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5 THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
-ATLAKTA, GA., 5 NOBTH FOMSTTH ST.
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SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta. Ga.
Get Behind the Red Cross.
••First, to be able to care for our soldiers
and sailors whenever and wherever that care
may be needed. Second, to help shorten the
war by relieving the sufferings and bolstering
up the courage of the civilian populations as
well as the armies of our Allies.”
These vital war purposes of the American
Red Cross, as described in the current number of
the Review of Reviews, will be promoted or held
back largely in proportion to the success of the
membership campaign now in progress in At
lanta and throughout the nation. As far as our
own fighting men are concerned, the work of this
humanitarian institution has barely begun. Its
services, deeply important though they are already
both at home and abroad, will be incomparably
more so when American troops sweep freely into
the conflict. When that time comes, and it is not
_■* far distant, the Red Cross will need the country’s
unreserved and organised support—not simply the
support of generous dollars, but of ready hand
and of understanding hearts. The nation’s
w. patriotic and humanitarian zeal should be mus
" tered behind this cause as completely as a com
munity’s spirit responds to human needs in times
of fire and flood or other disasters.
To be prepared for the vast responsibilities of
’ the near future, the Red Cross must recruit its
membership now. Furthermore, there is imme
diate and profound importance to the work of re
el lief and encouragement which it is carrying for-
• ward in France, where suffering is unspeakably
• acute and widespread and where America’s battles
• have been herocially fought from the war’s very
beginning. To have a part, however small, in this
• aoble endeavor is an honor which every real
American will covet and a duty which‘every loyal
• American will fulfill.
»
J Constructive Criticism
And Captious Complaint.
There is no wider difference than between im
-1 patient meddling and thoughtful investigation. In
• so far as the spirit of the latter directs the inqui
ries which Congress is making into various de-
• yartments of our war activity, substantial good
• will result. Questions of policy, it should be noted,
are not involved. There is but one American pol
icy either in the Administration or in Congress or
. In the country; and that is to prosecute the war
• with the utmost vigor until Germany is brought to
• terms. These inquiries have to do with methods
and details.
• Is the task of preparing the hew National army
(or service being performed with due thoroughness
and speed? * Are conditions, sanitary and other
wise all that they should be at the training camps?
If not. whose is the responsibility and what is the
, remedy? Is the incalculably important work of
building ships for the transportation of troops and
supplies and other war needs proceeding as effee
lively as it should? If not. where is the trouble
and what is the best way out? It is with such
questions that the investigating committees are
• soncerned. questions which, if properly treated
•will prove highly helpful to the departments and
perhaps the means to surprisingly swifter and bet
ter results. As Secretary Daniels expressed it to
jthe House sub-committec which is looking into
nary conditions. "A taking of stock cannot fail
bring about ways lor jitill further improvement
and for still more efficient work in the future.”
It ia important, however, that Congress and the
country bear constantly in mind the great differ
ence between constructive criticism and captious
fault-finding. Incompetency should be weeded out
with an unsparing hand wherever it exists, in quar
ters high or low. Rut let it always be remembered
that the object of true correction and reform is to
»et better result®, not to engender discontent and
distrust. As long as the war lasts it will always
‘ be right to investigate and to criticise, where crlt
• Icism is needed, but it never will be right to
"knock.” The test of criticism in this connection
is the test of any act or utterance, the patriotism
or wisdom of which is at all questionable: Will
it belp to win the war’’ Will it make the tre
mendous burdens which the Government has to
shoulder and the vast problems it has to solve
lighter and simpler or heavier and more perplex
ing? Will it tend to solidify the nation’s senti
ment and to inspire th'' people to more zealous
- and. if need be. more sacrificial support of their
country's cause, or will it tend to create a cynical
» and pessimistic moon'
It win oe well for the public to measure by
this broaifly patriotic standard all the complaint
and censure against the Government. This will
become lucieasingiy important as the war stress
f grows and the public nerves are subjected to more
and more strain. There will be mistakes and mis-
• fortunes and a never-ceasins demand for personal
as well as national fortitude. There will be crit
icism and agitation, some of it quite just but more
. that will be unwarranted. Let us be watchful,
’ then, to distinguish between those critics who are
- constructive and those who are carping, those who
» have helpful ideas and those who have merely a
• kick- those who are true friends to America and
- those who are yellow-streaked self-exploiters.
A broad-visioned survey of what the Govern-
• ment has accomplished in the way of preparation
1 i since we entered the war can hardly fail to arouse
pride and wonder in every generous American
heart, in administrative details, it is true, there
have been regrettable and f4?nnetinies deplorable
• shortcomings. Wherever these arc the, result of
negligence or of any kind of incompetence, the
fact should be established and due steps taken to
prevent their ‘ recurrence. Hut who that looks
fairly upon the record of the last eight months can
withhold approval of the Government’s -eneral
course and hearty admiration for its total of
achievements? The fact is, the United States has
done marvelously well for a nation confessedly un
prepared for war. Beginning with a bare nucleus
of an army and with no machinery for raising one,
it has mustered upwards of a million men to the
colors: has placed large contingents of troops in
France, ft“ansporting them across three thousand
miles of ocean without loss or mishap: has inau
gurated for all these soldiers and foT those to be
called, as well as for the sailors, a system of wise
and beneficent war insurance; has made the navy
incomparably stronger in its enlistc- personnel
and number of ships, and also has made it felt with
telling effect in the campaign against U-boats as
well as in the successful convoying of troop trans
ports. These are but the a-b-c of the far-reaching
and crowded war program which the Administra
tion has put effectively under way. Well may we
be proud of a Government and a country and a
people that bring such things to pass.
This does not mean, to be sure, that we can
rest for a moment on what has been accomplished,
for that is a mere beginning of what must be done.
It does not mean that there should be any mini
mizing of mistakes and incompetencies or any hes
itancy to overhaul any,department where there is
need. The present investigations by Congress are
timely. Conducted in the proper spirit, they will
be exceedingly helpful. And as evidence of Con
gress’ desire for the most vigorous and most effi
cient prosecution of the war possible, they are pecu
liarly welcome. Let there be care on the part of
Congress and of the country, however, that inves
tigations shall always be thoughtful and that crit
icism shall always be constructive. This will save
much useless recrimination and many brainstorms.
It might be possible to dine a man during the
war. but hardly to wine him, too.
Speed Up the Airplanes.
Addressing the American people through the
New York Times, a great French General gives
this pungent advice: “Equip yourselves as if the
war were going to last ten years, but speed your
selves as if it were going to end in six months.”
This applies to all fields of our preparation, but
particularly to the building of air craft. For the
Allies to have and hold the upper hand in aviation,
says this authority, they must have “a far greater
number of planes than the enemy, and better
ones.” Germany is working desperately to win air
mastery on the Western front before the Allied
output of machines begins permanently to exceed
the utmost that her own factories can do; and in
this as in the matter of troops, her great aim is to
.-•trike in advance of America s full arrival at the
front.
As to just how much is being accomplished ii>
airplane production in this country, little is pub
licly known. But as Congress already has appro
priated some seven hundred million dollars for
this purpose and stands willing to add as much
as may be needed, the administrative departments
are free to proceed as rapidly and extensively as
practical conditions allow? Os one thing, the pub
lic have heard with some definiteness and a great
deal of interest —the Liberty motor. Represent
ing the combined ideas Itnd facilities of the coun
try’s leading motor producers, who patriotically
tendered the Government tneir patent rights, the
Liberty Was aroused and, as far as the tests have
gone, has justified great expectations. Heretofore
the weakness of American airplanes as compared
with the French and British has been in the*en
ginc. It is peculiarly gratifying, therefore, to have
the promise of an American motor that will be a
world model for strength and speed and that by
means of standardized methods can be turned out
at a prodigious rate. Air supremacy is pre-essen
tial to the great blows that must hurl the Huns
ba<k across their frontiers and crush their mili
tarism forever. The sooner this supremacy is
gained, thl lighter will be the cost and earlier the
arrival of victorious peace. And the more vig
orously America bends to her all-important part
of the task, the firmer will that assurance be.
Where is the old-fashioned man who dined too
well?
—♦
• The Turks Deepening Plight.
The weakness of the Turks which forced them
to surrender Jerusalem appears to be deepening
to disaster. The remnants of the eight Ottoman
armies under the command of FaJkenhayen of the
German General Staff, official dispatches announce,
have met decisive defeat at the hands of the Brit
ish. l4e fact that so eminent a strategist as
Falkenhayen was assigned to the Turkish problem
shows how important it was in German estimation,
and the fact that all his efforts have proved un
availing indreates to what a plight the Kaiser's
Moslem ally has been reduced.
While the Palestine campaign has grown con
tinually more distressing for the Turks, events in
Mesopotamia have brought them no grain of com
fort. Indeed, the British forces in that region,
though compelled to mark time at frequent inter
vals. have made substantial progress since the fall
of Bagdad, so strengthening their general position
that the enemy has no hope of a formidable offen
sive and only a most desperate hope of a sustained
defense. Thus in the two war areas which mean
most to the Turk’s imagination, developments are
of a character to take the heart out of their al
liance with the Huns.
The consequence may prove to be great beyond
all proportion to the purely military importance
of the Palestine and Mesopotamian campaigns. If
Turkey should abandon the Teutons within the
next six or eight months, the result would go far
toward offsetting the advantages that have accrued
to them through Russia’s defection from the Al
lies. Conceivably, indeed, it might prove the
break in "the armor which would mark the begin
ning of the end of the Kaiser’s defense.
The kaiser, in a never-published .interview,
predicted the war as far back as 1908. showing
the kaiser was warlike during the period he claims
I to have been for peace.
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA GA., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1917.
More Audacious i han Ever.
There is nothing anomalous, after all, in the
German Socialists’ objecting to a separate peace
with Russia. Eager as they are for an ending of
the war, they realize that the elimination of Rus
sia alone would serve to prolong rather than fore
shorten the conflict; for it would so strengthen
and embolden the Imperialists that such elements
of political liberalism as have managed to take root
and grow in Germany would be ruthlessly trampled
down.
The war aims of the Hohenzollerns are mtjre
audacious today than at tuiy time since the battle
of the Marne and Verdun curbed their first wild
ambitions. The German occupation of the Rus
sian port of Riga on the Baltic and of the pro
vince of Courland and adjacent lands has deter
mined the militarists to annex that territory,
which in the earlier stages of the war they iiad
not hoped to obtain, in addition to their previous
conquests. Furthermore, the success of the in
trigue which has put Russia out of the fighting
and the consequent military advantages to the
Kaiser's lines in France and Belgium have brought
him and his war lords fresh hope of retaining much
of the loot from their raid in the West. When
the Allies are smashing forward, the idea of giv
ing up Belgium receives a measure of considera
tion from Berlin: but let the fortune of war veer
even slightly in favor of the Huns, and the tone
of mock conciliation rises again to bold defiance.
From the day they got Belgium fairly in their
grasp, the German militarists set out with cold
blooded calculation to reduce the country’s popula
tion as far as practicable in order that the land
might be free for German settlement after the
war. The Belgian people, as the Huns viewed it,
were an encumbrance to the soil; wherefore, let
the people be wiped out! Is it to be supposed that
a Government which entertains such theories and
practices such barbarity will ever give up its robber
conquests except at the point of the bayonet? Is
it supposable, indeed, that a Government so in
grained with crime will ever be amenable to the
laws of truly civilized nations?
For the same reasons that German Socialists
look with disfavor on a separate peace with Rus
sia, the people of the allied democracies will best
serve the cause of just and durable peace by re
jecting any suggestion of a settlement which would
leave Prussianism in the saddle, still confident and
free to prepare another raid against mankind. The
effect of the militarists’ recent successes in Rus
sia and in Italy and at points on*the Western front
has been to make them drunk with new ambition
and a new sense of power. The Imperialist Ger
man press is more boastful than it ha* been for
many a season, and more savagely intolerant of
liberal thought within its own empire as well as
more defiant of the ideas of free peoples in the
world at large. Whether or not a separate peace
with Russia, or rather with the Bolsheviki in
whose clutches Russia’s liberty and honor are for
the time being held, will be negotiated is yet un
certain. But in any event, the Russian collapse
has given the militarists a renewed confidence, re
newed power over the German people and a tem
porary advantage of which they will make the
utmost. The only wise course for the Allies, there
fore, is to deepen their resolve and quicken their
stride in the fight for peace-bringing and peace
keeping victory.
ALCOHOL AND INSANITY.
By H. Addington Bruce.
—♦ —
SCIENTIFIC authorities differ on not a few
points in the alcohol problem. But there are
some things on which they are absolutely in
agreement. *
One of these is the preponderating part which
alcohol plays iu causing insanity, and the imperativt,
necessity for total abstinence by all persons wh.i
have a family history of insanity.
Such persons, if they leave alcohol hlone, stand
an excellent chance of escaping the fate of their in
sanity-stricken ancestors. Imbibing alcohol, they
are far more liable than the ordinary man to men
tal wreckage.
As all know from everyday observation, alcohol
has a selective action on the brain. It disturbs the
functioning of brain-centers high and low, clouding
the intellect and causing muscular inco-ordination.
The drunken man thinks badly, speaks badly,
and walks badly. Not until he has “sobered up’
docs his brain again work as it should.
If he permit drunkenness to become habitual
with him, organic degeneration bf his brain is a
sure result. In the case of persons inheriting auy
brain weakness a similar result may follow eveu
the occasional imbibing of small amounts ot
liquors.
Here not only tnay the alcohol itself be a direct
cause of insanity, but it operates to produce insan
ity by breaking down the resistance to inherited
abnormal mental and nervous tendencies.
Directly and indirectly, then, alcohol is responsi
ble for an enormous percentage of insanity. Dr.
August Hoch, a conservative authority, estimates
that it is the dominant factor in causing the insanity
of nearly a quarter of the population ot our hos
pitals for the insane.
“In statistics from some hospitals for the in
sane of New York and Massachusetts, covering some
15,000 admissions,’’ he says, “I find that as many
as 24 per cent of the male patients suffered from
alcoholic insanity. These figures are not unusual,
since in some communities the percentage is still
higher.
"If we reflect upon the fact that syphillis is the
cause of about 14 per cent of mental diseases in
men. and that an additional 24 per cent are due to
alcohol.
"If we bear in mind these figures and the fact
that the specific alcoholic psychoses do not repre
sent the full extent of the damage done to the mind
by alcohol.
“And if we allow for variations in different com
munities, we shall not regard as very much exag
gerated the statement that nearly one-half of the
cases of insanity are due to venereal diseases and
alcohol.”
Ponder this statement. Ponder it particularly
if, being a user of alcohol, you are at the same
time a member of an insanity-tainted family.
For in that case you are running greater haz
ards than other men if you persist in alcoholic in
dulgence. Your one safe course is to get on the
water wagon without delay, and stay there.
(Copyright, 1917. by the Associated Newspapers, i
KEEP ALERT FOR THE SPY!
—>_
< The Macon News.)
Every German or Austrian in the United States,
unless known by years of association to be absolute
ly loyal, should be treated as a potential spy. Keep
your eyes and ears open. Whenever any suspicious
act or disloyal word comes to your notice communi
cate at once with the bureau of investigation of the
department of justice.
We are at war with the most merciless and in
human nation in the world. Hundreds of thousands
of its people in this country want to see America
humiliated and beaten to her knees, and they are
doing, and will do, every thing in their power to
bring this about.
Take nothing for granted. Energy and alertness
in this direction may save the life of your son, or
husband, or your brother.
OTHER THINGS A SOLDIER NEEDS.
Feminine Smiles, Fraternal Handshakes, Music and Fun Are Just as Necessary C
As Beans, Bacon and a Bunk. •
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—The first scout that
went out from the United States forces
stationed at Camp Devens, Mass., was a
scout of a new kind. He was a social scout, but
none the less a part of the regular army organiza
tion. for he represented the Recreation Association
of America, which is a branch of the commission
on training camp activities of the war Mepart
ment.
♦ ♦ *
The quartermaster’s corps supplied the soldiers
with necessaries, such as fcjpd and clothing and
blankets, and The commission with essentials, such
as smiles and relaxations.
The smile sleuth from Camp Devens faced quite
a problem. Boston was thirty-five miles away and
Worcester eighteen—both too far to serve as
sources for the kind of intangible supplies that he
was seeking. But there were half a dozen smaller
places within a radius of ten miles. So he picked
the most likely-looking of these, which was Ayres,
population three thousand, distance from camp
only three miles. He sought out a prominent cit
izen and explained the case at some length.
“I want invitations to dinner for two enlisted
men,” he concluded.
• * •
“Bring 'em along,” said the prominent citizen
The social scout went back to camp and spent
four hours selecting the two men. For it was
vitally necessary that the two men should make a
hit. In order to make a hit they must be men ot
the sort that would probably be congenial to that
particular prominent citizen and his family.
♦ ♦ ♦
This does not mean that the scout intended to
discriminate in favor of men of any particular so
cial status. But he realized that all social rela
tions are and must be founded upon congeniality.
• • •
Now, a man in khaki loses, to a great extent,
his social identity. The occupations, companions,
clothes and habits that made up his social person
ality before he became a soldier, have all been
taken away from him. In the community to which
he is transplanted he has scant means for getting
in touch with the people that would appeal to him,
and they have even greater difficulty in finding
him. /
• * * >
Hence the need for the social scout. Exercis
ing his judgment, and no doubt also his luck, he
selected the two men that he thought would suit—
and they did. Their dinner invitation resulted in
arrangements, in whicn sundry feminine brains had
a large part, for a dancing party. The two first
men supplied the others from among the friends
they had made in camp.
» « *
Meantime the social scout had been diligent in
other quarters, had secured other invitations, and
selected other men to fill them. Within a few
weeks there might be seen at Camp Devens every
evening a line of about fifty automobiles which haa
been sent by the people of the town for soldier
guests.
♦ ♦ *
This is only one of a number of activities which
are being carried forward by the commission to
supply those things which are no less necessary to
men than food and clothing. In a camp like Camp
Devens, which contains thirty-five thousand men,
while the entire civil population within a radius of
ten miles is but seventeen thousand, there are
naturally not enough smiles, or at least not enough
SWEET POTATO PUDDING —The Tifton Gazette.
Down through the dim vista of the years past
comes the memory of sweet potato pudding of
fifty years ago.
Os course, there are puddings now, but-they
have lost their savor. There is too much of the
twentieth century about them—too much sugar,
condiments and the cooking range. The only sweet
potato pudding worth while was sweetened with
cane syrup, seasoned with orange peel and cooked
in an open fireplace, in an iron spider, with a tire
of corn-cobs.
The sun had not melted the morning frost
when Mother and the boy began collecting mate
rial for a pudding for dinner. The boards which
closed the door of the sweet potato bank were
stuck with ice and the ground around was crisply
frozen. The boy crawled inside, pushed /way the
straw and handed the potatoes to the Mother wait
ing outside, who carefully selected those of the
right shape aud size for grating. With a supply,
they returned to the log kitchen, where a nig fire
blazed on the hearth.
The potatoes were washed, trimmed and peeled;
then the grater was taken down from where it hung
on a nail against the kitchen wall. This grater
was of tin. in half cylindrical shape, with holes
punched from the inside, leaving jagged proturber
ances on the outside of the convex surface. With
one end of this grater in a large tin pan, the other
held at an angle by the handle on the end in the
left hand, the potato was grated by simply catch
ing it in the right hand-and rubbing it briskly over
the grater.
While this was going on. the boy stood watch
ing. getting his reward In pieces of juicy yam, too
small to grate, after the potato was worn away;
occasionally getting a treat in a wad of succulent
parts adhering to the grater, even winning the
privilege of cleaning it off when the grating was
done. With the potatoes ready, out of a drawer
TRAVEL IN MANCHURIA
Although it is much easier to reach Manchuria
now than it was ten or fifteen years ago, the man
■who would travel in the interior of this primitive
part, of China, as soon as he leaves the few ralL
roads. must rely upon means that were standard
a century ago.
If it is winter he will rattle over the frozen
mud in a cart drawn by three horses. At night
he will stop at an inn where he must supply his
own bed and a large part of his own food, unless
he is willing to be satisfied with a little boiled
corn. The walls of his room will be of paper and
eyes will peer at him through holes hastily punched
for the purpose. In the morning his driver will
awaken him before daylight and start him on an
other long day of jolts and freezing.
In the summer travel is easier and pleasanter,
but also much slower. A boat may be taken upon
one of the rivers. It will crawl along between
pleasantly shaded banks and green fields,' every
little while coming to rest upon a sandbar, so that
progress is unbelievably slow, even going down
stream. Against the current the boat is laboriously
poled and dragged with heavy ropes.
By these means the travelers may penetrate
into a region where change is unknown and the
principles of Confucius still rule. He will meet na
tives who have never seen a watch or a railroad
train, although they nominally belong to one of
the oldest civilizations; he will see the squalor and
dirt and disease that go with ignorance.
The fact yill be forcibly brought home to him
that modern progress travels over good roads.
The pocket money of most women comes out of
Rome man's pocket.
Until Cupid recovers his sight marriage will
continue to be more or less of a failure.
By Frederic J. Haskin.
TRAVELETTE—By Niksah
smilers, to go around. It is not wise to give more
than three thousand men leave at one time. But
there are numerous ways of entertaining those who
have to stay at home. The Liberty theaters, which .
are going to open on Christmas, and the Y. M- I
C. A. auditoriums, and the two large Thautauqna
tents in every camp will accommodate about all of
the men that stay homg. ,
And the entertainments at these places are
planned with a full understanding of the soldier
psychology. They are not designed primarily to
improve the mind —although they may do that, too.
They are intended primarily to divert, to make a
man laugh, thrill and forget himself. They offer
such plays as "Cheating Cheaters,” such operas as
“O, Boy.” A lecturer who wanted to discourse to
these young disciples of the arts of flestruction on
"Kindness to Birds” did not get a chance. And
the refusal was no rsflexion upon the desirability
of being kind to birds, either.
• « «
The experience of those who are concerned • •
with entertaining the soldiers seems to show that
the modern warrior is a good deal like the warriors
of all other ages. Sinking, dancing, feasting and
good fellowship are cravqs. For that mat- f
ter, who doesn’t crave Item? They are for all of
us the natural reactions from the serious and dull
things in life, and the soldier’s reaction is greater
because what he faces is more serious and his daily'
routine is more dull than ih most civilian occupa
tions.
• « •
Lots of interesting experiments in promoting
good fellowship are being’ tried at the camps. At
one of them a college* night was held. Standards
were erected bearing the names of “alma maters”
for the men to rally rrund. Old friendships were
renewed —friendships that might otherwise have,
been forgotten—and the evening ended in an ear
splitting burst of competitive yelling of college yells
and singing of college songs.
♦ • ♦
Not all the good fellowship is between men who
have come of similar environments and social tra- z
ditions, either. For example, the captain of a com
pany wanted a elfcuffeur. A young enlisted man
who had followed that calling applied for the place,
and with him came a friend and boon companion,
anxious for his success.
• * •
“How do I know you are a good chauffeur?" the y
captain demanded. '"Can you give any recommen
dations?'’
* t *
“I can testify to the fact that he is a darn good
chauffeur,” put in the’ friend. “He drove my car
for three years.” •
• • •
This aggregation of unassorted humanity in
khaki —this gigantic shuffling of the nation's man
hood —is bringing forth a good deal of such proof
that neither in ability, nor in taste and manner, are
people as different as they pretend to be.
Perhaps the greatest stimulus to good fellow
ship of all is the practice of community ginging.
The men are enthusiastic it. First officers
are trained, and then they train their men. For „
the big “song fests” as many as four thousand
voices are sometimes brought together, and the
resultant music has something of the volume and
quality of a great organ. So contagious Is the
spell of this singing that people of nearby eommnni
ties have asked to be allowed to take part In it; ’
and there have been held some great gatherings at
which soldiers, sailors and marines merged their |
voices tn the old songs that anyone can sing. «
' ~m— i — itmti ■
in the kitchen table was taken the nutmeg grater,
a miniature repetation of the potato grater. In a
receptacle at the top, closed by a spring lid, was
a store of orange peel, kept as a treasure from - -’
the orange on which the boy had feasted on Christ
mas before. This was grated over the potato, and
to this was added powdered allspice and grated
nutmeg.
Into this mass was poured cane syrup, the whole
kneaded until all was a thick paste and the flavor
ings were thoroughly mixed into all parts. Then it,
was set in the spider to cook, with slow fire un
derneath and on the lid.
When the pudding came to the table at noons,
it was a feast in itself. Perish the thought of wait
ing for dessert, when such good things were to be
had for a full meal! We could barely wait for it
to get tool enough, and often blistered the tongue
in impatient tasting. Around edges and over top,
juices of the potato and syrup had candied; from
the mass, dark brown, almost black, arose the de
licious odors of the orange, spice and nutmeg; even
as you ate ,in wholesouled enjoyment, occasionally \
you would find a delicious bit of orange peel, too
small to grate and thrown in for good measure.
If the pudding was good while hot for dinner,
it was ten times better cold for supper. By that *
time it was congealed until it could be cut into
portions, each better than the first. Fortunate
those days when indigestion was unknown— such
quantities would call oqt the doctor now.
And if by good fortune any was left from sup
per, what a pleasing midforenoon feast It afforded
next day, making you regret that .you had eaten so
much the day before, that there might have been
more left of the substantial delicacy.
Great those days of the sweet potato puddings
—gone with the times that produced it, the one
who cooked it. and the appetite that made ft a
feast fit for the gods.
THE DESERT OF KARA-KUM
When the caravans in olden days went up from ’
Samarcand and Bokhara to Merv for silks and
carpets,- or carried spices for Europe to the Cas- «■
pian ports, some of them occasionally wandered off
4nto the desert of Kara-Kum, and few of these
ever returned. This desert which is smaller but,
more terrible than Sahara came to be known as
"the tomb of caravans.”
If you were to venture into the desert of Kara- ~~
Kum you would travel by camel. At first you
would pass through 'a land of scrubby bushes, and
rest at noon near a well, surrounded- by a tiny
native village at the bottom of a dimple in the
desert. Ana nere you would feel first touch
of the desert heat —a heat that reaches 163 de
grees in the sun and is hurled into your face by
the wind like a veritable sheet of flame. >
In the comparative cool of evening you would
push fin into the desert proper. Presently from the
top of a slight elevation you would see it reach- 4 •
Ing before you—a petrified storm at sea, an ocean
of sand. There is nothing but sand, and it is
tossed by a ceaseless wind into billows miles long ~
that creep forward perhaps a foot a year, bury
ing everything in their path.* The wind tears ban
ners of flying sand from their crests as you look,
releasing cascades that go rumbling into the burn- 4,
ing hollows.
The patch across this desert is marked only <
by bfts of bone and stick, occasionally by a human
skull. It is easily lost in the dark, and it is the
thread which connects one shallow, muddy well
with another. Marly have lost it, and they are
still in the desA-t of Kara-Rum.
Many a so-called self-made man is the handi
work of his wife. £
