VACATION IN SOUTH AMERICA
(Continued from page 2)
of 19,000 feet above sea level into the zone of
eternal snow and ice. Mount Mitchell is a small
mountain compared with those babies. The rock
which form these mountains is extremely soft.
When the farmers clear the steep slopes of its
dense tropical vegetation, in order to cultivate the
soil, it very often happens that the entire moun
tain slides down into the valley, taking a village
or two along with it.
The greater part of Colombia lies beyond the
Andean range and is completely uninhabited, ex
cept for some wild roving Indian tribes. Some
parts are less explored than the darkest corners
of Africa. This may explain why a country
almost twice the size of Texas has a population
less than Pennsylvania.
Communication between various parts of the
country is very much undeveloped. To get from
Baranquilla to Medellin, for instance, one can
take the river boat up the Magdalena River part
of the way and travel the rest by rail. This will
take from three to six weeks, depending on the
mood of the Magdalena. If one has the money
and likes to fly, the trip can be made in three
hours. There are no road connections between
the major cities. This makes plane transportation
in Colombia very popular, and as a matter of
fact, many parts of the country were only de
veloped since the advent of aviation. Only rug
ged individualists and the poor travel otherwise
than by air in Colombia.
Highways, if they exist at all, do not deserve
the name of highways. They are only dirt roads
and sometimes not even good ones. Although
right-hand driving is the rule, everyone drives
where they can find a solid foundation, dodging
holes, cattle and people. The inhabitants stand
very dignified in the middle of the road when a
car approaches and defy the driver to hit them,
, and usually the car has to be driven around them.
The little boys act as if the approaching vehicle
is a bull attacking a bullfighter. The little rascals
have the time of their lives defying an oncoming
car and jumping to the side at the last minute,
trying to touch the fender as it goes by. This is
the way some of the famous bullfighters got their
first training; and it insures the unwary tourist
of a nervous breakdown in nothing flat.
All in all I had a wonderful time in South
America, and I can recommend it to anyone who
wants to have an unusual vacation. There you
can get your money’s worth of sunshine, colorful
scenery, interesting people, and strange plants
and animals; but if someone is looking for a
nice place to live, I can only advise him—stay in
Western North Carolina.
CLEAN UP FOR FIRE SAFETY
by Ernest Burch
Well! Here we are again. Spring is here. Spring
in all it’s glory, with it’s sweet fresh air. Gone
are the dusts of Winter. The old homestead is
bathed in sunlight. All is well, on the outside
that is, but how about the inside? Have we
started our Spring cleaning? Have we taken
stock of all the rubbish that has accumulated
during the Winter, to see what we can throw
away? Mr. Webster defines RUBBISH as any
thing worthless or valueless. This can mean sister
Susie’s old clothes in the attic, the bric-a-brac we
stored in the garage, the old broken chairs or
newspapers that we stored in the cellar. All can
be fuel for fire if one occurs. After taking stock,
why not give away to some worthy charity, those
things we know we’ll never use again. Don’t put
it off until TOMORROW. Tomorrow never
comes—but fire does. Good housekeeping means
fire safety. Clean property seldom burns. CLEAN
UP!
TAKE A CHANCE
The chances that you will marry a person with
whom you went to school are 1 in 70.
The chances of getting good news in a tele
gram instead of bad news are 2V2 to 1.
The chances that you can disappear and never
be found are 1000 to 1 against you.
If you are a man the chances are 80 to 1
against you following the same profession that
your father did.
If you are married the chances are 2,300 to 1
that you met your mate through an introduction.
Your chances of living to a ripe old age are
immeasurably increased if you follow common
sense safety rules while at work, in traffic, and
at home.
There is the old fable of the chained eagle.
Found one day by a woodsman it was chained
near the cabin and each day thereafter it would
walk to the end of the chain and no farther. One
day the woodsman took pity on the eagle and
released the chain. The eagle did not fly away.
It walked only the same distance and stopped.
We must never allow our thoughts to be chained
the same way. If we become like the chained
eagle we won’t be able to cope with the chang
ing times and new situations.
During the ’eighties our football heroes did
it the hard way. If he lost a leg or broke an arm
—what did it get him? Two measly points. They
didn’t think much of touchdowns in those days,
when football was young. They wanted goals—
a goal kicked after a touchdown meant four points
—and a field goal counted five.
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