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THE SKILL OF ANIMALS.
By Muda Hetnur.
“How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
How neat she spreads her wax!
How skilfully she builds her cells!
And labors hard to store them well
With the sweet food she makes.”
The bee is considered the busiest
and most skilful of all insects or ani
mals; and why? Many insects are as
busy, and even more skilful, but the
bee bears off the palm because more
good comes to man and to the world
from her labors than from the works
of other insects. Her honey is good
as food, and her wax is useful in
many ways and is an important item
in commerce. Her cousins, the wasps,
hornets and dirt-daubers, display great
skill in making their nests, but all
their labor is only for the propagation
of-their own kind. Wasps and hornets
are paper makers, and it has been
written that the art of paper making
originated with the common wasp;
that its nest was examined and the
process of making examined closely
until man tried to make something
like the wasp, and finally paper was
the result. I have never heard or
read such to be the case, but no doubt
pottery originated from the dirt-daub
er’s nest.
I think the beaver deserves first
medal among his species of animal for
industry and skill. His, or, rather,
their, dams are marvels of workman
ship. With their teeth they cut or
gnaw down large trees across streams
of water; then, with their fiat tails,
they work mud over the sticks and
trash which they have placed along
the felled trees. The largest beaver
dam in the world is at Beaver Lake,
Y. N. P. “On the road from Mammoth
Hot Springs to the Lower Geyser
Basin, about eleven miles from the
starting point, rises the Obsidian
Cliff, a ridge of volcanic glass, 300
yards long and up to 250 feet high,
once a favorite resort of the Indians,
who made arrow heads of the obsidian.
In the construction of the road the
large blocks of obsidian were shat
tered by being first heated by fire and
then drenched with cold water. Across
the road from this cliff lies Beaver
Lake, 7,415 feet above sea level. This
lake is an artificial water reservoir,
planned and built by beavers. The
dam is apparently not more than one
yard in thickness, but is quite imper
vious to water. It is overgrown with
vegetation, but the beavers keep it in
good repair. These animals are mul
tiplying in the park. The administra
tion prohibits any shooting, and feeds
the animals in the long and severe
winter months.”
Our domestic animals, being cared
for, do not exhibit much native skill.
The large wild animals of the carniv
orous kind do not show as much skill
as some smaller animals. They eat
the’r food as they kill it, hence do not
need storehouses as do squirrels, mice
and their kind. The lazy old bear eats
until he is fat during summer, then,
when winter comes, he crawls into a
cave and sleeps all winter, waking in
spring, lean and lank and hungry
enough to eat up a fat, roly poly pig
or baby; hence have arisen the terri
ble bear stories nurses tell little chil
dren, no doubt.
The very large animals live in warm
countries, where their food abounds
all the time and they need no houses
or nests, so they are not noted for
any skill, though some of them are
known for many good traits or vir
tues: the camel for patience and en
durance, the elephant for valuable as
sistance in time of war, the Arab
steed for swiftness, the mule or don
key as a faithful burden bearer. Then,
from other animals lessons can be
learned: the lion is strong, the tiger
is stealthy, the giraffe can outreach
all animals; the hippopotamus and
rhinoceros belong to the hog family—
they love their wallow; the alligator
makes a nest and deposits eggs, which
the sun hatches.
But we must not forget the wonder
ful skill of birds in building their*
nests, or of spiders, which “are in
kings’ palaces” with their marvelous
webs. The ant is also cited in the
Bible for its industry.
MUDA HETNUR.
A Wholesome Tonic
Horsford’s Acid Phosphate
Quickly relieves that feeling of ex
haustion due to summer heat, over
work or insomnia.
SUMMER CAMP SCHOOLS.
Mrs. Mims, of Atlanta, writes inter
estingly of two summer camp schools,
one for boys, another, a mile away,
for little girls, situated in the Ossipee
mountains, near the quaint little vil
lage of Tamworth. She says: “These
camps have central bungalows for
socials, dances, amusements indoors,
for lectures on various subjects, open
all round, but with canvas curtains
that can be lowered in rainy weather.
Scattered about around these bunga
lows are various tents, waterproof and
with planked floors; a number of cots,
with blankets, the central poles used
for clothes racks. No furniture be
yond a pitcher and basin for water.
There the occupants of the camps
sleep and rest when desired. To each
camp there is a head master, a man
or woman qualified morally and intel
lectually to be guides and directors.
Each tent has a counsellor, looking
after and protecting, advising and
caring for the boys’ exercise within
bounds. So buoyant is the air, such
a sense of freedom pervades, these
boys are such masters of the body,
they seem incapable of fatigue. They
live outdoors; think nothing of a ten
mile walk and a recreation of baseball
on their return. Sometimes they take
a wagon and go on a trip of a week
over the mountains. They swim, run
and are as brown as berries. Only
on special occasions do they don a cit
izen’s dress, usually wearing a uni
form of short-sleeved jerseys and knee
trousers. That the physical may be
subordinate to higher pursuits, they
devote two hours each morning to
study, writing, have instruction in
singmg and are coached in any de
partment needed or desired, from
arithmetic to Latin.
Little Girls’ Camp.
“The little girls’ camp is simply
charming. A dear little friend of
mine, who had recently been wasted
by a fever, came here, and in ten days
she was walking miles, happy and
free. She reminds me now of one of
the little red apples which nature so
lavishly bestows even on the road
sides here. The same manual of
training is carried out for the little
girls. 1 have .never seen such joyous,
happy and radiant children. Prof.
Frazer, of Ind’a, sent out by the
British government to investigate
American schools, was astonished and
greatly pleased with these two camp
schools. Said it was strange to see
such love and harmony with so many
different mentalities.
"Another most interesting revela
tion to me was this pathetic yet most
valuable experience. Among the lovely
girls at this camp for girls were two
deaf children; yet to see the deep in
terest with which they entered into
everything that presentd itself was
most touching. None were gayer and
happier than they, through the aid of
what might be called the ‘hearing
eye.’ They heard everything, as it
were, by so quickly reading the move
ments of the lips and facial expres
sion, and were themselves so animated
and interesting that one rarely remem
bered that they were lacking in one
faculty. This method, now so largely
employed, i§ opening a world of joy
The Golden Age for September 29, 1910.
and interest to many otherwise nar
rowed lives. The wife of Alexander
Graham Bell, telephone inventor, was
born entirely deaf, perhaps also dumb.
She was his pupil in this method, and,
being a handsome and interesting
Woman, he wooed and won her.”
BELVA LOCKWOOD FIRST WOMAN
LAWYER IN UNITED STATES.
With the special commission which
is distributing $5,000,000 to the de
scendants of the Eastern Cherokees
is the celebrated woman lawyer and
solicitor, Mrs. Belva D. Lockwood,
LL.D., of Washington, D. C.
Mrs. Lock wood was one of the
original lawyers employed to prepare
and present the claims of the Indians,
which resulted in securing the $5,000,-
000 for the descendants of the Chero
kees.
In 1884 Mrs. Lockwood made the
race for president, as the candidate
of the Equal Rights party. The past
twenty-five years she has devoted
much of her time to the interests of
international peace. She is now the
secretary of the American branch of
the International Peace Bureau, in
Washington, and has held this position
every year since 1891.
Mrs. Lockwood will be eighty years
of age next November, and is hale and
hearty, and her brain is as quick and
active as at any time of her career.
She is the only woman lawyer upon
whom the degree of LL.D, was ever
conferred, and the degree was con
ferred by Chancellor Day, June 10,
1909, at the Syracuse University.
A LITTLE TALK TO THE HOUSE
HOLD.
Dear Readers of The Golden Age:
Were you not moved to tears on read
ing Mattie Beverage’s pathetic story
of the “ray of hope”—which she cou’d
not take advantage of for tack of the
small sum of twenty dollars —her fare
from her home in Dabney, Arkansas,
to the Oklahoma residence of the spe
cialist, who believed he could cure her
—and free of charge? Think of it. For
want of twenty dollars—my sister (and
yours) must remain a hopeless prison
er in her room useless to herself and
others! It seems that all of us might
send this girl a little help, if only a
few cents. If a hundred of us should
send her two dimes her hope may be
realized. Let’s try, friends, all of us.
Twenty cents, or ten, if you can’t spare
the twenty, and maybe some with a
big purse or a big generous heart—
would give half the amount at once. I
know that most of us have places to
put every surplus penny; friends and
relatives and home folks to help —still
a little might be spared in such a wor
thy cause. Remember, it is more
blessed to give than to receive.
Mrs. Bryan told us that the brilliant
writer and bold original thinker, Lo
macita, of the Sunny South, had writ
ten a book—a unique and thrilling
story—and was about to publish it. I
want to know when it is out, for 1
must read that book. Lomacita was, 1
believe, unanimously voted the best
of all the Sunny South Household wri
ters —and these were legion, A fine
forceful writer also, was Tessa Rod
dey, of Alabama, who has written
much for The Golden Age. Where art
thou, Tessa? We wish once more to
be entertained and advised by your
prolific pen.
A SILENT TEXAN.
THE UNKNOWN MUSE.
There is a strain that never stirred
the lyre, ,
So oft by many a venturous poet
strung,
A soul asleep in the unsleeping wire,,
And where Pegasus’ timbrel hoofs
have rung,
An Unknown Muse, upwinging, shall
inspire
Themes unexplored and destinies
unsung.
—CALVIN JOHNSTON.
good
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you’re raising it, or only
planning—write for helpful
suggestions.
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11
