Ee
Belefonte, Pa., November 26, 1926.
TURKESTAN BANS POLYGAMY
AND SALE OF INFANT GIRLS
Reforms Brought About as Result o*
Murder of Woman Who Fought
Against Evils.
Poltoratsk (Formerly Askhabad),
Turkestan.—As a sequel to the mur-
der of the young Communist worker,
Anna Dechkan, for which five of her
relatives were executed, the Turkestan
government issued a decree prohibit-
ing polygamy, the exploitation of
women and the sale of infant girls
in marriage.
These were the things against which
Anna fought and which aroused her
relatives to warn her and finally to
descend in a body and stab her to
death in the presence of her husband
and infant child. Fifty-two wounds
were inflicted on her body.
Under this decree the marriage-
able age for girls is fixed at sixteen
and for boys eighteen. "The profes-
sional marriage brokers who thrived
en the sale of women are suppressed.
It will no longer be necessary for a
man to pay a price for a wife, and
those forced to do so may later re
eover in court.
It was revealed at the Dechkan
trial that young girls were often sold
fnto marriage without their consent,
frequently becoming the third or
fourth wife of an old man they had
never seen before.
Also that parents who sold their
fmmature daughters into marriage en-
eouraged divorce, so the girls could
be sold a second time. Some girls
were resold as many as five times.
The trial further brought out that
under the peculiar conceptions of hon:
or prevailing among Turcomans, it
was considered a disgrace and an in-
sult to the husband if a divorce were
secured on the wife's initiative,
Such “insults” were avenged by
the husband killing the wife or her
newly acquired spouse, and these af-
fairs frequently led to blood feuds
among whole families and even entire
villages.
All five of the murderers went to
their death unrepentant for the crime,
which was one of the strangest and
most sensational in Russian annals.
They insisted that Anna had dishon-
oredl the proud family name and also
had dishonored God and their coun-
try by renouncing their religion and
parental teachings and embracing
Communism.
Crosses Ocean Alone
at 94 to Visit Family
New York.—After a lifetime passed
fn the little town of Kovno, Lithuania,
from which her children long ago mi-
grated to the new world, a little old
woman has thought of little else In
the nine years since her husband's
death but of coming to America to see
her son and daughters again. At the
age of ninety-four, she arrived on a
ner, having made the trip alone.
dhe is Mrs. Rachel Dwojra Gabero-
witz.
A -nut brown transformation with
mot a suggestion of a gray hair, dia-
mond earrings, and cld-fashioned
rings on her small hands added a
guaintness to the little old figure
which was by no means lacking in
dignity.
She had hoped to dance on the way
Jsver, but the sea proved a little too
much for her. She had not heard
about the charleston.
She was met at
two daughters, Mrs.
Rochester, and Mrs. R. Rosen, Jersey
City, te whom she was turned over
by the immigration authorities.
the pier by her
Esther Garrelitt,
Woman at 83 Pieces
Quilts to Support 3
Philadelphia.— Wholly unaware that
she is doing anything to inspire her
adopted city’s admiration and wonder,
a woman whose years are thirteen
more than the allotted three score
and ten pieces quilts to support her-
self and two grandchildren.
Mrs. Anna Henningsen has always
peen independent of others for her
support. Since the death of her hus-
band, 40 years ago, she has made her
own kving, asking no assistance from
the werld on the ground that she was
a “widow with dependents.”
It was in her native Denmark, the
and whence came Mille Gade Corson,
when she was still a child that she
frst became self-supporting. At the
age of seventeen she migrated to
America because she learned there
was work for all in the new land.
Dainty Colored Cigarettes
Make Hit With Male Paris
Paris.—Cigarettes of dainty color,
for years an affectation of feminine
smokers who shop in Fifth avenue,
Bond street and Rue de la Paix, have
captivated the male of the species in
France.
Not long ago, as an experiment, the
state tebacco monopoly began wrap-
ping its higher-priced cigarettes in pa-
per of various hues—coral, amethyst
and emerald, They have proven so
popular that the monopoly intends to
adopt other colors, and even to issue
one assorted package under the name
‘of “rainbow.”
The ordinary cheaper French cig-
srette will remain what it has always
heen—neither a thing of beauty nor
loy.
TINY DIATOMS HOLD
SECRET OF SEA LIFE
Study Plants No Bigger
Than Grain of Dust.
Washington.—Millions of plants no
larger than a grain of finest dust and
invisible to the naked eye have been
brought to the Smithsonian institu-
tion by Dr. Albert Mann, custodian of
diatoms of the National museum, as
a result of summer field work at
Wood's Hole, Mass., and at the Car-
negie Marine Biological laboratory or
the Florida keys.
These diatoms are the grass of the
sea. They transform within them-
selves inorganic matter into food ma-
terial for the smaller animal life of
the sea, which in turn forms the food
of other larger animals and finally
man. Therefore, in spite of their mi-
croscopic size, their importance is im-
mense. Doctor Mann illustrates this
very graphically in the case of a
young hake whose stomach contents
he once examined. The hake was filled
with very small herring, these in turn
were gorged with copepods or water
fleas and the copepods were full of
diatoms.
Backed by Carnegie Institutions.
So great is the economic importance
of these microscopic creatures that
the Carnegie institution began to sup-
port Doctor Mann's work on them ten
years ago, and he is now co-operating
with the United States bureau of fish-
eries, the Canadian fish commissior
and the national research council.
Diatoms exist all over the earth, in
salt water, fresh and brackish water.
About 8,000 different kinds have al-
ready been described and this figure is
steadily growing. What the diatoms
lack in size they make up in numbers,
some water containing as many as 35,-
000 of them to a quart. Doctor Mann's
program involves a survey of living
diatoms on the American seaboard
and in its inland waters; a represen-
tative collection of these and of all
fossil diatom earths so far discovered.
In this way he is building up in the
Smithsonian institution a diatom col-
lection of practical usefulness which
will have no peer. With the aid of
this basic material such practical
problems ‘as maintaining the diatom
food supply for the support of food
fishes can be better understood anf
Investigated.
Require Delicate Instruments.
Mounting specimens of such minute
plants requires the most delicate in-
struments and touch. Doctor Mann
has developed a glass needle attach:
can pick up, turn over and otherwise
arrange the infinitesimal diatom.
This permits him to mount a single
specimen on a slide.
Under the microscope the diatom Is
seen to be one of the most intricately
formed and beautiful objects in na-
ture, following every conceivable geo-
metric pattern. Each little cell builds
for itself a case of silica, which is ca-
pable of enduring for millons of years.
This quality has produced results of
great economic importance, for during
past ages these shells have been laid
down on ocean floors in immense de-
posits which in turn have been raised
as the result of geological convulsions
and are now available to man. They
occur in all lands. At Lompoc, Calif.
is a huge deposite of fossil diatoms
covering an area of 12 square mile:
and 1,400 feet thick.
This diatomaceous earth is mined
and used as a polish, is combined with
nitroglycerin to make dynamite and
as a filter for certain serums and es-
pecially for thick liquids like sirups.
oils and varnishes. It has even been
used as an adulterant for cheap candy
and also as a base for tooth paste.
Finally the diatom is the standard
test for microscopes and microscopic
investigations.
RADIO INVENTOR
An amazing radio development,
hailed as the one evolution of naval
communications which will put the
United States navy above any danger
of enemy interference with its signals
and which may prove of wide value
in commerce, was announced by Maj.
Francis E. Pierce, radio officer of the
United States marine corps. Complete
and conclusive tests have demon-
strated that the invention of Major
Pierce is capable of transmitting
radio signals in such a manner that
they can be ricochetted over interven-
ing objects between the sender and
receiver of the signal.
ment to a microscope with which he |
Winter Threatens Death to 100,000
Homeless in Armenian Earth-
quake.
The disastrous earthquake in Ar-
menia will be a matter of life and
death to the 100,000 homeless peas-
ants within a few weeks. The coun-
try is located nearly a mile above sea
level, and the winters are therefore
very severe. Within another month,
the savagery of winter will overwhelm
the entire area which has been devas-
tated by the quake. Early in No-
vember snow buries the villages and
piles against the peasant cottages un-
til the edges of the roofs seem to be
only cracks in the sides of snow drifts,
Leninakan, center of the seismic
disturbance, is in the center of a dis-
trict which has been frequently visit-
ed by earthquakes in the past, al-
though none of the tremors have been
of any serious consequence since that
of 1840, which shook off a segment of
the 17,000-foot-high cone of old Mount
Ararat, burying the village and mon-
astery of Arghuri and snuffing out the
lives of the 600 villagers. Both vil-
lage and monastery were covered
more than 200 feet deep by the debris
from the mountain landslide and no
trace of either buildings or people has
ever been discovered.
Mount Ararat, with its beautiful
twin peaks, rises straight into the sky
from the plateau on which Leninakan
is situated. It is an extinct volcano,
whose active period is prehistoric.
But the peasantry for many miles
about have always been fearful of a
renewal of its activity, and the occa-
sional slight earthquake tremors
therefore cause invariable panic and
anxiety in the countryside.
Ararat, which the Persians call the |
“Mountain of Noah,” is placed by Ar-
menian tradition as the site of the
Garden of Eden. Relics of Noah's
Ark, displaced in one of the Armenian
monasteries, were destroyed by light-
ning many generations ago, but the
site of the old monastery is still re-
vered by many of the faithful. The
traditional burial place of Noah’s wife
and the place where Noah is supposed
to have planted the first vineyard, are
still pointed out.
Prior to the world war, Mount
Ararat was the dividing point between
Russia, Turkey and Persia, part of
the mountain being in each of these
three countries. Under the present
boundaries, the mountain is almost
wholly in Turkey, the American or-
phanages at Leninakan standing al-
most on the frontier of Russia.
It was long believed by the Armen-
ian church that no human being would
ever be permitted to reach the peak of
Ararat, but it was climbed successful-
ly in 1829 by a German explorer, Dr.
Parrot, and it has since been conquer-
ed by several climbers, including three
Americans, one of whom lost his life
as a result of his efforts. One of the
most noted conquerers of Ararat was
James Bryce, who climbed it in 1876,
many years before he entered the dip-
lomatic service of Great Britain and
became British Ambassador to the
United States.
None of the volcanic peaks in Ar-
menia have been active since prehis-
toric times, but the entire country is
subject to occasional seismic disturb-
ances, and the district is spoken of by
scientists as a “volcanic amphithea-
ter,” being entirely buried under vol-
! canie deposits of
~—— —
remote periods.
Many of the small lakes are located in
volcanic craters and are of such
depth that measurements have never
been made.
The capital of Armenia, Erivan,
which also suffered in the earthquake,
has a population of about 40,000. It
also has been the scene of important
American reconstruction projects, car-
ried out by the Near East Relief. It
is the center of a chain of irrigation
projects which have recently been
completed after more than three years
of refugee labor undertaken under
American supervision for the reclam-
ation of 250,000 acres of farm land.
The American orphanage schools at
Leninakan include an agricultural
school with 1500 students who culti-
vate more than 15,000 acres of land;
a hospital of 800 beds; a nurses train-
ing school for 300 girls; a trachoma
hospital for the cure of eye diseases,
caring for 5,000 patients; industrial
schools teaching 40 trades to 6500
children, and several other important
educational and reconstructive enter-
prises.
Sr ————— A ————————.
Marriage Licenses.
Edgar Charles McGuire, of Philips-
pure and Lillian Lopensky, of Clear-
eld.
Gordon D. Barto, of Ludley, and
Sara E. Ghaner, of Port Matilda.
Fred R. Scandrol Jr. and Ruth A.
Mulbarger, both of Milesburg.
Jacob I. Gentzel and Alice V. Bige-
low, both of Milroy.
William R. Quick and Sara May
Ricker, both of Lock Haven.
Nicholas Wachalla, of Sonman, end
Stella Waxmonsky, of Clarence.
‘Beautiful Bracelets
with Brilliant Stone Settings,
in white, blue or green
The Season’s demand for Mi-lady’s Wrist
F. P. BLAIR and SON
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local calls. You stay on the line until the called tele
phone answers.
And connections with distant points, too, are made
with a speed unheard of a few years ago.
Every month reaches a new goal.
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amounts of new plant—
All are contributing to a service of ever-increasing
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