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2 THE COLBORNE EXPRESS. COLBORNE. ONT.. THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1928. Mystic Jewels ! possessor immune from storm acci-1 dents or dangers of electrocution. A I J» 9 O • J ' Tradition says that the cobra jewel Are India S rrlde shines in the night and that the cobra _ | feeds on the toads and mice and in- rv j -ri j. \y/^„ wl.n ' sects tbat are attracted by its light. Diamonds That Weep When Thg ^ (akes out an(J puts it on Moon is Full, Elephant and ne ground, lying concealed beside it Cobra Pearls, Emeralds and and preys upon the rodents which Rubbies That Bring Rain and Disease, Hidden in the Visits. BAFFLE SCIENTISTS s it again and The Jewel is o poison when is difficult to London--Mysterious and inexpi. ~ble are the gems that a>-->und in the ed Indian Empire and Burm*. >ven in prt these daps of the twentieth century. Some jewels come to the notice of the scientists and they cannot explain them or their origin. They are not mere freaks of nature. - • There are diamonds that seem to weep when the moon is full; there are pearls from the head of the King Cobra which make rain; there are rubies, scarlet purple in tint, which cure blood poisoning; there are emer- | ^ Hin(lus) an(, tiad in wnite roDes. aids which remove skin diseases, : Thp face |s dark bmwn an(1 the ,,loser gems wonderful to behold and almost | Qne Iooks at {he image the more impossible to value. But these are ]ummous (loes (ne face appear. The held secret, hidden carefully for--- goes back to his hole, said to melt and turu_ he is angry and so ii get, but there are instances where such jewels are found. In the Poona district, 200 miles south of Bombay, a rich Zaminder obtain-such jewel. It has the property of curing all snake's bites. It sticks to the wound only when there is poison In the bite and falls off when the poison has been absorbed. Portrait in a Ruby H. W. 55. M.:reno, member of the Legislative Council of Bengal, Calcutta, is the proud possesser of a ruby, which contains under its shining surface the image of a dark man, dressed in pugree (the national headdress of erations in gigar trance to which is heads of the old fa Some of them c vaults, the I director of the Geological Depart • a poc ;Of the Government of India pronounc-known only to the j g(j tbg ruby one of great intrinsic ilies who are proud j yalue an(, gaja tnat H was a freak of nature without a parallel, image appears clear through a thin halo of scarlet cloud forming the sti face of the ruby. How the imai came to be inside the ruby is a mj tery as deep as that of the elepita Six of Europe's Fairest EUROPEAN COMPETITORS FOR COVETED TITLE OF "MISS UNIVERSE" These girls will compete against beauties from all over the world at the coming International pageant of pulchritude to be held at Galvestcto, Texas, June 2nd to 5th. Left to right: Miss Italy, Miss Belgium, Miss France, Miss England, Miss Gertiany and Miss Spain. to light on rare when an old palace is pull-> make room for a factory, agriculturist comes upon s store in a new plot of ground he is trying to bring under cul- Finds Radioactive Diamond A few months ago a common looking antique necklace, belonging to the ro,;-al family of Tanjore in south India, was sold in the Sowkarpeth or Bankers Lane in Madras. The purchaser, desiring to give it as a present to his daughterin-law on New Year's Day, gave it for resetting. The jeweler found that the diamond, hanging as a pendant, was a very peculiar one, brought it back to the owner and suggested that it should be reset as a ring. It weighed five and one-half carats. The owner kept it to consult other jewelers. On examination it was found to contain wonderful properties. It was generally of a bluish tint, but during the day it took on a rosy shade. The moment it was brought under the direct rays of the sun, however, it turned full blue. When taken into a dark room it gave out no light at .ill. In the evening he went to open the safe and was astonished to find the whole safe flooded with brilliant moonlight. The diamond was illuminating thj wnole Interior or the safe. He lifted it up and found that the wad of cotton wool on which he had placed the jewel was wet. It was found that the stone lost Us luster when the moon waned and would not give any fight during the day. Tradition has it that there are jewels called the sun and moon stones which glow in darkness only when the sun or moon is shining. The mythology of the Hindus gives a story of how Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, had to fight a bear demon for the sake of a sun Elephant Pearl frc i Ceylon c Ceylon mes the wonderful iephant pearl. "Until I examined this jewel myself," said Dr. Joseph Pearson, director of the Colombo Museum, "I had been under the it pearl. The King Thebaw, of Burma, had his possession a wonderful pair earrings made -of rubies, containing underneath their surface perfect lotuses. These were stated to have the power of curing all blood poisoning. King Thebaw wore them to the day of his death. He gave them on that day to a devoted servant and they have not been heard of since. The Maharajah of Budi has in his possession an emerald cup of the deepest green tint. All skin diseases cured by using the water kept in that cup for three hours in the sun. A chief in Bombay has a mortar and pestle carved out of whole sapphires and gives the medicines made therein as a cure of anaemia. Tracancore state there is an image of Ganesha, the Elephant God, out of a ruby and an image of Nara-yan, or Vishnu, cut out of a blue sapphire. Some of these jewels are only taken out on ceremonious occasions when they are worshipped and then Rocket Explosions Propel Motor-Car at Great Speed Solution Is Sought of Flying in the Highest Altitude of the Atmosphere Berlin.--The "Opel Rocket Car, propelled forward by the explosion c rockets placed in the rear of the ma chine, was demonstrated for the first time on the Avus Speedway, a speed variously estimated at 100 miles an hour. Fritz von Opel w the w^heel. The car started with a terrific emitting a sheet of flame and a cloud of yellow smoke as the Successive rockets exploded. The machine gained momentum as one rocket after pression that the references to these I other, all of uniform power, was shot pearls in Oriental literature were ■ off, the car takjng a lunge forward more of a kind of mythological legend j every time a fresh rocket exploded, than reality." Mr. G. Rodrigo, of j Von Opel said that, the machine was Borella, Ceylon, the possessor of this not intended to revolutionize motor-unique gem, had taken the elephant j ing, but was a practical step toward pearl to the director for his opinion, a solution of the problem of flying at It weighs twelve carats, has shining j a terrific speed through the highest brilliant hues with creamy golden tint j altitudes of the earth's atmosphi and is suppesed obi. The pei ovoscope and w :is of ivory, an jewels w ut triumphan examined at Colombo, 2,000 years ! strata, with the object of making 3 examined under i flight between Europe and America as found to have j within a few hours or encircling the All the old tests earth within a day. ere tried, and it motor-driven airplane, he said, t under them all. j ceases to be effective at the highest by the American altitudes because of inability to carry W. A. Leonard, j a requisite amount of oxygen. ™ md it to be perfect. Under , obstacle, he said, transparent pearl film one the rocket system formula, which he ii ,;i! see a complete form of a white fit pliant, correct in every detail. Mr. Rodrigo was flooded with requests from New York collectors, who had heard of it through Mr. Leonard, with offers of purchase. "It is one of Ceylon's proud possessions, and it will never leave this island," said Mr. Rodrigo in reply to these requests. Varaha Mihir, an Indian writer on jewels of the fourth century, mentions that an elephant pearl is found in the head or the root of the tusks of an elephant born when the sun is passing through the sign of Capricorn with the moon in the Pushya or Bhiavana. "This pearl," he says, "is never to be bored or valued and so In this science of gems I cannot give its value." Describes Mystic Pearls Vahara Mihir also gives eight different kinds of pearls that are of mystic value: one, elephant; two, cobra; three, shell; four, conch; five, storm; six, bamboo; seven, crocodile, Jim: eight, wild boar. He gives the properties of the various pearls and they Tin iVl is ! the skies in i lid to said was discovered in an old Latin manuscript of 1420. Herr von Opel did not try for speed, although he said that during recent trials at Ruessell-sheim-on-the-Main, with a driveless motor-ar, a speed of 430 miles per hour was attained for a few seconds. He is of the opinion that there is practically no limit to the speed which could be reached by the new machine, which has the appearance of the ordinary racing car, except that the back part consists of a steel chamber with 12 round openings, out of which penetrate the steel pipes from which the rockets are discharged. Fuses are connected with the pipes and are linked up on an auto switchboard, and are controlled from the driver's seat. The rockets are discharged by means of an electric spark. The drawback to the new invention is that each rocket costs a small fortune. Out of every dollar expended on making ; movie film of importance, thirty cents go to the actors, nineteen to general expense and overhead, thirteen are divided are divided among directors, authors and cameramen, five are spent on raw film and four on locations and costumes. "I believe a horse understands more than a dog." "I don't." "Very likely .--but I was speaking of the horsa." Chinese Famines The Two Causes of These Recurrent Famines Are Due to Drought and Flood Four Million Starving China, engaged now in destructive civil war, is at the same time beset by her ancient enemy--famine. The reason why famine so often sweeps large sections of that populous country is explained in the following article. The writer of this article, ^hich appeared in the New York _'imes, was formerly an adviser on railway administration to the Chinese Ministry of Communications. By JOHN EARL BAKER In the daily press you have been reading about an appalling famine in China. Four million fellow humans are starving. Ten million are in direful straits. Ten million women, children, old men and old women are wandering about in search of food. Millions have surged into the province of Manchuria, perhaps the largest emigration in history. Perhaps a million have perished on the way. A correspondent estimates that Shantung lias lost 9.000.000 of population in-twerve months. Why is China known as the land of famine? The answer cannot be given in a single sentence. The climate of North China is determined by prevailing winds. During the winter months these winds blow easterly from the continental plateau, upon which is the Gobi Desert. During the season, consequently, there is no rainfall and only rarely a light snow. During the summer these winds blow westerly from the Pacific Ocean, carrying with them the moisture which produces the summer rains. Thus the belt lying between Nanking and Peking receives most of its precipitation during June, July and August. This extends from the coast back some 400 miles to the plateau. An occasional snow in winter, an early beginning or a late ending of monsoon, is a frequent variation from the rule. If there is a gciod snowfall or two in the winter, cine good shower during April and M£y, North China has a big year--a crop of wheat in June and a crop of millet, sorghum and beans in September. 1 If mows or the showers fail, there is only one crop--the fall crop. Floods and Droughts Frequently it happens that the >ar's moisture is nearly all crowded to the last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August. Then rivers burst their banks and, as most them have beds higher than the surrounding country, devastating Never Known to Fail Troy, Pa.--After losing his umpteenth maid, via matrimony, Hal Carpenter of this city resorted to advertising as a means to secure another. The ad ran: "Girl Wanted: The most successful matrimonial agency in Northern Pennsylvania wants a good girl for general housework. Two in family, washing done out. Marriage certificate guaranteed in reasonable time. All graduates from our home now happily married to fine men. Delays are dangerous, regrets are floods result. Once every forty ■flfty years nature withholds the r summer rains, and there is no c whatever. Sometimes the splits, leaving a drought belt between well soaked counties. There was a time when the occasional drought found a public granary filled with the surplus of the fat years upon which the poor of each county might draw. There was a time when dikes did not break frequently. This was the period of China's greatness, when government was strong and subordinate officials were under good discipline. Ose hundred and fifty years ago, under the great Emperor Chien Lung, the Chinese Empire covered five and one-1--If million square miles of territory--almost twice the area of Canada. In the days of Chien Kang Hsi, China could have defied the world in battle. At that time China maintained her river dikes and cared for her own poor in time of drought. While Europe and America have grown strong and rich, China has grown weak and poor. Chien Lung, like Kang" Hsi, maintained his great power over the vast extent of China only at the expense of tremendous energy. He was exceedingly active, and spent much of his life on inspection trips from province to province. But his son and his grandson were more ordinary in their physical, mental and spiritual endowments. The strain of ruling an empire nearly twice the size of Canada, without the help of telegraph, telephone or railroad, was too much for anything short of heroic sti Their empire began to crack. By T850 the Manchu Emperor was no more than a mere puppet. After 1860 mere infants bore the imperial title. In 1900 practically the whole of the Chinese Army refused to obey the Empress Dowager's orders. In 1912 the Manchu dynasty abdicated. A Period of Decay During the entire period of decay, river training, dike repair, the public granaries, like everything else connected with government, decayed also. More frequent catastrophies--catastro-phies more appalling--have been the inevitable i-esult. Here in America it is difficult for us to appreciate why the Chinese people do not collectively organize to build a new Government and imporve their lot. A people with a tradition in self-government like ourselves do so in fifteen or twenty years. But the Chinese have no such tradition, no such experience. Imperial Govern ment is all they have known. To learn any other is a tremendous task. The energies of all the national lead er.s are absorbed in that one neces- Thus, where disasters overwhelm large areas it is left for us who | living, under organized conditions cope witb the situation. For se< | years an International Famine Relief I Commission has attempted to do some ;work which formerly the Chinese Gov-: ernment funds have been placed .under its supervision. In time of famine, I instead of doles or opening soup kit-I chens, it organizes some needed work | of repair or construction. It does a work or organization which in better jdays was assumed by the Government. Instead of giving charity it gives employment on work calculated to prevent the recurrence of these disasters. ; Payment is made in coarse foodstuffs for the laborer and his family in pro-' portion to the work done. Work in War-Time | Because of the civil war, perhaps I many wonder if it is possible to en-jgage upon sizable construction works. I The answer is that China is a big country. The armies move in fairly definite lanes toward well-known objectives. Hostilities are always of limited duration. Keep out of the line of action or "lay low" during actual fighting, and no more than the usual obstacles will be encountered. Engineers are used to lives of labor ! under crude conditions. Disease is j always something of a hazard. But | to the initiated China famine worker these military campaigns are only I minor obstacles. j If there were a settled Government 'in China starving Chinese would not jlook to this prosperous land for help. | But there is no Government in any | real sense of the word. The civil war lis a struggle toward government. It lis about the only method ever suc-j cessfully used by man to produce new I government. Some day China will I have no need of American aid. But meanwhile millions starve--millions whom we can save---millions whose friendship can some day help tremendously toward a peaceful world WILD CANADIANS IN EN ~ '-AND Over 200 bears, wolves and buffalo (all stuffed) arrived at Wapping from Canada to figure in exhibitions throughout the old land by the Empire Marketing board. A Strange Custom Chinese Village Honors Father Who Killed Son Centuries Ago --The r-by Futsing. China, walled village of "Father Killed His Son" stands as a monument to the word of a Chinese general who fought Japanese invaders centuries ago. He was General Ts'i and lived when China was ruled by the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. He was sent to Fuklen Province to exterminate Japanese pirates who were ravaging the From Futsing, General Ts'i was about to start for the sea when informed by signal lights from the coastal hilltops that pirate boats were landing. Before going he drew up his troops and announced that any man who looked back after they left the walls of the city would be summarily executed. The troops marched out and, when they reached the site of the present village of "Father Killed His Son" the general's own son looked back toward Futging. The general himself beheaded the lad, and in the strength given by his example of faith to his word the army swept on to victory against the marauders. the Sunday School Lesson A new airplane is equipped card-table, probably to accus xssengers to the grand slam. June 17. Lesson XII--The Crucifixion --Mark 15: 22-26, 33-39. Golden Text--God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.--Rom. 5: 8. SUBJECT. christ's death and the passing of the old world. Introduction--The lesson to-day is taken up with the last tragic scenes in the earthly history of the Son of God, the crucfixion and the desolation of the last hours preceding his release. No event in all the world's history has so moved the imagination ar.d heart of humanity, or created so glorious a hope as the event depicted here. What to the world's eye appears as disaster and defeat justifies itself in the spirit as the supreme victory of reconciling love. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and instituting a new world-age. Of this fact, which constitutes the final significance of the death of Christ, there are two hints at the close of the lesson. The first is in v. 38, where we read that at Jesus' death the veil of the Temple was rent in two. This represents symbolically the end of the Jewish dispensation, and the passing of the glory of God from the Jewish ritual to the cross of Jesus. The second hint is the Gentile centurion's exclamation in v. 89. This is prophetic of the wider world's response to the appeal of Jesus Christ. Rejected by his own nation, Jesus becomes the Lord of a new humanity, which recognizes in him the supreme hero to whom its worship and reverence belong. V. 22. Golgotha, so called from its configuration which resembled a skull, lay outside of the city walls, as they were at that time. Subsequently the extension of the city to the North led to the inclusion of the spot within the city boundaries. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which f--• many centuries has been thought to mark the neighborhood, lies well within the V. 23. The offering to crucified persons of wine containing an infusion of myrrh was a measure dictated by compassion. The cup was designed as an opiate to induce a certain dulling of the senses during the long-drawn-out agony of death by crucifixion. Certain charitable persons would make themselves responsible for seeing that the opiate was administered to the crucified Jesuc. But Jesus refused the draught. In the utterness of his self-surrender he would not consent to any drugging of his pain. V. 24. At the foot of the cross there goes on the procedure customary on such occasions, the dividing of the prisoner's clothes among the soldiers of the guard. V. 25. The hour when the crucifixion begran Is exactly recorded. It was 9 a.m., "The third hour,'.' by the Jewish reckoning. V. 26. It was the custom to affix to the cross a public notice' stating for what crime the condemned person suffered. In Jesus' case the inscription was, "The King of the Jews." Whatever mocking significance his Jewish or Roman critics attached to this "sup-erscription," it expressed the final truth of the matter for those who, like his disciples, had seen into the meaning of that sovereign life of love which was now ending. V 34. Jesus lingered in life from ,9 a.m., when they crucified him, till 3 p.m.. when the end came. Immediately before the end there came from his lips the parting cry of dereb/tion, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" The words are Aramaic, and echo the opening verse of Psalm 22. There meaning is, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" What significance is to be attached to this last dying utterance of the Son of Man? Some have reasoned from the cry that Jesus had hoped till now that God would intervene to save him and to reveal him as the Messiah. But it would be surely truer to see in the cry, and in the agony the words express, the last dread reality of the surrender which Jesus for our sakes made to death. His sacrifice for us involved ncluded this final sense of forsakenness by the Father. He was forsaken in our stead, just as in our stead he suffered. Vs. 35-37. A misinterpretation by the bystanders of his dying words is mentioned; The Jewish expectation of Elijah's return would be familiar even to Roman soldiers in Palestine, and accounts for their callous words at this juncture. A moment after, Jesus expired. V. 38. Attention has been called bove tc the religious significance of he svmbolical episode here recorded. Jiie rending of the Temple veil means Rat with the death of Christ the Christian soul becomes conscious of a jew way of approach to God. The Temple worship is cancelled and sup---sedec. Faith transfers itself from w and sacrifice to the crucified one. > at any rate it happens in Christian :perience from this time onwards. Christians look no longer to the Holy of Holies for the abiding glory of the ■ presence, but to the face of Christ (compare 2 Cor. 3:18 and 4:6). V. 39. The testimony of the Gentile nturion is also of great interest. He claims when Jesus dies: "Surely this n was a Son of God." "Son of God" „.. heathen lips would mean hero or deified person, and the centurion's words are indicative of the supreme place in worship and revserence which Jesus was soon to acquire in the Graeco-Roman world. An unconfirmed rumor has been going the rounds that both political conventions will fearlessly indorse the campaign against the corn-borer and uphold the Constiution.^ Louisville Times. England and the United States i ought to figure out some way to per-i suade Egypt to declare war on Nicar-' agus.--San Diego Union.