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Zurich Herald, 1923-12-13, Page 3tonics About.. WellIK nowlu People: The Queefl'4.,Brother.. In becoming Gove. rnor-Cieuera1 ' .of Solite Ai'i'ice, the' . Earl of Athlone, brother of Queen Mary, will be taking •-r up a high poet which, in another Do- minion, he might have occupied nine years ago, Ile was, in fact, nominated Governor-General of Canada at the outbreak of war, but waived the ap- pointment in orderto goon active ser- vice, The 'Earl is pf a retiring nature, and outside military affairs his interests Ile in philanthrapie work. He has proved himself a "live'.'. chairman of the Middlesex Hospital, and has, been personally responsible for designing many of the striking posters calling ,attention to the hospital's,needs. One of the Earl of Athlone's most popular stories concerns General Tuck- er, his former G.O.C., who was noted for his lurid language: In the South 'African campaign the General happen- ed to meet a war correspondent who was carr"tying 'a camera. "Hello! What the blankets -blank 'have you got there?'" inquired the sol- Bier. "I'm sorry to say it's only a camera, replied the corresipondent, adding: "If I'd known I was going to meet you I would have brought a phonograph!" The Ripht Spirit. '' A short time ago Lord. Beaverbrook, the newspaper proprietor, told a de- lightful story of his aged mother, Mre, Aitken,, who lives in London. A friend of his met Mrs. Aitken for the first time, and remarked to her: "Mrs, Aitken, . I have •the honor of knowing your distinguished eau." Her reply was: "Indeed, I am very glad. Which son-" "This., said Lord Beaverbrook- "is the spirit in whioh mothers should bring up their sonar" • The New Caruso. One of the finest tenors in the world, 1VIr, Joseph Hislop, the young Scots- man who bas been dubbed "the new Caruso," can look back upon a remark- able career. When he left school he joined a firm of engravers, as he was, interested in portrait painting. "Do you realize that you have a for- tune in your throat?" a music teacher asked him while he was working as a clerk in Stockholm. Hislop was in- credulous at first, but a few years' vocal training produced astonishing results. His engagements, for four years are said to have been worth $600,000, The Welsh Patent Fuel. The present day conditions of the patent fuel trade in Wales night be studied by .Canadian miner& and capi- talists with some advantage; this trade, however, is. very dull in Wales to -day, due to a combination of con- ations, some of which are temporary, and some. of a more permanent na- ture. It a-ture.'It would appear that the econo- mic conditions in Wales brought this product up to such high prices, during 1919 and 1920, that it had the effect of making Continental purchasers look for a (substitute wherever possible. Italy, Sweden and Norway, and Swit- serland have developed their water ,power; while France and Spain have atarted :local industries from. low-grade coil.' 'France has helped her indus- tries • along by informing all the State- owned railways that they must use local patent fuel whenever practic- able. The • selling price of patent fuel is controlled to a great extent by the dif- Terence between the market price of local dust and :large coal; to -day this is about $2.76, which amount must s ,. , ,pay all charges, and provide , a,• profit for the manufacturer. The' largest single item is for the pitch binder, which amounts to $2:25 per ton at the ... present prices; so this meagre differ- ence of 50, cents must pay all other charges and in addit on, a ;profit eeon.- sequently for time dine being, at least, the position looks rather. hopeless. As. pitch••Is' a residue from .the' dis- tillation of coal -tar for other more valuable products•, it is difiiot It to'de- termine the actual cost of production; as a result the price is set by demand, and is all the traffic will stand: The " demand both in the United States and on the Continent for coal - tar a..4.4,road material Is so great that itsutilization for patent fuel is practi- cally prohibitive. The solution of this particular :situation ivauld seem. to bo the immediate research work to And a new and less'` expendive binder than coal -tar. Owing to the coal strike in the 'United States and the consequent con- sistent rising "cost of Pennsylvania Anthracite, the Welsh patent fuel manufacturers have developed a suc- eessful trade in Eastern Canada (which trade they will do their best to retain). In this Canadian 'trade . only the small size briquettes' or ovoids, 'are Bold, as' it is not practicable to use pure anthracite in the larger sizes of patent fuel,- There is complete com- bustion with the Welsh patent fuel; With. no clinker, and the present price of $18.6.0 per ton, . this fuel ream- , mends itself. Real "Best -Sellers: ' What is the most popular book in the world? ' If we take the test of translation, the weeks • of Shakespeare have been • translated into nearly forty languages, and Homer ;hab been rendered into over a score. The blind poet, however, does not run Shakespeare so close as does an- otber Englishman; Daniel Defoe. The public was recently reminded of the number of editions of this writer's masterpiece, and 'of , bow much some of them are prized by collectors, ,by the announcement that ai English lady, the late Mrs. George Morrison, had bequeathed to her son "her col- • leaden of editions of 'Robinson Cl•u- aoe.'' e7' And a still more fahious col- lection, that built up by Ml, W. S. Lloyd, of Philadelphia, contains edi tions in thirty-three different fang-' uagos, including Latin, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew.• If we take the test of Circulation in ingiishspeaking countries, the novels od Dickens are perhaps the most popte "lar of the classics, : They certainly' continue to command a wide sale. Bit i►1 point both of sales and traits- latiaiis, there is no book .le the world • that even approaches the teible, It etauds in a class absolutely alone, According to the recently-published -reiiort of the British and Foreign Bible Sooiete, the nunlber of Bibles and lasesements in English and Welsh bought last year showed an incrdase of 317,000, as ooniliared With 1921, tine total belttg 1,101,574, The Message. Red and green and gold and brown, See the leaves come eddying down; While the lawn, so trimly kept, Is bestrewn with nature's gay Mixed confetti where the grey, Patient gardener lately swept. Earlier the land was white With the frost that came by night, Winter's stealthy, silent spy, Reconnoitring all the land Where, beneath that iron hand, Autumn's splendor shall go by. Branches in that cruel hold Seem to shiver with the cold, And the early morning breeze Strews their glories thick and fast, Till there shall remain at last Only gaunt and naked trees. Naked? Nay, but closely set With a million buds that yet Tell ofhope ..and life and spring, Through the night of frost and snow These shall slumber on to know Nature'a glad awakening. The Vine. Love is quaint like columt tne, Queer and new like irises Among moon-faced flowers; a vine All original, like these. And it matters not a whit:. What it climbs on, I am told; Anold shed. will do• for it— Or t Or a pillar cased in gold; So it have, till it be grown, Something. for a trellis,—good! -- Old love can climb round its own Twisted honeysuckle wood. -Abbie Huston Evans. Brain -Power Secrets. Large foreheads do not always mean large brains. The man with the dome- shaped head may after all be merely an ordinary individual of no particular intelligence. Dr, Bernard Hollander, the famous medical psychologist, disclosed some of the secrets of brain -power in his presidential address to the Ethological Society. The frontal lobes—that part of the brain behind the forehead—are the chief,centre of intelligence and capacity, and they are of greater com- plexity and of finer architecture than any other part of the brain, he de- clared. "Large frontal lobes, however," he added, "do not necessarily signify superior intelligence, for there are other factors which have to be taken into account. The quality of the brain structure, the state of its blood supply and nutrition, the conditionof the bodily organs may all influence mental energy. "The size of the body hasralso some relation to the size of the brain, though not to the extent frequently assumed, for the body varies in size and weight at different periods of life, whereas the brain undergoes no corresponding change." The destruction of the frontal lobes in man, through accident,produces curious effects, People so injured for- get all they have learned, and cannot learn anything new. Dr. Hollander quoted instances of patients who, after an injury to the forehead, lost all memory of five years past. and of others who, while remain - I ing normal in other ways, forgot all the special knowledge relating to their occupation. Another characteristic of such injury is cheerfulness and undue hilarity, ille CI II �, rte. -•-•� . An' Ample Sill "You seem to consider you' hotel bill outrageoris- what's it for?" "For the lintel, Y' thiiak," -AND THE WORST I 111 )Id a. 'see , n.,, % �-s�lf1 by W r B� I The Changing East. The old phrase, "the unchanging: East," seems distinctly unhappy in view of recent events in the Orient. Following the awakening of Republi- can institutions in China, and; now the Ottoman Empire has • followed the. Celestial into the dim land of all the yesterdays. By the proclamation of a republic, of which Mustapha Kemal Pasha has been chosen first president, Turkey has broken definitely with a tradition which has endured through long cen- turies. Since the conquest of Egypt by Se- lim the Grim, the Sultan of Turkey has also been the Caliph; and, as such, the spiritual leader of all Islam• This "doubling" of temporal and -spiritual dignities gave to the old rulers of Tur- key a power and influence only parole. leled- by the union of secular and re- ligious authority in the persons of the Roman. emperors, The passing of the Sultanate thus rearks,•a definite epoch in history. For wever great powers may be wielded v the President of the Turkish Re- s ,hylic, he can never exert the same Ili` luence throughout the Mahomedan world, or make the same profound ap- peal to Islamic sentiment, as the Caliph -Sultans of the old dispensation. Willie's Guess. Visitor—$'How do you do, Willie? tare 'come to stay at your house a, week and I'm sure you can't even guess who I am:" Willie—"I'11 bet one thing." Visitor—"What?" Willie -"I'll bet you're no relation of,.father's" THE SERVICE STATION I drive up for a quart of gas, upon my costly tires; my car, of shining tln and .brass', such nourishment requires. And, blithe young men in spotless white come tripping to my van; their smiles are glad, their eyes are bright, they love their fellowman. They fill the works with sparkling oil, the tank with luscious juice, and they're exulting In their toil, they're glad to be of use, They fill my tires with priceless air, they eee the wheels run true, they're dodging round me everywhere, to see what they ,can do. The young men selling gasoline make life a brighter thing; they have the graces of a queen, they chortle and they sing. If they have grief or narking woe they hide the same away; they smile like Mona as . they go about my panting dray, They welcome me, when I draw nigh, as though I were a peer; and when 1 leavea fond good -by is ringing in my ear. I burn up all the gas > can to give me an excuse for driving up in my old van and buy - evince, to see a bunch of blithe young men pretend that I'm a princeing. My Littleness. Two pinholes in the curtain. My eyes; . Two ' weeds flapping in a field of corn. . . My hands. And in the distance like a foghorn blowing My heart. • I am no bigger than mountains, Or mightier than stars, The Syhinx smells of me familiarly, Daisies touch lips with me. , I shall be dust soon. —Lourelne A. Aber. Even With the Judge. A certain judge was once obliged to sleep with an Irishman . in a crowded hotel in America, when the following conversation took place between them: "Pat, you would have remained a long time in the old country 'before you could have slept with a judge, would you not?" "Yes, your honor," said 'Pat; "an of think yer honor would have been a long toime in th' auld country before ye'd been a judge, too." Not to be Compared. Ralph, aged 5, was afflicted with ear ache and screamed frantically with! pain. "Hush, dear," said the mother. "don't cry so; it only makes. it worse. Don't you remember how nice little baby brother behaved when he had the earache? He didn't make half as much fuss about it as you are make ing,,, "What deers, the k -kid know 'bout ear-a-acher;t laobbed Ralph. "H -his ears ain't half as big as m -mine." • Worry! Wouldn't you? "Why are you so worried over the' loss of your purse?" "Great heavens, man, my wife'l1 have to come home from the shore two weeks before the time!" Sheep=dog' A11 my life I had longed to see the' trials of these wise dogs, on theWest= morland Fells. For once expectation was not disappointed. The sight was unique in its picturesque simplicity and reality .The scene set in the most suitable surroundings in the heart of the great hills. "'A green.val- ley gave on the one side an immense sloping stage, and on the other a per- fectly graduated: auditorium.. Plain boards, ranged in tiers on the ground, were all that was necessary to accom- modate the spectators: Above, the sunlight caught the tops of the hills and crowned them with emerald and gold. The dogs are not usually of the shaggy, `bob -tailed English type, but are often lithe, smoath-haired crea- tures of every sort of mixed breed— speed, endurance, and intelligence be- ing the qualities aimed at. The trials were announced to begin, on a black- board, in white chalk, freehand, and it was added that the time for each was limited, to eight minutes. In that space the dog, after reaching the three sheep let out from a pen low down on the opposite hill,had' to en- deavor ndeavorto guide his trio up the slope, past one white flag and between two others near the summit—something like half a mile in distance.. To drive sheep away from the shepherd ie in itself a difficult task, as a dog's in- clination ` and training area to bring them always back to his master. The. sheep have then to be brought down the slope between two more flags, across a road, through a narrow iron railing, and back into the field where the spectators are clustered on the bank, and where hurdles and the final pen have yet. to -be negotiated, • The dog is meanwhile guided only by such signs and whistles as the freemason- ry between him and his master have established, and the shepherd tethers himself at the starting -point with a rope passed round his wrist. Once dog and sheep are back in the final field . the shepherd may help. I3e plunges down the hillside ,and Joins his deg in the endeavor to drive the sheep through the hurdles, and then, by a narrow entranoe, into the pen where they must be finally folded; and all before eight minutes have elapsed. This allows for very little error on the .part of either performer, and it. was a beautiful sight to see the sheep- dog start, when the signal was given, like an arrow from a bow, The sheep are of the wild, mountain type—T1erd- wicks—taken from three ' different flocks, and each dog has a fresh lot to deal with. After tearing down the slope and halfwayto his quarry, the dog nearly always turned his head, i n cooking his ears and wa ti g for his master's bidding. With fingers in mouth the shepherd whistled a long- sustained rarryltig whistle, almost like the sound of a travelling rocket, and then softly fluted like a pitiih.g bird when a cautious follow on was ray rials in Wordsworth Country. By Melesina Seton -Christopher red, A •sharp, abrupt sound, Which , long, now short, to the ever -watchful nifies the dog Is to lie down, is one most Mtn war and impartaai sig eals. , .. With the long -drawn whistle, off goes the dorin close contact with the sheep, but the latter are by no means tractable. One will break away and ,bolt towards the bock it h,as left, and the dog will go whirling off in pursuit,. hardly ever failing to get ahead and turn the erring sheep back to the. right course. It wasmarvellous to note how the various whistles of the plaster guided the dog now to dart on quickly,' then to lie down, now a swift, circling movement and a slow follow on, all. punctuated by the sudden crouch whenever. the sheep showed signs of following the right course. Nearly all the signals between man and dog are confined to the various whistles and movements •of the shep- herd, but now and then a quick "What a' yoti Join?" "Steady now, lass," "Ga awe hint,' broke out, but verbal direc- tions lose marks to the •performers. The early days are past when dogs were in a state of bewilderment, and the, shepherd said, in an aside to his friend: "I donna gen how to talk to the dogs with all they teddies aboot" One of the best dogs we saw was of the collie type—a sinuous creature, black..and tan, with tender chestnut eyes, aged eight. He made no mis- takes whatever, but firmly and gently guided his charges with absolute obedience to every sign given by his master. The audience watched breath- lessly while the shepherd whistled and Crooned, now loud, now soft, now dog -As each difficulty was ,success- fuley^=averoarlrss -see >--orowd,"coraPase4. partly of visitors, brake into an 1n- voluntary avoluntary .storm of Clapping, instantly smothered in a rushing sound of "Hush:" from the' habitues, who know well how unfair such distractions are to man and dog. It was, however, ex- traordinarily exciting as the pretty collie brought the sheep into the field and eyes there joined by his master. Then the man made a cautious move- ment and the dog, at the signal, crouched. Then a slight motion, then a quick lie down, another inch length move and the nose of the first sheep was within the narrow aperture of the pen. Still the slightest false move- ment and the other two sheep might be off. The dog 'took another pace, then crouched again, and the two hesitating sheep cautiously stopped in, and all three were safely penned with twenty-three seconds to spare. The dog sprang forward with a joyous leap to be patted, and'as man and dog reached the •clapping, cheering line of people, the young shepherd grinned and . said simply: "Not s'bad that time." The dogs apparently give no fur- ther thought to the sheep as soon as success meets their efforts or the short, sharp, time whistle goes. The sheep are at once gathered up by a clever oollecting dog, whose job it is to do this all day, and who never in- terferes with them while they are tak- ing aking part in the tests, however near they come to him. The collie mean- while had retiredto the side of a tent, ODOM FELLER Ttl�.R. SAs(SNEE ZA "i kiNi� CCIO6ENNIAtPA 6�rct Y1L potstT' tct-lo J esiekaffsee OC (c' aNAtcif+N 1111I)4/4,l• .,.. ' where I saw him later receiving con- gratulatiw and graciously extending I.lus:, a ,.te3a sdzrirazes ,;M. _ , Other dogs, who did not quite achieve complete penning of the sheep in time, came in for their meed of ap• preciation, especially if their methods• were gentle. "Aye, yon's the lad, a grand .dog 'for' sheep; he'd never woe. ry nor hurry them," I heard, while comments on the shepherds were also equally outspoken. "Too keen, un emotional, artistic," were all critt. cisms from the initiated. The sleep. herds, for the most part, were young, well-built men in workmanlike clothes. One of them, picturesque in green corduroy breeches and gaiters, with a sprig of white heather in his cap. The different manner of approach of the dogs, and the extraordinary activity and capriciousness of the sheep, give an endless variety to the trials. One 'very young dog, only a year old, whose training must have included much inherited instinct, was entered, He flew from his master full of ens thusiasm and circled round his sheep in wide "casts" as they are called aol complishing now and then a point a1 the gallop, and then looking pathetical< ly puzzled, trying to understand his master's signals. Naturally one so young coald not compass bath sheep and course, but was voted "a promis. ing beginner." Some of the cheep are almost defiant in their attitude, and seem to challenge the dog as they stand and occasionally stamp a foot at him, or one will start a wild race in which, not infrequently, both dog and sheep take a toss together. If all three sheep start a regular bolt it is almost; hopeless for the dog to get there steady again for auy success -in the re., quired time. Now and then the sheep are steadily obstinate and start eat. ing, the dog meanwhile taking a seat by them, while the distracted master struggles to convey to him that the precious moments are flying. It is all that the most skilful per- formers can do to pen in the time: Of- ten only about one In ten accomplish the feat, bet the interest ill each trial is sustained until the very last in- stant. We sawtwo sheep successful- ly folded in the final pen, while the third started a regular game of "round rhe mulberry. bush" with the shepherd end dog. Ono realized a human being is not a successful barrier against e wilful sheep, ' While we held our breath with nervousness the dog, "Floss," found time to put in one joy- . us roll, and thea penned the last de- faulter in great style, apparently' quite unmoved by her briallant ,sue- cess, The best dog had itis sheep' folded in the marvellously short !space of five minutes, winning the Challenge Cup` as well as, the prize money. As we fleetly turned homeward we felt we had never seed a more intezesting Mid genuinely thrilling contest of animal sagacity and "good understanding be: iween' man and dog ---the Whole per. formance set fit ideally perfect stir-' rouudirs.