The Brussels Post, 1952-1-2, Page 3Marrow
Escape
By Richard Hill Wilkinson
I;aurtt'knew her first feeling of
fear when Jud took the whip from
its socket and flicked it ael'oss the"
haeice of the .plodding horses, She
'had been watching the clouds pile
out of •the northwest with -amazing
speed for the pest 15 minutes: Blit
this was April, and there was no
'r" wind at all. Also, the day was mild,
almost sultry. It was' bard to
imagine a blizzard even in Nebraska,
Beauty and Prince broke into a
lumbering trot, The rhythm' of the
. prunchipg wheels of the heavy farm
flagon At
in tempo. Beneath
them; at the foot Of the' long slope,
Laura could see the buildings Of
their farm,
The cloud bank came toward
them with astpnishing,speed, hang-
ing an impenetrable gray curtain
tirom sky 'to eatfh'as it Swept across
the prairie., Jud stood up and. lashed
out with the whip', -
Little Lucy began to cry, and a
moment later Jud, Junior joined in
wit( lhsty bawia. Laura huddled one
under each arm and said: "Shl Sh,
nowt" But when she lifted her
anxious eyes, she felt again the
terjor.
tt The feria b gi
a ot! ,t} Ji1,�nigs mere not more
than a quarter of a mile away. Now
they could hear the roar of the .
wind. It drowned out tit, crunch of
wheels; it plucked Jud's cries'from
his lips and sent them . screaming
back over his shoulder. The blizzard
struck thein like a blaet from the
Arctic.
Laura drew the heavy bear rug
about the children, and bound her
own scarf -about her face. She could
no longer hear the crying of the
youngst.Js, nor, the clopping of the
horses' hoofs, •hbr Jud's shouts.
There was ndpoint in looking up.:
She -died once. It was like being
suspended in a g{eat vacuum with
moving, screaming walls. Even the
outlines of the horses were'blotted
out.
The progress of the team slowed.
' Judhwas no longerusingthe whip.
He sat humped forward, barely
visible behind a veil of snow,
After awhile Laura had the feel-
ing that the team was swinging
in a great arc. A new terror seized
her. The road was straight. There
was not a curve for utiles.
She screamed at Jud, tugged at
his sheepskin coat. He bent down
and she tried to make him under-
stand. He shook his head and
pointed down. She bent forward,
could barely maize out the right
front wheel. It was running even
with the whippletree, had not turn-
ed at all.
She setled down Duce more, hug-
ging the children close. Cold crept
in under the blankets. Snow piled
up in her lap and on her shoulders.
The world had gone mad.
Again she had that feeling of
swinging around. She fought it un-
til the horror of it threatened her
sanity: Then she polced her •head
front beneath the blankets,. Jud was
crouched forward, tense, pulling on
the nigh reit;: Sic heat against his
shoulder.
"We've missed the hoose! I'm
turning back!"- She could barely
catch the words. A cold chill, a
hideous dea' congealed the blood
of her veins. Missed the house! It
would he hours—possibly days be-
fore the storm ended, They had no
provisions aboard the wagon. They
would freeze.
Site clutched the children against
her, They never should have' started
out, They wouldn't have if it had
;meet; a month later.
The storti+i attacked with a new
fury, an uncomfortable violence, It
lashed and screamed and laughed in
hideous triumph at their helpless-
ness. Time once more stood still.
Laura was roused by someone
rubbing snow against her cheeks.
She It up, trying, to cry out, re
membcring the children. "They're
all right," Jud said, "1 gave the
horses their heads. They tools 'us
home, Wouldn't have nrnde it other-
wise,"
-Stiff-legged, tarn nt a child in
either arm, she went through the
shell and into the kitchen. The hent
heat against het fact.. She set the
elite ren on the table and went to
the stove'Illy lcett4 was still
-teaming. In another five minutes
would 'Mkt. been, caught,
Taking Care of
Your Piano
There are many natural .enemies
of the piano in your haute, But if
a few simple rule& are ; observed
even' these enemies can' be con-
quered, apd your piano tan' be kept
up to pitch and give you the years
of pleasure for which you bought
i:ts
1. A piano is peeuliarly sensitive
.to tenipitratu'e and I inunidity
chenges, It should never; be placed
near a fireplace, radiator; or regis-
ter. It should be kept away front
windows and outside walls,' To give
;t a sheltered position lose to an
inside wall will probably:necessitate
rearranging your furniture; but, as
the piano will probably• be one of
'the most illitortant decors""dlve focal
points in the, roomn; this; should pot
be too, diti ult.
If the `;»ono trust MI placed., by
'an outside wall,'then it is best to
leave a foot of space between the
wall and the piano, --
If the -room is dry, it is wise to
use a humidifier in the room, but
do not place the humidifier. too
,close to the piano.
2: The white keys of ;the piano
are either of natural ivory or ,plas-
tic. ,Natural ivory keys should be
cleaned with a cloth dampened in
lukewarm water to which bee been
added a small amount of household
antmoniam'. r When the dirt is off,
p,rlish;.the.keys with a soft, tintless
cloth. Be especially careful that
no moisture is allowed to go down
between the keys. There .are many.
glued parts to the key 'arid action
assendel Y, !which could easily IA'
daage...,,: lotip kefil'miay"'"be
washedmwith a dampened cloth,
followed byaa brisk drying with a ,
soft, dry cloth.'
Ivory keys should not be washed
more than four or ive times a
year. It is well, therefore, to get
into the habit of dusting. -the keys
once a week. The dusting attach-
ment on your vacuum cleaner can
do a good job of this because it
will also suck up dust that may. be
between the keys. Do not, however,
ever use the vacuum for cleaning
any of the piano's innards. It is
well to treat them as you would
your own and have none but a
professional doctor—in this case, a
piano technician—decide'what -"Ad-
justments are necessary. The black
keys are now made almost univer-
sally of plastic, and a damp cloth
will do the trick.
3. As to cleaning the piano case
itself, the best method is simply
to wash it with a soft cloth, slightly
dampened in clear, lukewarm wa-
ter. Then dry with a.soft cotton
cloth and rub the case to restore
its polish, taking care to rub, in
the same direction as the 'grain of
"the wood. Leading piano manufae_'
turers advise against using any of
the prepared furniture polishes on
piano. cases. Just keep the case
clean and buffed, and dust will not
be so likely to accumulate and
show. -
4, Ever-present enemies of the
piano are moths which are very
destructive to the felt parts, If
they are not controlled, you may
some day be faced with an expen-
sive reciting job. Place a camphor•
bag or a small dish of dichloride
crystals inside the case for a few
hours. But don't forget about the
dish before using the piano again,
or the sound effects might prove
surprising,
5. The first year your piano is
in your home it should be tuned
every three months. Always em-
ploy the most reliable tuner you
can find and stick with him. After
the first year, tuning when the heat
is turned on in the fall, and off in
the spring, may suffice, The num-
ber of tunings depends a lot on
local weather conditions and on
how much the piano is used.
By the way, as you probably
know, a tuner merely sets the ten-
sion of the strings so that the pitch
is correct. The technician, on the
outer hand, is trained to regulate
and repair the whole instrument.
6. Placement in a room will have
much to do with the- way your
piano sounds, As a rule, a piano will
hare more volume if it is not rest-
ing on a rug, and is placed close
Ho`me'Front'The War;A,tGerman. architect turned.. homebuciider, isshown,left putting the finish-
ing touches "to orie wall of the...cpttage.he is.conslructing in Frankfurt,'Germany, Needing a''place'
to live and'lacking ftEp 1s fartcotlyerltional materials, the builder used wooden amhi'un;tion `boxes,•
that had been stacke dein a former German army depot. To give the'boxes'the necessary-stt!ength
to support the roof the compartments designed to hold shells were filled'with'cermenteTAt-right,.i,s
a view of thg'routside of the building as the architect caulks basement bricks,
to a wide opening between rooms.
However, the size of yoyt,r„trgprp,.
and the height of the ceilings will
also affect the quality of tone of
your .piano. If your is a Large M1
living room, ,you can experiment
with the placement of the„ptaop,tp ,,,
get the best acoustic results. The
weight of your draperies, the place-
ment' of rugs and furniture, also
.will affect your piano's volume al-
though the. average_ -individual is
not too concerned ,with these slight
.1 variations.:, put do. ,keep . framed
pictures, vases, and other -'things
-
off your piand, '1{nick'knacks and
4'hanging^crys'tals may cause jangle;
•ing, buzzing, noises that will, inter --
1c' sgth„aytottr„playing, enjoyment.
You will find that if you observe'
these few rules 'you can be as, .
friendly with your piano as you.
want because, like a child, ,it ,can,
never' get'too much' of your playing.
A dairyman was having consider-
able trouble with mastitis in his
, herd, says a well-known veterin-
at'ian. He' grumbled about it con-
siderably, for there was no appar-
ent 'reason for such disturbances.
* * *
The dairyman kept his cows clean
and followed a recommended "fast
milking” program with all the trim-
mings. He fed intelligently and
milked at regular intervals. The
cows didn't have to wade through
mud in the sunmm,•r or manure in
the winter.
* * *
There were no high door -sills or
slippery floors or deep gutters or
other booby -traps around his barn.
The cows were well bedded to pre-
vent chilling of udders on the con-
crete floor. The stalls were plenty
wide, and partitioned besides to
keep adjoining cows from trampling
each other. They were long enough
so that udders didn't hang over
sharp gutter edges when cows lay
down.
* * *
The milking machine was kept
adjusted to the proper vacuum and
recommended pulsator speed. In-
flations were changed often and
so made capable of doing a good
milking job. Everything seemed to
be in order, all right, but the cows
continued to give a lot of bad milk,
just the same. The cause? Believe
it or not it was Bang's disease.
* * *
This disease is usuelly thought of
in connection with abortions and
breeding troubles, but it can be as-
sociated with mastitis too. This
is no recent discovery, as years ago
Grandpa suspected that •"stinker"
.. calves and "garget” milk were
. caused by the saute thing.
* * *
We're a little wiser nowadays, for
we know that all "Banger" cows
don't have 'mastitis any more than
all cows giving bad milk have
Bang's disease, However, any time
that mastitis is appearing without
GLUED TOGETHER
FOIL PROTRUDING AT
.LEFT DOES. •.NOT TOUCH
FOIL AT RIGHT, PAPER
CLIPS HOLD WIRES.
SHEETS OF FOIL ARE
ABOUT 3" BY Z" ,
ANTENNA
TO ANTENNA ' WIRE
A FILTER FOR YOUR RADIO WILL SEPARATE
STATIONS THAT COME IN ON TOP OF EACH OTHER,
MAKE IT AS SHOWN, AND CONNECT 1T IN YOUR
ANTENNA WIRE,
•
appsreut cause, tea u gond idea to
consider Bang's disease as a pos-
sible factor.
* * *
This is logical enough, for Bang's
germs are often found in the ud-
ders of reactor cows. In addition,,
they're frequently found in the
milks produced by such cows. Well,
in the udder they may cause enough
infection to result in symptoms of
mastitis. If they,:don't pause actual
udder daniage,'t'liey may serve to
.lower natural' resistance against
other types of germs. Some of
these are ordinarily harmless, but
become increasingly "hot" as re-
sistance decreases. Regardless of
whether they're directly or in -di-
rectly concerned, Bang's germs can
still be to blame for mastitis. What
is worse, the disease may be spread
through the bad milk from cow to
cow.
* # e
Some authorities still deny that
this can happen, and refuse to class-
ify mastitis as a contagious disease.
However, an English experiment
proved that at least some kinds of
mastitis can be spread through
milk, and that a single cow may be
able to •infect an entire herd. More
recently it has been reported that
Bang's germs applied to the ends
of cows' teats may cause severe
cases of mastitis. At best it does-
n't seem that mastitis spread merits
much gambling with possible
causes,
* * *
With this being true, unexplained
mastitis trouble may be reason
enough for having a blood test run
on the whole herd. If no Bangs
reactors are found, the testing at
least will do no harem, If infection
is discovered, the owner may be
surprised at the number of reartorss
that have also leen giving had ;milk
at irregular intervals. Anyway, such
a test is often the logical way of
starting a battle against mastitis.
* * *
It's certain that all the high-
priced remedies ou the market are-
n't going to cure Bang's disease
or the mastitis it causes. Maybe
you'll have to sell your "Banger"
cows before you can get rid of
your mastitis troubles. \1'e say
"maybe," because we don't know
that Bang's disease is causing mas-
titis in your herd. However, you
probably won't know either, unless
you test, so you might be doing a
little thinking about the natter,
In Milwaukee. a pet mouse
clambered into the coin -return slot
of a pay telephone and had ,to be
rescued from a maze of ty=res by a
repairman.
,
HAD ENO'l`JGIi
Granny had volunteered to"look+•"
after" her four-year-old' grgp,soa:
Whilef his parents'%vdnt'to the„pip
turen.' Tucking hint .in:• bed ,,she
whispered: r,Ace,_„yton ,read for"
yur, bed -time story,?" '
Not, tonight, please, Grhlfny;'
he murmured.
;`Then, shall' I sing ou arlulta-
byP' 'asked the 'indulgent"grand-
parent. *
r; •
• =No thanks,1 said the four-year-
otd. ,"Np lullaby:: , , +"
Gunny was perplexed. r'
"Then what can I do for you my
child?" she asked.
• "Well," proposed the child,,'sup-
pose you. take a walk and let me
get some sleep.”
Did the 'Job:. To remove<••bees
'from the'eaveh of his house, Clem
Cable, of Illinois, lit some rags to
smoke . them out—and burned the
cwlip`le building to the ground.
Six Small Dots Give "Sight” To Blind
In recent years g great deal has
been done to help blind people be-
come self-supporting and useful
members of the community.Yet, incredible as it may seem,
the Oiled were not always accorded
such treatment,' in ancient Rome
blind boys were considered a total
' 'doss to 'the .community and were
sold into sIgyg y ae galley rowers;
;rind,, trip nvere sold into prostitu-
n .,yen ?od years ago . many
E „opeane either shunned the blind
,+ ill-treated them, f
The first to alleviate their condi-
tion was Valentin :Hairy, an eigh-
teegthe,,eptury, Frenchman. When
. be. was twenty-six he was horrified
to `find that the blind were exploit-
ed to provide crude amusement for
their fellow ' citizens; . groups of
sightless lleggars were made to
. tyear;.ppinted hats and huge card-
aoard spectacles,, were given sheets
of music and ordered to sing for
The hytiusement of passers-by.
Hairy was repelled by this piti-
ful burlesque, and in 1784 establish-
ed, the first school for the blind,
where the alphabet was taught by
sileans of embossed wooden letters.
"Later;'tarn 1817, a blind English -
•• man :+na'meti Moon developed a sys-
tefaof,:embossed shorthand which
its still used, but .to. a rapidly de-
creasing extent. -
It'was left 'to Louis Braille, an-
other Frenchman, to give the blind
sight in their finger tips. When
aged three, he was imitating his
father, a saddler, by, cutting leather.
The sharp knife slipped and sliced
one hof "his eyes. The other eye
was affected, and he soon became
totally 'blind. His father had him
;educated and he grew into an ac-
complished musician. He learned
to read by means of embossed let-
tering 'but felt that the system
was much 'too unwieldy:
For. •years ,Braille struggled to
develop a better .systemand ulti-
mately hit upon the six little raised
dots which are transposed to make
letters, syllables, and contracted
words similar to those used in
shorthand., Todaythe blind' can
read easily in Braille and write
rapidly with pointed instruments
oil "stiecial boards.
There 18 a contracted form known
as Braille No, A, tlaing this, a
blind reader can ftnfsh a book or
printed "article in noi'ntal -time.
Braille has brought happittesa to
thousands, and though • blitidneas is
a dreadful handicap, there are ntt-
morons jobs In which the blind can
more than hold their own,.
Even before Braille, a few blind .
people attained positions of amine
ence through their own efforts;
Nicholas Saunderson was,h'rofessor
of Mathematics at ,Cambridge and
John Metcalf became & fatuous en-
gineer. But most blind people lived
in an abyss of black despair. Braille
is one ,invention of which it can
be truly said it has no evil reper-
cussions,
Forgetful Brutes
You wouldn't think an octopus
was very clever, would you? But
Professor J, Z. Young, who re-
cently returned to Britain front
Naples, where he has been. studying
octopuses, found they are quite
brainy, although their memories
are not as good as they might be.
He discovered that the octopus
whose brain is about the size of
a man's little finger -nail, is able
to differentiate between the letters
1 and L. It can also distinguisli
between squares of varying sizes.
When Professor Young lowered
these signs into the tank of an
octopus , selected , at random, the
creature quickly learned to associ-
ate one letter with food and an-
other with an electric shock. But
there was a snag. Two days after-
wards the octopus had forgotten
all it had learned and the scientist
had to start training it all over
again. -
• Professor Young confesses that
so far scientists do not understand
how the octopus learned to dis-
tinguish between the signs. Be
estimates it will take them years
to find out.
A Scotchman whothad-a bottle of
whiskey on his hip slipped, on some
ice. On rising, he felt something
wet running" down his leg. "Hope
it's blood," he said.
Disaster Brings Unity to Italy - -
By Julius Humi
Rovigo, Italy—(NEA)—National
disaster brought unity to politically
turbulent Italy—but the unity didn't
last as long as the disaster.
For a short and busy week, all
the country's political parties for-
got their differences, For the first
time in the postwar period, Com-
munists, Fascists, Christian Demo-
crats and Liberals got together for
a common cause: the relief of 200,-
000 Italians caught in the Po River
flood, which caused havoc on a
scale unknown since World War
I I.
The disaster, which struck with
sudden ferocity, left even the most
ardent of politicians speechless at
first.
From Italy's bigger cities, 10 tril-
lion dollars in cash and tons of
clothing were contributed in a
week, The U.S. promised another
million, and Britain, France, Nor -
nay and Austria sent technical aid
and medical supplies.
More than 3000 firemen from all
parts of the rountry—the equiva-
lent of an entire Italian army divi-
sion—collaborated with British and
American troops from Trieste, row-
ing, pulling and carrying 100.000
flood refugees to safety. Italian,
British and American planes drop-
per) food and medical supplies; U.S,
helicopters spotted farmers and
livestock trapped by the raging
waters.
In the first burst of enthusiasm,
eve,; the Communist press praised
the work done by Allied troops.
liut, as one Italian newspaper
said, "it was ton good to be true."
As the situation improved, politi-
cal fervor got the upper hand again.
At first, the Christian Democrats,
who run' most of the relief work,
prohibited some of the motor boats
run by local Communist sectors
from continuing salvage work.
The Communists retaliated with
a vicious propaganda campaign,
charging foul play by some gov-
ernment agencies in distributing
aid, Shortly after that, police ar-
rested sonic 30 local officials who,
they charged, had diverted relief
supplies and then redistributed
then; ss coming from Commmnist
sources.
American and l.ritislt officers
lost patience when' politics began
to interfere. A British captain, for
instance, who w•as running one of
the two large assault boats bringing
in refugees from Adria, had his
official guides withdrawn for "poli-
tical reasons." He had to lay up
his boat for a whole day while
authorities quarreled as to which
party should furnish the guides.
Final blow to the short-lived
national unity came when Com-
munists demanded in parliament
that the 620 billion lire appropria-
tion for rearmament be diverted to
flood relief. With typical Commun-
ist forethought, they had picked a
way to fight rearmament which
would appeal to the man in the
street.
Despite these squabbles, the dis-
aster relief has been a success, even
if the unity it brought about was
not. More than half the estimated
40,000 cattle in the area were
brought to safety on improvised
rafts.
In the immense movement of
people, with whole towns and vil-
lages evacuated sometimes within
a few hours, less than 100 lost their
lives—half of them when a truck
carrying evacuees slipped off the
road.
But the damage to the Po Valley,
Italy's agricultural heartland, will
be a grave problem to the govern-
ment for years to conte. Now the
valley's rich farmlands are a muddy
delta of ruin and destruction, and
it will be at least a year before
they can be worked again.
Meantime, it will be an added
burden, not only for Italy's strug-
gling economy, but for the whole
European community working to-
ward reconstruction.
it Ran On A Political Reef -- British assault boat, skippered by
English captain (standing, rear) ferries a load of homeless Italians
from flood -ravaged Adria. But the boat had to halt its mercy
missions for a day while local Italian politicians argued as to
which party should furnish guides for the skipper.
JITTER
11A HERE /� gt.LWE HAVE ARE PETTb ca.s..scr \ MONKS.. TRAN0 p189
906 TKk. TAX POR THEN;!
By Arthutc Pointer