Ontario Community Newspapers

Port Perry Star, 17 Dec 1931, p. 2

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ot en y College as t ent, from ich he 38 ex ET TES pan oan oa nto &n thurst, an h dramatist. Me Wagner, rain heiress. 'Alanna and: Sam tan an a CHAPTER XVII. --(Cont'd.) Voices goundedy » passed close by but neither Sam Mg 4 A no- ticed them. They were entranced: they sat a while on a conveniens bench, they rose and moved on aim- lessly through the shadows, absorbed in each other. Time passed, it grew dark in the gardens behind them and even darker here, and they realized "that the lights had been turned off, but the stars remained, The orchestra in the cafe had stopped long ago. "A thousand times I've dreamed "about holding you like this," Sam murmured, "I seem to experience feelings I've always known." He was ~ profoundly interested in this phenom- enon. "I've thought about you con- stantly, every night I've fallen asleep haunted by your voice. It was like the music of some stringed instrument sighing in the moonlight. I've breath- ed the fragrance of your hair and it was like sweet-scented honeysuckle," "That's father's soap," Alanna told him. "The odor lasts." "He asked you if I had money and 1 told you--" : "Don't tell me anything, Jarling, What does it matter? What does any- thing matter? Tonight I'm not his dauzhter, I'm not flesh and blood, there's nothing sare or sensible about me. I'm the Sleeping Princess \:ho is still: rubbing her eyes. You might a stranger, some beggar -- it wouldn't make any difference." "Thank heaven, I'm no beggar. 1 dare say I have as much as your fa- ther has, or even more. Some day at Jeast----" "I'm sorry you told me that. I don't want you to be anybody or to have anything but me. I wish you were-- Yess than the dust." "But why?" "If you don't feel the same about me I can't explain. Don't ask me to think or to talk sensibly. I've just Jearned who I am anl--" "And 1 must tell <u who I am." "Not tonight! Don't dare! Sam, darling." 'When finally they mounted the steps to the Casino, it was dark. A watch- man on his rounds halted and eyed them suspiciously, then shrugged and turned away. "I had no idea what time it is," Bam faltered as he peered at his watch. "What will your father say?" Alanna laughed and drew his arm closer about her waist. "He's a sen- sible person. He'll probably say it's better for a girl to be out late than never." CHAPTER XVIII Alanna was usually up and out of doors long before her father had his breakfast; he was surprised the next 'morning, therefore, when she languid- ly entered their dining room and sank into a chair across the table from him, She wore a handsome suit of lounging * pajamas, she was pale, she moved like a sleepwalker, jer lids were heavy and she eyed him as if from a great * "Hullo! Hullo!" he began cheerily., "What detained you, my dear? And - how do I happen to be honored with--?" He paused and leaned for- ward, startled, "Good Lord, Alanna, what ails you?" "Durt esk," she said with a feeble wave of her hand. "The milk man delivered me and I haven't closed ar eye. I shall never sleep again: it's a Sriminal waste of time. And, darling, 't be surprised at anything you hear about me; for it's only half the ~Aruth. If some watchman tell you he #aw me at such and such an hour in this or that place, don't be shocked for #¥'s true. I've been on a long journey. have ex d unknown lands and sailed uncharted seas. It's a wonder I got back with the cream » speaker allowed her dreamy gaze wander about the luxurious break- 3 yom. "My! How the old place 3t have 5 ou had your coffee?" 'had 2 I've had every- 1 didn't take my death of cold." Alanna gazed ati her father n a languor more expressive than words: her lids fluttered. In a spiritless sing- song she recited: "Behold the wreck of the Hesperus that sailed the win- try sea, ... The skipper answered never a word, for a frozen corpse was she" "I--I'm frozen," the father man- aged to say. "Which makes it unanimous. I'm asleep, my circulation has stopped, I'm delirious. But don't waken me, don't call a doctor. He might cure me." Wagner stared at his daughter in amazement and in disbelief. "Yeu don't honestly mean--? Is that on the level, about the park? You--you seem to be proud of it! You rave like a lunatic. Why, you're behaving like a brazen hussy. . . You need a straight- jacket: you--you ought to have a ball and chain." "Some people call 'em that." "Out all night! With a--stranger! I never heard of such a thing." The speaker was growing apoplectic, he was stuttering, but Alanna laughed. "A stranger! Oh, father, dear fa- ther! He was, but he isn't, I know him, backwards and sideways. I'm the stranger, precious old egg-plant . You'll burst an artery, darling: I say it in warning. I never knew myself, even faintly, until--going on eleven- thirty, just passed. No, Mr. Wagner, I had met your charming daughter in a casual way but I never became real- ly well acquainted with her until last night. Such feeling, such depth, such intensity! A most unusual girl and a great credit to you. . , . He--kissad me, dad! Excuse the shiver, wor't you? It was an Adventure in Souls." Unusual and distressing sounds issued from Al Wagner. For once he was genuinely shocked. Mere nrofan- ity proved inadequate to express his emotions: he tried it but choked; gradually his indignation took coe herency and form and he began a stern rebuke. Before he had gone far Alanna interrupted. For the first time she spoke crisply: "Don't start singing 10sannas; I'm on edge. A fine messiah you make. How many times have you come in late? How many flat keys do you carry?" Both were speaking at once, but at something her father said the girl cried, even more sharply than before, "Now you're getting low and slimy in your thoughts, precious grubworm. Lift up your chin. Theres no excuse to cast me off. I'm not going out into the night--" "You've been!" Wagner growled. "Don't tell me that a decent girl can neck a fellow all night in the dark and--" "I had practically no voice in the proceedings, governor, Honest. You don't know that man: a woman is putty in his hands, a quivering' proto- plasm. I was picked up, swept away --I was no more than a--a silken streamer whipped by a raging sirocco. Isn't that pretty? Of course I prayed that the storm wouldn't blow itself out and I'm not saying that I didn't advance the spark a little, now and then. But that's my business, Try and get it through that ivory wig block of yours, pious, that I'm a free agent and answerable only to myself for anything I do. If that concept pierces your frontal bone you'll begin to understand something about the new era. But--you're a pre-war par- ent. Why should I destroy your il- lusions 7" "'Pre-war!' 'Illusions!' This free- dom you talk about! I can't make ont. for the life of me, whether it's free- dom or license, innocence or guilt." "Do mot confuse innocente with ignorance? Possibly purity is the word you have in mind, Men are so vile." "Oh, stop your flip chatter! If I thought you were as sophisticated you pretend to be. I--I'd e you. But you're just being smart, I suppose. That's post-war stuff and it's as poisonous as the other post- war stuff we're getting: For once I-- {any vaiow tthe spring. Tals hugh Talman in his Science Service To the Eskimos While Remote Tribes Still * Follow Ancient Customs, Many Adopt Modern Devices "In a rapidly changing world, the Eskimo, most Isolated of all people, 18 also changing," writes Russell Owen in the, N.Y. Times. That strange race of the Arctic North is showing, in many instances, that it can stand con- tact with civilization, There has been an assumption, only partly true, that the Eskimo is gradually disappearing, Whole groups have vanished in Lab- rador and around Hudson Bay, but elsewhere the Eskimos, as distinguish- ed by their culture, are persisting, even though in blood they are becom- ing sadly mixed. "In the heyday of brought into contact with Western clv- ilization first by means of the sea. They saw houses float in, great houses with cloths which caught the wind, and marveled at men who had been' able to get so much wood together. The Polar Eskimos, who are the di- rect descendants of the ancient races and have, perhaps, best retained their culture, are the most northern per- manent settlers in the world. They live within a thousand miles of the North Pole, along the northwestern coast of Greenland, and because of their isolation havo only recently been brought into contact with white eivi- lization. Despite their far habitation, however, even they have lost their early puity of blood and have had their condition modified by external factors. Their necessity for building their winter houses of turf and stone, covered by snow, near hunting grounds where the game is regular, has given way to some extent before the use of better sledges and rifles and am- that culture, when they were spread- ing from west to east, reversing the usual course of empire, they numbered not more than 40,000, Today there | are still 34,000 of them along the shores of the Arctic Sea. Their num- bers, therefore, have not been to di- minished by disease and new habits as one might be led to expect. Their method of living, however, ! has in some regions undergone a com- plete transformation, Only in a few' inaccessible parts of the North is the Eskimo of today the true decendant' of his whaling and sealing ancestors. ! In Alaska and Western Canada he has | become a hunter of furs and some-| times a trader; in Greenland he and! his kind have clustered around the missions and settlements and :built houses instead of stone huts. This! has not always been good for him, but it has been inevitable, and if the Eskimo triumphs over tuberculosis and other diseases which have come | to him, it is not unlikely that he will be able to adapt his culture to his modern conditions, Probable Origin In Asia Where did the Eskimos originate? That has long been a debated ques- tion among those who have tried to' learn something of their history and' folklore. It is probable that in the' remote past they came from some- where in Asia, possibly from the Siberian coast after moving north! from inland, It is generally agreed | that they -later clustered near Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes, and | then moved north and fanwise over! the entire North, American Arctic' region. It is believed that this dis- persal from a common centre took place in somewhat recent times, Pos- sibly the expansion of the Indian tribes forced the Eskimos out, down the rivers to the sea where they be came hunters of seal and walrus as well as of caribou Wherever they, have come into contact with the In-! dian they have retired to the. coast, and their wanderings have been due to thelr scant food supply. The Modern Eskimos. The modern Eskimos, a simple, | primitive people, living in the barren | lands on caribou meat and on the coast on bear, seal and walrus, were! | _-- fellow, she owes it to herself to marry him and be damned quick about it." "Amen! At last we're in accord," (To be continued.) 1 I i | _ Rajah Poses for the munition brought by the white man. The snow house is used only in em- ergency. These are still a hard living, thrifty people, storing their food In caches to make it last them through the win- ter, sharing with each other their life being molded inexorably by the sev- ere climate. Their food is often raw, and it is altogether from the animals they catch on land and in the sea. They travel long distances with their dogs; their stanima is re- markable; they are a happy and con- tented people, who laugh easily and find amusement in their constant labor. But it is inevitable that their closer contact with white men should change their methods of living almost as much as the ways of those in West- ern Canada, Mackenzie Tribes. Curiously enough, some of the Es- kimos who cling strongly to the sea, who hunt whale and seal, and live much as do the Eskimos of Green. land, are found in the Mackenzie River district, closely. in touch with civilization through traders. They are good bargainers, and as competition {for furs increased the price these na- tives became prosperous and learned the value of money. They will not work for nothing or cheerfully give travellers food; they must be paid. Many of them own schooners and call each other "Captain"; some 'of them have boats with motors which they know how to operate; the women use sewing machines instead of the needle. They have learned to write, and type- writers are not uncommon; safety raz- ors are in general use, This outward civilization, however, is superficial, and the mative underneath is as su- perstitious as his more untaught cousin. There has been an even greater change in the Alaskan Eskimos. They were originally a warlike peo- ple, who used breastplates of bone as protection against arrows and crushed their enemies' heads with clubs; between them and the Indians | were constant feuds. But they were rapidly dying out when the United States purchased Alaska and saved them, Under skillful guidance and the introduction of reindeer to take the place of the vanished caribou they have become a happy, indus- trious and independent people. They speak English, go to schools and have been weaned from their insanitary ways of living in closed houses, am 3 ~ Those around Point Barrow are less sophisticated than the Macken- zie Eskimos, who have been affected 'by the tide of trade which flows up and down the Mackenzie River.| They are whalers who hunt with the hand harpoon in the old-fashioned ; way. Further south they are more prosperous, and at Noorvik they live | in wooden houses with electric light, Nome and a Contrast. The most astonishing gathering place of the Eskimos is Nome diring the tourist season, when they flock in from all over Alaska and set up tent encampments near the city, There they carve ivory for jhe trav- elers from the south, and so far they Seem not to have been demoralized by their life in town, Such a Hfe is a world removed from that of the lonely dwellers further east, who sing to their dogs on the desolate trail; Only the air-spirits - know 'What lies beyond the hills, Yet I urge my team further on, Drive on and on, On and on! rere fess. 7' White Christmas By Margaret Emerson Bailey. This is December, and zero weather; This is the season of less, not more. But befter get ready the empty man- ger, Pitchfork straw on the draughty floor. A pretty time for a cow to be calving. What does she think will become of her young? | But bolt the door from the flying snowflakes, 'Slam it to where the si}l has sprung, Am I to fetch clover as I fetch water, With ice on the pasture, ice on the sedge? x ! But though cold as a barn, this need not be colder, | Stuff an old shirt in the window ledge. | You'd think she'd know there was nothing to grow on; That frosty hay is poor fodder for milk, . But lift the oil lamp to the further- most corner-- Eyes like stars and a coat like glk, Where has the heart of winter a warm For any creature so newly born? But look at the milk-white breath of the cattle, The warm: white breath of the lowing cattle, Taking the chill morn, off of Christmas 7, 5 ri "Brown boasts that he never . tells the same story twice." "His tailor knows differently." ee Ap ee em. City Strife Victoria Times (Lib.)--The cities | of this continent are, in some way, its most admirable achievement. They have a lusty vitality, a limitless en- ergy, a great optimism, and faith that can occasionally move mountains. : They present inspiring sky-lines, ar- chitecture that arries the spirit aloft | to a new freedom, a grandeur that is; a tonic to the soul. But we pay a _ terribly high price for them. They. . are crowded; soma of them beyond all reason. Some are noley and dirty. They abound with miserable' tene- ments. aand cramped apartments, The! | Jerry-builder has flourished in their burbs. The bill-board ad thelr vacant lots feature, Why the Weather? (Washing- or ton). He goes dn is Nl "When the cool weather sets i an the growth of vegeta.ion slows down, the trees need less food, and gradually suspend work in the leaf factories, Both the "ood and the chlorophyll in the leaves are drawn into the body of the tree and stored up for use in the 'What New York Is Wearing BY ANNEBELLE WORTHINGTON Niustrated Dressmaking Lesson Fur- SpE: ag hemi- wished With Every Pattern This transfer involves many c¢ cal changes, oo "One of them is the breaking up of the chlorophyll into the substances of which it is composed The green pig- ment passes out of the lea es before the yellow. Thus yellow becomes one of the prevailing hues of autumn loli age, : "The reds, which also prevail in the autumn, do not come from the chloro- phyll, but from the )igments contain- ed in the sap. Their appearance indi cates an excess of sugar in the leaves, after the withdraw:' of other ma- terials." i Ain Sacrifice Far in the western world where trains go by, Pillowed for Rest, cushioned for Comfort, do We ever think how in lone grave. yards lie Along the road, brave, happy lads who knew. t The heathery Pentlands, or the moors of York, The Tuscan vineyards, or German. ia's streams?-- Death found their leaky shacks and stopped their work, And now the sage-brush mingles with their dreams. Deep down they lié around the core ner stones Op which the walls of Industry arise; ; : There is a place where Progress, too, : atones, For she is not exempt from sacri fice-- Nor is there where Freedom her tent may rear, ; But has a grave within some corner, near! --Alexander Lonis Fraser. A, Insects 'Hamper 5-Year Plan Important economic plans of the Government of Soviet Russia threat. en to be thwarted by that humble in- sect, the bedbug, declares Dr. B, H, Free in his Week's Science (New York), We read: > "As part of two of the chief units of Russia's 'Five-Year Plan,' the hous. - ing campaign and the farm campaign, the Soviet Government mobilized many months ago gangs of laborers who were to live in barracks and work on mew houses or in the flelds, At a recent meeting of the Unlon of 'Sani tafy Workers in Moscow it was admit. ted that bedbugs largely had defeated 'both of these plans for barrack hous. ing of necessary workers. "These insects appeared In enor mous numbers in the workers' bar racks. Means of exterminating them (were lacking, and the sanitary offi clals were helpless. As one result, the workers refused either to live In the infested houses or to work at the assigned jobs. : . "News from the 'bedbug front' still is reported as i Soviet scientists a ouAgng: Ei practicable means of getting rid of the insects." ' The fitted costume for the new sil- houette frock moulds the figure firmly through the bodice. , It is given a brassiere effect at the front. The attached skirt is shaped wiih a gradual widening toward the com- fortably full hemline. It is held by shoulder straps and opens at the centre-back. It is a boon to the woman with a mature figure, It will make tho youthful figure still more youthful. Style No, 8377 is designed for sizes 16, 18 years, 86, 88, 40, 42, 44, 46 and 48 inches bust. 4 Size 86 requires 23% yards 35-inch. It's easily fashioned. It is interest- ing-sewing that is easily handled. Run the seams on the sewing machine, and finish the bindings by hand. It will give it French accent. . Crepe de chine and flat crepe ara sturdy and dainty for its development. HOW TO ORDER PATTERNS. Write your name and address plain- ly, giving number and. size of such patterns as you want, Enclose 20c in stamps or coin (coin preferred; wrap it carefully) for each number, and address your order to Wilson Pattern Service, 73 West Adelaide St., Toronto. i

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