THE SACRED TOAD THAT
WEEPS TEARS OF BLOOD.
Curio dealers of the Southwest an-
nually sell to tourists thousands of
horned lizards, the sacred toads that
weep tears of blood. This is an abom-
inable traffic, viewed from whatever
angle. The tourist buying a live liz-
ard has a creature doomed to an early
death. It is unreasonable to expect
that little creature to live in captivity
out of its environment. The purchas-
er of a dead specimen has no better
excuse. The demand of the curio
dealer took the little animal out of
its field of usefulness forever. Sure-
ly any one knowing the horned liz-
ard’s place in nature’s plan of checks
and balances would hesitate to buy
when offered one as a curio.
The “horned toad” is a misnomer.
It is not even related to the toad fam-
ily. It is a lizard of the genus Phryn-
osoma, of which there are nineteen
known species and sub-species. All
but eight are found in the United
States, these eight being distindtly
Mexican.
The horned lizard has a flat, oval
body covered with keeled, spiney
scales and a circlet of horns upon the
head. Horns and scales are moult-
ed annually.
This lizard’s size varies according
to species. The pigmy hasa body not
larger than a thumbnail, while that of
the largest species may be four or
more inches in diameter. Its head
is short and somewhat triangular in
shape, with a sharp projecting margin.
The tail adds length, that, too, de-
pending upon the species.
The circlet of horns is a distinctive
feature of this lizard. On the de-
fensive it lowers its head and raises
its scaly back to receive any blow.
This circlet of sharp horns is a pro-
tection against its greatest enemy,
the rattlesnake. Dead rattlers have
been found with the horns of their
victims protruding through their
bdies. Others have been found with
the lizard stuck in the throat. Such
incidents were undoubtedly the basis
of the Indian tradition that a horned
lizard was able to burrow its way out
of a snake’s stomach.
The horned lizard is an expert at
camouflage. It is always the color of
the ground it inhabits. If on white
sand, it is very white; if on black, al-
most black; and those found amid
vari-colored rocks of mountain slopes
show red and sometimes blue. A
change of color, however, seems to re-
quire from one to two days.
The early settlers of the Southwest
called the horned lizard the “sacred
toad” because it “wept tears of
blood.” This is indeed a strange ha-
bit. The first indication of the phe-
nomenon noticeable is a swelling of
the eyelids so that they buldge from
the head. All the time the eyes are
tightly closed and the animal is per-
fectly quiet. Suddenly a fine stream
of blood shoots up from beneath an
upper eyelid, with force enough to
send it six or eight inches before
breaking into a spray that may reach
two feet. No one seems to know why
the lizard does this. Some claim it
is due to fear, while others argue that
it is the lizard’s defense. It appears
that the creature has the power to
increase the blood pressure in the
region of the eyes so that the veins
burst to release a shower of blood.
Not every lizard of this genus can be
induced to “weep tears of blood.” 1
found ecnly three out of a total of
forty-five examined.
There are in this world many peo-
ple who can see no reason for pro-
tecting any wild creature, especially
one not serving as food for man, but
there is a very good reason for pro-
tecting the horned lizard.
The sum total of our annual de-
struction by ants is an enormous one
in the Southwest. A great sum is
spent for control. Because ants sting
and contain a disagreeable acid, birds
and animals pass them by when in
quest of food; but there is one excep-
tion, the horned lizard. In early
morning the little animal may be
Seen near the entrance of an ant’s
burrow. As soon as an ant appears,
the lizard raises itself well up on its
legs to avoid being bitten, darts for
the ant to catch it on its viscid
{ongue, then settles down to swallow
and await another. Why the lizard
is not stung internally has not yet
been explained by science. No doubt
the lining of its stomach must be
particularly adapted to withstand the
poisonous sting of the ant. When
the ant stings the lizard externally,
the latter shows great discomfort. I
sonce put a lizard—with good inten-
tien—in an inclosure around an ant’s
burrow. The ants attacked it in force
.and would probably have stung the
lizard to death had I not released it.
How many ants does a horned liz-
ard require for a meal? No one
seems to know. Once I watched
while one gobbled up eighty when a
passing dog frightened the lizard
away. Think of eating eighty fiery
red ants! Evidently the ant popula-
tion of that particular burrow was
« exhausted, for two days later I could
‘find neither the lizard nor a single
ant. Had the ants of the burrow been
left unmolested they would have eat-
en every bit of vegetation within a
radius of ten feet.
The “horned toad” should be re-
qnamed “America’s ant-eater,” and its
destruction prohibited except when
really necessary for scientific research
to redound to its benefit and with a
view of conservation—By George
Ballard Bowers.
—It’s all in the “Watchman” and
it’s all true.
Since Volstead.
‘We see that the price of land along
the Canadian border has increased
thirty-two quarts an acre.—Washing-
ton Dirge.
A ————— A —————
—Get your job work done here.
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
THOUGHT.
DAILY
So much we miss
If "love is weak, so much we gain
If love is strong. God thinks no pain
Too sharp or lasting to ordain
To teach us this.
—Helen Hunt Jackson.
How would you help your child
to stand straight?
The old-fashioned way was to say
“throw your shoulders back” or even
take hold of them and pull them back.
Now we know that this is beginning
at the wrong place, that it not oniy
makes the child mad, but it jerks the
shoulders into a forced and tiring po-
sition and hollows the lower back tco
much.
Instead, begin at his feet, see that
he is toeing straight forward, tell him
to take hold of the floor with his toes
and push up the top of his head or
“grow tall.” As he does this, press
your right hand tightly against the
abdomen, your left hand as lightly
against his upper back and urge him
“up.” Mind you, not “back.” The
effort should be up, all the way from
the floor, arches, abdomen and top of
head, leaving the shoulders loose and
the chest moving with normal breath-
ing.
It may take a few minutes of your
precious leisure time to help your
child to good-posture habits, but these
few minutes will pay big dividends
in the future health, appearance and
happiness of your little one. For
“good posture,” some one has said,
“is essential to health, happiness and
success in life.”
You might, even if you “haven’t
time,” take the time to do this with
all the children once or twice a day,
as essential in the household routine
as hand-washing before meals.
It is difficult to have fresh, crisp
crackers always on hand, so instead
of rclling croquettes in: cracker-
crumbs roll them in crushed corn-
flakes, or bran. It gives a delightful
flavor.
A snap clothespin is very handy
around the cook-stove. Use it to
lift off hot kettle lids, pull hot sauce-
pans around in the oven.
Use a pen nib for removing stones
from cherries when preserving or pre-
paring canned ones for salads.
Use a strip of muslin tacked across
the top of quilts or blankets where:
they are apt to become soiled. This
can be taken off and washed as often
as necessary.
Use a pair of strawberry-hullers
for removing the eyes in pineappies.
If your clothes-closet is small and
you are short of space, get the wheel
off of-an old velocipede or wagon,
enamel it and attach it to a shelf or
rod so it will swing around. The rim
of the wheel will hold many hangers.
If you have a large kitchen, put
your work-table on casters. In this
way you can roll it to the stove, sink
or cupboard, thus saving many steps.
Keep the uneven strips of linen left
when you hem your new table-cloth.
Threads drawn from these are the
best possible for darning the table
cloth later.
A narrow shelf about three inches
wide, between other shelves in the
pantry used for small bottles and
cans, will save time hunting among
larger articles for them.
To get the flavor of onion in a
cooked food without the disagreeable
effect of pieces of the vegetables, cut
rather finely and put in an aluminum
tea-ball. The onion may then be
cooked with the food and easily re-
moved before serving.
The housewife who uses electrical
appliances should be familiar with
their construction in order to use
them most intelligently and to under-
stand their emergency repairs. Prac-
tically all electric toasters, hot-
plates, percolators, vacuum cleaners,
electric fans, etc., have a connecting
cord which bears on the other end a
plug with two prongs. This is so
made for a definite reason. The eleec-
tric current which we use in our
homes comes from the central dynamo
or supply station and follows a def-
inite circuit or path from the gener-
ating station to, through and from
the device. The current follows one
of these paths into the device, next
goes through the device, giving us
power or heat, and then leaves by the
second path, thus making a complete
circuit. If this path or flow of cur-
rent is brokep at any point, we have
what is called an open circuit, and |
our iron fails to heat or our toaster
lies dormant.
Of many causes for an open cir-
cuit or for the failure of an electric
appliance to work properly, the most
common is a fraying cord or a loose.
connection of the cord as it enters the
plug. This frequently happens with
the cord of an electric irom, percola-
tor or vacuum cleaner, or with the
cord used on a lamp connected to a
base-plug or other convenient out-
let where there is considerable pull
or strain on the cord itself.
Now, examination of any cord
shows that it is made up of two sepa-
rate groups of braided or twisted
wires called conductors, each conduc-
tor furnishing one of the paths over
which the electric current is received
and returned. Copper is used for
these wires and is stranded or twist-
ed together because it makes a flex-
ible and strong connection which may
be bent and coiled under a great deal
of average use without becoming
damaged.
—Macaroni sticks to the bottom of
the pan very easily if not stirred.
Try cooking it in a wire flour-sifter
in boiling water. It can be drained
without being removed to a colander.
—Place the lid to a glass baking-
dish across your recipe book. It holds
the book open perfectly, you can read
recipes through it, and it is a protec-
tion to the book.
—Sprinkle a little cocoanut on top
of meringue for pies or puddings. It
adds to the taste as well as to the
looks.
—The “Watchman” gives all the
news when it is news. Read it.
below.
3
Horizontal.
1—Two-wheeled vehicle
5—Branch
9—Distant
[2—Cognizant
14—Also
15—Fuss
16—Kind of nut (pl.)
18—Wicker container
20—Kind of duck
22—Vessels
23—To condemn
25—The point
27—Skill
28—Before (poetic)
29—Accessory for loading old-fash-
ioned fowling piece (pl.)
32—Part of to be
'33—To occupy a chair
34—Same as 28. horizontal
35—Three-toed sloth
36—Hastened
38—Burial vase
39—Watering place
40—Color
41—Insects
42—To break down, as an auto
44—Distributed
46—To swerve
48—Low, coarse
51—Part of to be
52—Drunkard
53—Coin of India
54—Carmine
55--To halt
56—Stingy
— ——
Nation-Wide Network of Gas Mains
soon to Replace Many Coal Cars.
Coal must continue to be the coun-
try’s chief source of heat, and with
waning supplies of oil and natural
gas, the efficient use of coal becomes
a matter of increasing economic and
social importance, declares Floyd W.
Parsons, in Nation’s Business.
“The idea of carrying heat units
about in trucks and buckets is no less
ridiculous in this modern age than ii
would be for us to revert to the prac-
tice of getting our water from a well
in the back yard,” he says.
“When a ton of raw coal is burned
in the average household furnace, on-
ly about twelve million heat units
are utilized effectively. But if this
same ton of coal is burned in a mod-
ern gas plant, at least twenty million
heat units are made available for
effective work. Millions of dollars
can be saved by producing all of our
heat units in great central stations
at strategic points instead of continu-
ing the present practice of having
small, inefficient, isolated gas plants
in cellars of our homes and other
buildings. If we are awakened to the
necessity of revolutionizing our fuel
practices, we shall develop a new
and great industry devoted to the
distillation of eeoal and the distribu-
ion of heat ummits.
“Every smoking chimney will rep-
resent an inexcusable attempt to
eoal, shut off God’s sunlight, and de-
stroy health and property. Instead
of the great users of heat regarding
coal as merely a minor factor: enter-
ing into their plans of production,
business it will be to make one burn-
The raw coal will start at one end of
these great refining plants, while out
Tomorrow
Alright
- RA vegetable
aperient, adds
tone and vigor to.
the digestive and
eliminative system,’
improves the
"tite, relieves cle
Headache and Bil-
fousness, corrects
Constipation.
AS
NR JUNIORS—Little Nis
One-third the regular dose, Made
of same ingredients, then candy
coated. For children and adults,
SOLD BY YOUR DRUGGIST
RUNKLE’S DRUG STORE,
waste the valuable constituents of"
the ultimate outcome must be the |
development of organizations whose
ing of coal answer for all purposes. :
HOW TO SOLVE A CROSS-WORD PUZZLE
When the correct letters are placed in the white spaces this puzzle
spell words both vertically and horizontally.
indicated by a number, which refers to the definition listed below the puzzle.
Thus No. 1 under the column headed “horizontal” defines a word which will mu
the white spaces up to the first black square to the right, and a number unde
“vertical” defines a word which will fill the white squares to the next black one
No letters go in the black spaces.
except proper names. Abbreviations, slang, initials, technical terms and obso=
lete forms are indicated in the definitions,
CROSS-WORD PUZZLE No. 3.
(©, 1925, Western Newspaper Union.)
Qotution will appear in next issue.
Solution to Cross-word Puzzle No. 2.
of the other will come gas, coke, elec-
tricity, oil, tar and fertilizer.
coming as a matter of sentiment or
merely because we feel an urge to
conserve our resources, but is being
forced upon us because it is the only
course of procedure that will insure
a
tion of a nation-wide network of
power lines to earry electric current,
we may build an equally extensive
system of pipe lines to carry gas. Of
course, there are difficulties.
the light of coming developments we
shall be amazed at the insignificance
of the problems that now defer us.”
The first letter in each word
All words used are dictionary words,
Vertical.
1—Bottle top
2—Reverential fear
8—A type of simple indeterminate
inflorescence with flowers at-
tached at intervals
4—String of cars
6—That thing
T—Crowd
8—Serpents
9—East Indian mendicants
10—One well versed
11—Decays
13—Terminus
17—Member of one house of con-
gress
19—To darken
21—Alcoholic beverage
23—Costly
24—Branch
26—Grower
29—River (Spanish)
30—Ordinance (abbr.)
31—Pointed piece of wire (pl)
33—Weighing instrument
35—Skill
'36—Accorded mercy
37—Boy's name
38—To unbind
39—To gaze fixedly
41—Photograph book
42—Mark left by wound
43—Minus
45—Atmosphere
47—Negative
49—Meadow
50—Lair
smut
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“Such a method of treatment is not
maximum of profits.
“Simultaneously with the construe-
But in
Complete with Chest
The tremendous response to our last Sale of VENDOME SILVER,
prompts us to repeat it for the benefit of folks who didn’t ‘“‘get in
on it.”” Vendome Silver is one of the most popular products of the
International Silver Company, world’s largest rnakers of Silver.
Vendome silver bears this well known imprint $zoczrs) and
* {carries an unlimited guarantee by the maker and this store;
SINGLE PIECES« 28% OFF
257"
Guaranteed Without Time Limit
Sale starts tomorrow—for one week only. It offers
you in Vendome Table Silver—unusual ut
coupled with marked utility—at an extremely
attractive price. Every piece has an extra heavy
silver sectional plate on all parts most exposed to
wear
Distinchive Rultern
TABLE SILVER
26-PIECE SET
regularly Priced $18 5€
Tea Spoons, Set of Six... $1.85 Medium Forks, Set of Six . . $3.78
Dessert ns, Set of Six . $340 Medium Knives, Stainless Blade
Table Spoons, Set of Six . .. $3.75 —Solid Handle, Set of Six . $5.08
s, Set of Six - $3.75 —Hollow Handle, Set of Six $8.28
Ind. Salad Forks, Set of Six . $3.75 Cold Meat Forks, each . . .. . $1.16
Butter Spreaders, Set of Six. $3.40 Gravy Ladles, each ........ $1.30
you don’t need
display in our wi
ndow.
when all Hote must be in. Chest to be presented
Yeur chance is as good as the next ene—Get Busy Now!
F. P. Blair & Son
Q 40-PIECE CHEST
of VENDOME SI1V
Send in your list of words IVE 5
werk lerthan gp cross word puazle—tove Some Jusky unowly
’ t—. w, it's to eve isters
name at our store durin this great VENDOME SILVER SALE—
to buy a thing—just make as man as you
can from the letters contained in ‘Vendome Silverplate’ send
them in. We will give Absolutely Free to. the Ride submitting
the largest list—the beautiful 40-piece Chest of Vendome Silver on
words as
Don’t wait! Contest
on
JEWELERS
I BELLEFONTE, PENNA.
—
sms
Ge AA TR CE RAY
0
A A EE ER I]
‘See the First, National
Bank FIRST
aN
CO NET
nd they will see that you get
the best of service FIRST
hand.
A Good Bank to Get
Acquainted with
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
STATE COLLEGE, PA.
Q
MEMBER FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
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CAMERA TEI Lys a
Studebaker
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Gear Sets, Differentials, Brakes
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NORTH WATER STREET
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That's what One-Profit Means
Beezer's Garage
A a