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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1915-02-19, Page 5i ',r�rrtri''�.,IrP-1:�•i?a3�.rh rr�'� 4 �s.'iai2iTi�1�T%11! ri.11u?4�,�fi/TtR;r�iT_ OLD l rriy p -are ri �. .. ,rr, •- •n-�- c -r r -r ^-1 rs r•r i , , ,La4 .A11 U r1. J -3.A J -i- .J A1.L 1 Ll a.� LrJ' d�l.JG Nrol, cines' the de laratiee el rear lied there been sigh commotion, in the little i elgiaa hamlet. The ex- 'cited grcln"ps gathered M the quaint rld street were talking of a• anatter that load touched every heart. 'Lys :Dekkert, fhe widow, who already had three ,woos lying hastily bugled, she knew net: where, was sending her Jast .soe, a. lad of fifteen, to the war. Ali eyes were 'turned tursard the tiny garden where the widow stood among her holly hocks and petun- ias, saying good -by to the boy: The village felt pride in the stoic petri- ritient of the old peasant another on whose face joy and pride shone bravely through the anark.e of recent borrow. "But, mother; you must take the money," the boy was saying. "You pest have spectac•Ies so as to use your eyes, . 1 shan't want the mo- ney, and you will get my pay every mantic," "But, tell me," • said the widow. "Where: did you get so much Me - net, ?" Well, 1 gut a little when 1 en- listed. And then 1—I sold the calf," Why did you do that 1 I'll be worry to have it gone. It would have been company, It will be lone- some here now." "You promised not to say that any more, mother. Besides, there will be newspapers to read." "The newspapers don't print the truth," said the old woman. "And I have been getting any news from the war fast enough without their help,' she added patiently. "Well, then, I am going to write you some fine, long letters. Coarse, mother; it's time for ine to go. Here's the money. Go to town to- morrow; if the roads are safe, and get your glasses, and then you'll be ready to read my first letter." The widow took the money. Then she kissed the boy on his forehead, and bade him farewell. She watch- ed his slender, boyish figure as he climbed the long street. He did not look back. Just before he disap- peared she remembered the ancient superstition that you should not watch the departing out of sight. She throw her shawl over her bead and hurried up the petunia -border- ed path into the silent, lonely house. The next morning Lys Dekkert hitched her great shaggy dog to his eart and drove across the fields to the market town; and 'there, after driving a shrewn bargain with the dealer, she purchased the cheapest spectacles in his shop. Then fol lowed days of loneliness such as she had never known. She tried to read the newspapers, but they were full of hard words, and spoke in a confusing way of :aranies as great machines. She took more pleasure in reading g hoar hook of prayers. But she was happiest when sitting in the evening at her door, with arms folded an,cf eyes ,gazing far away— eyes in which there was far more of memory than of hope. At such, times the always had her spectacles in their black ease on her lap, and she stroked thein from time to time with pride and affection.. They were the only luxury the had ever known, and they were the gift of her boy. The promised letter was long in.. taming, but .at last, one afternoon, a, neighbor's child Dame dancing down the street, calling out that• a letter had come for the widow, and waving the envelope in the air. Lys Dekkert rose from her chair among the hollyhocks with perfect dignity. and -book 'the letter from the child's hand,. She thrust it into the pocket of her apron and even stopped to chat with the little messenger a mo- ment. The neighbors should not know how muds her first letter meant to her. When the widow sat down again her heart was beating violently. Little specks •swam before her eyes as they used to do when she had lifted some great weight in the fields. Her hands trembled ass she put on the Masses. She. examined the envelope care- fully, and read with great pride her own name and the name of the vil- lage, written iii a, beautiful, bold hand. S'he had not known that her boy was to good a penman. .After turning the envelope over many times, the widow tore it open. And then slowly and laboriously the spelled out the letter : ".Dear Madam. I regret; that it is my duty to inform you'" that your. San. Bugler Karl Dekkeef, was kill- ed in action at --- five days. ago. The body was buried upon the field, `tWit]n sympathy, His Captain." The widow sat quietly while the evening sunshine faded from the tops of the hollyhocks, from the topmost branehggs of the lindens, and from the tall steeple of the per- ish ,chureli. :'[then when only farina flash tinged the iii w, Beet clouds, She rose and entered the hous She took off her •spe'etaoles and put them carefully in their neat, black case. She went to the shelf ilj inks above,: la I. helms= the ahere stood the e]oek that • had ,1� renc•hnapn•,- firing whoa lie c•uadd, ticked tett all the days of her life; while the Frenelunan,seeming to and those of her father before her. remain almost •Stationary, replied She .laic] the -spectacle vase lipun the with °c.t:tergy, - 1' Il I',i IiJ,I: 1,111 EN 'I'l�,I,l;(R Jl shelf beside the.clock. 1n fire t.a'en+slat ri oto retk laanlaa- r ' . It is dark now, J think 1. shall I looted soldiers and the spike-hel- not need ,roti any inure,• she said, meted (iermant .airier.' suslae>icie'l very tenderly. sniping operaticnas aand hallo ved •I --- t•hat.4cle+allla Sn'u'ggle with eaua:l enao- :111 1bo r c,A • Jdt sop an Naatloi1S Itt t P NUMEROUS PIGEONS OF INA :WIRES .I It E, CUT.. 'I',. 'I'1i1 'I'I' I' O;1' ' PR h.,a, lion. An in red untaes Ah. brake 1 from a thousand throats as a bi- Highly 'Trained la"eathercad JI as Sufl'ere ti, ureatiy 1''ro.11i (''aiYaine, plane emerged from the sande el oil ' „ , ,,, ,, that had hidden the1reneb mono•` 31t5ttn{,ana, Mane, and the Taube turned to ,Bush desperate Ji kiting has gene /lee, an round the 33elgian city of Ypres, ,.13ut'the :Fro) eh )cool>laiae pe r. because it is the only town of aro- M aced and it had the advantage portance that the Germans have not here, for the German aeroplane, be- taken. from the soldiers of King Al'- - bert and their allies. at has ap- peared so often in the news from the battle field of Flanders that some- thing about it will be read with in- terest. Although the old buildings el Ypres, including the Cathedral of St. Martin, the famous Cloth Hall, and numerous old houses, survived the ravages of time until the Ger- roan shells began to knock therm to pieces in October, the town itself has suffered more than most Bel- gian towns in the past. In the thir- teenth century Ypres was perhaps the most opulent town in the whole country, and its inhabitants num- bered 200,000. But famine, the plague, and the hand of invaders and iconoelasts played so much havoc with it that after the perse- cution by the Duke of Alva not more than five thousand people were left in it, and acres of ground that had been covered with houses hacl be- come a wilderness. Ypres, which the inhabitants pro- nounce very nearly "ee-per," with the accent on the first syllable, ne- ver really recovered from the cruel- ties of Alva, and although many of its former inhabitants afterward re- turned, the population to -day is not more than 17,000, The Cloth Hall, which fills about half of one side of the Grande Place, is about 450 feet long, and it will easily be under- stood that to a visitor standing at the far end of the Grande Place the people .at the other end look almost like pygmies, The building of the Cloth Hall began in the year 1200, but the hall was not completed until about a hundred years Iater, when it became the centre of a vast trade in cloth. In the middle of the last century it was carefully restored. Before its desltruction, it was chiefly used as a market, but the upper gal- leries contained 'some -.remarkable frescoes with subjects drawn fromi the history of the. town. Although Ypres contains a large nuMber of interesting old houses, it is not an ideal place for artists, for most of the houses are .surrounded by ugly modern buildings. The ex- planation is that in 1823 the munici- pal authorities decided to give sub- sidies to ,all owners who would pull down their old houses and replace them with new ones. At the same time the owners of wooden houses were prohibited from repairing them, and the order was still in force ten years ago. As a matter of fact ti large number of the houses at Ypres in the fifteenth century were built of wood; but, thanks to the municipal' order, they have all perished except one. In, the early part of the nine- teenth century Ypres was strongly fortified, but in 1886 many of the ramparts were destroyed to make room for new houses, which were, however, never built. Some of the ramparts still remain, and make very pleasant promenades. BATTLE OF FLYING MACHINES Soldiers Suspended Operatioms in Order to See Fight. A fight between. •two French aero- planes :and one of the new "armor- ed" German monoplanes, a. type which has only recently begun to appear on the north-western front, is described in a letter from a French Officer. He writes: "For half am r' hour the black Taube had been describing infernal circles over our lines, while our men pronched in their trenches, cover- ing With their bodies bayonets, mess -tins, .and, everything else whose glittering surface ✓night., betray their ,position. I alone stood up, ob- serving the energy through my field glasses. "Suddenly a . i+'renuh airman emerged from a cloud above the Taube. The dry bark of a mitr:ail- leuse announced that the French- man was attacking, The Taube turned tail without replying, but only to return to the. battle. "Then the two great birds charged head -en.. From below it seemed that they must meet in a terrible shock. Nothixig of the sort; the ernan, passed a little above the i ;, �endhnaan. machine , the a arch ins guns'. spoke. Carries 'apart by the speed of their eJaarge, like knights in a tourney, they swept about in great ciroles to renew the combat. "The I+renchnian hovered and waited; the adversary returned quickly with clever inanoeuvres, Plague and War. The practice of keeping c:arriet' pigeons in Iing]and without a.li- cense just now is very dangerous, - How necessary is this .precaution will be gathered 'from the following ing armored, was too :heavy for high l extract hi a journal recently : speed. " 1 carrier pigeon was seen t.c, 7`la•e French machine quickly j a• passed the fugitive, forced it to ; aught c:,ra the roof' of true artillery) turn and come again toward the'barracks ai .17orchester, where over Fren.ch•line where the biplane weeap thilusana German and .Austrian awaiting it. � pristmeas are nory ynartered. A ;sentry s "It passed near the latter, andshot it, and under its. 'wing Ger- again there was a bark of guns, bttt was found a healer written in Cxer man, Continental armies have long availed themselves of pigeon -posts. The best "Homers" are of Bel= gian origin, and come from the type known as the "pigeons -voya- geurs." Such birds are a Bross be- tween the smerle and the Antwerp cumulet. They were first intro- duced to England about the year 1835, and three lofts with accommo- dation for 000 occupants, were es- tablished at Dover. The majority of these birds were employed by t+he custom -house authorities for transmitting messages along the coast• apparently without decisive result. `'A.gain the French monoplane re= turned to the charge. Flying high over its adversary, it suddenly dived headlong upon it, seemed to touch it, and their—mounted again;. gracefully, in the air. At e, dizzy speed the Taube, mortally wounded, fell almost vertically into the Ger, man lines." OLD JUDGE DRILLING DAILY. Many Good Stories Are Told of Judge Cluer of London. It was characteristic of his Honor Judge" Oluee, of the Whitechapel County Court, London,, that he should endeavor to Set an example to 'laggard recruits by enrolling himself in the High Courts of Jus- tice Division of the Volunteer Training Corps, although he is sixty-two years of age. "I am now," said the judge a few days ago, "learning to present arms and drilling from seven to eight o'clock in the !morning, and I may say I feel an.uch more fit .and capa- ble for it than I did when I was forty years of age." Judge Cluer may be said to be one of the most unconventional and out- spoken of Metropolitan presiders over the magisterial bench. One day when a witness, who had been asked whether on a. certain occasion he was not angry with his wife, re- plied: "I have never been angry with my wife in my life." "You say so," interposed Judge -Cluer, ..but I could not honestly an, so,' And when the witness, in reply to a further question from counsel, said that he did not bully his wife, and that it was not ausual tthingto do, his Lordship promptly replied: "Don't talk nonsense. Lots of men bully their wives, and lots of wives bully their husbands." It was when a case cane before him to decide as to whether a boy— a cabinet-maker—who had refused to have an injured finger of his left hand amputated, should not in con- sequence be deprived of compensa- tion under the Workmen's Compen- sation Act, that Judge Cluer re- marked that it "would be long," to quote his own words, '`before he would subthit to mutilation while there w.as any hope." Counsel then endeavored to make out that the left hand was only the guiding hand of the work, after .all, "I know," replied Judge Cluer, smilingly. •'I have often used the small and large plane myself, and have usually done more harm than good to the wood. If I lost a finger of my left hand, I should still be able to write with my right hand, the only difference. would be that I should be more irri- table than usual." Judge Cluer, however, can be very saroastic at times. "Thus let- ter, .youe honor," said a solicitor one • day, "is very important. It will explain the ease very much bet- ter than I can." Judge Cluer: "Then why did they retain you 1 What .on earth are you here for?" And when a doctor remarked, in giving evidence, that "everything is possible," Judge Cluer replied, "No, it is not; or many a roan would lake to undo what he hes done." While, when counsel put a question to a witness twice, he was sharply rebuked, by the judge, who said, "If. you see ane asleep, tell Me; e; but do not assume it by asking questions twice." - '1' Sall from Sea Water. In the Philippine .Islands ealt is extracted from sea water by crude processes, The greater part is ob- tained by sun evaporation; a small proportion by artificial heat. The Chinese have introduced slightly improved methods.. About 40,000,- 000 pounds of .sande salt are pro diced annually. In the naounitain in e prov p c.s a small rluannty of guar- grade salt is produced by evapora- ting the water from ea.rbonated springs, but the supply falls fare short of the demand ,and the quality- is rarely satisfactrory. Poverty is not a' crime, bee the penalty is hard labor, just the same, Germany Has 200,000. Since Russia first setthe example the system of establishing military pigeon -:pests has been adopted by Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Bulgaria, ,Spain and Portugal. Of these countries, Germany has, per- haps, participated in the movement upon the largest scale. Thus, for years past, a sum of $15,000 a year has been set aside out of the mili- tary estimates for the upkeep and development of such a service, and nearly 200,000 feathered messe n- gers are now :available to carry the Kaiser's "ultimatums" and in- structions in the theatre of war. Beyond these army pigeons, all trained birds belonging to, civilians, even the pets of schoolboys and schoohgirls, are carefully registered and numbered; and may be com- mandeered.aby the War Department at any time. It is .also strictly for- bidden, under severe penalties, to sell, or send any registered bird out of the Fatherland. France has an even greater num- ber of military pigeons than Ger- anany. During the war of 1870, and especially during the siege of Paris, they were Sound of great value, when all other methods failed, in carrying messages to and from the provinces. The 'birds were despatch- ed from the ibeleagured city in ibal- loon,e and then set, Tree, each mess- age so entrusted to the pigeon post being limited to, twenty words. When sent off from the outlying camps .and garrisons they had to make their way into Paris over the heads of the enemy. . Austria has had a, military pigeedn-,post service :since 1875. 'Used in British Navy. So far as England is concerned, the value of carrier pigeons is per- haps more pronounced in the navy than in the .army. Some :twenty years ago a loft was first establish- ed in the Royal Clarence Victual- ling Yard at Portsmouth, and two others were opened by the Admir- alty at ,Sheerness and. Dartmouth. The original stock }comprised eleven birds. They were (borne, like sea- men, on the strength of the Royal Navy, and formed ,pant of the af- fiolal Naval 'Signalling Estaablish- mennt, fit was not until the beginning of the Boer War that the, War Office devoted any serious attention to the matter of transmitting de- spatches from the front, by means of feathered messengers. Experiments were anade and such satisfactory results were secured that a number oaf "Homing Antwerp's" were sent to .South Africa under the super- vision of a military. fancier. A rmcolu'mbarr' (the 'technical name for a loft) was established in Gape Town in charge of an officer of the Royal Engineers, The new arrivals were ;soon employed on active ser- viiee ;. several of them followed Sir George White into .Belease red Lady.>sanith, ITpee :the conclusion of the Sou'th African war our military authori- ties became so 'impressed with the advantages to he derived efrem a properly equipped .postal service, that a special loft ,was set up at A'l- derehot, and expert fanciers seen)", eel to -,train their inmates, Officers Were eileo Bent from sash unit in the camp to go through a course of in - street/en in the care and ananage anent 44 the birdie.1 pigeon -post as speeialJy vale- able when telegraph wires ate etrt or tapped, or when a garrison 'ham been .seized by the enemy. ' A N AFFECTIONATE PA.NTJHJ'JJt.. Followed His Maetei' Ei'erywhere Like a Dog. In the first volume of the "Mag zine of Natural History," Mr Bowdieh gives a most interestin account of a tame panther that wa in her possession for sever months, The tub, and another wer found very young in the fureet, ap parently deserted by their rnothea They, were taken to the Bing o Ashanti, in whose palace they live several weeks, when our hero, bein much larger than his brother, suf faceted hini in a fit of romping Then he was sena. to Mr, Hutchison the resident at JCamassi, by whore he was tamed. When eating was going un la would sit by his master's side an. receive his share with gentleness Once or twice he purloined a fowl but easily gave it up on being al lowed a portion of something else One morning he broke the cord bl which he was confined; the cast' gates were shut, and a chase began but after leading his pursuers sev eral times round the ramparts, an knocking over a few children b running against them, he suffered himself to be caught .and led quietly back to his quarters, • He became exceedingly attaches to the governor, and followed him everywhere like a dog. His favor its station was at a window in the sitting -room, which overlooked the whole town; there, standing on his hind legs, with his forepaws resting on the ledge of the window, and his chin laid between thein, . he amused himself with watching all that was going on. The children were also fond of standing at the window, and one day, finding the panther in the way, they united their efforts and pulled him down: He one day missed the governor, and wandered with dejected look to various parts of the fortress in search of him. While he was on this errand the governor returned to his private rooms and seated him- self at .a, table to write ; presently he heard a heavy, step coming up the stairs, and raising his eyes to the open door, behold the panther. At that moment he gave himself up for lost, for the animal sprang for him. Instead, however, of devouring him he laid"his head close to the gover nor's, rubbed his cheek upon his shoulder, lashed his tail, and tried in every way to -show his delight. es A WONDERF'CUL TREE. Produces flowers Which Are Dried and Eaten. A ,report :from Calcutta describes the uses made in India of elle ame- bae, tree, otherwise known as the malhwa, malwa, mowhe, mowa, mawra or illu,pei tree, which grows wild in the greater part of that country, and is also cultivated to some extent. A traveller has call- ed it the ",square meal" tree. The creaan-colored flowersappear from maturity about the end of Marcih. E•aoh morning about sunrise the suoc'ulent :corona. tubes fall in great showers to the ground, which has been cleared to receive them. The fall from a single tree continues far from seven to ten days, The flowers are spread out in the sun to dry, (their color changing to a reddish brawn, and their peculiar sweet odor becoming more appa- rent. Though eaten to a considerable extent, the majority of the crop is dried and cooked with rice or other grains. Mahua is extremely eweet, and not easily digested by persons unaoeus'tomed to eating it: Sugar and molasses are made from it. The report states that in the een- tral provinces alone about 1,400,- 000 people use manna regularly as an article of food, The flowers are also distilled .and ,produce a strong liquor, not unlike Irish whiskey hi flavor. The seeds of the same tree are used for: the. manufacture of airtimebutter, which is used for food, as a lubricant• and as an illuminant. s A a h n ie rn ti German Factories Waiting, Some indications of the industrial ituatto:n in Germany were given at a meting of t1;e. General industrial ssoolatieii held in Munich recently. h+e general feeling of the meeting ppeared to be that small nnanufactur- rs and traders were being overlooked n the general effort to revive econo- n ivit n lc C . a t 3 In his opening remarks he chairman observed that great dis- ,ess prevailed among- workers in fe,c- oa'ies not engaged in supplying the Beds of the army and navy and he re - ratted that officials and the • wealth - r members of the community were educing their purchase to the mini. inn, as well as refraining from put- ng utng work In ]sand. NOTES OF SclEf4C Straw hats can be oleane dampened cornmeal. Greece imports .every pound coal' that it eoaasuanes: The Baltic has the great w: record of all the seas, averaging a -day• England''e pe capita eonsuappt of codfish is the greatest of (10ui'atry The handle (if a now saw is instable to enable horizontal to be easily made. Copper ure hes been disoovere the Westananna Iolanda, which south of Iceland. Paint made from the oil of a des of 'Manchoorian bean is 'b water anti fire proof. A 'macbine has 'been invented beating carpet thoroughly as it stretched upon the ground. Jamaica annually furnishes fa 8,000,000 to 9,000.000 ibimobes of b nanas to the United States, Life size and very lifelike do are being made to instruct studen in handling human patients. One tablespoonful of lemon jui to two of water makes an efficie gargle for a sore throat, Rocks and .atone building are struck by lightning of magnetized by eieotricity. In some parts of Siberia n sold frozen around a piece of which serves as a handle to carry - The vacuum pain•oi.ple has bet applied to ajar to keep a subsea) tial meal hot or cold for mai:. hours, A ,su.bstantial prize has been o- fered in France for the aeroplan that can fly ,the fastest and also th slowest. To give a man working on a slam ing roof a level seat a stool he been invented that clamps secure to shingles. The world's most active volean is Mount Sangay in South America which has been inconstant eruptio. since 1725. A eombination of mirror, etlm and identification card to be a. ried in a person's hat has bee. patented. The latest in the line of -cone '• sihle baby carriages folds into box resembling a (uit ease r carrying Wire gauze is 'best for Clea fiat irons as the dirt passes thr : the holes and is not rubbed the iron. The development of the steam le 1 bine has made possible electric zee erators inure than twice the ,iz ' formerly used, There are about 1•?.000,000 at•r- of tillable lands in the Philippinee of which only about 7,500,000 ,u - are cultivated. Paris will erect two plants for 1 hi purification of drinking water wit). ozone, each with a capacity .,f 0,• 900,000 gallons a day. Sweden's waterfalls are estimar ed to. contain about 6,000,000 horse power, of which only about sixfeee per cent. is being utilized. Weather records compiled for more than a quarter of a century indicate that the atmosphere o Loudon is becoming less foggy. A patent has been granted for a chronomneter which has only ont dial, but by which the time Of aro city in the world can he told. One of the most luxurious vale cars in the world has built in England for the use official of a Chinese railroad, A. valve is fitted to thebotto: a new cooking kettle so that: we. may he drained from vegetable: without endangering its user. The introduction of electricity for power in the aSouth African gold mines has reduced. the .amount of tuberculosis among the miners. An Englishman has invented a, coin in the slot machine to enable a person riding in a, train t.o oscer, tain at what speed he is going. A copper mining company in Perri operates a smelter 14,000 feetaabove sea 'level, 'the highest altitude for such an industry in the world. The rarest plant in the world is, the ;silversword, i- species of racy tus ,tv.hioh grows only on the most ina•ocessible slopes of Hawitan canoes. From pager Made of the fibre u the mulberry' tree a Japanese navel officer has invented a lifeboat tkr;it can be folded ixtt0 a space of ,ahuuh a cubic foot. Crushed brick from old w,a1l with bite of mortar adhering inari been found satisfactory to replace stone .and gravel in the maanufao- ture of concrete, Telegraph poles, have been ;lien penned with entirely in one Wel& town in ;which the residcnte haus permitted the wires 10 be et•ruia.g- from house to house,