A AR RP ES RE NRE Eee _— Bellefonte, Pa., January 23, 1925. WRITERS DIFFER ON REAL “ROUGHNECK” One Explanation Does Not Seem to Satisfy. The Klondike poet, Robert W. Serv- ice, who has a prodigious reputation among American university graduates, hundreds of whom cam quote pages and pages of his verse, has finally launched a work of prose fiction called “The Roughneck.” I have often meditated on the origin of that word, and the paper jacket, which incidentally is full of other in- teresting information, gives Mr. Serv- vice’'s explanation: “1 think the or- igin of ‘The Roughneck’ dates back to the time when to shave the back of one’s neck was a sign of sartorial grace. In my early Alaskan days ev- ery barber would ask you if you want- ed a ‘neck shave,” and not to have one put you in the category of those who were Indifferent to their appearance, or too unsophisticated to conform to the fashion of the day. You were a man with hair 6n his neck; in brief, a roughneck. The fashion soon passed but the expression remains.” Now when I was a boy, my virgin aunt, who, like all virgin aunts, knew far more about the world and was far more in sympathy with it than one’s mother, said to me emphatically: “Don’t you ever allow any barber to shave the back of your neck.” She knew. Whatever may later have been the reversed dynamics in Alaska, she knew that a man whose neck was shaved was outside of the pule of pe lite soclety. I was particularly interested in Mr. Service's explanation, for during the iast 20 years in these United States, my observation proves just the oppo- site. I have never seen a genuine tough who did not have the back of his neck shaved. And 1 divide all barbers into two classes—those who, without asking you, attempt to shavé the back of your neck, and those who would no more perpetrate such a monstrosity than they would shave off your ears. It is, as Barrie's policeman would say, a test absolutely “infallible.” No New York or Boston barber has ever done any necking on me; but in every small town west of Buffalo, unless 1 am alert, I get a large dose of lathex _ under the cerebellum. But how In the world did Aunt Lib- bie know this test 45 years ago? That was some time before Mr. Service was born,—William Lyon Phelps in Scrib- fner’'s Magazine. Who Am I? I have scattered bread crusts, egg ghells and paper plates from the Rio Grande to the Great Lakes. I have hacked trees and broken down farmers’ fences from coast to coast. I have hooked peaches from a Georgia orchard and pecans in south- ern California, apples from the beau- tiful Genesee valley in New York and _Aantaloupes from a Colorado truck patch. 1 have thrown tin cans into the Grand canyon and empty bottles into Niagara's roaring tumult. I have seen all, heard all and In my weak way have managed to destroy niuch, I am the American tourist.—Blaline O. Bigler in Judge. Athletics for Babies A gymnasium for bables has been opened In Berlin by a former physical f{mstructor in a Potsdam military school. “Every six-months-old baby should do five to ten minutes’ dally egercise with its mother or nurse,” sald the instructor. “If my advice were followed, the appaling number of eripples In this country would be great- fy diminished. Regular graduated ex- ercises ensure harmonious develop- ‘ment, correct posture, and firm bones.” The gymnasium, with {ts furnighings of miniature swings, ladders and bars, {8 for the professor's older pupils— that is, those from eighteen months to five years old. The Reason Why There is an excellent reason why electric service companies bulld their steam-driven generating stations on the shore of a river, lake, bay or har- or. For every pound of coal burned {in the furnaces of such stations, near- iy a half ton of water is needed to condense the steam produced after it tas passed through the turbine which turns the electric dynamo. At one such steam-operated electric generat- {ng station in the South alli of the water of a sizable river Is diverted trom the river bed and passes over the condensing pipes of the plant's bollers. New Safety Lamp The United States bureau of mines has approved a new type of electrls safety lamp for miners, which pro- duces three times as much light as pre- vious types, while the battery and lamp together weigh but a third as much as the older designs. A speclal famp is used and if It is broken electricity from the two-cell alkaline battery is automatically cut offy Coaling Big Liner An idea of the enormous amount 01 coal carried by the glant ocean liner may be gained from the fact that 300 men working from four to four ana one-half days are required to coal the Olympic. Comfort and Elegance in Revolutionary Days Those who are under the impression that our Revolutionary ancestors spent their daily lives without the comfort which helps to make life more worth while are in error. The articles of household ware, for instance, used by them were abundant, various and serv- iceable, The bed and all that appertained to | it were the pride of the mistress of the house. It was almost invariably of sweet, soft and downy feathers; its sheets were of fine “homespun,” the blankets and rugs of “spotted woolen” and flannel; and the towering posts at either corner of the bed were gar- nished with snowy curtains of dimity. For table use they had napkins of linen and tablecloths of diaper; “di- aper-wove huckaback,” Kkersey and “damask plain and flowered.” The household goods and furniture of those simple times were in strong contrast with those now in use. China was as rare as gold and as highly prized, most commonly three china cups and saucers comprising the en- tire outfit of a respectable family, though the numbers rose sometimes to six, but seldom to a dozen. Pewter and copper were the orna- mental, and iron, then as now, the serviceable metal. Of the two former were made basins, ewers. mugs, por- ringers, ladles and tea and coffee ket- tles. There was little glassware in use, and the few “jelly glasses, half pint and gill glasses,” salt cellars, punch goblets and tumblers of glass were con- sidered unusual elegancies. Clocks and “looking glasses” embel- ished the houses of the wealthy, and the size of the “looking glasses” cor- responded with the degree of its own- er's social standing. Stoves were not in general use, ana coal was unknown except for black- smithing purposes; wood, charcoal and turf were the only fuel. Wood was Just beginning to be burned in “frank- lins,” but generally was used in fire- places, which were provided with dogs and andirons, and in kitchens were huge saverns garnished with a forest of chains, pothooks and trammels, swinging on fron cranes or “smoke Jacks” over fires that were fed by great logs. Civilizations Compared “Nations and individuals are judgea by two factors—their virtues and their vices,” writes Achmed Abdullah, dis- tinguished novelist and playwright from the Orient, comparing the Last and West, in Hearst's International. He says: “I asked myself: Did the Europeans dve up more to the altruistic teach- ings of Jesus than we to those of Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha and Moses? Were the teachings of Jesus more apt to lead His followers in the golden path than those of the other great Prophets? Did the Europeans have finer loyalty than the Arabs, finer filial piety than the Chinese, finer fam- ily cohesion than the Jews, finer sex morality than the Jews, finer char- ity than the Parsees? “My answer was—=still is—'No!' ana { challenge anybody above the level of asinine bigotry te show me where 4 am wrong. “Looking at the other side of the medal : were the unwashed of Calcutta dirtier than those of Liverpool? ere the perverts of Bokhara more degen- erate than those of Naples? Were the murderers of Canton more blood-thirs- ty than those of Paris? Were the saber-rattlers of Constantinople more arrogant than those of Berlin? “Again my answer was—still is— “No Pp ” Boys Chief Stutterers ior every girl who stutters there are five or six stuttering boys. Dr. James Sonnett Greene of New fork, medical director of the National hospital for speech disorders, explains this curious fact In writing for Hy- “gela, health magazine, published by the American Medical association. Girls, as a rule, talk more than ooys and, therefore, get more practice In speech production, Doctor Greene states, Although it is generally con- ceded that girls are more nervous than boys, yet the girl is more capable of maintaining her co-erdination under emotional strain because she is natu- rally more graceful-and her co-ordina- tion more complete. For that reason it requires an ex: ceptionally severe shock to cause her to lose her standard, hesitate and stutter. Sure to Succeed Original men are not content to be governed by tradition; they think for themselves, and the result is that they succeed where others fail. Now, a certain photographer never days to a woman customer, “Look pleasant, madam, if you please.” He knows a formula infinitely better than that, In the most natural manner in the world he remarks: “It is unnecessary to ask you to look pleasant; I am sure you could not look otherwise.” Then click goes the camera and the result is never in doubt.—Philadelphia Ledger. Blind Ex-Athlete Elected Perry T. W. Hale, a Yale football star twenty years ago, and an All- | American center at the time, but now i totally blind, has been elected tax collector of Portland, Cenn., getting the support of all parties and factions practically. He lost his sight in an explosion about fifteen years ago. He i will keep his records in the Braille | system af raised letters and figures, PROTESTS AT YOKE IMPOSED BY COLLAR Writer Demands Justice of Makers of Neckwear. Styles change faster in collars than anything else that men wear. cellar trust evidently figures that sales can be increased by rapid alteration I» names and shapes. Many men find this a nuisance, as they often cannot buy ready to order the collars which they like best, Girard remarks in the Philadelphia Inquirer I wonder if the collar trust is right in its figuring? Some things which are deemed most essential change once where a silly collar name or eighth of an inch ip width may change fifty times. Take cigars and cigarettes. A man will smoke one brand ten years and never desire a change. Only a simpleton would try to im- prove a beefsteak by calling it some thing else. Leading bakers may hold to a cer- ‘ain recipe for bread for a generation. Your favorite salad dressing may be forty years old, and I suspect the mak- ers of fine cheese would hang anybod» who meddled with their formulas. The highbrows in art crave only old styles in pictures, furniture, rugs, po»