders for these engines by foreign Governments. Sunlight Tablets. Fire -Proofing Wood. Wood is such a convenient material, on account of the ease with which it is worked, its relative strength, its low cost, and attractive appearance, that if it could be rendered flre-proof it would bealmost ideal for many pur- poses. The Forest Products Labora- tories of the Forestry Branch, Depart- ment epartment of the Interior, are investigating various processes for rendering wood resistant to fire. The Laboratories point out that it is possible, by impreg- nation- with certain salts, to render wood fire -retardant, that is to decrease its natural inflammability very con- siderably. onsiderably. It can thus be made ex- tremely difficult to ignite and the per- sistence of glowing embers can be pre- vented. This is an important step in the desired direction and in view of the progress already made, it is hoped that the processes may be made even more efficient. The British Admiralty is experiment - 1 g with a new extract, in tablet form, o watercress, spinach, and other green plants. It is called phyllosann, rind it may supersede lime -juice for the treatment of scurvy. Phyllosan is the discovery of Pro- fessor E. Buergi, 'of Berne University, and is made from chlorophyll, the vital fluid In plants which bears a close c emipal relationship to human blood eigments. "The theory of transferring plant energy to enfeebled members of the human race was expounded by Dr. A. White Robertson, the famous Army' surgeon, as long ago as 1912," said a London specialist, "'and Professor Euergi's application of it has been wel- comed at several Landon hospitals where patients'have been rejuvenated b3' a course of treatment." Its place in the Navy as a rival to. lune -juice will depend upon the speed of its action in strengthening blood that has been weakened by a lack of green vegetables and fresh fruit, ConspieUous success? itis claimed, bias already attended the Royal Air Force experiments' on troops in Irak suffering from scurvy, malaria, and general debility. And Wake Hlm Up, "why do you carry an alaruz cleelt In your machine, le rowel" "Well, when one of these inedhanide ,ales to get ender the Car I sat it to go off at the fund of as long te imp as I'm .tibio to pay fee—sae?" ALarge ---w=spy. "Mother," said a boy, "do you -know that there is a baby in this town that was fed on elephant's milk and gained seven pounds a day? It is so big that, it cannot be taken into the house, but is kept in a garden." "That cannot be true," . said the mother. . • "Yes, it is," replied the boy; "it is the elephant's baby!" The National Parks of Canada are a haven for wild life; where guns and hunting dogs are forbidden and where the animals have come to look upon man as their friend rather than as their destroyer. As a result wild ani - male are increasing in the national. parks of Canada and the graceful deer, the lordly bison and the always inter- esting bear live at peace in their na- tural habitat without molestation. At Jasper National Park, in. Alberta,. wliirb is 4.400 square miles in extent, Iand the largest of Canada's national parlcs, bears, deer, moose, mountain I sheep and goats abound, and the visi- tor finds also great numbers of small- er animals such as beaver, squirrel and others which are becoming quite tame since they realize that they are protected. At Wainwright, on the main line of the, Canadian National Railways, east of Edmonton, there exists one of the finest demonstrations of the feasibility of game conservation, for there, in the Jenny .ind:s Voice Dis- covered by Cat, A cat was reepele 'able for the e;erly' discovery of Jenny .Find's voice, When she was a little .g1r she' had 4, Pet, with a blue ribboli'relied its neck, to which she used to Mug sometimes in fi window looking out on a much-fre-' quented street In Stockholm, One day the maid .of a famous dancer heard leer and reported her "tete; and thus it came about that she was taken in hand and trained for musical career.. She was at that time, as she herself later wrote tothe editor of a biograph- ic dictionary, "a small, ugly, broad - nosed, shy, awkward, altogether un'• cIergrown . girl"; but she sang so beautifully that the Swedish govern- rnent paid •the costs of her musical education, on the condition that seg should in time give her seevices to the national opera. ' She was only ten when she first sang in public, Then for ten• more years she worked hard—so hard that she wrecked the beautiful voice with which she had been born.' in' conster- nation she went to Paris to seek the aid of the most famous teacher, Man- uel Garcia. His answer was •crushing: "It would be useless to teach you, Miss. You have no voice left." It was then that Jenny Lind "made herself" a great singer and a good musician—at first, with the aid of Gar- cia. He made her promise not to sing a tone for six weeks. Then he taught her how not to, use her voice incor- rectly—it was that, and not overwork, that had injured it. She had to start all over again from the verybegin- ning, singing scales up and down very slowly and learning how to breathe correctly. It took her ten months to recover her voice under Gareia's guidance; but that was only the beginning. To her teacher she was eternally grateful. And yet she could say truthfully in later years: "As to the greater part of what I can do in my art, I have nays self acquired by incredible work." Thirsty Liners. Few people would care to pay for a liner's drink for one voyage across the imals, in water ata cent er buffalo park, are some 8,000 an Atlantic, even p the growth from a herd of 716 which gallon. 'Very little change would be was purchased some sixteen years ago given out of $2,600. by the Canadian Government and al- One of the big. Atlantic liners has lowed to multiply in peace. So great to carry about 5,000 toes of fresh has been the development of the herd water for alleurposes for a single that this fall 2,000 of the surplus ani- voyage from Southampton to New mals had to be slaughtered, and in the York. This tonnage alone is about spring another 2,000 young buffalo are two and 'a half times the weight of to be moved into the northern hinter- Nelson's old flagship, H.M.S. Victory. land and allowed to roam at will there A passenger an one of these leviath- under conditions where they also will ans uses for drinking and domestic, be safe from ruthless hunters. purposes about five gallons a day on the voyage. And as these ships aver- age 3,000 passengers and crew, it A Woman's Nightmare. If you are sure to have plenty of time to -morrow, forget it. Rule of Health. A good human machine should not wear out in seventy years, says Dr MacCabe, the English army doctor' who has written on human life,its en- joyment and prolongation. Over against the opinion of the Psalmist he quotes Genesis vi, 3, "And the- Lord said: `•My. spirit shall not always etrive with man, for -that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be an hundred. and twenty years.' " Arguing from scientific analogies, Dr. MaeCabe points out that most of the higher ani- mals enjoy a life span, that is approxi: mately five times their growing period. If man falls short of that, it is mainly owing to some kind of intemperance, he believes. Moderation in all things is his rule of health. Taxi -motorcycles in Paris are said to be doing a brisk business. Fares are cheap, and the speed is astonish- ing. Some of the side cars have in- closed bodies. Whether they will con- tinue to be popular after the novelty of riding in them has worn off re- mains to be' seen. r• The Augmented Band, She. (viewing parade)—"That's the most: effective jazz band that has ,passed yet." He -"Don't you see why? They're siding in an old Ford." While you are on the lookout for a better job don't forget that your employer may have an eye open for a better man. The Town of Tenderhook.. The little town of Tenderhook Is scarcely more than just a nook Beside the road, • were children -play And old men loaf the time away. Six shabby stores, of churches twain, means they• have to carry, roughly, a week's water supply for a small coun- try town in tanks, neatly stowed away along the r4dos of'tbe ip. But it is the giant boilers that have the greatest thirst. On one voyage Beneath the elms a Lovers' Lane, the Berengaria used over 8,000 tons of A. schoolhouse Baldwin's Hill atop, water, or, at ten pounds to the gallon. Of course, a moving -picture shop, roughly, 672,000 gallons. And little more. Yet it's the place —t To which I long to turn my face And wander back, and there to stay,. And never more to move away. Oh, nothing there at Tenderhook Amounts to much, and yet I look Across the hills, and long to roam Back there to Tenderhook and home. • Always keep handy some cloth gloves, made just like babies' mittens, with separate thumb, but fingers all in one. Make them from old pieces of cloth. One in the living room comes It's a Fact. in useful if the fire has to be seen to or the hearth brushed up, while in "It just seems like New 'Y'ear's is for. the kitchen they are invaluable for making resolutions." taking hold of hot dishes, baking tins, "Not altogether. It's also for break etc. ing them." Mitratioii of Many of the birds which winter in Southern states and in South and Cen- tral America are now planning their northward migrations, They began to fly southward last July and many have raised families and taught them to fly since then. Sonia epeeles have con- tinued further southward with their young and taught them how to guide" themselves In migratory nights and how to plan and execute such flights, which must he undertaken every year. They are sometimes carried out in stormy weather and always require careful attention 'being given to the choice of route, resting places and food gathering. From the Earliest Times, Migratory habits in birds have been fixed since the earliest historical times, Homer and the early classioll writers mention certain observations Which were made on the tights of birds in Egypt, Arabia, Greece and Rome, ITomee noticed that when the weather is germ the'armee begin to iiee ire d'iiiliilloi' lands, The birds of Asia and the Nilo still visit Greece and Italy as they did e1a0101 times, acid 11i the New Werid we are enabled ee witaeas• every year eiin,ilar migretion3, but on a vaster scale, Why ire puns Miorato? Nesnerous theetlee have been ad- Yenced.to explain the causes prompt- ing the annual migration, The views of American naturalists suggest that lots before the glacial epoch, when the ere*, ice sheet Caine dh,Vit toward irds Trac the equator, there were innumerable non -migratory birds in America, But the changes wrought in the climate by the oncoming of the sheets forced the birds to Reek warmer areas upon♦ which to feed, The home -loving, or homing, traits of some birds caused thent to linger in their aid haunts me til - til their young were able to fly, and then they rejoined the ethers in the southiande. These early migrations were for only small lengths, but as the ice sheets spread further southward the migration of the birds increased. Thus the first impulsee to migrate were prompted by the need of seeking warmth and food abroad, Many other factors tame into play when the mi- gration areas became lengthy, and the numerous migratory phenomena were gradually developed in accordance with the evolutionary principles. The migrating birds learned how to adapt migration to conditions of life and safety, Migration among North Axnerican birds is now common to all spa. pies, and, in lnany cases, the migrants oover enormous distances. Travellers by Night. There are night, as well as day nil- grations,; although .some birds do not migrate at night, Ducks, geese, hawks, swallows and the house swift are. chiefly day migrants. Ducks and geese, however, sometimes fly during the darkness. The warbling birds, thrushes, fly- catchers, vireos, tanagers, orioles, sparrows and most of the shore birds migrate through the night, The night By Dr. A. S. Brown migrants find traveling most hazard- ous, and there are numerous casualties among them, There are birds which migrate sin- gly,but most birds migrate in Hooks. It io belieyed that the habit. of travel- ing'. in flocks -was etarted by the ,social instincts - of the birds, Protection against enemies and straying off the path afterward strengthened the flock - lee instincts, The lengths of migratory flights vary With the species. The Arctic to Glacial Period. known to take part in migrations di- rect from Labrador to South America. They spend several months in Argen- tina and Brazil, and then fly north- ward again by a different route. This northern flight is over Louisiana and Texas, and not over the Caribbean Sea. Thence they follow the Mississippi to the Arctic, taking a touch longer time by this route than by the sea trip. Sense of Direction, Naturalists have marveled at the capacity of migrating birds to find terns nest near the North Pole in their way when flying enormous dis- sumner and migrate to the Ant -arctic tances over land and sea, both by day iii the fail, a distance of more than and night, in fair weather and in 11,f100 mites. In a little more than five storms. They have advanced many months these terns make migratory theories to account -Tor it. The general flights, many of them over thousands opinion to -day is that it is due to a of miles of, ocean, without resting, ag- special sense of direction, coupled gregatieg nearly 30,000 miles! They with the quick use of sight, arrive at the North Pole in the middle A thousand dangers imperil the mi - of June, nest there and rear their grating birds. Many become separated young, and, about September 1, they from their fieok, lose their way and start migrating for the South Pole. are starved to death, Others, carried How the Plover Lives. away by winds, are dashed :against Tile plover,' in a single flight of lee- hills, mountains, trees or other ob- tween 2,600 and 3,000 miles, arrives in staoles and are killed, Every 1,abrador, where it nests and fattens house keeper, after every storm, has its eeeleg en the rich berry harvests. to pick up hundreds of birds which When the young plover are strong were dashed td death against the iight- enbugh to fly they are taken over the house, Some birds, when flying low St. Lawrence to Nova Scotia and New over water, are forced by wind or lengfand, and are fed on the wild berry other Causes, into the sea and are crops. Then preparations are made drowned. Whoever has seen the num- for the long migratory flight to Ber- ber and varieties of birds killed in mode, the Antilles or Venezuela. storms by prominent objects, like These flights are constant. There is some of the larger coastal lighthouses, Will get a good idea of the enorivout no stoppage night and day. The young golden plover, little more than two losses sustained by migratory ilocks months out of the shell, have beau when overtaken by a severe storax, 110 Mlles Per Hour. It is found that the fastest of all flying birds is the swift, Its night. over Bagdad has been proved to be over 110 miles an hour when chased by an airplane. Its ordinary migratory speed is about seventy miles an hour. Swallows fly nearly as rapidly as swifts. Measurements made In France by the airplane (which can outfly any bird), show flights of over 100 miles an hour. Their ground -level flights aver- age about forty miles an hour, The following average flight speeds have been worked out for the various species: The corvidae, or crows, mag- pies and ravens have a speed of be- tween thirty-one and thirty-five miles an ]lour; the entailer passeres, such as the wrens, thrushes, redstarts, shrikes end nuthatches, fly between twenty and forty miles an hour. Geese fly be- tween forty-two and fifty -flee miles an hour; pigeons end doves from thirty to thirty -see miles en hour; starlings between thirty-eight and forty-nine miles an hour; falcons and eagles be- tween forty and fifty miles an hour; duoks between forty -tour and fifty-nine inilea an hour; sand grouse between forty-three and forty-seven miles an hood and meet of the wading birds between thirty and fifty miles an hour. Bird speeds, as shown by recent ob- servatibns, consist chiefly of a normal rate for everyday purposes and migra- tion and an accelerated spead which is valuable for protection op pursuit, This Is often more that double the etotmal spend.