Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 169, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1917 — Page 3

READS TABLETS OF AGES AGO

University Professor Discovers Funds* mentals of Christian -Religion Were Evolved 2,500 B. C. Dr. Stephen Langdon has just deciphered tablets in the University of Pennsylvania museum which are thousands of years old. The doctrine of a Messianic hope, of the expectation of deliverance from sin and suffering by a God-man in the shape of a king, goes back to at least 2,500 B. C., when the Sumerian theologians evolved a theory which has been the basis of Jewish and Christian religion ever since, accord* Ing to his discoveries. The new tablets are of Interest because they show that the Sumerians never lost hope that the restoration to a state of sinlessness and happiness through the agency of the gods would come and their faith was pinned on earthly kings who Were deified and worshipped in the hope that one would be a deliverer. Elaborate rituals were made for all of them, but each failed. Then came the Semite conquest of Sumer and the era of pessimism set in, as shown jby the famous epic of Gilgamish, one missing book of which has just been found in the Nippur collection of the University museum. The Semites had no such Messianic hope, since the story of Gilgamish, hero of the epic of Gilgamish, is the antithesis of the restoration of Paradise, and this is the more important because Gilgamish himself was halfgod. It is presumed that the Jews got their idea of a Messiah from the Sumerian epics rather than from their own congeners in Babylonia. The discovery is considered important because Lt shows that the Sumerians who first gave an account of the creation, flood and fall of man, ' which were adopted by the Jews, also provided the first theme of a God- 1 man who should suffer death and re- j deem the people from the loss of i paradise. All of these documents date I from before the time of Abraham and apparently are copies of those much I older. The fundamentals of Jewish ' and Christian religion are shown in tablets at least 4,500 years old.

Doing Things Wrong.

In bachelor days Mark Twain had heartily expressed the antipathy of bachelordom for all chambermaids because of their hostile ideas of tidiness. “They always put the pillow on the opposite end of the bed from the gasburner,” he wrote, “so that white you read and smoke before sleeping, as is the ancient and honorable custom of bachelors, you have to hold your book aloft, in an uncomfortable position, to keep the light from dazzling your eyes. If they cannot get the light in an inconvenient position any other way, they move the bed. They always put your books into inaccessible places. They always put the matchbox in some other spot. They hunt up a new place for it every day and put up a bottle or other perishable glass thing where the box stood before. This is to cause you to break that glass thing. They always save up all the old scraps of printed rubbish you have thrown on the floor and stand them carefully on the table and start the fire with your valuable MSS.”

Pianos and Climate.

Because the piano Is constructed ol materials that are affected by varying temperatures, care should be taken to protect it as much as possible. Moisture Is one of the most frequent causes of deterlorlatlon in a piano, and this Is not to be wondered at when we consider that the instrument Is chiefly constructed of wood, cloth, skin and felt The three chief enemies of the piano are damp, the sun, and a draft. If the room Is at all damp, the tone becomes dull, the wires rust; and once rust gets a hold, the tone can never be restored. It Is possible to get the rust removed, but the tone will be thinner. 'The temperature should not be below u iso degrees, and not over 90 degrees Fahrenheit This is not always possible, but it is well to know what temperatures to avoid, so that one may keep the piano as far away from them as circumstances permit

The Burro.

The bnrro Is a small and compact horse of the mule variety. He has a high forehead and a thoughtful, reflective face, but is not as brainy as he looks. Sometimes indeed he seems as inane and stupid as a man in love with a grass widow. Most generally a burro has great, soulful eyes, but really his soul is smaller than that of a blind kitten. In a collection of souls that of the burro would seem like a mere - speck. The greatest value of the burro is for the load he carries. If a man could carry the same load and be as sure-footed about it he would be worth $20,000 a year as a wine agent. —Los Angeles Times.

Had His Turn.

Mr. Oldun—“Life is full of strange turns.” Jack Young—“l know ft. turned up at a girl’s house tonight, ■got turned down and turned out, and now I’m going home to turn In.”

"Remember, my friend, that much money does not necessarily mean great success.” "No, but Its entire absence ,18 * pretty sure sign of failure.”

Not Strange.

"Strange how Mrs. Woodby Swellman hates everybody who is in trade.* "Nothing strange about It People* don’t usually love “their creditors, you know.” ". I

Signs.

AN ARIZONA POILU

« s'.' Frenchman Makes Interesting Discovery in Redskin’s Cabin. Learns Story of How Son of Hopl Indian Squaw Crossed Great Water to Fight for His Father's People. It is in order to sell their products tg a passing public that the Hopl Indians, one of the tribes of Arizona, the most'marked for its nobleness and dignity of type, have established at the station of the Grand canyon a sort of shop, furnished within, as it Is modeled without, after the manner of their dwellings of the desert, Anatole le Braz writes in The Outlook. Cubes of rough adobe, placed side by side, or superimposed one on the other, constitute the abode, and serve as home for several families, who wait here, in the habitual attitude of taciturn and melancholy disdain, the line of white visitors. When I had penetrated into the first room, dinfly lighted by a small opening high up In the wall, it was some time before I was able to discern in the half-catacomb light the indistinct figure of a woman seated on the bare earth, before a screen of vertical threads, among which her fingers, moving in and eut, were weaving the pattern of a mysterious design. My entrance did not cause her to raise her head. But I disturbed in his musing an old bronze sachem, who indicated by a gesture a collection of objects, more or less rude, ranged on shelves the length of one of the walls or partitions, while from half open lips he muttered in English the customary salutation: “You’re welcome, sir,” which manifestly to his mind, being Interpreted, meant: • “You are not worthy, O paleface, to appreciate the work of our haritls,but because times are hard for the deposed rulers of the prairie we accord you nevertheless the privilege to buy.” Io response to his greeting I had begun to examine the display of articles, when my eye fell on a frame of colored straw in which I perceived, the photograph of a soldier. Approacldng nearer, I exclaimed, in spite of myself: “God bless me, he is French I” It was quite true. There before my eyes, in the cabin of a redskin, thousands of miles from the battlefield, where at that very moment, no doubt, lie was fighting for his country, was the picture of one of .our soldiers, in the uniform of the daring impetuous Chasseurs Alpins, or it may be of the foreign legion. To examine it better, I had taken it in my hands. “The frame alone is for sale," interposed the old Indian, abruptly. “All right,” I said, “I will take it But I should like to know how the plc- . lure found its way here.” ’ He motioned toward the woman weaving. “It is that of my daughter’s son. He has sent It to us from the other side of the world.” “He is, then, in France?” i “Yes." \ “How is that?”

\“Hls father, a good miner, was born in ’the land of the French. When he came among us he married that squaw. He died in the desert. But his spirit having spoken in the blood of his child, the boy has crossed the great water to fight the enemies oi his father’s people." I could not resist the temptation to take his hand. . • • “Bravo !’”I cried. And that he might 4>ot be astonished at this somewhtfl brusque demonstration, if one coulc suppose that an Indian wortl|y the name ever could be astonished as any’' thing, I hastened to add: “For I, too, am French.”

The Busy Birds.

Qne form of national waste w’hich is far more serious than the American people realize is a result of the deplorable neglect to conserve bird life in this heedless and ungrateful country. Ornithologists and other intelligent observers of nature who have made a study of the subject.say with the sanction of crop experts that Insects destroy one-tenth of the products of agriculture in the United States. Nearly all birds destroy insect life. The federal department of agriculture has found that among the birds which most effectively aid the farmers are phoebes, kingbirds, catbirds, swallows, brown thrushes, rosebreasted grosbeaks, house wrens, vlreos, native sparrows, cuckoos, orioles, warblers, shore larks, loggerhead'Shrikes and meadow larks. Even the crow and the crow blackbird, which have rested under suspicion so long, do more good than harm to the farmers.— Chicago News.

The People of India.

The population of Iftdla is far more diverse than is generally thought. They talk about 150 different languages, and are divided up into 43 distinct nationalities. There are 2,387 main castes, besides a large number of subcastes. There are 200,000,000 Hindus, from which Great Britain can draw fighting men; 60,000,000 Mohammedans, while among the Hindus there are 50,000,000 of degraded ■ people of no caste, whose touch, or even shadow, is supposed to cause pollution.

Thrift.

Roly—Does your wife believe. In domestic economy? Poly—Yes; she saves all the “scraps” to bo served for breakfast.

THE EV KM NO BEFVHLWAIN, BENSSELAKB. IMD.

FORESTS SURVIVE THE AGES

Flora of Australia Different From That of All Other Countrioe In the World. One readily understands why the Australian loves his trees. The groves of giant eucalyptus form pictures never forgotten, and the scent of the wattle brings a homesick feeling like the smell of sage to the Westerner. The flora is not only beautiful, it is unique and has no counterpart in other lands, observes the National Geographic Magazine. Of the 10,000 species of plants most of them are purely Australian and are unknown even in New Zealand. The general impression one gets of Australian forests is their total unlikeliness to anything seen elsewhere. The great forests of timber trees are not damp and shaded and all of one speoles, but are well lighted and filled with other forests of shorter trees; in places the woods consist of large, widely spaced trees, surrounded only by bunch grass, and even in areas where water is not to be found on the surface for hundreds of square miles true forests of low trees are present. Forms which may be recognized as tulip, lily, honeysuckle and fern take on a surprising aspect. They are not garden flowers, but trees, and the landscape of which they form a part reminds one of the hypothetical period antedating our own millions of years. The trees are indeed those of a bygone age. In America and Europe shadowy forms of fossil leaves of strange plant species are gathered from the rocks and studied with Interest; in Australia many of these ancient trees are living. The impression that one is looking at a landscape which has forever disappeared from other parts of the world is so vivid that the elms and maples and oaks In some of the city streets strike a jarring note. The transition from Jurassic to modern times Is painfully abrupt.

Hold to Your Dreams.

Isn’t It possible that the only thing which makes it possible for us to perform the dally drudgeries of life is the hope for better things which blooms in our hearts? Hope is romance? Ambition is romance! All the fine, true inspirations of life are romantic. Romance leads to achievement, unless it blossoms in the mind of a lazy, shiftless creature who is incapable of action. The man who leads a forlorn hope is romantic. The hero who gives his life fighting a dread disease to which he succumbs, but against which he has Insured hu- ’ manity, is romantic. Romance is the thing which makes it worth while for men to sacrifice material comforts and die on strange fields of honor. In a materialistic world where we have to deal with the facts of earning our livings and fighting for place and position, the thing which lifts us above blind instinct is romance. Cherish your dreams, for they give you a glimpse of beauty and make you willing to struggle over cruel mountains and harsh plains to the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end. Dreams give respite from dreary reality and urge on to all that is big and fine. — Exchange.

Courtesy In the Home.

Why should dally life together destroy the mutual consideration and courtesy a man and woman show before marriage, which they would continue as mere friends? If husband and wife, no matter how much they love each other, no matter at what close range they live, would strive to grant each other the treatment which ordinary good breeding exacts, would respect one another as individuals, not as household furniture, would foster mutual forbearance and ordinary politeness In “little things,” then the divorce courts would be cheated, children would suffer fewer violations of their inalienable rights to home and harmony and there would be less cynical complaint of “something rotten in the state of matrimony.”—Mary’ E. Walter, in the Chicago News.

Flower Language.

The earliest nations Jiad their flower language, or florigraphy, which Was intirnately connected with mythology, religion and national life. Among the most commonly known symbolic meanings attached to certain flowers are the following: Oak, patriotism; bay, poesy; myrtle, beauty; olive, peace; Ivy, revelry; rose, love; apple blossoms, preference; buttercup, riches; anemone, frailty, anticipation; dandelion, coquetry; daffodil, unrequltted love; lilac, fastidiousness; narcissus, self-love; marigold, contempt; goldenrod, encouragement; lily, majesty, purity; calls, magnificent beauty; for-get-me-not, true love; poppy, oblivion; amaranth, Immortality; gentian, virgin pride; geranium, deceit; foxglove, insincerity ; hyacinth, sorrqw; honeysuckle, fidelity; pansy, thoughts; heliotrope, devotion; sweet william, gallantry ; candytuft,' Indifference; cowslip, youthful beauty; white violet, modesty; snowdrop, friendship in need.

A Complete Job.

They were a very tired battalftn and a very Cockney battalion, and when they spoke to the members of the battalion who had met them their speech was rich with expletives. Said a sympathizer of the other battalion :■ , “You look Jolly tired, mate. ’Ave yer bln far?” The spokesman of the weary ones answered shortly and sweetly-: "Bin fer! Why, we’ve walked over nearly the ’ole o* France, and wot we ain’t walked over we’ve got in our sand-bars.’*-Tit-Bits.

FRENCH IN ALGERIA

Have More Troops in Oran Than Any Town in France. Streets Are Full of Soldiers In Picture esque Costumes, Including Arabs In Their Flowing White Garments. There■ are more French soldiers to be seen in Oran than In any town in France. Those in France are at the front or In the points of concentration near the front. They are there right enough, but one does not see them — at the front —because they are in the trenches. But in Algeria It is different. The streets are full of soldiers; so the cases, the street cars, the .stores, the docks, the public gardens. The official figures give the population of Oran at 130.000. To the casual visitor there seem to be at least half as many soldiers besides.

And thej' are all French—French or French colonial, not allied troops. Besides, the casual, familiar army types, there is every kind of exotic fighting man, including native troops from Indo-Chlna. looking more like Japanese than anything else, and uniformed as ordinary French colonials of the line. There are the zouaves, with their baggy red breeches and khaki puttees now o’ days,. Instead of the white gaiters of the old parade days before the war. Their short, black-braided jackets, sashes and blouses, however, are unchanged. There are the Chasseurs d’Afrique — the African light cavalry—with skyblue uniforms and red fezes, the most elegant of French military horsemen. More gorgeous, however, are the “tirailleurs,” the sharpshooters, equally In sky-blue uniforms, faced with yellow, and also wearers of fezes. On active service this magnificence is supplanted by khaki and khaki fezes upon which a star and crescent Indicate that the wearer is a follower of the prophet. More characteristic of the country are the “spahis"—Mohammedan troops, officered by Frenchmen. They wear flowing scarlet cloaks and the soldiers wear turbans and native costumes; the officers, unequal to coping with the turban, content themselves with fezes, but sacrifice nothing of the resplendent scarlet cloak. The most picturesque, and the most numerous, are the “goums,” the Arab cavalry regiments raised by the Arabs themselves. They wear the flowing white garments, the “bournous” of the desert. At tea time any sunny afternoon the Boulevard Seguin, the principal street of Oran, is crowded with these uniforms, and more besides. The terasse of the Case Continental hasn’t a vacant table, and the tables cover the sidewalk almost to the curb. There are no regulations about the hours at which drinks may be served in Algeria, for the war is far away and the garden of Africa Is for those who are sent to rest, to forget the war for a while, for the convalescents and for those who stop a few days or a few weeks between service in Macedonia or Egypt or wherever else the world of war may send them. There are French sailors in Oran, too, for Oran is France’s nearest naval port to the Straits of Gibraltar, and the great amphitheater" harbor so full of ships of commerce, whose enlarged wharves are piled with stacks of grain an<F acres of wine casks, is also an important naval base.

Two Billion Bricks a Year.

At the annual meeting of the American Ceramic society, J. B. Shaw of Alfred, N. ¥., told of some very successful tests he had made In making paving brick from blast furnace slag. These bricks were worth about $35 per thousand In 1915. They may be successfully made of almost any blastfurnace sj,ag at a cost of $5 to $7 per thousand. lie figures that there is at present available about 16,000,000 tons of slag annually in the United States, after leaving 2,000,000 tons for cement manufacture. This would provide 2,000,000,000 bricks for permanent good roads every year—say, for 1,000 miles annually of 50-foot road. • Time and again failure has been encountered rn the effort td make paving brick in this manner, but the problem seems to be fairly well worked out now. The slag must be treated hot as it comes from the and the brick must be heated out of contact with air or steam lest It become brittle. Ellwood Hendrick.

Signboards in Japan.

It is not known when the signboards first came into use in Japan, but presumably it was not long after the introduction of writing, though that would not be necessary among a people where pictures and designs preceded ideographs representing them. Indeed, Japanese writing, like Chinese, consists of signs rather than expressions of sound, says T. Nakayama, M. Coltgny writes in the Cincinnati Enquirer. The national ideographs are for the eye rather than the ear; to be seen rather than to be heard. There is no mention in Japanese history of the fact that in the reign of Emperor Godaigo (1319-1339) each government official set up a door plate signifying his name and occupation, which may be regarded as the first mention of signs in Japan.

The Minimum.

. Kidd—Now that your daughter has graduated from her domestic science school I presume she gives her mother a little help? Kidder—Yes, just as little as possible, _ x

GIRLS WHO FAIL AT SCHOOL

They Acquire a Sensitiveness Which Causes Great Deal of ( Unnecessary and Unsuspected Unhappiness. The suicide of a girl who failed to pass a mathematical examination at the Girl’s high school Is an extreme instance of a form of sensitiveness which is very common among school children and which causes a great deal of wholly unnecessary, and sometimes un-suspected-unhappiness, says the Brooklyn Eagle. This poor girl thought that she had disgraced her family by-her failure, an absurd notion which could only find lodgment In a mind not entirely recovered from the general unsettling of adolescence. At that age the unsettling affects both boys and giris, but the result Is more likely to be serious with girls because they take less exercise in the open air. Their nerves are less dominated by muscles tired out in healthful sport and they have more time for introspection —a process which is pretty sure to distort one’s view of his relations to his surroundings until such time as the mind has hardened and grown up and experience has taught that the world does not revolve around the success or failure of any one of us. - The prevention for this sort of unhappiness is to be found in keeping a sharp eye—on no account a sharp tongue —on children when they are beginning to study too hard, and to have some diverting relaxation at hand for them when the point is reached at which study is no longer productive. Children sometimes muddle for hours over lessons without getting any clear Idea and when all the nervous force they put into their study is wasted. Sometimes that Is because they have not learned how to think and sometimes because no one has aroused their interest in that study. They “just hate” algebra or civil government, and in that frame of mind the effort they put on It is almost sure to be wasted. The remedy in that case is not more study but either a better understanding or more play to rest tired brain and nerves. But the application of the remedy requires a very close and sympathetic understanding of the child, and parents sometimes find that harder with their children than outsiders.

Clergyman’s Sore Throat.

George Steel-Perkins communicates to the Lancet his views on the pharyngitis and laryngitis of public speakers. He states that It is now over thirty years since he first asked himself why We speak of the condition i s clergymen’s sore throat and not as lawyer’s sore throat. Why is this condition so rarely seen in lawyers who use their voices more than clergymen, and in stuffier atmospheres? On , thinking over the matt’er the only difference the writer could perceive between a clergyman’s and a lawyer’s speaking was that a clergyman spoke down to his congregation, and a lawyer spoke up to the judge, the former thus pressing on his larvnx and causing congestion, whereas the lawyer had his larynx and throat In a normal position, or rather In a hypernormal position. From that time he has always advised such patients to speak looking up to their audience and never down. He has used no local applications or treatment except to rectify a condition such as granular pharyngitis, but where necessary he has suggested a rest of voice for two or three, months. In all cases this plan has been successful.

Accusation Was False.

“When I hired you last week,” said the boss, who had summoned the new employee into the inner office, “did you tell me the whole truth about yourself?” “Why, yes. What do you mean the whole truth?” --— : - “Well, I have a letter about you. I will take your word if you tell me that It Is false. The letter Is anonymous.” “Wh —wh —what does It say about me?” “Don’t be scared. It doesn’t accuse you of any kind of crime. It merely says that you are a reformed drunkard.” “That, sir, is a malicious He, made out_ of whole cloth.”J. “That’s all I wanted to hear you say. Don’t worry about It." And as the new employee went forth In the pride of his virtue, he said to himself: “The Idea! And I never thought of reforming!”

The Dead Languages.

Greek and Latin are all right in their way, but they don’t weigh much in the way Of gaining for us the common necessities of life, such as meat and mtlk—or nuts and noodles —according tn wiffli proclivities. Modern English is what we really need and we waste our time in trying to acquire it through the Greek and Latin route. About the only thing a knowledge of Latin can do for us is to enable us to read the doctor’s prescription —and perhaps the less we know about that, the better off we’ll be. Then if we know Greek we can tell our children what kind of a cork screw the word “knock” resembles In the original—and of what value is that?—Exchange. , .■ ,

A Panacea.

Myrt—Hfive you ever found anything that will cure a severe headache? Em —Oh, yes; an eleventh hour invitation from Jack to go to the theater relieves mine instantly.

Its Compensation.

“Money is nothing but trouble.” "That may be, but it is the only kind pf trouble that is hard to borrow.”

HOLIDAY IN GREECE

Hellenes’ Food Good But Their Dancing Is Monotonous. Men, Women and Children Take Part In the. Celebration With No Trace of Joviality. It is perhaps the only advantage of being at Salonikl that you can spend two separate Christmases there. Thus It happened that, 13 days after we had eaten our own plum puddings in the mess, we rode away romantically across the mountains for a Christmas day in a Macedonian village, says a writer in the London Times. The cavalcade consisted of three Englishmen—one of them a cosmopolitan genius speaking Greek like his mother tongue—Petros, a Greek orderly and a leading citizen of our village. We sat on pack saddles not unlike armchairs, with rope stirrups. The reins are a hollow mockery, their only purpose being to affront the pony and make him sulk. Hang them carelessly on the saddle and the surefooted little beast will find his way along the most blood-curdling paths, where deep ravines full of bowlders await the smallest slip. At the end of a pass we emerged into a great plain and saw our village before us amid vineyards and fig trees. We fired a salvo of revolver shots into the air to announce our arrival and were soon shaking hands with a number of men in dark blue-Vlack braided Eton jackets and dark baggy trousers. Petros was politely determined that we were to Lunch with him and soon we were in his house reclining on lovely striped rugs of red, black and yellow and watching the sparks from a wood fire fly up a big chimney. Before lunch, however, came a ceremony which Is inevitable on entering any house. The daughter of the house brings a tray on which are small glasses of home-made brandy, an equal number of glasses of water, and a dish of sweet stuff —Turkish delight, chocolates, or in one case, unequivocally British marmalade to be eaten with a spoon. The guest stands up, takes a glass of brandy, drinks it and says “Cheer oh.” Next he takes a sip of water, and last a sweet After the cognac and the Turkish coffee came lunch. Soup of tripe, rice and vinegar, followed by a duck. The duck had rice with it and a touch of garlic. Of all ducks this was the most palpably divine ever eaten. Then followed dancing in the market place. The market place is an Irregular open space with the invariable plane tree. The spectators gather in the corners, leaving the middle clear for the dancers, .who are divided into two groups. One of these groups revolves slowly round a barrel organ decorated with artificial flowers and grinding out one never ending tune. First come half a dozen young menfr their hands on each other’s shoulders. Next, hand in hand, some twenty or more women with maroon-colored draperies round their heads, dark blue bodices and skirts, and large aprons of vivid scarlet crossed with bars of a darker red and fringed with tassels of bright color. Round their necks are strings of gold coins—dowries to be handed on from mother to daughter, big, thin Magyar coins mostly, though one woman has a brooch of three English sovereigns. Next to the women come the children, tailing away to the very tiniest little girl, each resplendent in her tiny red**apron. The leader performs a very simple step; his immediate neighbors imitate it, but further down the line the step becomes a mere shuffle, and so they go round and round forever silently and steadily, not apparently bored, but with no trace of joviality. The other group consists of older men who dance far more elaborately with turnings and twistings and duckings and snapping of fingers. Their leader is a fine, tall fellow with a fierce black mustache and a red sash. He waves a bottle in one hand, assumes poses of humorously exaggerated 'grace, and has altogether a debonair and swashbucklering jvay with him. Having been to America he proudly shouts, “Merry Christmas! Happy New Year.” ,

A Pew Complainer Answered.

Deacon Jones decided to speak his mind to ttye minister who was temporarily filling the pulpit. “I didn’t like your prayer very much this morning,” said he.-> “No?” answered the minister, “And what was the matter with it?” “Well, in the first place, it was too long; and, aside from this, it contained two or three expressions which I thought were scarcely warranted.” “’“I am sorry, deacon,” the gped man responded, “but it might be well to bear in mind that the prayer wasn’t -addressed to you.”—Liverpool Post

Keeping a Family.

The New York city bureau of pefsonal service says that the best an unskilled laborer’s family can hope to do at present is to live on $980.41 a year, as against $884.94 for the year 1918. The “family” with which the report deals consists of five members, father, mother, a girl of ten and two boys, thirteen and six years old. Food costs have increased SIOO in a year, it .is remarked. The report is to be used as a basis for salary increases for laborers in the employ of the city, and his special reference to the street-cleaning department employees. j