Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 314, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 March 1936 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times (A SC KIPPS* HO WARD MWSI’ArEK) ROT W. HOWARD _ ~,,,,,,,,,, Preildent LL'DWELL DENNY Editor EARL D. BAKER Business Manager

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WEDNESDAY. MARCH 11, 1936.

“IT WON’T BE LONG” “IT won't be long now." That, according to one A correspondent, expresses the hopeless fatalism of the people of Alsace as they observe the movements of the German and French troops. If they are right, if their fears are justified, it won't be long until this now peaceful countryside is turned into an Inferno, rocked by explosives, seared by flames, broken to useless pieces by the machinery of modern warfare. It won't be long until the young men of Alsace are facing enemy shells and machine gun bullets or hiding from these in filthy trenches, and themselves venting the savage lust to kill which overtakes most humans under the conditions of war. It won’t be long until the roads leading out of Alsace are crowded by women and children and men too old and feeble to fight, carrying, if possible, some small part of their household effects to such miserable safety as they can find behind the lines. Disease and death. Days and nights of horror. It won’t be long. Indeed, it won’t be long until peace, the peace of exhaustion, will return to Alsace. And the old men and the women and babies—those that still live—will struggle back to their homes or th? ruins that had been their homes. And the young men, those that survive or partly survive, also will return. The dreary and slow process of rebuilding will begin again. For what and for how long? Until the victors in this war have learned the price of victory and the vanquished have become strong enough to set about learning that costly lesson for themselves. Alternating generations of French and Germans have learned it, to be sure, but it seems to be a lesson that one generation can not pass on to the next. MONEY FOR POLITICS IT'S a noble undertaking—this widely publicized attempt of the Republican National Committee to persuade one million rank and file party members to contribute $1 each to the campaign chest. We hope it succeeds. ' But pardon us if we hedge our hopes by recalling that there is nothing new in the idea of trying to drum up small contributions. Every election year this movement is trotted out by one or both of the major parties, yet there is no record that any such money-raising plan ever succeeded for either the Democrats or the Republicans. In fact, experience shows that such an undertaking generally costs more than it produces, and merely builds up a smokescreen behind which ihe big money is obtained from contributors who expect something in return. We wish this were not true. We wish that each one of the 15 to 20 million Republican voters and each one of the similar number of Democratic voters would contribute a dollar apiece to their respective parties. Managers of the two parties would then have more money than they ought to have for campaign purposes, but the parties would belong to the voters, and the party heads would not have to go begging to special interests. Campaign contributors become the controlling stockholders of a political party. And when a party supported by a *ew large contributors comes into power its freedom to promote the interests of the mass of the people already is mortgaged. All of which helps to turn a government of equal rights into one of special privileges. The people can have democracy when they pay for it and demand their money’s worth. RITZY BOONDOGGLING WPA is carrying its boondoggling into the Liberty League’s back .yard. Asa result the du Ponts and other millionaires who own estates along Rising Sun Lane and Kennett Pike at Wilmington, Del., soon will be able to shut off their septic tanks and tie in with the city’s modern sewage disposal system. Under the prosaic title of “Brandywine sewer project No. 47," WPA is building a sanitary sewer line for the du Ponts and their neighbors. It will cost $112,559 and will be completed in June. More than 100 unemployed workers from Wilmington and New Castle County are doing the job, parking their Model T Fords in the shadow of mansions and eating their lunches beneath imported shrubbery. The project belongs to New Castle County, for Westover Hills, as the area is called, has never been incorporated within Wilmington’s city limits. The new WPA sewer is about a mile long and will connect with the Wilmington sewage system. When completed it will offer the same healthful utility to its users as has been afforded the Smiths, the Cohens, et al., who, although living “on the other side of the tracks," have had modern sewage disposal for many years. Reading like a Liberty League roll call, a partial list of patrons on the new sewer line includes: Lammot du Pont. A. Felix du Pont. Ernest du Pont. Mrs. W. K. du Pont. Mrs. Charles Copelin, nee du Pont. Mrs. W. W. Laird, nee du Pont. Wilmington's most exclusive country club, sponsored by the du Ponts and other Westover Hills residents, will benefit. THE COURT’S DILEMMA THE Supreme Court is on a double “spot” that may force it either to reverse itself or to concede openly that there is a large “No Man's Land" of industrial operations which no government can regulate under the Constitution. In the NRA decision the court held that hours and wages of live-poultry killers w’ere exempt from Federal regulation. In the AAA case it held that the Federal government could not regulate farming by benefit contracts, because of the states’ reserved rights. In the Guffey Coal Act cases, to be argued tomorrow, a similar set of Federal regulations of the *. coal mining Industry is involved, and the states’ reserved rights are again an issue. But several coal mining states are filing “friend of the court” briefs, setting forth their inability to contrc-; the industry. This is one horn of the court’s uiifmma. The other is that New York state in a few weeks u will file an appeal from the 4-to-3 ruling of the * state's highest court that Its minimum wage law

for women Is unconstitutional. This ruling was based on the Supreme Court’s 5-3 decision in 1923 that the District of Columbia minimum wage law for women was a violation of the “due process of law" provision of the Constitution. The appeal may be filed in time for a decision this spring. The New York case is important, not only because iz may involve the fate of similar laws in other states, but also because it may bring a ruling whether a state has even a limited right to regulate relations between employer and employe. The Guffey case, and the Wagner Labor Act cases which probably will reach the Supreme Court next fall or winter, involve the question of whether the Federal government can regulate these same relations in a broader field. ana 'T'HE New York State case is narrowed somewhat in that the law authorizes the setting of minimum wages for women, but not for men. Some feminists are bitter against such “protective" laws. They say the result is to replace women in jobs with men whose wages are not artificially supported. Minimum wage laws, most of which apply both to women and to children under 18, include those of California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. The New York test case arose trom a charge that a laundry paid lower than legal wages to an adult woman. Chances for a reversal of the 1923 “Adkins vs. Children’s Hospital” decision are indefinite. Os the five who voted down the District of Columbia law, four are still on the bench—Vandevanter, McReynolds, Sutherland and Butler. If Justice Branded refrained from sitting because of his prior activities in favor of such a law, as he did in 1923, the best chance for the law would be a 4-4 tie—which would have the effect of upholding the state court’s adverse ruling. None of the three dissenting justices of 1923 are on the bench now. The New York law, drawn with Felix Frankfurter’s advice and passed in 1933, has elaborate provisions ta meet the objections of the Supreme Court decision, including requirements of hearings, standards for enforcement, and other legal safeguards. A minority opinion in the state court defended the law, quoted from Justice Roberts’ majority opinion in the Nebbia milk law case to show that the state has conformed to the basic law. Roberts said: “The guaranty of due process, as has been often held, demands only that the law shall not be unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious; and that the means selected shall have a real and substantial relation to the object sought to be obtained." A LITTLE LESS BLOODY T~xELVING into antiquity, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Cos. comes up with some interesting statistics. Taking a group of 160 Greek and Roman soldiers and statesmen, the causes of whose deaths were known, the statisticians report that 38 were executed, 26 murdered, 29 killed in battle, 18 committed suicide and 4 died in accidents. Thus, 115, or 61 per cent of the total, met violent deaths. In the World War, the highest percentage of deaths to total population was 42.9 per cent, among the Germans. And this, despite machine guns, poison gas, big berthas, shrapnel and bombing airplanes. Os another group of Greeks and Romans—9s philosophers, authors and artists —21 died by violence. That’s 22 per cent, compared to our present peace-time adult death rate from violence estimated at 9.5 per eent. And this, despite murderous automobiles, crime waves, sawed-off shotguns, racketeers and industrial machinery. .So, if Aristotle could look upon his generation with calm, why shouldn’t we be philosophical about ours? HORSEFEATHERS (Baltimore Evening Sun) 'T'HE South Carolina Legislature is exercised to the point of ordering an investigation of rumors that the Federal government has been teaching communism to social workers in a government training school for such workers in Columbia. But this report is really a little too hot to handle. No matter what may be one’s opinion of jobholders in general, or Federal jobholders in particular, no rational man doubts that they are loyal to one thing, to wit, their jobs. Say what else you will about them and it may be believed; but when we are asked to believe that they are working to overthrow the government from which their pay checks come, that is a little too much. Jobholders just don’t act that way. FROM THE RECORD Rep. Rich (R., Pa.): When I get the floor I wonder if the majority leader is going to be present, because I want to find out from him why we continue to have these increased appropriations. I want to talk to the majority leader. Rep. Blanton (D., Tex.): Mr. Speaker, whenever the gentleman from Pennsylvania gets our majority leader properly stirred up he is going to find out lots of things from him. (Applause). a a a Rep. Church (R., 111.): Is it the intention now to prime the taxpayer and make him gurgle? Rep. Hoffman (R., Mich.): Before the President gets through with him, the taxpayer will do something more than gurgle. By the time he pays for the whims and the fancies, the foolishness, the pleasantries, and the idiocies of the Tugwells and the Wallaces, the taxpayer will realize that the pleasing personality, the charming smile, the fireside chats, the sweet radio lullabies, have been among the most costly pleasures in all the w0r1d.... Rep. Church: Beyond question, it has been expensive and wholly without benefit. a a a SENATOR REYNOLDS (D„ N. C.): In my beloved and heavenly section of western North Carolina there are presented for the national eye the most beautiful things to be found anywhere on this great hemisphere. I refer to the great Smoky Mountain National Park of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Mr. Barkley (D., Ky.) rose. Senator Reynolds: I will admit that our sister state of Kentucky is likewise possessed of a great natural beauty in the form of Mammoth Cave. Mr. Wagner (D„ N. Y.) rose. Senator Reynolds: The state of New York presents some of the most interesting historic places of this entire continent ... Mr.' O’Mahoney (D., Wyo.) rose. Senator Reynolds: Even Wyoming (laughter) can toast of the largest national park in America and some of the most beautiful scenery to be found anywhere . . . Senator King (D., Utah): I hope the Senate will not forget the scenic beauties of the great state of Utah. We have the finest parks in the world except. of course, those in North Carolina . . . Senator Glass (D., Va.): Mr. President, I simply desire to extend a cordial invitation to my friend from North Carolina and others to forget their provincialism and visit the Shenandoah Valley Park of Virginia, the greatest on earth.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Squaring the Circle With THE HOOSIER EDITOR

WHEN the Federal WPA players decided to produce “Clarence,” Booth Tarkington’s play, the director wired Samuel French & Cos., New York City, for royalty quotations. They were too high. The director w'rote and explained the purpose and asked that they lower the rates. The company wrote back and said it couldn’t do so without consulting Mr. Tarkington, which it would do. For more than a week the director heard nothing. As the opening date neared, not even the scripts were available. Eventually he called the company and asked why he had not heard from them. “We don’t know where Mr. Tarkington is,” an official explained. “We get no answer from his home in Maine.” “Well,” said the Indianapolis director, “he’s within a few blocks of this office.” In a very short time Mr. Tarkington had given his consent to lowering the royalty rates and pretty soon the scripts arrived. a a a AN Indianapolis first grade teacher was showing her class how to make a capital letter “B.” She described the motions in the air over and over and finally transferred the demonstration to the blackboard. At last she felt the class was ready for the test. She passed out paper and put them on their own. Presently every one in the class had a page full of capital letter “B’s.” All but one. He got up from his chair after a long struggle with the pencil, brought the scarcely marked sheet to her desk, and said: “Miss Hudson, I can’t do this. It’s too hard and I’m too tired.” a a a BOSTON baked beans looked like a good bet for supper recently to a North Side bride. Finding the recipe, however, she was at once beset by a difficulty. “Parboil,” the directions said, and parboiling was a process unknown to her. She decided to ask her new and inexperienced housemaid to prepare the beans, when a perturbing thought stopped her. If the housemaid also did not know what it meant to parboil, and asked, thus uncovering the mistress’ deficiency, a blow to prestige would result. The young mistress hit upon the solution of looking up the troublesome word in the dictionary. Mr. Webster saved a supper. There, on page 1566, she found: “Parboil—to render extremely uncomfortable by heat.” a a a EVEN old time walkathon troopers now admit the fad has about run its course. One, back at driving a cab, told me ruefully he made only 91 cents his first day, but that it was better than the last walkathon he participated in. For six weeks’ work in that, he said, he got an even $6. For five years he has followed them around the country, he said, and all in all “it’s a tough racket.” You get so you can go to sleep for 15 minutes pretty nearly any time or any place,” he said. Girls, he said, seem better able to cope with the grind than the men. If you can think up some entertainment novelty you get. the coin showered by an appreciative audience. But it’s about over with, except in the big cities, like Chicago, where they still pay. a a a EDDIE HALL wants the world to know that his word is as good as his bond. In 19M he borrowed a hunting license from H. R. Weiss and said he would return it. Mr. Weiss is hereby notified that he can have that identical license by railing at Mr. Hall’s office. Eddie found it the other day in some old papers. It’s in good shape. a a a BLURB on a box of women’s face powder: “Make the famous bite test. Place a pinch of powder between your teeth and grind slowly. Feel how wonderfully smooth this powder is. No grating particle like sand in spinach. More than 8,000,000 women have made this famous test.”

TODAY’S SCIENCE BY DAVID DIETZ

TWO thousand chemists will gather in Kansas City on April 13 to spend the next five days in discussing what chemistry can do in a world emerging from the depression. The occasion will be the meeting of the American Chemical Society, largest professional organization of its kind in the world. Proudest boast of the chemists of the nation is that there was no depression in the chemical laboratories. Research work was kept going during the depression and the chemists point now to stainless steel, new aluminum alloys, new plastics, and new synthetic dyes which were developed during the darkest days of the depression. These materials are now leading the out of the depression. At the Kansas City meeting hundreds of papers will be read by industrial chemists, university professors and government scientis.s, disclosing new and dramatic developments in the field. With the end of the depression, chemical research is being speeded up and expanded, according to Prof. E. J. Crane of Ohio State University, editor of Chemical Abstracts, one of the publications of the American Chemical Society. Through a staff of readers in all parts of the nation, this journal seeks to obtain an abstract of every article published anywhere in the world dealing with chemical research. OTHER OPINION WPA Spending [Kep. Lehlbach, <R„ N. J.). in radio talk.] It is apparently impossible to get a single cent of WPA money if its expenditure will be of real use to any one, but no scheme is fantastic enough to be rejected by the WPA, provided always that from the expendr.ure of the money entailed nothing useful will result. The motto of the Administration seems to be “billions for waste, but not one cent for value.”

PARDON US, IF WE SEEM NERVOUS!

" ' VWjfcfistoC*' A-- / -J^* t **"®*'" , ~

The Hoosier Forum 1 disapprove of what you say, hut 1 will defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire.

I Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, reliuious controversies excluded. Make vour letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 25 0 words or less, iour letter must be sinned, but names will be withheld on reouest.) a a a SCHOOL SERIES WINS READER’S PRAISE By Subscriber Your recent articles on “What’s Wrong in our Schools?” have shown the taxpayers that they are not receiving full value on their investment in our educational system. It is gratifying when a newspaper publishes articles containing information that the public should have. The original investment in the Central Library was $625,000 and the interest accrued is $1,014,162. Now, Mr. Taxpayer, just think of the fine library or school that could have been built with the interest paid on the money used to build that one library. To me this is one of the many proofs that this system is restraining progress, not only in our schools but in our economic life as well. a a a URGES SHORT, SNAPPY SPECIAL SESSION By Perry Rule The special session has convened to enact the necessary legislation needed for the state’s participation in the Federal benefits extended to its citizens through the national security legislation. More than a month has been devoted to discussing and drafting the necessary compliance laws. The Federal government deals directly with the states and not

Watch Your Health

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN AMONG the interesting developments in dietary control of disease has been the use of the socalled ketogenic diets in epilepsy. Such diets are based on an observation that the frequency of epileptic attacks was reduced when those afflicted went for a time without food. Starvation produces acidosis. Apparently, production of acidosis has a sedative effect and cuts down the convulsions. There is also a theory that the diet which tends to produce acidosis is effective, in that it causes an increased elimination of water from the body. There are many who believe that the seizures of epilepsy, of eclampsia and other convulsive

IF YOU CAN’T ANSWER, ASK THE TIMES!

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or Information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 10X3 13thst, N. W., Washington. D. C. Legal and medical advice can not be given, nor can extended research be undertaken. Q—Who were the parents of President Andrew' Johnson? A—Jacob Johnson and Mary (Polly) McDonough Johnson. Q —Where is Fort Knox? A—ln Kentucky, 31 miles southwest of Louisville. Q —ls Lucrezia Bori, the singer, married? A—No. . Q—When was the first electric fire alarm system patented? A—May 19, 1857. Q —Are there any states in which atheists are barred from testifying in court? A—Maryland and North Carolina bar atheists from the witness stand. Q—When it is 12 o’clock noon, Eastern Standard Time, in Pittsburgh. Pa., what time is it in Rangoon, Burma? A—11:30 p. m. Q —Can a man sfanding at the North Pole see the moon at the same time as a man standing at the South Pole? A—ls the moon’s declination is zero, then the answer is yes, but if the moon has a positive declination the man* at the South Pole can not see the moon * \ all; and like-

local units. Therefore, of necessity, the compliance laws must provide for state responsibility in functioning of the laws. Local boards must be directly under state supervision. The bills as now drafted give the local units the largest supervised participation possible. The constituency of the General Assembly membership earnestly desires that their representatives do not play politics, or attempt to add to their pay checks by unnecessarily prolonging the session. The consensus is that less than 10 days is needed and that the prolonged should be checked upon by the electorate. * a a a THANKS PAPER FOR PUBLICITY By Mrs. O. B. Gehrin?, Secretary P. X. A. School 36 On behalf of the Parent-Teachers Association of School 36 I wish to express thanks and appreciation for the publicity given us recently in your paper, a a a ATTACKS NEW DEAL ON BONUS STAND By Raymond H. Stone The present Administration has made its most vital mistake. It has broken faith with the "veterans of the World War. Any man with an ounce of brains knows that the veterans have been made the scapegoat of the sins of the New Deal. The public debt was increased $10,000,000,000 before the present Administration passed the bonus bill. The second executive order of this Administration before Congress had a chance to act was the throw-

disorders are associated with accumulation of fluid in the tissues of the nervous system. Many years ago, it was pointed cut that diets which are high in fats and low in sugars have a tendency to eliminate water from the body. Whether or not the results are brought about by acidosis, the elimination of water, or some other factor, there seem to be certain cases of epilepsy which are benefited by the use of the ketogenic diet. In this diet, which the physician, of course, prescribes for each patient as required, alcoholic drinks, spices and condiments usually are omitted. Fluids, too, are restricted, since it is the desire to produce some dehydration.

wise, if the moon’s declination is negative, the man at .the North Pole can not see it. That is to say, the moon rises and sets but once each lunar month for the man at either pole' Q —Should a period be placed after all abbreviations? A—Yes. Q —What proportion of an iceberg .s above the water? A—About one-ninth. Q—How should burlap be prepared for painting? A—Give the whole surface a coat of ceiling varnish or other cheap and quick-drying varnish, after which give it a coat of glue size. The surface should then be ready for painting, A—What is the name of the instrument used to measure humidity? A—Hygrometer. Q —Did the United States Congress have to approve the election of President Manuel Quezon of the Philippine Commonwealth? A—No. Q —How old is Clark Gable? A—Thirty-five years. Q—How old was Walter Scott (Death Valley Scotty) when he gained a national reputation by making a record run from Los Angeles to Chicago on a special train? A—Thirty-two. Q —What is the largest breed of dogs? A—Probably the Irish wolfhound. > m iw4 u

ing of over 300,000 veterans off the pension rolls. The first excuse of the executive department for asking $1,000,000,000 in new taxes to make up for the over $10,000,000,000 in new debts under this Administration is the bonus bill. In addition, there now comes to light the joker in the bonus bill just passed. It is the fingerprint provision. It is estimated that it may take two years to classify these fingerprints before identification of applications for the baby bonds may be completed. If history teaches anything, it is that those in high authority can afford to trifle least with men of military experience. Nearly every other type of men will consent to deceit and subterfuge for long periods of time. The' soldiers of a nation are not so likely to stand by idly when they are made the scapegoats of spendthrift habits. There is nothing to prove that American veterans are any different from other veterans the world around. An Administration which sees fit to make the veterans the guilty party in dissipating the public credit is face to face with the real battle of its existence. RAIN BY MARY R. WHITE Just those gentle, little showers, That come softly pattering down To cool the growing things of earth And soak the dry parched ground. O’ there s such a restful feeling I can in no other way attain, Ail earthly cares just slip away While driving in the rain. I care not for the stormy weather, For raging winds that blow, King Winter when his temper’s ruffled And pelts the earth with snow. I like the bright and sunny days, But still—l won’t complain; For me, life holds ro greater joy Than driving in cne rain. DAILY THOUGHT There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to .come with those that shall come after.—Ecclesiastes i, 11. THE memory of past favors is like a rainbow', bright, vivid and beautiful, but it soon fades away. The memory of injuries is engraved on the heart and remains forever.—Haliburton.

SIDE GLANCES By George Clark

“I was just trying out my new car. Could you tell me how fast I s was going?"

MARCH 11, 1936 ;

Vagabond from Indiana ERNIE PYLE

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla., March 11.—The manager of the Sponge Exchange took me on board one of the little boats just in from the sponge banks, tied up at the dock. The manager was a Greek. All the men on the boat were Greeks. In fact, there are more Greeks than native Americans in Tarpon Springs—about 1800 of them. This is the center of sponge fishing in America. It's the biggest sponge center in the world. Sponges come only from here and the Mediterranean. The Greeks have been fishing for Mediterranean sponges for 2000 years. It was only natural they should get into the business here. Sponge fishing was started here in 1890 by an early settler named John Cheyney. a a a THE boat we went on was a little sailing schooner, about 50 feet long, with an auxiliary Diesel motor. Men were sitting on the slippery wet deck, with buckets of water and piles of sponges all around them. They wore boots and had big rubber aprons over their laps. A man would take a raw sponge off the pile, trim off the rough edges with a big knife, dip it into the bucket of water, and throw it over to another pile. They were talking with each other in Greek. Most of t'.iem speak little English. The boat smells like mushrooms, —the way mushrooms smell out in the woods, among the dead leaves, after a warm spring rain. The manager told me the smell is healthy, for the sponges are full of iodine and phosphorus. A sponge, whether you know it or not. is an animal. You can actually see it breathing. A sponge as we know it is just the skeleton left after the jelly-like body has been washed away. The sponge fastens itself to submerged coral rock, and grows about half an inch a month. I saw one sponge on the boat which had grown on to a huge oyster shell. The oyster was still in it too. a a a THERE are about 700 men in the sponge industry here. The rest of the 1800 Greeks are their families. There are about 100 boats fishing for sponges. Each boat carries from four to 10 men. They are out sometimes as long as two months. They go sometimes 50 miles from shore, and work all the west coast of Florida, from Key West to Apalachicola. A few of the boats still “hook” sponges with long poles but that is slow and old-fashioned. Most of the boats carry divers now. They started using divers in 1905. The divers wear regular rubber diving suits, with helmets. They walk around the bottom and pull sponges off the rocks and put them in big sacks, which are then hauled to the top. The divers work from 30 to 125 feet down. A diver is good for only about 10 years. They have trouble getting divers now. The young men, like young men everywhere, are drifting away from their fathers’ business. The young Greeks won’t go diving for sponges. They go out in the world and get educated and get better jobs. A few young men keep coming from Greece, and they become the sponge divers. a a a WHEN a boat gets a load, it comes in, and the sponges are put in a stall in the sponge exchange. This is merely a big courtyard, with a one-story brick building around three sides of it. The building is divided into dozens of small rooms or “stalls,” facing on the courtyard, with iron bars for the front wall. Every Tuesday and Friday morning the sponge market is held. Great crowds gather. Buyers offer sealed bids for each batch. One day’s sponge sale will run from $14,000 to $50,000. They have sold 20 million dollars worth of sponges here in the last 30 years. The Greeks here are fine looking people, some of the daughters are classically handsome. Even the common sailors are courteous and pleasant, and say a few words of broken English to you, which you can hardly understandThe little waterfront section is a dramatic place on sponge market day. Dozens of boats tied up, painted white and red and blue, with banners flying, and men in boots and colored blouses and red rags on their heads. And the older men, the merchants, strolling around, with a massiveness and a dignity in their faces that the people of few nations can match.