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Landing a Giant Tuna in Nova Scotia. Prepared by National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C. ? WNU Service. A S ONE stands on the sea /\ shore at the full of the tide J and looks out over the swell ing floods surging in from the distant horizon, his feet are on the (threshold of an enormous empire, so vast in extent and population that the achievements of the haughtiest rulers of mankind are dwarfed by comparison. Though fleets sail over its depth, they make no significant impres sion upon this immense realm. The subjects of this empire swarm through the waters in my riads totaling far greater numbers than all the life of the continental world. In fact, scientific investiga tions indicate that the oceans were the original abode of life on the globe, and that the continents were peopled from that inexhaustible res ervoir. f~l oAlnrti pip V-i a! 1 aif a tViot (ka /lanroc. sions now occupied by the oceans have been located in approximately their present positions during the entire history of the earth, and that the foundations of the land masses likewise have been situated nearly as they are at the present time. But during the great geological periods, the ocean has repeatedly invaded their edges and even their interior basins, sometimes to an enormous extent, forming shallow epicontinental seas. Thus, all the continents of the world are bordered by a strip of shallow sea, the continental shelf, which slopes gradually from the coast to depths varying from 100 to 1,000 fathoms at its outer edge. Be yond this limit there is usually a more rapid gradient to the main floor of the ocean ? the continent al slope. This world-wide shallow strip is of major importance to the life of the seas. North Atlantic Shelf. This article deals especially with the mollusks and other small crea tures inhabiting the continental shelf which borders the Atlantic coast of North America from Nova Scotia to New York, and includes the extensive New England fisher ies. A most remarkable stretch of shore this is. Its southern half is of comparatively even contour, but, beginning with the region of Cape Hatteras, the coast to the north ward has subsided and is indented with deep bays and irregularities, finally terminating in the long curv ing and tapering indentation of the Gulf of Maine. The latter is the most noteworthy feature of the coast, its wide mouth being guarded on either hand by Cape Cod and Cape Sable, and its inner reaches narrowing to a double apex in the Bay of Fundy. All this northern half of the At lantic seaboard is a succession of drowned valleys, and its topography and geological history indicate that it has subsided beneath the waves of the sea during relatively recent times. On the other hand, the even outline of the coast from Hatteras south to Florida shows no evidence of such sinking. The oceanic shelf to the 100-fath om line widens rapidly to the north ward, reaching its greatest extent off the Gulf of Maine, where it is approximately 400 miles wide. The central floor of the Gulf of Maine is an ancient river valley to which the river systems, represent ed by those now existent, contribut ed their drainage, to be emptied in to the prehistoric sea by a single channel and mouth still traceable on the sea floor at the edge of the continental shelf. Throughout this extensive and comparatively shallow oceanic margin, well illuminated by the ?un's rays, conditions are favorable for an enormous development of the xtnarine plants on- which sea _ ani mals feed: namely, the microscopic diatoms, one-celled algae, and the larger seaweeds. Narsery for Food Fishes. Here numerous streams empty their loads of silt, rich in nitrates, phosphates, and other chemicals needed for plant food. The strong tides rushing into the narrowing channel from the open sea keep the water stirred with upwelling currents plentifully supplied with oxygen. Hordes of small crustaceans, the copepods, feed upon this plant life. At certain seasons they swarm in these waters in numbers so vast that they give the tea a reddish color for miles. These tiny creatures are rich in oils and are greedily devoured by large schools of mackerel, herring, alewives, and shad. Blueflsh, cod, haka, and haddock pursue and de vour the smaller Ashes, and even the huge and humpback whales do not disdain to feed upon the herring. Thus the shallow banks off New England, especially Georges and Browns Banks, at the entrance to the Gulf of Maine, ag well as the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, far ther away, form a veritable nurs ery for the important food fishes of our coasts, and thus connect man kind by an interlacing food chain with the microscopic plant life of these shallow waters. The evolution of the animal world, as we know it, would have been impossible had these primitive plants not come into existence. From such forms, also, all the high er land plants of the world origi nate. - The Intertidal Zone. As the open seas were peopled from the oceanic shelf, so the fresh water streams and swamps received parts of the overflow. Countless spe cies found food and a measure of safety from enemies by creeping into the area between the tides, where they acquired resistance to exposure to the open air at the in tervals of low water. Here a rapid evolution took place, so that the intertidal zone became densely pop ulated with life. Finally, from fresh-water swamps on the one hand and from the upper parts of the marine tidal zone on the other, first plants and then ani mals invaded the land itself #nd produced the highly specialized types that now reign over it. North of Cape Cod, the coast of New England is predominantly high and rocky. Beginning with the head lands of Nahant, Marblehead, and Cape Ann, north of Boston, the cliffs are at first isolated to local regions, with intervening stretches of sandy beaches and flats. But from Port land, in Casco Bay, northward, the coast is an almost unbroken suc cession of granite cliffs, sloping rock-ribbed promontories, and re erftrant bays and harbors, with oc casional beaches. The tidal waters flowing from the open sea are gradually confined by the narrowing outline of the Gulf of Maine, which forces them to a pro gressively increasing height, and reach a climax in the Bay of Fundy. From Massachusetts Bay north to Portland, the tide rises nine feet. It continues to increase northward, until it becomes 18 feet at Eastport and 37 to 48 feet at the ends of the two tapering horns which terminate the Bay of Fundy. Here, too, there are interpolated stretches of beaches, flat points, and swampy meadows, and these are entirely covered at high tide. Na turally the width of the tidal zone on the side of a vertical cliff is measured exactly by the vertical rise and fall of the water. For ex ample, the cliffs that surround Bliss island, at the entrance of Passa maquoddy bay, are exposed for 22 feet from the top of the barnacle frieze that marks the high-tide limit to the water level at low tide. Crowded With Life. This region between the tides is teeming with life, both plant and animal, in crowded array. On the vertical granite walls of Bliss island, the various species are arranged in overlapping zones, with the conspic uous white band of rock barnacles. Below this, the rockweeds hang in thick, gracefully festooned clusters down to the low-water mark. Concealed beneath the rockweed, and succeeding the base of the barnacle " zone, the rocks are covered with a dense layer of young black mussels. Among them are closely crowded groups of the common dog whelk, feeding upon the mussels, and lay ing their graceful vase-shaped egg cases, tinted rose and yellow, in mosaiclike patches in the crevices. The latter mollusks secrete a pur ple dye, formerly used by the In dians for coloring their deerskin garments. They are related to the murex "of The " i*hSKlCiHT?aC ' which that people derived the fa mous royal purple, later arrogated by the Roman emperors for their personal use. The dog whelk has a thick shell with a characteristic spindle-shaped opening. It is extremely variable in color, size, and sculpture along the New England shore. The common periwinkle creeps everywhere over the rockweed from the low-water mark to the highest part of the barnacle zone and even upon the bare rocks far above it. This remarkable sea snail can stand exposure to the open air longer than any other marine creature of the northern coast. It is in a transitional state of evolution toward terrestrial life, for its gill seems to be on the point of being replaced by a lung. It has a very wide range, being found on both sides of the Atlantic. In Eng land it ia the common "winkla" ?old in markets. i TUJEirri] l] EARS AQO THEl] CARRIED THE STARS ATID STRIPES TO FRATICE By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ONE June day 20 years ago a force of khaki clad men marched along the docks at Hoboken, N. J., and walked up the gangplank of a ship that was all ready to start on a trip across the Atlantic. The day was June 14, 1917 ? a singu larly appropriate day for their departure. For June 14 is Flag day and these soldiers were taking the Stars and Stripes across the sea into the greatest war in the history of the world. They were the first combat troops of the Ameri can Expeditionary Forces, the vanguard of a mighty host of more than 2,000,000 men, the greatest army ever trans ported across an ocean. Considering the day and the importance of the occasion it would have seemed appropri Gen. Pershing Disembarking in France. ate, also, if their departure had been the occasion for a great patriotic celebration. But it wasn't. Modern wars aren't conducted like that ? with the blare of bugles and the roll of drums to advertise to your enemy that you are launching an attack against him. Besides, the keynote for this departure had been sounded less than three weeks earlier and that keynote had been ? silence! On the morning of May 28 a little group of grave-faced men in civilian clothing had gathered on these docks and very quietly, in groups of twos and threes, had walked up the gangplank on to the steamship Baltic. Ship news reporters, watching the gather ing of the Baltic's slim passenger list, asked no questions. Some of these news-gatherers had been down in the baggage room of the ship. There they had seen cer tain trunks, bags and bedding rolls stenciled so plainly that any one who could read could see that this was the baggage of officers of the regular army bound over seas. But, at tfie request of the army, they said nothing and not a line appeared in the newspa pers telling who these officers were. Pershing Goes Ahead. If they had printed a roster these are the names which would have appeared on it: Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing, commander-in chief of the A. E. F.; Maj. Gen. James G. Harbord, first Chief of staff of the A. E. F. ; Maj. Gen. John L. Hines, chief of staff of the army; Maj. Gen. Clarence C. Williams, retired, chief of ord nance of the A. E. F. ; Maj. Gen. Merritte W. Ireland, surgeon gen eral of the A. E. F.; Maj. Gen. Walter A. Bethel, retired, judge <?tv?eaU of Brig. Gen. Logan Feland, com mander of thfe Marine Corps; Maj. Gen. Hugh A. Drum, chief of staff of the First army, A. E. F.; Brig Gen. Samuel D. Rockenbach, chief of tank corps, A. E. F. ; Col. Parker Hitt, retired; Col. Hugh H. Young, Col. William F. Repp. Lieut. Col. Raymond W. Briggs, chief of re mount service, A. E. F., and Lieut. Col. Roger C. Alexander, chief of map section, A. E. F. Within ? short time after they had gone aboard, the Baltic was steaming out of New York harbor and, so far aa the public knew, she was just another big ship starting out to dodge and zigzag her way through the danger zone, infested by the dreaded German U-boats. But she made the trip in safety and now on this Flag day 20 years ago, when the First division of the regular army took Gen. Charles P. Summerali, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Speaking at the Reunion of First Division Veterans at the First Division Monument in Washington, D. C. ship at Hoboken, Pershing and and his officers were awaiting them "over there." Awaiting them also? and even more impatiently ? were the peo ple of France. There had been mutinies among certain French troops in the Aisne. French regi ments had been cut down to hall their strength. Old men and little boys were joining the reserves. The casualty lists* were mount ing higher every day. There was not a home in all France which had not felt the cruel hand of war and her war weary people were discontented, discouraged, almost despairing. Unless "les Americains" arrived quickly it would be too late. Out of the Fog. And then one June morning their dream of help from America came true. That morning the harbor of St. Nazaire was shroud ed in mist. Its citizens knew that out there somewhere the blue gray transports and their cruiser convoys were approaching the port. Suddenly, about 7 o'clock, a motor tender came put-putting through the fog. In its prow stood an American bluejacket. He shouted something to a French sentry who was pacing the dock. AstoniAed at this sudden ap pearance and embarrassed at his inability to understand what was shouted at him, the poilu stopped eighth and the Sixteenth Infantry regiments landed. Field Hospital No. 13 and Ambulance Company No. 13 came ashore June 28. But it was two days later, due to inadequate landing facilities, be fore the Eighteenth Infantry reg iment and the Second Field Sig nal battalion were able to leave the ships. Twenty days had elapsed since they had left Ho boken. Considering the historic impor tance of this occasion, it would be most gratifying to the patriot ic sentiments inspired by Flag day if there could be recorded at this point the great enthusiasm with which this vanguard of Un cle Sam's millions were received at St. Nazaire and the admira tion which they excited among the French who welcomed them. But as regard for historical truth prevents painting any such word picture as that. In fact, just the contrary was true ? and for this statement we have the testimony of an American eye-witness to the landing. He was Wilbur For rest, war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, who tells how French officers of the general staff came to St. Nazaire to see the arrival of this "crack First division of the highly trained American army. ... a historical event for both France and America." He continues: "There is probably not today an "THE YANKS ARE COMING!"? American Troops Arrive in France. and saluted. Then he raised his shoulders in an eloquent gesture as much as to say "I can't under stand a word you're saying, but it's all right ? I'm glad to see you anyw&y." Whereupon the blue jacket grinned broadly at him and the little craft on which he was standing turned her nose back into the fog. As soon as the sailor reported back to his ship that the docks were clear, tugs began to ease the transports in toward the docks where French soldiers warned back a group of idle spec tators who soon gathered as the news of the coming of the Ameri cans spread. Soon a big ship loomed out of the fog, broadside to, and was slowly warped in. Landing stages came down with , a bang and in another moment soldiers of Company K of the Twenty - eighth infantry were streaming down them. Within an hour the sleepy old town of St. Nazaire was seeing more and a stranger activity than had evef> known before. Its streets wfere* flffW With mm in ? the khaki of the American army and the blue of the navy, glad to be stretching their legs on land aft^r more than two weeks aboard ship. So they proceeded to "take" the town. They flirted with every French girl who came along; they squatted in the street to stage impromptu crap games while groups of puzzled French men gathered around to watch them at this strange sport; they swarmed into shops and cafes ? especially the latter. Altogether, they gave St. Nazaire such a stirring up as it had not known for centuries. All Quiet Id St. Nixaire. Later in the day a sem blance of order was restored and the soldiers were marched to a tented military town on the out skirts of the city. The next day the remainder of the Twenty omcer or man or the First division living who will not agree that the French officers sent from Paris to watch the debarkation of the division at St. Nazaire had every reason to suffer then and there a very considerable sentiment of disappointment. "These khaki-clad soldiers who came ashore at St. Nazaire had little in common with the Ameri can regular army. They were for the most part boys who possibly a month or so before at home had succumbed to the war fever and joined the army. Uniforms had figuratively been wrapped around them. Ordnance depots had issued them army shoes and a hat with a cord around it, guns were placed in their hands and they were off for Hoboken and France. A Division in Name Only. "The First division at that time was a division in name but not in fact. Most of its trained officers and men were left in the United States to train more raw material on this side of the water. What " waa'fl rst to am U ance was - the vanguard of the real thing." So after remaining in camp outside St. Nazaire for a little while, the First division was sent to quiet areas of eastern France for intensive training. One unit, however, the Second battalion of the Sixteenth infantry, was left behind to give Paris evidence ?? that the Americans had really reached France and the Fourth of July was selected as the oc casion for the demonstration. Brought to Paris by train, this battalion was quartered in bar racks on the outskirts of the city in preparation for a long march over the boulevards. On July 4 Paris turned out en masse to see their new allies march between the lines of crack French troops from the garrison of Paris, drawn up alongside the streets and boulevards. As the khaki-clad columns came on, the enthusiasm of the crowds rose to a high pitch. At last, they were to see for themselves these fighting men from across the sea who would turn the tide of war in their favor. But again the re alization was something less than the anticipation. For, to quote Mr. Forrest again: "It must be confessed that those of us who watched this ?> uniformed 'soldiery' land at St. Nazaire and were watching them on the Paris boulevards were un able to compare them at all fa vorably with the spick and span and rather grim troops of Eng land and France. Many of us had seen the latter both in action and on parade. Something was lacking with our. own com patriots. "Hundreds of French officers mingling in the crowds and who had perhaps entertained the same enthusiasm the day before were getting a psychological shock. The writer, in civilian clothing, was able to hear sad and frank comment passed. " 'Is it that this is the Ameri can regular army?" one queried. 'Mon Dieu!' " 'Surely these men are not soldiers,' remarked another. " 'If this is what we are to expect from America the war is lost,' said a third. "They were, perhaps, right about it then. But they also lived to change their minds." "Fighting First" Makes Good. They changed their minds a year later when they heard how the First division captured Can tigny on May 18, 1918 and held it against all counter-attacks by the Germans and when they heard of the part played by the First in Marshal Foch's great drive of July 1918, in the Chateau Thierry - Rheims - Soissons tri angle to cut off the Crown Prince's army. In the wheat fields beyond the Forest of Villa Cot terete two of its regiments suf fered appalling losses, leaving as high as 75 and 85 per cent of their strength on the ground eith er dead or wounded. But they gained their objectives and had it not been for the failure of French, Scottish and Italian divi sions on the other side ? fighting across from Rheims to close "the sack" ? the Crown prince's army would have been destroyed. For the "Fighting First" earned the unstinted praise not only of American and Allied gen erals but even the enemy paid it high tribute. In fact, through out its career in France this di vision lived up to its designation as "First." It was not only the Maj. Gen. Robert Lee Ballard, Who Took Command of the "Fighting First" in December. 1917. first to reacn France, but it was the first to go into the trenches, the first to suffer battle losses (its total casualty list was 22, 668), the first to capture prison ers, and the first to enter Ger many after the Armistice was signed. Only once was the First division last? in returning for de mobilization to the United States from which it had sailed on Flag day 20 years ago. ? WacterD Newspaper Union. UNCOMMON AMERICANS By Elmo Scott Watson ? Western Newspaper Union Earliest Rebel IN FRONT of the statehouse in 1 Boston stands the statue of a woman, with a Bible in her hand and a child snuggled against her. The in scription on the monument tells you that this woman was a "Courageous Exponent of Civil Liberty and Reli gious Tolerance." But 300 years ago Massachusetts wasn't calling her by any such complimentary names. In the year 1637 she was "that proud dame, that Athaliah," a "notorious I on poster," a "dayngerous Instru ment of the Devell raysed up by Sathan" and a "Breeder of Her esies." For she was Anne Hutchin son, the earliest rebel in this coun try. She became a leader of a group of people who feil under the dis pleasure of the stern Puritans of Massachusetts Bay colony. Because these people held meetings in her house to discuss and criticize the sermons of the Puritan ministers, they finally placed her on trial for heresy, a trial that has teen com pared to that of Joan of Arc at Rouen. Under their questioning, she proved herself more than a match for her prosecutors. But just at the moment when it seemed that she had defeated her accusers, she burst forth into a long speech describing God's revelations to her. Thus she convicted herself and her penalty was banishment from the colony. But Anne Hutchinson was more than the first defender of religious freedom in America. She was our earliest feminist. The meetings held in her house, although primarily for religious discussion, were the forerunners of thousands of meet ings since her day, wherever women gather together to improve them selves or the rest of the world. So her house became the "birthplace of the women's clubs of America" After her banishment from Mas sachusetts Bay colony she went to that haven of religious freedom, the colony of Rhode Island, founded by Roger Williams. There she lived un til 1642 when, left a widow, she took her brood of children (she had borft? 14) to the Dutch colony of New YoNt where later she and all of her children were killed. But she had noK^jved in vain for "civil liberty and religious tolera tion, the principles for whiph she suffered exile and death are written into the Constitution of the United States." The Nation's Jester UE WAS baptized as Charles * Farrar Browne but the whole nation once loved him and laughed with him under the name of Arte mus Ward. Born in Maine in 1834, Browne served an apprenticeship in a print shop and .then became a journeyman printer. Finally he wandered to Cleveland, Ohio, where he became a local reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and invented the character of "Artemus Ward," supposed to be a traveling show man, writing to the paper to give information and to ask for it. Read ers of that paper roared over "Art emus Ward's" bad spelling and humorous descriptions of his ad ventures and it was not long until Browne got a call from New Yrfrk to become editor of Vanity Fair, a comic paper. But this editorship did not last long ftr the wandering foot of the former journeyman printer soon be gan to assert itself. He published "Artemus Ward, His Book" which had a phenomenal sale. Then he took to the lecture platform and "Artemus Ward," until now a ficti tious character, became a living reality to thousands of Americans. One of Ward's devoted readers was President Lincoln and his book played a role in an historic scene at the White House during the Civil war. In September, 1862, Lincoln called a meeting of his cabinet members whom he astonished by reading excerpts from Ward's book. When they failed to join in his laughter, Lincoln threw down the book and said"Gentlemen, why don't you laugh? Witn the fearful that is upon me night and day, if I didn't laugh, I should die and you need the medicine as much as I do." He then told them the real pur pose of the meeting which was to reaa to them a paper he had pre pared and which he proposed to issue when the time was ripe. That paper was the Emancipation Proc lamation. When he had finished reading it. Secretary Stanton ex claimed "Mr. President, if reading chapters of Artemus Ward is a pre lude to such a deed as this, the book should be filed among the archives of the nation, and the author can onized." The author was never canonized but before he died in 1887, Artemus Ward had not only become Ameri ca's favorite jester but he had won fame as a humorist in England such as no other American before him had ever known.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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June 3, 1937, edition 1
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