The Athena press., January 08, 1909, Image 2

T
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r
Tea Is a germicide according to a Bos
ton physician, who claims It Is an es
pecially rank enemy of the typhoid
bacillus.
Missouri Jed In the production of
- lead In the United States in 1907, push
lug Idaho, the leader In 1900, back to
. j second place.
Although the house fly lays eggs, the
' . flesh fly, better known as the "blue
bottle," produces living larvae, about
fifty at a time.
' A f 10,000 plant for the production of
ozone by electrolysis, the largest In the
world, has been completed at a Pitts
burg hospital.
A Norwegian factory receives power
for six turbines from water that falls
3,287 feet through a tunnel from a lake
even miles away.
., ; Tern has ofllcially adopted as Its
standard time that of the seventy-fifth
meridian, the same as "eastern time
In the United States.
The electrical equipment of the Cu
nard liner Mauretanla Includes over
250 miles of cables, and more than
6,000 lG-candie-power lamps.
Three parts by weight of boracic acid
to one of powdered borax makrs a good
compound for brazing steel. It should
be applied as a paste with water.
On the west const of India Is found
a species of oyster, Plncuna placenta,
whose shell consists of a pair of rough
ly circular, plates about six Inches In
' diameter, thin and white. At present
these oysters are collected for the pearls
1 which they often contain, although few
are fit for the use of the Jeweler. But
In the early days of English rule In
'India the shells were employed for
window-panes. Cut Into little squares,
they produced a very pretty effect, ad
mitting light like frosted glnss. When
the Bombay cathedral was built, at the
i beginning of the eighteenth century, its
windows were paned with there oyster
shells. In Goa they are still thus era
ployed. i rrof. Arthur 0. Lovejoy, as the re
sult of an Inquiry into the origin and
meaning of "fire cults," so common
among ancient nations and among mod
ern savage and barbarous tribes sug
gests that many races conceived the
"sacred fire," not as a practical con
venience or an ancient custom or a
i- f : means of frightening demons, but as
. ' ' a vehicle of life, or magical energy,
the prosperity of the household or tribe
; depending In part on the perpetuity,
vitality and purity of the fire. It was
thought of as subject to a tendency to
grow old and weak, like all natural
, , forces hence the custom of periodical-
' ly renewing It. This conclusion Is based
partly upon the statements made by the
. Iroquois Indians and the Maoris.
. Dr. Robert E. Goker. writing to Bel
i ence from Lima, advocates the protec
tion of the guano-producing birds- the
"guanne." a species of cormorant, and
the "nlcatraz," a species of pel lean-
In order that the Peruvian deposits of
' this valuable manure may be In part,
' renewed. The great ancient deposits
i ..' he says, are now almost non-existent
Only the lower grades of guano are left
But the birds annually make fresh de
posits on their nesting grounds, and If
1 they were properly protected, he be
lieves that the annual supply of fresh
deposits would be largely Increased
t The birds, he says, should no longer
be treated as wild animals. They should
be regarded as valuable domestic ani
mals. At present they are decreasing
In number, but this decrease could be
checked. They are also driven from
their haunts during the season when
they should be allowed to remain ihere
When driven away by the presence of
man during the nesting season, they
pend a large part of their time upon
e water, or on small islets and cliffs,
nere the deposits are either lost en-
trely or are rendered less available.
Gnthrrlng Rosen.
I've gathered roses and the like In
my glad and golden Junes, but now,
i down the world I hike my weary
iiands are filled with prunes: I've gath
ered roses o'er and o'er, and some were
white and some were red, but when I
tcok them to the store the grocer want
ed eggs Instead. I gathered rose9 long
ago, In other days. In other scenes, and
1 people said, "You ought to go hnd dig
the weeds out of your beans." A million
roses bloomed and died; a million more
will die to-day. That man Is wise who
lets them slide and gathers up the bales
of hay. Emporia Gazette.
Scanning V the Wreckage.
The owner of the racing automobile
, was a novice at the sport. Naturally,
he felt rather mystified wheu the. ex
's pert driver handed him the following
blll on the morning after the race:
V Gasoline, $t; repairs to car, $70; cut
ting expenses, $1,000.
"What the deuce," said the amateur
owner, "Is the meaning of this Item,
Cutting expenses?'"
"Oh, that," observed the chauffeur
carelessly "represents the surgeon's fee
for renovating my mechanlc.'-yJudge.
: Setting It Rlsht.
,"In your paper this morutng. sir, you
called me a 'bum actor. I want an
explanation." ;
"I shall be happy to explain, young
man. That word 'actor was Inserted
by the proofreader, who thought I had
omitted It accidentally.'..-.-1 shall take
care that It doesn't happen again."
Chicago Tribune.
A turkey Is never tough because he
Is so good he Is never allowed to be
come old.
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Vith Ilnrinn Unfit vt.
m ouu-maiiiirj ouai
. for Sponge Fishing
Through the ingenuity of Vicar Gen
eral Raoul, of Carthage, a submarine
boat for sponge fishing has been per
fected, and bids fair to displace the
dangerous and health ruining process
of sponge gathering by divers. The
submarine boat of Abbe Kaoul Is rery
much smaller and simpler than Its
naval prototypes. It Is IG',4 feet long
and 5'4 feet in diameter and carries
two men. Its general form Is that of
a cylinder with rounded ends. ; The
only opening is a man-hole at the top,
which Is surmounted by a turret her
metically closed by a cover that can be
operated equally well from below.
When the vessel Is afloat, it Is possible
to walk on the convex top with the
aid of steel handrails which extend
fore and aft on each side of the turret.
The vessel is caused to sink by open
ing three sea-cocks and thus filling as
many water ballast tanks. Two of
these tanks, placed amidshlp In the
bilge, to port and starboard, have a
combined capacity of 154 gallons of sea
water, the weight of which balances
most of the buoyancy and brings the
top of the boat nearly awash. These
two tanks are to be kept filled, as a
rule, but they can be emptied by means
of a hand pump. The third tank, which
Is placed between the. other two, holds
only seventeen gallons.
The water flows In directly from the
sen nnd Is forced out by connecting the
tank with two reservoirs which contain
nlr at a pressure of 150 atmospheres.
also made for telephonic coram uu lea
tlon between the submerged boat uuo
a floating vessel. Moutreal Star.
LION XXV AD 3 TEE CAMP.
African Traveler Telia of aa Eoll
tnir Adventure In Thorn Iucluaure.
"When in Souiulilaud, Africa, 1 hail
an exciting adventure with a black
maned Hon," writes a correspondent
"I had intended to reach a village one
night, but It was getting dark, and we
were a couple of hours' march off; so.
finding an old zareba, or thorn inclos
ure, we went Into it. This zareba cov
ered half an acre. It was only about
four feet high and four feet thick, the
thorny branches composing it having
sunk down and fallen apart 1
"We repaired about 100 yards of It
pitched our tent, and the cook got his
Ore lighted, gave me some dinner, and
I turned In. Our nineteen camels are
squatted in a circle to the right of the
tent, our horses were tethered 'near to
them and our twenty-one men lighted
three or four, fires, cooked their food
and lay down to sleep around the cam
els. We also had five donkeys teth
ered to two on three saplings, which
were growing about tVo paces In front
of the tent, and, the.fore, toward tb
center of the zareba.
"About 2 o'clock in the morning I
was awakened by two feeble brays, fol
lowed by a third. Lighting a candle,
I tumbled out in my pajamas and got
hold of my rifle and a couple of car
tridges, to meet the Somali hunters
shoving their woolly heads through the
tent door, saying, 'Waraba!' (hyena).
Deep growls were going on, and I at
once f.it sure that it was-no hyena,
but a lion, In the zareba. Fortunate
ly, the cnniels did not stampede. '
"It waslpltch dark, but I saw that
one of the five donkeys tethered in front
of the tent was gazing intently toward
the left and center. . The other four
PROVIDING HOT MEALS JN TIME OF WAS.
1
.
A SUBMARINE BOAT I'OIt SPONGE Fl
SUING.
Small movements of ascent and descent
can be made nnd controlled readily by
manipulating the compressed air valve.
In case of accident a lead weight of
1.500 pounds, which forms the amid
shlp section of the keel, can be instant
ly detached, causing the lightened ves
sel to rise rapidly to the surface.
The boat is propelled by means of
two steel oars, with feathering blades
The oars pass through the hull In
water-tight splieileal Joints which give
freedom of motion In every .direction.
Similar Joints ere used on the torpedo
tubes of warships.
Attached to the forward fixed sec
tion of the keel is a wheel on which
Abbe Kaoul expects his unique vessel
to travel over the level bottom of hard
and on which the sponges are found.
By regulating the supply of compressed
nlr to the small ballast tanks the pros
sure of the wheel on the sea bottom
can belnade as smnll as Is desired, and
there Is no apparent reason why the
vessel should not be propelled over the
bottom by the oars for it has no othr
motor. The purpose of this device is
fo evade the necessity of rising from
the sea bottom, and consequently draw
ing on the supply of compressed air In
moving from place to place In search
of sponges. Kaoul's first boat had a
similar wheel, which worked very well.
The sponge fishing apparatus con
sists of a movable arm which projects
from the lower part of the curved bow,
through a water-tight spherical Joint,
and carries cutting pincers at Its ex
tremity. By means of this device,
operated by a man Inside the hull, the
cponge Is cut loose and deposited In a
large Iron basket suspended from the
end of a fixed tubular arm of sheet
lion, which occupies nearly the place of
the bowsprit of a ship. To the middle
of this fixed arm are attached electric
lamps and a reflector for the purpose of
Illuminating the sen bottom, which can
be observed through a bull's eye In the
bow of the boat. These lamps, as well
as those which light the Interior of the
vessel, are supplied with current by a
small battery of accumulators. A ball
of lead attached to a steel wire can lie
raised and lowered by means of a wind
las. inside the tubular arm. and thus
serves the purpose of an anchor. The
windlass Is operated by gearing ter
mlnatlng In a snatt which passes
through a stuffing box Into the Interior
of the boat and which bears a crajk
handle at Its inner eud. Provision la
had disappeared. There was a black
mass discernible in the center of thd
zareba, which, however, I found in the
morning to be simply a mass of old
dried thorn branches, so the six or
eight shots I fired at it in the darkness
did little harm.
"The men were now bushing the fires,
and the cook supplied four or five of
the men with sticks and with kerosene
and rapidly made some torches. I then
noticed that the donkey was gazing
more to the left of the center, and,
guided by the growling which was go1
ing on continuously and furiously, I
crept on my hands and knees past tht
donkey for a couple of yards. The
men with the torches were then a little
behind my right shoulder.
"Suddenly the torches flamed x.
brightly and, the light being behind me
somewhat. I was not dazzled by it, but
saw the lion dragging off a donkey. It
did not take nie more than one second
to snap both barrels at him, and his
growls at once ceased. After putting
in two more cartridges nnd having the
torches retrimmed, we again advanced,
to find the lion lying on his side, giving
a few expiring gasps. His nose touched
the donkey's throat, a trickle of blood
flowed down from under his left eye.
and, ns I afterward found, he had got
my second bullet lu the nnyse of the
neck."
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MOVABLE KITCHEN OF
The statement that an army marches on Its stomach
Is recognized by the German military authorities as
containing much truth, and thus have come into being
the portable field kitchens of the type illustrated. Meals
can be cooked in these kitchens while the kitchens them-
TI1E GEKMAN AKMY.
selves are being driven from place to place at full speed.,
and each kitchen can provide thre hot meals a day for
"00 men. The contrivance was tested during the recent
maneuvers with much success,, and; was-inspected by the
Kaiser, who tasted some of the food cooked In it and
pronounced It excellent. London Illustrated News.
OCTOBER.
Beneath the tender autumn sky
Silent the hills and woodways lie.
Half folded in their robes of mist ;
And o'er the mass of turning green,
Beyond the hyaline, serene
The clouds in tint of amethyst.
The crickets sing about our feet,
And there's a gleam of winter wheat
Far down the bill, in mellow beams;
In fields, and dells, and sleepy woods
A very heaven of stillness broods
Till life seems on a sea of dreams.
-Woman's Home Companion.
The One and Only
Hon Birds Meet Emergencies.
Dr. Francis II. llerrlck says a spar
row will pluck a horsehair from the
mouth of a nestling, while another bird,
like an oriole, will stand by and see
its mate hang until dead without at
tempting to release It ,
A robin will tug at a string which
has caught on a limb, but is never seen
fully to meet the situation by releasing
the string. It will make several turns
of a Cord about a limb and leave the
other end free without any relation to
the nest, so that Its effort Is useless.
It ties no knots.
The gull, according to abundant and
competent testimony, will carry shell
fish to a considerable height, drop them
on the rocks or hard ground and repeat
the experiment until It gets the soft
meat. Chicago Tribune.
Even when the unexpected happens
there Is always some fellow around to
s.iy : "I told you so."
It's always better to throw bouquets
thau It Is to hand kuious.
"Are you quite sure?" asked Adela.
"Absolutely sure !" answered Dick.
He leaned over the back of the chair
in which he sat, and let his long thin
hands frame her face, with the fingers
locked beneath her chin.
"Absolutely sure!" he repeated.
His tone convinced himself, but left
Adela a little doubtful still. The care
less, almost furtive, kiss with which he
bad brushed her lips a moment ago, was
not the kiss of which she had dreamed
had dreamed through times of tens
and twenties up to nnd beyond her last,
her thirtieth birthday. For he was,
and always had been the only man for
her ; though she, for him, had remained
just one of the many women to whom,
under various disguises, discreet, re
strained, but always artistic, love could,
at pleasant intervals, be made.
"And are you happy, dear?" she won
dered. '
"Of course !" he fervently told her,
without pausing to analyze his emo
tions. And his hands caressed the brown
smoothness of her hair.
Then, in the quiet half-light of the
February evening, his thoughts ran
away with him and gave the silent lie
to his words. They carried him back
to the dance at the concert hall three
months ago, when he had quarreled, Ir
revocably quarreled, with Kathleen
Steele. He had not seen her since
dear, fluffy little person that she was.
with big blue eyes which be used to
think foolish before they learned to
sparkle for him. She, conquered as all
his captives were more by the Intense
Sympathy which he exhaled than by
my physical or facial charm, had prom
ised to marry him as soon as he could
ave enough to furnish the little house
and studio somewhere near Kegent's
Park. And now he was here In this
big, proper, many-hand-maidened su
burban villa, engaged to Adela Adela
Wlnt, to whom he had come for conso
lation In that trouble. Just ns he had
cdnie to her for consolation ever since
he put on his first dress-coat.
yAnd he realized that he wasn't happy
at all and half a hundred other things
besides.
Tell me," said Adela, "tell me you
Ioe me, Dick !"
'You know I love you, dear!' he said,
knowing that he lied.
V.Why do you ask?" he went on.
I wondered," bhe explained. "I Just
wondered whether It wasn't the need
for1 sympathy that made you ask me
to marry you! And that you thought
you were in love with me because we
were beautifully la tune together and
beehuse I was able to console you!"
She was right; as always, so won
derfully right. They had been, as she
put', It, so beautifully In tune together,
and he had got carried away by his
coufounded temperament aud the neces
sity; for putting an artistic finish to
the (episode.
For the moment he paused In conflict
with himself. Honor aud honestly
warred with Indecision and weakness.
'Then honor and honesty lost the day.
betrayed by the too-notleeable absence
of chin which spoiled his face.
"There's no one quite like you.
Adela !" he truthfully assured her. "No
one who understands us you under
stand!" "Ah!" she happily smiled. "But I,
you see, have made a life-long study
of you! And If I didn't understand,
who In the world should?"
The picture of Kathleen flashed
across his mind ; Kathleen In a blue
frock which matched her eyes, Kathleen
with the blush rose cheeks and laugh
lug' Hps that challenged and provoked
his frequent kiss. Not even Kathleen
understood as Adela did, but then
well, Kathleen was just everything
that Adela could never be !
But he put the picture out of sight,
turned its face, as It were, to the wall.
"Have you, then, made an exhaust
ive study of your servant?" he ques
tioned, searching her heart with feign
ed humility.
"Always! Always!" she answered.
The sincerity, the look, the self-abandon
that underlay every word which
she spoke killed the last germ of coni
pui etion in him. . To-day was to-day ;
to-day with Its great moments, such as
he loved. They should live the present
hour, at any rate. To-morrow he would
write what he could not bring himself
to speak.
So for the next half -hour he made
love to her out of the ripe fullness of
his own experience. And his philoso
phy was as the Spaniard's. To-morrow,
to-morrow, always to-morrow
which means the completest plucking
of to-day. ,
Then he, met Kathleen Steele at a
dinner party.
Kathleen was there, not fortuitously,
but by design. For she had found out
'4 few
jSL ""
IS ANYTHING THE MATTER?"1.
how much she cared for him, and, in
capable of hiding her emotions, had
worn her heart quite openly upon her
sleeve. So people were, trying to bring
them together again, and the dinner
party was a ballon d'essai.
As he went into the drawing room
she was the first person who caught
his eye. His heart hammered at his
ribs nnd a swift desire to take her,
then and there, in his anus came upon
him." He shook hands with his hostess
in a dream, looking over her shoulder
to where Kathleen sat with half-avert-1
ed head; and, the barest civilities ex
changed, he walked straight across to
where, she sat. She was talking 'to
another man but that didu't hiatter to
him.
"Kathleen!" he said.
She put out her hand. He took It
with a new surprise at Its comparative
limpness, which he never remembered
having noticed before. . - -
"How d'ye do, Dick!" she began with
ill-acted coldness. "It's ages since I've
seen you !"
Somehow her voice jarred upon him.
There was a curious quality In it
but what that quality was he couldn't
quite detect
He took an oblong piece of cardboard
from his pocket and showed it to her.
"I'm to take you In to dinner!" he
told her.
"Really?" she asked with brows de
lightfully ar:hed. "Keally?"
Her surprise was so obviously spu
rious that It gave him the key to the
whole situation. And a certain dull
reseutment sgainst his hostess and
even against Kathleen herself came
into his heart. :
So it was all. a put-up Job, was It,
he thought. A reconcilation over the
soup and declaration of eternal affec
tion after dessert. He would see him
self somewhere first. If they 'came to
gether again they should come together
in his own way and not at the time and
place dictated by well-meaning friends!
Then they went down to dinner. And,
though she was as beautiful as ever,
she failed, In some .intangible, elusive.
Indefinable way, wholly to please his
critical eye. But how she failed he
was utterly at a loss to discover.
Then, hating Kathleen's voice, he
tried to lose himself in the cotitempla-;
tlon of her beauty; to watch the pleas
ant lights in her blue eyes, eyes which
were. It seemed, always gay. They were ' f
too gay, he thought. Adela's eyes could
be gay ; but then he loved their sadness
best. But, of course, though in a way
he was very fond of Adela, he could
never love her ns he had loved and
could still love Kathleen. '
Still at 10 o'clock next day he went
to see Adela. ,
She saw him come up the short drive
as she sat writing letters at the study
window, and she, herself, opened the
door to him.
"Is anything the matter?" she asked
a little anxiously.
How. soft her voice sounded and
how different from Kathleen's! ,
"Quite a lot!" he answered. . But he
smiled. 1 ., ; " .'v. ;
She turned towards the study with a
gesture. . As he followed her the quiet
neatness of her dress -and hair gave
him a sense of perfect taste. Every
thing about her was, he felt, just right,
Impossible to better.
Inside the study she shut the door.
"Now," she said, courageously but
with fear cold at her heart, "tell me
all about it!"
' For answer he walked up' to her and
took her in his arms, and kissed her
passionately upon the lips.
"You never kissed me like that be
fore!" she marveled, ns he held her
away from him to look into her eyes.
"Perhaps not, dear!" he admitted.
"But now !"
And he caught her in his arms again.
"What is It that you have to ask?" '"'.
she presently ventured. ,j.
Then, since the crowning wisdom Vas
come to him he answered gravely:
"I want you to marry me Imme
diately!" ' -
And for once, perhaps for the first
time in his life, he knew his own mind.
' A' Lemon Inatend.'.
' "Do you know," a pretty bride of
three months said to a friend the oth
er day, "i think all these Jokes about
young wives having so much trouble
with butchers and grocers and being
cheated aud all that is just too fool-'
Isb."
"Then I presume you are getting on
ill right with yours, dear?" her friend
inquired.
"Why, of course I am ! Anybody
would if they would Just deal at a re
liable place," the young wife declared. .
Now there Is my grocer," she coutlu
ued. "he is Just ns obliging and thought
ful as can be. The other day 1 ordered
a dozen oranges, and when they came I
found there were but eleven In the bag,
so I went to the store again and told
him so. ' "
" 'Why, yes, ma'am,' he said, I know
there were. I had put in a dozen, but
I noticed that one of them was spoiled,,
and. of course. I wouldn't send you any
but the best goods, so I took It out'
"Now, don't you think that was nice
In him to be so thoughtful and hon- '
est?" she concluded. Harper's Weekly.
Otherwise Impossible.
Calvert Jr. Tolsoy must use white
Ink. ' ' '
Baity Moore How so?
Calvert, Jr. He Is said to have been "
"writing on the Russian government.'
and dark Ink wouldn't show on a black
surface: Baltimore American.
A woman gets more enjoyment out of
a good cry than a man docs out ot
hearty laugh. ' -.