The Syracuse Journal, Volume 20, Number 8, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 23 June 1927 — Page 2

Vanishing Americans

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&tD Os 7EF 7WLU, p VfW « n/r, 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON fTHER native American has almoat reached the end of the trail From Martha's Vineyard off the coast of comes word that the heath hen ts facifig the extinction that a few years ago overtook another American bird, the passenger pigeon. Despite all the efforts that have been made to preserve the rapidly decreasing numbers of this species of grouse (for the conservation of which more than SfIO.OOO already has been spent), the heath hen seems to be doomed. Martha’s Vineyard Is the only place In the world where It can t*e found and It Is believed tb it are now only aboiit twenty specimens of the bird left on the Island, a decrease of fifteen from last year. TJte story of the heath hen Is A tragic but by no means an unusual one in a country which has become notorious for Its prodigality In wasting Its natural resources. In many respects It Is similar to the story of the passenger pigeon whose numbers were at one time so countless that no one believed that they could ever be jentlrely killed off. So an appalling slaughter of the birds went ot» for years until a passenger pigeon became a rarity and before sportsmen and bird lovers reallred It, it was too late to sate the species from extinction. The last survivor died in the t'incinnatl Zoological gardens In 191 jl. These birds, once »o numerous that within the memory of thousands of persons now living their fltjgtot literally “darkened the sky.” were wiped out of exist- * ence In a little more than two decades! A hundred and fifty year* ago the heath hen was one of the principal game birds of New England and the middle Atlantic states. It was distributed from rape Ann to Virginia and It was especially abundant tn the lowlands of Massachusetts. Connecticut and Long Island When the early settlers began to cut off the forests the decline of the heath hen started./ Ils straight unswerving flight made It an easy target for the hunter In the open, and It was shot and trapped at so seasons. The spread of civilization and the Increasing number of cats and dogs which killed its yoang further decimated the heath hen until It was practically extinct on the mainland and the few left were on Martha's Vineyard Apparently no measures were taken for Its protection until this time, but on account of the scarcity of predatorv animals on the Island, the strict Are patrol and the legislative measures which were finally taken to save the birds, the heath 'hen seemed tn gave a good chance to Increase tn numbers. Hnch haa not been the case, however. Twenty years ago there were about fifteen hundred birds on the Island. By 1924 that number had shrunk to leas than fifty. Last year the census taken by Prof. Alfred Gross of Bowdoin college. - ope of the foremost ornithologists in the country, showed that there were only thirty-five left, and now bird lovers of New England are alarmed to learn that this pitiful remnant apparently has been still further reduced in spite of all the efforts that have been made to save them. The heath hen closely resembles the western prairie chicken. It la a light reddish brown above, barred with black and butt. At the sides of the neck there are tufts of black feathers, on each aide I* »n orange-colored sac and over each eye te • small orange-colored comb. Like the prairie chicken It has the curious habit of “booming” early In the spring each year. This call Is said to be similar to the whistle of a distant tugboat in a fog. Il heralds the mating season and Is a preliminary to and a part of what has been described as “the strangest sight ever seen

r _ - ■ ■ - —- ■ 1 — . 11 ■ An Inspiration in Bible and Shakespeare

The course of oar education Is answered beet by those poem* and rowhere are breathe a magnanl- . mow atmosphere of thought and meet generous and pions characters. Shakespeare ha* served me beet Faw ttvta< friend* have had upon me an in fioence so strong for good aa Hamlet or Rosalind. The last character, already well beloved in the reading. I tee 'he good forrear to are l ohm* - - '

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tn the woods"—the dance of the heath hens. At daybreak the heath hens meet on certain dancing grounds, which they have apparently picked out In advance, and there they go through* a series of antics which are as curious for human beings to watch as no doubt a charleston contest would be for the heath hen to watch. The birds run. Jump, bow. toot and cackle in their unique pastime. Their short tails are cocked forward over • their backs, the black neck feathers stand out stiffly at different angles until at last they point directly forward over the crested heads like the ears of a jack-rabbit. Their breasts are puffed up and the air sacs are distended until the bird looks almost twice his natural size. They prance backward and forward, flapping their wings, and from their throats come a series of squeals, cackles, clucks, chuckles and laughing sounds. Often, two birds will run toward each other until they are almost beak to beak, Then thfly remain motionless for several minutes. Sometimes they fight, but for the most part, their time Is spent In tooting and dancing. The morning dance usually lasts until the sun is high In the sky and then the birds scuttle hack into the recesses of the .5.000 acres of scrub oak in the center of the Island which they frequent. Sometimes they come out to repeat their dance again just after sunset. If the efforts to save the heath hen are unsuccessful it will be a tragic recurrence of the fate which overtook the passenger pigeon, although the ruthless slaughter of these birds Is a more shameful record to be laid at the door of Americans than will be their failure to save the heath hen. The destruction of the pigeons began within forty years after rhe first settlers came to New Eng-

TAe Bnd of the Trail § Far to the woat the v. nished herds they O followed q And came at last unto the journey's end; £ § Naught have they found save bonee where g O * bisons wallowed, 2 Naught now Is thoira—nor food, nor fire, 2 nor friend. s 5 O Pony and man alike completely weary, $ q Even the rainbow hope at last long fled; § g Sadly they face a darkness cold and dreary, g S Broken, they seek the company of the 0 dead. —M. Beatrice Sumner. g

land, and for the next two hundred years the killinc continued. Finally, in IR"S the birds, having hren driven by persecution from many states, concentrated in a few localities tn Michigan, and it wa# during the next two decades that the wholesale s’aughter which wiped them out of existence took place. The last important nesting place of the passenger pigeon was near Petoskey. In Emmet county, Michigan. There, In 1881. an army of five thousand men gathered for civilisation** attack oa the defenceless birds which had come there to rear their young. The attack continued from March until August and during this period of twenty weeks it Is estimated that one billion birds ■ were Filed and shipped from this and neighboring nesting places. One morning America woke up to find that the passenger pigeon was virtually extinct. It became so rare that prises were offered for the discovery of a tdngle specimen. The last individual definitely recorded la a wild state was captured at Bar Harbor. Maine, in 1904. In various zoological gardens a lbw individuals were preserved. David Whlttaktr of Milwaukee. Wls.. procured a pair of young birds from an Indian tn that state tn 1888. an! during the next eight years these increased to fifteen. By 1908. however, only seven of this rfttmber had survived, and at last only one. a female, was left. This bird, known as “Martha,” was sent 4 o the Cincinnati ano and there she became famous as the last of the race. Since the death of “Martha” persons In various parts of the country have reported from time to rlmo the discovery of passenger pigeons, but In —— ————

Chinle, in an impressionable hour, played by Mrs. Scott Slddans. Nothing has ever more moved, more delighted, more refreshed me. The next book, in order of time, to Influence me. was the New Testament, and In particular the- Gospel according to St Matthew. I believe U would startle and move anyone if they could make a certain effort of Imagination end rea<’ it freshly Uh* • book, not

droningly and dully like a portion of the Bible. Anyone ’Would then be able to see in it those truths which w>e are courteously supposed to know and all modestly refrain from applying. But upon this subject it is perhaps better to be silent—R. L. Stevenson in "Essays on the Art of Writing.” Leap Year Privilege The belief that unmarried women may propose in teip year has the following basis in fact, points out an answered Question In Liberty. Scot-

THE SYRACVSE JOtHtWAI,

every case it has turned out that the discoverer I had seen some other member of the dove family which Is easily confused with the passenger , pigeon. And so despite the high rewards that are still standing for proof that the passenger pigeon is still in existence, a single authentic specimen ' is yet to be revealed. So the next time you see a newspaper story stating that one of these birds has been seen, just put It down that some amateur ornithologist has made another mistake. The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes mlgratorlus) IS extinct Although the heath hen Is the only bird which now seems definitely doomed to follow the passenger pigeon Into the sunset, there are several other species which are in danger of extinction. One of these Is a close relative of the heath hen. the prairie chicken. Only a few years ago the booming of these birds was still to be heard everywhere in the prairies of the Middle West and the eastern part of thA Great Plains. In many places this sound Is becoming rare, and evpn though the prairie chicken does not now seem- to be in Imminent danger of Extinction certainly its numbers have been so greatly reduced that it can be called a Vanishing American. Not only In the bird world, but in the animal world as well there are Vanishing Americana There was a time when the buffalo was so numerous that, just as in the case of the passenger pigeon, Americans would have scoffed at the idea that this noble animal could ever be in danger of extinction, sio long as the buffalo was killed only to supply the food needs of the Indian and the first white settlers on its ranges, there was no danger. Then the hide hunter came upon the scene. Again two decades saw another race of native Americans headed for oblivion. Ry the end of the eighties, rhe last wild herd of buffalo had been killed off and. of all the countless millions that once roamed the plains, only a few scattering herds in private game parks and public preserves were left. Fortunately public sentiment was aroused Just in time and. due to the efforts of several conservation societies during the first part of the present century, the bison was saved. There are now enough of these animals in Canada and the United States to guarantee their preservation and in recent years they have actually increased to such an extent that there has been an overcrowding on the available space which mankind has grudgingly allotted to them. The settling up of the last West and the Increas- ' Ing number of farms which replaced the open range of the entile man's day have threatened the existence of two other species of animals—the J wapiti or elk and the prong horn antelope. It must be said to the credit of Americans, however, who waited until it was almost too late before they set about to gave the buffalo from annihilation. that they have taken a lesson from this experience and. have taken the ne»w«sary steps to prevent the history of the elk and the pronghorn from being a repetition of that of the bison. Perhaps it ia not strictly accurate to Include the buffalo, the eik and the antelope, the heath hen and the prairie chicken in the same category as the passenger pigeon, as has been done in this article. But the fact remains that they, like the Indian, are vanishing races. Os course, government authorities will tell yon differently about the Indian and point to the fact that he is not only holding hl* own, but is actually increasing in numbers. That is true If you take into account the fact that many persona having more white blood than Indian in their veins are called Indiana But In the truest sense of tty word, the oldtime Indian to all his former glory as a picturesque war-bonneted nomad and •'first-class fightinman" to the magnificent pageant of the American frontier Is a Vanishing American. He belongs to the past, the past of the wilderness era. as do the buffalo, the elk. the antelope, the passenger ■ pigeon, the heath hen and the prairie chicken. , What if there still are enough Individuals of each { so that the conquering white man can point to | them and say "See. they are not yet EXTINCT?’ For they are following the Indian into the sunset, and James Fraser’s “End of the Trail” is symbolical of them aIL They AKE Vanishing Americans

land enacted a law in 1288 giving i women this right and fixing a fine for men who refused marriage without good reason. France bad a similar law a few years later, and Genoa and Venice legalized the custom la the Fifteenth century. Get Ruf of Grudge There’s nothing on earth that gives you more trouble, and less value for your trouble, than a personal grudge. If you have one, don't feed it: starve IL—Youth’s Companion.

SUMMERY GEORGETTE PRINTS; FOR THE VACATION WARDROBE

THE stage Is “all set” for about as enchanting a midsummer fashion scene as fancy can picture. For both matron and flapper the mode has prepared delectable frocks of fluttery sheer chiffons, topped with big droop-ing-brim chapeaux whose colorfulness will happily join fQrces with the tones and tints of growing flowers and summer skies. The gowns and hats in the picture are typical of the mode whose reign is foretold for this summer. While these lovely costurr.ss portray the general trend toward hats big of brim and frocks daintily sheer, only the Individual ensemble can convey the glow of color which will be achieved

CK 1 Z or 2 AmSI wr •< »<■v. -Z4 I IS - MllIBWs ■ ,u >■' Z* i /"iv ■ ■ .. -- s -- -- • F u-~ r - IH ■ i | iX r ‘ 1 w M V > & 118 R 11] I jtJ f . For the Matron and Flapper.

fliroughout dress, head wear, footwear; ikewise every accessory. Long snug-fitting sleeves are an outrtanding feature of the multi-colored, beflowered chiffon frocks as now worn. A charming vagary of the mode is to omit applied trimmings tn styling these sheer transparencies, arriving at effect by a most intriguing handling >f the fabric, in multitudinous drapes, tiers and the like. ftt I becoming quite a ’actor tn styling. This same is put >nto practice in the instance of each >f the gowns tn the illustration. Fof the dress on the standing figure, a wide sash of self-material tied over the left bip answers to the call for

11» Am I & \ JT-TL 1 ' ■ k w vi L \ I /W 1 \ Lu -xZ / h ' i ■v I y ; —B— J A Simple Jersey Frock.

die now-80-extremely-modish blg-bow trimming, at the same time giving the mpresaion of a generous side-fullness. The seated figure adopts a shirred dde-tns«rt which, while It assures the leslred fullness, also attains an uneven hemline, which Is also a matter >f outstanding style tmportance. As to the printed motif for chiffons »nd georgettes, fashion runs to extremes from tiny florals to huge flow*rs, especially roses. Colored -vlvet

Elaborate Hosiery for Evening Stockings to wear with Evening slippers of gold or silver kid and brocade are of gossamer sheerness and are made of fine metal threads in a lacy fiariir New Silk* Showings of the new silks for spring are especially interesting a* they feature designs with motifs Inspired by modern life and tendencies. There Is one with tiny figures dancing the charleston, another show* air- - w - '?■ _ ,4. ■ ... c l .

ribbons, also shoulder flowers of selffabric, are favorite trimming details. Os course you are not thinking of starting on that vacation trip without a smart jersey sports frock. If so, be of good cheer, for there Is yet time to change your mind, and it’s a fact your wardrobe would be sadly lacking without a pretty, becoming jersey one-piece dress or jumper suit Nothing equal to jersey for faithful service! A jersey frock has the faculty of being tucked Into any corner of auto trunk or week-end suitcase, coming forth at the propitious moment unwrinkled and ready to wear. The jersey frock in the picture Is a likeable model, because of its extrema

simplicity; likewise Its extreme modIshness. It makes Its style appeal tn such smart details as a to-the-front plaited fullness, also its twin-belt es feet, these two-in-one belts being out- i standing in the season's showings. Clever innovations are continually j being Introduced tn the styling of jer- ' sey frocks. They are sueb as tend to maintain a lively enthusiasm for ; the dress or suit or ensemble of jer | sey. There Is. for instance, the unique method of employing several shades of the same color, as tn case of a blue jersey frock, which seams several cone-shaped sections together, ranging from navy throngh delft and marine, to palest tint, the entire cross

Ing the blouse from one central point like rays of the sun. So deftly are the colors assembled and the fabrics manipulated, the effect Is rather that of an ombre material which is dyed In the knitting. Metallic interknitted effects are smartly exploited In jersey. Lovely for summer sportswear are pastel colored or white jersey frocks embroidered with gay woolen yarns. JULIA BOTTOMLEY. <©. IMI. by Western Newspaper Unioa.*

planes, a third represents the crowds In a huge stadium, and other* are of equal timeliness. Tucks and Plait* There ha* rarely, probably never, been a season when tucks and plait* were so extensively employed as trimming decorations. In many instance* they are the only form of ornamentation. Tucks run round and up and down, or across the frock. Id diagonal lines, achieving effect* that are new and distinctly smart.

HELP FOR SIGI WOMEN Lydia E. Pinkhum’s Vegetable Compound Haa Restored the ' Health of ThonaurwU Brooklyn, New York.—Mrs. G Has* mann of 228 Schaeffer St, was In a runB I down condition and -y. could not do her housework. She cou l d not at ■■BL night. Her story la W not an unusual one. •WT Thousands of women find themselves in a similar ■ ; condition at some time in their lives. “I found your ad- •■ 33 vertlsement in my aiiiß Uli wiihbi letter box,” wrote I Mrs. Hegmann, “and took Lydia E. ; Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound and got relief.” Mrs. Hegmann also took Lydia E. Pinkham’s Herb Medicine and Lydia E. Pinkham’s Pills for Constipation, with good results. She says, “I am recommending your medicines to ail I know who have symptoms the same as mine, and to others whom I think it will help. You may use my statement as a testimonial, and I wIU answer any letters sent to me by women who would like information regarding your medicines.” There are women in your state—perhaps in your town —who have written letters similar to this one telling how much Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound has helped them. The Pinkham Medicine Company, Lynn, Mass., will gladly furnish other women with these names upon request Sugar Be Praiaed Dr. Woods Hutchinson finds health tn the sugar bowl habit. Pitying our . forefathers, he says they obtained their carbohydratea not in granulated sweetness, but in cannon-ball dumplings, loaded with chunks of fat. spices and sour prunes, which they called plum pudding. Small wonder, - he says, those dumpling-eating pioneers awoke with a head like a concertina. and a mouth like a lime kiln.

BABIES CRY FOR “CASTORIA” Prepared Especially for Infants and Children of AU Ages Mother! Fletcher’s Castorla hai been in use for over 30 years as a pleasant, harmless substitute for Castor OH, Paregoric, Teething Drops and Soothing Syrups. Contains no narcotics. Proven directions are on eact package. Physicians everywhere reo ommend it. 1 The genuine bears signature of That Print-Shop Towel i A HlawaMia woman boasts having a towel that Is over thirty-eight years old. “While we would not deprive her of her minute of joy,” says Cari Brown in the Atchison Globe, “we must assure her that every print shop has a towel that is as old as the office—and printing was invented In the first hall of the Fifteenth Must Sign Articles A law has just come into effect in South Africa making it Illegal to publish any report or comment concerning public affairs while a political campaign is going on, without the names of the writers. o — ..... I Many a woman studios her glass t« the neglect of her heart.

four Druggist Says! Indigestion Must Go or Money Back i — You are simply patching up your stomach when you take things that can only bring relief for a few hours at a time. Why not build up your run-down stomach —make It strong and vigorous so that you can eat anything you want any time you want to without misery and distress? Dare’s Mentha Pepsin is what every sufferer from poor digestion or dyspepsia needs? —a pleasant upbuilding elixir for the stomach. Thousands of bottles of Dare's Mentha Pepsin are sold every day because it is an outstanding,, supremely tffeetlve stomach eltxir that druggists everywhere sell with the distinct understanding that if it doesn’t do you more real good than anything you ever tried —get your money back. Demand Dare’s—no reputable druglist will offer you & substitute. save nr You cm now stop ’.osses cauwdl by rats and mice without risk to yoor stock or poultry. K-R-O is the new mie way—made from squill bulbs as recommended by Government Experts. i NOT A POISON Severe teat* have proved that K-R-O beings, livestock, pet* «. poultry but kills rats and mice every time. pSSn. Atyour druggist 75c. Large direct from us postpaid if be cannot supPly 3 Ca,Sp£2faM.O«a I 1