FRENCH COLONEL WEN "
' **(- HIS NIMTH ONM
Count Who "Married an Ameri
can Girl Honored.
Paris. ? Colonel Count GabrUI (to
Cham bran, whose grandmother was tha j
daughter of Lafayette and who married !
Clara Longworth, sister of Nicholaa i
Longworth, has Just received from j
- Marshal Lyautey his ninth citation for
brilliant conduct In the French Moroo- j
can campaign. \
The citation, in the September army j
orders, says that "during the hard
fighting at DJebel Idlan, and on ex- j
ceptlonally difficult ground, he again
'gave proof of his admirable military
*> fnalitles, decision, rapid judgment and
calm, personal bravery."
The irreconcilable rebel tribes who
have occupied the heights of the Atlas
mountains for centuries, who live by
pillage and are noted for their cour
age, love of fighting and fidelity to
their chieftains, have been greatly '
heartened by the recant Spanish de
feats In the neighboring region to the
north.
Great quantities of arms and am
munition have fallen into their hands
and, as they are among the best marks
man in the world, the maintenance of >
law and order has become an even
sore difficult task for the French au
thorities.
Count de Chambrun, who succeeded
in occupying one of their chief strong
holds, had the political as well as mili
tsry success of obtaining the official
submission of some of the most aggres
sive tribes of Ait Ideazxen.
The count was attached to the Am
erican expeditionary forces In France,
during the World war and once de
livered a course at the War college in
Washington. /I '
1
Members of Wealthiest
Indian Tribe in World
The Osage tribe recently held a pro
longed fle?ta In celebration of the re
ceipt of fresh oil royalties from the
government. Their latest collections
totaled $25,126,800, which, divided
among the 2,229 Osage Indians who
constitute the tribe, amounts to a per
capita share of |4,000 every quarter.
In addition to this oil royalty, each In
dian is owner of 700 odd acres alloted
to them by congress in 1907. The gov
ernment holds their capital, and make*
them payments quarterly.
German Town Adopts
New Tuition Fee Plan
Munster, Germany. ? The school sys
tem of the little Westphallan town of
Oelde, near here, has been placed al
most entirely- on a butter-barley basis.
Pupils t>ay their high school fees in
fats and grain, which in turn are
"spent" for school maintenance pur
poses.
Children from Oelde are assessed a
pound of butter monthly, while pupils
from the country districts may pay
either in butter or barley, forty pounds
of barley a month.
The proceeds thus collected have
gone to assist In buying the school's
winter coal supply and to reimburse,
in part, the teachers who gratefully
receive butter or barley In preference
to the constantly depreciating paper
ma r?. \
I Rules Pedestrians
| Must Carry Lights
? Maaaillon, Ohio. ? "Until county
X commissioners provide proper
1 roads and sldewalfcs It Is neces
itry that, at a matter of pre
caution, MasslUoii pedestrians
carry lights after dark."
This was the ruling of Coro
ner T. H. Shorb, after two per
sona had been killed in traffic
here in a single day recently.
Dr. Myers, commenting on the
two deaths, said: "Until the
county commissioners provide
for a two-foot walk along paved
roads with a raised curb be
tween the walk and roadway, as
a matter of precaution, it is ad- t
disable that all pedestrians car- 2
? r.v a light after dark." " 7
WHY j
Atmosphere Changes Hare Ef
fect on JT winkling Stars
There are several reasons why stars
twinkle. One is that these bodies sre !
so extremely distant that not eren Ike
most powerful telescope can show
them to hare a visible disk, like the
planets. Their llghi, consequently, is
a mere 'point, so minute as to be sus
ceptible of interference by the various
and unequal densities of the atmos
phere. Hence, atmosphere changes (
have a marked effect upon the twin-,
kling. For example, it ia found to in- !
crease as the temperature falls and \
the barometer rises. An experlenee of ?'
nearly forty years showed M. Montifny
that with the quantity of moisture in
the air the twinkling of the stars in- J
creased so markedly as to serve for a j
useful prognostic of rain. Cyclonle j
conditions generally are found to pro
mote it, whilst It Is extremely sensitive [
to magnetic disturbances. Humboldt
on one occasion in the tropics found
that the stars shone With a mild and
planetary light; their scintillation was
scarcely sensible at the horizon. This,
it is apparent, was due to the great
homogeneity of the atmosphere; where
by the extremely fine pencil of light
from the stars was not interfered with
by unequally dense strata.
USE GOLD LEAF AS MEDICINE
Indian Natives Make Peculiar Usee ef
Preeious Metal ? Refuse
te Trade It. '
*
Curious and interesting facts regard
ing India's passion for gold, and the
strange uses to which the natives put
the precious metal, have been gath
ered. Instead of utilizing her wealth
tc promote trade, Indii buries hers,
or most of it. At present, It seems,
much of the gold dug from the earth
In South Africa Is. by a fresh digging
operation, deposited again benenth
the soil in the south of Asia.
India has other queer uses tor gold.
The natives of some parts of India
take gold leaves as medicine, while
Others, piously Inclined, gild the domes
<t>f their temples with It. Thousands
of dollars' worth of gold go Into the
making of windows and other trim
mings In the paihces of the prince* of
the country.
Why Ws Raise Hand ki Yawning.
Til ere are a number of odd supersti
tions with regard to yawning. Moat
people remember having been correct
ed at some time er other for not plac
ing a hand oyer the month to cover
up a yawn.
T*ls arose from a quaint belief of
years ago when people were more su
perstitious than they are today ? that
there was a danger of the devil Juinp
, Ing Into the opeo mouth when In the
act of yawning.
Among many races It Is still believed
. that he who yawns much is possessed
of an evl] spirit. When a Hinds
yawns, he snaps his thumbs snd re
1 peats the name of one of his deities.
To neglect this means misfortune.
When a Moslem yawns, he puts the
back of his left hand over the open
mouth and says "I seek refuge in Al
lah from Satan."
! To yawn in the midst of prayera Is
considered a bad omen. It la better,
according to ancient superstition, to
, begin the prayer again, from the be
ginning.
^ Why ? 8ign la Used.
Originally both and *1b."
meant the same thing, "one pound,"
! from the Latin word, "libra." TJie old
system of money had what we should
call a "silver standard," the standard
being one pound's weight of silver,
which was cuftpp into coins. Twenty
"shillings" or two hundred and forty
pence ? went to the pound's weight of
equivalent of the modern shillings or
pence ? want to the pound's weight of
sliver. As the gold standardcame in.
these values were altered, but the old
term of "libra" for the pound was
kept. Then some distinction had to
be made in the sign for weight and
value, and so in the former case lb.,
the first and third letters, were taken
for the contraction, while in the latter
the Initial L with a stroke through it
was used.
Why the Word "Cigar" It Spanish.
The word cigar is Spanish, and ia
derived from elgarra, the Spanish name
for grasshopper. When the Spaniards
first introduced tobacco into 8paln
from the ialand of Cuba, they culti
vated rhe plant in their gardens, ,
which in Spanish are railed cigarrals.
Bach grew his tobacco in his cigarral.
When one offered a smoke to a friend,
i he would say: "Es de ml cigarral,"
I that is. "It ia from ray garden." Soon
j the expression came to be: 'Este cl- ;
garro et de mi cigarral," "this cigar j
la from my garden." The grasshopper
. (elgarra) w a* very common in Spain ;
, and cigarral meant the place whers
the elgarra sings.
I ' ' -
: Why Dees Watch Spring Breakf
The spontaneous breaking of watch
springs is believed to eocur chiefly in
the summer months. From the repair
records of two firms for several years
it ia found that the breakages are
meet ^umeroua during the season of
frequent thunderstorms. Further ex
; periments Indicate that it la moisture
instead of heat that playa the chief
| part. It Is suggested that the springe
may be weakened by fuating spots,
and In 56 samples, sealed np in equal
division In a jar containing moist air, j
and one containing dry air, 17 springs
j broke, all in the Jar of moist air. The
liability to break was greatly reduced i
i by the application of oil.
Different Way? to Cure
Newly Placed Concrete
Recent survey of numerous high
way construction projects show thst
contractors employ different methods
,to cure newly-laid concrete. This cur
ing is said to be one of the very im
portant processes In building a first
class concrete pavement.
On level sections of highway, the
preferred method, it, was found, is the
building of earth dykes along the edges
of the pavement and flooding the in- |
side area as shown in the illustration.
The water is then kept on the surface
of the concrete for ten days or two
weeks. This method was thought to
be cheaper than covering with earth
because of the labor necessary to
shovel the dirt oil to the pavement
and later clean it off. The water re
quired to keep the earth wet was
about as much as if the surface of
the pavement was flooded.
Some contractors reported that the
use of hay was best. They said It
would hold more water and could he
Curing Newly-Laid Concrete by Flood*
ing.
used several times over. Moreover,
It was not hard work to distribute the
hay or rake It up after the curing
period.
Where water was plentiful, some
contractors expressed themselves In
favor of using sprinklers/ A water
pipe was laid down the center of tht
road, with lawn sprinklers attached at
frequent Intervals. These were kept
running several hours a day.
The advantages of one or another
method of curing were not found to
be such as to affect the strength or
wearing qualities .?f the concrete. Al
though concrete begins to harden soon
after it is mixed, the full strength is
developed by progressive hardening
over a period of time. The hardening
process is said to he not a drying
process, as the presence of moisture
Is necessary to assist the chemical
action which causes concrete to harden.
Louisiana Parish Saves
Money by Using Iron Ore |
Iron ore. found in northwestern
Louisiana, has proved of great value
In road building in that state, and, in |
some localities where it has been used j
has effected q saving of $2,<X>0 to
$8,000 a mile In the cost of construe- j
tion.
Highway engineers in Louisiana
have been using the ore as a binder
Instead of sand or clay, and have
found it far superior to that material
in many Instances. During 1022 the !
Louisiana state highway department !
completed 850 mlies of new roads.
Most of this mileage consists of gravel.
The remainder consists of roads built
of shells, sheet asphalt or bitullthic.
The 1928 program Includes a larger
amount of asphaltic Construction.
Iron ore was first used in De Soto
parish, La., in 1917. Then a large de
posit was found northwest of Arcadia.
Ore from this deposit is being used as
a base course on the new Homer-Min
den highway, the Arcadla-Natchitoches
highway, the Ruston-Arkansas high
way and the Pershing highway. The
state pays about 10 ceuts a yard in
royalties for this material, against $1
a yard in sand clay gravel. The saving
effected amounts to about $1.50 a yard.
Federal Funds Spent on
Highways in Year 1922
During the calendar year 1922 the
amount of federal funds spent on high
ways by the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture totaled $5,603,100,
which constructed 2,420 milejTrf for
est roads and 4,190 miles of forest
trails. An additional $950,000 was se
cured for this construction work from
state and county authorities. During
this same year 4.550 miles of roads
and 19,600 miles of trails were main
tained at a cost of $500,000.
Complaint About Heavy
Trucks Injuring Roads
Speaking about maintaining good
roads, there is much complaint about
big trucks that make trips over the
roads Immediately after every rain,
cutting them up, making travel diffi
cult, and causing a lot of extra work
to keep the ruts filled and the roadway
in traveling condition. Some day we
shall have to plan some restrictions on
traveling with big trucks immediately
After a rata.
*
1 and a
Prosperous
New Year
, \
to our
Friends and
*
0