Bow Bellefonte, Pa., January 2, 1925. SS THE HOME OF THE EUROPEAN BISON. It is doomed—the home of the Eu- ropean bison. The Bison bonasus, which has existed there in numbers since the mammoth and the rhinoceros were common in Europe, until almost the present year. And it has been stated that a few, very few, are still to be found in the depths of their an- cestral breeding-grounds—the Forest of Bialowieza. Soon; however, ‘the _ axes of timber-fellers will be i the silence resound in this, the oldest and the greatest of forests in Europe. Here in Lithuania is the last refuge of the auroch, as some term the Bi- son bonasus. For centuries the forest of Bialow- ieza was the private hunting domain of the Polish kings, and then of the zars of Russia. The Russians, since the middle of the eighteenth century, gave great attention to the raising and preserving of the auroch, the true strain of the European buffalo, and a herd of between 700 and 800 head was in existence at the outbreak of war in 1914. When, however, the German in- vaders occupied Lithuania, though a pretense was made of protecting the bison, it amounted to no more than a pretense. So many of the magnificent animals went to form butcher’s meat that in December, 1918, only some 140 survived. What the invaders had commenced, the peasantry finished. With the de- parture of the troops, the peasants at once started to slaughter the buffa- loes. In many parts of the fringe of the forest the animals were looked up- on as an hereditary foe, owing to their depredation of crops, which they pre- ferred to their rough pasturage. It has been stated that in September, 1919, the last of the mighty, wild bi- son, so famous in history, story, and legend, was killed to fill the family- po It has also been reported that a ew—a very few—still survive in the fastnesses of Bialowieza. Anyhow, the operations of the Lon- . don corporation, that has obtained concessions to fell and market the tim- ber of this and other national forests, will in time disclose if any of the au- rochs do yet exist. The Germans, however, have had al- lies assisting in the work of killing off the last herd of the Bison bonasus— the congener of the North American buffalo. Count Potocki possessed a . famous ancestral herd of its species, but the Bolshevists, not content with the destruction of human institutions and human individuals, deliberately exterminated this historic and irre- placeable remnant. The reason they advance is characteristic. It is that, because there was net enough of the poison for all men, no man ought to have any poison at all. Luckily, the Bolshes cannot succeed in wiping out the wild buffalo of the Caucasus. These frequent the wood- ed parts of the nigh inaccessible mountaia-slopes, and also the in- accessible valleys situated where rise the head-waters of the Bjeleis, the Kischa and other rivers. It is a wild . country, some thirty miles long from’ - east to west, and about fifteen to six- - teen miles in width from north to south. As quick in pace as any horse, and outvying the chamois in climbing and daring, the Caucasus bison, exceed- ingly wary, with extraordinarily keen senses of sight, smell, and hearing, very seldom falls to the gun of even the native hunters. Though it appears identical with the auroch of Bialow- ieza Forest, this buffalo remains to- day, as three hundred years ago, much of a mystery animal as to its habits and particular characteristics. For- tunately, its home no mercantile or any other company can ever put to destruction. It is said that twenty millions of fur-bearing animals each year are caught and tortured to death in steel traps. Many of the trappers visit their traps only once in three or four days, leaving the animals: there to suffer and die of starvation or freez- ing. One trapper has said that about one-third of the animals he catches have but three legs, the other having been gnawed off by the animal in or- der to escape when caught in a trap at some previous time. It is no worse to kill an animal for its fur than it is to kill it for food, but if the animals . that are killed for food were caught in traps and left there to suffer for hours and days something would be done about it and something ought to be done about this cruel custom of trapping. The snaring of wild ani- mals and birds has been stopped by legislation and trapping ought to be stopped by the same means. Well, some one may say, people will buy and wear furs and you can’t stop it. Then let the fur-bearing animals be raised on farms as other domestic an- imals are raised and put to death in a more humane manner and there would be no further need of traps.—G. B. F,, in our Dumb Animals. A New Herd Head at State College. The dairy department of The Penn- sylvania State College recently leased from I.V. Otto, Carlisle, his Holstein herd sire, Lothian DeKol Korndyke. This bull is one of unusually good type and comes from a high produc- ing line of ancestry and his daughters are making exceptionally good records in the cow testing association. Lothian DeKol Korndyke is sired by K. P. B. A. Fedora King, one of whose daughters produced 22,702 pounds of milk and 1,091 pounds of butter in a year as a four and one-half year old. This was the eighth highest record in that age class in the United States when the record was made. The dam | $300 of Lothian DeKol Korndyke has a fine Jeary record of 984 pounds of butter n a year as a three and one-half year old. At the time the record was made it stood seventh in that age class. ‘She produced 102 pounds of milk or 51 quarts, in one day. | Beualiaint ~—1It’s all here and it’s all true. ‘FOREIGN SHIPPING. Detroit sent its first ship to a dis- tant foreign port recently, when the steamer Onodaga, of the Ford Motor company’s fieet, sailed for Buenos Aires. It carried a cargo of manufac- tured automobile parts, the first of the kind ever exported direct from any Great Lakes port. Departure of Onodaga created a fu- rore in the offices of the customs offi- cials at Detroit, where clearance pa- pers were issued for the first time to a ship sailing to a foreign port. Ap- plication for the papers presented the officials with something new so far as the port of Detroit is concerned, there was a hurried perusal of records and rules governing the issuance of such papers. - : In starting the Onodaga on its voy- age to South America, the Ford Mo- tor company inaugurates its own ex- port and Atlantic coast shipping. It is a new and noteworthy development in the automobile industry and one in which the Ford company, with its own ships, uses the Great Lakes as a gate- way to bring it into closer relationship with its foreign branches. Due to the fourteen-foot draught of the St. Lawrence river locks, the Ouo- daga left Detroit with a cargo of around 1800 tons. When the addition- al cargo is loaded at Montreal, the Onodaga will have on board manufac- tured parts for 2100 Ford cars in ad- dition to a shipment of service parts. The cargo is consigned to the Ford branch at Buenos Aires. ; The steamships Onodaga and Onei- da, which during the summer carried coal north and lumber from the Ford mills in northern Michigan to the Riv- er Rouge plant, enter the coal serv- ice, leaving the two larger ships, the Henry Ford II and the Benson Ford, on the Great Lakes for carrying iron ore, lumber and coal. : 3 The Oneida began loading at the River Rouge plant the day the Onoda- ga sailed and will carry Ford car parts in bulk for domestic use. After taking on only sufficient cargo to per- mit passage through the St. Law- rence, the Oneida sails for Norfolk, Va., where the remainder of the cargo will be loaded. The Oneida will then sail for Jacksonville, Fla., New Or- leans, La., and Houston, Tex., deliver- ing shipments to branch assembly plants of the company in those cities. Both the Onodaga and the Oneida will during the winter season, make their home port in Norfolk, Va., where a Ford assembly branch was recentiy completed. BOULEVARD STOP LATEST. Harrisburg, Dec. 11.—An amend- ment to the Motor Vehicle act that will go far toward reducing the aceci- dent rate in cities will be supported by the Pennsylvania Motor Federa- tion at the coming session of the Leg- islature. The Department of High- ways, Motor Vehicle division, will ask for th eamendment, which provides for the amendment, which provides “Boulevard Stop.” Officials of the Highway Depart- ment and of the motorist’s organiza- tions who have observed the working of the “Boulevard Stop” in Cleveland and other cities believe that its adop- tion will result in materially reducing the number of accidents at intersec- tions. Its adoption will necessitate a modification of the present “right of way” law where the latter would con- flict but it is believed that the motor- ing public would appreciate the change and rapidly become accustom- ed to it. It is understood that the law would be mandatory upon the cities. If adopted, the “Boulevard Stop” would first require that cities name certain main thoroughfares as “bou- levards.” Then all motor vehicles ap- proaching these boulevards on inter- secting streets or highways would be required to come to a full stop before crossing or entering the boulevard, regardless of direction or destination. A white line with the word “Stop” is painted across the intersecting street at a point 12 or 15 feet back of the curb line of the boulevard, thus af- fording all drivers on either highway ample time to see each other. ns ——— A ——— Real Estate Transfers. Anne T. H. Henszey, et bar, to Hel- en Wood Morris, tract in State Col- lege; $800. Ellis L. Orvis, et ux, to Helen E. Dale, tract in Bellefonte; $12,000. Elias Confer to John W. Confer, tract in Penn township; $150. W. F. Wolf, et ux, to Shady Nook Rod and Gun club, tract in Penn town- ship; $100. Centre County Commissioners to Whitmer Steel Co., tract in Gregg township; $31. L. F. Mayes, treasurer, to S. D. Gettig, tract in College township; $4. L. F. Mayes, treasurer, to S. D. Get- tig, tract in College township; $6.43. L. F. Mayes, treasurer, to S. D. Get- tig, tract in College township; $14.20. D. M. Packer to Anne E. Gardner, tract in Liberty township; $10. Joseph M. Reifsnyder, et ux, to S. G. Snook, tract in Millheim; $800. Adam H. Krumrine to Anna H. Foekenthal, tract in Ferguson town- ship; $225. James J. Markle, et al, to Irvin M. Harvey, et al, tract in State College; $5,000. Samuel Klinefelter to Philip Storch, et al, tract in Potter township; $550. E. R. Taylor, sheriff, to Stover G. Snook, tract in Millheim; $2,425. Anne T. H. Henszey, et bar, to R. te, tract in College township; 9 . L. E. Kidder, et ux, to John E. Gra- ham, et al, tract in State College; $1. Charles H. Kephart, et ux, to Non- za Kephart, tract in Rush township; George B. Harshbarger, et ux, to Harry F. Harshbarger, tract in Walk- er township; $4,000. : . =A drunken Congressman once said to Abraham Lincoln: “I.am a self-made man.” “Then, sir,” replied Honest Abe, “that relieves the Lord of an awful responsibility.” NEGRO’S CHEMISTRY ASTONISHES AUDIENCE. Dr. George Carver, a negro profes- sor of Tuskogee Institute, and son of an ex-slave, in speaking before the Women’s Board of Domestic Missions of the Reformed church of America held at the Marble Collegiate church, New York city, astonished the large assembly with his discoveries in agri- cultural chemistry. He brought exhibits of his discov- eries from the Alabama school found- ed by Booker T. Washington, show- ing how he had produced 100 useful products from the sweet potato, in- cluding rubber, coffee, candy, dyes, and | paste, paint, starch, vinegar, ink, shoe biacking and molasses, and 165 pro- ducts from the humble peanut. He said ‘that his discoveries were a di- rect revelation from God, that he had no great mind, and that he never used even a book in his laboratory. He said the moment God revealed a dis- covery to him the method came with the idea. In half an hour after the idea was revealed to him he produced the yolk of an egg from a Porto Rican sweet potato. It was brought out at the meeting that although Dr. Carver was poorly paid he had refused the offer of a princely salary from Thomas A. Ed- ison, who wished to have the profes- sor join his laboratory staff at Or- ange, N. J. He also has refused of- fers from others, preferring to re- main with his own people and help them solve economic conditions in the south, A large factory is now being erect- ed outside Tuskogee, where paint is to be produced from the sweet potato. “I’ve never received any money for my discoveries,” Dr. Carver said. “Somebody who had benefited by one of my products from the peanut sent me $100 the other day, but I sent it back to him.” His most important and most re- cent discovery in a peanut product is a pulmonary remedy, which he re- vealed at the service for the first time. While Dr. Carver would not admit that he was on the trail of a discovery for the cure of tuberculosis, he declared that his new product, which he called a creosote solution, was a step forward for the treatment of all pulmonary troubles, and that it was a food as well as a medicine. He showed that it was perfectly easy to emulsify creosote with the peanut product. The whole difficulty in chemistry up to now, he said, had been to find something with which creosote would mulsify. Some in the audience tittered when the professor began to talk about the peanut. First he showed how, with the arrival of the boll weevil evil, the South was looking for some other money crop than cotton; then the sweet potato left the soil useless while the peanut fertilized it. He also recommended the peanut as a muscle builder to those who wished to avoid fattening products like the sweet potato. i “I reckon some of you folks don't. think so much of the peanut,” he said. | “Why, I've discovered 32 different kinds of milk in the peanut and rich- er than cow milk. ! He told how in the clay of the country around Tuskogee he had dis- | covered 300 different colored paints, | one of them an Egyptian blue, of the | ancient Egyptians, and the making of which was a lost art. A plant is to be built, he said, to produce paints from this clay. A year ago Dr. Carver won the Spingarn medal, presented annually for the most distinguished achieve- ment by an American citizen of Afri- can descent, It was from his discov- eries that the government made sweet potato flour during the war. He is a member of the Royal Society of Arts, London.—Ex. Seventeen Million Spent on Road Repairs. Approximately $50,000,000 will have been spent during 1924 by the State Highway Department when the year closes, Secretary of Highways Paul D. Wright declared in a statement on the department’s finances, made public. More than half of this amount, or approximately $26,500,000 represents expeudiiures for road construction, he said. - The balance, $23,500,000 is the cost of maintenance, grade crossing elim- ination, culverts and bridges, admin- istration and similar expenses of the department. Of this sum, $19,750,000 will have been derived from various license fees, fines and other sources, and the remainder from revenue from certificats of title issued after Novem- ber 15th, this year, receipts from 1925 license fees, unexpended balances of old general fund appropriations and similar sources. Classification of the expenditure of the $23,500,000 was given as: Gen- eral repairs, resurfacing, replacement, ete, $17,612,704; grade crossing elim- ination, culverts and bridges, $1,488,- 585; administrative expense of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and equip- ping and operating of the highway motor patrol, $1,700,000; purchase of supplies, equipment, rentals, general administrative and office expenses of the department, $2,818,709. The Art of Giving Information. . When you are asked for informa- tion, give it not only accurately but pleasantly. All of us are familiar with the grudging manner of the clerk who looks in another direction and mumbles so that his words can hardly be understood, when we ask the way to the glove counter. Some people excel in the art of giving information, for they give not only information, but good cheer and kindliness along with it. Their manner implies pleas- ure in being able to do us so small a favor. And when we encounter one of this sort, we wonder why this gra- cous kindly art has not become uni- versal. _ Difference. Teacher— “What is_ the = difference between ammonia and pneumonia?” Bright Pupil—“One comes in bot- tles and the other in chests.” [SERGEANT HAS ATTRACTIVE J03 Nothing at All to Do and Has Private to Do It for Him. New London, Conn.—When {it comes to sitting pretty on the top of the world and letting your feet hang down, Sergt. Joseph Eros, United States army, stands in a class by himself. He has nothing whatever to do, and an enlisted man to do it for him. That situation, as any buck pri- vate would testify, is as close to heaven as any sergeant has a right to hope to get. Sergeant Eros commands the gar- rison of Fort Mansfield, a sea coast fortification a dozen miles east of here at Watch Hill, R. I. Further- more, he and his lone private, Harry Dell, constitute the whole garrison. It is doubtful whether any other sergeant anywhere is as well-found as Sergeant Eros. To plant the soles of his garrison shoes on he has 96 acres of reservation—48 acres for each foot. To shelter his head he has no less than 29 buildings, including officers’ quarters, barracks and hospital. He has an extensive system of water- works and sewers, a network of macadam roads and a good half mile of granolithic walk along the ocean front. lie has a large parade ground to march on; an elaborate though dis- mantled system of electric lights, and a perfect maze of buried telephone and telegraph cables. Battery of Eight-Inch Guns, To defend himself. his private and his country, he has three batteries of eight-inch guns, two emplacements of rapid firers, a mine central station and emplacements for mammoth searchlights. Of course, he also has certain re spounsibilities. As sole fount of au- thority in the fort he is not merely commander, but also personnel officer and material officer. He is perpetual officer of the day and officer of the guard. If he should find it necessary to go into action, he would be fire commander, support commander, mine commander, communication officer, range officer, emplacement officer, mine field officer, battery commander, signal officer, ordnance officer, observ- er, plotter and gun pointer, unless he let Harry Dell do the pointing. But Harry himself would be fairly busy as gun-pit detail, azimuth setter, eleva- tion setter, powder-serving detail, truck detail, sponge detail and range and deflection recorder, besides serv- ing as orderly, running the search- lights and answering the telephone. In these piping times of peace, of course, Sergeant Eros’ duties are a little less onerous, though at that he naturally holds a long list of the spe- cial ratings peculiar to his highly technical branch of the service. He is, for instance, the post sergeant major of Fort Mansfield and its elec- trician sergeant, ordnance and quar- termaster and commissary sergeant, signal sergeant, mine sergeant and chief mine planter. "Has Time for Family. When he isn’t tinkering round with one or another of these jobs or in- specting Harry Dell, or drilling Harry fn company formation, or making the rounds of Harry when Harry is stand- ing sentries, Sergeant Eros relaxes in the bosom of his family. For he is a married man, with his wife and little boy installed in one of the residences on officers’ row which suits their fancy. And he gets a fair amount of re axation, for Fort Mansfield, a quar- ter of a century ago an up-to-date fortification defending the eastern en- trance to Long Island sound, is now practically abandoned, though a re- cent survey has been carrled out by engineers who suggested the reserva- tion would make an ideal aviation station. It consists of a crescent-shaped seninsula, some three miles long and a few hundred feet wide, which juts ut into the sea as a continuation of the Watch Hill bathing beach. Be- fore the fort was built the long sandy strip was known as Napatree Point. Skirted on the south by Fisher's Is- land sound and on the north by Lit- tle Narragansett bay, the peninsula forms a natural breakwater. Its real- ly beautiful harbor would form a safe haven for flying boats, with full pro- tection from the tempestuous seas that sometimes roll in from the At- lantic there. And the land strip is wide enough and smooth enough to accommodate planes with wheeled landing gear. i Like Deserted Village. In its present condition Fort Mans fAeld makes one think of Goldsmith's deserted village. But the government engineers had an enormous job on their hands when they converted the extensive stretch of ‘sand dunes into what was at that time a modern forti- fication. Work on it began about 1898 and a garrison first occupied the place in 1901. When it was abandoned in 1911 three batteries of stone and ce ment had been built and armed, the largest with two eight-inch guns. The lest company to occupy the post was the KEighty-first artillery, with a strength of 101 men and 20 officers. On the land approach to Fort Mans field thiove is. still a sign, somewhat weantherheaten, warning visitors not to enter the reservation without ob- taining a pass or permit. - The im. pression thus given that the fort is still doing martial business at the old stund Is quickly dissipated by a tout] of the grounds. The masonry of the emplacements is beginning to crumble. The big guns have all been disman- tled and shipped to other stations, and the water hydrants are smoth- ered in grass and brambles or half buried by the march of shifting sagd. A heavy breakwater of planks and spiles has protected the ocean fron- tage fairly well, but some of the big seas have washed over it and under- mined the buildings. The granolithie walk has also come in for its share of damage, having been so thoroughly undermined that it suggd®ts a recent earthquake. No Use Longer as Fort. The fort was abandoned because there is no real need of big guns there today. The long-range monsters mounted at Fort Wright, island and at Forts Michie and Terry, on Gull and Plum islands, fully com- mand the eastern and southern ap- proaches from the Atlantic. A few months ago the reservation was offered for sale for $90,000. Citi- zens of Westerly, R. I, were inter- ested, and for a time it was thought the peninsula would be converted into a recreation park or a cluster of sum- mer homes. But nothing definite was done, and recently it was announced the government will retain its whole holding of 96 acres. : Sergeant Eros was glad to hear that. Even with the terrific load of mixed responsibilities and duties under which he staggers, he has become at- tached to the fort, and would hate te leave it. Private Harry Dell reseryes his opinion for home use. Naturally, as a lone enlisted man exposed to the full and undivided attention of a whole sergeant, he is no chirping op- | timist. But even Harry has his brighter days. Every now and then Com- mander Eros writes a pass for Ser- geant Eros, and the Robinson Crusoe of Fort Mansfield takes the missus and kid and goes to the mainland for a day off, leaving Harry Dell in full charge. Weather Forecast Used to Guide Churchgoers Washington.— A minister using weather forecasts to fit the attendance to the capacity of his church and the services to the mood of the congrega~ tion as affected by the weather, is the latest way In utilizing the govern- ment’s prognostications that has come to the attention of the weather bureau officials here. The pastor of a large church in one of the country’s large cities, whose | edifice is unable to hold all that cone in “good church weather,” but which fs not filled in" inclement weather or fine outdoor weather, telephones the forecaster at the local weather bureau office every week for Sunday's weath- er prospects, If the forecast Indicates weather good enough for church, but not for golf or motoring, publicity through the newspapers is curtailed and no at- tempt is made to Increase the attend- ance, as the church will be crowded to capacity without such efforts. But if stormy or very fine weather is in prospect, special announcements of sermon and attractive musical pro- grams are made in the newspapers and every means is used to arouse in- terest. - Chinese Magistrate Sells Opium as Cure Nanking, China.—The magistrate of Chinyanghsien recently confiscated large stores of oplum in his baillwick, and his praises were sung far and wide by the people of the province. They had been compelled by force to cultivate the poppy and subjected to heavy fines and taxation, and they be- lieved the magistrate was seeking their welfare. Subsequently the magistrate put on the market some pills which he ad- vertised as a sure cure for the opium habit. For this he received renewed plaudits and his pill business pros- pered. Then it was discovered that all the fines collected for trafficking in opium went into the maglistrate’s pocket and that he used the confiscated drug to make his “antiopium” pills. As pun- {stment, when the authorities learned of his double dealing, he was warned to take his pills off the market. Roosevelt Service Flag Given Museum Oyster Bay, N. Y.—The service flag which hung from Sagamore Hill, home of the late Theodore Roosevelt, during the World war has been presented to the memorial museum at Roosevelt house, New York city. The flag, measuring 8 by 4 feet, and of the familiar red and white design, has four blue stars worked in the cen- ter. It fluttered from an upper win- dow of the colonel’s Oyster Bay home. It was placed there the day of enlist- ment of the first member of the fam- ily and not removed until the last of the Roosevelts returned from overseas service, The four sons were all decorated for bravery in action. Two of them were wounded and one killed. 4,050 Japs Enter Hawaii Honolulu.—Japanese last year again greatly outnumbered other aliens in seeking admission to the Hawalian Jdslands. In the 12 months ending {June 83, 5,134 allens were admitted fto the islands, according to the an- {nual report of A. Ii. Burnett, chief of ‘the immigration office. Of these 4,050 were Japanese, Including 501 “picture brides.” Most of the rest were Chi nese and Koreans, RIA Fisher's : straight. drone of the ' stillness. | faithfully on in silence at the com- WHERE ELEPHANTS ARE LOGGERS. It seems strange to most of us to learn that in the same land where the | ferocious elephants trumpet defiance “in the jungle, supreme among the wild : beasts, they have also been trained to act in the same capacity as does the , modern iron tractor in America. In- ‘stead’ of feeding a machine so many gallons of gasoline a day, the animal lumber lifters consume so many tons of hay each day. But, since hay is cheaper than gasoline in the land of the elephant loggers, and since they + are able to toil each working day from I sun up to sun set, sweating in the heat of the long dry season and float- {ing about in tae sticky mud of the wet JONSSON Season, they perform a serv- e which no machine coul be. Sircamstantes, 3 go mader nd the elephants are not only faith- ful toilers, but they do an aim oun of work in a day. For exam- » & crew of seventy elephants - ed twenty carloads of Bory logs Hh miles in a dozen hours. This is more work than several tractors, of the most proved type could do. : urma, India’s northern 'OV- inces, the Dutch East Indies and Siam where the major portion of the world’s. valuable teakwood is harvested, are found great herds of trained ele- phants, doing all the logging, and per- forming many tasks about the saw-- mills. Teak is one of the highest quality timbers in the world. It is al-- most as pliable as cane, nearly as hard and tough as metal and is the only mod. which the white ants do not de-- When a great tree has been : and cut into logs, the En Jelie drivers come on the scene. Lines are. put upon the logs, and the elephants haul the logs to the river bank, to be: floated down stream to the sawmill, . One of the most picturesque sights in the world is the elephant loggers. found working about the great saw- mills at Rangoon. Logs “arrive from the upper reaches of the great Irra- waddy River, chained together in great booms. The great animals take these logs out of the water and pile them along the bank, or wrag them to. the sawmill to be cut into lumber. In ; all, some 100 elephants are here busi- ly engaged for eight hours every | working: day in the year, under the i leadership of Joe, the king elephant logger, who though he does no actu- al work, is in fact the foreman of the herd, and sees to his job in an almost human manner, making the elephants. perform their work and do it in good time. When the whistle blows at starting time, Joe slips along the lines: of elephants, to superintend the set- ting out for the morning’s work, and in less than three minutes the "hun-- dred or more animals are on their way id the ‘inlet, where they toil in two. . One line of elephants walks he- inlet, the other from it, Et ae: continuous movement exactly like an endless chain. Each elephant picks up in his trunk a selected log and car- ries it to the pile his driver indicates. There he deposits the log on the pile. , He then walks to the end of the pile- and sights along to see if the log is on If it is not, he solemnly . walks back and nudges it into posi- . tion with his trunk and then goes back and takes another squint to satisfy himself that the log is on straight. The elephants pile the logs according ; to size, without any suggestion from the kesres, whose only task is to keep the animals a certain dis in the line. tahes aan Unlike the American sawmills, the- yards in India are quiet, save for the- great saws breaking the The giant beasts labor mand of the mahout, or driver, who sits upon the animal’s back, lookilg- quite like a little boy perched on a load of hay. He prods the animal in the back with an iron rod or kicks it: with his feet to make it understand his command, the elephant making" quick response by doing as told. Of course, the animals do not instantly turn about, for they are great lum- bering beasts, and it takes time for- them to comprehend an order and a. little longer to get under motion, but. it is interesting to note how respon- sive they are to orders. : i Big Joe, the boss elephant is also- the trainer, and there are young ele-- phants being trained by him to per-- form their duties. He has been in this. lumber yard for more than sixty years, while many of the toilers who labor under him have been faithfully under his command for fifteen to- twenty-five years. When the noon hour whistle sounds: shrilly through the yard for dinner, the elephants are just as responsive as to the mahout’s commands. They , instantly leave whatever they are do- ing, no matter where they may be, and walk off to the feeding lot. If an elephant is in the water carrying a. great log in his trunk, he just drops: it with a resulting splash; if he hap- pens to be dragging a log to a pile,. he quits right there, and if he is pil-- ing the log on the log heap, he refus- es to even stop to straighten it. When the afternoon whistle sounds the mes- sage that it is time to get to work, the elephants all go right back to where- they left off and pick up the log or: straighten it on the pile. The elephants lift the great logs out of the water with their tusks and drag" them to the pile by winding their: trunks about them, or placing them underneath the log. The animals walk on the uneven log roads as if they were traveling on the finest pavement, and manage their great bulky legs and broad pads of feet with perfect sureness. It would be impossible to train the ; African elephants for such work, due: to their ferocity and lack of intelli- gence. But the elephants of India’s jungles show intelligence in every move and glance. These . animals weigh about 8,000 pounds, or four tons each, and are worth from $1,200 to $1,500 untrained. After Joe has: trained them to work in the logging camp or lumber yard, they cannot be bought at any price. ~The forthcoming incomeé tax blank might be appropriately referred to as the wealthy man’s cross ‘word puzzle: of the greatest ingenuity.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers