Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1908 — FOR THE CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FOR THE CHILDREN

Small Wonders. Strange things are found among the plants and vegetables. A student of nature once tested the growing force of a squash. When It was eighteen days old and measured twenty-seven Inches in circumference he fixed a sort of harness round It, with a long lever attached. The power of the squash was measured by the weight It lifted. Two days after the harness was put on It lifted sixty pounds, and on the nineteenth day it lifted 5.000 i»ounds. The seed of the globe turnip is about one-twentieth part of an inch In diameter, and yet in the course of a few months this seed will be enlarged by the soil and the air to 27,000,000 times Its original bulk, and this in addition to a bunch of leaves. It has been found* by experiment that a turnip seed will under fair conditions Increase its own weight fifteen times la one minute.—Nature Study. f How a Town Got Its Name. Some geographical names have a peculiar origin. One in California, the name of a town, has been referred to now and then as unique. It la Yreka, and It is not unlikely that some etymologist In the future may say that it came from the Greek word “eureka** (I have found It). But, alas for this classical explanation, the real origin Is not only commonplace, but ludicrous. It seems that a bakery in the town, or mining camp, as It then was, sported a window curtain on which was painted the word “Bakery,” but It was painted so as to be read from the Inside of the shop. To one standing outside, therefore,, the letters were reversed, but as the B was hidden by the sash the word appeared as "Yreka,” and from that came the name of the town.—Chicago News. Origin of the Term Pig-aback. This term means carrying a child on your back, with its arms around your neck and its legs under your arms, says Chicago News. It is variously spelled plg-aback, pig-back, pick-back, pick-pack, plck-apack and pick-aback. preference being given by modern dictionaries to the last two forms. It is at best a sort of slang, but it will be used as long as children enjoy that mode of transportation, which means forever. Some persons think that the allusion is to the way in which a butcher carries a pig, but that can hardly be. for a butcher carries a pig with its head hanging down. It is more likely that It came from piga, the Anglo-Saxon for child, from which original form It was perverted to pickback, etc., alluding to the way a pack js carried. The Grand Mufti—A Game. The players tn this game all stand in a ring except one, who is “grand mnfti” and stands in the center. The grand mufti strikes an attitude or makes a ridiculous gesture, saying at the same time either “Thus says the grand mufti” or “So says the grand mufti.” If the former, each of the other players must exactly imitate him: if the latter, no one must mor« Any one who Imitates the grand mufti when he should not or fails to do so when he should must change places with him. If more than one break the rules at the same time the mufti selects the one to take his place.

Conundrums. It a church be on fire why has the organ the smallest chance of escape? Because the engine cannot play on it. How many sticks go tp the building of a crow's nest? None: they are all carried to it. What is that which walks with its head downward? A nail in a shoe. What is the keynote to good manners? B natural. Why may carpenters reasonably believe there is no such thing as stone? Because they never saw It. When is a chair treated spitefully? When you have It caned simply because it can’t bear you. * Some Questions About Dozens. What’s the difference, if any. between half a dozen dozen and six dozen dozen? Quick! A lot of difference, of course, for half a dozen dozen Is just six dozen—namely. 72while six dozen dozen Is a dozen times as much, or 864. so that the difference Is 792. Then half a dozen dozen would be just half as much a dozen dozen, or 72 again. Then a baker’s dozen is 13. so that half a dozen such dozens would be 78. and six dozen dozen would be 986.

An Exsrciss Chime. A good exercise game is made by ■cooping a hole in the ground and placing in it an upright stick. On the top of the stick place a stone or similar substance. The player then retires to a distance and flings at the stone with marbles or small balls. The object of the game is to get the stone as far as possible from the stick. Mark circles around the stick and number the circles 1,2, 3, etc. The game is reckoned by counts.