Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1918 — Page 3

FAMED CHATEAU DESTROYED by GERMANS

THE Castle of the Sires of Coucy razed to the ground, bombed by the fleeing enemy. This was the brief, bald communique which struck a blow to French hearts second only in force to that delivered by the shower of steel rained for two years and a half on the famous cathedral at Reims, writes Blanche McManus in the Chicago Herald. It was the spring before that summer cloudburst of war. We had opened that day for the first reading the “Ballades Francaises” of that eccentric and celebrated poet-of the “quartier” —legitimate successor of him who gave fame to the long-departed Case Procope —Paul Fort; opened it, too, at his adorable musical tribute dedicated to this same graqd old Chateau de Coucy. Built some 600 y&irs ago by a haughty seigneur by the iiame of Enguerrand, third of the line of Coucy, it was handed down for two centuries. Then a royal Louis of the reigning Orleans family, who evidently had a pretty taste in castles, having just built its splendid rival, the neighboring Chateau de Pierrefonds (also in the zone des armees but not yet liberated), bought it for 400,000 livres tournois, a unit of reckoning comparable to the franc of today.

After the usual martial vicissitudes of the times Cardinal Richelieu, in the seventeenth century, gave the fabric its first hard knock by ordering it dismantled as a fortress of the time. But its mighty walls resisted well, although the interior was gutted. Thereafter its debris served as a quarry for all the neighborhood, and It is easy to see that the solid houses of the little town huddling about the wa>ls were built chiefly of its stones. Some sixty years ago it entered into the public domain ot the French government, who commissioned the great French architect, Vio-lette-le-Duc, master of modern Gothic, to restore it to the extent of consolidating its stately shell against further disintegration; then, too, it came to be officially classed as a monument historique and remained the most splendid feudal bastile of all Europe and a joy and a marvel to the eyes of all who came within its spell. Everything Within Its Walls. So much for history. Now for its reality", at least up to a few months ago. The Chateau of Coucy is the most perfect example of the self-con-tained mode of existence on earth and should make the commuting suburbanite blush for his wandering life. Everything for the requirements of the dwellers within was held also within its mighty grip, surrounded by its four towering stories of defenses, taller in thjir ensemble than many a cathedral spire. First the encircling outer wall, behind w’hich in the old days lived the serfs in their wooden huts, but today inclosing the sleepy little village so typical of northern France. There w'as a rampart promenade, along ' which we followed, punctuated with the thirty-two tours of other days, and with but three gateways, one leading to Laon, one to SJoissons, one to Chauny,. all of them towns which are making rapid history atjhis moment. Here were gathered the .tiny shops, the markets whefe. provisions were brought from where they,were grown jn the fields below the walls. Next the second ring of walls, surrounded by a deep moat opening only at one massive gateway. We crossed its drawbridge, still hung by the rusty chains of other days. These inclosed the working parts of the chateau, an orchard and a quaint formal garden In which the family took their airings. Circled about were the stables, retainers’. quarters, guardhouses,; armory, poultry yard, dairy, the falcqqry, cel- > lars, storerooms, kitchens and all thp attendant paraphernalia necessary to the care and comfort of the thousands of henchmen that rallied about the standard of Coucy. In the center rose a chapel the original nucleus of the chateau. Foundations and a grass plot are all that remain. The fourth defense was the chateau proper, a great quadrangle as spacious as most chateaux in their ensemble. Each corner was crowned with a grea| cylindrical tower more than a hundred feet in height, their - walls nearly five yards thick. Then came the final defense, the

Ruins of the Chateau de Coucy.

great donjon tower, the kernel of the impregnable nut which has never been cracked, nearly 200 feet in height, 100 feet in diameter and at the base 30 odd feet thick, the most nearly perfect example of the medieval architecture of defense. In 1914, a month after the opening of hostilities, the gray wave of the German army of invasion • had swept over Coucy. Its great towers command the greater part of the battlefield over which writhe three armies in their, titanic struggle. For this reason the enemy placed their antiaircraft guns and searchlights on the topmost tower. When in the middle of March they finally uprooted themselves for the first time since the beginning from their trenches and began their backward goosestep out of France, it was not likely that in the holocaust of destruction which they left in their way, which included children’s toys, family photographs and the doghouse, they would forget the Chateau of Coucy. As the horizon-blue lines of the French vagues of soldiery came within sight of the huge pile of their nation’s proudest medieval monument, so long hidden from their sight, thunderous explosions rent the fair sky of springtime above Coucy, and they saw with horror its great towers totter and fallthrough the veil of smoke. With an almost human groan there came to their ears the rending crash of the enormous fissure which broke through the stern heart of the great donjon. And so at last was cracked the kernel of the nut which had remained impregnable for 600 years.

COAST LINE OF BELGIUM

Nearly All of It, in Peace Time, Given Over to Seaside and Rest Resorts. Perhaps in no othe,rwar in modern history have a few miles counted for as much in the scales of victory as in the present contest in west Flanders, says a bulletin- of the National Geographic society. The distance which separates tjje allied force.s .from full control of the coast of Belgium is only thirty miles. .Possession of these thirty miles of coast line would not' only wipe out the- German submarine bases in Belgium, but it would also give the allies a new front upon which to attack in ah effort to drive the enemy out of Belgium and northern Europe. Possession of this coast, therefore, would be a double victory to the allies, solely hampering the enemy’s submarine operations, and at the same time affording an opportunity to roll up his right flank on land. Nowhere else may be found a more striking contrast between peace and war than that afforded by the Belgian coast In 1913 and 1917. Practically the entire coast line in normal times is given up to the pleasures of the seaside cities and rest resorts. La Panne, Coxyde-Plage, Oost-Duinkerke, Nieu-port-Bains Westende, MiJdelkerke, Le Coq-sur-Mer, Wenduyne-sur-Mer, Blankenberghe, Heyst-sur-Mer and Knocke-sur-Mer are all places which remind ond of the seaside cities of New Jersey. Of these, Ostend, Nleuport-Bain and Blankenberghe are the most pretentious. In these Atlantic cities, Cape Mays and Asbury Parks of Belgium laughter and happiness reigned with a care-free abandon thjt only European resorts could know, while today war on land, undm* sea and in the air harries the souls of the few'brave people who still remain there.

Between La Panne! and Oost-Duin-berke is the Hooge-Blikker, 105 feet high, the highest point of the Belgian dunes, and also the widest point. Just outside of Nieuport-Bains, in Jhe village of Lombartzyde, there is a celebrated figure of the Madonna, held in high veneration by Flemish fisherman from time Immemorial and to which the Flemings are today addressing their appeal that their land shall be liberated from the invader. Ostend is famous not only as a seaside resort but for its great fishing trade in normal times and for Its oyster parks. Oysters in large v numbers ar,e brought here and kept in clarified sea water. The visitor may order his plate of shellfish right out of the water.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER. INP.

Life in Year “Umpty-Um” B.C.

How Too Com Roll Cratnrie* Back and Sojourn Temporarily la Ancient Timeaj Money Invented Before Alphabet'

By S. W. STRAUS

(PmlMot New Yok tad CUcaf* Bamker)

(Copyright, 1917, Weetern Newspaper Union.)

Haven’t you often wished that you could have lived for a short while in some ancient period of history, observing personally the customs of the people and the state of civilization existing, and the numerous other interesting phases of contemporary life? And didn’t you dismiss the thought as fantastic, reconciling yourself to the fact that your knowledge of ancient people would have to be gained solely from books ? If that was the conclusion reached you really deprived yourself of some interesting experiences. Although it must sound like a fairy tale to contemplate rolling the centuries back and sojourning for a time in the year “umptyum” B. C. such is nevertheless quite possible. It is an interesting fact that many periods of history can be found reproduced in some 1 part of the world today. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book, “The Lost World,” describing the adventures of a party of scientists who discovered a section of South America so isolated from the rest of the world that It never progressed beyond the caveman stage, contains not a little truth. There are hundreds of localities scattered about in the far corners of the .globe today that correspond to the most remote period of history. And these anachronisms, which might be termed laggard pupils In the class of civilization, are every bit as interesting as what we can only read about. A singer from the Theatre Lyrique once gave a concert in the Society Islands. At the conclusion of the entertainment she was presented as her share of the receipts.with three pigs, twenty-three turkeys, forty-four chickens, five hundred coconuts and considerable other fruit. I-wonder whether she realized she lived fdr a time in a locality that was, as far as the life and progress of its people are concerned, so primitive that similar periods in the history of the world in general are unrecorded ? For, the presentation to her of a fair-sized barnyard proves the Society Islands still carried on their

WHY PRICES ARE HIGH

Gold Uaed In Abraham’s Time Still Utilised Today} Accumulating; So Fast It Is Becoming Cheap

By S. W. STRAUS

(Prominent New York and Chicago Banks)

(Copyright, 1917, Western Newspaper Union.) In these days of high prices we hear much about the lowered purchasing power of gold. It is asserted our supply of the precious metal is constantly growing larger, due to the accumulations of centuries, with the result that gold is becoming cheaper. Consequently, more money is required to buy a suit of clothes today than twenty years ago, because the standard of monetary value is reduced. We pay more, but have more; so things are evened up. Most of us do not realize fie extent to which gold is conserved and used over and over again. An authority on money once said that in all probability the gold set-ving during the time of Abraham, the Israelites and Solomon Is still utilized today. Perhaps the gold contained in the ring on your finger once graced the hand of Cleopatra I After a moment’s reflection his statement seems quite reasonable. Gold has always been considered extremely precious. Jewelry and other articles made from It have been cherished and passed on from generation to generation. Of course, some escaped when articles of gold were placed in tombs with the dead. But the world is really deprived of It only temporarily, for these same burial places are being opened now and the contents removed. And recently a movement started to prevent gold composing dental fillrings in dead people from being buried!

The ‘‘lure of gold’’ offers man an interesting chapter in the world’s books of romance. Continents have been discovered and explored, empires have been extended, wars have been provoked —all in the eternal search of gold. Some, a very few, have been rewarded in their search and lived comfortably ever after. . But many have found that gold is a mirage, ever slipping from their grasp and bringing hitter disillusionment with each disappointment. The famous Comstock mines of Nevada yielded 350 millions In gold and silver, but brought to its discoverer and developers a string of misfortunes perhaps •without a parallel. By a trick, three men obtained possession of the holdings from the discoverer, H. P. T. Comstock, and each cleaned up a fortune. But the sudden acquisition of wealth led to excesses. One died in a lunatic asylum In poverty, another became a cook in a cheap restaurant and died a beggar, and the third was killed In an accident, leaving $3,000. Cornstock committed suicide. A .Frenchman Who later worked the mine went mad. Another man obtained a

transactions by the method known as barter. And bartef existed before man began to write! Let us imagine for the moment we “are in a community that exchanges products by the barter system. If jk>u are a farmer and want a horse to pull your plow, you will go from neighbor to neighbor endeavoring to make an exchange. Perhaps you own several extra cows. You, will endeavor to find someone who needs two cows and who wishes to dispose of a horse. Of course, you will not expect to find such a person immediately and a gfeat deal of time will probably be consumed in locating him. Then when the point of negotiations is reached you will experience difficulty in coming to an agreement with your neighbor as to whether the two cows are eqyal in value to tl\e horse. Perhaps It will be necessary for one of you to throw In, to balance the scales, a bushel of o&ts and a pig. After much wrangling the transaction will be completed and you can ride the horse home. After you have bartered several times you will probably begin te think it Is rather a clumsy method. You will wonder vaguely whether there isn’t something that could be established as a unit of value —something that can be recognized by all as standard and used in transferring property from one to another. In view of your previous life in modern times you will no doubt take gold or silver as something universally considered as precious and standard, and make it a unit of value. At first you will probably value the metal purely by its weight and use it in some such form as bars. Perhaps for two bars a man will be able to buy a farm. Now, of course, all of this would be before the people in the community in which you live, learned the art of writing. It is a historical fact that the coin, a step beyond the gold and silver bar, was Invented before the alphabet. In the e/irliest records we are always finding allusions to money, but the earliest moneys discovered are invariably destitute of letters. So you can see how far back you would go in your temporary sojourn in ancient times and you would come back to the modern world with the desire to learn more regarding the money and banking system as- it has developed since th' time of barter and exchange. Although banking formerly Appeared to you as dry and without interest you will now see that its history has been liriked up with the most vital affairs of man. Just as necessity is the mother of invention you can now appreciate how the need for money was felt and met by primitive man almost before any other step forward was made.

fortune from it and left the money to his son, who was accidentally killed in France on the very spot where the Frenchman was bom. Comstock’s ranch is today a mass of desolate ruins. It is easy to see why man has from the first preferred gold as a material for coins. Most important is its high value, which has made possible coins of large denominations in convenient sizes. With gold no such proceeding as employing a cart to carry the pocketbook, as the Chinese do when shopping with their iron money, is necessary. Sometime or other in the history of the world almost every material has been used for coins, but none to the extent that gold has. Shells have been in use for a long time in Afrjca and the. East Indies, also at one time in China. Iron was used in Sparta under the laws of Lycurgus; also used, according to Caesar, among the ancient Britons in the form of bars. It took a wagonload of Spartan iron money to buy an ox. The Spartans used iron because it w&s so awkward and they wished to discourage acquisition of Wealth. The inhabitants of Bysantium and the Japanese used iron. Coins of tin were struck by Dionysius of Syracuse. Platinum was tried in Russia. Lead is still used in Burmah; nickpl in Belgium, United States and Germany. Glass was used at one time for subsidiary coinage in Egypt and Sicily. Copper was and is also widely used. Just now the good old American dollar, stands pre-eminent In the world!

The Greater Thrift

Thrift Is submission to discipline, self-imposed. Thrift is denying one’s self present pleasures for future gain. Thrift is the exercise of the will, the development of moral stamina, the steadfast refusal to yield to temptation.

Thrift and Efficiency.

Thrift is the very foundation of individual efficiency, and individual efficiency is the foundation of all success.

Thrift and the Nation.

By thrift education we can not only Influence the nation of today, but we can revolutionize the nation of tomorrow’.

To fatten.the purse at the expense of your reasonable living requirements Is not true thrift. Of 27,011 dying each year in New York county, 85.3 per cent, leave no estate at All. .Teach thrift to the school children as you would the three r’s. y True thrift is self-imposed submission to discipline. Of every 100 in America, 82 die penniless. <* Thirty-two per cent .at widows over sixty-five in America lack the necesai ties of life.

OBJECT OF FARM RESERVOIRS IS TO STORE WATER FOR GENERAL PURPOSES

COBBLESTONE RESERVOIR, COMPLETED AND FILLED.

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) ——— Reservoirs suited to the needs of Individual farmers and small groups •of * farmers form the subject of thl s article. The main purpose of such reservoirs is to store water for the irrigation of gardens, orchards, and truck farms, but they may also serve to store water for stock and to provide domestic supplies for farm dwellings. Farm reservoirs are used most commonly in conjunction with pumping plants operated by gasoline wind mills or electric motors. Many pumping plants have been installed in recent years for Irrigation purposes, and this development has created a demand for storage facilities to retain the water lifted by the pump overnight, and thus provide a large irrigation stream for the following day. Purpose of Building a Reservoir. The purpose which a farmer has in mind in building a reservoir will go far to fix its essential features. If be intends to use any part of the stored water for drinking or even culinary purposes, the entire supply must be kept free from pollution. On the other hand, if the supply Is intended for irrigation only, the purity of the water need not be considered. In building a reservoir for use in connection with a pumping plant, the size, elevation and location. n£ the former should be adjusted carefully to the needs of the latter and to the land to be watered, one essential feature being that the outlet be somewhat higher than the area served. When the main purpose is to store the small flow of a spring-or the discharge of a small pump until enough water can be had to form a large stream or head, as it is called, and thus water a larger area in a shorter time, the outlet of the reservoir should be large enough to permit this to be done. Again, If the reservoir is intended for both irrigation and the watering of farm .animals, care should be taken in planning and building the reservoir to prevent damage being done by the trampling of stock. Water Supply for Farm Reservoirs. The most common source of supply for such reservoirs is the well, from which "water is raised to the necessary height by a windmill, internalcombustloU engine, or electric motor. The reservoir is located as near as practicable to the well, and the discharge from the pump leads directly to the reservoir with a branch to the head of the supply ditch, thus permitting the well water either to be stored or used directly on the land. The flow from springs, broqks, flowing wells, and small creeks'forms another source of supply. This is often too small for rapid and effective irrigation when used continuously, and storage is resorted to in order to obtain a large head and also to collect the flow overnight for use the following day or over several days for use during a drought. Springs and other small sources of running water may be made to serve a variety of useful purposes If the proper equipment is provided for their full utilization. Where there is sufficient fall, a part of such water may be piped directly ,to the house and barn and the balance allowed to flow into a pond or small reservoir, from which it is conveyed by pipe to an Irrigated field, orchard, or vegetable garden. In cases where there Is no fall or not enough, the water may be pumped first to the house and then allowed to flow by gravity to the barn and corral and thence to a pond, from which it can be withdrawn for irrigation purposes. Owing to natural causes or the careless nse of water In irrigation, fertile fields often become water-logged. In the majority of cases it is feasible to drain these low marshy places and apply this water to other tracts that may be too dry. If the amount of water withdrawn is small, a reservoir to store enough to make an irrigation head often is a profitable investment. .In that borderland between humidity and aridity, known as the Great Plains area, and throughout the arid region, the so-called “dry creeks” carry considerable water at times. Part of this run-off often can be led Into a reservoir and stored for future use In watering stock and irrigating land. _ In the Atlantic and east central" states, and. In fact, throughout the entire humid region, water to fill farm reservoirs generally can be obtained readily at low cost from springs, lakes, streams, and shallow well 9. Bogs or muck beds of limited areas also abound on eastern farias, particularly in the Atlantic coast states. These often can be converted at small cost from mos-quito-breeding grounds' Into serviceable reservoirs. Selection of t Site. The location of the reservoir will depend largely on two factors —the source of the~ water supply and its utilization. .If the water is pumped

from a well, the well and reservoir,) as has been stated, should be as near? to each other as practicable, and botl»i should be located on the highest ground! to be watered. Where a reservoir is to be fed from a stream, a part 1 of the flow may be stored in thei stream bed or be diverted through a, pipe, flume, or ditch to a better site some distance away. In the selection, of sites for the larger community res-* ervoirs care most be exercised to. make sure that water can be stored! at small expense per unit volume, and! such factors as the character of the? materials to be used, the nature of the foundation, porosity of the soil, dependability of the inflow, and the like,, likewise are to be carefully considered., The farmer, on the other hand, hart less choice of selection. He may be obliged to build a reservoir on a poor site in order that it may be placed near a pumping plant, or for other reasons arising from his needs or the conditions on his farm. In Farmers’ Bulletin 828, of the United States department of agriculture, “Farm Reservylrs,” a detailed! discussion of such general considerations as the prevention of losses of water from reservoirs, constructing Inlets, outlets and gates, wasteways, and? slopes protection is given. These factors should be well considered by any-* one building a farm? reservoir or pond. The bulletin wllil be mailed free on request.

PLAN TO ERADICATE ALFALFA CUTWORMS

Poisoned Bran Mash Proves Sue-* cessful in Arizona at Cost of $1 Per Acre. (From the United States Department eC Agriculture.) Poison bran mash, costing approximately $1 per acre, has been exception- , ally successful in killing alfalfa cut- ( worms in Arizona, according to reports to the entomological service of the United States department of agriculture. About 98 per cent of thei larvae were killed by this treatment, and arsenate of lead seemed to bo fully as effective as paris green in the experiments. It was possible to tell three days after a field had been treated whether or not the method wras effective. The following ,is the standard formula for preparing poisoned mash for this purpose: Fifty pounds of wheat "bran; two pounds paris green or four pounds l>owdered arsenate of lead; six finely chopped oranges or , lemons. Bring the whole mixture to the consistency of a stiff dough by the addition of lowgrade molasses, such as is used in cattle rations, adding water when necessary. Distribute this bait by broadcasting over the infested field, taking ' care to sprinkle it thinly but evenly throughout the field. In case bran, cannot be obtained readily, middlings or alfalfa meal may be substituted. With this mash distributed as directed there is no danger of poisoning cattle or domestic animals that graze in the field where It has been placed. The mash should be scattered In the field Immediately after it Is prepared. Ifci however, it is left standing abont the house, it should be kept out of the reach of children.

BENEFITS OF SWEET CLOVER FOR CATTLE

Unlike Alfalfa and Other Clover* Stock May Be Pastured Without Danger. (By GEORGE H. GLOVER, Colorado Agricultural College, Fort Collins, Colo.) One advantage of sweet clover foil pasture is that cattle and sheep are not as liable to bloat on It as they are on other clovers and alfalfa. It Is practically never safe to pasture cattle and sheep on green alfalfa but on sweet clover »they are comparatively safe throughout the season and In all kinds .of weather, The Tew cases of bloating on sweet clover pastnre reported have been under conditions of protracted wet weather. Some maintain that the freedom from bloat in this particular legume is due to the presence of cumarin in the plant. The tainting of mTlir when cows pasture cm sweet clover Is for the most part to early In the spring.

Sash for Hot Beds.

New sash should have a light Iron bracing rod across the middle. This makes the sash stronger and prevent* the bars from spreading.