\
; Adventurers
“City of Death”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
LL during the World war, Anita Johnson of Lynn expected
to be blown up by a bomb. In those days she lived in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. That, of course, is up Canada way,
and from 1914 right through to the Armistice, the folks up
there took precautions against air raids and attacks by the
Germans. At night, no lights were allowed to face the har
bor. The harbor was patrolled by boats day and night.
Anita was just a kid then. She didn't know what all those precau
tions were for, exactly. But she sort of understood that one day the
German airplanes would come flying over the Atlantic and start show
ering bombs on the city.
But nothing even remotely resembling an air raid happened
in Halifax until December 6, 1917. Then something happened
that was worse than a hundred air raids.
The Great Halifax Explosion.
You remember what happened then. You remember how two ships
collided in the harbor—how one of them was loaded to the gunnels
with ammunition that exploded and almost wrecked the whole town.
The great Halifax explosion was one of the notable disasters of the
century. And Anita was right where the big blast did some of its worst
damage.
Anita was ten years old when it happened, and she was in school
when the big French munitions ship let go with a roar that was heard
round the world.
“We had Just been in our class rooms for live minutes,” she
says, “when suddenly we heard a series of noises. I remember
looking toward a window and thinking that a car must have
backfired outside. But It didn't take long to find out that it was
no car.”
What Anita had heard was Just a couple of little explosions that set
off the big one. The real blast didn’t sound like an explosion to her
at all.
Teacher Knew What Was Coming.
Anita may have thought those sounds were the backfiring of a car,
but her teacher wasn’t fooled. She seemed to sense what was coming
and told the children, t‘Quick! Put your heads down on your desks!”
Those kids did as they were told. Then it came! Not a loud report.
Those kids were too near it to hear the blast, for the schoolhouse was
on a hill, not five minutes’ walk from the harbor. But all of a sudden it
seemed as if the whole world were crashing down on them. AND
ANITA?
Well, suppose we let her tell you herself how she felt.
"At tha* age,” she says, “my mind was, of course, full of war.
had my own ideas about air raids, so. as iny head lay on the
desk, my eyes tightly closed I felt myself traveling skyward as
I expected a bomb should send me.
"1 kept traveling up and up until it seemed there must be some
thing wrong with my means of transportation.
“After all, a bomb could only send me so far, and I should be com
ing back by now. I was positive I would be killed when I landed, and
1 could sec no reason to prolong the agony, so 1 decided to investigate.
"I opened my eyes and saw the floor. Now that floor wasn’t sup
posed to have followed me, so I realized that I wasn't up in the air at all.
”1 hadn't even moved. AND I COULDN’T MOVE. There were so many
things on top of me. 1 heard some yelling and I yelled too. But that
didn't help. any. so I waited.”
Most of Them Were Dead or Disabled.
Anita doesn't know how long she waited. Time didn’t mean a thing
to her. She was so dazed by the shock that she didn't feel any pain.
It wasn't until later that she even realized she was hurt But she
sat at her desk until some soldiers came into the room and pulled
her out of it
"Luckily 1 was able to walk," she says. "There were only
live or six of us who could."
Then Anita started making her way out of the school building
"We managed to climb and crawl over things that blocked the
halls,” she says. "The stairs were all gone but there was enough
debris piled up where they had been to take their place. We slid and
crawled down those piles and Anally got outside.
"I stayed there at the school for quite a while, too dazed to do any
thing else. All 1 could sec around me was Are. The soldiers kept bring
ing other girls out of the school building.
"Some of them were dead. Others so injured that they couldn't
be recognized. Other buildings were down all around us.
"It didn't take us long to find out what had happened. After I had
been there for ten or fifteen minutes I saw my sister coming out."
Anita Was Covered With Blood.
Anita waited for her sister to come up. But sister walked right up
to her—walked right qn past her and didn't even notice her.
Anita called to her and she came back. And only then did Anita
learn that she was just as unrecognizable as some of those other in
jured kids she had been pitying.
HER FACE—HER CLOTHING—HER WHOLE BODY—ALL
OF THEM WERE COVERED WITH BLOOD.
Together, she and sister started for home. They walked around
wreckage, dodged live electric wires and stepped over dead bodies by
the score. And when they arrived at their home they found it just
•□other wreck like the schoolhouse and all the other buildings in the
neighborhood.
Anita's head was full of bits of glass, but she managed to have it
•11 taken out except for one piece which she says she thinks the doctor
left there for a souvenir.
She has a few fancy scars, too, but they’re nothing to what she
might have had.
"And," she says, "I have still to find out what it feels like to be
blown up in the air by a bomb."
©—WNU Service.
Birds’ Muscles Centered;
Body Is Short and Deep
The whole secret of a bird’s struc
ture is found in its adaptation to
flight This seems like stating a
commonplace, yet if we look into
the changes which flight has brought
to the structure of the bird, we open
a whole storehouse of interesting in
formation, observes an authority in
the Detroit Free Press.
On first glance, it may seem that
birds have nothing in common ex
cept wings and feathers. Yet, strip
them of their feathers and all birds
are fundamentally alike. The major
ity of their adaptations are directed
toward one end: '.o transform a
heavier than air body into a flying
machine.
First of all, the body of a bird
is light Feathers, beautiful and
delicate as they are, are the
strongest structures for their size
and weight known. Bones are hollow
and thin-walled, not heavy and filled
with marrow as those of mammals.
There are no heavy teeth, but in
stead a light homy beak. The tail
has been telescoped and a second
ary tail of light, air-resisting feath
ers is used as a rudder in flight.
The birds* muscles are not scat
tered all over the body, but in
stead are centered in a compact
mass. The large, heavy flight mus
cles of the wings are located on the
breastbone Birds have small calves
and most of the muscles are on the
upper legs close to the body. The
body itself is short and deep, with
all its parts centralized, thus bring
ing the relatively heavy liver, giz
ard and intestines close to the cen
ter of gravity and affording the
smallest possible bulk to pass
through the air.
Albinism
Albinism occurs more among
birds than with mammals. Albin
ism must not be confused with the
changes that take place with some
birds and mammals on the ap
proach of winter. The mountain
hare, brown in summer, becomes
white when the mountains are cov
ered with snow. The ptarmigan, a
rich mottled brown in the breeding
season, is clothed in snowy white
feathers in winter.
Privacy for the Windsors.
ANTA MONICA, CALIF.
—“In order to live quietly
and escape as much public
attention as possible—” I’m
quoting the dispatch — “the
duke of Windsor and Mrs.
Simpson, following their mar
riage, will seek a secluded
residence in the United
States.”
The idea is not new. Hoping to
kill Stanford White in some very
remote secret
i nook, Harry Thaw
picked out a N e w
York roof garden on
the first night of a
big musical comedy.
And only lately one
of our movie queens,
striving to get away
from it all, put on
all her portable jew
elry and went to the
Broadway preview
of one of those colos
sal, titanic, gigantic,
Irvin 8. Cobb
mastodonic superscreen epics, only
to come forth complaining that ono
could never flee to the most private
of hiding places without being an
noyed by crowds.
So America is certainly the right
place for the newlyweds’ honey
moon—where nobody will stare at
them, or follow them, or yell all
them or ask for autographs or pho
tographs or interviews or try to
tear their clothes off for souvenirs.
Why, just off-hand, I can think
of fully three spots where famous
folks may enjoy such immunity—
Mount McKinley in the winter,
Death Valley in the summer and
Alcatraz island all the year round.
» • •
Giving Up Earl Browder.
FOR years it has been my regular
custom to give up something
during Lent. Last year I gave up
boiled turnips—I never eat boiled
turnips, anyhow—and jokes about
Mae West.
The year before. I gave up “An
thony Adverse” (at page 2,749) and
nearly all Little Theater move
ments. The year before I gave up
Upton Sinclair as my spiritual guide
in matters political.
For this year I decided to give up
Mr. Earl Browder. I don't quarrel
with his sincerity. He happens,
though, to be the outstanding expo
nent in America of the communist
movement, which has done so much
for human happiness and human
progress in the countries that tried
it, such as Russia.
• • •
Victory Dinners.
rHO says New Dealers aren’t
smart business men? That
$100 victory dinner means a clear
profit of $94.70, figuring the food
at $5 a head and the combined
speeches at 30 cents, which, even if
they average up to most after-din
ner speeches, is indeed a high valu
ation.
Back in Andy Jackson's day you
could pay off a campaign deficit
with hoop poles and coon pelts. And
in Thomas Jefferson’s time the
strongest pack mule in Virginia
couldn't tote $100 worth of vittles.
So. naturally Jeffersonian simplic
ity and Jacksonian thrift will be
extolled.
Presumably the Republicans will
follow suit with a nonvictory din
ner or donation shower for John
Hamilton's hope chest. Needy
guests will wear Liberty Leaguers'
old clothes, w*hile the idea of hav
ing Canada annex Maine and Ver
mont will be strongly opposed.
Congressman Ham Fish will
speak—such being his habit—un
less, for economy's sake, they
switch his name around hind part
before and serve him as two
courses.
Signs of Spring.
OUT here the first sign of spring
is not the birds coming back.
Mainly, our birds don't flit away.
They go mute awhile, being practi
cally the only residents that even
temporarily refrain from bragging
about the climate, or, in case of a
cold snap, explaining that this is
very unusual.
With us the herald of spring is
the surf-bather—that hardy adven
turer who plunges in and comes
forth as blue as an Easter egg and
as deflated-looking as a toy balloon
on the morning after circus day. Be
cause the Pacific is never what
you'd call a real cozy ocean and
especially it isn't following a chill
some winter.
We make fun of the bathing suits
our mothers wore. But middle-aged
persons of both sexes disporting on
the beach in the modern skimpies
present a morbid, not to say grue
some, spectacle, except to students
of the adult human leg, including
the siabby-shanked, the full-called,
the bowed, the double-jointed, the
buckled, the knock-kneed, the spav
ined, the ankle-sprung, the heavy
hocked, the varicose-veined, the
fur-bearing, etc., etc.
Sometimes a fellow gets to think
ing that right young babies and raw
oysters are almost the only things
that should ever be exhibited on the
balf-shelL
IRVIN S. COBB
#—WNU Serric*.
Wool Tailleur for an Early Easter
Dy CIIERIE NICHOLAS
THE calendar announces an ear
A ly Easter. Supposing the weath
er should happen to go tempera
mental. Just merely supposing it
should by any chance happen to
cloud a bit, rain a bit, possibly
send down a snowflake or so, then,
oh then, comes that ever haunting
“what-to-wear” question.
And the answer? A practical, ul
tra modish tailored wool outfit is
the logical answer if you want to
be ready for rain or shine. Smart
ly, simply fashioned, it must be of
a swanky wool weave in latest ap
proved color with fashion-right ac
cessories that add the final accent
of chic. The illustration pictures
what we are meaning to say. Per
fect is this trio of “what-to-wears”
for Easter or for any spring day,
be it sunshiny or cloudy.
Before we describe in detail the
stunning tailleurs pictured we want
to say a word in regard to out
standing colors for spring. We are
going to talk mostly about black,
navy, beige, gray and the new pas
tels. Many best-dressed women are
selecting black cloth suits with
which they plan to wear frilly lin
gerie blouse or neckwear, adding
white doeskin gloves and a white
boutonniere. As to navy, it's big
news for spring, navy wool twills
especially for the classic suit. And
there’s beige! It, also, is staging
a most exciting comeback. In the
pastels you’ll adore the new “dusty
pinks,” also various soft blues,
“rusty” yellows and misty greens.
You will be hearing the expres
sion “softly tailored” frequently
this season because most suits have
lost their mannish lines and the
trend is to graceful, subtle silhou
ettes. Note, for example, the charm
ing youthful suit as illustrated to
the right in the above picture.
Smart in either black or navy is
the lightweight wool that styles this
distinctive spring model. The skirt
is short and slim and the cutaway
jacket buttons up to a "young”
rounc collar. The short blouse is
of white satin. The pillbox hat with
jaunty quill and piquant face-veil
is decidedly chic.
Pastel blue wool kasha makes the
three-piece cape costume centered
in the group. Capes are very im
portant this season, emphasizing as
they do the softly tailored theme.
A slightly flared skirt is topped by
a short-sleeved, front-buttoned jack
et with body of jacket and sleeves
made in one piece, stitched into a
yoke. The matching cape with fit
ted shoulder ties at the thin under
the jacket collar.
It is to be expected that the
three-piece tailored ensemble to the
left be in the smart widely-exploit
ed beige color, for as we said be
fore beige is definitely "in” this
rpring. With the jacket this very
lovely three-piece becomes a smart
suit, just such as will fit into the
Easter style program admirably.
Without the jacket you have a win
some light wool dress which will
come in perfectly for mild spring
days. The matching beige fur is
a smart detail for the fur-trimmed
suit is conspicuously present in ad
vance style displays. Note the ofT
face hat of Breton influence, for
this is the very latest for hat and
hairdress. The black doeskin gloves
and strap-handle bag "say it” with
fashion emphasis.
£> Western Newspaper Union.
SMART PLAID TWEED
By CHKR1E NICHOLAS
Plaia woolens lor spring! You’ll
be ‘’tops’’ in fashion if you come
out in a full-length reefer coat, a
picturesque cape suit, a classic
jacket suit or with a short box coat
of plaid woolen It's English, it's
| Scotch, it’s both. Due to the inter
est shown in the coming corona
tion. woolens take on a decidedly
English accent this spring. The coat
pictured is of imported tweed with
coronation red prominent in its
coloring. The white toya hat has
red grosgram inserts in comple
ment to the red in the plaid.
GLOVES PROMINENT
IN SPRING STYLES
By CHERIE NICHOLAS
Soft, oozey glace kidskin, that
makes the hands look long and slen
der, is very much in fashion now.
The styles shown by Aris for formal
afternoon wear are exceedingly chic
and those marvelous 16-button eve
ning gloves in glace kid or suede
reach the nth degree of extrava
gance.
Mokado, the superlative quality
French doeskin, is the supreme in
that leather. It is washable, which
accounts for its continued popular
ity. Nothing could be handsomer
than a pair of six or eight button
handsewn doeskin gloves. The
longer lengths, by the way. are
smarter this season than the short,
either in white, black or fetching
new colors.
While the plain, classic slipon re
mains most acceptable, the cos
tume glove is more interestihg and
more fun to wear. Then, there are
ah sorts of touches, such as hand
whipping. embroidery, stitching,
thong lacing and so on. that give
the new gloves distinction.
Flower Styles Varied
The smartest complement for the
printed dress is a bright nosegay
from the florists. Flowers are no
longer limited to the conventional
shoulder corsage.
Two-Jacket Suits
A dressmaker type of suit which
is advocated for wear under the
winter coat has two jackets that are
designed after the manner of fitted
overblouses
Slide f asteners Used
The Schiaparelli types of house
coat ueveloped in flannel and fasten
ing at the front with a patent slide
fastener is popular.
Household Items oj Interest 1
OllOSUOIIS «» Il.mscuife
To make lace look new, squeeze
in hot, soapy water, then in cold
water, and then in milk to stiffim
it. Press on the wrong side with
a fairly hot iron.
* • •
When blankets are to be washed
for the first time they ahould he
soaked over night in cold water
and then rinsed. This is to re
move the sulphur used in bleach
ing. After this they should be
soused until clear in a lukewarm
lather made with boiled soap and
water, and then rinsed well in
clear water.
• * •
Dishes that have contained sug
ar or greasy articles should be
soaked in hot water before
washing.
• * •
Using Beef Fat — Pour off the
fat from the pan in which the
IHBBBHILBIIHIlUiHBilWI
Ask Me Another
£ A General Quiz
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
....■■■■■■■■
1. What Revolutionary leader
was known as the “swamp fox”?
2. What is meant by “high Ger
man”?
3. To what do “great primer”
and “long primer” refer?
4. In what state was Abraham
Lincoln born?
5. In geography, what is meant
by a march?
6. What two great mountain
systems traverse the United
States?
7. By what church official is a
mitre worn?
8. What mountains separate
Europe from Asia?
9. What is meant by a “modi
cum”?
10. In what ocean is the island
of St. Helena?
Answers
1. Francis Marion.
2. The language of Germany as
distinguished from that of the
Netherlands, etc.
3. Sizes of type.
4. Kentucky.
5. A boundary or the territory
adjacent.
6. The Appalachian in the East
and the Rocky in the West.
7. A bishop.
8. The Ural mountains.
9. A small account.
10. The Atlantic.
roust of beef has been cooked. PuV
it in a bowl and let cool until it
sturts to harden. Then beat well
with a fork. Afterwards it may
be used in place of lard.
• ♦ *
Don’t treat your stockings care
lessly. Put them on carefully, and
be sure that feet and leg seams
are straight. The slightest twist
will alter the position of reinforced
splicings, and wrinkles always run
into holes.
• • •
One gallon of coffee will serve
25 medium sized cups. The size
that would accompany a dessert
after a dinner.
• • •
Rayons should be pressed with
a warm, but not hot iron. A hot
iron will melt some synthetic ma
terials.
• • •
When cream will not whip, add
the white of one egg and thorough
ly chill before whipping.
• * *
Chocolate stains may be re
moved by washing in cold water
or by soaking in boiling water to
which borax or a little glycerin
has been added.
• • •
Horseradish Sauce — This con
diment gives the tang to hot roast
beef. Mix together two tables
spoonfuls of grated horseradish,
one tablespoonful of brown sugar,
a good pinch of salt, a teaspoon
ful of made mustard and two
tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Lastly,
add a quarter-pint of cream, or
the yolk of an egg and a little
milk.
© Associated Newspapers.—WNU Service.
/TAKE NO CHANCES"
USE ONLY GENUINE
O-CEDAR POLISH.
RESTORES LUSTRE
I QUICKLY AND EASILY
IT'S BEEN PROTECTING
FURNITURE AND
FLOORS FOR 28 YEARS
DON’T ACCEPT
SUBSTITUTES/
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(OopyritM t*ST. h, Fw,t Nr*>»r)
— _._
Does it have a whistling radiator so I'll know when its going
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