AN UNKNOWN Correspondent who writes that he has been a subscriber for the Herald for 40 years thinks that "dam big man" should straighten out the Red river, thus making it a beautiful stream and "putting a lot of lazy people to work." The suggestion has its appealing angles. The "big men" are now engaged in planning methods to get some water into the Red river. Has it occurred to them that if the river was straightened out it would take only half as much water to fill it? That's something to think about.

I HAVE READ WITH Interest the several letters that have appeared in the Herald Mail Bag on the subject of skating rinks, and from conversation which I have heard I am sure that the interest in the subject displayed by the writers of those letters typical of very general interest throughout the city. Skating is one of the few outdoor sports in which persons of all ages can engage in this part of the world in moderate winter weather. It is an exhilarating and healthful sport, and it is about the least expensive of any that we have. It requires no equipment other than a pair of skates and reasonably warm clothing, and, while expensive skates and elaborate sports costumes may be used, they are not at all necessary.

TWO OR THREE FAIRLY large rinks will accommodate adults and older boys and girls who can make long trips in safety and without discomfort, but they are useless for most of the smaller children. There are innumerable vacant lots within a few blocks of densely inhabited sections which could be obtained for rink pur- poses without cost. If the snow were removed from several of those lots now they would be ready for flooding in a day or two, if they are not ready now, and after the first flooding the quantity of water needed would be negligible.

ONE MISTAKE THAT IS Often made in reflooding rinks is that of the use of too much water. I remember that two or three years ago I wrote of having watched the resurfacing of rinks just back of the Fort Garry hotel in Winnipeg. The work was done with barrels mounted on little sleds, with pipes with spray openings attached. One man removed the loose chipped ice with a wide scraper. Another, wearing rubber boots, pushed a barrel back and forth, wetting six or eight feet at a trip. A third man was ready with a full barrel when the one in use was empty. The whole job took not more than an hour. It was started about 5 P. M. when most of the afternoon skaters had left, and between 7 and 8 the rink was again crowded with skaters, having a glorious time.

IN THE ABSENCE OF OTHER means it would be possible, I have no doubt, to organize local groups for the preparation N and care of rinks wherever they might be needed. But to accomplish anything some form of organization and supervision would be necessary. Why duplicate the functions of the Park commission, which is already organized, and one of whose functions is the promotion of sports? The Park commission and the city street department together have all the equipment that is necessary, and large sums are being paid for the maintenance of the men who are able, and many of whom are undoubtedly willing to work. It should be possible to combine these elements in some workable way so that those who wish to skate may find it possible to do so, and especially then the smaller children may be able to skate without going far from home.

I WAS PARTICULARLY Fortunate as a youngster in having good skating almost at my door. The river ran in a great curve right along the bottom of our pasture, and when the conditions were right I could slide down hill half the distance. The school was next door, perched on a high hill, and children who lived up or down the river, or anywhere near it, invariably skated to and from school when the ice was in proper condition. Hockey, so far as I know, had not been invented, but its parent, shinny, was flourishing. I had a shinny club made of a hickory sapling, with the curve of the root attached, of which I was as proud as any golfer is of his favorite club.

RICHARD BLACK'S DOG IS dead. The beautiful husky, born in the Antarctic, which was admired by hundreds of Grand Forks residents after her owner's return to this city after thrilling experiences with the Byrd expedition on the icy southern continent, died at Long Beach, California, about ten days ago. A clipping from a Long Beach paper received by friends of the Black family gives this account of the sudden demise of the dog which was prized by her master and had become the friend and playfellow of Black's little son:

"NANOOK OF THE SOUTH was born to temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 degrees below zero. Maybe she could not become acclimated to Southern California sunshine. She had a heritage of long, strenuous hours in the harness; and maybe a life of inactivity palled. "Nanook, a handsome white husky with black markings, was born as an event of Admiral Byrd's expedition to the South pole. She was brought to North America because a little 4-year-old boy pleaded over the radio for her. "She died yesterday at a Long Beach cat and dog hospital. Veterinary skill lost in a heroic attempt to save her. Nanook was ill only two days. She is believed to have contracted distemper. "The husky was owned by Richard B. Black, guest at the Black-stone Hotel. She was the constant companion of his young son, Fran Black. The elder Black was a surveyor with Admiral Byrd. "Nanook's mother was a sledge dog; she was born in the expedition administration building August 11, 1934. The temperature outside was 71 degrees below zero. "Fran, who was taken from Grand Forks, N. D., to Chicago so he could broadcast to his father, said: "'Daddy, bring me a husky.' "Admiral Byrd sent Nanook to Fran with his compliments. "Black had believed that the dog was entirely acclimated until her illness developed. "Nanook was exceptionally sweet-tempered, Black said last night"

ONE MAY EXPRESS A DOUBT that the California climate was responsible for Nanook's death. While the first few months of her life had been spent in sub-zero temperatures at Little America, as a mere puppy she had withstood the voyage through the torrid zone and the transition to the climate of the northern United States. She spent the hottest weeks of summer in Grand Forks and remained in good health with the temperature well into the nineties.

THE DISTEMPER THEORY seems more probable, and distemper like several virulent contagious diseases among human beings, seems not to be related to climate. Breeders of fine dogs find in distemper the worst disease with which they have to contend. However, distemper itself seems less likely to be prevalent in the polar regions, where cold is intense and dogs live almost altogether in the open, than in warmer climates, where disease germs are likely to remain active for a longer time.

NOW THAT THEY SEEM TO be getting airplane design down to the point where a one-man plane can be built for $350, and one need stretch his garage only a few feet to accommodate one, the day may not be far distant when the air will be congested as the highways are now, and we shall be checking air rather than car fatalities.

NEW YORK AVIATION Interests are planning the utilization of the auto-gyro to supplement regular plane traffic. While it is possible as a stunt to land an ordinary plane on the flat roof of a big building, for practical purposes aviation fields must be some miles from the center of large cities. The auto-gyro can take off and land perpendicularly, but is not desirable for cross-country flights. The plan under consideration is to build an auto-gyro station somewhere along the New York water front, and by means of those windmill machines transport mail and passengers in a few minutes to the distant air fields, where a quick transfer can be made. DR. JAMES H. BREASTED, noted archaeologist, died the other day in Chicago. Dr. Breasted was one of the discoverers of the tomb of the Egyptian k in g, Tutankhamen and assisted in exploring the tomb and removing some of the precious relics found there. His death recalls the curse found inscribed on the wall of the tomb, aimed at any one who should molest its sanctity. Several of those who participated in that enterprise have since died, some of them from causes not clearly understood, and there is some uncertainty as to the precise nature of the disease which ended the life of Dr. Breasted. Naturally, the superstitious are convinced that the curse is still working.

THE EGYPTIAN KING'S TOMB was discovered eleven years ago. In the case of Dr. Breasted it has taken the curse eleven years to work, and at the time of his death Dr. Breasted was 76 years old, an age at which death comes to many persons who have not rifled tombs and against whom no curse has been directed. The others of the group who have died were well in years. Perhaps the slowness with which the curse operates is due to the fact that it was pronounced some 3,000 years ago, and may be supposed in the meantime to have lost some of its potency.

SEVERAL FAKE Enterprises have been ventilated in the press recently, among them that of the Drake fortune. Many persons, having been persuaded of their relationship to Sir Francis Drake, and that they are heirs to a fortune said to have been left by that gallant seaman and eminent pirate, have invested their money in an enterprise to establish their claims and collect the immense sums of money which they believe to be waiting for them. The fact that there is no Drake fortune has not deterred the credulous from investing their savings in this wild-cat enterprise.

I WONDER HOW MANY Millions have been extracted, usually from poor people who had not a dollar to spare, in seeking after fortunes to which they believed themselves entitled, but which never existed. I have in mind one innocent victim of such consciousness skullduggery.

HE WAS AN OLD ENGLISH cooper who lived in my home town in Canada, and whose name I have forgotten, though I knew him well. He must have been about 70, and he and his wife lived in a little cottage near the outskirts of town. In one corner of his lot he had a little shop, where he built and mended tubs and barrels, earning by his labor enough to supply the needs of himself and his wife, and not much more.

IN SOME WAY HE HAD BEEN brought to believe that he was one of the heirs to a vast English fortune. The reputed heirs had been induced to contribute money to a fund which was supposed to be used in legal expenses to establish title, and the last move in the great case was always just about to be completed, but always there was needed a further assessment which each member must meet or he would lose his right to participate in the division.

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY years the old fellow had been contributing to that fund—sums of $2 or $3 at a time. Altogether he must have paid in several hundred dollars to the fraud, but the interesting thing was that he never became discouraged and never lost faith. Friends had remonstrated with him and tried to induce him to quit, but the old fellow smiled at their skepticism and exhibited imposing scrolls which traced his descent from the reputed founder of the fortune, and official-looking documents bearing seals and ribbons which he accepted as evidence of the fortune.

THE OLD FELLOW LIVED IN a fool's paradise, but he enjoyed it. Unlike some other dreamers, he did not permit his dreams to interfere with his job. His work was with the implements of his humble trade, and he took pride in performing it honestly and well. Riches were for the future, and to that future he looked forward with supreme confidence, but in the meantime, there was the day's job to be done, and that must not be slighted. Once when I had occasion to visit him on an errand I found him busy putting a new bottom in some housewife's washtub. While engaged in that prosaic task he chatted cheerfully over the latest developments in the fortune- hunt. He had just received a letter from the "lawyer" telling about the proceedings in the court of chancery and explaining that a further assessment of a dollar or two would be necessary to meet the costs of the necessary court procedure, and then, presumably, it would be all over. "I must go and 'tend to that," said the old chap, "soon as I git this yere tub fixed." Thousands in sight for tomorrow, but today the tub must be fixed!

CHATTING WITH THE Owner of a local men's clothing store I was reminded of the great change that has come about, within my own experience, in the task that confronts a man in fitting himself out with a suit of clothes. The modern men's clothing store is an emporium of well - styled garments, made from materials ranging up to those of the highest quality, the better grades of which are put together with faultless workmanship. There, within a few minutes, unless some of his measurements are unusual, a man may fit himself out with a suit which is perfect in fit, attractive in style, and leaving nothing to be desired in workmanship and quality of material. I CAN RECALL A TIME when, at least in my own part of the country, a ready-made suit was regarded with scorn and merited the contempt in which it was held. Only the cheapest and shoddiest of goods went into hand-me-downs. In design those suits seemed to have been fashioned by blind men, and they were thrown together, apparently with very poor aim. They were sold at low prices, and no one who could afford a better price would buy one. THE MAN WHO MINGLED in even moderately respectable society had his suit made to order, and that was quite a different task from getting a tailor-made suit today. In our town, and elsewhere, so far as I know, the tailor was not a clothing merchant. He might keep cloth to sell, but quite often he did not. His job was to make clothes, not to sell them.

THE CUSTOMER IN SEARCH of a suit went first to the cloth merchant, who was not. a tailor at all. There he selected the cloth for his suit. If the goods were single-width, which was usual, he bought seven yards, that being the standard requirement for a suit. He also bought material for lining, for pockets, and perhaps for binding, if the suit were to be trimmed that way. He selected the buttons and bought silk for the button-holes and thread with which to do the stitching.

THE CUSTOMER MIGHT NOT know the quantities of material required for all these purposes, but the salesman supplied the information and perhaps assisted in making the selections. Then, with all the materials for his suit, down to the last trousers button and bit of silk, in a bundle under his arm, the customer sought his tailor and there he was measured and told when to come for a fitting. The merchant sold the goods and the tailor did the work, and often there was no connection between the two. A GOOD TWEED COULD BE bought for a dollar a yard. If one demanded a particularly fine suit he might pay as high as $1.50 a yard. Linings and trimmings cost $2 to $3, and for his work the tailor charged $5 to $6. Thus a suit would cost $14 to $18. To spend as much as $20 on a suit was an extravagance.

ON RECEIVING HIS SUIT from the tailor the customer was entitled also to the scraps of cloth left in the cutting. A big man would use up about all of the seven yards. A skillful tailor could cut a suit for a smallish man from six yards of cloth. Hence there were often left some quite large patches, enough, perhaps, to make an extra vest or a pair of pants for a small son at home. SOME TAILORS WERE Accused of appropriating the larger patches to their own use, and suspicious customers watched the patches carefully. There is a story of a man in England who boasted that no tailor could cheat him out of his patches, for he stood over the job while the cutting was done and took the patches home, with him. One tailor who resented that sort of supervision put one over on the customer. He handled his cloth and his shears so skillfully that without being observed- he slipped large patches down behind the cutting-board, and while the customer went away with what he supposed were all the patches, the tailor made himself a vest out of what was left, and the customer never knew the difference until he was told about it. IN A NOTE FROM LAKOTA G. C. Wehe writes: "I noticed that a story of pioneer life in the Saturday Evening Post was credited to Professor Frederick R. Bechdolt, who was a professor of English and history at the University of North Dakota in the early nineties. The author is Frederick R. Bechdolt Jr., a son of Professor Bechdolt who was a student at the University while his father taught there. I was a student in Professor Bechdolt's classes. Professor Bechdolt also acted as coach of one of the very early football teams at the University. "I had the privilege of being present during the fall of 1890 when Emma Abbott opened the Metropolitan theater in Grand Forks." IF THE PLANS OF THOSE who are working vigorously for calendar reform work out successfully we shall be operating under a new calendar in 1939, but we shall scarcely know the difference. The old jingle with which we are all familiar must be abandoned or changed. It will not do to say: "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November," for April will have 31 days, and we shall have to add to the thirty- day list February, March, May, August and December. THE FIRST MONTHS IN THE respective quarters, January, April, July and October, will have 31 days each, and all the other months will have 30 days each, leap year being no exception. This will provide for 364 days. The odd day, which occurs every year, and which throws our present reckoning out of gear, will be inserted as an extra day between December 31 and January 1 and will be known as year day. It will not be reckoned, as a day of any month or as a day of the week. In leap year an extra day will be inserted similarly between the last of June and the beginning of July. THIS WILL GIVE A Perpetual calendar. A given day of the month will always fall on the same day of the week. The child born on a Monday will always have a birthday on Monday. The Fourth of July will always come on a Wednesday and Thanksgiving day will j always be on the last day of November if the present custom of having it on the last Thursday of the month is continued. AMONG THE CONVENIENCES of the new calendar it is pointed out that all the quarters will be of equal length, each quarter will begin on a Sunday, the calendar in daily use will show on what day of the week any date will fall at any time in the future, the "movable" feasts, such as Easter, can be given a definite date — April 8 would be the permanent date for Easter—,and accurate comparison of business records for comparable periods could be made year by year, with perfect accuracy.

IN AN ARTICLE IN THE Journal of Calendar Reform Edward F. Flynn of the Great Northern railway legal department, discusses the legal aspects of calendar changes and quotes from judicial decisions relating to the adoption of the present Gregorian calendar. Mr. Flynn suggests that if the proposed World Calendar is adopted, a step which he favors, legislation will be necessary to make it official and to arrange for the maturing of contracts under the new schedule. He has prepared a table showing the dates on which contracts made under the present calendar will mature if the new calendar is adopted.

FATHER ELI THEILLON, who died at Gentilly, Minn., was a forceful and picturesque figure in the history of the little community which he served for 47 years. He became widely known through his influence in organizing the Gentilly cheese factory in 1890 and for his energy in supervising its work and making its product known. Returns from the crops of that year were poor, and the settlers in that vicinity were in hard straits. The young priest had been in charge of the parish only two or three years, but already he had made his influence felt in the community. He was convinced that the development of the dairy industry could be made a productive and stabilizing influence in the agriculture of the district. He took counsel with local leaders and got the cheese factory started.

IT WAS NOT ALL PLAIN sailing. Many of the residents knew nothing and cared as little about dairying, and some urging was required to get the enterprise under way. But the good father exercised the paternal prerogatives of his office and brought to bear all the persuasive powers of wisdom, good humor and wit, until presently his parishioners were making cheese, and liking it. That enterprise tided the district over many a tough spot. Many Grand Forks people have visited Gentilly at the annual "cheese festivals" which were held for several years, and enjoyed joking with Father Theillon as he cut for them great slices of cheese with the enormous knife which he wielded. The cheese enterprise was successful in itself. But it was also a symbol of the devotion of a parish priest to the welfare of his flock and of the affection in which he was held through a long ministry.

THE DIONNE QUINTUPLETS are now eating their meals from unbreakable dishes. A dispatch from Callander says that the other morning, when little Yvonne noticed that her cereal was served in a dish of unusual design she whacked it hard with her spoon. When nothing happened she signified her displeasure by dropping on the floor and was evidently astonished and pleased when it did not break. There upon Dr. Dafoe explained that unbreakable ware had been provided so that the property of the children might not be dissipated in broken crockery.

THE CORRESPONDENT WHO sent out that story may have found it a dull day and thought it necessary to invent a yarn. Or, perhaps Dr. Dafoe was spoofing him. One of Dr. Dafoe's conspicuous characteristics as he has become known to the public is his strong common sense. Under conditions in which a man of different type might have made himself ridiculous by doing and saying spectacular and fantastic things this backwoods doctor has kept his head, and also has kept his feet on the ground. In all probability he learned through painful experience in his own infancy that dishes are not to be broken. Probably, if he broke them, he was spanked for it. And he is about the last person whom one would suspect of believing that the way to cure a child of the habit of breaking dishes is to give it only unbreakable ones.

AT HAMILTON, ONTARIO, A young fellow has been doing a lively business going from door to door selling signs to be hung on back doors. The signs which he sold bear the legend "No Peddlers."

THE JAPANESE Government has given two mammoth stone lanterns, symbolic of eternal light, to be placed as memorials over the grave of Thomas A. Edison. Unknowingly, Japan made a material contribution to the devel- opment of electric light. It was from the fibres of Japanese bamboo that the carbon filaments in the first electric light bulbs were made.

TAKING HIS CUE FROM A practice which has become popular among deer hunters of wearing red jackets in order that they may not be mistaken for deer the superintendent of a highway maintenance crew has caused his men to wear bright red patches on the seats of their trousers as a warning to approaching motorists. Carrying the color idea still further the federal department of home economics advises dressing children in bright colors in order that they may be more easily visible when in the way of motor traffic. And somebody is drawing a salary for making that recommendation.

A CENSUS OF THE. Population of Turkey has just been taken. One regulation made to facilitate enumeration was that on the day of the count, all persons should stay indoors until the closing hour, which was 5:45 P. M. Thus the enumerator was always sure to find somebody at home. Among the questions asked was one as to the citizen's occupation. Another was the pointed one: "If you have no occupation, how do you live?" That seems to verge on the personal, and it is a question to which many of our people would object. But Turks whose occupation was of a shady character had their reply. They answered: "Allah Kerim!" (God is great). Whether or not that will be accepted as a satisfactory answer is not stated.

MENTION OF THE USE OF camels for transportation purposes in the Ethiopian war has recalled the fact that camels were once used for military purposes in the United States. The story has often been told how Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, obtained for the army a herd of about 70 camels for transport use in the desert areas of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. The animals did not prove satisfactory, and they were intensely disliked by the soldiers. After a period of experimentation they were turned loose. Some of them were captured and used for freighting by mining concerns. Again they did not prove satisfactory. The animals ran wild, multiplied, and were killed off, partly because they became a nuisance in grazing territory. From time to time there are told stories of bands of wild camels being seen in remote sections of the southwest, but these stories are generally discredited. SCHOOL CHILDREN OF sixty years ago were invited to consider the manufacture of pins as an illustration of the manner in which scientific organization and division of labor had speeded up the processes of industry in that amazingly industrial age. In the infancy of the industry, we were told, each workman made his pins complete from start to finish, and was able, laboriously, to turn out only a few dozen completed pins a day. Under the high- ly specialized conditions which had been developed, the labor had been so subdivided that something like twenty men were required to make a pin. One man cut the wire, another fitted it for the head, another made the head, which at one time was a separate piece of metal, another adjusted and fastened the head, another ground the point, and so on, until the finished pin was in its proper place in the paper in which it was marketed. But, while many hands were required in the fashioning of a single pin, the work was done so rapidly that one crew could turn out thousands of pins in a day. The illustration was an apt one as showing the advantage of division of labor, but it would scarcely be impressive today when ping are made and packed automatically by the million.

THE PROBLEM OF WHAT becomes of the pins has puzzled economists and statisticians, and it may be that Ph. D’s. have been won by learned treatises on the subject. But the problem has never been really solved. Billions and billons of pins are made every year. Tons of metal are used up in the process, but in all the backwaters of commerce and industry there has never been discovered any considerable accumulation of used pins. The problem of what becomes of them is as fresh today as it was half a century ago.

AN ELDERLY LADY OF MY acquaintance has been trying to recall when it was that she first became acquainted with safety pins. She is sure that in her girlhood she never saw one. There were buttons and button- holes, and common pins, but no safety pins, and she wonders who invented them, and when. I'm sure I don't know. In view of the convience and simplicity of the safety pin it seems strange that it was not invented, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, for instance, or ever of Cleopatra. Put it wasn't.

A NOTE FROM MRS. GEO. Black, now with her husband and son at Long Beach, California, tells of the pleasant surroundings found in southern California, and of having met several former Grand Forks people during the vacation. The family deplores the death of Nanook, this column a short time ago. Mrs. Black is quite sure that climate had nothing to do with the dog’s demise, as Nanook had experienced hotter weather in North Dakota than in California. The distemper theory is also discredited, as the dog had been inoculated successfully. Mrs. Black thinks that the dog must have picked up some poisonous substance, probably accidentally.

A STRAY COPY OF THE Glasgow, Scotland, Herald, has a section devoted to radio programs from the continent. The condensed programs for one day occupy nearly two columns of the paper, and it is interesting to note the wide variety of programs from which British listeners may select because of their nearness to continental capitals and large cities which are equipped with powerful stations and which feature high-class music. There are, of course, many addresses which would be unintelligible to British listeners. Only a few of the programs are described as sponsored. On many of the programs some time is allotted to gramophone records, which seem to be a regular feature in even the larger cities. By judicious turning of the dial one may listen all day to classical or modern music, light or grand opera, or any type of good music that interests him.

MAYOR LaGuardia WANTS an anthem for the city of New York, and has suggested a prize competition. The Times notes that the usual result of anthem competitions has been pretty awful. Many substitutes have been proposed for "The Star Spangled Banner," on the ground that it is too militaristic and bloodthirsty, but the Times says that the horrors of war shrink before some of the substitutes that have been offered. Official anthems, written as such, seldom if ever become popular. Each of those best known has been inspired by a particular event or condition, has attained popularity because of its quality, and thereafter has been given official recognition. The martial quality of their music has much to do with their popularity, and those who sing them pay little attention to the import of their words. Thus the "rocket's red glare," and "bombs bursting in air," are only remotely related to the thinking experience of Americans of today. Yet those whose voices are equal to the test sing "The Star Spangled Banner'1 with vigor and feeling.

THERE ARE FEW MORE spirited national songs than "Men of Harlech," into which singing Welshmen put their whole souls without a thought of enmity toward the "Saxon foemen" against whom defiance is hurled in the song. Similarly north of the Tweed they sing "Scots Wha Hae Wi' Wallace Bled" without the slightest anxiety over the implications of "Welcome to your gory bed." One thing that has contributed to the lasting popularity of "America" is that it is easy to sing. The tune, of course, is that of "God Save the King," which the British borrowed from the continent. "American the Beautiful" is excellent in music and sentiment, but is not easy to sing. This also may be said of Keller's "American Hymn," which is not as familiar as it should be.

I HAVE REFERRED BEFORE to certain differences between the election customs and features of municipal organizations in Ontario and most of the Canadian provinces and those in most American states. In Ontario unless more than one candidate is officially nominated for an office, no election is held when the time comes for filling that office. In that case the one nominee is declared elected by acclamation. That is why there was no election in the town of Dunville on the regular election day a couple of weeks ago. None of the candidates being opposed, all were declared elected, and that settled it.

DUNVILLE IS A TOWN OF 3,000 on the, north shore of Lake Erie. It was the early home of the late J. W. Scott, of Gilby, and Hugh Reid of Grand Forks hails from there. In addition to the mayor and other officers of the town, there are elected a reeve and a deputy reeve of the township, who represents the township on the county board. At the recent election period there were to be chosen a mayor, reeve and deputy reeve, six members of the town council, four members of the board of education and a public utilities commissioner. One person was nominated for each office, no other nominations were made, and the whole slate was filled without election.

IN NORTH DAKOTA TAX Collections are made by the county treasurer, and the townships draw from the county treasury the money to which they are entitled. In Ontario the practice is reversed* Taxes are collected by the township authorities. Funds needed for the county are retained, and the county's share is forwarded from the township treasury. Dunville township recently sent to the county treasurer a check for $15,750, that being the county's share of the tax levies, and the township saved an appreciable sum in discounty by paying the amount a month in advance.

WHEN WILL ROGERS WENT to school he was proficient in some studies, but below par in others. He had no use for mathematics. Struggling with a problem in partial payments he said "I don't see why in heck they can't do business for cash and not fool around with these partial payments." MENTION WAS MADE IN this column recently of Professor Frederick R. Bechdolt, at one time an instructor at the University of North Dakota, and whose son, Frederick Jr., has achieved distinction as a writer. While at Grand Forks Professor Bechdolt served as University football coach. He was a football enthusiast, and he continued his active interest in the game after joining the staff of the University of Washington at Seattle, where he went from North Dakota. Among his students there was W. W. Blain, now secretary of the Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce.

BLAIN REMEMBERS THE professor as a man of strong personality, positive opinions, and strong likes and dislikes where sport was concerned. He believed football to be the only sport worthy of serious consideration, and he had utter contempt for the game of basketball, which was then beginning to attract some attention. Men of that new-fangled game would cause him to bristle with scorn, and he would exclaim "Basketball! Bah! Tiddledy-winks! Tiddledy-winks!" IN BLAIN'S ENGLISH COURSE under Professor Bechdolt he, and others were required to bring original essays to class at stated times. From the papers submitted the professor would select, often at random, a few for analysis and comment before the class, and as he had at his command an excellent vocabulary and forceful de- livery, his comment on some of the papers was such as to cause the hair of their unfortunate authors to curl in tight kinks. Blain having been otherwise engaged on one occasion during the time that was supposed to be devoted to the preparations of the essay, class time I approached with no essay in sight in desperation Bill hurried to the library to see what he could find that would be helpful. At random he took down a book and opened it He found there an address by Senator Redfield Procter advocating the direct popular election of senators. Reading a few paragraphs Bill became convinced that the senator was right and that his views merited attention.

THERE WAS NO TIME FOR revision, paraphrasing, or anything of the sort, so the most convincing paragraphs in the address were copied verbatim and submitted as the essay of the day, in the fervent hope that it would escape inspection. Class- time came, and the professor selected from the pile before him, first one paper and then another, and commented on each. As he read his comments became more bitter, ironical and satirical. About the fifth or sixth time he pulled out a paper which Blain recognized as his, and visions of what was going to happen to him almost overwhelmed him. The professor glanced at the paper, showed evidence of interest, read more attentively, and then said: "Here, now, is something like what an essay should be," and he read it for the edification of the class. Bill accepted the commendation bestowed on him with becoming mod- esty, and Professor Bechdolt never knew that he had given high marks to a speech by Senator Procter.

I REGRET HAVING TO MAKES public this record of duplicity on Blain's part, but truth is mighty and must prevail, and this column must be filled if it takes a leg.

MAJOR BOWES, WHO Presides over the amateur hour on Sunday evenings, is having trouble with counterfeits. In several cases entertainers have been advertised as persons who have received high scores in the amateur contests, when, in fact, they never participated in the tests. Suit was brought recently in Montreal to re- strain a theater company from presenting entertainers under such false pretenses.

IN CONNECTION WITH THE subject of pins, a friend has handed me this, which appeared somewhere under the caption "A Pointed Remark:" "Sharp Youngster—Can you tell me all the pins go to? "Another Sharp Youngster-- Well, it's hard to say. You see they're pointed in one direction and headed in another.'" MONTHS AGO THERE WAS reviewed in this column a little book of poems entitled "Spin Dance," by Paul S. Bliss, who hag been associated with federal work in North Dakota for some time and is now a state director of the WPA organization. "Spin Dance" had special interest for North Dakotans because of its interpretation in poetic form of familiar aspects of nature as presented to the observer in North Dakota. Mr. Bliss is author of an- other volume of poems, entitled "Cirrus from the West," which is just off the press, and which also idealizes the clouds and winds, sunsets and waving grain which impress the observer as he goes from place to place across these vast western plains. This foreword, explanatory of the title of the book, indicates the spirit in which the writer has looked upon nature and been impressed by its wonders and its beauties:

"UNDISTURBED BY Surface turmoil, certain clouds of delicate and fibrous texture, softly white, may often be seen between the 9,000 and 46,000 foot levels, high above other strata, moving almost always toward the east, since they are subject to the control of the great transcontinental air currents. "Though indicative of present weather stability, they herald changes generally from one to two days distant. Never as dramatic as cumulus, alto-cumulus, and nimbus, they are proof of the law-abiding nature of winds and weather, cool, shadowless portents of tranquility. "They are cirrus clouds from the west."

IN THIS LITTLE WORK MR. Bliss has abandoned entirely regular verse forms and written in modernistic style. To the reader accustomed to the cadences, the rhythm and accent of conventional style this more recent form is apt to prove distracting. The real beauty of many passages is obscured by the form in which they are presented. That, perhaps, is a matter of custom and association. An interesting feature of the work is the identification of each poem with some North Dakota locality. The work is beautifully illustrated with block prints by Harold J. Matthews.

MRS. ELLEN J. ACKERMAN, a widow, died some two weeks ago in New York. She was 88 years old, and for more than half a century she had lived in the twelve-room house which was her home, and for the latter half of that period she had lived alone. Living in almost primitive fashion, shabbily dressed, going nowhere and receiving no company, she was supposed by the few who knew her to be in extremely straitened circumstances if not absolute poverty. But when her house was explored after her death, in trunks, boxes and cupboards there were found bonds, mortgages, gold coin, government certificates and other valuables, more than $200,000. The old lady left no will and no near relatives, but some thirty distant relatives have filed claims for a share in her fortune.

THIS MYSTERIOUS OLD LADY had lived alone for years in a great house that was almost falling to pieces over her head. Its floors were bare and ancient wallpaper was bulging from the walls. A decrepit stove provided her with heat, and she drew water with a windlass and bucket from a well on the lot. In recent years a neighbor couple had drawn water for her and cooked her meals. She paid 50 cents for each meal, when she ate it. If she preferred not to eat she paid nothing, even though the meal had been prepared.

YEARS AGO SHE WAS Organist at a little church near by, but when the pastor died she resigned that position and never again entered the organ loft. Occasionally passers-by heard from the old house the sound of hymns sung to the accompaniment of the piano, but that ceased long ago. Just -once, a few years ago, she reached out into the world for companionship. She stopped two little girls who were passing, invited them in and ushered them into her parlor, where stood her old piano, shining and spotless. She had the children sing for her, and ac- companied them with soft chords on the piano. Neighbors were astonished to hear the sound of childish voices issuing from the almost abandoned old house. When her little guests left she gave each of them an empty perfume bottle, mementoes, perhaps, of some ancient romance.

WHAT MIGHT NOT O. HENRY have done with a story like that, or Nathaniel Hawthorne? But if either of them had wrought the real features of that mysterious life into a story he would have been accused of exaggeration.

INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT of multiple births, aroused by the case of the Dionne quintuplets, has led to the searching of records for other cases more or less comparable. Of these there are several, though not a great number. A story from Paducah, Kentucky, tells of the interest with which Mrs. Elizabeth Lyon, of that city, has read the dispatches from Callander, for in 1896 she gave birth to five boys, all living and normal. All of them died, however, within 4 to 14 days. Mrs. Lyon is convinced that if her children had been given the same care that was given the Dionne babies they would have lived, but at that time less was known about the care of infants than now, and the facilities of today were not available. In the community in which Mrs. Lyon lived, which was on a tobacco farm about 24 miles from Paducah, dreams were believed to have great significance. Shortly before the birth of her babies Mrs. Lyon dreamed that she would give birth to five boys. About the same time her sister, living at some distance, had a similar dream concerning Mrs. Lyon. Obviously the dream had a real meaning , and Mrs. Lyon firmly believed that it was to be fulfilled. She picked out as names for the expected boys Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul.

THE BABIES WERE BORN on April 29, and the weather was cold enough to have a fire in the fireplace. The infants were treated just as other infants were treated, and were exhibited freely to the crowds who came to see them. They were photographed in a strong light, and Mrs. Lyon has the picture that was taken. The doctor suggested that donations for the benefit of the children and mother should be made by sightseers, and a glass jar was placed where contributions could be dropped in. Mrs. Lyon says that some of the visitors took money out instead of putting it in. What a difference between those conditions and the scientific care that has been given the Canadian babies poured in upon them, creating an estate sufficient for all their future needs!

Reference was made in an editorial on this page to the authority of the governor of New Jersey in the matter of disposing of the Hauptmann case. The intent was to refer to the governor as the represntative of the pardoning authority. In fact, the power of pardon or commutation of sentence rests not with the governor alone, but with the board of pardons- of which he is a member.

ORIGINALLY THE Pardoning power in North Dakota was vested in the governor alone, but many years ago the present board of pardons was created, the governor being ex-officio, a member thereof. In some states the governor still has the pardoning power, but the trend has been toward vesting this authority in a board or commission. In federal cases the president alone has the pardoning power.

A DENVER WOMAN IS Living today because of the presence of mind and cool determination of James Coulter, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. Russell Coulter, of Forest River. Young Coulter, now a student at the Barnes School of Commerce in Denver, visited a Denver drygoods store to make a purchase, and while he was waiting a woman customer burst a blood vessel in her leg and began to bleed profusely. The floor-walker helped the woman to a chair, but did nothing further.

COULTER ASKED THE floor-walker if he did not intend to do something to stop the flow of blood, but was told that the doctor and an ambulance would be there presently, and nothing further would be needed. "But the woman will bleed to death before they get here," protested Coulter, and he seized a scarf from the counter and prepared to give assistance. The floor-walker told him to put the scarf down, but two other men who had arrived took charge of the floor-walker and kept him from interfering.

HURRIEDLY COULTER Applied first aid, making a tourniquet of the scarf and applying it above the opening from which blood was flowing in a stream. This checked the flow. It was 45 minutes before a physician arrived, and when he looked the patient over he said that if it had not been for Coulter's prompt action she would have bled to death. OF THE GUMPS, and their name is legion, are not expected to take the troubles of those famous characters too serious1y. Experience has taught them that no matter how great the emergency or how acute the crisis, a way will be found to surmount obstacles and smooth out comp1ications, and all will come out right in the end. It need not be expected, therefore, that because of foreclosure of the mortgage on their home, Andy and Min will be subjected to the cruel experience of eating their Christmas dinner, if any, on the cold and cheerless street. The designers of the comic strips have warm and sympathetic hearts, even if the holders of mortgages have not.

BUT POSSIBLY SOME OF those who have had experience in foreclosure proceedings, even those whose mortgages have been foreclosed and are still occupying the mortgaged premises, rent-free, may be puzzled over the technique shown in plunging the comic characters into difficulties and then getting them out again. They may be made dizzy by the whirl of events which, within a few hours, cast Min and her household goods out on the street because of the summary foreclosure of a mortgage had given on their home without her knowledge.

CHECKING UP ON THEIR own experience they will find in the first place that, except in some states which cannot be identified, a mortgage on the family home which is not signed by the wife is invalid. They have also learned that before property can be sold under a mortgage, notice of sale must be given some days or weeks in advance, and that during that time the morgagor may stop all proceedings by paying the amount of the debt. Still further, they are aware that after sale has been made, the mortgagor may retain possession of the property and oc- cupy it for a period which ranges from 30 days in some states to two years in others, and at any time during that period he may cancel all claims against the property by paying the amount due, which, of course, includes principal, interest land costs.

NOTWITHSTANDING THESE well-known facts, Min finds herself on the street because Andy signed a mortgage of which she 'knew nothing and the hard-hearted mortgagee foreclosed the mortgage all within the space of a few minutes. There is absolutely nothing to worry over. Instantaneous foreclosure of the mortgage and seizure of the property is a device which has been used from time immemorial in melodrama and in thrillers of all descriptions. It has been used with telling effect on the stage. In the kind of drama in which the villain must be shown in all his hideousness, the hero in his simple and rugged manliness and the heroine in the ultimate degree of saccharine sweetness in three acts and the maximum quantity of tears per act are indispensable, there is no time for the slow processes of legal procedure. Action is what is demanded, and there must be lots of it. The mortgage of the melodrama and the comic strips, therefore, has been invented to meet that need, and it has become as standardized as the sneer of the villain and the foiling of the despicable plot by the hero.

A PLEASANT NOTE FROM Rev. James Austin, of Hanna, N. D., from Blackburg, Virginia, tells of interesting sights en route from North Dakota, on which Mr. Austin visited McCormick seminary, where he was a student from 1894 to 1897, of historic Gettysburg, places of interest in Washington, and the ride down the Shenandoah valley, where many battles of the Civil war were fought.

BLACKBURG IS A TOWN OF 3,000 inhabitants, the home of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where Mr. Austin's son-in-law and daughter are faculty members. Mr. Austin could not be long anywhere without investigating the agricultural and livestock activities of the district. Therefore his letter tells of the fine flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and hogs found on old southern plantations which were once operated by slave labor. On a farm in the mountains he found a brood' sow and a good grade cow, both of which had been shipped from North Dakota during the drouth. The sow has presented her owner with two good litters this year. The young farmer showed him an opossum which he had captured in his corn field a few days before. The animal was being fed grain, apples, milk and bread, and was to be the principal item on a feast, to which Mr. Austin was invited. PAUL, S. BLISS, POET AND WPA executive, has begun the organization of a society to protect parents from having the immature literary productions of their offspring dedicated to them. He thinks it should be made a misdemeanor for anyone to inflict on a parent, through dedication, a book of which the parent will have reason to be ashamed. Not until one has published at least half-a-dozen books, he thinks should one be dedicated to his or her parent. In keeping with this principle Bliss has waited until the publication of his seventh book, "Cirrus From the West," to dedicate one to his mother. On the other hand, why should a parent escape responsibility for six books which will not pass muster, and why should they be inflicted on others who are entirely innocent.

DOCTOR TOWNSEND Announces that a new political party will be formed to enter next year's campaign for the promotion of his plan for pensions of $200 a month for all persons over 60. I have concluded that if that pension plan is to be put into effect I want it done right away, for I haven't much time to lose. Furthermore, I want it made retroactive, so that I can collect a lot of back pay.

SOMEBODY HAS BEEN checking up on the poet Horace and finds that we have been all wrong about the idea that if he had been still living he would have been 2,000 years old December 8 of this year. The weight of evidence seems to be in favor of the opinion that Horace was born in the year 65 B. C., and his birthday this year has been called his two-thousandth anniversary. But the critics of this view holds that the poet would have been only 1,999 years old in 1935. If this opinion proves correct we may have to celebrate all over again next year.

ONE TEACHER, SEESKING TO impress upon his class the manner in which Horace had influenced literature through the centuries, said that many of Tennyson's familiar passages, which he quoted, were taken from Horace. The statement did not appear to register, and on investigation the teacher found that the class knew as little about Tennyson as about Horace.

THE INCIDENT SUGGESTS the thought that most human beings are destined to remain in ignorance of many of the fine things in literature except as they come in contact with them through quotations and adoptions made by others than their authors. Horace has been a source of inspiration for writers of the Christian era, but Horace, doubtless, borrowed from the Greeks, and they, perhaps, from the Assyrians, and so on.

THERE IS A BODY OF Classical literature alone so great that it would be impossible for one to become familiar with all of it, even if he should do nothing else. Added to this there is the literature which has accumulated since the classical period, the production of which has been accelerated every year since the invention of printing. Today the presses are turning out really valuable works in science, biography, philosophy, poetry, history and fiction at a rate which no reader can possibly keep pace. Fortunately no one has to keep pace with it. While no one can know all literature, by means of judicious selection anyone can be well read, and even though he may not know that some passage used by a modern writer was borrowed from Horace or Homer, he may be able to recognize and enjoy a good thing when he sees it.

IT IS WELL UNDERSTOOD that the federal department of justice makes a careful record of all available facts pertaining to the life and activities of habitual known criminals. It appears that the department goes with equal minuteness into the antecedents of its own special agents. This is in part to insure that only men of dependable character shall be employed, but also that agents required for special duty may be available on short notice. Melvin Purvis, former head of the bureau, writes that because one agent was known to be an expert fiddler he was sent on a special mission into a southern mountain district, where, posing as a fiddling hillbilly, he succeeded in rounding up a criminal who was badly wanted by the department.

THERE IS CURIOUS IRONY in the status of the American Indian in this, the home of his ancestors. Among other things, according to a recent decision by a federal judge in Buffalo, a Mexican or a Canadian who has more than 25 per cent of Indian blood in his veins, cannot' be admitted to the United States as an immigrant. Upon the appli- cation of a Mexican for admission the immigration authorities objected on the ground that according to his own statement the applicant was half Spaniard and half Indian. The Spanish half was all right, but the court rules that the Indian half was inadmissible, and that under the law even a quarter Indian could not be admitted.

THE STATUTE WHICH THE court interpreted is that which lists as persons eligible for entry free white persons, persons of African nativity and persons of African descent. Inasmuch as there is in a large proportion of the Mexican population more than 25 per cent of Indian blood, even some of the most eminent Mexicans, would be ineligible. Thus we have the peculiar situation that representatives of races from beyond the seas, whose ancestors took possession of this continent against the protests of those who were already in possession have taken it upon themselves to say that descendants of those original inhabitants, if they happen to live north or south of arbitrarily prescribed boundaries shall not be permitted to set foot upon the central part of the continent. This exclusion is not based on qualification of character, but solely on those of ancestry.

I AM SURE THAT MANY eyes grew misty as O. O. McIntyre' tribute to his dog Billy was read Those who have known the faithful companionship of a dog can appreciate what it means to have such a friendship become a part of one's being, and then to have that association ended by death.

AS THE BOG'S NORMAL SPAN of life is but a few years, it is expected that in the natural course the dog shall die before his master. Many of us have had several such experiences, have grown to love dogs, to enjoy their companionship, to sense their responsiveness to our moods, and to bask in the worship which they lavished on us, to see them snatched from us by accident or yield slowly to the ravages of age until tired eyes closed forever.

SINCE THAT IS THE Natural and expected course for him who loves a dog, since that love must surely entail grief, why learn to love a dog? Why permit a dumb creature so to grow into our lives that when the inevitable time for farewell comes there is a tearing of our heart-strings which might have been escaped? For that matter, why love a child, a wife, a parent or a friend? Such love surely entails sorrow, for the time for parting must come.

IT IS POSSIBLE TO LIVE without love, and thus to escape much anxiety and sorrow. But who is there who, having loved and shared the affection of a four-footed friend or a human companion, having entered into the inmost secrets of another's heart, having borne at times the anxiety that such friendship must entail, and having sorrowed deeply when the time for parting came, would exchange that experience for the callous life that has known neither heights nor depths, and which has never felt the mellowing, inspiring influence of real affection?

AFTER GIVING THE Subject earnest consideration and getting a legal opinion of it the school board of Mount Vernon, New York, decided to permit the use of the public school building, after hours, for the rendition of Handel's "Messiah." There is nothing in that which seems so very remarkable. The interesting thing is that a j question should have been raised as to the legality of singing "The Messiah" in a public school building.

PLANS FOR THE ORATORIO and for Christmas carols in the school building after school hours had been made when someone objected on the ground that this would be in violation of the state law against sectarianism in the public schools. Thereupon the board cancelled the arrangement for the use of the building. Protest after protest against this action was filed and an opinion was obtained from the state department that inasmuch as the singing was to be done after school hours there would be no violation of the law.

ALL OF WHICH TENDS TO create amazement over the fool things that are sometimes attempted in the name of religious liberty. Of course "The Messiah" deals with a religious theme. So do Christmas carols. And if the religious background were eliminated from most of the music of the great composers, sacred and secular, and from most of the paintings of the world's great masters, not much would be left. As to sectarianism, it may be set down as impossible for a moderately cultured pagan to learn the epic story that is told in "The Messiah," to follow its magnificent music and then hear its glorious "Hallelujah Chorus" without being a lot better pagan for the experience.

CHRISTMAS TREES ARE now in evidence, and their appearance on the streets gives the touch of festivity so appropriate to the season. The wave of protest against the use of Christmas trees seems to have died out. That protest was based on the theory that the continued cutting of Christmas trees was a menace to the forests of the continent. While it is true that indiscriminate cutting of trees for decorative purposes might have an injurious influence on forest growth, there never was any reason for the belief that our forests were in great danger from the use of Christmas trees.

THE TREES USED FOR THIS purpose are not those which would ultimately become timber trees, except, perhaps, in the case of the Douglas fir. The other varieties, such as fir, spruce and balsam, are of the smaller evergreens. Whatever danger there has been from cutting has been cutting for market. The farmer who cuts a tree once a year from his own woos lot for his own use may be left out of the calculations. But millions of trees are cut annually and shipped for sale, and it is easy to figure that the harvesting of so many trees each year denudes many acres.

CHRISTMAS TREES, HOWEVER, must be selected both as to size and as to form. Acres of young evergreens are not harvested like acres of wheat, and where suitable trees are removed with any intelligence, others will grow to fill the spaces for other years. Many of the states have enacted laws intended to protect forest tracts from indiscriminate cutting. Minnesota, one of our main sources of Christmas trees, has licensing regulations which seem to work quite well. This, I believe, is also true of the western states, whence large quantities of trees are shipped to Grand Forks every year.

IN THE EASTERN STATES millions of Christmas trees are annually harvested from tracts where they have been planted for that purpose, the trees being regularly grown as a cultivated crop. Eastern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick supply large quantities of trees for the eastern market, last year’s importation being nearly 4,000,000 trees

WHAT WE DESCRIBED AS the greatest cattle drive in history was completed last spring when the great herd of reindeer that was driven 1,600 miles eastward from Alaska was delivered to the Canadian government at far east of the Mackenzie river. At the time of delivery the herd numbered 2,370 animals, and young fawns have since increased the number to more than 3,000. There is now a surplus of males for breeding purposes, and a number will be killed each year to provide or the Eskimos and hides for clothing and other purposes. The importation of this herd will revolutionize the lives of the Eskimo tribes along the border of the Arctic, as the original herd has performed a similar service for the Alaskan natives.

MANY VISITORS TO New York have enjoyed watching the antics of the sea lions—which are usually called seals—in Central park. People living in Fifth avenue apartments just across the way, however, have not found the animals so amusing and have protested against the barking of Joe, the head of the herd. It seems strange that noise of any kind could disturb New Yorkers, but so it is, and Joe has been removed to Brooklyn park and placed in what are more distant from human habitations.

ONE OF THE BY-PRODUCTS of television, which is just around the corner, may be a method of counteracting noise by setting up sound waves which will absorb and neutralize it. That is thought possible by some scientists who have been investigating the subject. The idea seems to be to tune in against some sound that one does not wish to hear, and one set of vibrations will offset the other.

PROBABLY MANY READERS of this column have received postal cards inviting them to send two dollars in exchange for historical sketches of their' respective families, giving, with respect to each family, an account of its origin and development, its place among the gentry of Great Britain or the Continent and its part in the founding and development of America. I didn't respond when my card was received, as my curiosity didn’t amount to two dollars’ worth. I HAVE BEFORE ME A large advertisement of this service in which are listed the names of several hundred families whose records are available. One of these is the Smith family. I wonder how the genealogist would go about it to trace the history of the Smith family, when, as everyone knows, the name was bestowed on hun- dreds of unrelated families, utter strangers, and living in different parts of the country, merely because the head of each separate family happened to be a blacksmith.

TWO PERSONS BEARING the same name are not necessarily related, even remotely, as names and not like personal characteristics, the products of nature, but were invented and conferred for purposes of convenience. The same name may have been given to innumerable persons, and this is distinctly of occupational names. Thus we have Smiths, Carpenters, Sawyers, Taylors, Butlers, Millers, Bakers, Porters, Barbers, Potters, Shoe- makers, and a lot of others, each of which was given to identify some person by his occupation. The same name was given to Smiths, Carpenters and Sawyers in different parts of the country, and the only claim to relationship that can be established is that of a common descent from Adam.

PLACE NAMES ARE ABOUT as common as occupational names, and there has been a practice common to all countries of designating families as being "of" some particular locality. Saints' names have been used freely as family patronymics, which happens to be the case with my own name. For some reason with which I am not familiar St. David was chosen as the patron saint of Wales, and the name of the saint was worked in various forms into the names of numerous Welsh families. Thus we have Davies, Davis, Davids and other variations as familiar Welsh names, and the person bearing one of those names now may or may not be related to some family of the same name concerning which records are available.

MARK TWAIN WROTE THAT he had started to trace his family history, but stopped when he found that one of his ancestors had been hanged for stealing sheep. Mrs. Clemens never quite forgave him for that. She thought he was carrying the joke too far. I suppose that in every family tree there are several crooked branches. It is perhaps fortunate for many of us that our remote ancestry remains unknown. Titled persons have to take it, whether they like it or not. Thus the present prince of Wales cannot hide the fact that he is de- scended from King John and Henry VIII as well as from Alfred the Great.

THE AUTHORITIES ARE NOT agreed as to the extent to which heredity influences character, but aside from the biological aspects of the case, there can be no doubt as to the value of good ancestry as a moral influence. The person who knows that his own family record is clean and sound possesses an anchor which may prove very serviceable in some stormy passages of life.

I FIND ON MY DESK THE Great Northern's calendar for 1936, illustrated, as several of its predecessors have been, with a fine portrait of a Blackfoot Indian. The subject this time is First Stabber, a 12-year-old Indian boy, by Winold Ross, who has made a study of the Blackfeet Indians. Mr. Ross has published an excellent book on the Blackfeet Indians, information concerning which can be obtained by addressing the Great Northern Railway, St. Paul. REV. FATHER LEONARD Feeney, of Boston college, has his own ways of expressing them. He does not believe in treating the child as a problem, to be solved according to formula. The picture puzzle, he says, is a problem, but when we have solved it we have no further use for it. Continuing, he says: "Y o u cannot take a child, made in the image and likeness of God, fill him with orange juice, see that the windows are kept open, push an American flag in his hand and turn him out an American citizen. All of which makes it appear that Father Feeney would be an interesting person to know.

AN EASTERN WRITER SAYS that the granting of independence to the Philippines by the United States presents the only case in history in which a nation voluntarily yielded its sovereignty over a dependency. Ignoring the very considerable influence that coconut oil had on the passage of the Philippine independence bill, it may be pointed out that there have been several cases in which nations have yielded sovereignty over territory without being compelled to do so by force of arms.

SEVERAL OF THESE CASES have affected the United States directly. Napoleon was not compelled to sell Louisiana to the United States, though it is true that he considered it to his military advantage to do so. Russia yielded sovereignty over Alaska in consideration of a sum of money. Denmark did likewise with the Virgin is- lands.

ACROSS THE OCEAN Norway declared her independence of Sweden more than a century ago, and for a century the two nations continued neighbors, each independent, but under a common sovereignty. Then Norway decided to have a king of her own, and did so, and the last link of political connection between the two nations was severed, and not a blow was struck. A few years ago Ireland was legally and technically a dependency of Great Britain. Today she is an independent nation. It is quite true that at various times there were violent disturbances in Ireland, but so three were in the Philippines. As to Great Britain itself, the Romans withdrew voluntarily from the island after holding it for 400 years.

EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT the retouching of photographs. By means of an exceedingly simple process the photographer removes from the negative wrinkles, moles and other blemishes is able in some measure to simulate youth and beauty, manly and womanly, where those qualities have not been apparent in the original. In a somewhat similar way voices which are to be heard in connection with sound pictures may be touched up to remove blemishes peculiar to them. AN EXPERT IN THIS LINE IS a woman who is employed in one of the great picture studios, and who is able to read what is known as the sound track on a film in much the way in which the earlier telegrapher read the dots and dashes which were imprinted on the moving tape of his machine. She cannot read with accuracy everything that appears in the sound track, but she can pick out the traces of vowel sounds and of distinctive consonants, so that if she knows the general trend of a recorded speech she can follow it with considerable accuracy.

ONE ACTRESS WHOSE VOICE was recorded for pictures was troubled with a peculiar lisp before the letter S. The expert went over the sound track, identified the peculiar traces made by the lisp and removed them completely.

SOME INTERESTING THINGS are also done with phonograph records of familiar type. There are in existence many of Caruso's records, made before the deeper tones of an accompaniment could be recorded satisfactorily. From some of those records Caruso's voice has been taken, without accompaniment, and been transferred to other records which give a new accompaniment, with all the bass tones. THE NATURE OF THE CRISIS over the peace plans submitted by the British and French governments to Geneva may be judged from the fact that a British cabinet officer was summoned from his golf game on Sunday to attend a cabinet conference. It is not at all unusual for a cabinet minister in England to be summoned from dinner or from the theater to attend to matters of state. He might be got up out of bed in the middle of the night to confer on a matter of relatively minor importance. But when he is brought in fro his weekend gold game we may depend on it that the occasion is one which will brook no trifling and no delay. However, it does not appear that afternoon tea has yet been interrupted, and in that fact there is a ray of hope.

ITALIAN SOLDIERS IN Ethiopia have little fresh meat because of transportation difficulties. Canned meat and fish are furnished but it must be used sparingly because, being highly seasoned, it provokes thirst, and water is so scarce that it must be measured by the drop. Motor transport is being abandoned, or partially abandoned, in favor of mules and camels, but grain and hay must be hauled into the interior to feed the animals, and the roads are so bad that it keeps the animals busy hauling their own food. If Ethiopia were only big enough the war would wear itself out.

THE WORLD HAS A NEW chess champion. The news may not be particularly exciting, but it will interest some, for there are still those who play, chess. The new champion is Dr. Max Euwe, a Hollander, and he won his title by defeating Alekhine, a Russian, 15 ½ games to 14 ½. In the series he won nine games, lost eight, and drew 13. Seldom have two players been so evenly matched. The chess title has been passed from nation to nation with fine impartiality. Morphy was an American champion, hailing from New Orleans. Other recent champions have been Steinitz, a Bohemian Jew, Lasker, a Prussian Jew, and Capablanca, a Cuban. It is interesting, and perhaps significant, that in all recent championship games the younger of the two contestants has won.

THERE IS A TRADITION that the first use of coffee by human beings was in Arabia. The story is that a herdsmen, observing that his goats were unusually frolicksome after eating certain berries that grew in the vicinity, tried some himself and found the effect pleasing and exhilarating. The accidental scorching of some of the berries in a camp fire led to the practice of making a decoction of the roasted berries and one of the world's greatest beverages came into being.

I FIND NO MENTION OF THIS Arabian tradition in the review of a book entitled "Coffee" by Heinrich Edouard Jacob, although the story may be told in the book itself. In the review mention is made of numerous interesting facts relating to the history of coffee. Coffee seems to have been used in the j east as early as 1,000 A. D. and his much earlier no one knows. Its use was made known to Europeans by one Kolshitsky, a Viennese, who, during a siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683, disguised himself and with a companion carried a message through the enemy's lines praying for reinforcements.

ON THEIR WAY, WEARY AND in distress, they were given food and shelter by an old Turk and were refreshed with hot coffee. When the Turks were defeated on the arrival of reinforcements, they fled, abandoning their stores, among which were many sacks of brown beans. These were supposed to be feed for the camels, and the Viennese were about to burn them, but Kolshitsky, recognizing the fragrance of coffee, begged and obtained it. Soon he opened the first coffee shop in Vienna.

THAT IS BUT ONE OF MANY picturesque incidents in the history of coffee. Coffee was brought to France, where it was prescribed in cases of scurvy, smallpox and consumption, but patients were warned not to mix milk with it as that would induce leprosy. Coffee became a popular beverage and coffee shops were favorite resorts of political leaders and literary men, as it was believed that coffee cleared the brain and gave energy and brilliance to the conversation.

THE DUTCH TRANSPLANTED coffee plants from Ethiopia to "heir East India possessions and bus laid the foundation for a vast commerce which, in turn, became he basis for long and bloody wars. In 1714 the mayor of Amsterdam sent to King Louis XIV of France a coffee plant as a present. It was placed in one of the king’s hot- houses and grew there as a curiosity until a French captain, home on leave form Martinique, obtained a tiny shoot from the plant, and, guarding it carefully on the long voyage to the West Indies, established it in Martinique. Thence the culture of coffee spread to Brazil, and the courtesy of the mayor of Amsterdam to the king of France broke the Dutch coffee monopoly. IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? That question has been asked by millions of children, and it will be asked by millions more. Nearly forty years ago little Virginia O'Hanlon, aged 8, wrote to the editor of the New York Sun, asking him about it, as her little friends said there was no Santa Claus, and the editor's assistant, Francis P. Church, wrote an answer, which has been published and republished and had inspired all who have read it. For several years, just at the Christmas season, I have published the answer which Virginia received, and again I com- mend it to the souls of children, both young and old:

"VIRGINIA, YOUR LITTLE friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's of children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is but a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measurable by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

"YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child- like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

"NOT BELIEVE IN SANTA Claus! You might-as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to Catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

"YOU TEAR APART THE baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, not even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

"NO SANTA CLAUS! THANK God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, no, ten thousand times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood." TO WHICH I APPEND THE comment made in former years: What an answer! It brushes aside the inconsequential fictions of materialism and goes right to the heart of the subject. Like a fresh, clean breeze, it dissipates the mists of misunderstanding and permits the truth to shine forth, clear and distance. It gives faith something on which it can take hold and discloses to us a meaning in life independent of the trappings in which we sometimes dress it up. It shows the perplexed parent a Way in which childish questions may be answered, and it may help to clear away some of the difficulties of the parent himself.

MENTION HAS BEEN MADE in this column of other occasions of the appreciative reception given by lovers of Ibsen to the translations of the three great Ibsen dramas, "Peer Gynt," "Brand," and "Love's Comedy," by Dr. Gottfried Hult, of the University of North Dakota. Since completing that trilogy Dr. Hult has translated two other Ibsen works, "The Pretenders" and "The Lady From the Sea." The latter translation was made at the request of Mrs. Hallie Flanagan, of Cassar, who is federal director of theatre projects. The translated play was recently presented at the Vassar theatre, and Dr. Hult has just received from the head of the institution a cordial letter of appreciation, saying: "You would have enjoyed the presentation of "The Lady From the Sea." It was splendidly acted, and your translation was regarded as superb."

DR. HULT'S TRANSLATIONS of Ibsen have attracted the attention of British critics, and in a recent number of the "Town and Country Review," of London, two pages were devoted to Dr. Hult and his work. Recognition is gives not only to the translations, but to Dr. Hult's original work in verse, of which several volumes have been published. Dr. Hult is now preparing for the press a volume of epigrams in verse in which are given, in cameo- like form, the authors observations on science, philosophy and other phases of the great cosmic pageant. The con- tents of this work have been selected from a vast quantity which has been accumulating for many years. TRADITIONS and customs have become associated with Christmas day and the Christmas season. Many of them are direct- ly related to the Christian faith, while others are of pagan origin. In many cases ancient pagan forms, many of them beautiful and impressive, have been retained and given new significance by having implanted in them elements derived from the story of Jesus. Without these traditions and customs Christmas would lose much of its flavor. With the day we associate the Christmas tree and the Christmas candle, holly and mistletoe the ringing of bells and the stinging of carols, and there is a great multitude to whom the Christmas season would not be quite complete without the opportunity to read or hear read that famous old poem "The Night Before Christmas."

THE AUTHOR OF THE POEM Clement Carke Moore, was born in New York in 1799 and died at Newport, R. I., in 1863 . He was graduated from Columbia in 1804, and, for twenty-five years served as a professor in New York General Theological seminary, occupying the chair of Biblical Learning and later changing to that of Oriental and Greek Literature. He published a volume of poems and was the author of theological treatises. Like the creator of "Alice" and invertor of her amazing and amusing adventures, this teacher of serious subjects is now known and remembered for an achievement of an entirely different type, a bit of verse which he probably regarded as of no consequence, but which is known and loved the world over. It has become my custom to publish that little poem sometimes during the Christmas season, and here it is again: THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings- were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her kerchief and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,— When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave a lustre of midday to objects1 below; When what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. With a little old driver so lively and quick I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers' they came, And he whistled and shouted and called them by name. "Now Dasher! now Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! on Cupid! on Donder and Bitzen! To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall! Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!" As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So up to the house-top the course they flew With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas, too. And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head and was turning around. Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddled just opening his pack; His eyes, how they twinkled; his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry; His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plum,—a right jolly old elf; And I laugher when I saw him, in spite of myself. A wink of his eye and a twist of his head Soon gave me to know there was nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle; And away they all flew like the down of a thistle; And I heard him exclaim, are he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night." IN ADDITION TO THE STACKS of Christmas cards which are received at this season from personal friends with whom some sort of contact is maintained, all of which are welcomed and appreciated, there come greetings from other friends with whom correspondence has lagged and then ceased, those who have been removed from one's immediate circle, but from whom a word of greeting revives pleasant memories. How often does one exclaim: "Why, here's a card from old Tom! I haven't heard from him for years, and I've often wondered what became of him. The old rascal! It's mighty decent of him to let me know that he hasn't forgotten me. And the old clump doesn't even send his address!"

CHRISTMAS ALSO BRINGS occasional messages from strangers. One such greeting comes from Rev. Frederick Eugene Farrell, now of Minneapolis, whom I never met, to the best of my recollection, although he spent many years in North Dakota as a medical missionary, in educational work, and as publisher of several old-time newspapers. Last fall, at his former home in the Ozarks, Mr. Farrell was guest at a dinner given by old friends in honor of his 75th birthday anniversary. A booklet issued on that occasion outlines the story of his colorful life.

MR. FARRELL WAS BORN IN New York, and spent his childhood in Georgia, where his father was in a soldier hospital, incapacitated for life by wounds received in the Civil War. During one year of that Georgia life he did not see a white child, and, what would seem more tragic to most children, he did not have an opportunity to visit a candy store.

GOING THROUGH THE Public schools and entering college, he took a medical course and then moved west, where, by turns, he was pioneer guide, teacher, county superintendent of schools, lawyer, rancher, doctor, and preacher. During the Riel rebellion of 1885 he lived among the Metis and Ojibway Indians along the Canadian border. Later he was Indian agent in reservations in Oklahoma, Montana and Nebraska, and still later he spent several years in the Ozarks. At intervals of his other work he engaged in newspaper work. He published the Devils Lake Globe at Grand Harbor, Ramsey county, in 1883 and 1884, and he also edited papers at Dunseith and Rolette. Looking back upon a life so crowded, he writes: The cup of my life was full always. Much more than I ever dreamed to aspire as mine became my portion in abundance, and above the gifts given to other men."

THERE IS A STORY IN "GOOD Housekeeping" of the first meeting of Rudyard Kipling with Theodore Roosevelt. At that time Roosevelt was police commissioner of New York city, and had attracted attention by the vigor with which he had undertaken the cleaning up of the city. Kipling wished to meet him, and a mutual friend arranged that they should lunch with him at an exclusive club.

BEFORE THE THREE HAD been seated five minutes, says the magazine writer in describing the incident, Roosevelt was pounding the table and telling how thankful he was that he had no English blood in his veins; and Kipling was giving Roosevelt his full, frank and free opinion of the men, houses, shops, street cars, noises, and particularly the children of America.

THE HOST WAS HORRIFIED, and expected the board of governors of the club would discipline him for bringing such loud and quarrelsome persons to the club. Less than an hour after the luncheon the host received a telephone call from Kipling thanking him for a most delightful hour. "This man Roosevelt,” he said, "is the first American I have met who has a mind of his own and isn't afraid to speak it." Roosevelt that he had seldom enjoyed an hour so much. It was a great pleasure to him, he said, to meet a man with opinions which he was not only able but willing to defend against all comers.

AT CHRISTMAS TIME THE mail carrier has a real job, and one wonders how he manages to stagger under the loads that he carries and to sort out and deliver accurately the thousands of pieces of mail which he must handle every day. This interesting description is given of the manner in which the Chinese postman, traveling by water, performed his duties about a century ago:

"IN THE PROVINCE OF CHEkiang letters were carried in what was called the Flowery Foot-boat, for the reason that it was gorgeously decorated inside and out with scenes and figures. The captain, or postman, sat in the stern, working his oars with his feet, steering by means of a rudder handle under his arm, and meanwhile cooking his food, eating, drinking, smoking, playing the flute, and singing songs to cheer his weary round." Probably when his day's work was done the Chinese postman rested up while taking a nice little boat ride.

THE NAME WHICH WE GIVE to our postal service is derived from ancient Rome, whose governors established posts or stations where couriers were kept in readiness to carry messages to and from distant parts of the empire. Those, however, were military dispatches or other official communications, and it was not until many centuries later that government agencies were used for facilitating private correspondence.

PROBABLY FAIRLY Comprehensive systems of carrying official messages have existed as long as organized government itself has existed. There are records of such systems in Persia and in China as far back as 1000 B. C. There has been deciphered as courier's statement relating to the carrying of messages in Egypt, during the period of the Ptolemies, in 259 B. C. This gives the number of messages received by the king and addressed to each of his ministers, with the number of men employed in the service and their hours of labor.

WHEN PIZARRO INVADED Peru in the 16th century he found there a well established postal service, used, as in all other countries at that time, for official messages only. In the early centuries of the Christian era similar services were established in Britain and on the European continent, and in some cases private as well as public messages were carried upon the payment of a stated fee for the service. In Great Britain the regular postal service for the carrying of private letters was established under the reign of James I, and in 1656, under Cromwell, an act was passed fixing the rates of postage for Great Britain and Ireland. For a ordinary letter the rates ranged from 2 pence for 7 miles or less to 14 pence for 300 miles or more. These rates were not materially changed until 1840, and the high rates held down the volume of correspondence.

IN 1837 ROWLAND HILL Began his agitation for cheap and uniform postage, and in 1840 the uniform rate of one penny wag established for carrying a letter anywhere in the kingdom. That movement revolutionized the whole postal service. In early colonial times Massachusetts had a postal service, with a sliding scale of rates. This was adapted for the United States by Benjamin Franklin, and the uniform rate was not adopted until 1847, following the adoption of penny postage in Great Britain.

PREPAYMENT OF POSTAGE as a general practice is also of comparatively recent origin. Rowland Hill devised the first adhesive stamps to evidence prepayment, but it was through several stages that prepayment of the minimum rate was made compulsory, and for a long time prepayment might be indicated by having the word "paid" stamped on a letter instead of by having a stamp affixed. Before prepayment became obligatory many persons were subjected to great annoyance by having frivolous messages addressed to them without postage. The addressee might refuse the document, but in doing so he might be rejecting an important communication for which he would be willing to pay.

OUTSTANDING AMONG THE decorations of the season is the Christmas tree, whose lights give color to the night and whose green foliage in the dead of winter suggest the persistence of life and its triumph over the elements which would destroy it. For week or two windows are gay with the colors which art has given to its lighting system, and trees still growing on lawns have been decked out in all the colors of Christmas activity. There are families in which the preservation of Christmas trees decorations has become a tradition. Years ago, under the promptings of thrift, decorations were stripped from the tree and stored away carefully to do duty the next Christmas. This process was repeated year after year until, to the children of the family, the tree would not have seemed quite properly trimmed unless it bore the identical star, the same angel and some of the same glittering baubles which they had known from infancy. There are cases in which some of the same decorations have done duty through two or three generations and are still in service.

IT IS WELL UNDERSTOOD that the early Christians knew nothing of Christmas trees, and is not many years since their use was vigorously condemned by Christians of the straiter sect as relics of pagan superstition. It is to paganism that we owe the use of the evergreen tree for symbolic purposes. As with many other customs, practices in which were interwoven ancient folk lore persisted through the centuries and were given new meaning in the light of new faith.

THE GERMAN LEGEND OF St. Boniface which is published in the Christmas number of the Salvation War Cry, while historically is accurate in ascribing Christian origin to the use of the evergreen for symbolic purposes, is nevertheless one of the beautiful legends which have grown up around this pleasing Christmas custom.

ACCORDING TO THE Legend St. Boniface, with a company of missionary followers in traveling through Germany came upon an assemblage where the pagan priest Hunrad was about to sacrifice a young boy to his gods at the base of a great oak under which many similar sacrifices had been made. As Boniface, or Winfried as he was called in Germany, approached, the priest raised a heavy hammer with which he was about to strike the child. The rest of the story I am quoting from the War Cry:

WINFRIED'S HEAVY STAFF smote the hammer with wondrous skill and caused it to glance sideways, so that it struck sharply on the edge of the altar and split in twain! A shout of mingled joy and awe rose from the watching crowd. As the shout died away, the leaping flames of the great fire revealed Winfried standing upon the altar. Conflicting shouts and counsels rent the air, but at last Gunhar's voice obtained silence with its stern command: "Let the stranger speak!" "This is the counsel," said Win-fried. "Not a single life shall be blotted out in the darkness tonight,, but the great shadow of this tree which hides you from the light of heaven shall be swept away forever. For this is the birth-night of the White-Christ, Son of the All-Father, Savior of mankind. Since He has come to the world all bloody sacrifice must cease. The power of Thor, the cruel and evil one, is broken." The people stirred uneasily. Hunrad lifted his head muttering: "Thor! take vengence! Thor!"

WINFRIED BECKONED TO Gregor: "Now, young woodman show thy craft. This king-tree of the forest must fall, and swiftly, or all is lost." Clang! Clang! The strokes rang out on the cold night air. Then the greatest wonder of Winfried's life occurred. Out of the still winter night, a mighty rushing noise sounded. A strong whirling wind gripped the oak by its branches and tore it from the roots. Backward fell the great tree groaning and crashing as it split asunder. Winfried turned to the awestruck people and cried: "Here is timber, already felled and split by the hand of God. On this spot you shall build with it a church to the White-Christ.

"AND HERE," SAID HE, HIS eyes turning to a young fir tree straight and green, that grew amid the divided ruins of the fallen oak, "here is the living tree, with no stain of blood upon it, that shall be a sign of your new worship. See how straight it points to the sky! Let us call it the Tree of the Christ Child. Take it and carry it to the Chieftain's hall." So they took the little fir tree and carried it to Gunhar's home, made happy again by Bernhard's rescue. There they kindled lights among its branches, and amid their flickering, Winfried told again the story of the Holy Babe of Bethlehem. So began the beautiful custom of the Christmas tree. NOBODY KNOWS Positively in what year the poet Horace was born, but those who have studied the subject have agreed on the year 65 B. C. as the most probable date, and accordingly the year 1935 has been observed as the poet's bimilllenial year. Arithmetical precisionists now object that we are a year ahead of time, and that 1936 will be the 2000th year since the poet's birth. A t first that doesn't seem to make sense. If we add 65 B. C. to 1935 A. D. the sum is undoubtedly 2000. The catch comes in the fact that in our style of computation there is no zero year between the two periods. The year 1 B. C. is followed by the year 1 A. D., which justifies the objections which have been raised.

SOME YEARS AGO AN Amusing case occurred in connection with a spurious manuscript. Mechanically the former did a fairly skillful piece of work, but he dated his manuscript in some year "B C.," forgetting that the ancients did not use dates looking forward toward an event which had not yet occurred.

PROBABLY MOST OF US quote Horace without knowing it. Many of his sayings have become so much parts of our common speech that they are used naturally and unconsciously without thought of their origin. Horace was the man who said that the mountain labored and brought forth a mouse; that sometimes even Homer nods; that if you drive nature out with a pitchfork it will come back; that pale death with equal assurance approaches the palace and the hovel; that black care ever rides .behind the horseman; that a man, change; skies but not the cast of his mind when he crosses the sea; that there were brave men before Agamemnon; that stout hearts are clad in triple bronze; that it is pleasant to cut up a bit on the proper occasion —desipere in loco; that it is pleasant and honorable to give up one's life for one's country. Old Osborne in "Vanity Fair" had that motto inscribed on the tablet to his son George, who fell at Waterloo. IT IS A COMMON Observation that most of us remember things that never happened. There s, for instance, the case of the old cobbler of Concord, Mass., who at the age of 86 is still operating the shop which he and his father opened in 1865. Among the customers whom he remembers were Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wore a No. 10 shoe, Bronson Alcott, who came to buy shoes for himself and his little daughter, Louisa, author of "Little Women," and Mrs. Hawthorn, who bought shoes for her husband, Nathaniel.

SOMEONE HAS BEEN Checking up and finds that Hawthorne died in 1864, a year before the shoe shop was opened, and that in 1865 Louisa M. Alcott was 35 years old, and that she would be more likely to be buying shoes for him than he for her. However, the old shoemaker is probably quite honest in his recollections. As a boy of 16 he had been familiar with Hawthorne and might easily be confused in the matter of dates. As to Professor Alcott, it would be quite in keeping with that absent-minded philosopher's habit to drop into the shoe shop to buy a pair of shoes for his little daughter, forgetting that she had grown up and become famous during the past 30 years or so.

FEW PERSONS REALIZE THE manner in which the northwest was covered with rust spores during those critical weeks last summer. During the two weeks of worst infestation United States pathologists found that rust spores were being deposited over Minnesota and the Dakotas at the rate of about 1000 per square foot per day. Those spores were carried by the wind from areas farther south where they had matured. Northerly winds during that period would have saved the spring wheat areas in, the United States and Canada hundreds of millions of dollars. AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE Christmas season reminds one of how families become scattered. A card comes from a brother in St. New Brunswick, who lived for several years in Vancouver, B. C. A nephew sends greetings from the mining country which, on the map, seems only a few miles from Hudson's bay. A cousin whom I haven't seen for more than half a century bids the family a "Merry Christmas from San Diego, Calif. Family greetings come from old Ontario. Others of the tribe, when last heard from were in Cleveland, St. Louis, and I know not where else. This takes no account of others with whom contacts are more frequent, and who, themselves, are pretty well distributed. Some day our grandchildren will be bumping into strangers who are their own kith and kin and they will never discover the relationship.

MANY RADIO LISTENERS heard the Christmas greeting of King George to the people of his far-flung British dominions. That greeting, like others from the same source, had a peculiarly intimate quality which must have made a wonderful appeal to those to whom it was addressed, and which served as a striking illustration of the re- lationship between the British sovereign and the British people.

IN THE PHRASING OF THE address the term "my people" took on more than a formal and official meaning. It expressed the concept of a real relationship. There were expressions of profound gratitude for the good wishes that had been showered upon the king and "my dear wife" on the occasion of the recent jubilee; of the sympathy ex- pressed upon the death of "my beloved sister;" and of the messages of congratulation and good will which attended the marriage of "our son." And in closing the king sent to all in his dominions a message of affection from "myself, my wife and our children."

IS THERE ANOTHER RULER who could have spoken those intimate words so appropriately, or from whom they would have been received with feelings which reciprocated his own? Certainly a parallel cannot be found in any of the greater nations. In a republic the president is honored as the head of the state, and he may be held in affection because of his personal qualities. But presidents come and go, and traditions do not grow around them and their families. Even in the days before European thrones toppled one after another and dynasties went into exile, the monarch was largely the symbol of military power rather than of personal affection.

THE BRITISH MONARCHY IS an institution which has become rooted in British consciousness, and its roots seem to have taken stronger hold because of the vicissitudes through which it has passed. And it is undoubtedly true that King George has endeared himself to his people by his abstention from partisan controversies and by exemplifying in his own life those qualities which represent the best that there is in the life of the people.

SEVERAL YEARS AGO AN engineer proposed a method of replenishing the Great Lakes and stabilizing their level which attracted considerable attention at the time, but which was laid aside after brief discussion. The plan was to build dams across two or more of the rivers which flow northward into Hudson's bay, and by backing them up across miles of low, flat country, to divert their flow into Lake Nipigon, and thence through the present natural outlet, into Lake Superior.

THAT, IT WAS POINTED OUT, would result in flooding a large area of land which is principally marsh, uninhabitable, and having no known value. Precipitation through that area is great, and it was calculated that the volume of water diverted would be sufficient to solve all the problems of lower levels and to provide Chicago with all the water which that city has demanded for drainage navigation and power purposes.

THERE HAS RECENTLY been some fresh discussion of the subject, and it is interesting in that connection to note an editorial in the Chicago Daily News, whose publisher, Colonel Frank Knox, will be the principal speaker at the meeting of the North Dakota Press association in January. In spite of Chicago opposition the Daily News has been a supporter of the St. Lawrence waterway project, and in the recent editorial ridicule is heaped on the Chicago contention that American interests in Lake Michigan would be endangered by the completion of the waterway. Without passing on the merits of the Lake Nipigon plan the News treats it as a subject meriting consideration. THE LINDBERGHS SPENT their Christmas at sea, away out in mid-Atlantic, the only passengers on a slow freight ship, housed up in a small cabin, with waves pounding against the sides of the ship and rain washing its deck. Their tiny quarters were comfortable and were made festive with Christmas decorations, and they had the courteous attention of the ship's officers, but of associates of their own group there were none. There must have been regret over the absence of friends, over inability to join in the festivities of the multitude. Yet there must have been also in that great waste of waters a sense of peace and security, a feeling of relief in the knowledge that no prying eyes were watching and no malignant forces conspiring to bring fresh sorrow.

SOLITUDE, HOWEVER, IS relative, and one may be alone when in the midst of a crowd, and when no others are visible he may be communing with the gods. After Lindbergh's famous flight across the ocean much was made of the afct that he went alone. This brought from the New York Sun the following editorial, which has been quoted many times, which was printed on the paper cover of Lindbergh's book "WE," and which seems appropriate just now:

ALONE? "Is he alone at whose right side rides Courage, with Skill within the cockpit and Faith upon the left? Does solitude surround the brave when Adventure leads the way and Ambition reads the dials? Is there no company with him for whom the air is cleft by Daring and darkness is made light by Enterprise.

"True, the fragile bodies of his fellows do not weigh down his plane; true, the fretful minds of weaker men are lacking from his crowded cabin; but as his airship keeps her course he holds communion with those rarer spirits that inspire to intrepedity, and by their sustaining potency give strength to !arm, resource to mind, content to soul. "Alone? With what other companions would that man fly to whom the choice were given?"

DR. J. F. CONDON—JAFSIE TO you—is going into vaudeville. An advertisement to that effect appears in a theatrical magazine, and in due course the Bronx doctor will be exhibiting himself before gaping crowds and capitalizing to the extent of a few dollars the notoriety that he gained through his connection with the Lindbergh case,

THE CASE OF DR. CONDON is a perplexing one, and it seems to owe its perplexity to its very simplicity. In no responsible quarter has a doubt ever been expressed as to the doctor's integrity. Colonel Lindbergh himself, who, it may be assumed, had the man investigated thoroughly, has expressed complete confidence in his good faith. But an honest man may do some very foolish things.

DR. CONDON SEEMS TO BE an amiable old gentleman with a penchant for straightening out the complicated affairs of his neighbors, a passion for publicity and an insatiable appetite for applause. Until the Lindbergh tragedy he was unknown outwise of his own little neighborhood, where he was regarded with mingled respect and mild amusement. The tragedy cast opportunity for greater publicity in his way, and notoriety seems to have gone to his head. He has basked in the light which has been shed upon him, and undoubtedly he will enjoy the further publicity which his stage appearance will give him. Just why crowds should go to see a foolish old man who talks too much is a mystery, but they will.

ANOTHER MAN WHO HAS talked too much is the governor of New Jersey. It is a part of his duty to see that justice is done m the case of persons accused of crime. If he felt that a personal interview with a condemned prisoner would aid him in the performance of that duty, it was incumbent on him to hold that interview, either at midnight or any other hour that he found convenient. The fact that he had made such a visit could scarcely be kept secret, but! it was incumbent on him to give his half-formed impressions and partial conclusions to the world to serve as the basis for further morbid gossip and wild speculation. The governor has apparently failed to realize that when one has nothing of consequence to say it may be a good plan to say nothing.