Lake Scugog Historical Society Historic Digital Newspaper Collection

Port Perry Star, 26 Sep 1929, p. 2

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brought back vividly to mind " ever that book is mentioned. In the days of which I write as much time as I could on any that offered herself: and I preferre & verminous old tramp to any of your 'liners. - Luxury at sea, if you love the sea, |from the furnace. But I fancy that a 1s ifke going to the opera with your forbear of "Chips" was one of those ears plugged. I like to taste the tar- | Phoenicians who came up the Thames red rope's end in the soup and have and managed to make a little out of the run of the captain's bridge at any, hous. i The skipper of the Pinto (that was! not her name) would have made an outstanding figure in any book if you had dared to paint him and his lang nage faithfully. He was a mountain of flesh and bone, and had but one eye, although he could see farther with that ona than any cf his officers could see with two. Our "Hard Case" Skipper He knew his job from masthead | to bilgeeock, and he wouldn't have al- lowed anyone to teach him fit even it | he hadn't. He ruled by the power of) hi massive fists and thunderous voice, | and yet he could be as gentle and sen-| timental as a spring poet, especially if you started him talking about child- ren and their sayings. The other fellow on the Pinto who would have made a reputation for a writer of sea yarns was "Chips," the carpenter. He was a short, squat, bandy-legged little man who kept his | tools in a coffin of his own make and design. He told me he knew he would not be shot over the side when his time came; he had his coffin in readi- ness so that he might be buried de- ently ashore, I got the chance of joining the ship at Penang. In those days the owners of a tramp ship didn't weigh their of- ficers down with heavy pay, so the balance had to be made up in other ways, the carrying of deck cargo, as they call it, being the most profitable. It wasn't mentioned in the bill of lad- ing! The agent at some port or other would mention casually that he had some freight that could he discharged on the homeward voyage; it would be cheap, but wouldn't take up more than deck space. Well, well! If you under- pay a good servant you mustn't ex- pect him to turn up his nose at any- thing "buckshee," as we used to say when we scounged in the old days, ten or twelve years ago. The skipper of the Pinto was offer- ed five hundred native pilgrims at a nominal price per head; they were on their way to « Mecca, whence they would return prepared for that longer Journey which all of us have to make in the end. A Jonah Aboard I was standing alongside "Chips" when the stream of humanity came' aboard at a small port less than three | or four days' steaming due south from Madras. They brought with them the food that would be necessary to sus- tain them on the voyage. All they asked in return for their small head fee was water and a place on deck where they might sit or lie; the quar- termasters rigged them up an awning to protect them frem the sun. 'What a crowd it was! And the ship's complement was a small one. "If we had trouble with that lot----" said I, ruminatively. "Chips" shifted his pipe across his tobacco-stained lips. "I don't mind takin' 'em," he said, "but 1 don't hanker for th' job of bringin' 'em back. Before they get to Mecca they're mild enough; it's when they've been 'cleansed' and don't care what happens that they're inclined to be troublesome." It was .long after we had left Aden and were slowly squirming through the heavy, sullen waters of the Red Sea that' we sensed a Jonah on board. There wasn't a breath of air to be had unless you sat in the forepeak and caught a whiff of the breeze that the old ship's momentum created. = The natives, piled aft, were panting and stirring lazily under the awning, The sluggish = waters seemed buoyant enough to alow of walking on the sur- face. There hadn't been the slightest trou- ble with the pilgrims up to that day. Then one of them came along to see the skipper to say that one of his friends had "belly sick; good." Gift o' the Gab. We didn't carry a doctor. The skip- per was {he dispenser of medicine: his favorite remedy for any malady was black draught--a concoction of seena and salts and treacle and Heaven knows. what else. broke a leg he had to get better on liberal doses of that tack, plenty no s It a deckhand | the simple-minded ancients who were ready to trade a copper mine for a piece of pretty glass., Anyhow, the stock of tirbars ram out and a distres- sing murmuring arose among the pil grims, "Chips" had tried to run this little side-line on his own. He had been selling the firbars to the relatives of the dead pilgrims. He had been giving an extra one here and there it the money was, good. And when there were no more fire- bars to be had those pilgrims made the heat haze on the sea dance a wild- er jig with their howls. They be- lieved that the ship's crew had con- spired to condemn them to eternal predition; they had something to fight for, They came in solid phal- anx. There was only one revolver on that old tramp, and that one belonged to the skipper; it had passed through so many monsoons that it was choked with rust. Armed with anything we could lay our hands on, we met the storming party, or rather we held the bridge. It was a sharp fight, The skip- per fought like ten men; his powerful firsts worked like flails, and the first and second officers didn't stop to scratch their heads either. It was "Chips"--and rightly so-- who turned the battle decisively. He brought the hose into action. The natives were beaten back to the poop. In a little while there was quiet; those who were nursing their wounds glared as we went among them again; those who had escaped injury even smiled ingratiatingly in that way the native has when he recognizes his master. We got them to Jeddah, the port of disembarkation, I was wondering what was going to be said by the port officials when they came aboard and made inquiries. I didn't hear the questioning, but the mate told me it was less than his wages--and they were pretty small. "Any trouble?" "Nothing to speak of. of sea-sickness." The ubiquitous "chips" passed me on deck after we had got under way again. He had changed his pipe for a quid of tobacco, which he was turn- ing his check with philosophic deli- beration. "You must have made a bit out of those old firbars," said I, and winked. He spat over the side. "I made more out of the new 'uns I pinched from the stores," he said; "they paid more for 'em--they look- ed nicer. Ain't it a life? Makin' a bit where yer can fooling even the blinkin' dead or the mourners?" "What about the old man?" said I, thinking of the wrath of the skipper when he came to hold the "inquest." "He spilt a couple o' bottles with the agent," said "Chips," *" He's sleepin' it off, and there ain't a better skipper out o' the Thames." He looked at the dark waters of the Red Sea, and shook his head reflectively. "Thicker'n pea soup," he said: "No wonder the Israelites walked over it--I could."-- Answers. Few cases ----b ake Making the Best Of It © Detroit Free Press: Arnold Tonybee once asked if, when Americans boast- ed of their higher standard of living, they did not really mean standard of consumption. The distinction between consumption and living can be over- stressed. Occasionally there appears a prophet who will sell one of his two loaves to buy white hyacinths to feed his soul; but for the great mass of humanity in all ages and countries there has been little to life but the pursuit of material things to consume. That is its civilization, which is mea- sured by the success of the pursuit. ~ Disease of some sort had broken out among spoke : 'had never spoken before. - He went do: th v king at in Hin. the pilgrims. The skipper ARCTIC EXPLORER WEDS ACTRESS IN CLEVELAND Sir George Hubert Wilkins, noted Arctic explorer (extreme right), and his bride, the former Miss Suzanne Bennett. Africa, the Land 'Of Sudden Death Nearly Three Years- in the Heart of Equatorial Africa --Three Years of Cease- less Danger, or Hunger and Thirst and Nightmare Ad- venture--that is the Experi- ence from Which Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Glover Have: Just Returned. By Mrs. Kathleen Glover Africa must always remain the land of mystery and adventure--the dand of the unexpected. Mother Africa is a pitiless mistress to serve, ever ex- acting, ever demanding her toll from those who enter her kingdom, nor does she spare her own sons. I remember trekking across that pitiless stretch of desert between Zeiga and Faya. A mad camel charged and stampeded our water camels. In an instant the whole caravan was in full career across the desert, the cam- els fighting to rid themselves from the goat-skins that were holding them back, shedding our precious water: bags in every direction. The shot that sent the mad camel down was too late. The parched sand was seeping up the precious water. water to pour over his grave, The desert's last compliment to the dead. Hunting big game, with its attend- ant risks, is one of the fascinations of African bush life, Camping one night during the rains in close proximity to a village, I was roused from a hard- earned sleep by the natives screaming and shouting outside my tent. Taking my rifle, I groped my way to the entrance, to find the whole vil lage gathered outside, jabbering in- coherently and in great excitement. One word only could I make out, "Nimery" (leopard). After yelling to make myself heard above the storm and the terrified natives, I learned that a leopard had entered the hut of the chief and, on being disturbed, had mauled the ocupants. I called fof lights, and made my way through che rain-swept vilage, an- kle-deep in rushing water. What a shambles the hut presented. Over in the corner was the half-eaten remains of a pie dog, while stretched out over the floor were three human forms moaning pitifully. The chief's two the chief himself was pretty badly hurt. At Grips With a Leopard Next morning I decided to follow the marauder, but it was only with the greatest difficulty that I could procure guides, the natives being thoroughly convinced that the beast was a devil leopard, and if he were shot he would Frantically we worked to save what OBL return to the village and wreak little of the life-giving fluid was still | further vengeance on the unhappy retained in the hollows of thie burst People, this time very possibly as a sacks. Water, we knew, lay four days' fon. bers But my will prevailed, We found journey away.if We. marched. fast. footprints where it had left the vil- Guarding the Water-skins lage and crossed a small ravine. Af- How we guarded those two remain- ter a long trek we came on it sunning ing water-skins that stood between us itself on some rocks. As my shot and certain death! Twice during the | Struck it, it rolled over as though second night my husband and I had dead. I approached to examine my to fight off the frenzied thirst-mad na- | "bag." In an instant the leopard had tives. Twice a day, at eleven o'clock , me by the leg. Almost at the same and three in the afternoon, we gave moment I fired my second shot and it each member of the expedition one released its grip--dead! But in that cupful. {fraction of asecond the fangs had done On the fourth day the camels hegan | their work, and it was eight weeks be- to show signs of weariness, falling fore I could painfuly limp round the through sheer exhaustion. There was |camp. nothing to do but cut off their loads | Night had descended on the village, and leave the poor beasts to follow at far away boomed the big drums of the their ease when they had rested. | witch-doctors. Making sure I was un- As the sun was sinking, clouded in observed, I made my way through the a silver web, we found the well. A thick bush in the direction, of the few cupfuls oozing out of the sand. sound, crawling on all fours. I reached It was blackish, hardly fit for human |a place where, with ordinary good consumption, but in an hour we had luck, I could remain unseen.. Two or deepened the well and were drinking three hundred men were sitting round our fill. iin a circle, while in their centre were Three days later we saw a little the witch-doctors gesturing and shout: mound that marked the resting place ing wildly. of a native who had failed to reach the | As the rhythm of the tom-tom be- -|spear. He saw me, but from his lesi-| | tation, I knew he could not quite make iof the disturbed reptile; to shoot was wives were only slightly injured, but | a that mal-de:mer is the result of osis and acetonaemia, and he worked out a treatment that has of acid-! has Next moment, a native broke through the bush, cai a large thrusting y ive la-' me out. : There was only one thing to do. I flashed in his face the electric torch I was carrying. With a shriek of fear he dashed into the bush, as though all the ju-ju devils were after him. In' an instant pandemonium broke loose,' Blacks ran in every direction, mad' with fear. 3 The Snake in the Camp. Next morning the 8 were pounding corn and killing chickens, in order to appease the evil spirit that had appearéd to them. One night, unable to sleep' because of mosquitoes, I sought the protection oPone of our campfires. Around it passengers. 4 cause Dr. Jones wanted to give it all' possible tests before he took the pub- lic into his confidence. Unable to con- tinue his studies further because he has reached the Cunard"s obligatory retirement age, he is willing to let the lusi from his long observations stand. 3 Dr. Jones holds that any person sub- ject to seasickness who will, for one week before boarding a ship, "live a decent and quiet life and take ordin- ary dietetic and medicinal pr i English boratory experiments on ships have from substantiated his beliefs by invariably take steps showing an acid condition in seasick | members { !'|in communication with the: | This discovery was not revealed be-! Minister for Foreign Affairs and also his own satisfaction | bo wag obliged, the British : to placate the f of the two nations, He ith Premier Elapcheff, ow thie pars ids has given amnesty to Radoslavoff, who was, with the former King Ferdinand, the author of the Bulgarian participa tion in the Great War. The Serbian press considers this amnesty as a vio- lation of the Treaty of Neulilly, 'ae- cording to which the Bulgarian gov- erhment was obliged to deliver to the. . allied powers the responsible étates- men of the Great War. At all events, against hyperacidity" will have a per- fect crosing, no matter what the weather. = A rundown condition can make this difficult and the excitement attendant upon a first sea voyage may have a bad effect upon the digestion, but the remedy is simple and quick, "Bon voyage parties should be avoided," Dr. Jones said. _ "Alcohol produces an acid condition and it is not surprising that persons who have lay our natives, snoring sonorously. Half awake, I subconsciously sensed that Sam, our cook-boy, appeared to have a curious lump on his chest. It was a snake. To arouse the boy would possibly have caused his death from the fangs equally impossible. Picking up a spear that was sticking in the ground, I cautiously approached, put the spear as near to the repulsive reptile as pos-| been celebrating thelr departure sible, and with a swift heave tossed it should react sadly to the movement into the alr. With a scream, Sam otf a ship." One old theory Dr. Jones takes a considerable - delight in exploding is that a cha diet by the woe-be- | gone passenger lying wrapped In his deck chair will drive away the mari: time squeamishness. Instead of coun: teracting the ocean's bugbear, cham- pagne 'will noticeably aggravate the | acid condition and will delay a return to normal. Some Ill Before Ship Sails "Some persons aer seasick shortly after the ship sails; some even declare One night, while they were sleeping | they ar ill before the ship moves from on the ground, he opened his eyes to the dock, and one patient declared look straight into the face of a huge |that the mere walking along the dock silhouetted form--at first he thought |before embarking was sufficient lo it wag a lion. Just then, Julius, the cause a feeling of nausea. It would boy, woke up. Grasping the situation, | seem likely that the sympathetic sYy8-| he blazed at the beast with a shot-| tem may act on one or more of the gun. Next morning my husband men-, éndocrine glands and so cause the fats tioned his experiences to a native to be broken up into these substances chief, who informed him that hyenas |instéad of carbon dioxide and water. in that particular area were exceed-|At any rate, it is noteworthy that ingly daring, and later in the day pro- | these cases respond very readily to in- duced two men from his village who | tensive alkaline treatment." bad both been mauled by these beasts | Dr. Jones has no jdea how many as they were sleeping in the bush. cases of seasickness he has treated in Living as- they do, amid so many his thirty-six years, but he knows the dangers, it cannot be wondered that only successful method has been the African travellers accept the fatalism | counteracting of the hyperacidity. Be- of the natives, as summed up when |fore he made his discovery there was they say to you: "We live for die."-- | little he could do for his patients. Now Answers. he can have his passengers eating grapefruit or oranges within a few hours of receiving his intensive treat ment. s What Sold for $150 woke, arousing the rest of the camp. With the aid of burning grass, we hunted the snake out, and dis hed it with sticks. It was one of the death-dealing puff-adders. "We Live for Die." The hyena, usually regarded as the most cowardly, of beasts, yet can, when driven by hunger, be as reck- lessly daring as the lion. My husband, on a photographic expedition, accom- panied by one boy, had a close call with one of these disgusting brutes. rey STRENGTH OF LOVE Nothing is sweeter than love, no- thing stronger, nothing higher, no- thing wider nothing more pleasant, nothing fuler or better in heaven or 'on earth; for love is born of God and cannot rest but in God. --Thomas A. Kempis. reed --- FRIENDS Too late we learn--a man must hold _ his friend Unjudged, accepted, faultless to the end. Mr. Shaw Was Really Right On Value of His Manus- cripts London.--There is a Bernard Shaw well. Our natives begged a litkle ;came faster, so did the dancing of the boom. His faculty for the dramatic --John Boyle O'Rellly, "| and startling is now extending to his One of the Newest Submarine --_-- - first editions. It was not until the middle of last year that the first editicns of his works began to be really valuable. Now they are worth ten times asi much, * j. "Three years ago." Jad Mr. Gilbert H. Fabes, the well-known London ex- pert. "I purchased a number of Mr, haw's manuscripts and first editions for $150. Now they are worth be- tween $10,000 and $15,000. .. "When I asked Mr. Shaw what he wanted for these, he said ae had no idea of their worth, but as I insisted said, 'I will take $25,000 for them. o " 'That,' I answerad, 'is an excellent start for a Dutch auction, I will of- fer you $100." time and them Mr. Shaw agreed t me have them for $150." Es Mr. Fabes, who. predicted the rise that he place a price upon them he] Wa then parleyed for| | the relati betweén Sofia awd Bel grade are strained, and the Balkan peninsula is in a situation akin to that which preceded the Balkan War. Italians Blamed It is said that Italian diplomacy, di. rected by Mussolini, is not a stranger to this state of affairs, but has been endeavoring to insulate Serbia and thus perhaps employ with success Italian policy in the peninsula. I have just had an interview on this subject with a Bulgarian politician from Sofia. He fs well informed about Italian di- plomacy. He declared that the failure of the last agreement on the frontier between Serbia and Bulgaria was due to information emafiating from Rome and to the influence of Italy. This concerns the recent meeting of Pirot, the result of which was passed over without comment by most of the Belgrade papers, and still more so by those of Sofia. . Bulgarians delegatce jected all the pr Is of the Ser bians, relying upon the protection of Rome in case of a contest with Bel- grade. The Government of Belgrade pro- posed to Bulgarians the redemption of all their properties on the two sides of the frontier, M. Liapchaff, first Minister of Bulgaria, rejected this pro- posal, declaring it was impossible to proceed in the sale of any part of the land in Bulgaria without the consent of the Parliament of Sofia. He was Bulgarian subjects and not to Bul garia, and the fact that they are in Serbian territory is a onsequence of the Treaty of Neuilly or of Bucharest which ended the Balkanic war. ed that al the revolutionists or 'comi- tadjis" should be driven from the ter- ritory, seven miles in breadth, along both sides of the frontier, These, they contend, are the cause of the disturb- ances. The Bulgarian delegates ac- cepted this suggestion, but only for a distanes of half a mile on either side of the boundary, in spite of theh Serbian delegates' remark that the Now Worth $15,000 5:5: cistioniats was not suncient to be of any use. Bulgaria answered that her miljtary forces were not large enough to watch all the Serbian-Mace donian frontier along a breadth of seven miles, Thus the conference of Pirot failed. If the delegates solved a few problems the important question about the "comitadjis" is still unde- cided, and they continue to work in favor of the Bulgarian thesis, causing perpetual disturbance in Macedonia. Checked By Italy At the beginning of the of Pirot all the parties expected a suc- cessful termination of the meeting, es- pecially since, in order to make th negotiations eadier, the gcvernment of Belgrade had decided to abrogate the decree forbidding the agirance the Serbia ence, but that their efforts had Sofia and the statements of Mussolini. Replies Upon Ital 2 in values of mcdern first editions, has | on the 8 forgetting, or did not wish to acknow- ~ ledge, that the properties belong to Serbian"delegates have also suggest: reported that the French ministers of Sofia and Belgrade had done their. best for the success of this confer prevented by the 'diplomay of Italy in

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