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The Southern Israelite Page 5 SEARCHING THE JUNGLE IN THE Back from Africa, where her ad ventures included narrow escapes from a charging rhinoceros and a he rd of elephants, Mrs. Oscar S. Straus, widow of the former United States Ambassador to Turkey, had hardly set foot on shore from the steamer lie de France when she de clared that she hopes next year to go hack again. From her luxurious home in the venter of Manhattan, surrounded by friends and relatives, to the heart of the African jungle, a small group of tents clustered around a campfire, the call of lions, mercifully not hungry, re-echoing across the lighted space, is a long way—15,000 miles by water, rail and motor. Not content with financing the ex pedition, Mrs. Straus, who is sixty- eight, accompanied the scientests who went to seek much-needed bird speci mens for the American Museum of Natural History, rode with the party along roads which had to be built as they went, slept in a tent when camp was pitched for the night and person ally directed the taking of many of the photographs of the animals in their native haunts. Mrs. Straus’ grandson, Edward Schafer, Jr., of New York, was the party’s official photographer and Mrs. Straus prefers to let him tell of their adventures. Part of the expeditions “quarry” is 5,000 feet of film depicting incidents in the African jungle, moving pic tures, lions, zebra, giraffes and rare tropical birds. Two hundred and fifty birds, shot during the day and stuffed at night around the campfire, were brought back. Altogether, 2,000 spec imens will result from the expedition. A collection of 2,000 specimens of in sects was also made by one of the Party, Mrs. Rudyard Boulton, as well as a collection of unique native musi cal instruments. Mrs. Straus was in perfect health all the time and was greatly inter ested in all the activities of the party. An example of her sportsmanship was apparant on the very first night that the expedition was in camp. Ar riving in camp at about 7 o’clock in the evening, the group sat down to a dinner served not as if it were in the heart of the African jungle but in some Adirondack summer home. After the evening meal the party gathered around the campfire, discussing future plans. When they had been sitting quietly for perhaps ten minutes, a lion started to roar. Ho you want to see the lions?” ■' Straus was asked by the Hon. Fineh-Hatton, noted British u nter who had joined the expedition at Nairobi. th^ rS *^ raUS re P^ e d that as she was etc for that purpose she might as e ‘ >tart right in. Quickly Mrs. rails and other members of the par- j lk0 ^ automobiles and drove I <h! • ? ^ rus ^' Soon, the spotlight j an n on a charing among the trees e n j e * et * a famil y of lions, a lion- , n , f 0Ur cubs. The mother was inp ! ^ e in ^ truct ing her young, teach- ar . em . tbe on ly lesson young lions p re . U i, aire< * to know—how to stalk upor th ° Ueh the brigbt light played with u e £ r °up, the lioness went on autom.qvi eSS ° n wbiIe tbe group in the 1 es sat quietly watching. OF SCIENCE Mrs. Oscar S. Straus Returns From Expedition to Heart of Africa; The Things They Sought and What They Brought to the Museum of Natural History By Emily Nathan Suddenly it was noticed that out side the rim of light, the father lion watched, alert. “We put our lights on him and he started a tus. We started the cars and left. That night two groups of lions called to each other across the campfire. When the lions are hungry they will come into the camp, regardless of the fire. They have been known to go right into the tents and take people out. That night, all we could do was hope that the lions were not hungry.” Of greatest interest to Mrs. Straus was how the animals live. She ob served the habits of the babboons, the antelopes and the zebra which must always be on the move to protect themselves from the lions. Although Mrs. Straus had not been interested in photography before, she found that “camera hunting” was more fascinating than any other kind of hunting and more dangerous, for it is necessary to come much closer to the animals to photograph them than to shoot them. Lions, to employ a phrase from the moving picture in dustry, “screen well.” They are not afraid of the camera as are the ele phants. Photographing elephants was one of the most difficult tasks of the expedition. The elephants are very wiley and are difficult to locate. They travel in herds and cover about 25 or JO miles a day. None of the party spoke the language of the native guides, and few of the native guides PREACHED AT THE JEWISH INSTITUTE OF RELIGION BACCALAUREATE SER VICE By the President, I)r. Stephen S. Wise, The equipment of a man for the Jewish ministry must be two-fold. He must be prepared for the calling which has chosen him by a sense of utter dedication to the service upon which he is about to enter. The equipment must be gained through such earnest academic preparation as has been vouchsafed to you, the members of the Graduating Class, during the past four years. The methods of service within the ministry are two-fold. The teacher of religion, whether in Israel or in any other religious fellowship, teaches alike by his word and by his works. The mighty prophet of Israel has ut tered an abiding truth herein—“He that hath my word let him speak the word faithfully.” No man can speak the word faithfully unless his in truth be unimpairable faith in the cause which he has espoused. To speak the word faithfully is to utter the word that needs to be said, not blatantly nor truculently, but with an under standing of the sacredness of truth and the unanswerable imperiousness of its challenge, howsoever clamorous be conflicting and diverting claims. The supreme method of service for a man in any and every ministry lies in his works and life. No richness of speech can make up for poverty of life. No utterance, however glowing, can light up the darkness of a man’s life, if his ministry be self-centered and without concern for the supreme business of religion. Touching a man’s word and works, there are certain tests which men will apply to every man, be he humble or mighty, be he great or small. And these tests are always of a man’s religiousness. The man whose soul cannot give assent to the fundamen tal truths of religion owes it to him self and to every standard of human worth to withdraw. Not that a man is to withdraw from Church or Syna gogue every time he finds himself in conflict with dogma or ordinance of his religious organization or in col lision with the more imperious mas ters of the church, whether these be lay or clerical! But no man can serve with any degree of acceptance in the ministry unless his soul be charged with enthusiasm for those changeless truths of religion which are the heart of faith. The test of a man in the ministry lies in his will and capacity to serve men, not men collectively nor congre- gationally, but man—man as an in dividual, the individual man, human persons in the midst of their multi form doubts and difficulties, prob lems and temptations, fears and griefs. The purpose of a man in the Jewish ministry, of necessity, is to bring the ideal divine into the lives of those whom he serves by the teaching of his lips and the persuasion of his life. The purpose of the Jewish minister is to proclaim the validity of the spiritual world, the reality of spiritual truth. Even as evolution is a working hypothesis, equally workable, upon the basis of which a pragmatic scheme of (Continued on Page 10) INTEREST spoke the language of the native hunting tribes. Yet it was from these hunting tribes that traces of the ele phant herds had to be obtained. When the party came upon a hunting tribe they pitched camp on the spot, and waited until the natives brought word that they “had elephants”, meaning that they knew where ele phants could be found. The elephants are located by tracking and the sound of falling trees which they throw over as the great, hulking animals go crashing through the forest. Immediately the party climbed into motor cars and drove in the direction indicated, until they came within a hundred yards of the herd, when they proceeded on foot. One time when the party stood watching the herd eating, the ele phants sensed the presence of hu mans and charged at the group. By fleet running and hiding behind bush es they were able to evade the infu riated animals which had been dis turbed at their dinner. After spending three days looking for rhinoceroses the party saw one feeding on the opposite side of a nar row river. The only way to cross was to climb across a slippery log. Mrs. Straus slipped and clung to the log. The rhino, disturbed by the noise, charged. The white hunter rushed between Mrs. Straus and the rhino and drove him off. “I also encountered a big lion at yery close quarters,” Mrs. Straus said, “I did not know what I should do. The white guide who was beside me shot the animal through the head and it fell dead twenty feet from where we were standing. “I saw as many as 150 ostriches standing together at one time and hundreds of all kinds of monkeys. We killed leopards, cheetahs and many other wild animals.” Mrs. Straus said the most beautiful bird she saw was a vulturine guinea hen with blue-tipped wings, purple breast and brown markings on the back. “We witnessed a fight in the air,” she said, “between an eagle and one of these lovely birds. One of our hunters finally fired a shot and scared the eagle away.” Altogether the expedition covered about 15,000 miles by land and sea in four months. The route taken led into the very heart of the African jungle. Most of the hunting was done; on the Seren- getti Plain, where no human had been for several years. The animals, never having seen human beings, were una fraid of them. The Plain, which is at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, 100 miles south of the Equator, abounds in all kinds of wild life. The camp, pitched at the foot of the beautiful, snow-capped peak, looked out on a scene unequalled anywhere in the world. Mrs. Straus was able to select her own vension which one of the party would go out and shoot. All other food was taken along with them and they dined off of tinned vegetables, dried fruits and milk. Camp was always pitched within two miles of a river * and water brought by the natives. It was dangerous to camp nearer the (Continued on Page 10)