METAL STRIPS ARE USED
TO WATERPROOF WALLS.—
Brick walls of the modern home
are not waterproof even though
chemically treated, but may be
made permanently so through
the use of metal strips, it ap-
pears from a report to the Azner-
ican Ceramic society, holding its
annual meeting in Washington.
This radical method of brick con-
struction was presented in a pa-
per prepared by L. H. Minton
of New York city,
Under the new method, it was
stated, a V-shaped groove three-
eighths of an inch deep is mold-
ed along the center line of the
iongitudinal surfaces of each
brick as well as in the corre-
sponding position at the ends.
Into this groove goes an L-
shaped metal strip, of a non-cor-
rosive alloy. The hook of the
L fits into the vertical groove on
the brick.
As the bricks are laid, the
grooves of successive layers
meet so that the metal strips,
which overlap from one brick to
another, form a continuous mesh
to re-enforce the wall and keep
out the moisture, Mr. Minton
said. It was also stated that
use of the metal strips made the
task of aligning the bricks easier
besides giving greater fire resist
ance and heat insulation.—Kan-
sas City Star.
How Emblem of Piracy
Got Name “Jolly Roger”
The word “roger” in the Seven- |
teenth and Eighteenth centuries was
synonymous with “rogue,” both being
derived from the older spelling “roge” ;
and meant, as it does today. a vaga-
bond, rascal, trickster, thief, etc.. and
was, therefore, synonymous with “pi.
rate.” The word “Rover,” which is
sometimes used In place of roger as
the name of the pirate’s flag. had ‘he |
same root as the word “robber,” and |
a similar meaning to “roger” except |
that it applied more specifically to |
wandering rascals. The adjective |
“jolly” may have been prefixed: (1)
In the present sense of merry, jovial, |
joyous, as an ironical term; (2) in|
the sense of “small,” as a “jolly-boat”
is a small ship's boat, the origin of
“Jolly” in this sense being uncertain;
and (8) as a synonym for “nautical”
or “marine,” in the same way that a |
warine was called a “jolly.” “Jolly |
roger,” once applied to the vessel |
monld certainly sooner or later be ap-
plied to its ensign—a black flag, with |
white skull and crossbones, |
How Stilts Were Evolved
Stilts were originally designed for
!
pse in crossing rivers and marshes. |
As a means of amusement stilts have
|
been used by all peoples in all ages,
as well as by the inhabitants of marshy
or flooded districts, The city of Na-
mur, in Belgium, which formerly suf-
fered from the overflowing of the |
|
Rivers Sambre and Meuse, has been |
its stilt-walkers for |
celebrated for
many centuries. Not only the towns-
people, but also the soldiers used |
stilts. The home of stilt-walking at |
the present day Is the department of |
Landes, in Gascony, where, owing to |
the Impermeability of the subsoil, all
low-lying districts are converted Into
warshes,
How Patents Are Issued
Patents are issued In the United
States te any person who has Invent-
ed or discovered any new and useful
art, machine, manufacture or compo-
sition of matter, or any new and use
ful improvement thereof, not known
or used by others in this country be.
bore his invention or discovery there-
of, and not patented or described In
|
any printed publication in this or any
foreign country before his invention |
or discovery thereof, or more than two |
years prior to his application, and not
In public use or on sale In this coun-
try for more than two years prior to
his application for patent.
How to Drill Glass
A common steel drill, well tempered, |
pr a plece of steel wire heated to a |
dyll red and then quenched In
metallic mercury, makes a good tool
for drilling glass, Make a solution of
1 oz. camphor, 13 oz turpentine and |
B dr. of ether, and keep the end of |
the drilling tool wet with this. Hydro-
fluoric acid Is the acid used for etch
ng or eating away glass,
How Bees Help Clover
As the humble bees are busy dart-
Ing from one clover head to another
in search of nectar they are no doubt
entirely unaware of the service they
sre rendering to the plants by carry- |
Ing bits of pollen on thelr hairy legs |
from one plant to another. It Is said
that if it were not for the humble bees
the red clover would die out entirely
tor want of fertilization.
How to Write on Celluloid i
When it is desired to write on ceiin-
lold articles, such as draftsmen’s tri-
angles, it can be done by dipping the |
pen in acetic acid and using it as ink,
says Popular Mechanics Magazine.
Writing done with this acid will, when
dry, have a dull appearance on the
surface of the celluloid.
How Nitroglycerin Burns
Nitrogiycerin burns quietly in the
open air, but is exploded by percus-
gion or by heating In a closed vessel.
It produces by detonation about 10,000
times its own volume of gas,
| custom has been long forgotten, but
| have some quaint tastes In the matter
| of these animals in the Londen Zoolog:
| aibalism, but appear none the worse
| babies who make sounds like those
| of a dog barking and the character
| usually, he adds, such phenomena are
| due to a ferm of hysteria and are not
| any splitting or paralysis of the vocal
| cords, immediately alters the tone and
| ® small decimal,
Serpent Big Figure in
Mythology and History
Considering that the serpent, alone
among the lower creatures, can travel
with speed upon land or upon water,
| can climb trees, swallow other crea |
"tures of much greater girth than itself,
without food for incredibly long
periods, has eyes protected by a very
strong horny substance, so that it can
squeeze itself into stony crevices |
without damaging Its eyesight, pos-
sesses the ability to fascinate birds
and small animals so that they are
helpless to make their escape, can in-
flict death by a bite, etc, it is not to
be wondered at that it figures largely
in ancient mythology and history, a
viso in Biblical lore.
Egypt, India, Africa found place for |
it among their gods. At one period
in their history the Israelites also paid
it divine honors (II Kings 18:4). In |
tropical countries where it Is found in
| greatest number and widest variety, It
| jg the dread and curse of the country-
| side, and fear is often an elementary
| ingredient of natural religion,
Mesopotamia, the original home of
the human race, is especially infested
with serpents, sometimes in numbers
almost incredible, the mouth of the
Euphrates in some flood seasons being
a great moving mass of the horrifying
| creatures,
Old English City Gives
December Odd Welcome
December, writes a Manchester
(England) Guardian columnist, is not
the kind of month, one would imagine,
whose entry would normally be sin
gled out for a civic welcome but in
Colchester from the earliest times it
| has been the custom for the town crier |
| to perambulate the streets at midnight | jo ciated, too, that its boiler is heated
on November 30 to give an official
welcome to December in the cry—
Past twelve and a fine (or wet) morn.
ing.
Jold December hath come in,
And poor men's backs are clothed thin
The trees are bare, the birds are mute; |
A pot and a toast would very well sult
When Colchester, in step with the
march of progress, some time ago |
abolished the office of town crier fears
were entertained that this time-worn
custom would lapse. But, though
| robbed of the honor of official recogni-
tion, the ancient ceremony still is faith- |
fully performed by the former town
crier, now acting, as it were, in a
freelance capacity. The origin of the |
it is known to be of great antiquity |
and is said to be without parallel In |
this country.
Died of Newspaper Diet
That the fallow deer In captivity
of food is shown by the fact that one
ical garden died from eating waste
paper, the post mortem revealing that
the stupid creature had consumed 16 |
pounds of newspapers and paper |
bags.
Snakes occasionally Indulge in can |
for it. A hamadryad accidentally
placed in quarters occupied by a nul- |
ber of cobras, promptly ate several of |
| the latter and lived to ponder on the
deed. Incidentally, the society also
pondered somewhat deeply on this |
deed, for the cannibal's meal cost sev-
eral hundred dollars,
Another queer meal was attemptea
by a python who did his best to swal-
low a blanket but discovered that the
unwonted task was beyond him when
he had engulfed half of the material,
More Hairy Than Apes
Scientists state that human beings,
zenerally, have more hairs on thelr
heads than some of the apes. The
average number of scalp hairs a
square centimeter was 312 for man |
and 307 for thirteen specimens of |
the large anthropoid apes. Gorillas
are less hairy-chested than many men,
Two adults had omly six apd three |
hairs, respectively, a square centi-
meter, whereas a man—not a very
haicy-chested one at that—had nine. |
Scalp hair varies in density among |
the human races, it appears. Six |
adult negroes averaged 297 hairs a |
square centimeter and three adult |
white men had a few more, with an |
| average count of 333.
Delicate Vocal Chords
A prominent throat specialist states
that there are numerous cases of
istic sharp whine of the seal. But
permanent. Any growth, no matter
how slight, on the laryngeal area, or
pitch of a person's voice. Singers
have to exercise the most scrupulous |
care of the throat, because even a |
minor injury to the vocal cords serl-
ously impairs the quality of the voice
—Detroit News.
National Revenue |
The proportion of public revenue
raised by taxation and borrowing va-
ries with the times. In peace time
the United States has raised 100 per |
cent of her revenue by taxes, bellev- |
Ing in the theory of paying as you go. |
During the World war about 75 per |
cent was raised by loans and 25 per |
cent by taxation. At one period In |
the national history—from about 1830
to 1870—considerable revenue was |
realized from the sale of public
lands. The amount so realized now Is
Boron Presents Problem to
: neers
The agriculturi. engineer brought
water to the desert places in southern
California and Nevada and the “desert
blossomed as a rose,” This accom-
plished, the years intervening have
brought & new problem, and now the
engineers must do something about the
water flowing through the channels of
some of the projects,
It has been found, after some years
of operation, that the water being sup-
plied has a fairly large content of
boron, an element beneficial to plant
life in small quantities, but decidedly
injurious when present in too great
percentages.
The continual evaporation of the h
water over a period of years has left | weather.
deposits of boron, which already have |
had 11 effects upon the plant life fed | Inkes being connected by streams Or |
by the water,
The engineers are faced with one of
two solutions, either mixing the water
i
|
|
1
i
i
| Says Maya Civilization
Choked Itcl to Denth |
A pew explanation of why the great |
Mayu civilization of Central America, |
undoubtedly the highest of prehistoric |
America, suddenly faded and vanished |
without any obvious reason was Sug-
gested to the Washington Academy of |
Sciences by Dr. C. Wythe Cooke of the |
United States geological survey, the |
Literary Digest reports. Says Dr. E |
E. Free, in his Week's Science (New |
York): i
“Ihe Maya civilization choked itself |
| te death, Doctor Cooke believes, with
| marked today, Doctor Cooke reports, |
| by many small, flat plains of sticky |
with boron-free water or else locating |
and cutting off the sources of the
boron, a difficult task In the latter |
case, for some of the sources of irrl- |
gation water come from underground |
streams.— Washington Star.
Why Steam-Driven Plane
Does Not Appear Likely
There is news that an inventor has
perfected a steam engine Intended for
driving airplanes. Curiously enough,
this is a reversion to the earliest days
of flying, for one of the first planes
had its propeller driven by a steam en-
gine.
Wonderful claims are made for the
new engine, and it remains to be seen
whether they can be substantiated. Ti
by means of crude oil and that it con-
sumes so little fuel that it could re-
main in the air for nearly a month at
a time. This seems scarcely possible.
The inventor claims that his engine
will develop one horse power for each
pound of weight, and that it will em-
able a plane to ascend to a height of
ten miles or more. So far it has been
| tested only on the ground, where its
| performances have been satisfactory.
Soon, though, it is to be taken into the
air by a well-known pilot.
Actually, it seems unlikely that the
steam engine can beat the petrol mo-
tor, for besides fuel for its hoiler and
oll for its working parts it must carry
large quantities of water, and water
is very heavy.
Why Ball Revolves
In three more decades a polished
granite ball, weighing more than 500
pounds, atop a monument in Elmwood
cemetery, Salem, N. H., probably will
have turned a complete revolution
without the touch of human hands.
The customary dowel pin was omitted
in priting the ball on the monument.
As a result, winter weather already
has turned the ball over 14 Inches,
about a quarter of its circumference,
in the last ten years. Ice forming in
the saucer-like base lifts the ball
slightly. The sun naturally melts the |
ice to the east of the ball first, causing |
it to settle to that side, thus shifting.
Why Russia Exiled Jews
Exile to Siberia was not decreed by
‘he czarist government of Russia
| actualiy on account of Jewish afiilia.
tion, excepting that the Jews In Russia
were largely suspected of political in-
trigue and of insubordination. This,
added to the dislike of the Jewish race
as a whole, served to render it prac-
tically impossible for a Jew in Russian
courts or hefore any tribunal to prove
his innocence of crimes attributed to
him. All political offenses—and this
covered practically all offenses, if de
sired—were punishable hy exile,
—
Why Ring Around Moon
The ring around the moon |s a halo. |
While all halos are due to ice crystals,
some are caused by the refraction of
light passing through the crystals and
others by the reflection of light from
their surfaces. The differences
account for the great variety of halo
forms. Those caused by reflection are
white: those by refraction are colored.
Why Clap of Thunder
Thunder is caused by a vacuum,
points ont Nick Sprank in Modern Me
chanles and Inventions
When lightning rends the air, a partial
in|
| shape and the positions of the crystals |
| of the south porch of St. Mary's par-
' ish church, Bexley, Kent.”
Magazine. |
vacunm ’s formed by the great heat. |
The air rushes in to fill the space and |
causes a thunder clap.
Why Plants Are Sweet
The principle in sugar-ylelding
plants which produces the sweet taste
is a chemical substance known as
sucrose, and Is the same regardless of
the type of plant from which the
sucrose is extracted.
Why Rats Are Useful
One reason for the rat's usefulness
in scientific experiments is that a
Why Shoes Are Forced Off
When a person falls from a great
neight or is Involved in an explosion,
the shoes are forced off the feet by the
pressure of the alr,
Why Diamonds Are Cold
Diamonds are cold to the touch be-
| ing searched by anthropologists for
| traces of early man.
week in a rat's life is about equal io |
| a year in the life cycle of a human
| being.
cause they are good conductors of |
heat,
Why Called “Riflebird”
The vifiebivd is so called because its
ery resembles the whizzing and strik-
| fng of a bullet.
| bark comes a medicant used in lini-
mud washed from its own hillside corn |
patches, ‘The former Maya country is
|
clay soil, almost impassable in wet |
Each of these plains, he be- |
lieves, once was a small lake, these
by short portages forming a system |
of water highways as the lakes of
North America once did for the ca- |
noes of the Indians. The Maya cities, |
he believes, were built near these lake |
highways. and maintained by this easy |
form of transportation. On nearby |
nillsides, the theory continues, the |
Maya farmers grew the corn, which |
was their chief food. In so doing they
cut or burned the natural hillside vege- |
tation. The result was that every vio- |
lent rainstorm washed a part of the |
hillside soil down into the lakes. Slow-
ly the lakes filled up and the hillsides |
grew bare. The filling of the lakes |
blocked the waterways, while erosion |
of the hillside soils ruined the farms
and lowered the nation's supply of |
food. Finally, Dactor Cooke believes, |
the entire Maya nation was forced by |
poverty and famine to migrate to new |
homes In Yucatan, which is what the |
historical and other records show that |
they did.” !
!
Witch-Hazel Not Alone
Useful as Divining Rod |
The witch-hazel derives its name |
from the magic powers attributed to |
the slender branches of this small tree
or shrub. Many believe that a small
branch of the witch-hazel if held light-
ly while being carried along over the
ground will turn toward the earth at
a spot where water or gold may be
found by digging. It is this divining
rod characteristic which bas brought
it fame.
The witch-hazel, however, has some
seal value to mankind, for from its
ments for external application. The
bark and leaves, which are similar to
the leaves of the ordinary hazel, are
a source of tannen, which is used In
preparation of leather,
The tree is usually found in damp
forests where its scrubby growth is
stimulated. It is a two-year tree 80
far as bringing its flowers into bear
ing, for the clusters of yellow flowers
which appear in the fall do not develop
Into seed until the following spring.
Crown ls Not Old
At every opening of the British par
lilament the king's crown is brought
from the tower of London to the
throne room in St. James' palace for
the occasion, says the Montreal Fam- |
fly Herald. For this journey it has |
un escort of yeomen of the guard, and |
when it Is next conveyed to the robing |
room at Westminster, it Is escorted |
by the household cavairy. It is gener- |
ally supposed that the imperial state |
crown of England is one which has |
been handed down a long line of kings. | §
In fact it was made in 1838, principal
ly of jewels taken from old crowns. |
It contains a large ruby and a large
sapphire, 16 smaller sapphires and
four smaller rubies, 11 emeralds, more
than 1,000 brilliant and rose diamonds,
147 table diamonds, four drop-shaped
pearls and 273 pearls,
Resourceful Prophet
The Identity of the present “Old
hidden, but “I am informed,” writes
Moore” of almanack fame is carefully |
Peter Simple, in the Morning Post, i
“that the tombstone of the original |
‘Old Moore’ is to be seen on the side
The story
goes that “Old Moore” was a resident |
of that village who made a practice
of foretelling some Important event
On one occasion he was in difficulty
to prophesy anything for the follow- |
ing July, so he wrote that snow would
fall that month—which it did—after
that, his reputation as a seer was |
made.
1
|
|
! |
for each month of the following year. |
|
The Oldest Habitation
More of the early history of man |
has been learned in the past 75 years
than in all the centuries preceding,
and all parts of the world are now be-
The oldest house In the world Is &
cave near Castile, Spain, according to |
Dr. F. W. Blackmar, of the University
of Kansas, Remains of 13 different |
races that lived In this cave as far |
back as 100,000 years ago bave been |
found.
Mercenary May, the many times di- |
vorced film star, was entering the |
marital state once again. She de |
cided to mention the fact to her di- |
rector, |
“Of course, you will understand that
this time I'm marrying for love and
nothing else,” she volunteered,
The director smiled knowingly.
“How romantic!” he sald
1ast you have decided to go off the |
gold standard.” i
A Dig at the Digger |
|
A The Store celebrated its 45th Birthday last
|
|
|
fl. A FAUBLE i
i
i
“So at
i
|
TRAFFIC MAY NeoT The Pennsylvania vehicle
clear on this subject.
MOVE ON YELLOW | 30 hat when yellow is shown.
“Shooting the yellow” traffic light | the signal must
is becoming a common practice
among motorists, according to the
traffic experts of the bureau of high- | when the
way patrol and safety of the depart, making a “U” turn on a two-way"
ment of revenue. This practice is not | street back of the intersection, whem,
only dangerous but contrary to the | such a turn is indicated by proper
law, it is pointed out. signs. These are the only exceptions.
The Farmer on Farm Relief.
A Farmer told us, recently, that he had sold
40 bushels of corn on the ear for $8.00.
Yet last year, in 1931, the Federal Department
of Agriculture spent $296,865,944.00
To Help the Farmer!
We wonder how Farmers have been helped by
these huge expenditures; or whether they have
not been taxed, indirectly, to help pay the bills. |
We wonder whether certain western Senators
have not been the only beneficiaries of futile po-
{| litical schemes for farm relief.
A
d
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Baney’s Shoe Store
WILBUR H. BANEY, Proprietor
80 years in the Business
BUSH ARCADE BLOCK
te <1 DAY
(Sy! NA
7 a
WN
\
\
y
J
{7
VRID
4 9 Fad fh [4 \
a
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| Try and make her proud of you. A very |
little money will do it if you come to Faubles.
ll December and in all that time we have never Hl
ll been able to give such values as we are offer:
ing this spring.
I Assortments are large. All the new fab- |
| rics, colors and styles are here. il
You can find what you want with us, and
at a price you can afford to pay.
1 Let us show you.