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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1915)
THE SUNDAY OKEGOXIAX, PORTLAND, MARCH 21, 1915. SNAPSHOTS CATCH HIGH LIGHTS IN WORLD'S NEWS EVENTS Scout Biplane One of Types Used by Britain Alien Labor Law Retards Subway Construction Largest Motorship Is Wreck. s"'gaiaArt(.tf . S!atey.i"w---wtfti. mif'iiifii-i-r"n m.i tiiwi ML 4 n n J rv- V J -5 r 111 -'. ir 4. r I i aSkfTwvSf .-. Jozies 5: i ss-iaMssi uywn 'a i . . ; 4i. V A f7 Tt&rcf, Grounds an NEW YORK. Mar. 20. (Special.) One of the many types of aero planes used by the British army Is a scout biplane. It was designed by Torn Sopwith, the well-known aviator, and is manufactured by him. It car ries a. Gnome motor of 50-80 horse power and can make 65 miles an houc m m v The construction of the great new subway system in Xew York is being held up by the alien labor law. Thia law prohibits the employment of aliens on public work In New York State. The law had been treated as a dead letter, until & few months ago attention was called by labor men to the fact that it was being; violated. It was tested in the courts, and recently was held to be constitutional. Contractors promptly discharged the large number of aliens working underground on the subways and advertised for Arareican citizens. The pay is $10 a week and the work eight hours a day. Many applicants appeared at the offices of all the con tractors, but there is little hope that enough men can be hired to complete the work, and Governor Whitman and the Legislature have been asked to repeal the law so that -the subway work can go forward. . The Danish motorship Malakka, en R i iriiiwiiimniHiiiiMiw inn , , " - t"-'l route from the Pacific Coast to Copen hagen on her maiden voyage in the service of the East Asiatic Company, grounded on Red Rock, Cedros Island. Lower California, in a violent gale and subsequently broke in two. Her valu able cargo, consisting of wines, flour and general freight, is believed to be a total loss. The Malakka was the largest motorship in the world and was built in Copenhagen a year ago. Her Diesel engines alone cost J850.000 and were the product f the famous Diesel works in Germany. The vessel was 410 feet long, with a beam of 55 feet and had a gross register of 5150 tons. A picture of the wreck, Bhowing the Malakka broken apart and her val uable cargo exposed to the eea, was .taken. A picture was fhade recently of the 1 - tr T i opening of the session of the Japanese Parliament by Count Okuma. The ses- sion proved to be the stormjest that message of felicitation from K'"8 has yet been held by the Japanese Par liament. The pro and anti-war par ties were almost equally divided, and when the question of-the extension of the war arose, the anti-militaristic element refused to vote the war credits and greatly embarrassed the govern ment Popular Bentiment in Japan is said to be not in favor of Japan's par ticipation in the war, and the dem onstration In Parliament was the re sult. A large crowd gathered at the ded ication of the beautiful Canadian pa vilion gat the Panama-Pacific Interna tlonal " Exposition to listen to the George of England, conveyed to the American people through Martin cur rell, Minister of Agriculture for the Dominion of Canada. "His Majesty." said Mr. Burrell, "re joices to think his Dominion of Canada Is taking part in this exhibition, thus testifying to the appreciation of the British Empire and the linking of the Atlantic with the Pacific and at the happy results which may be expected from the meeting of the waters of the two oceans.' Another sentiment was: "May it be a good presage for the peace and happiness of the world." The Canadian pavilion is the largest of the National buildings at the Pan- ania-Pacifio International Exposition and is dally crowded with thousands, who express admiration of the remark able exhibit which Canada has made. The building was erected at a cost of $400,000. It is 4SOx2!5 feet, mixed classic in design and handsomely em bellished. A view of the Canadian pavilion hows In the background, from left to right, the Iowa. Washington L'tali, Ohio and Illinois buildings. The City of New York building, at the extreme right, and the Virginia building, which. Is an exact copy of Mount Vernon, George Washington's braullful home on the Potomac River, is in the center, between the Ohio and Illinois build Ing . ' SELF-TAUGHT NATURE EXPERT OF 17 ASTONISHES UNIVERSITY FACULTY Opal Whitely, Daughter of Woodsman, Knows Geology, Biology, Physical Geography and Botany; Has Fine Collections of Specimens and Ideas for Instruction of Youth Are Declared to Be Ultra-Modern. El'GENE. Or.. March 20. (Special.) Tutored by nature, a tiny 17-year-oid mountaineer girl, her hair down her back, has opened the eyes of the Eugene teaching- profession and left it gasping for breath. Educated by herself in the forests of the Cas cade Mountains, she has made a col lege education appear insignificant, ad mit the university professors. In three days she became the talk of the faculties of three educational institu tions. Entrance rules have been cast aside; scholarships are proposed: a home was found for her in Eugene everything has been done to keep her here. "This experience happens to a uni versity but once in a generation." de clared Warren D. Smith, head of the university geology department. "She knows more about geology than do many students that have graduated from my department. She may become one of the greatest minds Oregon has ever produced. She will be an invest ment for the university." "She is a travesty on our education al system." exclaimed A. R. Sweetser, head of the botany department. "Is all our system wasted? Is it hlnder-j Ing normal development?" Jnaler Department Developed. The girl is Opal Whitely. Her home Is In the lumber camps on Rowe River, east of Cottage Grove. Four years ago this girl attended a Christian Endeavor meeting in Cottage Grove. She be-i came interested in children from six years to her own age, developed a Junior department of 43 members. She went back to the lumber camps at Star and organized Endeavor meetings among the children of the lumber jacks. She organized a society at Dorena. This leads to the fact that she came to Eugene a few days ago as delegate to the state convention of Christian Endeavor societies. After being elect ed to the head of the junior work in the entire state and made chairman of the committee on resolutions, she was invited for a week's visit by an aunt in Eugene. - The next thing anyone knew she was attending classes at the University of Oreeon. the Eugene Bible University -and the Eugene High School. There were not enough classes In geology, biology, physical geography and botany in Eugene to suit her. Between classes this 17-year-old girl rummaged through the college museums where mature post-graduates have to force them selves to take time. Knovrleds-e Hunger Noted. "I never saw anyone so hungry for knowledge," said Dr. Smith. "She just eats it up like a person starved. She couldn't get enough. She says she wants to take all the courses we have and she's doing 'the same thing in biology. She ha enough energy and enthusiasm to be a whole class. She can learn anything. I let her look through a microscope at a thin section of rock and she became highly ex cited. It was new to her. A scholar ship for that girl would be the biggest investment this college could make. If she wants to go to college here next Kail, we'll see that she can do it and rhere are r.o entrance rules that can keep her out of the university." The girl is supremely happy in na ture and her life ambition is to teach other children to enjoy nature as she does. In the mountains she has gath ered about her the children of the lum bermen and taught them In the fields. She has spent hours a day with her own class of 15 children, ranging from 5 to 11 years. Her great aim is to educate herself to write text-books de signed for children. There are scarce ly any at present, she finds. Ideas Declared Ultra Modern. Children are eager to. know about nature, she says, and ask question after question. Her ideas of teaching na ture, say the educational authorities in Eugene, are of the most modern line of thought and she has worked them out herself far back in the mountains. "The children prefer ttfe truth," she says. "They'd rather hear nature stories than fairy stories. I've given them their choice and the story of Cinderella or the stories of the Arabian Nights are not so attractive as the story of the life of a monarch or a swallow-tail butterfly. They like to watch the development from the eggs. They like to see how the worm spins its cocoon. They are eager to know the difference between the chrysalis and 'the cocoon. I explain how the butterfly unfolds Itself and they are eager to know more. I tell about the feeding tube, how they unfold a little coil, like a vine string, that runs down into the flower and draws up the honey. "I show them humming birds' nests in the Spring, with the two little white eggs, like beans, and then the mother with the two little birds not as big as bugs. They ask questions and these have helped me to study." The girl apparently is without self consciousness. "My purpose In studying nature," she says, "is to help others to learn of God's out-of-doors, to learn the lessons written in the fields and forests and to find the inspiration I've found. It keeps me busy, but it's worth while. It makes me happy in accomplishing what I'm ajter. "I've always loved the out-of-doors and I've liked to wander In the fields. I've felt nearer God I've never had any fear. I first go into the forests and fields and then come back and look up what I've seen. I keep notes and have records of everything. Miss Whitely learns by concentration. She wanted to train herself to remem ber the names of the hundreds of speci mens, so she began to learn three poems a week as mental culture. Now she says she can learn a poem in a few minutes, and can remember the name of a geological specimen or a flower after she has heard it once. She says she prefers nature poems, especially those of Wordsworth and Longfellow, for every time she sees the subjects of the poems in the fields, it brings back the words to her mind. Small Doe la Protector. She has two constant companions in her outdoor life. One is a 9-year-old sister named Cloe, and the other Is a tiny white dog named Dandy. He'd ex ceedingly observant, she says, and she knows he will bark if danger is near. She attributes much of her interest in nature to an uncle, Henry Pearson, a, pioneer miner, known all along the Pa cific Coast, who died last year. "He used to tell me of nature, and now, though he's dead, his thoughts can live on, because I'm learning those things he wanted me to know," she says. Perhaps the most remarkable fea ture of her life is the amount she has accomplished in three years, during which time she has built up collections with thousands of specimens of actual material value from a scientific stand point. After she had gone through the grades she entered the high school. In 1912 her nature study career started with a course in botany. She then lived on a farm 13 miles from Cottage Grove, and when she was unable to continue school during the Winter of 1912 and 1913 she studied botany in the fields di rect from nature. She took an inter-: est in physical geography, and this. led to a study of trees. In the Spring of 1913 she took up the study of in sects, and in the Summer of 1913 she began her- collection of moths, butter flies and beetles. Smithsonian Institute Assists. "The Smithsonian Institute sent me some bulletins on insect life," she ex plains. "Then I began my physical geography collection. The children In the neighborhood brought me many specimens and they asked many ques tions. It was then I felt the need of books on the natural sciences printed for children. This brought me to a new field of work, and I resolved that 1 would be a nature teacher and write these books. "In the Fall of 1913 we moved to Dorena. I took with me two large cases of insects, one box of geology speci mens, my botany specimens and 1300 live caterpillars, mostly of the Isia Isa bella moth. I watched these grow through the Winter. I caught them in the early mornings along the creeks they feed at this time in the ferns and rushes. I got so many I could watch several kinds and see every stage In their development. I had to feed them six times a day, but it was worth it, for I saw the complete transforma tion. "Then I began my collection of minerals and I have gathered over 8000 specimens of minerals, fossils and sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks. In the Winter of 1913-14 I be gan collecting bird nests. "W. C. Hawley sent me 22 Govern ment books and bulletins on geology and I read these. In February the State Library loaned me a large num ber of books. One Collection Destroyed. "In the'Spring of 1914 I built my: nature room. I put up the shelves and cabinets myself. One night in May mice got into my -nature room and de stroyed nearly all my Insects, but I made a new collection. In July we went to the logging camps above Do rena, where father was employed, and during the Summer I started a collec tion of Indian relics. I have 53 arrow heads and several Indian bowls, one of which was in an unfinished state. "That Winter mother was not well and much of my time was needed at home, but I took up the study of conchology and I emphasized the study of zoology, especially bird lire. i counted 74 different varieties of birds near our house and X listed them all. "In December I took up the study of astronomy. "After coming to the convention In Eugene this month I visited the collec tions at the University and tho pro fessors have allowed me to study these collections and ask all the questions I want." Miss Whitely has decided to go to work in Eugene at once to earn money to enter the high school here next Fall. She will take correspondence courses offered by the university in science this Spring and Summer, and with one year of high school work in geometry, physics, Latin and literature she will enter the University of Oregon in 1916. Spoils, of Turkey Is Talk. LONDON, March 18. The possibility of America, as the most powerful neu- I tral tolerant slate, being placed In some I position of supervision of the Holy Land, has been considered in rcspoiuil ble quarters, where even now a study ' Is being given to a division of Turkey in the event of a victory for the allies. With regard to other sections of the Ottoman Empire, the division of spoil does not present great difficulties. Con stantinople and the Dardanelles would doubtless be neutralised despite Rus sia's desire actually to possess Con stantinople. Russia will find her place on the northern shores of Asia Minor. Orrece will extend her Influence on the fl coast. Italy In the south, the Krltivh in the interior, in Mesopotamia and Arabia, and France also on the west coast. But there is no nation of (he pres. ent belligerents which could under take the government of the holy places of Jerusalem without arousing antaRon Ism and religious conflict, poi.nl bly even open warfare, as one creed is jealous of all the others. REGULATE A CHILD'S BOWELS VHEN CROSS, BILIOUS OR FULL OF COLD Any child will gladly take "Cas carets Candy Cathartic", which act gently nevei gripe or produce the slightest uneasiness though cleanses the little one's Constipated Bowels, sweetens the stomach and breaks up a bad cold quickly. Full directions for children and grown-ups in each package. Mothers can rest easy after giving this gantle, harmless laxative to children. io i price io cent; Xk -V v x-vi t rrr "X AS CARETS WORK WnlLt ruu aLttn