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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1919)
T H E C H E M A W A A M E R IC A N PAGE 4 ONE ON THE BOOHES T h e G erm ans d u rin g their occupation of Belgium forbade the killin g of livestock in order th a t they m ig h t them selves draw free on th is source of food s u p ply. N eedless to say. th e prohibitory order was m ore honored in th e breach th an in th e observance because it was im possible for them to enforce it everyw here. O ne day, ju s t after a pig had been killed on a ce r tain farm th e peasants were p anic stricken to see a band of G erm ans com ing to carry off some anim als for slau g h ter. T h e quick w it of one of th e Belgians, how ever, proved equal to the em ergency. A t his s u g gestion th e peasan ts hastily carried the carcass of th e pig off to th e house, clothed it in a sh irt and a n ig h t cap and covered it up in a bed. W ax tap ers were th en lig h ted on th e table near a crucifix and the cu rtain s were carefully d raw n . Soon the searching p arty arrived. ‘ ‘ T h e g ran d fath e r is d e a d .” w hispered one of th e peasants as he re v e r ently opened the door, revealing the tap er-lit room w ith th e “ co rp se” reposing peacefully on th e bed. E v ery th in g was so realistic th a t the G erm ans m erely glanced into the “ d eath ch am b er” and th en tu rn e d th e ir atten tio n to other p arts of the house and to the o u tb u ild in g s an d finally w ent off em p ty -h an d ed . F o r m any days th ereafter th e peasants on th e farm were observed b reak in g out in to fits of la u g h ter at frequent intervals. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS Before the w ar nearly all th e beautiful C hristm as tree decorations were m ade in G erm any. T h is year C hristm as trees will be decorated w ith A m erican p ro du cts m ade by skilled A m erican toy m akers and glass blow ers. T h e first year of th e w ar G erm an- m ade o rn am en ts were plentiful in the U nited S tales. T he n ex t year they were scarce and h igh in price and by 1 9 1 6 they w ere gone en tirely . T h e first A m erican- made toys were crude in design and w orkm anship but now ju st as good balls and o th er tree decorations are made in the U nited S tates as anyw here. T h e prom ise is given that the stock for the com ing C h ristm as will be full and equal in q u ality to th e m ade-in-G erm anv toys of form er years. HAD WHISTLER GUESSING O ne day w hile in stru c tin g an art class in P aris W h istler, the p ain ter, u n d erto o k to change a red b ack g ro u n d w hich displeased him in a stu d y w hich he had commence d. H e covered it w ith brow n b u t th e o b jectionable red showed th ro u g h so, after scrap in g off th e brow n, he p u t on g ray . T h e effect w as still u n satisfactory so he took up his knife and began scrap in g the gray off, rem ark in g to one of his stu d e n ts as he w orked: “ I suppose, sir, you u n d erstan d w hat I am try in g to do here. ’’ O h, yes, s ir ,” replied th e stu d en t w ho had a p ro found adm iration for the m aster. “ W e ll,” said W h istler, “ you u n d erstan d m ore than I do, th e n ,” and, sn atch in g up his h at, he h u rrie d from the room. BETTER-ENGLISH WORK T h e E n g lish classes in the vocational years devoted m ost of last week to a B etter-E n g lish D rive. E ach class selected some com m on error of E ng lish and then each pupil in th a t class eith er drew’ a cartoon or w rote a rh y m e ag ain st th a t p a rtic u la r error. A prize was offered to th e best in each class and on F rid a y a vote w as taken w ith th e follow ing results: F irs t V ocational: C artoons— Jessie C leveland and C harles B uchert. R hvm es— Jessie Cleveland and Cruz M cD aniel. Second V ocational: C artoons— M arian W asson and T hom as H oaglin. R hym es— Rose P au l and Dorcas M inthorne. T h ird V ocational: C artoons—W illiam F razier. R h y m es—F lorence G ensaw . F o u rth V ocational; C artoons— G us G artiez. R h y m es—A nn S exton and M arguerite C h am b er lin . WAR ANNECDOTES In th e early days of the war th e officer in ch arg e of a B ritish post deep in th e heart of A frica received th is w ireless m essage from his sup erio r officer: “ W ar declared. A rrest all enem y aliens in your d is tric t.” W ith com m endable prom ptness the superior received th is reply: “ H ave arrested seven G erm ans, three Belgians, two F re n c h m e n , tw o Italian s, an A u strian and an A m eri can. Please say who w’e ’re at war w’i t h .” “ N urse, kin Ah go back to de front tom orrow ?” “ C ertainly n o t, you have lost a h a n d .” “ D a t’s w h y A h w ants to go back. A h left ma razor in dat h a n d .” COMMON SENSE It is very clear th a t by c u ttin g dow n the o u tp u t per m an th e cost of th in g s m ust soar. O ne can sy m p a th ize w ith every reasonable dem and for fair w ages; but it is crim inal to cripple production. T h e U nions are th ereb y b rin g in g about conditions w hich m ust inev itably recoil upon th e heads and th e pockets of their m em b ers, because these m em bers cannot escape bearing a full share of the abnorm ally high costs th u s w ickedly b ro u g h t about. L abor, no m ore th a n any of th e rest of us, can hope to loaf and at the sam e tim e roll in lu x u ry . I t cannot be done.
