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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1904)
THE SUNDAY ORE G ONI AN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 11, 1904. THE STORY OF THE TWO MAGICIANS OF BAGDAD 1 THE. SPELL THEY WOVE IN THE SULTAN'S PALACE T WAS in the days -when AMui tne t (Good reigned over the City of Bagdad; and Moose, the porter, waited for cus tom at a corner of his palace. With old Moosa his little son, Ahmed, 'waited to run swiftly on errands which required no carrying of heavy burdens.' Ahmed noticed that every morning two fman dressed in flowing robes came along, turned down the side street, and after knocking at a door in the wall which i guarded the Sultan's garden, were admitted. JIuch he wondered who the mysterious visitors, tall and gaunt and piercing of eye. might "be, and when it began to be whispered around that the Sultan was indulging in magic and neglecting affairs of state, the boy came to the conclusion that the men dally admitted at the garden gate wero magicians. About the hour of evening prayer the two men would emerge from the gate and, talking earnestly together, would take their way to some obscure part of the crowded city. Much Ahmed longed to see beyond the walls of the garden and to know what liocus-pocus was taking place within. One morning early, while yet the mists of the river lay over "Bagdad's shrines of .fretted gold and hlgh-walled gardens green and old," the boy saw the two magicians hurrying toward the garden as usual, and, as they passed him, he heard one say: "Will nothing undo the spell?" To which the other replied: "Oh, yes; simple enough the sesame seed." That evening when the muezzin was calling to prayer from the marble min aret, which reared Itself against the western sky, Ahmed, watching the gate, saw one man come forth and hurry away Instead of two, as usual. Every day after that It was one magician only who came and went. Then rumors began to be noised about of a great change which had taken place in the disposition of the Sultan. Before, he had been mild and generous; now he became grasping and cruel, and things t went on from bad to worse until all Bag It did groaned under his oppression. Ahmed was certain that the change In the Sultan was connected romehow with the disappearance of the first magician, and he noticed that the second magician no longer had to knock at the garden gate, but carried a key to It, and came and went to pleasure. "If I could get into that garden," though the boy, "I could discover what the secret Is, and perhaps relieve the people from their burdens." One day the opportunity he longed for came. The magician, In hurrying away, accidentally dropped the key to the gar den gate. Ahmed picked It up and ran home with it, where he quickly took an impression of the key in wax and then hurried back to his corner. Presently he saw the magician coming back, looking on the ground and apparently searching for something. Ahmed had dropped the key again close to the gate, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the magician pounce upon it with Joyful exclamation. Carrying the wax impression to a lock smith, Ahmed had a key made to fit and the next night, when all Bagdad was bathed in moonlight and the sound of music and laughter came from the shal lops on the river, and from the citron groves where the young people were danc ing, the boy crept to the garden gate and let himself In. Within the wall all was glorious with flowers and fountains and marble pavil ions sleeping in the moonlight, while on the boy; but the bear only groaned as if in distress. Hearing a footstep the boy sprang Into a clump of bushes and saw from .hla hid ing place a man come down the walk whom he at once recognized as the Sultan. The Sultan went up to the bear and began to taunt him, saying: "Ha! ha! your highness how goes It now? I trust you are enjoying yourself. Have you any commands for your slave?" and much more to the same effect while the bear tried vainly to get at him and tear him to pieces. "How now?" said the man, "why this rage? Am I not as good a Sultatf as you were? My reyenue Is greater, any way." Ahmed saw It all now. The sham Sul tan was the wicked magician who had not returned one day from the garden with his companion, but who had changed himself into a likeness of the real Sultan, whom he had transformed Into a bear. When the sham Sultan had returned to the palace, Ahmed made hla way out of the garden, and, remembering what he had overheard the .magician say about the sesame seeds, he returned the next night with a lot of them in hla pocket. Sprinkling these on the bear he saw It gradually change into the real Sultan, Abdul the Good. Ahmed shouted for joy, and at the sound the sham Sultan came running out of the palace with hia scimitar drawn, and calling for his guards. As he rushed to ward Ahmed and the real Sultan to cut them down, the boy flung a handful of sesame seeds In his face, and lo! in a twinkling, the shame Sultan .was changed Into the wicked magician again, and fell, begging for mercy, at the feet of the true Sultan. All the people of the palace assembled, and before them the man confessed all how he had wrought his spells with the help of the other magician, who. In con sideration of receiving two-thirds of the royal revenue, had consented to retain his humble position and act as the false Sultan's spy In the restless city. The wicked men were sent to Madagas car to search, for the roc's egg, and they never came back. As for Ahmed, he was made the Sultan's Vizier eventually, and married the Princess Gulnare, while Bag dad ceased from its murmurings and lived, happy under the mild sway of ltd rightful master. A pumpkin once was laughing In a most uproarious way J At something that a bean had said About the time at day. II. IV. '. She. laughed so long and laughed so hard "While tho pumpkin lay quite still andvpalt" That several times she cried. Until at last she spilt herself - And a crack ran down her side. THE BEAR CHANGED INTO THE REAIi SULTAN. one side the long arcade of the palace, borne aloft on light carved pillars, spar kled with many coldred lights and showed through open doors long vistas of gold and splendid hangings. In one corner of the garden a small bear with a heavy collar around its neck was chained to a stake driven Into the ground. But not another living thing did Ahmed see in the whole beautiful garden, thouch from the nalace he heard the sounds of wild, coarse revelry. The bear, seelntr Ahmed, ran toward him as far as his chain would allow, and then stood on its hind legs and held out Its paws as if beseeching for some thing. "Poor bear, what Is it you want?" said WHY THE ENMITY BETWEEN DOGS AND CATS? It Seems to Date Back to the Time of the Leopards HY does the dog hate the cat? Scientists have been Investigating the enmity between these animals. and they believe that the distinctive hatred which certain beasts feel of each other is due to inheritance from ancient times, when the animals met in a wild state and preyed on each other. The enmity between cats and dogs seems to be due more to hatred on the part of the dog than of the cat. The lat ter animal apparently hates dogs because dogs chase her; while the dog hates the cat because she Is a cat. A cat will feed at a place where a dog has been without betraying any signs of anger; but a dog generally becomes ex cited and wild If he scents the trail of a cat anywhere near his food or sleeping place. Now this enmity is not to be explained by anything that happens between dogs and cats in domesticity or anything that ever happened between them as long as human history goes. In all these thou sands of years dogs and cats have been Vkept as pets, and of all animals they are the two which should be the most friendly. But tho reverse is the case. One nat uralist. Dr. iZell, seeks it in the fact that the common cat not only looks like, but smells like, the great cats of prey. And of thpse cats of prey there Is one, much like a domestic cat in many ways, which hunts dogs by preference. This big cat Is the leopard. The domestic cat and her larger rela tive, the wild cat, have never harmed the race of dogs; but their great speckled cousin Is, and always has been, the most ferocious of dog-murderers, and the cat must pay for It. Authorities agree that there is no ani mal that the leopard would rather eat than the dog; as a result there are many villages In the district In which leopards are plentiful where nobody can keep a dog. The great cats will not hesitate to break Into the houses to seize their favor ite dish.' But, says the doubter, the modern dog certainly could not have known leopards in many thousands of years. He has been a domestic pet in regions where there have been no leopards since man first appeared. That Is true, says Dr. Zell. But he points to the fact that dogs have a habit of turning around several times before they He down. This, he says, Is due to the fact that when they were In a wild state they had to do this to press down the leaves and twigs in order to prepare a bed for themselves; and as they have not overcome this habit In all their years of domesticity, It Is quite natural that they should still inherit fierce hatred of any creature that smells like a leopard. Dogs and cats are not the only animals that still show Inherited fear or hatred of other beasts which they have never seen themselves. Thus the rhinoceros Is frantically in fear of anything white, and naturalists say that this Is because once upon a time some big white animal hunt ed him. But that must have been long ago, for there are no big white animals now where the rhinoceros dwells. Chickens that have never seen a fox will cackle and run in fear if they come across the place where the animal has passed or where his carcass has been dragged. If a fox has been anywhere near a cat's drinking dish, the cat will not approach It. DEVELOPMENTS OF STUDY OF AERIAL NAVIGATION The Best Flying Birds Slide Up and Down on the Air. le past few years the desire of man- d to discover a means of navigating the aV has led to a deep study of the flightsVf birds and a great deal of mate rial ha&been gathered. It Is ifginning to be the consensus of opinion tat the bird world as a whole Is not neari perfect in its attainment of flight. . All blrdshat have to flap their wings continua,lly,such as sparrows, finches, thrushes, croVs and so on, are still In an Imperfect 8ta More advanced are such birds as pig cons, swallowsXetc., because they can dart ahead for aspace alter they have gained ;a.good staV by the rapid flapping of the pinions. But the only perfect fliers are the eagles, vultures, albatrosses Wd other great fowl that ca rise and fall sway and soar In the air Indefinitely without moving their wings perceptibly. Now, how do these bg birds manage to ascend to great heights without flap ping their wings? It is certain that such birds as the eagle and ti vulture can soar into the air gradually Xntil they dis appear from the eye of the eholder, and yet it will be quite imposslbj to denote a single motion of anything .except the tail. One observer, Erich HoffmaX, had an unusual opportunity to gather smo" facts that bear on this question. Tvo years ago ho was in the Caucasus on a mountain peak that ascended close to another ohe. Over the latter there soared a great eagle, and, far as he was from earth, h was quite close to Mr. Hoffman. "When he was seen first he was hanging almost motionless in the air. Suddenly he moved swiftly ahead, pointing his head slightly toward the sky, and thus he glided along without flapping a wing till his motion had ceased of itself. As It stopped, he lifted his wings high in the air, dropped his head and permitted him self to fall. As soon as he had fallen a short dis tance, his broad pinions spread out to their fullest extent again, and Immediate ly the impetus gained by the fall sent him gliding forward and upward, so that with in a few momenta he had" actually slid upon the air to a position higher than he had been in before. After he had done this five times he had ascended so high without flying once that the observer could see' him only as a black speck in the air. Tho eagle's method was exactly that of a boy who-slides -down a hill in a. wagon, and thus gets enough speed to carry him up the next hill. Only In the eagle's case his hills were of air. Why Leaves Turn in Autumn HEN the leaves begin to turn, most of the people who admire the beauty of tho woods then and say "How wonderful!" never wonder what it is that changes tho green into the splendid, glowing tints of Autumn. Ask nine persons out of ten, and if they hazard a guess at all, they will probably say that the frost has tinted the leaves. But the frost has nothing to do with it. Ieaves colored by a frost look quite different from leaves colored in the due course of nature. The coloring of the leaves is due to a genuine preparation for "Winter which goes on among the trees and shrubs, Just as it does in the animal world. The leaves, as you know, are the feed ers of the trees. Now, as the Autumn arrives, and the time approaches when the leaves must suspend their functions, there is a great hurry in the arteries and veins of the plants to extract all the nourishment that Is left, and to store it away deep in the trunk and branches, to stay there through the time of frost and snow. This Increased activity, which sets all the tiny pumps of cells working from root to crown, extracts the matter from the leaves which is known as chloro phyle, and which serves to give the leaves their bright green colors. All the albumen and starches in the leaves are changed into liquid at this time and pumped busily into the storage-houses under the bark, where they are pre served, safe and sound, till tho follow ing Spring, when' they furnish food for new leaves and sprouts. The most prominent color of an Au tumn scene Is yellow. This yellow is caused by waste matter stuff that Is left behind as useless when the little jumps take in the material that makes the green color; and crystals of lime that were left when the chemical factories of the plant turned the albumen into liquid so it could be pumped, also help to make the yellow. To change the starchy matter into sweet liquid, another chemical process is used, and as It .does not succeed well if the light is too strong, the plants man ufacture a curious substance which turns red the moment it touches any of the many- acids that exist in almost all leaves. Thus, the red, yellow and orange col ors of the Autumn woods are anything except mere tricks of nature, intended only to delight. As everybody knows. these tints are especially powerful for re sisung tne passage 01 tne sun s rays. Furthermore, they have the property of changing light Into heat. This heat. again, spurs all the plant's cells to new activity, so the Autumn foliage of tho woods Is by no means a sign of sleep. It Is then that the chemical laboratories are at their most feverish toil. WHEN BETTY GOLFED BY RUBY DOUGLAS "B1 ETTYl" "What Is it?" she asked without taking her attention from the little mound of wet sand she was building. "Look up a minute." His tone was un mistakably pleading. "Not now," she replied, placing a ball carefully on the tiny heap. "Walt until drive off." He glanced at her delicious profile as she gauged the distance ahead - of them on the links. The wind blew all her lov able curls out of imprisonment and let them caress her cheek. He was jealous of them. 'I can't wait," he said, Impulsively, stepping nearer to her as she drew a club from the bag. "I Betty, I love you. Aren't you ever going to marry me?" She gave him a swift glance which scattered the fragments of his hopes to the four winds. Then, with all the strength of her graceful little body, she drove off the tee. For a fraction of a minute she gazed after the ball. It had gone wide of Its mark; in her impulsive drive she had struck wildly. "Now, see what you've done!" she cried, stamping her foot "You've spoiled a good drive with your foolishness." "Will you, Betty?" he persisted, never glancing in the direction of the misdi rected ball. "No, I won't!" A pretty color had crept up to meet tne curls, ana ner oyes spar kled. "There is no earthly use In our fin ishing, now. You've spoiled the 'whole game." And, with an air of finality, sue replaced her driver in the bag. Elevating her obstinate but bewitching little chin, she turned in the direction of the clubhouse. i'ilay I come?" He had every inten tion of doing so, but Betty liked to be consulted in -such matters, especially when she was cross. "Only to suppress remarks from the people on the verandas," she retorted unamlably. What an accent she jut on the 'first word. Silently they tramped across the Irreg' ular ground, up hill and down. "Let's talk," he suggested. She Ignored him utterly. "I say, Betty, you forgot that ball," he ventured again. "And you forget everything," she said, searching hopelessly for the final word. "Except you, Betty dear." He smiled amusedly, but Betty's gaze was leveled midway between sky and earth straight ahead. Again the goddess of all that Is silent tripped along beside them. Betty had gradually quickened the pace until she was almost running, but the big, stealthy steps beside her never faltered. "I should think you'd" But Betty did not finish her sentence. In her attempt to keep her chin uplifted she had neg lected to watch the ground and had put her foot Into a mole hole. "Betty, are you hurt?" asked the young man, bending over her. Betty's head was in her lap, one hand on her ankle. "No!" she replied, with all the force she could muster up. Slowly she tried to rise, but she was compelled to drop back. "It does hurt a little," she admitted reluctantly, but the flush had left her cheeks. Kneeling by her side he took his hand kerchief and folded It, bandagewise. "Let me look at it," he asked "very tenderly, all the teasing gone from his tone. Betty put out her foot, but caught her breath when he moved It ever so slightly. Skillfully, if slowly, he bound the hand kerchief closely about her ankle. Betty had not known he could be so gentle and kind. And never before had she noticed how splendidly -firm and strong and white his hands were. They were the hands of a man and a gentleman. Betty thought as she watched him. . When he looked up she gave him just the faintest smile. "Thank you," she said softly. He had unburdened himself, of her golf bag, a caddy had seemed to be In the way when they started out that afternoon. Looking down at her he said, vers' firmly, "Now, I shall carry you to the club." "Oh!" she gasped. And yet she Knew, way down in her heart that she could not walk, and something danced about and said, "Oh, I'm glad! glad!" Betty called them nymphlike devils those little somethings that said wicked things In her heart. He picked her up In his arms Betty wa3 not much larger than a good-sized minute, except in her own estimation. Without a word, she put her arms, about his neck as he told her, very impera tively, she thought, -for a man who pre tended to be In love with a girl. What if he should not be, she asked herself, as .he trudged across the green with her. Instinctively she drew closer to him. What If he should lose patience with a girl who became cross so easily over a misguided golfball? Betty looked up into his face. HI3 features bespoke a man of determination, a man who would not stand too much trilling. Just the least suspicion of a shiver ran through her caused, of course, by her ankle. wnen only a hill divided them from the clubhouse, Betty looked up again. --.bod, sne said. "Yes," he replied softly. "This is a big hill. Hadn't you better put me down and rest a minute?" "I'm not tired," he said, without slack ening his pace. Betty .looked ready to cry. "Bob" A pause and a stubborn effort to stay the words that would come "put mo down anyway. "When we get to the club." Without stopping. "No, now. I I want to tell you some thing." Tenderly he put her down on the vel vety grass of the hillside, and stood look ing at her. "Jjow, sit down." He obeyed. ' Slowly, and with the pink again mount ing to her cheek, she laid her head on his shoulder. "I what did you ask me, .bod, out there?" With one arm about her and the other hand under her chin, he looked Into her eyes. "Is it 'yes? " he asked. "Yes." And after awhile when they had almost forgotten the ankle and she had confided to him that it really was not so terribly bad, she said: "I Intended to say yes all the time, but you spoiled my drive and "Nothing matters now," he whispered and when he picked her up again she cud dled contentedly against his big shoulder. Trees That Grow on Other Trees vmft 1 vw? we n la- 1 ife.ll vou now. s&ad "Tom- Its beAng dressed u$ ViVe as ihe.se ... And fcJw&vYS 1 keep my hfcr in cuv I know a, boy in -This Who dresses a. bi boy ought- He wezors hS Fkfti ers pbsnts cor down. His h&Av"danT combed "it" is so .Short I l ujB Mr 1 l THE GARDEN FOLKS By Clarence A. Hough Illustrated by B. R McCutch eon Copyrighted X904 by International Press Bureau. the xost rirarPKiy seed. in. The pumpkin staggered back a bit And swooned upon the earth. And the bean at once regretted He'd excited so much mirth. Her seeds ran -out the crack; Their scramble waked the pumpkin up And she tried to call them back: "Come back to ma," she cried in tears. I fear that you'll get lost. It's growing dark, the wind is high. There's apt to be a frost." VI. "Oh, no, dear ma." the young seeds cried. We want to see great things "We wish to visit foreign lands And try on the crown of kings." VII. The little tots took to their heels And scampered o'er the clods, "While mamma lost her temper so That peas shook in their pods. VIII. With yells and shouts the seeds ran on Till, o'crtaken by the night. They then began to think of home And regret their hasty flight. ffftRCHIDS aren t the only plants that grow In the air," said an em ploye of the Government bureau of for estry recently In discussing tropical plants. "In the Hawaiian Islands is tree, growing from 30 to 100 feet high, which often begins life away up on top of other trees. Unless It did this it could not exist at all In those dark, dank for ests. It is a sunloving tree, of the kind that foresters call 'Intolerant,' because they will not tolerate other trees near enough to them to shade them. "These trees are tho lehuas. When a mature lehua casts Its seeds, a good pro portion of them fall on other trees. "Whether these other trees are alive or dead, the lehua seed begins to germinate on them as healthily as if it had fallen Into the richest ground. "As soon as the seed opens and begins to sprout, tiny roots go climbing down fha trunks of the tree3 to tho ground. With time, as the little plant becomes large, the roots Increase in girth, until at last they are great solid things, as thick and powerful as those of any other big tree. "Usually the tree on which the lehua grows begins to decay about this time, and after a while it withers and rots away. This leaves the lehua standing on its roots high In the air; and such a forest presents a wonderful and weird sight. "It is no joke to get through a lehua lorest where all the trees have grown this way. The roots run one way and another, and interlace so that often there Isn't a space big enough for a rabbit to crawl through. There Is no use in trying to cut or hew a way into the lehua woods, for the roots are as tough as roots generally are, and no American farmer's boy who .has ever put In a sea son at breaking out stumps needs to be told Just how tough that It." A Suspension Bridge That Is Disappearing ITH the building of railways and wagon roads Into the heart of the South American Andes there is gradually disappearing a type of suspension bridge peculiar to that region of which travelers used to speak with horror. These bridges are on the mountain trails, long ropes of twisted vines are stretched from one side of a deep gorge to the other and made fast to trees on each side. Then a rude flooring Is laid and other ropes of twisted vines form handrails on either side of the footway. The bridge Is so loosely hung that it sways frightfully under foot, and roaring torrents dash over rocks a thousand feet or more below. Yet the Indians cross them without fear or dizziness, carrying heavy loads on their backs, and minding tho passage no more than if they were walking across the Brooklyn Bridge., To others, however, they are dangerous places, for If a man loses his "nerve," or becomes dizzy, the chances are that he will fall off and be dashed to pieces, be cause the side ropes are so loose that they offer little or no protection, and the roaring of the torrent, the swaying of the frail structure, which hardly allows the traveler to keep his feet, and the sense of being suspended In midair above immense depths Is enough to try the hardiest and most level-headed person. When the Spaniards conquered Peru these were the only sort of bridges there; but the Inca Kings had them built on such a grand scale that the invaders were able to ride across them on their horses clothed in full mall, though they took the precaution to bandage the eyes of their chargers before they urged them on the swaying structures. Are Moon Craters Coral Reefs? Everybody who has seeri a chart of the mooiy as drawn by astronomers knows of the curious, irregular, ragged rings which have been called "moon craters" for many years. Now astronomers have raised the ques- IX. X, Each one lay down upon the ground And cried himself to sleep. And dreamed of home and mamma dear And cattle and hogs and sheep. Alack, alas for the pumpkin seeds, The tears which they let flow Watered the earth and made them sprout, And they soon commenced to grow. XI. There they were held by tiny roots Till all were fully grown, They never saw their ma -again, But soon had seeds of their- own-, ' THE "UT QUARTET. III. Four nuts once got together In a playful sort of way, And began to try their voices On a home-made little lay. II. "To us and no one else," said they, "This singing art belongs," And the funny thing about it was Tho things they sang were songs. The acorn and the fat pecan Trilled all the lower notes; The peanut and the hazel sang So high they hurt their throats. IV. "Life's nothing but a fall for us. We never will have wives. While the changes of the weather Tell tho story of our lives." tlon whether or not they really are the craters of extinct volcanoes, as has been supposed for so long. One of them asks: "How would the ocean bottoms of the earth appear to a man In the moon if all our seas were to disappear?" ' "Exactly as the moon craters look to us," is the answer. So now some of the astronomers are In terested In the attempts to prove that the moon's curious surface is not at all vol canic, and that the "craters" are nothing more or less than coral reefs and the re mains of other coral-like structures which, have been left high and dry by the evap oration of lunar oceans