Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1917 — PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON [ARTICLE]

PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON

You’ve doubtless encountered that terrible gent, who’ll fight at the drop of the hat, who wanders the village, on trouble intent, as sassy as Thomas H. Cat. He says he’s the Terror from Bittercreek Bend, who ne’er was divorced from his goat, and he will consider that person a friend who treads on the tail of his coat. He bullies the undersized people he meets, and wrenches the invalid’s nose, and chases the cripples off most of the streets, and tramps on the patriarch’s toes. The chief of police, when the bully’s around, has duties important elsewhere; he’s pinching an orphan for beating a hound, or chasing a hen to its lair. It may be for months and it may be for years, men stand for this delegate bad; but finally someone undaunted appears, and spreads him all over the grad. Then people rejoice with a hearty good will, no longer distraught and afraid; the bully they take to the dump on the hill, and put him to bed with a spade.

Surprising conclusions are arrived at by an aviation expert, who has been examining the aeroplane Josses on the western front in the last six months. “If we allow twenty machines wrecked to eU?h one enemy destroyed,’’ he Says, “we see at what a huge cost this war in the air is being' conducted. The average cost of ai} aeroplane, roughly is about 1,000 pounds, so that at this rate the British loss in material has been approximately over 4,000 machines in six months,"cost-, ing 4,000,000 pounds; the French very nearly the same; whtld the Germans must have lost 13,320 machines, with a total value of about 13,320,000 pounds. It may bo* that the German loss is not quite- so great as we have made out, because there appears to be less actual flying done by German pilots lir proportion *to theii* strength.

~ ;By far the most beautiful of the trees of Uruguay, South America; is the mimosa. This tree is an evergreen; and grows- to a height of about forty feet. Even when not in flower it is very handsome, on account of its dark green fern-like leaves and gray-green trunk. The flowers are like little balls of gold-on-yellow pollen, and they have a sweet scent. They cover- the branches of the tree from top to bottom,r. and at a distance one would almost say the whole thing was made of gold, or had been transplanted from fairyland. The people of Uruguay have some queer ideas and superstitions. One is that, if one throws a live snake into a fire, it will stick out its legs, which it keeps concealed under its scales. This idea probably arose from the scales sticking outward,as the snake felt the heat. Another idea is that for every snake one kills during Easter week one is let off a year in purgatory. The empty cartridge cases from an automatic pistol shot by an aviator may be the cause of serious damage. A new invention is a ■ wire cage built over the ejector side of the weapon to catch these missiles.

A check protector patented by a Californian that both prints and perforates paper resembles a pocket cigar lighter and can be carried in a vest pocket. A railroad gate man at San Bernaxd(ino, California, makes use of a periscope mounted on top of his cabin to get a clear view of the curved roadway at that point. The latest in moving picture galleries is a double screen, on one of which the picture is shown, with explanatory legends on the other. The optimist sees one side and the pessimist the other, but the rest of the ’ world just wades in and helps itself. Colorado has been shipping $25,000,000 worth of potatoes east. Gosh! Must have been at least a car load. Don’t stop to “remark in passing.’’ Keep right on going and you’ll get there. When the burden of your troubles is too heavy to carry, wriggle from under.