Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1920 — HOW NATURE CLEANS HOUSE [ARTICLE]

HOW NATURE CLEANS HOUSE

Fall Rains Wash Off the Dust of Summer and Wind Sweeps It Up and Blows It Away. We humans have a dire way of talking about the calm before a storm as though it was a brief Intermission In a bitter round of evil days. As a matter of truth a calm may last sunny and serene for weeks at a time. It is the storm which merely clears the air for .Another calm. John Breck writes In the Kansas CiCy Times. If title weather is sqjky and tearful, sniffling to'itself in little gusts of drops or occasionally bursting into a good steady cry, it may remain unsettled for days. But when it lets itself out into a real (antrum it will hardly outlast the sunset. „ The other morning trouble began to brew before sunrise. ■ The fitful night wind steadied with the light as though It had just awakened to the fact that It had a good day’s work ahead of IL For a time It hovered, as though to survey the world. It poked into odd corners, combed the iofig grass, took stock of al) the fag ends the summer leaves behind, like a householder inspecting his premises after his tenants have departed to town for the winter. It Is really surprising, the amount of muss It found.: The most careless housewife ha rdiy -da res-to let her ashes and potato peelings accumulate beyond a certain point, but summer gets cluttered up with all manner of unconsidered trifles. Even such tiny things as the husks of seeds, the wings of gnats, the cast-off down of the little birds, accumulate into surprising . amounts. Smaller, but still more untidy, are the molds and germs, elements of decay which have their place in the scheme of things, but must not be allowed tousurp that of their betters. AII these things the wind found. It sighetT ahd set to work sweeping the earth with angry, vigorous blasts. And the dust rose up and filled it with stifling clouds. Like the Augean stables, here was a task nothing less than a river eotild wash clean. It reached out for a lowering cloud which hung far Inthe westernsky and dumped Its contents until eveFy crackTn our part of the earth’s floor was running over. It scoured and rubbed and scrubbed and rinsed until it squeezed that cloud completely dry and flung it back to the highest rack of heaven until It should be fit to use again. And then it went on polishing up the world until it was fairly dry again. And while it worked Its voice took on a satisfied contented sound. For this particular corner of the universe was as fresh and clean as It had been in early spring.

Ole Hanson’s Early Ambitions.

In the World’s Work Ole Hanson thus relates the unique circumstances of his first night at Seattle: “When I came to Seattle In 1902, I pitched my tent on Beacon hill, a close-in, nonsettled part of the city. The first night I arrived I stood on the hill and saw the child-city spread out before me. Below me to the west were the tide lands covered with bulrushes, with an occasional street on stilts running over them; to the north was the city ablaze with light with small buildings, narrow streets, a station house for a depot and hills and hills, covered with forests. “Around the fire that night I told the curious who had gathered to watch thi strangers that we had come to Seattle to make it our home, to be a part of its growth, and that some day I would be its mayor. Of course, they laughed at the idea of the red-headed stranger with his team and cov/red wagon becoming the mayor of their ctty of 100,000 people.”

Czechs Superb Artists.

As artists, the Czechs have power. Imagination and superb technique. Their sketches show the pride and manhood of the Czech soldier, who has gone through all the demoralizing experiences that have ruined the .Russians. but has come through clean and sound. . The Czechs are musical. To hear the marching songs of the Russian soldiers in Petrograd was Inspiring. But the Czechs have more than music in their singing—they have a challenge and a promise. The Czechs sing althoughthey were creating a “Marseillaise” and not simply repeating it Czech music, whether it; be > the marching song Jtmong the box cars, or the violin solo in the Red Cross car among the wounded, is like that

English Customs in Egypt

Egypt notes a correspondent is enthusiastic for English customs. In the case of visiting cards they are leaving us far behind. ~ '■ I have one before me with the name tn the center written in Ila tin and Arabic characters, and the aqdrees below. » In the right hand corner in gilt letters Is the Spanish greeting “Feliddades,” and in the opposite corner a gilt anchor and chain wreathed with pale blue forget-me-nots. The whole card is bordered with lotuses. Another Egyptian uses quite an English card, with the letters “P. T. O.” neatly printed in the lower right hand corner. On turning the card over one is advised to “Keep smiling”— London Chronicle. United States Goods In Belgium.;. Belgium, with a population of 7,658,000, ranks fifth among the nations of the world as a market for United Staten exports, being surpassed only by the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Italy in the value of product* purchased from this country during the first nine months oi 1919.