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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1922-09-28, Page 7( Wonderland of the Arctic Burning Fires in Houses Built of Snow. For an explorer to cet off into the frozen wastes of the Arctic with Es­ kimo hunters, and without a suf­ ficiency of food to keep them alive, would have been regarded not many years ago, as an act of madness. Vilfbijalmur Stefansson has proved that it can be done. Under the aus­ pices of the Canadian Government he led an expedition into the Arctic, and for five years explored unknown terri­ tory within the Arctic Circle. With tw*o companions he crossed the Beau­ fort Sea on the ice without food sup­ plies, “depending for food on the ani­ mal life which lie believed to be exist­ ent in that sea.” For ninety-six days they journeyed and drifted, but it proved that Stefans- son was right. He staked his reputa­ tion on a firm belief and he proved, even to the Eskimos, that in the far­ thest Arctic the sea could supply food even more abundantly than the land. Another secret had been wrested from the Northern Ocean. White With Flowers. The amazing record of his experi­ ences has just been published under the title of “The Friendly Arctic,” and this' volume wins for him at once a premier place amongst the great Polar explorers of all times. In “The Friendly Arctic” he raises the curtain with, dramatic suddenness upon a new picture of these lonely lands, which is startling and of great importance to the world at large. No i mings, hares, weasels, owls, and rav- louger can we regard the forbidding,; ens, all of which are named in ap- formldable, frozen fastnesses of the 1 proximately the order of their decreas- North as a land of terror and of death. ! }ng numerical strength. Vilhjalmur Stefarsson changed that view, dissipated many illusions regard-! Nothing is more characteristic of the ing Arctic conditions, and opened up : Arctic, as it has been imagined to be, a vision of new possibilities for the development of that great North land. Except for the absence of trees, it is not unusual to find within the Arc­ tic Circle landscapes not different in _ appearance from prairie or meadow. Mr. Stefansson tells of summer tem­ peratures' of 100 degrees' in the shade, and gives us the following picture the vista that met the explorers Banks Island: — “Here was a beautiful country valleys everywhere, gold and with flowers, of green with grass, or mingled green and brown with grass and lichens;, except some of the hill | tops, which were rocky and barren. ! These hills differed in coloring, es­ pecially seen from a distance, not so much because of the colors of the rock as because different vegetation pre-1 vails in different kinds of soil, and d'if-! ferent lichens on different rocks. “There are the Polar foxes, both white and blue, that feed in summer on the unbelievable swarms of lem­ mings that also form the food of hun­ dreds of'thousands of owls and hawks and gulls. There are the goose and. brant and swan and crane and loon, and various species of ducks. The ground at the moulting season in some islands, such as Banks Island, three or four hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, is literally white with miliions of geese, and equally white with their moulted feathers a little later in the season when the birds are gone. “When you add to this picture the bumble bees, bluebottle flies, and abundant insect life, of which the clouds of mosquitoes form the most impressive and least tolerable part, you get a picture of a country that in summer certainly is not without life. The “Silent North.” “To sum up, the Arctic Sea is life­ less, except that it contains about as much life to the cubic mile of water as any other sea. The Arctic land is lifeless, except for millions of raribou and foxes, tens of thousands of wolves and musk oxen, thousands of Poiar bears, billions of insects, and millions of birds. And all these go south in the fall, except the insects., which die as they do in temperate lands, and ex­ cept the ptarmigan, caribou, foxes, wolves musk oxen. Polar bears, lem- Red Blood.SEEING WITH THE NOSE It is a familiar fact thk ' nature com- Then there is the "Silent North.” of in of white I Millions of Geese. “There were sparkling brooks that united into river® of crystal clearness, flowing over gravel bottoms. When we came to a stream we usually fol­ lowed along, whether for a few hun­ dred yards or several miles, until we came to a place where the river either split into branches or widened out. Here we took the packs off our dogs, for their short legs unfitted them for keeping a pack dry while fording, and, with our good Eskimo boots keeping our feet dry, we would wade across', the dogs swimming behind us.” Eskimos had repeatedly told Stef­ ans son, and other explorers firmed the view, that the known lands and seas round were devoid cf animal life, son doubted that opinion, that animal life had not been seen be­ cause it had not been searched for. Here is what he found: — “The Arctic grasslands have cari­ bou in herds of tens of thousands;, and sometimes hundreds of thousands to a single band, with lesser numbers of mus'k oxen here and there. Wolves that feed on the caribou go singly and in packs of ten or less, and their ag­ gregate numbers on the Arctic prairies of the two hemispheres must be well in the tens of thousands. had con- vast un­ til e Pole Stefa na­ an d held than its silence. But it will appear just how silent a summer must be where the air is continually filled with the hum of the bluebottle fly and the buzz of the mosquitoes, hovering in clouds to suck the blood of man or beast. There are the characteristic cries of the plovers and the snipes and the various sandpipers and smaller birds; the squawking of ducks, the cackling of geese, and the louder though rarer cries of the crane and the swan. Two characteristic noises of southern lands are absent, says Mr. Stefans son:— "There is not the rustle of leaves nor the roar of traffic. Nor is there the beating of waves' upon a shore, ex­ cept in summer. But none of these sounds are heard upon the more.south­ erly prairies. The treeless plains of DagO'ta, when I was a boy, were far I more silent than ever the Arctic has been in my experience. In both : places I have heard the whistling of | the wind and the howl of wolves and i the sharp bark of the fox at night. In both places I have heard the ground i crack with the frost of winter like the report of a rifle, although these sounds are more characteristic of the Arctic. | “In the far North not only is the ground continually cracking when the ; temperature is changing, and estpecial- ! ly when it is' dropping, but near the sea, at least, there is not always, but | on occasion, a continuous and, to those ; in exposed situations;, a terrifying noise. The Crashing of Ice. ■ “When the ice is being piled against a Polar coast there is a high- pitched screeching as one cake slides ; over the other, like the thousand ■ times magnified creaking of a rusty hinge. cakes being yond down sive floes, perhaps six or more feet in thickness, gradually bend under the resistless pressure of the pack until they buckle up and snap, there is a groaning as of giants in torment, and a booming which, at a distance of a mile or two, sounds like a cannonade.” There is the crashing when as big as a church wall, after tilted on edge, finally pass be­ their equilibrium and topple upon the ice; and when enten- THE WAR IN IRELAND Girls are aiding the Republicans, de Valera’s supporters, in the guerilla warfare against the Free State auth­ orities. The alertness of the latter makes it difficult for the Republicans to get petrol for their motor cars. Ac­ cordingly they are using girl volunteers to assist them in their raids and to act as dispatch riders. Horses com­ mandeered from farmers furnish the motive power. Photo shows a girl delivering a dispatch to a patrol, which has a girl member, shown in the background. Handshakes Tell Tales. The practice of grasping hands is no recent innovation of etiquette. This gesture dates from antiquity. The custom, however, of shaking hands or­ iginated during that productive period which we kno^v as the Middle Ages. The handshake is not such a futile formality as one would suppose. Sym­ bolic, in the first instance, of peace or friendship, it is also a valuable guide to character.* The different kinds of handshake are many and various—far too numerous for the variety of forms to be noticed here. There are, nevertheless, a few definite types of handshake which act as an efficient guide to the personality of those who give them. There is', first of all, the firm, vigor­ ous, hearty grip of friendship, indica­ tive of peace and good will. The key­ note of this handshake is confidence. More often than not it is given by a hard, almost horny, hand—a true sign, wrote Shakespeare, of the brave mind. Then there is its antithesis—the lan­ guid, lukewarm, flabby touch. This handshake is one which reveals ner­ vousness and indecision, irresolution of mind, and infirmity of purpose. So clear a sign is it of character— or, rattier, lack of character—that more than one applicant for a post has lost his appointment by offering to the shrewd, discerning employer the timid, halting handshake. It is never given by the man of mettle and determination. There is also the brief, hasty hand­ shake, qffered usually by the person of restless', animated temperament, and denoting an intelligent, active mind. It has neither the strength of the hearty grip, nor the weakness of the irresolute one. tion of character : it by the man of ception. Lastly there is drawn-out, full-of-feeling handshake, the special prerogative of the lover. If not strictly indicative of character, this handshake dees at least convey a meaning more ably and more elo­ quently than mere words can do. The handshake, such a common, every-day act as it is, has thus' a use of more import than the simple act of salutation. Behind it lies the great indication of character, revealed through the most primitive of our senses—the sense of touch. Yet a true delinea- may be drawn from experience and per­ the lingering, long- one of the a teacher, evidently of to to Did Not Like Fat. The provision dealer was astonished. He gazed at the newly married young woman as if he thought she were a victim of temporary insanity. "Did you say you wanted a—a lean chicken, ma’am?” he queried. “ertainly, I did.” and the young wo­ man’s expression took an added dig­ nity. “Neither Mr. Torker nor 1 ever eat chicken fat. It is extremely dis­ tasteful to both of us, and I see no oc­ casion for paying for what we do not like.” Automatic Pumping Plant for Household Use. For use in isolated dwellings, a com­ pact pumping unit is so arranged that the objectionable storage tank is en­ tirely eliminated. The pump is driven by a small electric mo-tor, and the operation is controlled by the pres­ sure in the water mains. As soon as a faucet is opened, the motor starts running, and continues until the faucet i»S' closed. -------------©------------- Sixth Green Diamond. The sixth green diamond known in the world recently was found mine in South Africa. Giant Airplanes to Carry 100 People 500 Miles. An Italian designer has undertaken to build a machine capable of carry­ ing 100 passengers for a-500-mile flight without stopping. It will have 16 en­ gines of 300 horsepower each, a width of nearly 180 feet, and a carrying sur- face of 10,500 square feet. Another Italian firm is building a hydroplane to travel about 1,800 miles without stopping, for the Portuguese airmen who will attempt to repeat their trans­ atlantic flight. ----------------©-------------- One who is born within the sound ! of Bow Bells, London, is considered' aj genuine Cockney. THE PACKAGE RipplingRhyniQ I know not when my leg may break, entailing anguish sharp; I know not when my back may ache, so I can’t play my harp. To-day I walk with buoyant tread, I dance around the floor; I cannot see an hour ahead, I know not what’s in store. This world is full of gins and snares, our health and joy to mar; I may fail down a flight of stairs., or fail to dodge a car. A sand­ bag from an airstrip high may land upon my dome, while weep­ ing peelers hear ifie cry, "Proud world, I’m going home.” To­ morrow, if I’m still alive, I may be racked with pain, while skill­ ful taxidermists strive to give relief in vain. I know not what a day may bring in this poor life of mine; so fondly to this thought I cling—I have a wad in brine. If I must cease to paw my lyre and whang out helpful tunes, I will not face a famine dire, I still can buy my prunes.. And if perchance the sexton plants my form beneath a tree, you will not see my waaiing aunts beseech­ ing charity. And so it is with proper pride I tell myself, at times, "Whatever trouble may betide, I have some pickled dimes. No evil I anticipate, but if the luck should turn, I have about a hun­ dred weight of pennies in the churn.” Humor From the Schoolroom. A Toronto school inspector relates a number of good stories in Canadian magazines. “Who made you?” asked The little girl addressed wished to be accurate in her reply— “God made me so long”—indicating the length of a short baby—“and I growed the rest.” “Boys,” said a teacher, “can any you quote a verse from Scripture prove that it is wrong for a man hav,e two wives?” He paused, and af-1 ter a moment a bright boy raised his . hand. “Well, Thomas,” said the teach- ' er, encouragingly. Thomas stood up and said solemnly, “No man can serve i two masters'.” History and Scripture were never. mixed more thoroughly than by the ; boy who wrote-—“Titus was a Roman Emperor, supposed to have written j the Epistle to the Hebrews; his other name was' Oates.” Here are a few answers culled at! random: “The food passes through' your windpipe to the pores, and thus passes' off your body by evaporation | through a lot of little holes in the skin | called capillarfie®.” “A circle is a round straight line, with a hole In the middle.” “In Austria the principal occupation I fa gathering Austrich; feathers.” “The two most famous volcanoes of Europe are Sodom and Gomorrah.” “Climate lasts all the time, and weather only a few days.” “The blood is putrified in the lungs by inspired air.” "A demagogue is a vessel containing beer and other liquids.” “Tom, give me a sentence contain- , ing the word responsibility.” Tom ! said, “When one suspender button is , gone there is a great responsibility on the , other one.” “What is a lad?” Inquired the teach­ er, A very small girl answered, “A thing for courting with.” “How did that blot come on your copybook, Sam?” “I think it is a tear, Miss Wallace.” “How could a tear be black, Sam?” “It must have been a colored boy who dropped it,” suggest- | ed the reflective Samuel. “What made the tower of Pisa lean?” “The famine in the land.” “Now, children,” said the teacher, "we have gone through the history of England—tell me in whose reign would you live if you could choose for yourselves.” "In the reign of King James,” said philosophic Aleo, “be­ cause education was very much neg-, lected in his time.” curious certain appear -------------©—-----— In some parts of Brittany a marriage custom prevails. On fete days marriageable girls in red petticoats, with white or yellow borders round them. The number cf borders denotes the portion the father* is willing to give his daughter. Each white band denotes 100 francs per' annum; each yellow ban represents 1,000 francs a year. Red blood runs thicker than blue. n 18 a familiar fact the / nature com- The first phrase connotes virile vigor,! Plates men-and animals too-for stalwart manfulness and masterful-: ihe w&a^ePin'8 cr of one sense ness, the aggressive stride or the de- I makinS tbe otbers more acute a^d cisive hand of one who knows his effi±nt This is especially noticeable mind, with whom to think is to act. The second phrase seems to stand for languid gentility; the pale, nervous decorousness of one who thinks that the most perfect flower in life’s gar-' den is the pink of propriety. Red blood would rather do than say; it would perform instead of preach; it fights shy of the namby-pamby, the ultra-! fastidious, the hothouse-bred and the luxurious. It cannot breathe the at- mosphere of the boudoir; it loathes! effeminacy. Blue blood looks back! forever into the ancestors. It cares: too much for heraldic emblems; it can­ not find these in a pick and shovel, at a throttle or a tiller, behind a counter, in a warehouse or a mill or a freight depot. It would not soil its delicate fingers carrying packages or muss its good clothes shouldering a- burden. ■ But the man can be gentleman too. i It does not prove muscular fibre or, moral tisssue to be defiant of the amenities. A Western miner was in-! vited to an evening wedding in an Eastern city. His host, as the hour; of the ceremony drew near, sought out, the guest, in great trepidation lest the hardy laborer should not don the proper garb for the affair. He went to the door of his room and knocked, prepared to offer him a dress suit and all that goes therewith, prise, he found the maculately arrayed, “Lady of the Lake.” It will not do to woodlander, the boatman, the field engineer, the man whose “calling” is into the open, cannot easily assume j “these troublesome disguises that we wear” and look as genteel as any; idling tailor’s dummy that we meet.: He knows the value, on occasion, off good clothes, but he does not make i the mistake of thinking that the fa-! cade is of greater consequence than; the man behind it. He does not think much of the sort of aristocracy that, prates of ancestry, and keeps refer- i ring people to the name and fame of; one who did his work and passed on to his reward a great many years ago.. A red-blooded man who produces can and does “put it all over” the blue-! blooded sybarite who merely frivols! and orates. To his sur- “roughneck” im-1 reading Scott’s I assume that the Benefits of School Music. in the case of the blind, in whom the sense of hearing becomes abnormally acute and the sense of touch becomes so delicate as to make it possible to read from raised lettering. Less fa­ miliar, but equally authenticated, is the development of the sense -of smell, so that a blind man can ‘see with his no3e.” So, at least, writes- a blind man who has made a study of his -own faculties and those of his companions In darkness. ‘‘The sense of smelling among the blind,” he says, “grows exceedingly sharp, and we utilize it instinctively for our purposes, for which the normal man naturally uses his eyes. The smell, in particular, helps us in creat­ ing a sense of locality and enables us, in a region in which we are at home, to find the way as easily and surely as if we could see the world around us with our eyes. It is relatively easy for the nose, as there are not two I streets that have the same odor. Every one can recognize by the smell whether he is at a railroad station or in a butcher’s shop or in a grocery. “Now, the sharp nose of the blind perceives these differences in an ex­ traordinarily re-enforced manner and can also distinguish the minor shades, which are closed to the normal sense of smell. Not only has each street its j particular odor, but also the various parts of the same street; nay, each house has its characteristic smell, and the blind man knows in a street through which he often comes where he is. For the recognition of human beings the sense of smell is> likewise invaluable. Besides the special smells i of cigars or perfumes there are many delicate scents by welch he can recog­ nize men. I remember the great sur­ prise of a lady of my acquaintance to whom at a meeting I said that she had not on the same dress as she had the ether day when I met her. She could not at all imagine how I knew it. But it is; very simple. Every material has a definite cdor, and with a little ex­ perience the blind man can see with his nose whether one wears wool, silk or velvet.” In- school, music should play an important part. It should include singing, the appreciation, of music, study of musical instruments, origin of music, music of the ancients and, orchestral practice. Every school in Canada should’ organize an orchestra for the benefit! of the whole school. The children! should know a little about the famous composers so that they will be more interested in their music. Many of the grand operas, for in­ stance, were written very long ago, yet they still continue to move their listeners. Why is this so? Because! the composers had wonderful talent and inspiration when writing these operas. The ancient instruments are also interesting to study, as they were originals from whifch our modern in­ struments were developed. Every child in Canada should listen to music often and learn to love it, • especially music of the better type. i ----------------©---------------- Dancing in Church. There churches dancing vllle, and Echternach in Luxemburg, i At Seville it is customary on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and of Corpus Christi, for the c-holr ! boys in the cathedral to dance during the elevation of the Host. A ballet is danced every evening during the octave of the feast before the high altar, by boys from twelve to seventeen years of age, in plumed ; hats and the dress of pages of the time of Philip III. At Echternach Abbey church the dance is held on the Feast of St. Willi- brod. It consists' of a dancing proces­ sion round the town to the abbey and into the cf urch, where dancing takes; place, and is witnessed by many: thousands of people. ----------©— ----- The Strange Pike Perch. The sportsman who lands a large pike perch is indeed fortunate. To get an idea of what a pike perch looks like take an ordinary pike, which has but one back, or dorsal, fin, add the back fin of a perch', change the color some­ what and then enlarge the eye. The pike perch, which is a fresh­ water fish, has many names, according to the part of the country in which it is found. It is called the salmon, the jack salmon, the wall-eyed pike, the yellow pike, the pickerel, the okow, the blowfish, the green pike and the blue pike; in Canada it the dore, or dory. The pike at all, but belongs' to the perch family. Its egg,s are small, perhaps one twelfth of an inch in diameter; and, since they are so small, great numbers of them are found in a female fish. They run one hundred and fifty thousand to the quart, and some of the largest pike perch have been known to yield nine hundred thousand—almost a million. As a game fish the pike perch is a strong and valiant fighter; it will take small eels and other small fish, and sometimes when in shallow water will rise to an artificial fly. the fish much flesh s weet. is known as fish is not a i i are still two European in which the practice of has survived—those of Se- exceedingly food is of The and i As is generally fine and commercial importance. is firm, white and flaky In most of the waters that the pike perch frequents it seems to be a wanderer. Sometimes the sports­ man will find it. only in shallow water and perhaps the next day will find it only in water of considerable depth. Few pike perch more than twelve pounds In weight have been taken on a hook and line; and there seems to be no record that a pike perch more than fifteen pounds in weight was ever taken on hook and line. The circum-* stance Is extraordinary for the pike perclh is- known to reach an enormeut size. The United States Fish Commis­ sion reports that a pike perch that weighed forty pounds was once taken, probably with a spear; and many pik5 perch that weigh up to twenty-fiv< pounds have been captured in nets. Why only the smaller fish will take a hook and bait is extremely puzzling. Sound Device Measures Sea. The depth of a river or of the sea ca.n be ascertained by means of a de­ vice which measures the interval of a sound signal and the receipt of its echo off the bottom of the water. I A good conscience is one of the secrets of true courage. WATJA -PICKET DUTY J \ I told yew that other rabbit SCOUT YE.VU CUD CAMP HERE-BUT THAT DOESN’T INCLUDE 5TRAW BERRIES o”Ra»>3 aH S com'sarV Dental-Plate Suction Valve foil Maintaining Vacuum. Many persons who are forced to wear a set of artificial upper teeth know the annoyance caused by plate not holding firmly against roof of the mouth, but do not know reason for its dropping vacuum between the roof of the mouth that in playe, and to help It is the the the the the away plate and holds the plate maintain this vacuum, a suction valve has been de­ vised which is placed in the forward centure of the plate. This valve opens by suction against it, and closes me­ chanically. ■---------♦--------- Recently, when the ancient walls of Canton, China, were razed to make room for a street railway, contractors offered to do t'he work for whatever treasure the ’walls might contain. The work was divided among several ap­ plicants, every one of whom discov­ ered such quantities of ancient cotin and ornaments hidden away in the walls that the work, though done without other payment, was profitabl© to him.