Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1917 — Page 2

Camp Libraries to Supply Soldiers With Best Reading Matter

Nothing is being left undone for the comfort and mental recreation of the men who are preparing to serve their country In the various training camps and cantonments throughout the country. The Y. M. C. A. was early In the field and besides Its many activities, providing for the moral and spiritual welfare of the men, it did all it could to provide proper reading matter for them. But the need of libraries furnished in a more adequate and scientific way was so largely felt that the United States government requested the American Library association to undertake the work. At once, it was decided to raise a mllllon-dollar war fund; not so much for the purchase of books as for the erection of suitable library buildings at every cantonment; for the transportation of books and for the purpose of securing the service of skilled librarians. The first step in the formation of the organization in charge of the mil-llon-dollar war fund was the appointment by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker of ten nationally known men and women to constitute a library war council. „ United, and co-operating with the war service committee are most of the prominent authors of the United States; practically all of the publishers, who have proved willing volunteers ; and practically all of the leading members of the library profession. All these are working in conjunction with the library war -council, the commission on training camp activities and the war department Itself. One of the heaviest items of expense at the beginning of x the work is the erection of 82 camp-library buildings at the various cantonments throughout the country. Each building will be 40 by 120 feet in size, one-story high, and will have accommodations for 8,000 or 10,000 books, newspapers and magazines, and living quarters for the staff. It is hoped and expected that each of these libraries will be in charge of a trained librarian. In each camp It Is planned to have a library headquarters with books and periodicals for read-ing-room use, together with a system of distributing agencies; affording to —the soldiers a kind of first-class city public library service. A careful survey of the entire field determined that $1 is thja amount necessary for the purchase, maintenance

Woman Who Gives New Life To Old Clothes Is Aiding In Conservation Movement.

In these times when there is a shortage not only of food materials, but also of textile stuffs, the woman who can clothe herself and her family at a minimum expense is “doing her bit” just as much as the woman whose garbage can fills slowly or the man who makes two potatoes grow where none grew before, declares Beryl Dixon, of the Colorado State Agricultural college. Many articles of clothing that in ordinary times would be discarded without a second thought may, with a little care, be freshened up and made to serve another period of usefulness. Woolen goods may be satisfactorily cleansed by washing in warm water with soap solution or soap bark. Soap bark is prepared for use by letting five cents’ worth stand in two quarts of water for an hour and then straining it into lukewarm water in which the material is to be washed. Water of the same temperature should be used for both washing and rinsing. Press woolens when almost dry, on the wrong side, with a warm iron. Most grease spots may be removed with naphtha soap and warm water. Chemical or dry cleaning will remove grease spots by dissolving the fat. The cleaning liquid may be ether, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, gasoline, naphtha or benzine. The last three should be used in the open air if possible. They must be used away from S fira <ir_a flame of any kind. On silks or satins, rub the grease spot with a thin paste made of benzine and carbonate of magnesia. The benzine evaporates and the magnesia will absorb l the grease and can be brushed off. Very bften dry French chalk or powdered magnesia atone will absorb the grease, several applications sometimes being necessary. A warm iron and blotting paper will remove some grease spots.

Every Bird and Beast Makes A Noise That’s All Its Own.

If a complete list could be made of the distinctive names by which the noises produced by birds and beasts are called, it would be founfljhat there are few duplicates. We may judge this even by the most common, says an exchange. The horse neighs, the sheep bleats, the cow lows, the pig grunts and squeals, the turkey gobbles, the hen cackles, the cock crows, the goose hisses, the duck quacks, the cat mews, •the dog barks, the wolf howls, the lion roars, the bull bellows, the sparrow chirps, the pigeon coos, the frog croaks, the rook caws, the< monkey chatters, the elephant trumpets, the camel grunts, the stag calls, the rabbit ■creams—only when wounded, the donkey brays, the bee hums, the fly buzzes, the grasshopper chirrups, the swallow twitters, the chick peeps, the hound bays and the owl hoots.- ® Perhaps the best word for the sound a cricket makes is used by Tennyson.

and circulation of one book. One dollar, It has been figured, will furnish a book, keep it in circulation until It Is worn put, replace It when it is retired for physical disability, and all the time pay a share of the expense of properly housing and caring for these libraries in the various camps. It Is not to be imagined that the stupendous task of furnishing the soldiers with books; equipping, establishing and maintaining libraries, both stationary ~and traveling, is undertaken with, primarily, an educational idea. The books are needed not only to provide recreation for the soldiers when they are off duty, but to help counteract evil influences in the vicinities of the camps and cantonments. Books to read will help to make the camps so wholesome and attractive that the forces that tend to take men away from their duty will lose, at least part, of their charm. There Is no desire on the part of the American Library association nor the library war council to thrust educational books at the heads of men already tired from training and from fighting and who would desire recreation rather than the acquisition of knowledge. The aim has been and will be to provide in abundance volumes of short stories and novels of the more popular sort; and these when they are purchased, from the present fund, will be selected with all the acumen that comes to men whose lives have been spent In library service. A tentative list has already been prepared, and that it is tremendously democratic may be gleaned from the fact that it starts out with W. J. Abbot’s “Battlefields and Camp Fires” and includes novels by George Ade, Balzac, John Kendrick Bangs, James M. Barrie, Rex Beach, Hilaire Belloc, William Black, Booth Tarkington, Meredith Nicholson, Robert W. Chambers, Hall Caine, Winston Churchijl, G. K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Irvin Cobb, Marlon Crawford, Richard Harding Davis, Charles Dickens, W. M. Thackeray, Conan Doyle, Lord Dunsany, Jeffrey Farnol, Edna I'erber, Montague Glass and—but one could go on and make a list of practically all the popular Americanand foreign authors and that list would probably prove a pretty accurate catalogue of the books that are to be furnished the American soldier, wherever he may be, by the library war council.

“Not a cricket chirr’d,” he writes in “In Memoriam,” although the word would fit the grasshopper better perhaps. Tennyson prided himself on his exact word for the noises made by bird and beast. Thus he speaks of the “moan of doves,” the robin’s “pipe,” the woodpecker’s “laugh,” the curlew’s “whistle,” the jay’s “scritch,” the parrot’s “scream,” the peacock’s “squall,” the ocean-fowl’s “shriek,” and the eagle’s “yelp.”

Some Observations.

1 Experience never makes fools i of wise men. | Faultfinding is unlike charity, • yet it usually begins at home. ] Vanity makes a lot of re- j muneratlve work for the beauty i doctors. . You never really know your » friends until they become your [ enemies. . ► It is awfully hard to get rich ; according to the methods pre- J scribed in books. » Some men don’t mind getting J it in the neck if their neighbors » get it just as hard. ■ Good sense is better than > good looks, but so few people [ are afflicted with either! ’ You may have noticed that J one girl no sooner breaks a j man’s heart than another comes > along and bandages it up.

One Might While Away Idle Hours Reading One of These.

Which is the longest poem in the world? One generally regards “Paradise Lost” as pretty lengthy, and Thomson’s “Seasons” and Cowper’s ‘‘Task.” But these are short compared with Spenser’s “Faerie Queene,”'which •’is easily the longest poem in existence, even as it stands, and had he attained his object and reached the twentyfourth book, no other poem would have been “in It.” It Is only a quarter of the original plan, yet It is as long as the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid put together, twice as long as Dante’s “Dlvina Commedia,” and three times as long as “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained” in one. The longest novel in the world belongs to Japan. Its author is Klong Te Bakin. It was commenced in 1852, and published volume by volume as it came out over a period of fifty years. There are 106 volumes, 106,000 pages, 3,180,000 lines, and about 38,000,000 wordsu. ’•.A complete copy weighs 130 pounds.

Chinese Docile Starvers.

No other race is as docile as the Chinese in times of famine, according to the National Geographic Magazine. Their resignation in the face of calamity is amazing. Fof instance, in the food shortage of HJCv-7 a starving army of 300,000 peasants camped beneath the

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER. IND.

SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE

Mrs. Thomas Watt Gregory, wife of the attorney general of the United States, in the uniform of the food administration. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, Mrs. Gregory and other wives of cabinet members and high government officials, having signed the pledge card, are entitled to wear this uniform and hang the official food card in the window of their homes. 4 - ■ . .... :

walls of the city of Tsinkiangpu. The grain warehouses of the towm, a place of 200,000 inhabitants, were overflowing with wheat, maize and rice, and supplies were constantly on display; yet there were no riots. The thousands outside the walls sat themselves down to die, while those within continued to transact the ordinary affairs of everyday life. During this famine parents found it necessary to sell their daughters to wealthy families in which they became slave girls. Early in the period of distress girls of ten to fifteen years of age brought as much as S2O each, but when the suffering was most severe the customary quotation in the slave market was 60 cents each, while In one instance a father Is known to have accepted 14 cents and two bowls of rice in exchange for his child.

Something New.

Peru was the first country to add instruction in aviation to its public school curriculum. A new electric fan can be used on a desk or attached to a wall without changing any of its parts. Concrete floors can be made almost noiseless by covering them with heavy tar paper, attached by cement. European factories each week make about 16,000,000 pounds of artificial butter with coconut oil as a base. Separate wind shields for each of the two seats it contains features o new English motorcycle side car. A French scientist is trying to pre< vent fogs by floating small quantities of oil on rivers to check evaporation. Spring buffers hold new shade rollers in position in a window without the use of tools or marring, the wood< work. , Platinum deposits recently discovered in Spain are believed to be greater and richer than those of the Ural mountains, w’hich furnish the greater part of the world’s supply.

~~ And this is the truth a* I see it; Whoever cries out for peace, Must think it and live, it, and hg. it And the wars of the world will cease, * —Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

The New Order.

She (belligerently)—Why weren’t you at the station with the car to meet me as usual? He (meekly)—My dear, you ought to get into this habit of some meetlesa dava

To the Boys Who Were Drafted

The writer of this little message to you. boys, has himself been an _ American soldier, and he is very proud of that fact. He knows army life, and he has seen red-hot lighting, and he knows the ways of officers. I will put it like this: I will simply tell you what I would do if I were going Into the army again. First, I would go into it with the rock-firm intention of whipping Germany. I would look at the matter just like that. Save that I would certainly not discount the importance of anybody else, I would believe, so far as it were possible, that it was up to me—to me, give Germany, the earth’s parish nation, the licking that is going to make all nations safe in a world democracy. And the moment I was sworn into the service, I would resolve that, no matter whether it suited me or not, I would obey orders very strictly and to the letter. That is the magic phrase—it is the religion of the army: obey orders. During my time in the army, no man who lived up to that as his motto could go through with a term of enlistment without having a chance of being made a corporal, or a sergeant, or even a sergeant major. There are few commissioned officers who will overlook the enlisted man who never disobeys an order, when promotion becomes necessary. And in this war, men from the ranks are going to win commissions, boys; remember that! But every man of the company, or the troop, or the battery, or whatever it happens to be, cannot be advanced, you say; and you are right. But every man can be a soldier. How much there is bound up in those three little words I You’ll know yourself, after awhile. A real, dyed-in-the-wool American soldier, of course, is a gentleman, too. . . . However, there is bound to be a chance to win your chevrons. I’ve never vet seen the man who tried hard for promotion, if he tried honorably, who came out of it a private. In spite of their bluff military manners, officers are just like you under the skin; they are quick to recognize, and they are most heartily glad to recognize, golden qualities of a soldier and a gentleman in an enlisted man. Remember U Also, remember this: You are in the service to fight for your country and not to make soldiering a trade; you are going across the Atlantic for the purpose of whipping Germany, and for no other reason. So long, boys, and good luck to you; and may the good God of our fathers bring you back to us!

Mother’s Cook Book.

a gay old world If you’re great. And a mean old world if you’re small; It’s a world full of hate For the foolish who prate Of the uselessness of it all. Beet Relish. Take a quart of chopped, cooked beets, two cupfuls of sugar, a quart of chopped cabbage, a cupful of horseradish and a cupful of chopped celery. Cover with cold vinegar and seal. This will keep all winter and makes a very -good relish. _ Oatmeal Soup. Take three-fourths of a cupful of left-over cooked oatmeal, one fnediumsized onion, a tablespoonful of butter, a fourth of a teaspoonful of celery seed, one-half a bay leaf, two cupfuls of water or stock, two cupfuls of milk, salt and pepper to taste. Cook the onion in the butter until soft. Add the bay leaf, celery seed, oatmeal and milk and water. 801 l up and strain, season with salt and pepper and serve on hot buttered toast. Cereal Coffee. Mix together two quarts of bran, one quart of whole-ground cornmeal and one cupful of molasses until it resembles moist brown sugar. Turn the mixture into two large dripping pans and brown slowly in the oven, stirring often. When done it will be a rich sealbrown color. Store in fruit jars. Use two tablespoonfuls to a cupful and a half of water and boil 20 minutes. This is especially good for the children who think they must Indulge in coffee when the grown-ups have it. Corn Patties. Take a half-cupful of corn, three cupfuls of chopped ham, one beaten egg, and a dash of pepper. Form into cakes and fry brown on both sides. , Pecan Macaroons. Grind a cupful of pecan meats and eight soda crackers through the meat chopper, using the fine knife. Beat the Whites of two eggs, add a cupful of sugar, a tablespoonful of cocoa, a teaspoonful of vanilla, then the ground ntfts and crackers. Bake in a moderate oven 20 minutes. Coconut could be used in place of the pecans If preferred. Celery on Toast. Celery with cheese In a cream sauce served on toast makes a nutritious and appetizing dish.

Some Superstitions That Have to Do With Love and Marriage Refuse to Die.

No superstitions persist more strongly than those which concern love. Many people who in general understand the absurdity of folk signs are yet somewhat influenced by those which have to do with the affections. Here are some of the typical superstitions of love and prospective marriage. It will be observed that the great majority apply to the feminine rather than the masculine sex. If a boy pulls a hair from a girl’s head she will always love him. If a girl buries a boy’s hair and her own together under a stone he will loye her always. The wearing of a wasp’s nest in a girl’s clothes will cause her lover’s affection for her to increase. If some one takes the combings from your hair she will also take your sweetheart. Similarly, if a girl steps on your heel she is trying to supplant you in your sweetheart’s, affections. A boy should not give his sweetheart a pair of shoes, for, if he does, she will walk away from. him. If a bramble catches in your skirt a widower is hUqve with you. The sight of a blue-eyed dog is a sign that your

By HAPSBURG LIEBE

of the Vigilantes.

next lover will be white-headed. As many times as you can pop your knuckles, so many lovers have you. The finding of a one-leaf clover indicates that you are about to get a letter from your sweetheart. If you find a two-leaf clover you will receive a kiss from yotir sweetheart. If your upper lip itches you will soon be kissed by a tall man.

Great Heat Loss on Ocean Ships Is Held Unavoidable.

On all sea-going steamers the steam is condensed by sea water pumped through the surface condensers. This circulating water is then discharged overboard.77ln.the process of condensation the cooling water, taken in at temperatures varying form 32 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit, according to climatic and other conditions, is raised to temperatures varying from 80 to 120 degrees and then discharged. This great loss of heat is practically unavoidable, says the Popular, Science Monthly. Even on comparatively small steamers hundreds of tons of heated water are pumped overboard daily. . This constitutes one of the greatest heat losses in the operation of steam machinery, although sometimes a portion of the war water is used for scrubbing decks and for bath water on passenger ships.

Oldest American City.

The first permanent European settlement In the United, States was founded September 8, 1565. Menendez de Aviles had arrived on the coast of Florida on St. Augustine’s day in that year, and accordingly he gave the name of that saint to the city he founded. The founding was accompanied by much pomp and display. Accompanied by his chaplain, arrayed in rich sacerdotal robes, Menendez went ashore, followed by numerous ecclesiastics and “gentlemen,” while flags waved, cannons roared, drums beat and trumpets sounded. Menendez planted the royal standard in the sands, beside which the chaplain placed the large cross he had carried. With such consecration Menendez laid the foundation of the -city of St. Augustine. Only a human sacrifice was needed to give the city a

JUST FOR FUN.

Joke an the Lions. “What’s the trouble here?” “One of life’s grim Ironies.” “Yes?” “A Hon tamer was assaulted by his ninety-pound wife and a patrol wagon full of police was rushed to the spot to give him protection.” Strong. “Ever try any of this Gibraltar ciiecsc?” “No. Why do you call it Gibraltar cheese?" ' > “That’s easily Take a sniff.” Xi, - j The Way of It. “Mercy, dearie, what a pretty new sweater you have on. It seems to be made of some highly colored yarn.” “Yep—and you ought to have heard the highly colored yam I had to tell my husband to get it.” The Part Fitted. “What was the most realistic acting you ever saw in - the movies?” “A beautffuljstar had to play the part of a girl who Couldn’t cook. And she played it to perfection, I must say.” Scum Milk. Little Raymonfl; brought up in a city, had never seeunreal milk till he moved to a country town. He did not know that “it creams and mantles like a standing pool.” He brought in the milk bottle from

proper start, so the Spaniards sallied forth and stew Jean Hi haul t and his company of French Huguenots. St. Ailgustine now has a population of about 6,000 and Is known chiefly as a winter resort. t s

POULTRY POINTERS

Two weeks is long enough to fatten a fowl if highly fed. Late hatched chicks should be fed by themselves, not with a larger stock.' No man can raise poultry and produce eggs at so low a cost as the farmer. _ Store away some oata, wheat or rye in the sheaves for the use of the hens in the winter. Both hens and pullets need to be well cared for during the fall months if winter eggs are wanted. Fowls should never be kept in such quarters that they cannot take sufficient exercise to promote digestion. Repair the poultry house if eggs are desired in winter. The first cold weather should find all in good condition. It does not pay to kill and sell young turkeys until they are well developed. _ ——- Young ducks that are to be kept for sale as breeders should have plenty of range and two fair feeds each day. Do not feed small chicks with big ones, or the latter will get most of the feed and the smaller ones most of hungry.

Japanese Eat Ice.

The Japanese are probably the only civilized people in the world who eat ice in the way they do. Blocks of small cakes of ice smashed into tiny pebbly pieces are eaten with sugar and lemon or any other mixture one may fancy. But by far the commonest way of eating ice is to shave into snowy flakes by means of a plane and swallow it with sweetened water into which various appetizers may be thrown, such as fruit juice or sweetmeats, says the Japanese Advertiser. Ice cream, milk and eggs shaken with ice, and other kinds of cooling beverages are sold in an ever-increasing quantity, but the old style of eating ice—that Is, in the above described “korimidzu” fashion — is still in the greatest vogue. Every summer finds the number of kori shops swelling at an enormous ratio.

Havana’s Orphans.

A whole series of romances could be written round the strange little opening In the wall below the ironbarred window through which infants enter Havana’s great orphan asylum at La Beneficencia, says a writer in Wide World Magazine. Parents, guardians, and others desirous of getting rid of infants place them within the boxlike compartment, which is really a stile. They then give the stile a turn, which has the effect of ringing a bell in the building, announcing to the sister on duty the advent of another little foundling. The identity of the person who brings the child is never known, and every Infant deserted in this way is nourished and cared for by the kindly sisters. Some of Havana’s most prosperous citizens were brought up in this institution.

Spoiled His Alibi.

Charging her husband with abusing her, Mrs. Hairscum produced a handful of hair which she declared he pulled out of her head. “Why,” said the magistrate, examining the mass, “with the exception of a few strands of woman’s hair, this is apparently part of the prisoner’s whiskers.” “Thim’s his whiskers, sure enough, yer worship,” she replied. “I took this so that he couldn’t prove an allb —he’s such a liar he’l ewear an; thin’.”

tlie front doorstep the first morning, and said disgustedly: “Ma, that milk is no good at all—there’s scum on it!” Just Ordinary Weapons. Judge—Describe what passed between you in the quarrel with your wife. Witness —The plates and cups were regular dinner size, your honor.

She —I don’t believe I could ever learn to love you, you are so distant He —Well, I’ll come nearer if you’ll let me. No Rustlers. “Every man should have the right to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." “Some men ain’t satifled with the pursuit Of happiness," declured Uncle Pennywise. , “Huhr “They want it brung."