Prepared by National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C.—WNU Service. IE Atlantic's rolling waves do not break against the mainland of Georgia, A startling state- statement, that. Yet it is true, for the surf shatters on the smooth andy beaches of the islands that stretch like a protecting band off the const, These are the famed Sea Islands of Georgia, the “Golden Isles of Guale” as they were known to Sixteenth cen- tury Spanish map-makers, The low-lying lumps of land, spawned by the tides and winds off the 100-mile are of the Georgia coast, were once friendly hunting grounds, where Indians stalked deer, wild tur- keys, raccoons, opossums, and water- fowl. Today, as subtroplc playgrotinds and winter retreats of happy lIsola- tion, they have again become hunting preserves and game sanctuaries, What history has marched across the savannas and hammocks and be- neath the mossg-scarfed arms of the mighty live oaks of these islands In the nearly four-century span since white men entered this New world theater! Here, In the late sixties of the Six- teenth century, came Spanish grandees and black-frocked friars, from their Florida headquarters at St. Augustine, to plant sword and cross among the Indians to the “glory of the King" Here, too, came adventurous French voyagers to trade and to make unsus- tained colonial claims, Bold pirates and buccaneers, such as Argamont (the notorions “Abra- ham”) and Blackbeard, after plunder- ing along the Spanish Main, brought into the hidden anchorages of these secluded waterways thelr treasure galleons and, under cover of the ls land oaks, found respite from their high Adventures. Here, In the 1730's, came Gen, James Edward Oglethorpe and his fol- lowers, who, within a few years, struck blows that helped preserve for the Anglo-Saxon race a large portion of the continent, Refugee Santo Domingo planters, escaped French royalists, human car goes from African “slavers,” wealthy antebellum aristocrats of the old South, masters of extensive island plantations; then ruin, and, finally, delayed rehabilitation, mark the suc ceeding chapters of the Sea Islands’ history Five flags have waved over this off- shore cluster of lands where some of the earliest seeds of American trade were sow Lesson in Coastal Geography. However, the unfolding panorama gained from the vantage point of an airplane cockpit is essentially a les. son In coastal geography, not history, even though isolated bits of old Span- ish ruins, Oglethorpe's Fort Frederica, and remnants from prosperous colo- nial days can still be distinguished through the foliage. Between the leeward side of the is. lands and the mainland lie expansive reaches of salt marshes, ranging roughly from two to eight miles In width, Generally wide at the”north- ern end, toward Savannah, they nar row at the lower portion of Cumber- land, thé southernmost member of the Golden Isles. As you fly along the chain of is lands you can trace a continuous ser- pentine passage in the network of sounds, delta-divided river mouths, and meandering creeks. It is the In- side, or Florida, Passage, a portion of that inside water route which extends all the way from New York to the Florida Keys. As you swing te a course over the ocean side of the islands, an interest. ing feature of their formation Is re- vealed to advantage. Heavily wooded areas appear in long bands, stretch- ing in a north-and-south direction, and are separated by slender marshes and ponds, in some cases even expanding into narrow lakes, Through the passing centuries the tides and winds have piled the sand and river-debouched sediment into a series of parallel dunes interspersed with the swamps—~hammocks and sloughs, they are termed In Georgian parlance. Enormous live oaks, pines, cedars, and other trees luxuriate here, On Sapelo island alone remain the wide, open fields where colonial plan. tations flourished. Here and there age tiny islands, with little more than a fringe of sindy beach to Inclose a small area of marshland, Where De Aviles Landed, One cannot visit St. Catherines with. out recalling that April day In 1506 when Menendez de Aviles, one of Spain's ablest ploneers, and his party of 50 men dropped anchor and came ashofe on this island. He had estab- lished St. Augustine, in Florida, only the year before, and was already out to destroy the remaining traces of any settlements the French may have founded, One writer pointed cut that nowhere else had he seen such a delightful ses ting for a great house as that on Sapelo island. In the midst of a cathedral-like bower of live oaks, with hoary beards of Spanish moss depend- ing from thelr stands a majestic colonial home, jecting from the porticoed entrance Is a cruciform formal pool which catches and tosses back the reflection of mossy oaks and vast white walls, outstretched limbs, | fdential parties have been guests at the mansion. One day, while one of First Ladies was admiring the nearby rock garden, her clcerone was heard stone for this rock garden.” The big house of the South End plantation was first bulit by Thomas tation fafming on Sapelo. As noted a farmer as he was a bulld- er, Spalding cleared more than a thou. sand acres on his island kingdom, and raised Indigo, sea-Island cotton, sugar He it was, In fact, who Introduced cane cultivation and sugar manufac | turing Into Georgia. The live oaks | which he cut while clearing the for- | ests to make bigger fields serve to fill United States navy. He also supplied the navy and merchant marine with | beef and hogs. As a slave owner, however, Spald- Ing came ultimately to suffer, even though he treated his “helpers” with | such kindness that the planters In the | South dubbed Sapelo “Nigger Heaven.” | Then came the Confederacy, against every protest of this aged man. Sher. | man's march to the sea lald waste the big house and the plantation develop ments. Fortunately, Spalding did mot ive to see that day of ruin, Vines and bramble claimed the fire smoked tabby walls of the mansion un- til the present owner cleared them and rebuilt again in 1025. } i i Modern Improvements. Today, too, the old canals have been redredged and new ones have been cut in many places to supplement the drainage of the island. An adequate supply of fresh water is provided by 36 gushing artesian wells. More than a thousand beef cattle now graze on the luxuriant carpet grass, Japanese | clover, and Bermuda grass that have been sown in the one-time cotton and indigo fields, Delightful trails and motor roads lace the island retreat. In many places they wind beneath bewhiskered oid | oaks; elsewhere they skirt the broad savannas and cross between marshy ponds that teem with ducks, teal, and other waterfowl, On the west shore, commanding the ‘approach to the Florida Passage, stand the tabby ruins of the octagonal fort bulit by the Spaniards in 1080. With- in its concentric walls troeps were sta- tioned to protect the friars of the Mission of San Jose de Zapala. Thom- as Spalding bullt a sugar mill on the mission foundations, and within recent years the “long tabby” has been con- verted Into a guesthouse, a portion of which Is now used as a schoolroom for the nine white children on the Island. A short ride farther north brings one to the ruins of Le Chatelet. This old site recalls the colonial efforts of five Frenchmen who bought the is- land and settled at several places In their little haven. The agreement which they made in 8t. Male, France, before the beginning of thelr venture, is one 4f the treasures of the Sapelo library. Soon to disagree, four of them moved to Jekyl island. Later Le Chatelet passed Into the hands of Mar quis de Montalet, a French nobleman who had fled from Santo Domingo, where his whole family had been massacred in a slave uprising. Many of the descendants of Spald- ing’s slaves still live on tiny farms on the island. Of the three settlements Raccoon Bluff, Hog Hammock, and Shell Hammock--the former ls the largest, At IMampton Point and Retreat on 8t, Simon island the first sea-island cotton was grown from seeds intro. duced from the island of Anguilla, In the West Indies. This remarkable long- fiber cotton created much comment among cotton buyers when the first crop, shipped from Hampton Point, reached Liverpool. —— z iH 3 The Man I Love By WALDO THAYER ©, by McClure Newspaper Syndicate WNU Bervice. OU'RE gathered around to hear | this last will and testament—gath- | ered, I shall presume, as I Instructed | Mr. Attorney Willetts to have you. | Beatrice on his left, Dick across from her, and Fred at the far end of the table. As I write I have a nlce ple- | ture of you waiting eagerly for the | important part of this. Well, you sha'nt be kept in suspense | long, my dears: though perhaps what's coming won't quite fulfill your expec- | tations. You see, I'm putting this down Just as I feel it, without any “I, Nancy Gregg, being of sound mind” rigama- | role, That's principally so there can't | be any misunderstanding of what I | have to say to you. You three have been close to me | during these last nine years—at least, 80 you think. In all that time, not one | of you has missed spending some | hours with me each day. My wants | have been cared for by you jointly— | using my money, of course. Each of : you has possessed the same motive: | desire to be the one or among the ones called to heas the reading of | this document. And so It is, To you I shall speak first, Beatrice, for you were the first to figure In this | new life of mine—this bitter, bedrid- | den mock of an existence. You it was | It really wasn't until after the first | For nine straight years you've been, in ever-mounting degree, a llar and a cheat. On four occasions that I'm cer- taln of you've plotted to polson me Does that make you know how thoroughly I've been To you I make one bequest, Beatrice— | the bed in which I have lain for this eternity shall be yours—if you keep And now, Fred, All 1 have sald al- feel no hatred, for you have been only weak and silly, Those you always were, I remember clearly your absurd, vain little mannerisms as we 100, fell. And ever since, day after weary day, you have come mincing in to see me with great sorrowful cow eyes and second-grade roses, Could you think stayed hours after your brief visits often overnight?! That your chief mission in life was consol. ing Beatrice for her “privations” and “sacrificea™ so that you might attain a firm grip upon my estate? You fool- ish, transparent little chariatan! 1 As for your part, Dick, It Is too shoddily shameful to dwell on long. To you I was engaged when it hap- pened. Staunchly you reaffirmed votion and your desire to marry. Only the strange new sanity of vision 1 had somehow acquired saved me from being fool enough to accept. Of course you were eager! I had a million and a half, you nothing: and an invalid wife In those circumstances would be ideal. And, since six months after my refusal, I have been aware that you were living on sums from my account, extorted through blackmall threats from Beatrice. To you, my gallant cavalier, 1 tender as a last gift the love letters you wrote me when we were young. May they bring you pleasure. And so to the ending. One person there is, there has been, in all this wilderness of melancholy and disilin- sion who means anything of worth, of Joy, to me. He is the man whose ten- der, yet wholly professional, minkstra- tions have made this sluggish hell of inch-by-inch dying bearable. Kind and wise and wonderful, he has entered into my heart, become the sole object of such full and genuine emotions as | I may still know, It Is my single hap- | piness now at last to bequeath without reservation, save as heretofore enu- merated, all I own to Dr. John Renny. One final word: Perhaps you who hear this wonder why he is not pres. | ent, It Is because I wish to spare him | the unpleasantness of coming again into this house until all of you have | left it forever, Therefore he has been | notified privately of this will's terms, The rest of you will now please go, | that the man I love may come home, | for thus I like to think of it, : . - . . * * For a moment after the lawyer's droning voice ceased, there was no sound. Then savagely a chalr scraped | back and the large gray-haired man on his right arose, “Well, of all the wild, monomani- | acal messes 1 ever heard” he stated with vehemence, “that certainly is the limit! Why, It would be child's play to have It set aside—though of course I shan't dream of doing any such 1 dare say our fine friend, the #0 clever doctor, has been notified snd is walting in high glee to take possession?" Attorney Willetts slowly ralsed his head to meet the other's eyes. His tone's tempo matched that of the mo- ment, “No,” he sald, “not exactly. I my- self went this morning to tell Doctor Renny. His office door was open. He wns in his chair, dead from a dose of eyanide. A framed photograph of Nancy Gregg lay face down on his desk. Under it I found a note which said simply: Tm coming, dearest.’® de Forty Billion Germs to the Pound of Farm Soil Instead of being inert and dead, or- Cultivated soils have anywhere from a few million to five million bacteria in a pound of topsoil; under certain favorable conditions the germ popula tion per pound may run as high as forty billions, says Literary Digest, So we are told by the service di- vision of the American Agricultural Chemical company. To quote a press bulletin issued by the Mandeville Press bureau (New York): “These organisms are very small, consisting of single cells only one twenty-five-thousandth of an inch in diameter. They are the lowest form of plant life, and contain no chloro. phyl, the matter which enables ordl nary plants to produce substances suit able for the support of life, “Most persons think that all bacteria are harmful, but actually, the reverse is frequently true. Without the bac. teria in the soll, plant and animal life would probably soon disappear from the world. Only a comparatively few bacteria are harmful to mankind. One the land 1s to promote the growth of beneficial soll bacteria, “Farmers may increase the useful ness of bacteria !n the soll by adopt of cultivation and soll treatment which favor thelr develop- ment. Plowing under of organic mat- ter so that the bacteria can make hu- mus, rotation of crops to include le gumes on which nitrifying bacteria thrive, draining of wet lands, the add- ing of limestone to acld solls, and the use of fertilizers are recommended” “The Little Brown Church” " “The Little Brown Church” poem and music, were both written by an old member of the Congregational church in Bedford, lowa, a small vil lage about two miles from Nashua, fowa. Doctor Pitts, the author of the song, was Inspired to write it when coming down the hill toward the little old Bradford church after an absence. The church, in a practicaily abandoned has dwindled to only a few members. village, resident Branding Runaways The Statute of Laborers, passed in the reign of Edward VI, ordered & run away servant to be branded on the breast with the letter “V" for vaga bond, and judged him to be the slave of any purchaser for two years. His owner, we are told, was to give him “bread, water and small drink and refuse meat and cause him to work by beating, chaining or otherwise” If the man absented himself for 14 days during his two years of servitude he was to be branded on the forehead with the letter 8" Montreal Herald, Island of St. Helena Is Reduced in Population The island of St. Helena is located 1,200 miles from the west coast of Af- rien, and contains an area of about 47 square miles. It was discovered In 1501 by Juan de Nova Castella, a Por- tuguese navigator, who gave it its name because he first saw it on the day consecrated to St. Helena. In the following century the Dutch took pos session and retained it until 1673 when it was seized by England, notes a writ- er in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, When Napoleon was first banished to the island and held there as a po- litical prisoner under British surveil. lance, the population wis about BOO, the soldiers numbering 200 and the slaves about 300. Subsequently, the population increased until it exceeded 6.000, Emigration has since reduced it. One of the factors which lessened the importance of the island was the opening of the Suez canal, and the con sequent rerouting of the Indian trade. It has still a great value, however, us a naval station, and Is one of the strong keys to English power in the south Atlantic. amn——————————— “Make Money” Among the many definitions of make is “to attain as the result of effort; procure; gain; earn” Io this sense, the expression “to make money” car- ries no suggestion of any nefarious method. In fact, the expression, in the sense of “to earn or procure money” is very old. It was common long before the time of Shake speare, who used It repeatedly.’ In Othello (written In 1004) lago, in the first act, says: “Make all thou canst . . . Thou art sure of me, Go make money.”"—Literary Digest, he Negro Hair Cuts Itself How often it happens that in search ing for one another thing is found. The Wool Industries Research association set itself to solve the prob lem of the too easy breaking of the wavy wool of the merino sheep, and in the process discovered why the ne gro has close frizzy hair, It seems that frizzy hair and wavy wool have a circular way of growth before they appear above the skin level, and this continues during external growth. Both hair and wool are found to be thinner at the bends than In the rest of the curls, and at these thin places both break easily. Thus, when a ne gro in civilization brushes his hair, or in the jungles of Africa rubs It with his hands, it breaks off, and saves him the trouble of having it cut. As far as merino wool is concerned a corrective is In sight, and perhaps the negro will use the same taking the kink out of his wool !--Tit-Bits Maga- tine, thing device for Famous for Keen Scent Belf-reliance in abundance bristles from the short erect ears to the tight ly curled tall of the Norweglan elk- hound, Without this characteristic, observes an authority in the Los An- geles Times, he could never hope to perform the monstrous task of hunting Norweglan elk, the moose of northern Europe. In this assignment he is not re quired to chase the game, but rather to stealthlly locate and hold the angry animal at bay. Great runuing speed is not required, and his body must not present the “racy” tucked-up appear- ance of the greyhound or whippet, jut he must be possessed of great en durance and agility; be capable of dodging, with spring trigger precision, the kicks of quick hoofs and jabbing swings of sweeping horus. For scenting powers he Is one of the most remarkable of all hunting dogs, able under favorable conditions to scent an elk or bear at three miles’ distance, His origin is anclent, dating back to the time of the vikings. Many, upon irst sight, are Impressed with his like ness to a possible cross between the German shepherd and the chow-chow. Like both of these breeds, he is a member of the important, wolfy-look- ing spitz family of northern dogs. It Is not unlikely that the entire family may have evolved from the Norweglan elkhound. Birds Birds from That the down sare very imitative. The ostrich where he lives alone, is silent, but in a country where the lions abound he roars. The reason for this is, are reminded, that admiring the lions roar, he grad- ually learns to roar himself. As for small birds, buntings imitate pippets, and green finches mits eljow ham. mers. They seek their food in winter together and they gradually steal each other's call. The jay is an insatiable {maitator. Some jays will include in the repertory only the cries or songs of other birds, but also the bleat of the lambs and the neigh of a horse. Even the nightingale imitates. In a nightingaie's song it is sometimes quite easy to detect phrases he has borrowed rom other birds, Reason for the Cin The reason for the curfew was that in the early days all the houses were made of wood and thatched straw, says the Montreal Herald, There were no chimneys, and the smoke had to escape through a& hole in the center of the roof, and thus fires often oc- curred. To prevent this happening at night the rule of putting out all fires was strictly enforced. They were us- usually extinguished by placing over them a large copper hood Mimic ostrich we not nosy AND UP. List price of Ssandord Sia Sport Roadster at Flisa, Michigan, $455. Wich bumpers, spare tire and tirelock, theliet prior is § 18 eddiviond. Prices sudyect to change without notice. i AS MUCH AS ¥ public favor. Value CENTRE HALL, PA.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers