k FAMOUS
j "HEADLINE HUNTER
r a
NUI1
'
“ Diving to Death ”
By FI.OYI) GIBBONS
LET’s dive right into this one with Diver and Distin
guished Adventurer Walker Kayes of New York City.
And remember that we’re not only diving deep down into
the treacherous currents of the St. Lawrence river—we’re
diving head first into the River of Adventure, too.
What was Walker Kaye* diving for in the St. Lawrence? Sunken
treasure? Nothing of the sort. It isn’t always the glamorous Jobs that
furnish the big thrills. Divers do a lot of prosaic work in between
those treasure hunts you read about, and Old Lady Adventure has a
habit of piling it onto the lads when they’re doing a routine job and are
least expecting it Walker was inspecting bridge foundations for a rail
road. In August, 1933, he was looking over the underpinnings of the
famous Victoria bridge which spans the St. Lawrence at Montreal.
Went Down in Dangerous Current.
I said that Adventure always hits you when you’re least ex
, pecting It. Maybe I’m wrong in this case. Walker knew he was
going to have trouble with the Victoria bridge—at one spot any
way.
‘‘I was inspecting the piers on the Montreal side,” he says, “and at
this point runs a treacherous rapid which had taken the lives of two
bridge workers only the previous summer. The noses of the piers reach
too far out from beneath the bridge to enable us to lower a protecting
screen to stop the current All we had to work with was a small plat
form, just large enough for two men and the diver, built on the nose of the
pier down close to the water. The pump, worked by hand, was up on
the bridge and the air line passed down the pier. A short steel ladder
was lashed to the platform to enable me to descend.”
That's tiie picture. Now watch it move. Walker, looking like
tome strange sort of robot in his air-flllcd rubber suit and round ball
like steel helmet is ready to go down. It is eight o'clock in the morn
ing as he steps onto the ladder and little does he realize that at twelve
noon—four hours later—he will still be down under the river fighting a
life and death battle with a racing tide. Step by step he goes down,
bugging the ladder to keep from being swept downstream. Now his
helmet vanishes under the surface, and we dive down after him to see
what happens.
"The current Is always less at the nose of the pier," says Walker,
"so I planned to examine that first, then attempt to come up along the
side of the shoulder. After looking at the nose, I started upstream, ly
ing flat on my stomach to resist the current. I had moved about six
feet when, suddenly, I was struck with locomotive force. A cross
current had caught me and was whirling me away from the pier—out
toward the middle of the streaml
Helpless in the Boiling, Foamy Water.
“In an instant I was spun around like a fishing troll-crushed
by tons of roaring water. It all happened so quickly that the
tender bad no chance to snub the line.
“I was utterly helpless. I couldn't see, for the water was a boiling
mass of foam, and 1 could no more control my movements in that
current than if I had been a chip of wood. But helplessness wasn't
the worst of it. An ever-present thought in the mind of the diver is
the danger of the suit inflating and blowing up like a balloon if the head
gets knocked lower than the rest of the body. The minute I began to
roll, I jammed my head against the air release valve to deflate the
suit I must have done it with too much force, for ihe small, brass
shaft of the valve bent and would not work properly. In the mean
time, I was hurtled downstream and wedged into a rock fissure which,
for the moment, saved my life.”
Tons of water were pounding against Walker, knocking the breath
out of him and threatening to crush his body. Then, to his horror, he
found that, water, trickling in through the broken air valve, was slowly
filling his suit. He began trying to communicate with his tender. The
roar of the water made the phone useless, and when he tried to signal
by jerking the line the current made it almost impossible to feel the
Jerks. From the all but unintelligible signals that did come through.
Walker gathered that his tender wanted him to move down with the
current and be hauled in at the back of the pier. He fought his way out of
the Assure.
His Suit Inflated und Blew Up.
In an instant he was picked op by the roaring water and
spun around like a top. Then the dreaded "blow-up” came. Ilia
feet shot up In the air and his head down as the suit inflated
like a balloon. His helmet banged against the rocks. Water
i splashed around Inside It. He was worse off than before. And
in that terrible current there was the imminent danger that his
slender life-line would part.
"That line,” sayt Walker, "was tied around my chest, and the force
of the current bent me backward. The corselet collar was forced
against my neck, strangling me. After what seemed hours, a heavy rope
was sent down to me. The life-line was taut as a violin string, and all they
had to do was loop the rope around it and the force of the current carried
it down. But now I realized that I was very weak and everything de
pended on getting that rope around me and securely tied. It took me
half an hour to get that rope tied in a simple clove hitch, and then I
was completely exhausted. I gave a jerk on the rope to signal the
tender, prayed for the breaks, and waited.
Safe After Four Hours’ Struggle.
“I didn't mind dying so much, but the loneliness was horrible. After
an eternity I felt strong jerks ci the rope and realized I was about
to be pulled in. It was now or never—and I had about an even chance
of getting out before the suit burst or I was broken in two by the cur
rent But it was a strong, s.eady pull—much steadier than I thought pos
sible. Then, suddenly I was out of the water—safe again. My men had
borrowed a winch from some telephone linemen working on the bridge,
and it was that which had pulled me out with such an even, rapid pull.”
It was a surprise to Walker's tenders to see him alive. He had been
under water, fighting for his life, for FOUR HOURS. A few minutes
longer, and he would have drowned—drowned inside his suit by the
water that trickled through the air valve. "My boys' faces were chalk
white when I came out." Walker says, "but my own, blue from strangu
lation, must have looked worse thnn any of them.”
©—WNU Service.
Pygmies Plentiful
Contrary to popular belief, pyg
mies are quite plentiful in the
world. Several races live in equa
torial Africa and on the Pacific is
lands. says the Washington Post. It
is thought that a race of pygmies
even lived in Europe at one time,
giving rise to the tales of elves,
goblins, gnomes and fairies. The
word “pygmy” is Greek and means
“the distance between the elbow
and the knuckles" of a man of
average size. Homer first used the
word to describe a tiny race of
men dwelling in a far southern land,
probably Africa.
“Assault and Battery"
An assault is an unlawful attempt
or offer, on the part of one man
with force or violence, to inflict a
bodily hurt' upon another. A bat
tery is a wilful and unlawful use
of force or violence upon the person
of another. The actual offer to use
force to the injury of another per
son is assault; the use of it is bat
tery; hence the two terms are com
monly combined in the term as
sault and battery."
Columbia University
The date from which Columbia
university marks its existence is
October 31, 1754, when a charter
was granted by George II, under
the name of King’s college. During
the Revolution its operation was sus
pended and in 1776 it was used as
a military hospital. College activ
ities were resumed by act of legis
lature, May 1, 1784, under the name
of Columbia university. The site has
been changed three times and con
sists of 17*4 acres lying between
116th and 120th streets, Amsterdam
avenue and Broadway, New York
city. In 1896 the college was re
organized as a university.
Writing in the Sand
The resourcefulness of a school
teacher in early Huron county, Ohio,
proves the worth of the saying that
“Where there's a will there's a way.
The teacher. Joseph Dana, was not
equipped with paper or slates or
pencils for writing, so he just in
structed his pupils to trace letters
and figures in the sand. In this way
the children learned spelling, gram
mar and arithmetic.
BRISBANE
THIS WEEK
.—
From Old China
She Wore Hoy's Clothes
The Long Farewell
Dangerous Gold, in Russia
A roar comes from the great
| Chinese dragon, the 400,000,000
Arthur llrlmbunr
llldl live, JtIUUI,
die and are ex
ploited. The Chi
nese Generalissi
mo Chiang Kai
Shek, attached to
the ancient Chi
nese belief that
right is so power
ful that it does
not “require to be
supported or en
forced by
might,” is arrest
ed by his muti
nous troops de
manding "an im
mediate declara
tion of war against Japan; recov
ery of all Chinese territory, includ
ing Manchuria.”
This outbreak worries Tokyo, and
it might, if China had a few fight
ing leaders, with enough airplanes
and good pilots. China now is like
Niagara Falls before the turbines
were put in, much power going to
waste. What could military genius
and modern weapons accomplish,
backed by a nation of 400,000,000?
Helen Coberly said she “never
liked girl’s clothes, wanted to be a
boy.”
Millions of other girls have said
that. Helen lived up to it, put on
boy’s clothes, went through the
boys’ high school to the senior class,
earning her way “digging ditches,
mending fences."
Known to be a girl, expelled from
the class, she weeps. Some intelli
gent young man with blue eyes and
a kind heart, marrying Helen Co
berly, might some day be the fa
ther of a great American.
The Former King Edward has bid
farewell to England, and England
and the rest of the world bid fare
well to the young man, who told his
people: “I have found it impossible
to carry the heavy burden of re
sponsibility without the help and
support of the woman I love.”
A good many man might say that
who do not realize it.
Whoever wrote, or helped to write
that broadcast, it was a sincere,
touching farewell to the world’s
highest position, and well done.
There is no doubt that the young
King inspired it.
Russia’s production of gold in
creases rapidly, with 144 gold fields
active; the total production not less
than $200,000,000 a year, and ac
cording to some estimates nearly
$500,000,000.
Russia already surpasses Canada
and the United States in gold pro
duction, and expects soon to sur
pass the British South African gold
fields, and all the gold goes to the
government. Prospectors and min
ers get “praise."
This gold production does not
mean greater power for bolshevism.
Quite the other way, it may be the
worst thing that could happen to the
Karl Marx-Lenin-Stalin theory.
As nations and individuals be
come rich they become conserva
tive.
There is still reverence for Eng
lish kings in ‘‘democratic Amer
ica.” In New York clubs of “aris
tocratic” membership all rose
when the broadcast began, and not
one sat down while the King was
speaking. In England they sat down,
they are used to kings there.
Mrs. C. H. Wilson of Columbia,
S. C.. went farther; her house was
on fire, she told firemen, let me
know if you think the roof will fall,
and went on listening to Prince Ed
ward, while the house burned.
It takes a long time to breed out
of human beings that which is in
bred into them through ages; hence
the persistence of our various su
perstitions.
—
Intelligent Dr. Craster, health of
ficer of Newark, N. J., starts a
needed campaign against kissing
babies, suggesting the use of bibs
embroidered with these words:
"I don’t want to be sick—do not
kiss me.”
He says:
“A kiss can be more dangerous
than a bomb.”
Consumption begins in infancy;
babies usually get it from tubercu
lar mothers who kiss them on the
mouth.
Congress resumes work soon;
what will it do, and try to do? How
will it interpret the 46 to 2 vote,
"all present” except Maine and Ver
mont; how will the unwieldy Demo
cratic majority deal with its prob
lems?
It will probably try to do what
ever President Roosevelt tells it to
do; that last election seemed to
intimate that the President has the
public's permission to do as he
pleases.
And that makes the situation ex
tremely difficult for the President.
There is such a thing as TOO MUCH
approval, too much POWER.
g) King SYaturea Syndicate, lue.
WNU Service.
:
Their
Christmas
by /r
Jocile Webb Pearson
[LLIE JONES adored his big
brother. Jim had been a
boy scout before going to col
lege and to be a scout like Jim
was Billie’s one ambition.
"If we're goin’ to be scouts,” he
confided to his chum Joe Perkins,
we oughta begin practicin'.”
"Yea, but how do we know how to
begin?” inquired Joe.
"Huh,” snorted Billie, "anyone
can do a good deed every day.”
"We can help our mothers,” said
Joe. "Sure," Replied Billie, “but this
must be somethin’ special like
helpin’ old Miss Riley carry her
basket when it was icy, or some
thin’. An' bein’ Chrismus, we oughta
give somethin’; mebbe a present,
too. Say, I got an idee, Joe. Why
can’t we give her somethin’ for our
first good deed? She don't have a
daddy or nobody to help her.”
But we am t
got money," ob
jected Joe, "an’
I bet she needs
a lot of things—
coal an’ kindlin’
an’ everthin’.”
“Leave it to
me, Joe. I got a
nother idee, but
it’s ‘o be a se
cret. 'Tain’t a
good deed if ya
tell anybody.
Now cross your
heart an’ say:
‘I’ll never tell
till death us do
part.’ There,
that’s the bindinest words I know.”
• • •
Anyone would know It was
Christmas by the spicy fragrance
in the air. Even before one saw
the big lighted tree in the living
room.
There were many whispered con
versations and signs and giggles
between the two boys that Jim’s
keen eyes found amusing. Coming
home one evening he surprised
them in the act of smuggling a
basket of coal out the back gate.
"Hey, fellows! Where you going
with that?” It was Joe who blurt
ed: “Billie says it ain’t no good
if ya tell.” Billie hung his head.
“We're just practicin’ to be
scouts,” he stammered, "an this is
our good deed. We been doin’ it
for two weeks—I mean takin’ coal
to Miss Riley. She’s poor an’ deaf
an’ ain’t got no daddy to get her
coal—half the time we take it from
Joe’s house”—Billie looked appeal
ingly at Jim.
“An’ she only had a teeny little
bit," put in Joe, staunchly. “An'
you’re s’posed to give to folks Chris
mus, ain’t you?”
“I salute two mighty fine scouts
right now,” said Jim. “But first
we'll have to make clear the scout
ideas of property rights. Deliver
your coal, then come up to my room
and we ll talk things over.”
• . •
When old Mrs. Riley hobbled to
her door in response to a loud
i knock Christmas eve, she did not
see two little boys scamper behind
the coal shed, but she did see a
huge basket filled with a generous
supply of food, and many bulgy
packages piled high on the top,
with a “Merry Christmas to you”
tied to it.
• Western Ncwipepcr Unioe.
The
“Glorified
Christmas
Pudding”
By Alice B. Palmer
SOFT carpet of fresh snow
sparkled in the sun and the
whole of Christmas was in
the room as Lois opened her eyes,
yawned contentedly and then sud
denly remembered the great con
quest of the day—“the Christmas
Pudding!”
"Oh Em,” she shouted, radiant
with joy and keen with excitement.
“Wake up! Wake up! It’s Christ
mas!”
“What’s that?” murmured Em,
sleepily. “Oh yes, hurrah for the
fun! Is the pudding done?”
Every year, as far back as Lois
and Em could remember, they had
looked forward
with youthful an- ;
ticipation to the «,
Glorified Christ- 1
mas Pudding.
'Twas a Swedish
rice delicacy, in |
which an almond •
had always been
concealed. Tradi- I
tion had pro- J
claimed that the ’
lucky person
who came upon
the holiday nut
in his Christmas
pudding was to
be the first one
married. What
fun it had been through tne year.
"Well, girls,” spoke mother,
beaming with the holiday spirit,
"who is to get the almond in the
Christmas pudding? This is leap
year, you know.”
Lois and Em giggled, knowingly,
exchanging winks, as both were se
cretely engaged to be married.
Soon mother was busily engaged
in the dishing up of this delicious
pudding. It was being formed into
cone-shaped mounds, resembling
Christmas snow.
All eyes were now focused ex
pectantly upon the rich creamy
mountains of rice and they could
scarcely wait until they dipped
their spoons into its foamy depths.
Lu was blinking at Em and care
fully chewing each individual rice
kernel, so as not to miss the al
mond. Em was slyly winking at
mother and smiling confidently.
Father was too pleased for words
as he calmly viewed the whole situ
ation with satisfied enthusiasm, se
cretly hoping that he would not
come upon the almond.
Where on earth was the Christ
mas almond? All had quite fin
ished with no sign of the coveted
nut. A strange silence pervaded,
coupled with a surprised sense of
dismay and disappointment.
"Julia,” called mother, to the girl
in the kitchen, "have you eaten
your rice pudding yet?”
"Yes, Mrs. Allen,” promptly re
sponded Julia.
"What is the matter, my dear,
you look so upset?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Allen, but I al
most broke my tooth on a strange
nut I found in the pudding.”
A louder roar of laughter than
was ever heard before, permeated
the holiday atmosphere as one by
one they tried to explain the Christ
mas almond to Julia. As the laugh
ter ended, the "Glorified Christmas
Pudding” once more faded away
into tradition.
C Wettcrn Newipapcr Umoa
_]oK?ADr3
J&'Q&mlJ.&tVftoTl
TAW ABOOIT
BMeasuring For Weight
NUMBER of years ago I
attempted to get out
height and weight tables for
children and adults. I had at
my disposal many thousands
of measurements — my own
and others provided by vari
ous organizations.
The measurements used by
insurance and health organi
zations were and are a good
guide but do not attempt to
classify according to build.
I started by taking the height
sitting down instead of standing up
Dr. Barton
Decause in iwo per
sons of the same
height a long pair
of legs attached to
a short body should
not be expected to
weigh as much as
a short pair of legs
attached to a long
body.
The next step was
the measurement of
the chest expansion
and the girth of the
chest. I attempted to
relate this with the girth of the
waist and hips.
Another step was the relation
of the chest width to the chest
depth. The width of the baby’s
chest is about the same in
measurement as the depth but as
the youngster grows it increases
more in width than it does in depth
so that the proportion might be as
8 in width to 7 in depth before the
teen age, as 9 in width to 7 in depth
at and during the teen age, and as
10 in width to 7 in depth in the
adult.
Then there was the width of
shoulders and width of hips to con
sider. Certainly a girl 5 feet 4 inches
in height with narrow hips and
shoulders should not weigh within
10 or 12 pounds as much as one of
the same height with wide shoulders
and hips.
Then the age of the increased
development became a factor in
trying to get out tables of height
and weight. I found, as have many
others, that while a boy may in
crease at the rate of one to one
and a half inches yearly up to the
age of thirteen or fourteen, from
fourteen to seventeen years of age
he will increase from 2 to 3 inches
each year.
Similarly girls increase in height
at the same, often at a faster rate
than boys up to the age of twelve
when they will increase at twice
the previous yearly rate until they
reach the age of fourteen to six
teen.
Consider Your Width.
“If you’re worried about your
weight, as compared with the aver
age for your height, forget it—con
sider your width.” That’s the ad
vice of Dr. Helen Brenton Pryor,
assistant women’s medical examin
er, Stanford university.
Dr. Pryor has worked out “width
height” tables based on five years
study of some 10,000 children and
college students.
Instead of one normal weight as
given on height tables, her scales
give seven averages based on width
as well as height. Thus, if a girl of
eighteen is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, she
might normally weigh as little as
107 pounds if the width from the
top or crest of one hip bone to
the top or crest of the other is about
9% inches, or as much as 133 pounds
if she measures 12V4 inches.
This measurement is taken across
the center of the body from the
top of one hip bone to the top of the
other. “Tests that have been made
so far show that injustice has been
done to about 30 percent of those
measured and labelled too thin or
too fat under the old height and
weight table. The stocky girl who
pines to be willowy, therefore,
should not starve herself into nerv
ous irritability, but strive to keep
her width-weight.
• * •
Vegetables in Liquid Form
“For the busy man who hates
wasting his time at meals New York
snack bars offer a machine which
crushes up raw spinach, carrots,
watercress, potatoes, apples and
oranges and extracts their juice.
From its spigot runs apple-green
liquid, a pint of which is guaranteed
to be a full size vegetarian meal
complete with vitamins and min
eral salts. The meal takes half a
minute to consume.”
The above item from the Reader’s
Digest tells its own story. The im
portance of raw vegetables in the
diet because of the very necessary
vitamins and minerals they con
tain has been so stressed by health
writers that many readers feel that
they must eat them daily if they
are to be kept alive or at least in
good health.
As a matter of fact vitamins and
minerals are absolutely necessary
to health and if they can be ob
tained so easily it may be a good
thing for mankind.
© Western Newspaper Union.
It's Easy to Crochet i
This Set of Lace Filet
A bit of humble string—this gor
geous peacock pattern — and
presto—you’re the proud owner of
dainty filet lace chair sets, scar!
ends, or buffet sets! Fascinating
needlework, the K stitch sets off
the design effectively. Even be
Pattern 5520
ginners will find this pattern an
easy way to add to their prestige
as needlewomen. In pattern 5520
you will find instructions and
charts for making the set shown;
an illustration of it and of all the
stitches needed; material require
ments.
To obtain this pattern send 15
cents in stamps or coins (coins
preferred) to The Sewing Circle,
259 W. Fourteenth St., New York,
N. Y.
Write plainly your name, ad
dress and pattern number.
Foreign Words ^
and Phrases 9
Ad libitum. (L.) At will; as
much as one pleases.
Bambino. (It.) A little boy:
more especially the Christ child.
Cela va sans dire. (F.) That
goes without saying; it is obvious.
Desunt caetera. (L.) The rest is
wanting; the citation is incom
plete.
Salus populi suprema est lex.
(L.) The welfare of the people is
the supreme law. (Motto of Mis
souri.)
Laudator temporis acti. (L.)\
One who praises bygone times. V
Naivete. (F.) Native simplicity.
Quantum libet. (L.) As much as
you please.
Rara avis. (L.) A rare bird, a
strange prodigy.
To Understand
Thinking, not growth, makes
manhood. Accustom yourself,
therefore, to thinking. Set your
self to understand whatever you .
see or read. To join thinking with V
reading is one of the easiest oper
ations.
[HESfliuD
HAD HIM IN AGONY
4*
Found Amazing \
RELIEF
from PAIN N
No need to suffer p
agony of muscu- j
lar aches and A
pains! Thousands C
report wonderful
soothing relief with Hamlins Wizard Oil.
Just rub it on—rub it in. Acts quick. Re
lieves that terrible soreness. Loosens up
Stiff, achy muscles. Has a pleasant odor.
Will not stain clothes. At all druggists.
WNU—U 52—38
DO you suffer burning, scanty of
too frequent urination; backache,
headache, dizziness, loss of energy,
leg pains, swellings and puffiness
under the eyes? Are you tired, nerv
ous—feel all unstrung and don't
know what is wrong?
Then give some thought to your
kidneys. Be sure they function proper
ly for functional kidney disorder per
mits excess waste to stay in the blood,
and to poison and upset the whole
system.
Use Doan's Pills. Doan's are for the
kidneys only. They are recommended
the world over. You can get the gen
uine, time-tested Doan's at any drug
store.
"Quotations
-v —
I have always felt that religion was
something to be lived, not discussed.
—Mary Pickford.
It is so much easier to be enthu
siastic than to reason.—Mrs. Frank
lin D. Roosevelt.
No one can doubt that China is
one day destined to be among the
most powerful nations. — Pearl S.
Buck.
The people who make wars never
have trouble getting the money to
■Jo it with.—Ge/t. Smedley B. Butler. 1 j
