THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN-. PORTLAND, OCTOBER 4. 1914.
- 1
"X
1
til till?
I iridic1
UHSH!
"Where People "Must
Live on Chestnuts
THE peasants in the Apennlno
Mountains find it very hard to Bret
enough to grow in the soil to provide
food for their families and the higher
up the mountains the scarcer the vege
tation gets until up at about 2000 feet
chestnut trees are almost the only
things that will grow. No potatoes or
wheat will thrive up at this distance,
so the people have to depend almost
entirely on the chestnuts for food.
The trees are planted evenly a cer
tain distance apart and are kept well
pruned down, although they never
grow to be very tall. The only un
dergrowth is heather, for anything else
would take the nourishment from the
trees, besides interfering with the
gathering of the nuts.
Most of the chestnut farms' belong
to the better class of people, who live
in town and rent their places on the
half-share principle, but some of the
peasants own their own farms. The
peasants who rent the farms take care
of the trees, gather the nuts and di
vide the harvest.
Between the farms there are no
fences or other division lines, but each
peasant depends on his neighbor's hon
esty, and not one of them would pick
up a chestnut under his neighbor's
tree. As each one is allowed to claim
what he finds on his own place, there
Js much work trying to prevent the
nut from rolling down hilL Anything
which happens to fall into a public road
belongs, to the public and very few of
the men take any of the nuts which
do stray away. The poor people are
allowed the privilege of gleaning and
turn out with baskets, especially after
rain, to ' hunt for chestnuts which
I hava rolled away.
The nuts are picked early in Novem-
Iber and there is a general merrymak
ing at this time, in which old and
young join.
In each peasant's house, over the
kitchen, there is a loft whose floor la
of close slats. . On this floor the fresh
nuts are piled and a fire is built in the
middle, of the stone floor underneath.
All doors and windows are closed tight
and the chestnuts are soon dried by
the heat and smoke which rises be-
Itween the slats. .
After the nuts are dried 'and hulled
Ithey are sent to the mill, where they
ire ground into a kind of heavy, sweet.
gray flour.
Enough chestnut flour for the year
lis obtained at one time and is kept in
chest which is made of chestnut wood
ind la kept in the kitchen.
Chestnut flour is prepared in differ-
Now cJorfr eT
-ioo much Horreyw
is w h oT y
would dvrse
Because, if
vouVe nor
iov will sorely
get Hives';
t ways, but the usual way is to mix
with water and make a porridge of
in a copper kettle. "When it is
oked it is poured out on the table
nd when it gets cool it is sawed into
eces by a string. A steel knife is
ever used for this purpose, for it is
nought the steel would spoil the
avor of the porridge.
Sometimes cakes something like our
ineakes are made. They are extreme-
sweet and heavy and are considered
great delicacy. These cakes are baked
round tiles chipped from mountain
ate. The tiles are put in the ashes
the fire to heat and are prevented
om scorching by being covered with
testnut leaves soaked in water. The
;ttter is spread thickly on the tiles
kid the tiles are stacked high in a rack
hich holds them In place. The cakes
baked in a few minutes and those
at are not eaten- hot for supper are
rved cold for the next day's break
st. The gathering of the chestnut leaves.
ulch are used on the tiles, is done by
he young people and is attended by
ts of fun. After the leaves are
thered they are strung and hung
om the rafters of the kitchen to dry.
ine peasants have chestnut porridge
chestnut cakes almost all the year
und. except for a couple of months
the Fall, when they have freshly
iled chestnuts. The chestnuts which
e boiled in the hull are called "ba
tte" and those which are hulled he
re being boiled in water with salt
id fennel seed are called "tigliate."
In the Italian cities chestnuts seem
be very popular also and peddlers
U them at almost every corner. The
its are about the size of English
ilnuts and haven't a pleasant taste
lien eaten raw. They are sometimes
oked with lamb and taste then much
i.e sweet potatoes.
A favorite dessert is boiled chestnuts
essed thorugh a sieve and served
th, whipped cream.
Chestnuts are all right when the
. 1 V. . - 1 1. .1 f 1 V-. - . .
vsK'? "iuea, out all
Oe mountain peasants of this country
va a half-starved look which tells
a lack of nourishment in thair
mutoDOUB diet of chestnuts.
act y as
Here is a
She -Sandman ctorx
MRS?F?AWALKER-. EORTONJl3flT
Tke DlMcoutented Dewdrop.
o
NE morning a little Dewdrop was
resting on the petal of a wild
rose that grew beside a river.
The sun shining on it made it glisten lowed long ago by the ocean. Go back
like a diamond and a woman who was to your river and tell the other dew
passing stopped to admire its beauty, drops the fate of their companion."
"It is the most beautiful thing In the The gentle breeze went away and the
world," she remarked; "sea the colors oxa wind swept the ocean, making the
In that tiny little drop; isn't It won- waves high and the roar louder and
derful?"
"Wonderful!" repeated the dewdrop,
when the woman had walked away. "If
I were like the river I migr . be won
derful; it is too bad; here I am sitting
here wl '9 the riven can run on a-d on
and see all the sights. It bu bles and
'babbles as ft goes, and that is worth
while. I have never chance to be
wonderful. Oh, if I were only in the
river water I might be something."
Just then a breeze passing heard the
little dewdrop's wish.
"You shall have your wish, foolish
Dewdrop," she --'J. blowing gently on
the rose, which swayed, and off went
the little Dewdrop into the rushing
river.
"This is like something, being a part
of this river," said the Dedrop. as It
mingled its tiny drop with the running
river. "Now I am worth admiring
and can see something of the world."
On and on it ran with the water of
the river, but it was no longer a dew
drop, it was a part of the river.
"I wish I could stop for a minute so
someone might admire me," said the
silly little drop, for It thought it could
sim oe seen ana was mailing an
babbling it heard as the river ran
along.
But r j one admired it nor did it stop;
on went the river to a larger river, and
by and by it came to the bay and the
Dewdrop went rolling int" it with the
other water.
"Surely I am greater now than ever
and worth admiring," thought th drop,
but it heard no sweet words such as
the woman spoke of the little Dewdrop
on the rose by the river.
The bay mingled at last with the
ocean and little Dewdrop knew at last
that it was no longer a thing to be ad
mired for itself alone, but a part of
the great ocean. Ct was completely lost
In the vastness of the mighty waters
of which it was only a drop.
The breeze went whispering over it.
calling "Little Dewdrop. little Dew
drop where are you 7"
But the drop answered never a word.
It did not even hear the gentle voice of
Dreeze, so loud was the roar of the
ocean.
"Come away." called a loud wind to
These children are hunting for
find one by cutting out the black
' CLOVER PUZZLE
YOU '
MAKE: THEri
t
rCHY rlti
ERE 15 A
$4erz is a
anol Here 16 a
the gentle breeze, "that Is no place for
you: I must blow here and make the
wave high and you will never find
your little Dewdrop. It has been swal-
louder. The little Dewdrop was there
somewhere in a great whole, but it was
lost forever in Its longing to become
great.
The gentle breeze went back to the
river, and as she sighed around the
rose, where the discontented Dewdrop
had rested, she heard another drop
say:
"Look at the river. Isn't Is big? Here
am I only a dewdrop, so small no one
can see me."
"Ah. that is where you are mistaken,
my dainty dewdrop," said the gentle
breeze. "You can be seen now, but if
you were to become a part of the river
you would never be seen. You would
lose your identity as soon as you min
gled with the . waters of the river.
Be your own sweet self and be content
with the part you play in this world.
You are helping to make it more
beautiful by your own dainty beauty.
Do not wish to do a greater" thing."
And then he told the fate of the dis
contented Dvwdrop that had wished to
become great and how at last it was
swallowed by its own greatness, and
lts dalnty beauty which had been so
admired no longer remained.
- "Be content with the small part you
play in the world," she told the drop,
(Copyright. 1614, by the McClure Newspaper
"nd do not long for greatness."
Syndicate. New York City.)
Road-BuUdlns With Machinery.
In a 24-mile stretch of concrete road
being built in Ohio between Zanesville
and Hebron, the contractor, whose spe
cialty is railroad building and who had
an equipment of small engines and cars
for transporting materials considerable'
distances, has laid a narrow-guage rail
road the full length of the road. Ma
chinery is being used throughout the
work. At the terminals of the contrac
tor's railroad, where connection is had
with the real railroads, traveling cranes
unload the cars and handle the ma
terials. The small trains haul the sud-
plies where needed and on the hie-h-
way steam shovels and concrete mixing
machines do the work of grading and
mixing the concrete. Engineering Rec-
ord.
four-leaf clovers. See if you can
spots and fitting them together.
School in India Is.
Unique
AMIL," one of the very oldest
languages in the world, is
spoken in the school that I am going
to tell you about. The word means
"sweetness" and the language is full
of many pretty sounds. It is pleasant
to the ear when it is correctly spoken,
but when uneducated people use it it
sounds hard and harsh.
Id this school, which Is in far-off
India, the children wear very little.
The floor of the echoolhouse is cov
ered with sand an inch or two thick.
The books are made of palmyra leaves.
A sharp-pointed stick or knife is used
to scratch the letters on these and
then ink or some other soft black stuff
is put on the scratches. When these
dry the letters are plainly seen. Be
sides reading and writing and a little
arithmetic, much poetry and a great
many proverbs are taught. The chil
dren learn to speak these like parrots
and say them so fast that it Is almost
impossible to understand them. The
children all study at the top of their
voices, and when the teacher has to go
a short distance away and leave them
he is sure they are behaving as long
as he can hear their voices.
The teacher has to go and get the
children that don't come to school on
time. This he does morning and after
noon before school begins. He has to
leave someone (usually his wife) with
those that are prompt.
When an important visitor is expect
ed at the school It is very funny to see
the way in which the children dress
up. They beg and borrow any clothing
they can and come all fixed up in coats
and skirts dragging on the ground,
besides wea'ring all the jewelry their
mothers will let them.
There is no holiday on Saturday, but'
a half holiday is given each week, so
that the pupils may take an oil bath.
This is taken by all who can afford
It. First a hot water bath is taken
and then the oil bath. The oil Is
rubbed, into the skin by a friend and
the whole body is rubbed again and
again. The bathers rest for several
hour3 after the bath and do not go out
of the house until they begin to feel
strengthened by the oil.
It is hard to get children to stay all
day long In school, for the parents
usually need them to help at home.
The boys herd the cattle, and the girls
carry water or take care of the babies.
There are no dishes for them to wash,
for. Instead of dishes, these people use.
leaves, which are thrown away as soon
as used.
In some parts the people are so poor
that they have only one meal a day.
Here the children are so hungry that
they can't go to school until they have
their dinner, so they study only half
a day. When the parents are so poor
and -almost starve they don't care so
much about educating their children.
The teachers are paid very litlo.
about 3 or $4 a month. They have a
hard time collecting even that some
times. Many people In India are vary proud
and think they are great people. They
talk about being high caste and look
down on those they call low caste. They
will not touch or help low caste peo
ple, no matter if they are in great
need, for fear the touch will make
them unclean. In the schools the
high caste children sit on one side and
the low caste on the other. The teach-
A (rood Reason
the
I'm
V AS on why
in iuch hATe1
e ll -rt
o -flm e "to
Dinner - Be tl :
ers cannot order them to sit together,
for then the parents will not send
their children to mix with the low
caste.
When children learn to read and
write a little and do a little arithme
tic, their education is considered fin
ished. They are looked up to in the
village and they begin to have a pretty
good opinion of themselves. Sometimes
they think they are too good for their
own parents and do not treat them
kindly. But usually they are good to
the old and are regarded as wonderful
beings because they can writea letter
and read a book.
Pests That End Themselves.
Lemmings are small animals some
thing like rats, that are found in Nor
way. Their hair is very thick so they
will be warm in Winter and they have
long, sharp claws on their front feet,
so that they can dig In the ground.
They are brave and not afraid of other
animals.
They eat grass, moss and roots. They
do not provide for the Winter as many
.animals do, but when it is cold they
dig under the snow and live on - the
grass, etc., they find there. As very
little grows in Norway, as soon as they
GOLDEKTROD
Unfold, unfold.
Flower of Cold!
Wave your bright plumes in the air;
You bring us cheer
This time of year.
Oh, beautiful flower fair! '
eat all In one feeding ground they
start out for another.
The whole family goes on these jour
neys. They travel In large bands,
sometimes a thousand of them going
at the same time. They travel mostly
This little sailor boy Is gazing
sail boat." See if you can find it
putting them together.
at night and they eat every green thing
in sight.
They always gro in one direction and
nothing turns them out of the way.
If they come to a stream they all swim
across It. If a hill or mountain is in
their path they go right up over it.
Many of them are eaten by birds and
nimals and numbers of them are
killed or die of hunger, but the rest
keep right on until they get to the
ocean. Then they all jump in and swim
straight ahead until they drown.
It is not known why they always
head for the sea, but the Norwegian
people are very glad that the little
animals are drowned, for if they were
riot Norway would be overrun with the
pests.
Legend of the Chipmunk.
Once, away off in India, there lived
a chipmonk who had no stripes on his
back and who was all gray. He lived
with his wife and two tiny babies in
a nest in a tall palm tree.
He was very good to his family and
tried to give them plenty to eat, but
sometimes this -was hard for he had
to go a long way before he could find
any nuts.
One day when he was away there
was a terrible storm and the wind and
water beat around the palm tree so
hard that it fell Into the ocean and
the top where the chlpmonk's home
was struck away out among some
rocks in the sea. i
When father chipmonk got back he
felt very badly, but he started right
in to see what he could do. After
thinking for a little while he decided
Coup
Y P
( V?
5 So WoSiCtX'
o'eTs rn&v-nfd
on a Smxlt
When.
ihe
A
. . .
-
And -fhtf-i noT Aft" Jld Tommy - -for h i
HjS bind on hi MSf
IS olwoyjf OlfTO -To w4i- Q An ,J
,Wht do you -ThirrK.
s.
Fairy plume.
Golden bloom,
lYav'mg in the shining sun;
Glorious yellow.
Soft and mellow.
Tell of Autumn days to come.
William A. Roberts.
that the only thing to do to rescue his
family was to dip all the water out
of the ocean, so he started right in.
He had no dipper so he had to use
his tail as one. He dipped it Into the
water and then shook his tail on the
out to sea in search of his lost
by cutting out the black spots and
shore so that the water would fall
there. He found this tiresome work,
but he kept right at it
As he was working. Shiva, the friend
of birds and animals, came walking
along and asked him what he was do
ing. The chipmonk told him what
had happened and said he was trying
to keep hla children from, being
P his children from . being
drowned.
When Shiva heard what the faithful
creature was trying to do, he started
to stroke, him. Wherever he touched
the chlpmonk's back there appeared a
green stripe.
As he was doing this all the water
rooled back and the palm tree was once
again on dry land The little chipmonk
hurried to his family and found them
all safe.
When his wife asked him about the
stripes he told her. "Shiva put them
there when he stroked my back as I
was trying patiently to ball the ocean
out with my tail."
This is the story, in legend, of why
chipmonks now always have stripes
on their backs.
A Home Thrust.
"A fine-looking and fashionably
dressed woman had Just alighted from
her limousine at the hotel entrance and
was suddenly approached by this shaD
bily dressed man, who requested a
dime.
' "No. I have no money to spare for
you. I do not see why an able-bodied .
man like you should go about begging.'
. " "1 s'pose, madam.' replied the lazy
tramp. It's fer about the same reason
that a healthy woman like you boards
at a hotel instead of keepin' house.' "
I E
She. S&id 'fh&r without'
she. e.xpeZTs -to Uc
.VcaIp
i
il
oi -rttgt D
1
How Birds Eat the
Pests
BIRDS are very useful to us because
their daily food consists of things .
we do not care to eat or things which
are a trouble to us.
Ihey like mice and ground squirrels,
which destroy our crain. They also
eat worms and insects and weeds,
which are injurious to our cropa.
A bird eats more than its own weight
every day and wants to eat all the
time It starts to eat. Ions before we
get up and eats all day long, if food
is to be had.
Kach bird has a different place to
work. The catbird selects the fruit
trees and eats the Insects on them,
occasionally eating a little of the fruit.
The robin eats worms which destroy
apples and corn. The bluebird eats
Insects which harm the grass, such as
grasshoppers or crickets.
Woodpeckers cut holes in trees and
drag out grubs which are working in
side. Orioles eat insects under the
leaves on fruit trees and also kill the
caterpillars. Swallows catch mosqui
toes and little (lies. The smaller birds
work on the tops of trees where they
can hardly be seen. Other birds help
to remove dead animals. Among these
birds we find the turkey buzzard, who
does a great deal of good. Hawks are
fond of ground mice or squirrels. They
help the farmer greatly by destroying
these tiny animals. The owls are also
fond of the same little pests.
The finch family likes Eeeds as well
as Insects and seem to liku best the
seeds of unpleasant weeds. Birds
that eat seeds find them in both Sum
mer and Winter, the dead weeds with
their seeds are seldom covered with
snow.
Many birds prepare for the Winter
by gathering their foodTin the Autumn
and putting it' away in a safe hiding
place until they need it. Among these
are the bluejays, who gather acorns
and nuts, and the woodpecker, who
hides acorns away.
October's Interesting Bates.
October 3. 1656 Death of Miles
Standish.
October 4. 1822 President Hayes
born.
October S. 1813 Battle of the Thames.
October 5. 1830 President Arthur
born.
October 6, 1821 Jenny Llnd born.
October 7, 1682 William Penn landed.
October 8 to 11. 1871 Great fire of.
Chicago.
October 9. 1547 Cervantes born.
October 10. 1912 Battle of Podgantza
fought
October 12. 1492 Columbus discov
ered America.
October 14, 1644-r-Wllliam Penn born.
October 16. 1912 General-Diaz seized
Vera Cruz.
October 17. 1777 Burgoyne surren
dered Saratoga.
October 18. 1831 Helen Hunt Jack
son born.
October 19. 17S1 Cornwallls sur
rendered Yorktown.
October 21. 1S05 Battle of Trafalgar.
October 25, 1415 Battle of Agin
court f
October 27. 1S58 Theodore Roose
velt born.
October 28, 1776 Battle White Plains.
October 29. 179S John Keats born.
October 30. 1735 John Adams born.
October Jl Hallowe'en.
Some Chinese Customs.
The roof of a Chinese house has
points on it which stick out in all di
rections, so that any evil spirit that
Ousted ojT
Fire - R'&ce -rubbed
-tne
Brasses m brio'h"i
To mJce "iT rred"
or vSArftii ClevoS
When he comei
'down -to h hf" ' -
happens to be flying about may be
hurt If he happens to come too near
the house.
Chinese actors wear many expensive '
and beautiful costumes during a play.
Some of these dresses represent the
work of from six to 13 women, work
ing on the one piece for five years.
If a man who owes money runs
away without paying it, any one of his
family may be punished for the debt.
A caller never asks after his toost's
wife and she is kept out of sight when
astranger is in the house.
When a Chinaman Is sick he sends
to the priest for a charm of paper with
queer writing on it He burns the
paper, swallows the ashes and gets
better very quickly.
If a Chinaman lends money he never
asks for It back, but asks his friend
for & "return loan."
Consideration.
(Washington Star.)
"Has your horse a good disposition?"
"')Tep." replied Farmer Corntossel.
"But he wouldn't have if I worried him
as much as be does me."
ITve
I -The