Christmas Around the World
Each land hat its own
Yuletide customs. Above,
at Net c York's Rocke
feller Center, carolers
ting nightly before
Chrittmat. In the Italian
Alps, right, children ?
pray before a wayside ]
shrine.
Above, dressed in fancy cos
tumes, Polish children stage
scenes from bibliogl lore and
sing religious songs, serenading
the homes of villagers.
At tropical Cairo, in Egypt ,
European visitor s erect their
Christmas tree in the shadow
of the pyramids. Left: Stock
holm, Sweden, street decora
tions.
Fete ceremonies are more colorful than those of Rumania, where
villager s portray the three I vise men, shepherd* and an angel.
At Tromso, Norway, most northern part of Europe boasting m
radio station, residents listen to the story of Christ's birth.
Christmas service in m Russian Orthodox church.
Tioyd
ADVENTURERS' CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI
Murder Ship
Hello everybody:
You know, boys and girls, there are two kinds- of adven
tures?the kind that hits you like a ton of bricks and is all over
In about five seconds, and the kind that sneaks up on you slowly
and subtly and sticks with you until you're worn down to the
point of exhaustion. And it's the latter sort of tale you're going
to hear today ? the story of how Charles Mahler of Brooklyn,
N. Y., stepped onto a boat weighing a hundred and forty-five
pounds on a bright day in the winter of 1921, to stagger off it
five days later weighing a scant one hundred and ten. Not many
reducing addicts would want to follow Charley Mahler's formula
for growing thin, though, for it was sheer, unadulterated 'terror
that took the pounds off his body. Five days and nights of the
most helpless fear he had ever experienced in his life.
The story starts in the Dominican Republic, down in the West Indlei.
Charley had been working there for a sugar concern in La Romana, (or
about six months. .He was off on a week's vacation in Santo Do
mingo City when orders came transferring him to Barahona, in the same
country, where a new project was being started.
Books Passage on Sailing Vessel.
At about that time a strike in the steamship industry had tied
up ail the boats. Charley was told that there wouldn't be a steam
er sailing for Barahona for three weeks. There are darned few
railroads or motor roads in the Dominican Republic, and none
of them went where Charley wanted to go. It was a boat or noth
ing. So Charley did the only other thing he could do. He strolled
down to the waterfront and booked a passage on a sailing vessel
which was leaving port that night.
It was supposed to be an overnight trip. Charley had heard strange
tales about these sailing packets, so he left his belongings behind to
be shipped by freight. With two guns in his pockets and a round of
ammunition under his shirt he walked aboard the vessel. It was pitch
- He saw two dark figures on the deck.
dark. His bed ? the only accommodation the boat afforded ? was a com
mon wooden box placed on deck. Charley sat down on the box and
watched the boat glide out of the harbor. They had barely reached the
ocean when a storm blew up. Dark shadows began rising from the deck.
There were 40 Haitian natives, also bound for Barahona.
It was then that Charley discovered he was the only white man on
the boat ? and the natives of those parts have been known to kill a
white man for his shoes. The storm was now knocking the little sailing
craft around with all the fury of a tropic cyclone. "Scared?" says
Charley. "I was ossified." The captain himself was jet black, but I
slipped him ten dollars for protection. He offered me the hospitality of
his cabin. The odor of it damned near killed me. It was crawling
with bedbugs and roaches and alive with rats and mice. When I awoke
next morning I was really sick from sleeping there, but it was a safer
bet than sleeping outside."
That morning there wasn't a breath of air stirring. The captain
had bad news for Charley when he awoke. The ship had been
blown ten miles off its coarse and the steering gear was oat of
commission. The captain was depending entirely on the wind. If
) they waited long enough it would eventually blow them to Bara
1_?
UUU4 .
"That whole day," says Charley, "1 gat staring at the native*
and they iat looking at me. There was no food on the boat and
the water had turned hot in the tropic heat. Toward evening I
noticed several natives holding a conference and I felt trouble
brewing. The blacks were getting hungry, and they'd take it oat
on me."
And what was Charley going to do for sleep that night? He knew
darned well he could never stand another night in the filthy, stuffy cabin.
He spoke to the captain again and made another bargain. The captain
stood the night watch at the wheel, and he agreed to watch over Charley
while he slept near him on deck, his .body lashed to the rail of the vessel.
The Natives Become More Restless.
But you don't get much sleep lashed to a railing. All night
long Charley lay awake listening to the snores of the natives
around him and thinking of the comforts of home. The next day
was hot and humid. Hunger gnawed at his innards, bat he had
to make the best of it. The natives were getting more and more
restless. They eyed Charley's clothes with covetous looks that be
came more and more insolent and apparent. And still there was
no sign of the wind that would blow them into Barahona.
That night, worn out by two days and nights of wakefulness, Charley
fell asleep. Sometime in the dark hours he woke up suddenly, by sheer
iastinct. In the dim light of a tropic moon he saw two dark figures
^creeping along the deck toward him ? two natives ? great, husky blacks
with machetes in their mouths!
"They didn't know my eyes were open," be says, "if they
had known it I wouldn't be alive today. Bat their Ignorance
gave me an opportunity to draw my guns."
Charley got those guns out just as the natives were taking their
machetes from their mouths. He whipped up one gun and fired twice.
In an instant, two men were dead on the deck and the whole ship was
in an uproar. Dark figures came swarming toward him. The captain
was a big, powerful fellow. Charley says he was built on the style of
Harry Wills in his prime. He picked Charley up with one hand, threw
him into his cabin head first, and then, with the aid of a revolver and
his powerful physique, held that furious mob at bay.
Captain Threatens to Sink the Ship.
The next morning the captain held an inquiry, announced that
Charley had shot In self-defense, and threatened to sink the ship
if any more attempts were made on his life. "Calm. was restored,
at last," says Charley. "And in the meantime, for four solid days
and nights we had nothing to eat and little to drink."
On the fifth day they sighted land? but when they tied the boat up
to shore later on that day, Charley was too weak to walk the gangplank.
They carried him up it, weighing a hundred and ten pounds ? all that
was left of the hundred and forty-five pounds of good solid flesh he had
carried when be got aboard that lugger at the waterfront of Santo Do
mingo City. I
Copyright. ? WNU . 8?rvlc?.
Did Not ?ke Button.
Once, a gentleman would rather
have been shot -than have any but
tons on his coat. In England, about
700 years ago, the fasteners were
only "scandalous ornament on men
of low degree " A bit later whole
sleeves might be buttoned, from
wrist to above the elbow Buttons
have not always been used as fast
eners. says the Washington Post
The rank of a Chinese mandarin
was distinguished by the color but
ton be wore oo his hat.
Dm for Ancient Calendars
In the old days almanacs served
a purpose, but even those who con
sulted them most zealously didn't
rely altogether on the printed word
in preparing daily schedules. The
skies, the birds, even the animala
bore portents If the chickens roost
ed unusually early, that was a sure
sign of rqjn before morning. If fire
flies clung close to the ground rain j
waa in the offing, and it waa an
omen if an owl booted in the day- i
tune.
WHAT to EAT and WHY
C. Houston Goudiss Asks How Do You Get Your
Vitamin D? Relates Need for and Sources
Of This Necessary Vitamin
By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS
THERE is scarcely a mother of a young baby today who
has not at one time or another been told to give her child
cod-liver oil. Perhaps she does not know this substance must
be given to the baby for the vitamin D that it contains. But
she hat heard that there is something in cod-liver oil which
makes it valuable to the baby's health.
A ?J 1!
n g cruci anvn agu, wuu-uvci ^
oil was given to children in the
winter time, "to build them
up" after colds or various
other respiratory illnesses. It
was not until 1921, however,
that a long series of painstak
ing investigations, terminat
ing in the discovery of Vita
min D, made it clear that
cod-liver oil is valuable as ?
source of vitamin D, and also
why this vitamin is essential
in the diet of growing chil
dren, as well as adults.
Ditcovsry of Vitamin D
After years of patient work and
many thrilling and dramatic ex
forms of vitamin D
have been revealed
by science. And
scientists have also
solved the mystery
of how such widely
separated factors as
cod-liver oil; son
light; a diet that is
ricir'in, and care
folly balanced with
calciom and phos
phorus; and ultra
tivict ugrn, mi tau jjci luiui me
tame service for the body.
Readers of this column may
have observed that the discovery
of a number of the vitamins came
about chiefly through the efforts of
investigators to discover a method
of treating or curing obscure nu
tritional diseases. In most in
stances, however, carefully con
trolled laboratory experiments
played tlieir part in reaching the
ultimate goal after some clue had
been found as to what the myste
rious substance might be that
helped to control a baffling nutri
tional disease. The discovery of
vitamin D was no exce|4hn!
Vitamin D and Rickets
Vitamin D is associated inti
mately w^fli the prevention and
cure of rickets, the most devastat
ing nutritional disease of children
in temperate climates. Indeed, it
is the moderate, and in some cases
the small amount of sunshine in
the temperate zone that accounts
partially for the presence of
rickets. '
Historians have given us reason
to believe that this disease may
have existed in England even be
fore the Roman conquest. Cer
tainly it appeared in a serious
form, both in England and in other
North European countries, in tne
Seventeenth century. In fact, early
literature refers to it as the Eng
lish disease, and the earl> at
tempts to fathom its causes were
written in Latin by English alio
Dutch doctors during the 1600'a. ,
la rickets, the child's bead
grows large and oat of proportion
to the body, while tbe leg and
arm bones, and In severe eases
even the ribs, are bent and twisted
oat of their normal shape.
Need for Calcium and Phosphorus
The two principal minerals re
quired for constructing the bones
and teeth are calcium, obtained
chiefly from milk, cheese and
green leafy vegetables, and phos
phorus, found in generous amounts
in eggs, whole grain cereals and
dried legumes. But one of the
things tfcat made it so difficult for
scientists to determine the cause
of rickets was the fact that appar
ently well fed children, who had
plenty of calcium and phosphorus,
frequently developed the disease.
Mystery of Cod-Liver Oil
Cod-liver oil had been used for
many years because of its sup
' posedly "tonic" or "building"
properties, when it was observed
that regular doses of cod-liver
oil not only cured rickets in chil
dren, but also cured the corre
sponding disease in adults, called
osteomalacia, in which the bones
become soft as the calcium and
phosphorus already deposited in
them are withdrawn and excreted.
Fat and Vitamin D
One of the strangest paradoxes
to the scientists in their early
investigations was the fact that
while cod-liver oil appeared to cure
rickets, another substance high in
(at ? butter fat, did not. More re
search work was necessary before
it was discovered that while but
ter was rich in vitamin A, cod
liver oil contained two vitamins,
one of which was later named
vitamin D.
Effect of Sunlight
More work was necessary and
it took years of patient effort be
fore science unraveled the mys
tery of how sunlight could have
the same apparent effect in pre
venting rickets as cod-liver oil.
Once nutritionists understood
how sunlight acting on a fatty sub
stance in the skin could produce
vitamin D, however, it was not
difficult to carry the process a
step further and learn how to forti
fy foods with a satisfactory con
tent of vitamin D.
Today we have at our disposal
irradiated milk, or milk to which a
vitamin D concentrate has been
added. Margarine, too, has been
enriched not only with vitamin D,
but with vitamin A so that this
moderate-priced spread for bread
has been made an effective vita
min carrier.
Natural Food Sources of Vitamin D
The richest natural sources of
vitamin O are the fish-liver oils,
including the liver-oil of the tuna,
swordfish, rock fish, salmon, hali
but, mackerel, cod and haddock.
The body oils of many fish also
furnish substantial amounts. That
accounts for the fact that canned
salmon has been regarded as such
a splendid food in the diet of chil^
> ? .
dren and' adultk. It is oat' only ?
good source of protein and of en
ergy value?, but it contains sub
stantial amounts of the minerals,
calcium, phosphorus and iodine,
and has been found' to be an un
usually good food source of vita
min D.
Egg yolk contains small
amounts of vitamin D, and when
eaten regularly, the quantity ia
enough to have a significant ef
fect in the diet of children. .
. Vitamin 0 Requirement!
So important is vitamin D con
sidered, that the United States
Children's Bureau advises that
cod-liver oil or some other form ot
this vitamin be supplied to all
babies, beginning at the age of
two or three weeks.
Mothers should be guided by the
advice of their physician in de
termining when to start the uze of
a vitamin D preparation and what
quantities to give. But if they
want to give their babies the bless
ing bestowed on them by the sci
entists who discovered vitamin O,
they must not overlook this impor
tant substance.
As guardians of the health o t
both children and adults, mothers
should see to it that vitamin 6
is supplied regularly through the
use of eggs and salmon; irradi
ated foods and those fortified with
vitamin D; and if necessary, fisb
liver oils or concentrates.
Questions Answered
Miss C. M. L. ? Yes, it is true
that sweet potatoes contain a
small amount of protein. In fact,
their protein is composed of four
amino acids known to be essential
to nutrition. Some of the protein
may be lost if the potato is boiled,
but it is entirely preserved when
the potato is cooked by dry heat.
Mrs. M. B. ? Both cooked lentils
and baked kidney beans contain
over 20 per cent of carbohydrate. "
Low carbohydrate vegetables in
clude cabbage, celery, cauliflower,
kale, lettuce and spinach.
O-WKU ? C. Howrton ,M* ft
Dressy Midwinter Fashions
U AVE something brand new
1 * and smart, to cheer you up
during the after-holiday time
when you feel a little let-down.
Here are two of the very smart
est things you can wear, both just
as pretty and new as they can
be! And they're so easy to
make that you'll enjoy doing it,
and of course you'll save, decid
*edly, by choosing your own fab
rics. Each pattern is accompa
nied by a detailed sew chart.
Soft Afternoon Dress.
This is a lovely design, very
smart and new. It does very nice
things to your figure. The wide
girdle makes you look doll-waist
ed, the gathered bodice fills out
your bustline, and the full skirt
is extremely graceful. The high
neckline is scalloped to make it
softer and more becoming. In
velvet, silk crepe, satin, or thin
wool, this will be one of the pret
tiest afternoon dresses you ever
owned !
Snspender Skirt With Jacket.
Here's a perfectly charming
new princess skirt, in suspender
fashion, topped by a short little
tuxedo Jacket. You can wear
the skirt with your own blouses,
or just with the jacket, so that
you'll find it very useful. See how
tiny it makes your waist look, and
notice the cute, crescent-shaped
pockets. Very simple to make,
like all two-piece styles. Choose
tweed, wool crepe, plaid or
flannel.
The Pattens.
No. 1641 is designed (or sizes
12, 14, 18, 18 and 20. Size 14 re
quires 4H yards of 39-inch ma
terial.
No. 1646 is designed for sizes
12, 14, 16, 18 and 20. Size 14 re
quires 3tt yards of 54-inch ma
terial with long sleeves. .
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., 247 W.
Forty-third street. New York,
N. Y. Price of patterns, 15 cents
(in coins) each.
C Bell Syndicate.? WNU Scnrtc*.
Means and Opportunity
The greatest blessings to our
selves and others, when they are
rightly used, are our time and our
money. These talents are contin
ual means and opportunities at
doing good. ? Law.
, HOTEL
J McALPIM
"A
GREAT
HOTEL"
LARS E ROOMS. NIWLT
FURNISHtQ * DECORATED
SING LI fro* tSM DOUBLE $4.
WITH TWIN BED8 from MM
1 BLOCK FROM PENN. STATION
I. ? O. Ho tot CMebaa Mo* omi 4am.
srtciAi rtoot ditotid to
WOMIK QUESTS t ZCLUSIVXLT
HOTEL
MALPIN
MOA0WAY AT S4* ST.. MfW TOOK
lh*W PIQTT Mqt. )oh? 1. Mgr.
READ the advertisements in your paper regularly.
.You 11 find extraordinary values from time to
time, in all the hundred and one things that make
houses more attractive.
? Your budget will cover the improvements you
want to make if you plan your buying with the news
of bargains as a guide. Read the advertisements.