y.. ' * •
THE ALA.M WCK (II,I:ANI:K.
VOL. L
TO PRESERVE CABIN
OCCUPIED BY TWAIN
Reno Park to Have Abode
, of Famous Humorist.
1
, It Is In the, ghost city of Aurora,
Nev., that Mark Twain wrote "Rough
ing It." The cabin that he occupied
still stands Just about as he left It,
"E. N. R." writes In the Kansas City
Times. Here and' there can be seen
the marks of souvenir hunters, but in"
most respects the cabin Is In a good
state of preservation. The stove upon
which he did his own cooking, covered
with rust and grime, is just as it was
• when he took the stage that car,ried
him on the first lap of his journey to
the East and world fame.
In one corner of the cabin Is the
wooden bunk upon .which one can
imagine Mark Twain lay weaving- in
mind many of his western ro
mances, as he watched the smoke
_ rings from his old pipe floating lazily
, cspward to Join the cobwebs on tlie
celling. As I sit here on the edge of
Mark Twain's old buiTk writing these
Iprief notes tr have a feeling that his
'"spirit is hovering near.
When word was received recently
that citizens of Mono Lake, Cal., were
starting a movement to remove the
Mark Twain cabin to that place, a
• few Nevada old-timers suddenly awoke
to a realization of the value of "this :
early-day treasure and bestirred
themselves to keep It within the bor
ders of the state that lias a greater
claim on this man who made the
whole world smile with his quaint j
humor and hoWly philosophy. Ar
rangements have now been completed
to transport the cabin and its his
toric contents to the Wlngfleld park
at. Reno. The surprising thing Is that
this was not done long ago.
Walking through the streets of this
most Interesting of Nevada's ghost
cities, a vision comes to one of its
past hectic days, the days whep day- i
time and nlghttimp in Aurora were
one and the same, when the merry
click of the roulette wheels could be
heard at all hours of the night or day, ,
when the }gors of its many dance
hails were never closed, and one can
understand whence came tlie inspira
tion for Martf Twain's unrivaled tales
of those pioneer days, the like of
which will never be seen ngalq.
It Is truly a deserted village. Not*a
human being in sight. No sign of ani
mal life. Nothing but empty nnd de
serted buildings. Along the main
street stands a three-story brick hotel,
toreral two-story bricks, others of one
all still In very good condition.
Many of these buildings compare fa
vorably with similar structures In
such cities as Reno. The doors of
most of these buildings are open for
all who wish. to enter; a few have
iron bars across the doors, but with
windows broken one can easily see all
within. In one, of these. Is u henrse, I
upon which It Is said the absent
owner still pays taxes, just why no i
ope knows; It may be be thinks the
camp will some day stage a "come
back," a trick that Nevada ghost
cities have.
The building once used as a court- j
house, where justice was dispensed in ;
the true and easy pioneer style, has ;
Its Jail doors wide open, swinging
back and forth with every breeze that
sweeps do\jn the once-busy street. In
one of the cells is a chain shackled
-to the floor, indicating the strenuous
character of some of Its former occu
pants. In another cell are four dusty
coflln lids, gruesome evidence of the
old days when men were wont>to shoot
first and talk afterward.
In one of the one-story bricks stands
a long bar and back of It a bevel glass
mirror, and in front tbe shattered
evidence of the familiar brass rail
' upon which rested the feet of many
men who later became prominent In
the business and financial affairs of
San Francisco and other Pacific coast
cities. With feet on this rail, nnd
with the tinkling of glasses, men made
deals involving thousands of doilurs.
Those were free and easy days, as the
otd-tlmers will tell you with many a
sigh and lonesome look. /
It was amidst such scenes and such
environment as this that America's
foremost humorist spent his young
manhood days.
"Silver" Foxes
The name sliver fox, as commonly
used by furriers, includes the dark
phases of the ordinary red fox, various-J.
ly called silver gray, sliver black, or
black. The color of the red fox of the
Northeastern states and of Its allies of
tbe colder part of North America',
varies from red to black, and these ex-,
tremes with tbe gradations between
them form four more or less distinct
known respectively as red
cross of fetch, stiver and black.
Saw Century Old
Cottonwood Falls, Kan. A cross
cut saw nearly one hundred years old
. la being used by E. D. Forney, local
blacksmith, to saw wood for fuel. The
aaw was brought to Chase county from i
Illinois by the Studebaker family, earij ;
pioneers of Staffordsville. I
Mean Trick Played on
Indian Water Goddeet
It Is (.llllieult to exaggerate the lm- ;
portance of the large artificial lake*:
thnt have been made In all parts of
India, for upon the regular supply of,
water from them the agriculturists
depend for the growth of their crops.'
Many of these tanks have been built]
ut great expense, and It is not surprls-'
ingotluit the protecyon.of some god
or goddess is necessary for the peace
of mind of the people.
A collection of legends connected
with such tanks would not be with
out Interest. In the JCadur district
of the Mysore state, there is p large
artificial reservoir, known •as Ay
yankore, well known to planters who
frequently enjop duck shooting there.
The legend connected with this lake
Is as follows: Though the goddess of
the neighborhood permitted the con
struction of the bund, \yhich held up
the waters of the river, she was never
renll.v pleased about the matter. Af
ter a number of years her patience
WHS exhausted, and when the water
man, in charge of the sluices, visited
the place In the early morning, she
accosted him, and then informed him
that she had determined to destroy
tlie bund, and nllpw the waters to
flow In their usual course. The water
man of tlie king and the royal
family, afd the thousands of people
In the town of Sacrapatnu below.
. Falling down before the goddess' he
pioadetj thnt lie might be permitted to
go to the town and ijnfonn the peo
ple of tlie impending disaster, so that
they, at least, might «be saved. The
goddess relented, nnd declared that
she would not destroy the dam until
the wnW'rman returned to tell her
that the necessary warning had been
given. Delighted to be able to con
vey the warning to the king, tho wa
terman ran to the town, and obtained '
permission to see the king.
On hearing the condition laid down
by the goddess, the king quickly saw
a way of escape. He immediately
gave orders that the waterman's head
should be cut off, so that he ahopid
not be able to return to the goddess.
Hence it is that the dam still holds.
The goddess still waits patiently for
the coming of the waterman, and
holds faithfully to her promise.
•0 0 t
Great Eastern Writer
The name "Voltaire of the East" is
applied to"Dmar Kliayyahi, whose Ru
bsljVt is familiar to every reader. Be
cause of his purity of diction, his fine
Wit, crushing satire and general sym
pathy with suffering huminity, he
strongly resembles the great French
man. His poetical renown Is based on
Ills quatrains, a collection of about
000 epigrams which Fitzgerald has
done into English. But Omar, tlie
Persian tent maker, was more than a
poet; his favorite studies were math
ematics 'and astronomy. His stand
ard work on algebra written In Arabic,
together with other treatises of similar
character, raised him to the foremost
rank of the mathematicians of hia
time. At the request of the stllfan be
conducted extensive researches in
nstronomy which were Instrumental
in reforming the calendur of his day.
He died 1X23 A. D.—Kansas City Star.
Ute Radio to Find Mines
That radio methods will come Into
greater use In prospecting for un
known beds of mineral was the pre
diction mnde to the British Associa
tion for the Advancement of Science
by Prof. Sherwin F. Kelly of the Uni
versity of Toronto. After reviewing
the numerous electrical methods that
have been employed moire or less suo
cessfully In geological* work. Profes
sor Kelly described In detail the proc
esses ih which an audio-frequency
current is introduced into the outcrop
of a mineral-bearing vein or rock for
mation, the mineral body being then
traced underground by means of the
strength of the audio-frequency field
on the surface the ground. The
current tends to follow the mora
highly conducting layers of rock.
Did Hi* Best
A young couple, recently married,
had been riding with some friends.
On reaching home the bride hurried
the new husband up to the apartment
with orders to start the coffee boiling,
while she mode a few necesary pur
chases at a neighboring atore. Her
consternation at the absent-minded
and well-meaning husband was be
yond bounds when on hurrying Into
the kitchen she found the coffee boil
ing In the new electric percolator on
top of the new gas stove, well sur
rounded by a high flame.—lndianapo
lis News.
No Race Suicide
A resident of Indianapolis tells th«
story of a woman wbo lives In bis
neighborhood, who had her first hos
pital experience'recently as a guest
of one of the local hospitals oq the
occasion of the birth of taer sixteenth
child. One of ber Mends who called
on her before her return to her home,
found her very enthusiastic wrf the
treatmrnt given her In the Institution.
"I'm coming here every tlm after
Ibis," site said •
' GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY. JANUARY 22, 1925
Arrange Furniture* for
Comfprt and Coziness
The cosy nook—may It ever be as
popular as it is today. Indications are,
however, that* It will continue to grow
into greater popularity because more
and more things are being made wlilcfi
can be used to create more comfort and
coziness for cosy nooks, several of
j which should be In every nome. A liv
ing room should boast of two or three
or more, according to Its sire; each
bedroom ought, to have one, and the
sun porch one or two.
Of course, says the Kansas City Star,
a good grouping in the prime requisite
of the cozy nook, and in the living room
the largest and most important group
i IS a fireplace. Then the Smaller groups
should be subordinate to, but Just as
attractive as the larger one.
For the living room so small that
there Is not enough space for a daven
port even, coziness has to be achieved
with groupings of armchairs, one group
on one, side of the narrow room and
the other group on the other side. A
big wing chair with a grandfatherly ap
pearance may serve as the nucleus of
a charming gronp. Aided by a little,
old-fashioned table and a reading lamp,
with a generously proportioned shade,
the effect of coziness Is accomplished.
A much better reading light is always
to be had from a spreading shade than
from one of straight cylindrical or nar
row oval shape. ,
Birds Killed by Cart
. v on English Highway
. s Correspondents of a British journal
devoted to motorcar matters are writ
ing that many birds are killed by auto
lsts. One man relates: "I am on the
road every day and nearly all day,
and birds large and small will Insist
on flying Into my front wheels. I have
killed several.lately." A second says:
"I killed three
a. m." We probably have In this coun
try more cars running about In any
well-populated district than they have
in England. Are we killing birds In
this fashion? The editor of the York
shire Post comments on this matter
thus: "We imagine that the casual
ties In bird-life brought about by mo
tors depend very much on the season
of the year. In late summer great
numbers of young birds throng the
hedges on the roadsides. They are
able to fly, but.have nqt learned wis
dom from experience, and may easily
fall victims. It takes time for wild
creatures to adapt themselves to i
strange contrivances hurtling through |
their haunts. At one time express
trains were veritable Juggernauts, but
they are now comparatively harmless."
1
England's Area Increasing
A continual war with the sea is be
ing waged around the British coast,
the contour of which is continually
changing. A start was recently made
In Wlngland, looking toward the rec
lamation of 500 acres from the Wash. I
This was the, district where King I
John made bis tragic Journey across (
the sand. At that time the sea, though
hemmed somewhat by the Roman#,
came down to Wisbech; but It naa
been gradually beaten back. It Is es
timated that since tbe Norman con
quest some 880,000 acres in Lincoln
shire have been reclaimed from the
sea, or from the waters of the fen.
On no part of the English coast is ac
cretion so predominant as in Lincoln
shire. Though erosion caused a loss
of 400 acres between 1883-1900, in the
same period there was a gain .of 9,106
acres, now tbe richest soil in tbe coun
try.
Great Writer's Home.
Abbotaford was tbe name given by
Sir Walter Scott to bis residence on
tbe banks of tbe Tweed, from a tradi
tion that tbe abbots of llelrose forded
the river there in times past. The
house was begun In 1817 and complet
ed in 1834. It la chiefly Interesting as
the home of the poet and novelist, and.
contains several valuable relics. Sir
Walter bad lived at Abbotsfo'rd about
a year when financial reverses over
took him through the failure of his
pubUsber. Although liable for about
9000,000, the author asked only for
time; and In five years realised for his
creditors tbe sum of nearly $400,000.
To accomplish this he labored from
ten to fourteen hours a day at hie writ
ing. Scott died at Abbotaford la .
—Kansas City Star. ,
First "Boucaniers"
The name "buccaneer" was given to
piratical English, Dutch and French
adventurers, united In their opposition
to Spain, wbo maintained themselves
chiefly In tbe Caribbean sea during tbe
Seventeenth century. Tbe first of tbe
class were French settlers, wboee oc
cupation originally was hunting tbe
wild cattle on tbe islands, especially
Hlspanlola, and preserving the flesh
at little establishments "bo*- j
cans," tbey being- known as "boa- i
camera" After belag driven from
these pursuits by tbe Spaniards, these j
boucanlers took to piracy, particular
ly upon Spanish vessels, and to raid- '
log Spanish settlements on the islands
and mainland Their career cleeed
about 1700.
SCENT OF, MAN IS '
A DEATH SENTENCE
Wild Mothere in Captivity
Resent Cubs' Handling.
Lena, the lioness of tbe soological
gardens in London, is now rearing her
Becond litter of cubs. The secret of
success with lion cubs born in cuptlvlty
seems to lie In ' this simple rule—no
human being must lay a finger on tbe
whelps while they ure in their mother's
charge. In the pust keepers, men of
science, und privileged visitors would
take a peep at the cubs when tbe
mother liad been* "fed away" from the
nursery. The cuddlesome spotted In
fants were not moved Into the cold air,
but who could resist giving them a pat
or a caress? asks a writer in tlie Lon
don Chronicle.
Well, that affectlonute stroking was
their death sentence. It left tbe dread
ed "man scent" on their coats.
For hundreds of thousand of years
man has been the arch enemy of all
wild creatures. Some he was obliged
to kill off In self-defense and others
he hunted for food. It follows that
the smell of the destroyer rulses an
Instinctive terror in the mind of an
animal.
Tlie tolerance acquired by a captive
beast for the smell of man is because
the alternative is starvation. The
primitive Instinct of a nursing mother
brings back primitive fears. There
fore, when the lioness returns to the
nursery and scents tbe dreaded taint
she either destroys her bubles or
leaves tl)em to die. s T>
A wolf-mother at the zoo once
proved herself unequal to the task of
rearing .a family. When the next lit
ter arrived the soo called In a mother
ly collie. There were four cubs and
four puppies.
As an experiment It was decided to
leave one cub with the wplf-mother,
and, in addition, to give her three.of
the puppies to see if she would rear
them. She was shut out of ber dark
sleeping box while the change was
made and the puppies were given more
than an hour to snuggle in the cub's
nest of hay and/get thoroughly "wolfy"
in scene. Then the wolf-mother was
re-admitted. '
There were four sniffs, and three
snaps—and only the wolf-pub lived.
Another ease In point. While the
usual keeper'of the zoo deer was away
a substitute found a baby fawn totter
. Ing In an open paddock daring bad
| weather. The man picked It up and
carried It Into shelter. From that mo
ment the mother refused to go near
her baby, and the mite had to bf
reared by hand.
Even the tame domestic rabbit will
kill or abandon her young should the
owner handle them In the nest and
leave a trace of the fatal "tnan scent."
Leave all baby animals to their
. mothers, and 'do not touch them unless
you mean to take them away for good.
School of Fisheries
▲ school of fisheries to be estab
lished at Halifax. Nova Scotia, by W.
Henry Robertson, American consul
general at Halifax, la described In a
late number of School Life. A por
tion of King's wharf will be trans
• ferred to the biological board and a
large building remodeled and convert
ed Into a school building and biological
station. • *
A staff of scientists will be ap
pointed by tbe biological board of
Canada, and tlie achool will function
in co-operation with Dalbousie univer
sity and with tbe Nova Scotia Tech
nical college. A scientific station will
/be maintained at St Andrews, New
Brunswick.
It Is expected that the school will be
valuable as an experiment station, pro
viding information and advice for tbe
fishing Industry.
His Way
"Old Riley Rezsldew was In here a
spell ago, growling about a lost let
ter," said landlord of tbe Petunia
tSvern. '
"Lost another letter he waa given
to mall, eh 7" returned Squire Rams
bottom.
"Ye-ah! He wasn't certain be had
been in tbe hotel here, but he w M
trying to vlait all the places be had
been, and was probly going to some
be bsdn't visited and passing by sev
eral be bad visited. Somewhere
around town he had lost the letter,
and tbe iSst I knew be hadn't found It
As he conducts all of hia business In
Just about that fashion, be has all
tbe time In. tbe world to .denounce
tbe post oSqp for tbe foolish .way
they run their buainess."—Kansas
City Star.
.Just Like That
Elderly JMovtf, patron—l can never
remembeg wfcat pictures 1 have seen.
Tbey neatly go, in one eye and out at
the other.—London Mall.
Jealousy Common Fault
When two start Into tbe world to
gether, be that if thrown behind, un
less his. mind proves generous, will be
dlspleasfed.wlth the other.
Iron Rust Drive« Fish
.From River in Siberia
Oan yon Imagine a river that gets
rusty T There Is one which Is subject
to this phenomenon—the River Ob,
which falls into the Arctic ocean and
runs through the north of Siberia.
The Ob contains a great amount of
Iron. Every year when It freezes over
the iron Is cut off from the air. The
result is that the metal precipitates,
or, In other words, Instead of being
dissolved In the water, becomes a
solid.
The whole underside of the. Ice Is
covered thickly with rust, and even
the fish and other creatures become
rusty. In the lower reaches, where
Ice does not form, the water, ordi
narily quite clear, becomes cloudy and
discolored. The whole river, 2,300
miles long, becomes poisonous.
People living near It have to quench
their thirst with melted snow, and
most of the fish leave the river and
seek safety in the sea. They are told
by Instinct when the time arrives for
their annual exodus.
_ In the spring vhe Ice thaws snd the
air renders the river free from poison.
The flsb Immediately return. They
swim up the stream In suoh vast num
bers that they are packed tightly to
gether. Any beat that tries to navi
gate the rivet at this time forces thou
sands of flsh onto the flat banks,
where the natives kill them with
Sticks.
All Men of Unusual
Strength Are Samsons
, The story of Sampson Is found In
Judges 18, and the three following
chapters. This man takes his place in
Scripture as a Judge or ruler, an office
which he filled for 20 years; as a Nsz
arite, that Is, one bound' by a vow of a
peculiar kind to be set spart from oth
era for the service of the Almighty.
The obligation was really for a defi
nite time, and during that time the
Nasarite was bound to abstain from
wine and every production of the vine,
and from every kind of Intoxicating
drink. He was forbidden to cut the
hair of his head, or to approach any
dead body. In the third place Sam
son appears as a man endowed with
supernatural physical strength. It Is
this latter quality that first comes to
one's mind when he is mentioned, and
It Is becsuse of that wonderful qual
ity that any man of unusual strength
Is called a Samson. For instance, a
London carpenter, named Thomas
Topbam, has been called "the British
Samson." It is related that In Cold
Bath 4elda, London, on May 28, 1741,
In the presence of .thousands of spec
tators Topham lifted three hogsheads
of water, weighing 1386 pounds. Top
ham was born in 1710, snd died In
1758. It Is related that be waa driven
te suicide by domestic troubles.
Eggsactlyl
•♦Herman Finck, whoae only fault la
that he Is always witty, happened to be
Walking np Baker street with Pago,
and, stopping In front of Elliott ft
Fry's, the well-known photographers,
they noticed that there waa an exhibi
tion of country-life photographa In the
window, and that in a basket In the
center of the window were a couple of
dozen of the best new-laid eggs I This
being somewhat unusual for an estab
lishment of this kind. Page said:
'Eggs! Why on earth should a pho
tographer put eggs in his window r To
which Finck replied: 'I really don't
knoW; I can only suppose that a ban
has gone In for a sitting'; which Is an
example,of quick wit I csn hardly Im
agine has ever been excelled."—From
"Chestnuts Re-Roasted" by Seymour
Hicks. ..
A Good Bag
The old dftintry mansion had been
turned Into a clubhouse and the sur
rounding sylvan park Into a golf
course. The members were extraordi
narily proud of the Inxurlous club with
the previous owner's hunting trophies
still adnrnlngAhe walls.
One day S player wss showing S
visitor round the place.
"I say, this Is fine," said the stranger,
as he stepped into the oak-puneled
hsiL He waved his hand In tlie dlrec-
Jlon of the mounted heads of «tsgs,
caribou nnd moose. "Tell me, Ud tliey
kill all these fellows with golf hull*}"
Useful Glue
Here Is a glue any housewife can
make. It's so simple and will serve
many household purposes. Just dis
solve one tsblespoonfui of ordinary
cooking gelatin In from two to two
and, a half tablespoonfuls of boiling
water. 801 l a few seconds and add a
little sugar while still hot.
A women who usee It saya It will
effectually stick paper or doth to
metal, wood or glass and do this with
out leaving a stain.
Just So "
' "How did the accident happenT"
"Why. I dimmed my lights an* was
hugging the curve."
"Yenh. that's bow most aocUenta
Happen. '—Judge.
Few Realize Greet
Pressure Under Sea
When you drop something Into two
or three miles of ocean, you lmmedl
! ately Invite hard usage. First, there Is
tbe pressure of the water. The weight
of the sea at 1,000 fatlioms (approxi
mately one mile) Is one ton to the
square Inch, or 150 times as great as
the air which we breathe. Oo down
2,500 fathoms and there Is a pressure
many times more powerful than that
I of the steam In a locomotive boiler.
I Captain De Carteret told me of a
test that was made on the cable sMp
Colonla In midocean, writes George W.
Gray In the American Magazine. An
empty soda water bottle —one of tile
kind that has a conical bottom—was
fitted .with a long stopper of hard wood
, trimmed to lit the neck of the bottle
snugly, and cut so as to make It, bare
ly touch the bottom of the bottle. The
bottle was weighted arill let down to a
depth of 2,000 fathdms. When it was
brought up, the point of the wooden
] stopper wss protruding through the
| thick glass bottom. Tbe pressure of
| the water had converted the stopper
into a hydraulic ram, and had driven
It so neatly through the bottom of the
bottle that there wasn't even a star
fracture in the glass.
I Another cable told of lower
ing a piece of meat, properly weighted
to make it sink, in the mid-Atlantic.
After being exposed to the near-freez
ing temperature and tlie squeezing
weight of a thousand fathoms of ocean,
that tough roast beef came up as ten
der as veal.
Mother Had to Wait
for "Engagement" Ring
I married a young man not greatly
blessed with worldly goods, says a
writer In the Washington Star. It
taxed his financial resources to the
uttermost to start even our modest
housekeeping, so our engagement was
not sealed with tbe customary ring, al
though I did have a small wadding
ring.
During our early married life we
bad to work and plan to make just
a poor living for our three little girls,
for although John's salary lncrtased,
so did living expenses, and' luxuries
were unknown.
Soon after our eldest daughter be
came engaged, John made quite a sum
of money on a business deal. One eve
ning he came home with an expensive
looking rliig box, and, opening it,
ahowed as a beautiful diamond ring.
We all supposed it to be an engage
ment present for daughter. She
looked complacent, while the younger
girls were frankly envious. '
My heart fluttered when John Inter
rupted with  "Here, wait a minute.
That's mother's engagement ring.
Goodness knows she's waited long
enough for It, but HOW'S the first time
I've been able to afford tbe kind abe
deserves."
• Ancient Pleasure Spot
At Scarborough, known throughout
Greet Britain as the "Queen of Water
ing Places," after 200 years of service,
tbe once popular mineral springs, have
been closed. Scarborough has long
been n place of recreation. The min
eral springs are said to have been dis
covered in 1020, and, towards the end
ot that century, the place was becom
ing fashionable, and a bußdlng was
erected over the springs. Then came
tbe earthquake, following which the
springs were lost for some years, but
tbey were found again, and the place
waa a great resort of fsshlon in the
■lghteentli century. In 1777, for In
stance, Sheridan could take Lord Fop
plngton and the rest on a trip to Scar
borough, to taste the "noise and folly
of the place,"
Animal Life on Everest I
Animal life, it appears, is to be
found on high mountains far beyond
plant growth. The highest growing
plsnt tliut the Mount Everest expe
dition of 1924 observed was the blue
vetch, at 18,000 feet, but animals live
at as great a height as 22,000 feet
"A minute and Inconspicuous black
spider," saya a member of tbe expedi
tion, "hops about on rocky cliffs and
hides beneath stones in those bare
placea that happen to be swept clear
of snow by the wind. I cannot think
on what It lives at such a height. In
these altitudes there Is no other liv
ing thing—nothing but rock and Ice."
This little spider is worthy of note
as being tbe highest permanent In
habitant of tbe earth.
Kidd's Treasure Again
When tbe Westchester county park
commission opened bids at White
Plains, N. Y., for the removal of
Money hill, on tbe Hudson river at
Croton, It Inserted a clause In the con
tract that If any of Captain Kldd'a
treasure was unearthed from the hlil
It waa to be turned over to the com
mission. Money bill was so named
owing to a legend that Captain Kidd
buried some of his treasure there.
Residents thereabout have frequently
reported finding Spanish pleces-of
eight and other coins of ancient mint
ego.
NO. 51
TOYS DO Ml/CH TO
SHAPE BOYS' LIVES
No Doubt That Plaything*
Have Great Influence.
Have 70a ever watched parents and
fond relatives wandering about aim
lessly in the tpy department of M g
stores? They finger this toy und that;
worriedly, and finally end by baying
something—anything—at the counter
that Is least crowded.
Soch parents lose a great opportu
nity by neglecting a chance to help
their children. ▲ toy Is part of a
child's education. Just as educators
choose textbooks, considering care*
fully the needs of the child, so should
the parent choose toys, writes Ferdi
nand Stranss, toy manufacturer, In
the Popular Science Monthly. For
toys should be chosen that will en
courage children to think and develop
their latent powers.
"America makes toys that teach
something, because It has advanced
further In the field of child psychol
ogy than any other country In the
world, and the psychologists have
demonstrated that children learn
while they play.
"Not long ago I read a story about
Orvllle and Wilbur Wright When
they were little boys In Ohio, their
favorite toys were kites and balloons.
In playing with them, though, they
never dreamed that they would be the
men to accomplish through their air
planes the conquest of the air.
"Again and again I find. In reading
of the childhood of famous men or In
speaking with them, that they spent
their play hours with toys that had
some definite connection with their
later occupation.
"If Linden thai or Modjeskl, the
great bridge builders of today, were
to tell you of their childhood, you
would learn that as boys they spent
most of tbelr time making toy
bridges.
"Rear Admiral William A. Moffett,
chief of the bureau of aeronautics,
United Btates navy, himself told me
that as a boy his principal Interest
was flying kites.
"Carl E. Akeley, the inventor and
big-game hunter, the man who raised
taxidermy to the level of the arts,
spent his playtime as a boy with tools.
The gift of a folding pocket footrule,
he says, gave him .a big thrill, and
with his tools he made toys and use
ful articles for the house. In the
heart of a Jungle, hundreds of miles
from any source of supplies, a man
without übllity for construction Is al
most helpless. Carl Akeley Is not, for
as a boy lie possessed a tool chest"
Dogs Maim With WOIOCM
A story reminiscent oftJsck London's
"Call of the Wild," has come to the
bureau of biological survey of the
United States Department of Agricul
ture. Lsst winter a number of wolves;
Including three blade ones, were re
ported by different stockmen east of
Lodgegrass In the Wolf mountains In
Montana. A government hunter, as
signed to dear them out trapped an
almost blsck animal that was obviously
part dog, and a short time afterward.
In the same vicinity, he killed a vicious
dog similar to sn alredale, probably
the sire of the half-blood. It is believed
that most of the wolves in this pack
are half-breeds.
Too Patriotic
"Mother, make Jane quit singing."
This -gentle command came for thn
seccrnl time from upstairs, where Jlm
,my and Jane were supposed to bars
been asleep.
"Jimmy, pay po attention to Jan*,
lte s little man and gb to sleep," an
swered iiintlier.
"I am a man. mother.', Jane keeps
singing 'Star Spangfed"Banner.' and
every time T have to sOnd up."—ln
dianapolis News.
Modern Buaet for Moscow
Moscow, which from time Imme
morial has depended upon the horse
drawn carriage and the conventional
trolley cur for Its transportation, will
soon have Its own tnotorliuses. Right
omnibuses of the London type will
make tlielr appearance soon, and it is
the Intention of the municipal authori
ties eventually to obtain sufficient ad
ditional vehicle* to establish connec
tion with suburban districts. Tills
will do much, the officials say, to re
lieve the fearful congestion on trolley
cars and trains, and will also encour- ;
age part of the population to move to
the suburbs.
■ Seasoning Paper 'I
In the paper Industry, as In the lum
ber Industry, seasoning of the newly
manufactured product Is essential. Pa
pers son son ed or dried in the old-fasb
loned nay by being hung on cords In
a drying loft are better than those
dried by mechanical means. There Is
l«u shrinkage In this way. Before a g
paper Is good as writing paper It has
to be sized. Blotting paper is the only
unsized paper. China day is used for
sizing the better grades.