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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 1904)
I probably has its local peouliarl- J 1 1 tint" n n n n or mnra mnrkd than those of the hanilct of Jatte, near Culox, France, not far from the Italian frontier. In this village live about 200 deformed men, women and children, who comprise about one-third of all the people In the vil lage. These deformed people are without the uso of their Itga, their lower limbs and thighs being withered and stunted. They push themselves about the village streets In little wooden carts with wooden wheels, propelling themselves by rreans of llatlron Shaped blocks of wood which they carry in their hands. Another peculiar village is that of Hal berstadt, in the district of Magdeburg, Germany, which has about 1,200 Inhabitants. In this village rich and poor, old and young, pend a largo part of their time playing chess. In the public schools chess Is one of the compulsory studies, and the teaching of It Is begun as soon as the child begins to attend. Every day from one to two hours aJ'O set part for the study of chess problems, and cholars hnve to Invent new chess combi nations, Just as In other schools children nave to write compositions. Examinations fn chess are held twice a year under the supervision of the village authorities. Hints (or the Little Hostess. How many of you find It hard to enter tain the little neighbors when they come In to spend .the afternoon? Even grown-up folks sometimes do not know how to give their company pleasure. Now we will pre tend that a little girl has just rung and we are hurrying to the door to welcome her. Of course, we tell ber how glad we are to have her come over, and we help her to take off her WTaps. Then maybe we have a playroom. Some of us have, I am sure. They are such nice things to have around the house and Bave our mothers all the bother of picking up our toys. We will take our visitors Into the playroom or our own dear bedroom, and here we will find dolls, books, paints and games. It Is al ways the nicest thing to play what our company likes best, even when we do not care for the game ourselves, and then, of eourse, we must let her hold our best doll and look at our prettiest books. If she Is Interested In stories it will bo the most fun to read one out loud to her. There was once a little girl who used to read fairy tales to her company and then they would both draw pictures of the different charac ters and color them with water colors. Borne of the pictures were really very pretty. Suppose we try this plan, too. When it Is time for our little friend to go she will tell us what a lovely afternoon she has had and we must not forget to ask her to come again, help her with her cloak and fiat, open the door for her (we must never let our company open the door themselves, you know), and bid her "Goodby." Simple Experiments. neat is one of the most curious things In this world. Why do you pull your cap down over your ears and button your overcoat eo tightly on a frosty morning? "To keep out the cold," you say at first thought. Oh, no, to keep In tho heat of your body, to prevent It flying off, to con serve It This elementary fact is, of course, pretty well understood by boys and girls, but It is less easy to remember all about heat In Its relationship to substance. There are conductors and nonconductors of It. Woolen materials belong to the latter class, '" . and so keep you warmer than cotton, which conducts the heat and gives It off. Here Is an Interesting experiment: Iut your hand into a bowl of water which has been allowed to- stand In the room some hours. Purs it leel as warm as the air? "Oh, no," you answer: "colder." Now, wo will test the mutter with a thermometer. Watch the mercury closely. Why, luw odd! Air and water number the same de grees. Here is a piece of marble. Touch It. Tou shiver, do you not? Marble Is always tin comfortably cold. And, by the way. the writer remembers once seeing a dear lit tle white Eskimo dog which could only be pulled through a Philadelphia, summer by giving it the use of a marble topped table. Here it spent all its leisuro hours and kept cool. To return to our experiment. Placing your hand on marble you would certainly aver that It Is colder than tho wood right alongsido of it. Hut, as a matter of fact, It Isn't. Tho difference between thcFe two sub stances Is simply that the marble, being a better conductor of heat than the wood, it absorbs more of the warmth from your hand, and so gives you a greater sensa tion of chilliness. The rtverse Is true of charcoal. You may take a piece in your hand, lluht cue end of it and hold It by the other without any unpleasant sensation. It will not con duct the heat to your hand. If you were to lay your hand on a piece of Iron outdoors during very severe weather it would probably freeze, fast, on the Instant, producing a slight but p.ilntul Injury. That is because iron is a fine con ductor of heat; so, indeed, are all metals. Railway ta Polar Circle. The northernmost railway In the world is a solidly built, well equipped road In Scan dinavia, the furthest station of which Is 130 miles above the polar circle. It Is called the Arctic railway and runs from the Swedish town of Lulea, near the head cf the Gulf of Dothma, to the newly built port of Victoria Haven, on the Lofoten fiord In Norway. This fiord Is very deep and free from ice the whole year round. This makes the position of Victoria Haven very Important, as the large supplies of Iron mined in the vicinity of this railroad can be shipped by steamer throughout tha year. The road was to tunnel seveVal mountains and at the point where the Arc tic circle Is crossed a station has bien built so that tourists may be allowed to stop and note how Imperceptible Is the dif ference between the frigid and temperate cones at certain points. Getting- Acquainted. Say, little girl, what's your name? And what's your father do? Some people say your family came From out west. Is it true? Say, who's your brother, ain't you got none? Say now, how old are you? I hot you me and Jim can run More faster 'en you can do. Where's your play things? Packed away? Say, have you got a train? I have. And horse und a little dray. The horse, he's gut a name. Say, don't you want to see my horse? ills skin is sure 'nough hide. What? bring your doll? Why sure, o'course We'll take her for a ride. Girl of Six Hescues Her Brother. One day last month a merry party of young people trooped out to Be' leek's Lake, a body of water near Kenosha, Wis., to enjoy the skating there. They were Joined by the two little children of Mr. and Mrs, .fill JamM Walker t'l.uencp, seven years old, and Julln, a year younger. The older children soon skated out of sight and hearing r.n 1 these little oties skated alone for some time. The boy grow ing venturesome, went toward the center of the lake, where- the Ice was thin, and did not heed the warning cry from Julia. While she sto;id calling to him, thi- Ico broke and the little fellow plunged Into the cold water. As he rose to the surface he screamed for help, but there was no one near to hear hi agonized cry except his sister. She give one shout for help and then ran as near the hole In the Ice as she dired. Without a moment's waste of tlin! the Utile glil quickly unwound the long sorf itroii'.d her neck and threw ono end of It to tho be numbed boy. He caught nt It with a llrm grip. Pulling ami tuning with all her baby ptrcnsth, Julia cried iig.iln and again for help. None came. Finally, In a frantlo effort she pulled her almost u neons 'loin brother up on to the Iim and fell down herself, exhausted, Jut as tho skating party icturiicd. The boys and girls picked up the small heroin." and carried her to her mother on their shoulders. The eople of Kenosha nre planning to present thlH brave little sister with a medal In recognition of her courage and presence of mind. Gray Parrot as a Horn Actor. The capacity of the grny parrot for Imi tation Is well known. A contilbutor to Na ture describes a voung bird who W1 n "born actor," us the phrase Is, and who had not only the power of mimicry, but also the more remarkable power of accompany ing his words by appropriate dramatic ac tion. He played with a piece of wood exactly as a little girl plays with her doll. He would taka the wood In his claw, and would say to It, Imltat'ng tho vo ce and gjsture of his mistress or one of the servant.?: "What! Are you going to bite me? How dare you! I will take the stick to you!" Then he would shake his head at the wood and say: "I am ashamed of you! Whom did you bite? Go to your perch!" He wou'd then take the wood to the bottom of his cage, and putting it down on the floor, would hit It with his cluw sev eral times, saying: "Naughty! I'll cover you up, I will!" Then he would step back from It one or more pares, put l is head on one sldo and say, as he looked at It, "Are you good now?" The writer of this letter says that no at tempt was ever made, deliberately, to teach tho parrot this or any other of hU his trionic performances. He picked them up Bpontuneouely from his own observation, and pieced them together from memory. He was brought to his owner straight from the nest in Africa. Therefore, his dra matic Instinct was Intul lvc, and hnd not teen strengthened by association with tho stage and its people. This remarkably clever gray parrot. died at the early age of one year und eleven months. What lNilkr Blocf The blue color of the sky on a bright clear day has been constantly noticed by tho individual from childhood. To tho primitive lay mind the uzure tint of the firmament is simply its natural color. Uut our dully experience shows that the visible dome of the heavens la only an appearance, and science teaches us to Inquire critically Into the nature of things. Tha cause of g WW this color viewed from a scientific stand point has been almost as llluslvo as the f u bled philosopher's stone, which during the middle ages was for centuries an ob ject of profourd research. The same may be said of tho familiar color of the deep blue sen, which has elicited the admiration of dwellers on the ocean shores from tha curliest ages of mankind; nnd yet probably no great number of Individuals have in quired Into the cause of this color. At lantic Monthly. The I.ndy of Sleep. Tho I.ullahv I.ady she's rometlmes rilled When we Tsp with a childish tongue, Whn manhood's stature's a wish fore stalled. And ilfc Is a song unsung; Our trundle-bed wee she o n Is above. And grants us n rest from play, The Lullaby l.ndy with touch of lovo Who csriles our cares away. i To the Poi py Princess we change her name When older we've grown, nnd : lull Midst the mad'nliiK chase aflor I'ckla fame For the peace of the long-gonc-by. And the span of each day heart-rest de nies, Till we II" In her loving keep. And the Princess Into our tired eyes lias Hlfted the sands of sleep. Hoy F.ttrell ( recite, in Housekeeper. Shooting stars. Astronomers nre concerned, of course, not merely with the appearance of shooting stirs nt this time, but with the direction In which they aprear to travel snd the point from which they came. A recent writer in Nature gave precise directions bs to what It was desirable to observe. It Ih now stated that a single observer, well placed, might at times havo seen nltout 260 meteors per hour during this week. The display teems to have been about one-tenth as line as the memorable occasion of 18M, and there Is reason to believe that the "shoal" has not been so much diverted from Its for mor course ns to ceate to be of Interest to observers on the earth. The Leonids are so-called because they all appear to rndlate from what Is known as tho "radiant point" In the constellation Leo. I Proof Indeed. Little Emily was making a call with her mamma on a nearby neighbor when sud denly her attention was culled to a glass bowl with one lone gold fish swimming around In It. In the middle of the glass bowl there was a mlnature castle with water plants nnd pebbles surrounding It. ' Emily looked at the fish wide-eyed and then she exclaimed, "Now I know fairy stories are real. Just look at the gold fish that lives In a castle In the midst of a fairy forest. It drinks all day and flaps Its wings and wiggles its eyes, so there. Isn't that proof." I ailfratood the Lesson. At a certain country school the tescher was giving her pupils an illustration of what an object was. Having concluded, she naturally was careful to tie convinced that the class understood the lesson. Che, therefore, asked them to name an object. There was silence for a moment, and then a little 0-year-old, anxious for prefer ment, raised his hand, remarking: ''Teacher, I can name one." "Well." said the teacher, "name It." "A little worm." "Couect," said tho teacher; "now, who can name another object?" Another pause, and then the same hand was up again. "Ah!" exclaimed the teacher, pleasantly, "I Bee you are the only one who under stood the lesson. Now name It." "Another little worm."