Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 161, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1916 — Page 2

On the mighty tigris

the flooded banks of the Tigris river the English campaign in Mesopotamia is still being ■waged. It has brought Into £he limelight this great water course of western Asia which has almost as many historical associations as the Euphrates, which flowed through the Garden of Eden. A bulletin issued by the National Geographic society gives an interesting account of this highway of ancient civilization, which seems to have assumed once more the role of history maker. The great Tigris, upon whose banks there flourished the magnificent city of Lagash and the great Babylonian empire more than three thousand years before the Christian era, today has fallen to such lowly estate that even the Turks and Arabs, whom it sustains, scorn to do it honor. Almost contemptuously they have given it the sobriquet, “the cheap cameleer,’’ because it is used by the natives of its upper reaches to bring down rafts or keleks from Dlarbekir to Bagdad, where the wocjd is sold while the inflated skins used as floats are deflated. On its turbid course through Mesopotamia, the Tigris, which is traversed by small boats for a distance nearly four times as great as the navigable reaches of the Hudson river, flows past many ruins which have proved an almost Inexhaustible mine of information for archeologists. Opposite Mosul, from which we have derived the word muslin, applied to the fabric first imported into Europe from this town in the twelfth century, there are to be found the extensive remains of what was once haughty Nineveh, ever associated in the popular mind with the Biblical account of Jonah, the great fish and the gourd vine. Ruins of Once Mighty Assur. Sixty miles down the river from Nineveh, which was the last capital of Assyria, there squats the mean little Arab village of Kal’at-Shergat, on the buried ruins of Assur, the first great city of the Assyrian empire. It was In honor of their god Assur that high priests founded the city of the same name. These priestly builders and administrators were at first under the suzerainty of Babylonia, but when that empire fell into decay they succeeded in establishing themselves as independent kings, founding a dynasty which held ruthless sway over this isection of the world for centuries. Another historic place on the banks of the Tigris is Nimrud, which legend tells us was built by the Biblical hero who in addition to being a mighty hunter is credited with having been the projector of the Tower of Babel, ■and also with having cast Abraham into the fire because the father of the Israelites refused to worship idols. Not long ago British soldiers were contending with the Turks in the environs of the ancient capital of the Parthian kings, Ctesiphon, a few miles south of Bagdad. Here one finds the ruins of the great palace known as “the throne of Khosrau,” the most remarkable example of sassanian architecture extant.

The Tigris has two main sources in the Taurus mountains, at an elevation of 5,000 feet The headwaters of the ■western branch are only two or three miles from one of the sources of the Euphrates. After, the two branches join the river flows in a soußieasterly direction for 800 miles until it unites with the Euphrates 70 miles above the Persian guif, and forms the Shatt-el-Arab. The two principal towns on this waterway of ancient glory are Bagdad and Basra. Diarbekir Once Was^Rich. Diarbekir, situated on the upper Tigris, has an impressive situation. Built upon a basaltic table land, sur-. rounded by walls constructed of basal* tic rock, the city overlooks a broad bend of the Tigris, which Hows by its eastern side. Beneath the walls of the city and within the bend of the river lies a plain covered with vegetation of every shade of green that the East can produce. Few cities of the earth have undergone greater vicissitudes than Diarbekir. Roman and Persian, Armenian and Parthian, Arab and Turk have disputed its possession. In one of its many changes alone, more than 80,000 of its people were put to the sword. So heavy has been the toll that war has levied upon it that where once it was larger than the capital of the United States, today less than 40,000 people dwell there. The city is rich in remnants of its former greatness. Old Jacobite, Creek and Armenian churches raise their spires to heaven along with the minarets of a host of Mohammedan mosopes. Silk raising is a principal industry,

PICTURESQUE CRAFT ON THE TIGRIS

and the Bheaves that the Inhabitants bring in there are sheaves of mulberry leaves which serve as fodder for the hungry silkworm. Lettuce is a favorite article of diet, and the Turks eat it all day long. Strange Craft on the Tigris. Strangest of all the kinds of floating equipment is the kelek, seen on the Tigris. The kelek is probably one of the earliest forms of water transportation used by our ancestors in Asia. It consists of goatskins inflated with air, tied beneath a framework oi light poles. Often as many as 800 such skins are used to give the boat the desired buoyancy. The cargo is loaded onto the kelek Just as though it were a flat-bottomed barge, after which the craft begins its journey down the Tigris or the Euphrates propelled or guided by oars, When it reaches its journey’s end it is broken up and sold as skins and timber. The two great rivers of Mesopo tamia are very crooked and very irregular in their depths. The airline distance between Diarbekir and Bagdad is 400 miles, while the water route via the Tigris is about 1,000 miles. At many places the river is deep enough to accommodate boats of considerable draft, but at others it is so shallow that a man has difficulty in swimming. But even over shallows where a man cannot go as a swimmer, a well-laden kelek will float without accident. For thousands of years this buoyant boat has helped the people of Mesopotamia to move their commerce over the shoals and shallows of two of the earth’s moodiest rivers.

MAN MUST PAY IN THE END

Social Law Exacts Living Wage From Communities After All—Condi* tions in New York. It has been estimated by social scientists that SB4O a year is the lowest income on which a family of five can live in decency in New York. The wages paid by New York city to laborers is S4BO a year. This is $360 below the mark. But is it $360 saved? It is not, declares ' Detroit Free Press. There is a law, a natural social law, that when society refuses to pay the price of decency and justice, it pays the price of indecency and injustice—and the latter is the heavier price. Take the case of New York. Tho worker who earns $360 less than a living wage still lives, but he takes the difference —and more —out of the community. When his children are sick the public doctor attends them. When the child is injured, a public hospital cares for it at public expense. When work is not to be had public funds buy the family its bread and fuel. When the moral frhits of such a life manifest themselves in crime, society pays the policeman and supports the penitentiary by which legal expiation is made. And when the wretched parents die, society pays for the funerals and supports the orphans. This is not to mention the moral and physical menace to the community which such an uncared-for family may become. Count these public ‘‘charities'’ and it becomes clear that the $360 which New York saves on each of the laborers is taken out of New York city’s treasury and orderliness and health —and more, too. * Laws of society are like any other laws of the material universe; they are inviolable. Society cannot break them, but society can bruise itself against them. And that is what society has been doing. With this consolation, however, that every braise society inflicts upon itself awakens its intelligence and concern in that particular direction.

Longest Beard in History.

The longest beard referred to in European history is that which adorned the person of John Mayo, painter to Emperor Charles V. It is said of him that though he was very tall his beard was so long that he could tread upon it. Naturally he was very proud of his possession, and took such great care of it that he usually went about with it carefully gathered up in festoons, the points of the hair being looped up and tied with ribbon to a buttonhole of his coat. But sometimes, by the express desire of the emperor, Mayo would untie his beard to its full length, whereupon his majesty would command the windows to be opened so tbat the beard might have full play. “The emperor." we are informed, “took sport in watching the wind blow this long beard in the faces of his courtiers.*

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND. r

NONETS MANYUSES

ARTICLE REALLY IS NOT PROPERLY APPRECIATED. Healthy and Economical Food Should Be Far More Widely Uded Than It Is—Some Ways to Employ IL Honey is one of the healthiest and most economical foods, and it is not only delicious, but has Invaluable medicinal qualities. It cannot, of course, take the place of sugar, as Bugar is more convenient, for one thing, but it is better adapted to certain cooking than sugar and its flavor is an aid in securihg that variety which all cooks are seeking. For instance, cream cheese and honey, either liquid or In the comb, makes a delicious and healthful combination.

Two ounces of honey and six ounces of strawberries, with three ounces of cottage cheese, two ounceß of bread and two-thirds of an ounce of butter, the latter either spread on the bread or mixed with the cheese, makes a very well-balanced meal. As a filling for sandwiches, honey may be used with chopped nuts, or the nuts may be added to cheese and honey lor the same purpose. Honey can be used instead of sirup or jam with cereals and pancakes, and if a little hot water is added to it it will be easier to pour. It is more convenient than sugar for sweetening lemonade or other fruit drinks, as it does not have to be dissolved. With charged water it has less of a tendency to expel the gas. Solid honey makes a delicious filling for cake. It may be substituted for molasses in all forms of bread and cake cookery, and gives a more delicate flavorIt contains less acid than molasses, and so requires less soda in recipes which form w r hen poured into cold water. Beat the white of the egg until stiff, and when the sirup has cooled slightly pour over the egg, beating the mixture constantly until it will hold its shape. This frosting is suitable for use between layers of cakes, but is rather too soft for the top. Cakes made with honey will keep fresh much longer than when sugar is used. Indeed, if butter is omitted they will keep for months, and even improve in flavor. Honey can be used in a variety of ways for preserving. A good jelly may be made by combining a cupful of apple juice with a cupful of honey and proceeding as in ordinary jelly making. Other combinations of the sort could probably be worked out. Cranberries cooked in honey and water are delicious. Take equal weights of each of the ingredients, and after pricking each berry several times to prevent bursting and permit the sirup to penetrate to the interior, cook them slowly until they are soft and boil down the sirup until it just covers them. Pour into glasses and cover like jelly. A good method is to place all the ingredients in a double boiler and heat them very slowly. If this method is followed the boiling down of the sirup is even more necessary than when the berries are cooked more rapidly. Honey is good to use with sugar for candies, because it causes it to remain soft.

To Mend the Screens.

The broken door or window screen is an eyesore all summer if it is left unmended, or the repairing is done clumsily. The neatest way to mend the screen is to cut a piece of wire netting about three inches larger than the hole. Remove the wires around the edge of the patch for half an inch or more, like drawing away the threads from a piece of linen. Bend the resulting prongs at right angles and fit the patch in place with the wire ends sticking through the screen. Press the patch flat against the larger surface, then on the other side press the ends back to their original position. This secures the patch.

Small Baked Mackerel.

After splitting and cleaning fish place in a buttered dripping pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover with one-half cupful of thin cream. In ‘place of the cream twothirds of a cupful of milk and a little butter may be used. Bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes.

Asparagus on Toast.

Wash asparagus, cut off the bottom of stalks. Then cut off the rest of the hard part and put these to boil in salted water and. boil till tender. Then put in tops and boil till done. Toast bread, butter, and heat milk, put asparagus on toast, pour tffe milk over, add pepper and salt to taste.

Apple Sauce.

Roast goose, duck or pork should have apple sauce. First pare, core and quarter a pound of apples. Boil them till soft in a saucepan, with half a cupful of water. Add an ounce of sugar and half an ounce of butter and beat them up.

Light and Fluffy Potatoes.

After the potatoes have Seen mashed and the milk added, add a pinch of baking powder and bqat it with an egg-beater. You will find that this will make them light and fluffy.

To keep Brooms.

Soaking a broom in hot water before using for the first time will make the bristles stronger and add many months to their life.

RHUBARB SEASON IS HERE

Two Excellent Methods of Preparing This Most Healthful of All th* Summer Vegetables. If rhubarb is rightly cooked it is as clean and bright and purifying as spring sunshine. And since it is about 95 per cent water, the cooking Is hardly more than the -heating of water — yet how poor, and unpalatable it sometimes is as some people cook iL If we want our rhubarb shredded to the last thread we have but to wash, peel and cut it into small bits and add to it about half a cupful of boiling water to two cupfuls. In five minutes, over just enough Are to boil it, or a few minutes more, it is completely dissolved into shreds. If we want it to have undiluted virtue we may steam it in a double boiler for half an hour or until its great amount of water is heated out'. If we want it sirupy we can cook it for five minutes or until tender in a sirup. Stewed Rhubarb. —Wash, peel and cut up rhubarb and put it in an enamel ware double boiler and cook until tender. Put in sugar to taste, and let it melt down through it before removing from fire. Every piece will retain its shape if the whole is not stirred, but if it is to be eaten as a hot soup at luncheon, without crackers or bread, to be followed by an egg dish, whisk or beat it into shreds with a silver fork. It is a good tonic, all nature distilled and flavored water, uncontaminated except by the sugar. Rhubarb in Sirup.—-Add one cupful of cold water to one cupful of sugar and stir over fire until sugar dissolves. Let cook five minutes. Add four cupfuls rhubarb and simmer. Each piece will retain shape, but will lose color. For a change, flavor with a teaspoonful of vanilla if you like it that way. Serve at end of meal “en compote,” without cake-or bread.

PRACTICAL IDEAS IN HOUSE

Useless Articles Are Largely Being Done Away With in Most Up- ' to-Date Abodes. “And I want the kitchen and the bathroom dirtproof,” added the client, “If that is possible.” “Indeed it is possible,” the architect assured her, as positively as though It were an extra closet off the hall he were promising, instead of the successful solution of the knottiest problem that ever brought gray hairs to an architect’s head. Overdone ornament and useless filigree in the home had long ceased to appeal to his client; she wanted a practical house, one devoid of the sham and imitation of modern decoration, and when at last she heard of an architect so practical that even the word “artistic” was taboo In his presence, she decided that her plans would he safe In his hands. Now, In the finished house, William Morris’ principle: “To be beautiful a thing must be useful,” Is logically followed from the lowering of the floor levels to the application of the waterproofing. There is no preconceived “atmosphere” or style to be catered to or overcome in any of the rooms; each one fornis the most sympathetic background for the expression of a pleasing personality.—Persia Bingham in the Countryside Magazine.

Helps In Making Bread.

To produce a tender crust, rub the warm loaf with a little butter. To produce a crisp crust, beat up a little eggwhite and brush over the loaf when almost done. To produce a very soft cruSt make a paste of a teaspoonful of cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water and cooked in a half cupful of boiling water for a few minutes. Apply this with a pastry brush a few minutes before the bread is done. If the bread is to be sprinkled with sugar, or sugar, nuts and cinnamon, dredge .these over the pa3te before returning it to the oven so that they will literally cook on. When bread is done, it should never be turned onto a cloth and covered while cooling, as this affects the flavor and makes the loaf soggy. A wire cake rack which allows a free circulation of ari should be used instead. —Good-Housekeeping.

Little Pigs In Blankets.

Season the quantity of oysters required with salt and pepper. Cut slices of breakfast bacon very thin, wrap each oyster in a slice of bacon and fasten with a toothpick. Have a pan heated and put the little pigs in, put Mnto a hot oven and bake about two minutes. Have ready slices of bread toasted and cut in fourths; place an oyster on each piece of toast. Serve immediately with potato chips or French fried potatoes. Be sure and have pan hot when the little pigs are put in. -

Pastel Colors for Blouses.

One of the attractive features of the newest washable blouses is that they are in dainty, almost pastel, colors. Of lawn, batiste or handkerchief linen, they have frills, “collets,” sailor or high collars, outlined with narrow Valenciennes/or filet lace. The sleeves are set in and a slight bishop puff at the lower part is gathered into a cuff.

Brush to Butter Pans.

A small paint brush (thoroughly Bcalded before using) will be found very handy In buttering cake or pie tins, as it will easily reach the corners. The brush may be kept In the shortening or lard pail and thus be always ready for use.

Making Chocolate.

Some claim that a pinch of salt tdded to cocoa or chocolate lends • fiquancy to the flavor.

First Locomotive Made in America

This funny looking wagon with an engine on it is the first “Made in America - Don't look mud. like the way we make ’em nowadayßpedter’cioper'made It about eight-live year, ago (or the Baltimore & Ohio railroad It was small, but could pull 40 people 18 miles an hour. However, the real beginning of the manufacture of locomotives was in 1832 when Mathias Baldwin of Philadelphia built the Ironsides and the huamea. w“ch he began has grown until It 1. the largest in the world. The Th n e g ‘rs«Tes h m:dr. W elghed (rom (our ,0 slk tons while no. many weigh 100 tons and can pull a load of 5,000 tons at a good rate of speed.Kansas City Post.

BRIDGE SALT LAKE

engineers accomplish remarkable FEAT IN WEST. Build Trestle 23 Miles Long, Large Part of Which Has Been Filled In and Made Solid Highway Across the Waters. In the sixties the Union Pacific railroad was built west from Omaha and the Central Pacific (now part of the Southern Pacific) was built, each from San Francisco. When the builders came to the Great Salt Lake basin at Ogden they veered the road to the north and went around the lake to Luclen, a distance of 147 miles. In a third of a century engines grew five times as powerful. Freight trains would carry five times as much weight. Where once one train a day ran each way a dozen now puff around ihe lake, pulled by powerful engines over the mountains 4,900 feet high, down into the valley and up the mountains again and into Luclen, Utah. From Ogden to Luclen, as the crow or, perhaps, the aeroplane flies, the distance was about 103 miles, 30 miles of which was covered by the waters of Great Salt Lake from 1 to 30 feet deep. Weighed against the water was a level roadway 103 miles long, with no mountains to climb. But there washed the salt waters of the great lakes. In 1902 engineers decided on a trestle bridge 23 miles long. Of the 20 miles of trestle 11 in the end were to be filled with earth. So of the miles through wpter nearly 16 miles were to be a solid ridge of earth 16 feet wide at the top and 17 feet above the water. The engineers decided to build a mile and a quarter of trestle a week, over 1,000 feet for each work day.

In June, 1902, trainloads of steel rails reached the lake. In July came the first piles. Many of them were so long that three cars had to be ÜBed to carry them. Three thousand men went to work. At night men worked in the gravel pits by electric light. In the cold of winter and the heat of summer there was no stopping. Sixteen hundred and eighty tons of fresh water were used each day, all of it brought by train —some 80 miles, some 130 miles. Over 38,000 trees were cut down to make piles. On November 13, 1903; the track from the east and the track from the west were joined. The great bridge across the lake is now a solid path, except for 12 miles, which is a trestle. Every 15 feet 5 piles are driven in a row crosswise to the track. They are fastened together on their sides with heavy timbers, four inches and eight inches thick. Across their tofts and joining them together Is a heavy beam 18 feet long and a foot square. Connecting this beam with the next set of piles 15 feet away are 11 heavy timbers laid lengthwise with the track. Above these stringers is a plank floor three inches thick. Above that is a coat of asphalt, then a foot or more of rock ballast on which the track and rails are laid. The floor of the trestle is 16 feet wide. The cut-off from Lucien to Ogden is almost as level as a table. For 36 miles there is no grade. For 30 miles more the grade is so slight that an,average person would need to travel a half mile to rise his own height. Nowhere is the- grade over five inches to the hundred feet. The track is above the water 19 feet. The solid way has cut off one north arm of the lake into which the Bear river flows. This has made that part of the lake so fresh that it has frozen over in winter, though the more salty water on the other side of the track never freezes. Four and a half million dollars has been spent to make this highway.—lndianapolis News.'

"Great Throng” of Poets.

Poets recently assembled in New York for symposium purposes are described by the local press as forming “a great throng!" Just think of it, a great throng of poets! And they used to be so rare. r tjhat. to find them even ip a group was an unusual thing. It will be strange, after this remarkable New York announcement, if some clever political person does not organize the poets and attempt to swing an election with their votes.—Christian Science Monitor.

CENTENARY OF LOCOMOTIVE

Progress Made In 100 Years Shown by Comparison of the Billy No. 1 and the Matt H. Bhay. In connection with the completion of the Matt E. Shay, the, largest locomotive ever put into service, the Erie railroad has issued a pamphlet describing the development of the locomotive since the Billy No. 1, the first locomotive with direct transmission of power' to the wheels, was put into service in 1815. Something of the change made in locomotive construe; tion during the last 100 years may be realized by a comparison of the Billy No. 1 and the Matt H. Shay. The Billy No. 1 was nine feet long, weighed 8,000 pounds and had a hauling capacity of 8,000 pounds, distributed on ten wagons. It had four driving wheels- two feet in diameter. The Matt H. Shay has a length of 105 feet, a weight of 410 tons, and Its hauling capacity is 640 gondola cars with a total weight of 90,000,000 pounds. It has 24 driving wheels of 63-inch diameter. If the Shay were placed at the head of a train of its maximum hauling capacity of 640 cars, the length of engina .and train would be four and three-quarters miles. In actual service it Das pulled a train two miles long, weighing 36,284,000 pounds, at a speed of 15 miles an hour. Other large locomotives are in service In this country. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe uses one with 1® driving wheels. Its weight is 616,000 pounds, and It can draw a train weighing 60,000,000 pounds. The Missouri Pacific owns a mountain type locomotive weighing 296,000 pounds which, can take a train of 1,640,000 pounds up a grade of more than 100 feet to the mile. The Chemin de Fer du Nord, a French railroad, operates a locomotive which weighs 225,000 pounds. These engines make a long step from the primitive Billy No. 1, but the principle of direct drive Is embodied in both the old and the new. There were locomotives before the Billy No. 1, but It was this engine upon which, in 1815, the British government issued the basic direct drive patents. The Billy No. 1 was the invention of the Stephensons, George and Robert, who in 1829 won the prize offered by the Liverpool & Manchester railroad fqi- a thoroughly practical machine capable of carrying passengers.

SHORT CUT IS OFTEN FATAL

From 5,000 to 7,000 Trespassers on tho Railroad Tracks Are Killed Each Year. Taking-a short cut through the railroad yards to get home, John Jones was struck by a switch engine and killed. —News Item. John Jones was a free American citizen and counted walking on the railroad tracks as among his rights under the Constitution. It was his custom when he got home at night by cutting through the yards to take up his newspaper, settle himself deeply into his chair, and read until, speaking for the third time, and sharply, his wife called him to his meat and potatoes. Once in a while Jones would come upon accounts of railroad wrecks. They always aroused the deepest indignation in him. “’Tis nothing but criminal, negligence causes ’em,” he’d say. It is' a way with us Americans to see things criminal in our neighbors, none of them in ourselves. Take John Jones. He thought of railway wrecks as forms of depravity. But there was nothing wrong in cutting through the railway yards and running tjie risk of making his wife a widow, his children orphans. If you told him that about 80 or 90 people were killed in train accidents last year, he’d suggest hanging a few railroad presidents. But If you said that the number of trespassers killed varied from five thousand to seven thousand persons a year, he had no comment to make.' The subject didn’t interest him much. Well, John Jones is gone now. Hie wife is in black. His children have been taken from school to earn for the cottage. Jones’ neighbors still use the trackß as their highway. Corporations have been taught a good deal of recent years as to their responsibilities. Wouldn’t it he a good idea to take up the case of John JoneA now T—Toledo Blade.