Demareaic Alcan,
Bellefonte, Pa., September 1, 1922.
seman
THE FOXY GAMBLER.
By L. A. Miller.
Some play for gain; to pass the time, oth-
ers play
For nothing; both to play the feol, I say;
Nor time nor coin I'll lose, or idly spend;
Who gets by play, proves loser in the end.
Heath’s Clarestella.
Somehow, there is a fascination
about gambling that is perfectly irre-
sistible to many. It becomes their
ruling passion and usually ends in ru-
in.
Drunkenness, rowdyism and general
wickedness are associated with gamb-
ling, especially when cards, dice and
similar devices are used. This is true
in a measure, but does not apply to
all phases of gambling, because pro-
fessional gamblers, as a rule, are gen-
tlemanly in appearance, strictly sober,
the soul of honor in personal matters,
and unselfish. This may seem like
giving very good characters to very
bad men. If it does it is the fault of
the facts, for it is well known that the
head men in the profession as a rule
do not drink and their words are as
good as their notes.
These men make gambling their
business, and do not want to be held
responsible for the conduct of their
patrons. They say that they take a
man’s money with his consent; after
giving them a chance to take theirs.
It is simply a game of chance, and if
the people want to play it profession-
al gamblers offer them the opportuni-
ty. They argue, and with a good deal
of force, too, that their business is no
less respectable than that of the sa-
loon keeper. His patrons are, if in
any degree different, worse than gam-
blers. He takes their money and gives
them in return that which is worse
than nothing, and offers them no op-
portunity to get even; yet the saloon-
keeper occupies a higher plane in so-
cial life than the gambler.
It is probable that the saloon keep-
er gets some of his respectability from
the manufacturers and wholesale deal-
ers in liquors, who are generally
wealthy and influential, both in church
and State. The gambler has no back-
ground of this kind to soften his
odious features. Were all those who
play in games of chance grouped un-
der the general head, “gamblers,” as
all who handle intoxicating drinks are
called “liquor dealers,” there would be
some show for the despised portion of
the profession.
A man of passable appearance can
get along almost anywhere as a
“liquor dealer,” but the lines of an
elegant looking, amiable, cultivated
man are narrowed almost to the
minimum if he is known to be a gam-
bler. This is another evidence that
there is something in the name, and
it also shows that the masses do not
care to look into the merits of things
before condemning or endorsing them.
One sin is winked at, another endorsed
and another tabooed, just as they hap-
pen to strike the public.
ever thus, and ever thus it probably
will be.
It is not the intention to defend the
gambler against the charge of being a
nuisance and a curse to any communi-
ty, but merely to call attention to the
fact that he is no worse than others
who enjoy the reputation of being
more respectable and more trustwor-
thy. It is true that he feeds and
thrives upon the hard-earned or ill-
gotten gains of the dissipated, reck-
less and immoral, but in that he does
no more than many others. It is
wrong, very wrong, for him to do so,
but in point of fact no worse than for
any other person to take them with-
out giving a fair equivalent. That
which encourages idleness tends to de-
prave the mind and impair the man-
liness in man is bad and ought to be
fought down as though it were a pesti-
lence. Pestilence it is, in fact. What
can be more ruinous to a community
than a disposition on the part of the
young to be idle? What greater ca-
lamity could befall the morals of a
community than wide-spread deprav-
ity and what could strike the State
with more paralyzing effect than a
general decadence in manliness?
There seems to be an inborn desire
in man to get something for nothing.
That this is wrong in principle is
clearly shown in nature, as all of its
laws, great or small, are based on the
principle that there must be causes
tor al effects.
This applies to all phases of life
from the microbe to the elephant; man
is not an exception, as some would
like to believe. Even the sloth that
so much loves to sleep, and so despises
exertion or activity, is compelled to
quit its quiet, cozy retreat and bestir
itself in quest of food. Man alone, of
all the animals, hopes to be able to
live without work. He is continually
on the alert for the chance to profit by
the labor of some one else. Why
should he be so disposed? There
seems to be no other reason than that
this is one of his depraved tastes.
These were given him that he might
have something upon which to exer-
cise his will and show his ability as a
free agent.
No Flies in Alaska.
Everybody knows that mosquitoes
are a frightful pest in Alaska; but it
is news to learn that houseflies do not
exist there.
This interesting fact was definitely
ascertained by Dr. J. M. Aldrich, of
the United States National Museum,
in the course of a recent expedition
which he made for the purpose o
studying Alaskan insects. :
He found two entirely new species
of mosquitoes. Horse flies were abun-
dant everywhere. But there were no
houseflies. In vain did he explore
grocery stores, restaurants, canneries,
garbage dumps and other likely plac-
es for them. :
The fact is that the housefly is by
origin a tropical insect. It cannot en-
dure cold weather. In temperate lati-
tudes a few houseflies manage to live
over the winter in heated houses—
enough of them, that is to say, to start
a fresh crop in the following spring.
It has. been. |
f | to ask in regard to fractions,” said a
WHO DWELT HERE BEFORE THE
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS?
There is a widespread and generally
accepted belief that grains of corn
found in the prehistoric cliff-dwellings
of the Southwest will sprout if plant-
ed.
Recently Dr. J. Walter Fewkes,
chief of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology, thought he would try this out
with some seed corn which he found
in a cliff-house in Southern New Mex-
ico. There was a lot of it, on the cob,
in a stone-walled chamber which had
evidently served the purpose of a
granary. He planted some hundreds
of the grains, but they refused to ger-
minate. They were some centuries
too old—presumably dating back to a
period long before Columbus landed.
The Bureau of Ethnology, by the
way, is most anxious to secure the
preservation of the great Cahokia
Mound, near St. Louis, which it re-
gards as comparable to the Egyptian
pyramyds in archeological interest. It
is the largest earthwork in the United
States—100 feet high, 1080 feet long
and 710 feet wide—and covers sixteen
acres. Rising in the midst of a level
plain, and rectangular in form (its
sides facing the four cardinal points),
it is wholly of artificial construction.
This earthwork, the greatest monu-
ment left behind by the prehistoric
mound builders, was formerly sur-
| STATE HEALTH INSPECTORS
rounded by about seventy lesser
mounds, some of
feet high. Some of them were rec- |
tangular and others circular. They
have been mostly destroyed by the!
plow.
In earlier days there was near the
city of St. Louis an ancient mound of |
oval shape, 319 feet long and 158 feet |
wide. The city crept over it, and in
1869 it was destroyed. Inside of it |
was found a burial chamber seventy
feet long, originally built of logs, over
which earth was thrown. The cham-
ber contained human remains in the
last stages of decay, together with
vast quantities of shell beads and oth-
er articles.
The labor required in the building
of these mounds must have been ener-
mous, and it is manifest that ancient-
ly the neighborhood was the gather-
ing place of a numerous people. But
who were they? A lost and vanished
race that preceded the Indians, or the
ancestors of our present-day aborig-
ines?
Such mounds are scattered by
thousands all over the United States
—though no group of them is compar-
able in importance to that of Cahokia
and another presently to be mention-
ed, in Wisconsin.
In a group of mounds near Chilli-
cothe, Ohio, hundreds of skeletons
were found wearing copper masks.
The Indians long before Columbus
came knew how to obtain copper by
building a fire about a piece of rock
containing the metal and pouring wa-
ter upon the hot stone, thus casuing
it to split in fragments.
Many of the mounds in the Wiscon- ;
sin group, above mentioned, represent
lizards, birds and other animals. Hun-
dreds of them are in bluffs overlook-
ing the Mississippi river, and there!
are hundreds more across the river in
Iowa. They are supposed to be em-
blematic-and to-stand for the “totems”
of different clans. Thus the bear clan
built mounds in the shape of a bear,
the snake clan chose the form of a
serpent, and so on. Some of these
mounds were sites for council-houses. |
The biggest and most celébrated |
snake mound is in Licking county, |
Ohio. |
|
i
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BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
What is your favorite book ? “Little
Women,” Louisa May Alcott’s story of |
childhood life in New England, heads |
the list of twenty-five “best books” for |
country school children in the first to |
eighth grades, as chosen by the Amer-
ican Library Association and the Na-
tional Educational Association.
“Alice in Wonderland” comes sec-
ond; “Robinson Crusoe,” third; “Tom
Sawyer,” fourth, and “Treasure Is-
land,” was fifth.
The remainder of the list follows:
Nicolay, “Boy’s Life of Abraham Lin-
coln;” Kipling, “Jungle Book;” An-
dersen, “Fairy Tales;” “Aesops Fa-
bles;” Pyle, “Merry Adventures of
Robin Hood;” Lamb, “Tales from
Shakespeare;” Malory, “Boy’s King
Arthur;” Van Loon, “Story of Man-
kind;” Wiggin, “Rebecca of Sunney-
brook Farm;” Stevenson, Burton E.,
“Home Book of Verse for Young |
Folks;” Dickens, “Christmas Carol;” |
Irving, “Rip Van Winkle;” “Mother |
Goose;” Dodge, “Hans Brinker;” |
Hagedorn, “Boy’s Life of Theodore |
Roosevelt;” Hawthorne, “Wonder
Book;” Sexton, “Wild Animals I Have
Known,” and the “Arabian Knights.”
mr eet.
Senator Stanley quotes—he
does not make himself responsible for
the figures—the statement that 15,
000,000 persons in this country are
living on taxes. Two tax-payers sup-
port one tax eater. The figures may
be high, but the number of persons
supported by the Federal and local
governments are enormous and the
Senator is quite right in saying that
it is due to the extension of the gov-
ernment in every direction. We are
becoming a bureaucracy. We are
governed by commissions. We are |
putting on the government a lot of
duties that we should perform our-
selves, or that ought not to be per-
formed at all, and of course we have
to pay roundly for it. President Hard-
ing and Governor Miller, of New York, |
have recently emphasized this.
Suitable Answer.
“Now, boys, I have a few questions
teacher. “Suppose I have a piece of
beefsteak, and cut it into sixteen piec-
es, what would those pieces be call-
ed?”
“Sixteenths,” answered one boy
after meditating a moment.
“Very good. And when the six-
teenths were cut in half, what would
they be?”
There was silence in the class; but
presently a little boy at the bottom
put up his hand.
“Do you know, Johnny?”
“Hash!” answered Johnny confi-
which were forty |=
dently.
BUSY IN MINERS CAMPS.
Fifteen cases of typhoid fever have
developed in miners camp No. 2, lo-
cated near Palmer’s mines, German
township, Fayette county. State
Health Department nurses have been
sent to the camp and the county med-
ical director, Dr. O. R. Altman, is giv-
ing these people medical attention.
124 people are living in this camp
and at the time of the first inspection
by sanitary engineers of the State
Health Department, on July 28th,
water and sewerage conditions were
found to be bad. Water had to be car-
ried from two springs in a nearby
village, and as the springs had been
condemned by the department engi-
neers, the people were told to boil it.
A follow-up inspection on August 1st
found conditions better, yet a few
days later typhoid was upon them and
as most of the cases were walking
about when the Health Department
people got there, it is believed that |
before the outbreak can be stopped |
other cases will develop incident to in-
fection dating back a week or more.
The foreigner does not become “sick
in bed” until he is no longer able to
stand up,
Sanitary engineers of the depart-
ment have inspected 70 camps occu-
pied by families of 621 miners, total-
ing 8704 individuals. In 41 camps
the water supply was bad; in 50 the |
sewage disposal inadequate, and in 2
there were general unsanitary condi-
tions. In every instance the labor
leaders are helping to secure good wa-
ter and proper sewage disposal.
In addition to the organized camps
there are single families here and
there living in pitched tents, and min-
ers who own their own homes take
other families in, producing serious
overcrowding. The State Health
Commissioner says the people living
in tents are better off. They, at least
get plenty of fresh air and it is pos-
sible for sanitary officers to keep a
close watch for the appearance of
sickness.
Doctors Lead in Suicides.
Physicians head the list of suicides
for 1921 in the United States, among
all the professions, according to a ta-
ble published in the current issue of
the New York Medical Week. The
number of doctors whe committed su-
icide in 1921 is given as 86. Judges
are second, with a total of 57, follow-
ed by 37 bank presidents. Twenty-
one clergymen killed themselves, 10
editors, 7 mayors and 7 members of
Legislatures.
The writer considers these figures
an indication that the occupational
strain is greater in the medical pro-
fession than in any other.
THE log-cabined, snake-fenced,
corn-shocked farm of the pio- AC
neer has been replaced by farming
on a more permanent, more profit-
able basis. Well-appointed homes,
concrete fence posts and concrete
barns and silos spell prosperity
and comfort.
Bankers today acknowledge the
financial assets in proper farm
Your building material dealer
has largely influenced this change.
He can advise you wisely on your
future building, can give you plans
that mean greater pros-
is years of experience are
part of the materials he sells you.
For over a quarter century he has
known Atlas Portland Cement,
“the Standard by which all other
makes are measured.”
and hel,
perity.
The Atlas Portland Cement Co.
Sale: 3
New York — Ges Ofc = Philad elphia
Mills:—Northampton, Pa.
Hudson, N. Y.— Leeds, Ala.
“The Standard by which
are measured”
all other Makes
» pel
& PORTLAND ©
ATLAS
HTT
pes |
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Hundreds of
livery costs
desired.
Buy a Jord |
ES TRU [TE
of users in practically
every line of business are
cutting haulage and de-
One-ton Trucks. Let us
show you why and how.
No obligation. Terms if
Beatty Motor Co,
BELLEFONTE, PA.
F.O.B.
DETROIT
ny,
Thousands
with Ford
SILK HOSE
Ladies’ $2.50 black and
tan Pure Silk Hose re-
duced to
$1.50
Yeager’s Shoe Store
THE SHOE STORE FOR THE POOR MAN
Bush Arcade Building 58-27 BELLEFONTE, PA.
EXCEPTIONAL
Money Saving Opportunity
Come to the “Watchman” office for High Class Job work.
Lyon & Co.
We are selling all merchandise now at strtling
low prices.
CHILDREN’S SCHOOL DRESSES.
One lot of Gingham Dresses, sizes 6 to 12, worth
$3.00 to $3.50, now $1.25 to $1.75
LADIES’ SUMMER VESTS.
Swiss lisle ribbed Vests, small sizes only, values
35¢. to 50c. now 20c.
LADIES’ GINGHAM DRESSES.
In checks and stripes that sold at $3.50 and $3.75
now $2.50.
SWEATERS.
Slip over Sweaters, all colors, all wool, now $2.50
to $3.50.
COTTON DRESS GOODS.
36-inch Percales, light and dark, 18c.
All colors Dress Ginghams, 25c.
WOOL DRESS GOODS.
All the new weaves and colors in the sport
cloths, Tweeds, Homespun and Diagonals, 58-inch
wide, $2.50 and $3.50 per yard.
SERGES.
All wool Serges, all colors, from $1.00 up.
NEW FALL COATS AND SUITS.
We are showing advance styles in the new mod-
els Coat and Suits, at wonderful low prices.
SHOES.
Shoes for men, women and children. See our
line of School Shoes for Boys and Girls. Ladies’ new
tan Sport Oxfords, that are worth $7.00, now $5.00.
Mens dress and work Shoes in this money saving
sale.
Lyon & Co. « Lyon & Co.