Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1915 — YOUNG FOLKS’ CORNER [ARTICLE]

YOUNG FOLKS’ CORNER

King Frost at Work. When you get up on a eold winter’s morning'haven't you noticed the wonderful pictures'’King Frost has put on your windows while you have been asleep? If you look at these pictures closely you wUI see that they are made up of long, feathery frost ferns. Now. these ferns consist Of thousands of little crystals of frost, so small that it takes 10,000 of them to cover a penny. and in the process of freezing they have together so as to form a pattern. ’’ • The heat of your room and the coldness of the outside air have caused a mist to gather on the window pane, and if you examine this mist under a microscope you will find that it is nothing more than tiny drops of water. Presently as the coldy becomes more intense each of these drops freezes into a little crystal, which is called an “ice Hower,” and each crystal usually has six points. There are more than 2,0Q0 kiilds of crystals, and they all go toward the making of King Frost's picture'. \ ■ yd If the frost is very keen then the pattern of his picture will be a coarse one. If there is little frost it will be a fine one. But King Jack Frost is a wonderful artist, for he never makes two pictures alike, though he produces millions every winter. The Meaning of Calumet. You will often run across the w’ord calumet in connection with Indian tales of war, and unless you are familiar with Its meaning*you are apt to be puzzled by it. Calumet is the name of the peace pipe used by the North American Indians. It consisted of a tobacco pipe having a large bowl, generally of polished red marble or sandstone, and a stem of reed or painted wood decorated with feathers and about t\Yb and one-half feet long. After a peace treaty had been signed the Indians used to fill the pipe’tvith the best tobacco and present it to the representatives of the party with which had made peace, themselves smoking it afterward. The Indians also presented the calumet to any visitor, and to refuse it was to declare war with those who proffered it. The word calumet is not in itself Indian; it is a Norman word meaning shepherd's pipe and was given by the early French settlers to the Indian pipe of peace be cause of its general resemblance to the instrument of the field.

Persistent Questions. Seat all the players save three in a row. The first of these three goes to each plgyer and whispers in his ear some sentence descriptive of where he is supposed to.be, the second player follows with a sentence telling what he is supposed to be doing, and the third tells him whom he is supposed to be with. The first of the three then calls the name of some player, and that player must give in one long sentence the three given him. If he laughs he pays a forfeit. As the three leaders are each ignorant of what the other gives the results are apt to be ludicrous. One player saying, “I am in the middle of the Atlantic ocean popping dorn with Mary Smith,” while another declares, “I am in an airship darning stockings for Joe Brown,” is apt to provoke a gale of merriment.

Conundrums. Why should the number 2SB never be named before ladies? Because it is too (2) gross. When is a window like a star? When it is a skylight. Why is an absconding bank cashier like an air gun? Because he goes off loaded and makes no report. Why is a wddower like a house in a state of dilapidation? Because he wants repairing. What is thatAyhich you cannot hold ten minutes, although it is as light as a feather? Your breath. When is a tumbler like an accomplished prediction? When it is fulfilled. . Good Work of Boy Scouts. For some time a group of. scouts in Sayville. N. Y., have been doing their good turns so unostentatiously that no one knew anything about them. They have been taking care of a crippled man who was unable to provide himself with wood and food for the winter. Every day they have chopped his wood and prepared his meals, taking turns in doing anything that was In their power for this mail whom they have “adopted.”—New York Press. Storyland. Alone in the shade that the oak tree has made * ' . Where the leafy boughs sway as they will, Sits Nan in her nook and, deep in a book, Never knows when it blows or is still. Away into Fairyland now she is going; Clear skies arch above her and fair winds are blowing. There Snow White she meets and Prince Charming she greets; Sees a kfiight- ride away through the wood; To Puss in Boots talks and whispers and V walks dear Beauty, so gentle and good. 'Far. far in the forest the Sapphire Bird’s singing, And high in the heavens the Wild Swans are. winging. To her wondering eyes, fair dream castles rise. ' ' V While the leafy boughs sway as they will, t But Nan, far away, in her dreamland gay Never know? when it blows or is still.' Oh, who for the wind or the rain could . be caring, When off into Storyland she may go faring? ‘ —Youth’s Companion.