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Man Far Outnumbered
by Lc-ser Creatures
It Is prolmblc tiiat few persona save
nutnrnllnta ever consider the enor
mous nmount of life other than hu
tiiiin which exists In any locality, civ
ilized or not, densely peopled or thin
ly Botllid. A plague of rats In Lon
don within recent years prompted an
Interview with a distinguished scien
tist, who estimated that within the
area of Greater London there were 20,-
immi.ihmi rats, more than three times
as many rats as people.
Sparrows undoubtedly come next In
point of numbers among London's
warm blooded population, hut the
sclent Ist preferred to malic his esti
mate cover all the Idrd.s In the United
Kingdom, lie believed that the bird
population would average 800 to the
square mile. That would give a total
of nearly i>7,<100,000. Thus the bird
population outnumbers the human by
something like two to one.
As fur the Insect population, that Is
quite beyond' any statistician. Hut,
allowing that each bird eals only 00
insects a day, Hrltish birds would con
stinie more than a billion Insects In a
year. Vet such an estimate seems
quite futile when we consider that the
Insect population of a single cherry
tree Infested with aphides was esti
mated hy a competent authority to be
12,000,000.
Law of Gravity Not
an Obstacle to Incas
The ancient Inca fortress of Sucsn
huamnn Is located on a mountain sum
mit 7<)l feet above the city of Cuzco,
Peru, which Is itself 10,r00 feet above
sea level. It Is made of huge massive
stones, some of which measure 110 by
12 feel and are very thick. Though
Irregular In outline, they are lilted
together so perfectly that n knife
blade cannot lie inserted between
them.
I tow the seemingly Impossible feat
of getting these stones to the sum
mit was achieved is explained hy the
1 mystics of India. The Egyptians who
built the Pyramids, so the legend
goes, and the ancient Incas, both
knew how to suspend Ihe law of grav
ity, having learned il from the mys
tics of the lost Atlantis.
Taken Down
The late Loie Euller on her Inst
American visit complained to a re
porter about Ihe conceit of movie
“The* mules are the worst,” she
said. “A young male star in n Seal
skin-lined overcoat, smoking a dollar
and a half cigar, swaggered into his
boss’ office one day and said:
‘l’ll tell you, boss, how I want
you to feature me on the hills. 1
want ilie names of the cast printed
in the usual way in rather small
type, and then in giant type’—lie
raised Ids voice to n shout —'MY
NAME under the word AND.'
‘“Why not BUT?’ said the boss.”
Strange Indian Tribe
The I'eel Itiver Indians, a tribe liv
ing in the Upper Yukon country are a
puzzle to ethnologists. These Indians
are jus black as negroes, hut have
long, straight hair and aquiline fen
tures. They are proud of their blood
and permit no mixed marriages.
Whether they are an offshoot of the
Hindu race or descendants of a peo
ple who came up the Mackenzie from
the Arctic has never yet been estab
lished. Today the tribe numbers sev
end hundred and is in prosperous dr
cumstances. [.lke (lie Semlnoles ot
Florida, however, they are vanishing
because of their antipathy toward in
teruiurrying with other Indians.
Good Reason
Although as big and as strong as the
policeman who had arrested him, the
man with the close-cropped hair and
brutal face allowed himself to be
marched toward tlte.police station.
There had been the usual crowd in
anticipation of a scrap, hut It hud
drifted away when they saw there
was nothing doing. Kven (lie police
man admitted it was the tamest nr
rest he had made for many a day.
‘‘lt isn't like you to go so quietly,'
he remarked. “What’s taken all the
ginger out of you?”
The prisoner sighed. “I’ve got my
best clothes on.”
I X
—-
Explains Fire-Walking
The late S. I’. Bangley of the Smith
sotiiun Institution witnessed the fire
walking ceremony in Tahiti and de
scribed it in Nature for August 22.
1021. lie says that the stones used
in the ceremony were tested and found
to he of vesicular basalt, whose most
distinctive features are its porosity
and nonconductlbility. He found that
these stones could ho heated red-hot
at one end while the remaining part
was comparatively cool. lie was ot
tHe opinion that while the lower
stones of the pit were glowing, the
upper layer was fairly cool.
Dutch Mania for Work
You know the Dutch. They have
a mania for work. Theirs is n land
which had to he manufactured out
of Inclosed hits of sea and remanu
factored now and then by being
pumped dry. They scrub the streets
as if they were plates off which to
eat. And as if all this toil were but
a mere trifle, they have Invented a
language the pronunciation of which
requires more labor to the syllable
than any other language to the page!
—Salvador de Madariaga in tile
Forum.
Frick First Motorist
Taken in Speed Trap
The first automobile speeder and
the first speed trap In the New Eng
land district were described in the
Boston Post. Condensed, il happened
In 1807, In this wise:
The speeder, in his little high
wheeled contraption, was roaring
down Arlington street, going every hit
as fust ns some modern concrete mix
ers and making an equal amount of
noise. The legal limit was ten miles
an hour and Ihe local police chief
told Ihe court Ids prisoner had been
making eighteen.
"Were you?" inquired the judge.
"Why, your honor, my motor car
won’t even make ihe ten-mile limit '
protested the driver. The si range
part of It is that Ihe judge believed
the driver and discharged him.
To maintain his reputation for
veracity, the police chief seerell.v
measured off a quarter mile, got two
good stop watches anil, with Ihe aid
of a sergeant, set out to catch con
scienceless nutornohilists. The first
victim was Henry Erick, the Idg steel
manufacturer. This time there was
Indisputable evidence of speeding.
Twenty-live miles an hour cost Mr.
Erick Just SSO.
F'id Thought to Be
Relic of the Vihsngs
What Is believed to he a padlock
used by the ancient Vikings was re
cently found during excavations in
what used to he the city ditch at St.
Bartholomew's hospital, London, Eng
land.
The lock, 5% Inches long, is of the
type known as the “barrel” lock. Il
was in common use among the Rom
ans, though the principle must have
come from Egypt and the East. This
example is thought to lie early Nor
man or of the Danish period.
The movable end of the barrel has
several attachments rather like the
ribs of n partly open umbrella inside.
It can be pulled off only when a key
pushed In compresses the ribs.
That Stopped Him
An official with a* very annoying
manner was making an inspection of
a newly opened aerodrome.
On this particular afternoon para
chute practice was being undertaken
hy a number of pilots, and the official
asked question after question of one
man about his experiences and sen
sntions while falling through the air.
"But supposing your parachute fails
to open while you are coming down?"
he asked linally. "What do you do
then?”
The pilot had had more than enough
by this time.
“Take it back and change il,” he
replied very tersely.
Everything for the Right
Contempt of all outward things
which come in competition with duty
fulfills tlie ideal of human greatness.
Tills conviction, that readiness to sac
rifice life’s highest material good and
life itself, is essential to the elevation
of human nature, is no illusion of nr
dent youth, nor outburst of blind- on
thuslasm It does not yield to grow
Ing wisdom. It is confirmed by all ex
perience. It is sanctioned by con
science—that universal and eternal
lawgiver whose chief dictate is that
everything must lie yielded up for the
right.—Charming.
Aided the Cause
There was a burst of applause ns
the pianist finished his last solo. He
bowed arid, after thanking his audi
ence, was about to leave when a man
approached and presented a check.
This tlie pianist refused, saying he
would prefer It to he used for some
charitable purpose.
“In that case,” said tho donor, “1
suppose you wouldn’t mind if we add
ed it to our special fund?"
“Not at all,” said the pianist. "What
is tlie special fund for?”
"To enable us to have better enter
tainments next year.”
•
Unfortunate Remark
Words whispered at u funeral led
to ilie arrest of n woman at Seine,
France, for the murder of a man. "In
a few minutes all will be over, and
our minds will be at rest,” tlie wom
an was overheard to say to a friend
as the coflin was lowered into the
grave. Her words were carried to
the police, and tlie woman finally con
fessed that during a drunken quarrel
she killed the man by striking him in
self defense, a blow behind tlie ear
with a blunt Instrument.
Persian Fruits
Persia is credited with having given
many fruits to tlie world at large, in
eluding the pencil and orange, but the
real origin of these may have been
eastern Asia or India. The greatest
fruit crop of Persia is the grape, which
grows in abundance. They are gatli
ered during the latter part of August
and just at that time there is a peri
odical rain which very conveniently
washes the fruit or otherwise it would
go unwashed.
Information Exchanged
At a military dance one officer said
to another us they adjourned for re
freshments :
*T don't know how it is, but my
wife’s lipstick always tastes difl'cient
from any other woman’s,” and he
carefully, wiped his lips.
“Y-es, doesn't it," remarked the oth
er, absent-mindedly.—Loudon Tit Bits
THE ROCKDALE REtunu. luNVERS, GEORGIA
Ancient Writers Had
Idea of Punctuation
Oar present system of punctuation,
which divides written language into
sections hy means of various signs
and points, may he said to have grown
<ut, of a system developed by Aldus
Monutius, an Italian scholar and
printer, who printed Greek classics on
his press at Venice in the latter part
of the Fifteenth century and the be
ginning of Ihe Sixteenth. Manutius
was horn In 1450 and died In 1515.
It should not he supposed, however,
that Manutius was the sole Inventor
of punctuation, although the main
fentures of tlio modem system me
due chiefly to Ids ingenuity and that
of the Greek scholars employed hy
him. Among ihe later Greeks various
dots had been used for oratorical pur
poses. Aristophanes, a Greek gram
marian of Alexandria who died about
180 or 185 B. C., is said to have de
vised a systeai of punctuation by
means of dots.
t’rose punctuation of a crude type
was probably used even before the
time of Aristophanes. In the early
part of the Ninth century these earlier
systems were so completely forgotten
that Charlemagne requested scholars
to revive them. St. Jerome, who died
420 A. D., knew nothing whatever
about punctuation.—Pathfinder Mag
azine.
Effect of Light on
Flowers and Plants
Spring violets have made to
bloom in the summer simply by cut
ting down their ration of daylight to
Ihe length of a spring day. The extra
heat of summer laid no effect on the
growth of the plant.
In (his controlling of plant growth,
artificial light has the same effect as
sunlight or the light of a greenhouse,
and twelve hours of light (whether
natural or artificial) Is "summertime”
for the plants, and six hours’ light
“winter."
An experiment conducted with irises
is given as an example of the effect
of light rationing on plants. Two lots
of Irises were sown in late October;
the first were given eighteen hours of
light per day, while the others (kept
in the same temperature) received
only the light provided by nature.
The first lot reached normal size very
quickiy, and actually bloomed on
Christmas day, but the others were
dormant as late as the following Feb
ruary.
Queen’s Watch
One of the oddest timepieces in the
world belonged to Mary Queen of
Scots, who felt a superstitious aver
sion to it and gave it to Mary Seaton,
one of her maids of honor, who gave
it in turn to Sir Thomas Dick Laud
er. It was in the shape of a skull;
the forehead was engraved with a
scythe and an hour-glass between a
palace and a cottage, signifying tlint
time and death made no distinctions.
At the back of the skull a figure of
Time was pictured spreading de
struction over the world, and on the
top appeared Eve and the serpent in
the Garden of Eden, and the Cruci
fixion.
Just Her Luck
A local business woman had bought
a number of chflnces on an automo
bile, and on the night it was to be
raffled off, went to bed in the firm
belief that she was to be the winner.
Shortly after midnight the phone
rang, and she jumped up to answer
it, preparing her “speech of accept
ance” as she ran.
In answer to her “hello,” the voice
said that her niece had twin daugh
ters at the hospital.
“Just my luck,” she said. “If it was
raining soup, I’d be out with a sieve.”
—lndianapolis News.
Appropriate Designation
“Amerind” is a telescopic word
composed of the first syllables of
“American" and “Indian” and is a
general term used to designate the
races of man who inhabited the New
world before the arrival of Europeans.
It was suggested in 1599 by Maj. J.
W. Powell, director of the bureau of
American ethnology, who advocated it
as a convenient substitute for the
numerous awkward and inappropriate
terms applied to the aborigines of
America. “Amerind” is pronounced
“uut-er-ind,” with the accent on the
first 'syllable.
New Camphor Source
A native source for camphor, Im
portant in both medicine and manu
facturing, has been discovered in a
species of wormwood that grows on
the sandy steppes of the government
of Astrakhan, Russia. An oil extract
ed from this plant lias been subjected
to experiments at the Saratow experi
ment station, and was found to yield
a good quality of camphor. The crys
tals differ in their physical properties
from those of camphor obtained from
camphor trees, but chemically they
are identical with it.
In Second Grade
Here are some answers a second
grade teacher received:
First question—When and why do
we celebrate Thanksgiving?
Charles answered—We celebrate
Thanksgiving on Christmas because
Washington was born.
Second question—What Is a strait?
Hiily answered—A strait is not
an isthmus, It is slanting; a strait is
straight up.
“Between”
The I*. T. A. held their regular meet
ing at Oak Grove the sth. having now
on roll 35 members. Barents come to
our next meeting and pull for oak
Grove. Let’s make it the place where
all want to go. Next meeting will he
March 22 at 2 o'clock p. m.
Mr. Floyd Hartley, now of Ellen
wood, spent Saturday night with Mr.
11. E. Hartley.
Miss Ethel lvate McCullough alien t
Friday night and Saturday with Miss
Cora Frances Hartley.
Mrs. Duck Wallace and Mrs. S. W.
Kodgers called on Mrs. Lucinda Gra
vitt Monday afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Hartley and
children and Mr. Floyd Hartley and
Mr. Eli Stanley, also Mrs. S. W. Rod
gers spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs.
Fillmore Stanley and attended the
Stanley reunion. Being about 35 chil
dren and grand children there, all re
ported a grand day for all.
Well, our Oak Grove hoys are plan
ning on trying out Ihe Smyrna ball
players again Ibis week. We truly
wish you boys tlie best of lu k.
Mrs. S. W. Rodgers and Mrs. H. E.
Hartley and children called on Mrs.
Marsh Grinck, Sr., one afternoon last
week |
Well, on account, of so much rain,
there lias been but very little going
around here.
Guess all you folks around here al
ready know about Ihe bridge below
Rodgers Bros, being washed in. Seems
awful lonely now, no passing from
down that way.
WAI.KER-NHEEHAN
On Saturday evening, March 2, at
6 o’clock, Miss Helen Sheehan and Mr.
G. It. Walker were married >n the
Episcopal church, Philadelphia, Pa.,
I)r. Floyd W. Tomkins performed ihe
ceremony in the presence of many
friends of the couple.
Mr. Walker, or Ralph, as we know
hi maround here, is an old Conyers
hoy, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bartow
Walker. He has been with the Vitro
lite Cos., now known as the Interstate
Marble Cos., for six or seven years.
This business lias caused hint to
travel extensively in the United States.
At one time he was stationed in Mexi
co City for several months. .We are
glad to know that he is making good
in the business world.
Ralph lias been in Philadelphia for
more than a year and we see that he
has found something other than busi
ness attractive to him. We are wish-
Hewlett &. Downs
Conyers, .*. .\ .*. Georgia
[ - ’ Ladies’ and Misses’ jg- I
Shoes $1.95 to $6.50
Gordon and Munsingwear Ij ]
i Nry I j silk hose IV/haU
IJk lllSf Men’s an d Boys Oxfords \\
$2.50 to SB.OO ip¥
EASTER €
Suits—Socks—Hats
Towels 81 V and , gorgette SHIRTS
L r “ S „ e * PHILLIPS—JONES
tM.75 to $14.75 y an Heusen Collars
, ill
—n ft jfeii a
Chain buying I pit
enables us to sell UIMa JBP al,fc *-—
double thread if In / ' White Broadcloth
Four for sfso I
four tor 1.00 " gU PIQUES
SI.OO Coupon and
HeX rf & Hewlett - T NENE
Downs Large Stock
by Easter with 50c V3C. o tt .
gets The Rockdale T ™
Record one year O W life* J USt Received
t
Bdpubt Notes
Rev. Frank J. Fleming, of Ashland,
Ala., conducted Ihe prayer service l at
the church lasi Thursday evening. He
us and as a subject for his thoughts,
"Prayer,” taking his text from Matt.
2(1:41.
There was an unusually good attend
ance at the service, the Methodists
niul Presbyterians having called in
(heir prayer meeting.
Mr. Fleming is the possessor of ihe
great art of eloquence. ID* delivers
his sermons in a way which enables
him to hold the .it!! attention of his
hearers. He is truly a man of God,
living that life that epicourages so
many i. ople who arc struggling to
keep in the strait 111 with.
His many friends were delighted to
ing for Mr. and Mrs. Walker much
happiness and sue. c s, and hope they
will visit Georgia soon.
I
What Awful Tales 1
Comes from the Tire Graveyard
Sac! tales of abuse and neglect* Tires that
could have been in service today—if their
owner had given them a square deal and
sent them to us for i e pairing. Our service
is one that assures you of economy on your
tire bilis. Check over your tires today and
bring us the ones that show advance signs
of passing out.
Curb Service—Gas and Oils
McClelland’s Garage
Phone 16 . . Conyers, Ga.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH ;p, lS|
see him again and ure looking W
ward to his return for a serfe, 1
meetings.
The pastor, Rev. J. p. j,,
brought soul-inspiring messag e , 1( J
regular church services both last, i
day morning and evening.
A special appeal Jius been made!
bettor cooperation among tii ( . j
iters of Ihe church. The efforts J
have been made have not been |J
less, but why not resolve to see J
bigger and better things are at J
plished.
"Be ye doers of the Word ami I
hearers only.”
Mrs. G. V. Cowan entertained ; J
al days last week Mr. and Mrs. pj
Hollingsworth, of Atlanta.
Hon. and Mrs. Arthur Whitaker
Veltu, have for their guests this W
their daughter, Mrs. W. E. McMiJ
and young son, Billy, of Montgome
Ala.