The Water Front at Bagdad.
(Prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington. D. C.)
Irak, the new Aruh state, iff which
Emir Felsal recently was proclaimed
provisional king, under British man
date, strikes a new note to many ears;
but despite its unfamiliar name it
Is a land whose Influence upon the
history of the human race it would
scarcely he possible to overestimate.
For Irak is none other than Mesopo
tamia. that between-the-rlvers strip
of land which Is believed by.many to
have been the original home of the
human race—the Garden of Eden.
There in the dim and misty ages be
fore history began, men first attempted
to form themselves into organized
communities, there the Hebrew race ;
found its origin, and thence their
first leader. Abraham, went out In
search of the land which he should
afterward receive for an Inheritance, i
It Is a long and comparatively nar
row stretch of country, running up I
from the Persian Gulf toward the j
Tttras Kvountams and that lofty table
land which we now know os Armenia.
On its northern and northeastern side !
It Is bordered by a fringe of maun- j
tains, gradually sloping up toward tin
great northern ranges. On the south- |
ern and southwestern side it fades
away into the great Arabian desert.
Its Two Famous Rivers.
Far up Iu the tableland of Armenia,
about KUO miles in a straight line from
the gulf, rise two great rivers—the
Ttgrl3 and the Euphrates. The former
breaks through the mountain wall of
the tableland on Its eastern flunk
and Hows in a southeasterly direction
throughout almost its entire course.
The latter breaks through on the
western flunk and flows at Hrst west
ward, as though making for the
Mediterranean. It then turns south
and flows directly southward for
awhile; then sweeps around In a great
bend to the southeast and follows u
course gradually converging upon that
of Its sister stream. Finally, near
the sea, the two unite and issue as
one river Into the Persian Gulf.
The land traversed by these two
rivers bus, like the sister riverland of
Bgypt, been from time Immemorial
one of the great historic centers of
human development. It divides into
two portions of fairly equal leugth.
For the Hrst 400 miles the-country
gradually descends In a gentle slope
from the mountains, forming an ir
regular triangle between the two
rivers, within which the land becomes
less and less hilly, as It sinks south
ward, till, as It nears the Euphrates,
It becomes a broad steppe, which,
beyond the river, rolls off into the
desert. This portion Is strictly the
land called by the Greeks "Mesopo
tamia.'’
The second division is totally dif
ferent In character. It Is simply a
great delta, like that of the Nile—a
flat, alluvial plain, which has been
entirely formed of the slit brought
down from the mountains by the two
great rivers.
The process of ’and making Is still
going on, and the waters of the Per
sian <}ulf are being pushed back at the
rate of about 72 feet per annum.
What this slow process may achieve
In many centuries Is evidenced by the
fact that we know that the ancient
town of Erldu was, about 3000 B. C.,
an important seaport on the Persian
Oulf. It Is now 126 miles from the
sen.
Control of Waters Necessary.
Both lands were entirely dependent
for their habitability and fertility on
the rivers which traversed them. In
Mesopotamia the Tigris and the Eu
phrates have for long stretches chan
neled deep Into the soil and flow be
low the level of the land. In the low
er district—Babylonia—the ordinary
level of the rivers Is frequently ubove
that of the surrounding plain; so tha
Inundations are of frequent occur
rence, and large tracts of the country
are now unhealthy marshland.
In both cases, therefore, though for
opposite reasons, the hand of man was
needed to make the rivers helpful. In
Mesopotamia the water was con
trolled by dikes-and dams, which held
It up until It was raised to the level
of the land, over which It was then
distributed by canals. In Babylonia
the surplus water was drawn off di
rectly by a great canal system, the
banks of whose ancient arteries still
stretch In formidable ridges across
thp plain.
Under the system of Irrigation both !
lands were astonishingly fertile. Even I
today It can he seen thut only well
directed work is needed to bring back
the ancient fertility. After the spring
ruins, the Mesopotamian slopes are
clothed with rich verdure and ure
gay with flowers. But of old, these
lands were the wonder of the world
for their richness.
Of Babylonia the Greek historian
Herodotus, wrote 11,350 years ago;
“This territory Is of all tlint we know
the best by fur for producing grain;
us to trees. It does not even attempt
to bear them, either tig or vine or
olive; but for producing grain It Is
so good thut it returns as much us
two hundred fold for the average, |
and when it bears at Its tiest. It pro
duces three hundred fold.”
You had, then, a land which, in
constant human occupation und with
constant and organized attention to
the Details of Irrigation, was capable
of almost anything; but at the same
time it was a land which, left to it
self. went back quickly to wilderness.
The parching heat of summer with
ered everything on the Mesopotamian
uplands; the low levels of Babylonia
very speedily became marsh If the
waters were not regulated.
So. the hand of man being with
drawn or checked, both Mesopotamia
and Babylonia went hack to the state
in which they were originally, and in
which we see them now. They be
came great barren wastes.
There are few things more remark
able than the way In which this lund
which hud once been supreme in the
history of the world, und which for
centuries was one of the great mold
ing forces of human history, passed al
most entirely out of the thought and
memory of civilized man.
We know it, of course, from our
Bibles. The name of Nineveh, "that
great city," and the story of Nebu
chadnezzar's pride, as he looked round
upon palace and temple and tower,
Hnd said; "Is not this great Babylon,
which I have built?” These things
are part of our earliest and unforget
table impressions of history.
Vanished From Memory,
The men who wrote the history and
the prophecy of the Old Testament
did so when these lands were living,
and at the height of their glory.
Then came down midnight. 80 ut
terly had the local habitation and the
name of these great cities vanished
from the memory of man that 400
years before Christ, when Xenophon
and the Ten Thousand marched
through the land after the battle of
Cunaxa, they passed the ruins of
Nineveh and never knew of them, and
encamped beside the ruins of Kalah,
another of the mighty cities of As
syria, and spoke of them as "an an
cient city named Larissa.”
The Young Turks, who came Into
power In the political upheaval of
1908, made an effort to reclaim the
lost garden spot, but did not make
any great headway. All activities
stopped, of course, with the outbreak
of the World war. But since the
British occupied Bagdad In 1917, the
work begun by the Young Turks has
been pushed much farther. Many
acres have been drained and dams
and canals have been constructed,
Bagdad has been connected by rail
with Basra, the port near the Per
sian Gulf; and a line has been extend
ed In the opposite direction from Bag
dad, up the Tigris half-way to Mosul.
It Is planned under the new Arab
state of Irak and the British man
date to continue the great engineering
work that will be needed to rejuven
ate Mesopotamia’s ancient irrigation
system. But there is much to be done
I before the “Garden of Eden” will
bloom again.
' HAS MANY SULPHUR SPRINGS
I _
Oklahoma Has Wonderful Supply of
Sparkling Water Impregnated
With Health-Giving Minerals.
In southern Oklahoma not far from
the Texas boundary, a group of 30
healing springs, all of cold sparkling
i water, were set apart by congress
In 1!X)4 under the title of the I'latt
national park. Most of them are sul
phur springs; others are Impregnated
with .bromides and other mineral
salts.
Many thousands yearly visit the
hordering city of Sulphur- to drink
these waters; many camp in or near
the reservation; the bottled waters
bring relief to thousands at home.
All these Platt springs, like those
at Hot Springs, Ark., were known to
the Indians many generations before
the coming of the white settler.
According to a Chickasaw legend,
two warriors competed for the hand
of Deerfoot, a chieftain’s daughter.
Both were killed by jumping off a
clifT. Then Deerfoot also jumped and
killed herself. The chief on the hill
top cried so many briny tenrs that,
according to Indian tradition, they
filtered down through the cliff and
mingled with the spring water, to
which they imparted remedial qual
ities.
THE DEVIL-FISH IN DEMAND
Delicacy, Dried and Fresh, in All
Sizes, Never Missing From the
Stores of Manhattan.
The devil-fish tribe, big and small,
dried and fresh, are never missing
from the stores of the Italian, (ireek,
Spanish. Ttirko and Mongol colonies
of Manhattan. They range In size
from the small squid to the giant cut
tlefish. The cuttlefish can also al
ways be obtained, from one year’s end
to another, pickled and canned In Its
own Ink.
Sun-dried oysters are always obtain
able at Mongol stores throughout the
country. They never use canned
oysters. The bivalves are sold on rat
tan, anil circled (after drying) for
hanging up In stores.
Lobsters’ tails, sun-dried, are a
great delicacy with the Creeks, and
are Imported regularly. A caviar is
imported from the Hellenes and all
along the Asia Minor seaboard. It
Is the roe of the baslira which Is salt
ed down, mild-cured and sun-dried trf"
a firm compactness which makes the
article almost as hard as wood. Then
It Is steeped In and given an effec
tive coating of beeswax. This will
preserve it for years and the slightly
fragrant beeswax film will bold its
faint honeyllke odor for as long.
This is the real original Turkish
kavlar.
Bird* That Fell Trees.
A bird’s nest as big as a house 1 It
sounds a tall order, and you might
think that only some kind of super
ostrich could make It.
As u matter of fact. It Is built by a
little fellow no bigger than a canary.
South African society birds like com
pany. They live In large colonies, all
the members of which build in the
same tree.
Each pair constructs a nest of mud.
Joining its walls to those of Its next
door neighbors. As the colonies are
several thousand strong, the bird
town soon reaches a very respectable
size.
The following season the colony oc
cupies the same tree, building new
nests on top of the old ones. The tree
creaks and groans, but the society
birds take no noth*;.
Sometimes the huge mass of nests
comes crashing down, and the air Is
filled with dust, feathers, and fright
en^l squeaks. But often the tree It
self is weighed down by the industri
ous colonizers, until eventually It col
lapses beneath the weight of their
homes.
Curious Mediterranean Fish.
A creature which has a beak like
a parrot, cheek pouches like those of
a monkey, and chews Ut'ciid like a
cow inhabits the warm waters of the
Mediterranean. It browses on the
weeds that flourish on the sea floor.
Its upper and lower Jaws have be
come hardened Into a sharp curved
beak, which is Just the tool required
for lopping off tough seaweed. Each
piece snipped off by the beak la
passed Into one of the two curious
pouches which adorn the cheeks, and
there it remains until the parrot fish
feels that It has collected enough for
a good meal. It then chews the cud
by means of the splendid set of teeth,
which nature has placed not In its
mouth, but in Its throat.
A Runaway Perambulator.
A runaway perambulator caused the
death of a baby boy at Dalston, Eng
land, recently. It had been left for a
morifent outside a barber’s shop by the
mother, while she went to attend to
her other child, whose hair was being
cut. In her absence, the perambulator,
owing to the wind, ran to the curb and
overturned. The baby was thrown out
at the moment when a horse-drawn van
was passing. A wheel of the vehicle
passed over the child's head, killing
bftn Instantly.
His Intention.
“Me and wife had a little jower last
night,” related Gap Johnson of Rum
pus Ridge, "und when I got the best
of the argyiuunt she ’lowed that
yuarafter she'd suffer In silence. I aim
to watch her a day or so, and if she
don’t kick back I reckon I’ll Invite all
the married men on the ridge to
gather around and enjoy the spec
tacle.”—Kansas City Star.
■
t,—-—,-- -J
i£). 1922, by McClure Newspaper .Syndicate.
Wednesday night, just before I went
to bed, the big idea came, like an un
expected gift of real gold. I wus lean
ing on my elbows listening to Eva
Herrick dissertating about her favorite
cold cream, und wlmt Madame So-and
So had told her was the proper way to
rub tiie stuff in. Three of us, hard
workers, lodged in the upper attic
room of the Fletcher's boarding house
on Beacon Hill.
It hadn’t taken much Ingenuity to
muke it a sort of paradise to return
to each evening.
We had each managed to acquire a
1 comfy chair, ami in these we were
severally reposing preparatory to
seeking sleep. Eva declared that
projier attention to one's looks meant
a terrible lot to the working woman,
who got too little out-of-door exercise
to keep the natural pink in her cheeks.
She looked at me critically for a few
moments, her hand poised in the uct
j 1
of the proper upward rub under the
right eye.
“Say. Belle, how do you do It? It is
right down mean of you to have such
wonderful color, and me here talking
so fust about acquiring it. Look at
her, Nell!”
I lunged forward until my face came
opposite the chevnl glass, and looked
at myself. We all looked hard. We all
agreed that I was mighty lucky. And
then things began to buzz in my head.
I hud worked pretty hard at the office
that day, and nothing had gone Just
right, besides which I could not see
that it was getting me anywhere. Jim
Bryant, a clever young clerk, had been
shouting around ull day about a chap's
getting out on his own, und not work
ing for a salary even If he took to
farming something the other fellow
hud abandoned it Is strange how
easy this money making sounds when
you hear the other fellow tulklng
about It.
"Make the most of your collateral,"
Jim Bryant had said. “Size up your
assets.”
Now, if 1 do say It as shouldn't, my
only assets are my beaux yeux, as
Mudame So-and-So would call them.
Well, why not? I smiled a slow, cheer
ful grin, und somehow the girls knew
that I Imd hit the nail on the head.
That’s the way It started, my busi
ness of (Tenting beauty for others. The
following Sunday morning's pa|>ers
blazoned an awfully cute advertise
ment, and from then on, our delight
ful nest in the attic became my place j
of business. And I wus busy, too,
strange as it may seem, hut the i
strangest part of all was getting used
to the name of Mile. Pretty.
Mrs. Gibson came lirst, with a repu
tation as a professional beauty to pre- !
serve, though her soul perish. Then !
little Betty Enderhurst, fugged from ,
last night’s late sup|s»r dance, rushed !
In and demanded to be made ready j
for a dinner that night, where she was
to meet somebody “quite special." Slie
looked ut me enviously and sighed,
and I knew Just what was In her
heart, and did my best for her.
But why go over the list? Every
body know s what the right kind of an
advertisement will do. There were
eight the lirst day, not so had for a
beginning.
It took a heup of tact. I finally got
Mrs. Gibson1 to leave off wearing pink
shades and to wear only blues. Little
Betty hud to he told that haste and
too much enthusiasm are fatiguing
und only make one look flustered. 1
helped her cultivate a very delightful
repose. I congratulated myself on a
very genuine success, deserved be
cause. I hud put my heart Into tny
work.
All my visitors thought our room
quite unusual and exactly what Ihey
, had thought so often a beauty parlor
should be like. TIipv did not suspect
that on several occasions two girls
were hidden behind the big screen,
getting pointers and almost choking
with laughter.
Jim Bryant's married sister hud
been over-doing hospitality that win
ter, and Mrs. Gibson brought her to.
ni«, without previous notification,
Grace Bryant, who had sometimes
called at our office to steal Jimmy for
a tea dance or >o help entertain some
girl visitors, recognized me at once,
as was natural, since I ain, as I said
before, not altogether ugly. Her Ideas,
like those of my ancestors, were along
a narrow plane. Mrs. Gibson never
came again, but whenever I saw her,
she was weuring a becoming shade
of blue. I wondered if she thanked
me dow-n deep In her heart.
While Betty Enderliurst got the
reputation for outdoing the Baltimore
belles in their lazy ease of manner,
I stood on the edge of failure, wratch
Ing my tine, fat hank account slipping
slowly away Into the haze of ruin.
Then again I awoke to the possibil
ities of even this situation, Inspired
to a real flight.
Yes, I’ve taken two attractive
rooms, now. They are hung In ash
green and silver. Cbevaliat has an
order for a beautiful golden wig to
tit Eva Herrick's dull brown lockB,
and Eva is splendidly ready to be my
assistant. She's got the key to fit
the golden lock, if you’ll forgive the
pun. My own wig Is the smartest
white alfalr you ever saw, and my
name is -. Ob, well, my name Is
equally smart. And If you want to
he beautiful and successful and radi
antly happy, just look me up. Uon
four, inesdumes!
NO MIRRORS IN BARBER SHOP
Tonsorlal Parlors for Bobbing Mi
lady’s Hair Are Now Without
Looking Glasses.
Speaking of the play of Hamlet
without the Dane, what flo you think
of the mirrorless barber shop? Surely
as an egregious thing, revolutionary
and rather alnrming. Rlmost a contra
diction In terms. Yet It has arrived.
It flourishes. It proves Itself an an
swer to a need of the hour.
Rut not for men. No, no I The
barber shop without mirrors Is for the
bobbing of women’s hair, remarks the
New York Sun. It seems that women
are too emotional to watch the am
putation of "woman’s crowning glory”
without raising a fuss Interfering
with the work of the hair surgeon.
They twitter and fidget, and get ex
cited and give directions, and make
the operator so nervous that he Is
sometimes prevented from turning out
what he considers a neat Job.
The Idea of mirrorless surgery for
the mutilation of female heads seems
to have originated up Boston way.
When the bobbing craze first struck
New York barber shops were fitted up
for women with a special eye to abun
dant and brilliant illumination of mir
rors. Indeed, the mirror, woman’s
firmest friend, was hanked upon ns
the supreme attraction In the new
style of shearing parlor. Hut It was
found the reflection of the victim
after her tresses received their first
slash was so unnerving to her, and
stimulated her to so many criticisms,
warnings and minute Instructions that
It was soon seen that the mirrors
would have to go. And now milady
must learn to take her shearing like
a sheep.
TO MAR ST. MICHEL’S BEAUTY
Silting Up of the Bay Is Causing
Much Anxiety to the People
of Normandy.
The steady silting up of the Bay of
St. Michel Is a cause of much anx
iety to the good people of Normandy.
It threatens to spoil the beauty of the
famous Mont St. Michel's, which at
present Is linked to the mainland only
by an artiliolnl causeway. Formerly
the Mont, which In the course of the
centuries has been by turns a Druid
leal shrine, a Benedictine abbey, and
a state prison, and which, since Its
restoration by Vlolet-le-Due, 1h Jea
lously preserved as an historical
monument, was ns Inaccessible at
high tide, except by boat, as Its Corn
ish counterpart, St. Michael’s Mount
still Is. But the causeway enabled a
light railway to run to the very foot
of the Mont, and this causeway Is
stated by experts to he one of the
great causes of the silting up. which
It Is predicted, will eventually make
the Mont just part of the ordinary
coastline.
Electric-Lighted Handbag.
The latest novelty from London—not
Baris—Is a lady's handbag equipped
Interiorly with an electric light. Just
as If it was necessary for a woman to
need a light to empty her purse!
Nevertheless, the novelty handbag Is
about the culest thing to arrive this
season front the other side. One that
was a gift to a young matron was the
sensation of a section of the lower
floor in a theater, Raymond ti. Carroll
recently wrote from New York to the
Philadelphia Ledger. She opened the
handbag, a function which automat
ically flooded the Inside of the bag
with light from a tiny electric bulb,
located about half an Inch below the
clasp, and fed from a miniature stor
age battery covered with oil skin, fas
tened ut the bottom of the hag.
Tangled Tongues.
Spoonerisms, like the poor, we have
always with us. Two new and rather
good ones came to i attention re
cently. The other day a Chicago wom
an, testifying against her liushund in
her divorce suit, declared: “He leads
me, his awful wife, u lawful life."
There was a loud titter In the court,
and blushing with embarrassment she
hastened to correct herself.
The other concerns a young woman
who was dining at a slrange house.
On the tuble was a dish of boiled
onions, and when her hostess was
serving these and remarked that, of
course, she liked them, the young
womun remarked enthusiastically:
“Oh, yes, Indeed; If there Is one veg
etable I like It is oiled bunions.” Just
think if her hostess' husband had been
a chiropodist.—Boston Transcript.
Took a Long Journey.
Last fall, an inhabitant of Osthelm,
Alsace, captured a swallow nesting
under the gable of the roof. He re
leased It with the following message
attached on parchment: “During the
summer of 1921 I lived with a farmer
at Osthelm. He would be glad to learn
where I have spent the winter when I
return.” The bird returned recently
to Its Alsatian home, bearing the fol
lowing Inscription: “I have been stay
ing with u shoemaker, Joseph iiady, on
the Island of Martinique, who salutes
my present host."
Surprising.
“Gosh-all-beeswax 1” exclaimed the
country cousin. “Who In the tlghtln'
world would ever believe there was
such a lot of folks In Kay See?"
“But you must remember,” returned
the city cousin, “that Kansas City has
nearly four hundred thousand inhabi
tants.”
“Yes, but, great governor, who'd
have expected to see ’em all on
Twelfth street at once.”—Kansas City
Star.
Telephone
Atlantic 1322
Western University *
THE GREAT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
OF THE MID-WEST
The location is ideal, near Kansas City. The buildings
are modern brick structures, steam-heated and electric- v
lighted. The following courses are offered: 1
ACADEMIC, NORMAL
FULL FOUR YEARS COLLEGIATE, With Degree
COMMERCIAL—
' (With practical experience in student’s bank)
MUSICAL—
(Piano, Voice, Band, Orchestra, Violin)
COOKING, SEWING, MILLINERY, CARPENTRY, TAIL
ORING, AGRICULTURE, STEAM-LAUNDERING, 1
AUTO-MECHANICS, BLACKSMITHING, PRINT
ING, STEAM and ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING,
and RADIO (Teaching students how to build their
own sets, including crystal, vacuum tube and amplify
ing transformers, by doing the actual work.)
MILITARY TRAINING (Junior R. 0. T. C.) By an Army
Officer.
MECHANICAL DRAWING, CHINA PAINTING, LIVE
STOCK and POULTRY RAISING on an Extensive
Scale (Incubation)—With more than 4,000 blooded
fowls in the runs and hatchery.
FEDERAL VOCATIONAL TWO YEARS’ COURSES
All departments are excellently equipped. NO STU- *
DENTS RECEIVED BELOW FIRST YEAR HIGH
SCHOOL GRADE.
School Opens September 4, 1922.—For Catalogue or further
Information, Write—
F. JESSE PECK, President
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
j Reid—Duffy Pharmacy
I 24th and Lake Sts.
| Free Delivery Webster 060S :
24th and Decatur Web. .3100—Free Delivery
I. LEVY, Druggist
A New Store with an Old Rule—A Square Deal to Every
body. We carry a complete line of Black and White,
McBrady’s and Madam Walker’s Toilet Goods.
Visit our Sanitary Soda Fountain.
Ice Cream, 50c quart, 25c pint.
* ... . . .. . . ............ . . ►!
ADVERTISE in THE MONITOR
I
WATERS f
BARNHART
PRINTING CO.
I ^O M A H A* >
Wanted
MEN
WOMEN
CHILDREN
LODGES
SUNDAY SCHOOLS
WOMEN’S SOCIETIES
-TO SELL
Dentlo
BIGGEST AND BEST
K"Y)OTH PASTE
-Half What You Make
817 North Sixteenth Street
CALL ATLANTIC 7074
!
t • 1,1 ..
Records Exchanged, 16 cants. Law
sat Mamie Smith records alwa*
on hand.
SHLAES PHONOGRAPH CO.
1404 Dodge St.
I EMERSON’S I.AIIl^RY
The Laundry That Suita «All
1301 No. 24th St. WebiOMO
. , , , r - - . . j i .... I
I The Western Funeral Home
Pleases
A nil will wvi you night and day
25IB Lake St. I'hone Web. OF*
SILAS JOHNSON, Prop.
FUNERAL DIRECTORS
T t--f--r~g- , , , ,g,,^
Dressmaking, Haig Cleaned k Blocked
FRANK BARNES. Tailor
CLEAVING AVD PRESSING
All Styles of l aps Made.
Well. 3SML—1822 Vo. 2!tli SL. Omaha,
When in Need of
Cleaning and Pressing
Call Market 3366
Pricaa * heap Work Guaranteed
J. D. HINES
Tailor flaanar Hatter
S132 So. 24 St. Markat 3366
D R E A MLAND
Mr«. Martha A. .Jackson. Prop.
2125 Grant Street
LUNCHES :: ICE CREAM
COLD DRINKS and CANDY
PAPERS TO SELL
Your patronage will be appreciated.
#Chapped hands^
Mand faces needn’t ■
ImentholatumI
■ soothes and heals ■
■ chaps and chilblains m
quickly and M
J.
Monthly pains,—
neurslgic, sciatic
and rheumatic
pains, headacht, backache and
all other aches arc quickly re
lieved by
hr-Miles’ Anti-Pain Pills
Contain tlo dangerous habit
forming drugs. Why don't you
try them ?
Ask your druggist