Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TEOIOCALPA Newest National . Capital, is Railroadless * Washington, Feb. 13.?"If the United States, ac cording to criticisms in 17f>l, selected a site for its capital far from the beaten path, the newly form ed Fedei*ation of Central America has selected one f. 'that is even more remote and inaccessible," says a bulletin issued by .the National Geographic Society. "Tegucigalpa (a name which when properly pro nounced brings to mind the goosey-goosey-gander' --*of nursery rhymes) is now the cauital of Honduras, one.of the members of the new union," the bulletin continues. "It might be termed .the 'Lhasa of the \Vest,' but not because it is a forMdden city by the ?dict of man. Its citizens have their Share of lhe. j hospitality for which Latin America is noted; but I Nature has placed rough country between the city and the two oceans that bathe the shores of Hon duras aad man has done little to overcome the handicap.- It is the only capital on \he North American continent that has never echoed to the more.or less musical blast of a railroad lomocotivc. and one of the few railroadless. capitals in the Western Hemisphere. Nor may one yet travel to the new national capital by automobile. *. "Tegucigalpa is some. .80 miles, inland from its Pacific port* San Lorenzo, on highlands more than v .3,000 feet above sea .level. A road which is more than a traii but less than a.highway connects the two points. The most ambitious, uame that it can lay claim. to is 'cart road.' Travelers 4do* fhc eighty miles in- three days' by mule back, and if they are traveling kgh\may take their belongings along %by pack mule. Trunks must follow even mbre - slowly by ?x-cart. In the interior of the country, 'with its flanks in the air,' as a military, man might J describe it, is a fifty-mile highway in good con dition extending between Tegucigalpa and the sec ond most important town of Honduras, Comayagua. Over: this road automobiles.operate regularly. '?Tegucigalpa is. more than 100 miles from the Atlantic-^-or rather, the Carribean Sea; but Amer icans reach the capital more quickly from the - Atlantic than from the Pacific side, due to. the fast, steamer service from New OrleaiLs and Mobile. J*uerto Cortez is the. north shore port. From there /a railroad extends for a short distance toward the interior, and from the rail head the journey by mule back to Tegucigalpa occupies five or sis days. . . "The capital is as quiet a place as its inacces sibility .would indicate. Its population is variously estimated- at 20.000 to 37,000. Most of its build ings are of one story with walls of adobo or-.ma sonry and roofs of tile. ? /;. / A _ "* /Though it is isolated now. Tegucigalpa does not , mean. to remain so /and perhaps its choice as capi tal of the new Central American Federation is an earnest, that it wilt soon have rail connections with :^ tjkkQ outside world.. The government of the state % * adopted an .ambitious rail building program a gen eration ago, but financial'ruin overtook the enter prise. .In. recent years ? number of railroads have been, built '.frpm the north.coast by large banana /companies,, and some.of these arc being slowiy\ex tcn^ed to.ward the capital.' ; ."The Federation of Central America, consisting now of Guatemala, San Salvador, and Honduras, hopes in the near future, tc* enroll Nicaragua and LOfta Riga-among its members. If these.!wo coun tries ip th? soath join. Tegucigalpa will be almost exactly'at the geographical center .pf the new fed eration's territory.".... .? ^ .. .. V{ ? THE ANESXHEIC. /*_ (Atlanta Journal.) v" What is said to be an "alarming percentage" of patients needing operations are deterred by fear of 'anesthesia, and doubtless many such patients never ?overcome that dread sufficiently to undergo the op eration indicated, and have to struggle along with out it. in wretched health, if not La positive danger. . Considering hospital anesthesia, administered by in,expert, the percentage of fatality from the an esthetic has faded out to where u is practically negligible?a percentage of onc"*in so many thou sands that .tlfc clement, of chance really should not 5>e discussed in. that connection. ?2%e...trained anesthetist, in fact, leaves nothing ?to .chance.^.This branch of mediciae, which had its inception with pur ow.n famous Georgian, Dr. Crawford W.? Long, is comparatively young, and it is no wonder t-hat people still regard it, crudely, as ."taking chloroform." ?' As a matter of fact, chjprofo \: *oday is about the last anesthetic chosen. Now there are other agents, perfectly effective, and infinitely safer than chloroform, which is itself safe enough, when properly administered. In the! old "chloroform" day? there was little bodily preparation of a pauent for the administra tion, of.an anesthetic, anu no mental preparation. Nowadays, the type of anesthetic- and its method "of administration is carefully cnosen with ref erence to the patient, his condition, and the type of operation. His bodily welfare^ Is protectea by diet, to put him in condition, and his mental at 'nitud? is guarded by advice, and if necessary by certain, medication. Many a man or woman approaches an opera tion,, or shirks one. with a fear that the "heart is ?weak"?a notion entertained by a surprising num JJ>er.of people who have suffered from indigestion in jrach forms as apparently affect that organ. .One well-known doctor's advice is: "If yew are in good hands, do not worry about your heart. - The heart that lets you lead your or "dinary life is one that will carry you safely through any properly managed anesthesia." . Other people dread losing consciousness. "I am afraid to lose myself." they protest. But lot them reflect that they "lose tnemsclves" (-very night of their lives, if they go to sleep. The un consciousness of sound healthful slumber, is not 'far removed from the sleep of anesthesia. Not?so long ago patients were ta.;en into the op erating room and there anesthetized?not before they had seen the cases of instruments, and many of *the preparations for the ordeal. Now it is custom ary to trundle the recumbent patient into a pleas ant little anteroom with things in the least sug gestive of surgery about it, and there weight down the eyelids with the gentle anesthetic best suited to the case and the work in hand?the greatest, the most beriefieient boon that all the art of healing yet has brought to humankind. And when he wakes up. he is oack in his own Jittle bed?and it's all over. Stretching the spine for a few minutes each day is the latest recipe for prolonging youth. Passengers and others killed in French railway accidents during l^L'O numbered \'ri. Some species of shrimps are said to lodge par ticles of sand in their antennae to enable them to hear. Periscopes are to be tried experimentally by British police, to increase their range of vision. The pre-war cost of a good wife among th? tribes of Central Africa was $1; it now stands about Fashions today are more becoming and make the woman of thirty look younger than she did ten years ago. St. Paul's Cathedra; o London was begun and finished within forty years, under one Bishop of London, one architect, and one master mason, which sets a record for large cathedrals. NORTH ALBANIA Wilder Half of a Primitive State Washington. Feh. 13.?Sonn times news depends upon nomenclature. , Attacks by Jugo-Slavs upon towns of Northern Albania claims cable space as news. Put differently, the Southern Slavs have resum ed fighting with the Ghegs. but that item would deserve no more than a place in textbooks where subheadings mark the Slavonic invasions on the east Adriatic coast. With this introduction a bulletin from the Washington. ])s C. headquarters of the National Geographic Society continues: "in Albania it isn't so much that history re peats itsclf.x as that it engages in a process of monotonous reiteration. Albania is the infant ter rible amor.g European nations, it simply refuses to grow up. Baby Nation Has Oldest People. "It.was the baby nation of Europe in 1914: peo pled by the oldest race in its national neighborhood. It does not lurk in the backwaters of Europe be cause of inferior people; for it has a stock which is sturfiy, intelligent, and resourceful. The vitality of the Albanians is exemplified in the mere fact that they continue to exist as a homogenous people amid geographical and historical handicaps that have absorbed or displaced many of their old-time neigh bors. "In recent years contacts with Vlachs and Greeks have modified the Tosks. or South Alban ians. The wilder part of wild Albania, and tin more primitive among its people, the Ghegs, are in the north, along the River Drin. where the Ser bians now are reinforcing their claims by cap ture. "The Drin is formed .by the confluence of i!v Black Drin, which rises in the beautiful Lake Ochrida, and the mountain-born White Drin. The Drin proper Hows duo west before it empties into the Adriatic near Lake Scutaria, south of Dal matia. hair-trigger littoral of post-war politics. . j v.. Where Tribal Life Prevails. . "North of the Drin is a mountain land, the Karst, a Sahara of- rock, akin to a tireless cooker in its effect after a hot day. Here live tribes, uncon scious of national influences, except to fight in vaders. Only once, under Scandorbeg, Kosciuszko of Albania, did they achieve a brief national unity, but it. flew apart again upon that hero's death. ?"Here is the land of the blood feud, a code by which 25 per cent of the men in some tribes are killed off in their prime. Yet this practice is not to be confounded with mere lawlessness. Rather it is a poor substitute for any recognized legal sys tem or any central power to enforce justice. "It is both more rigid and severe, and more elab orate, than the common law of advanced nations. One student of its working found that a failure to make good a promise of a trifling present cost a dozen lives in a day. Because one. man killed a pig that was eating his crops, the male relatives of the pig's owner killed many of the pig slayer's clan over a long period of years. Male Relatives all -Brothers.*' "Untier sum a system mal" relationships as sumo great importance. A man .?> third cousin be comes his 'brother:' a woman's family ties, outside her parents, husband, or brothers, are matters of small moment. In many places there is no con ? sciousness of kinship between niece and aunt. . "But tho ramifications of this same code makes woman's, position higher in Albania than in the Orient, or even in many a more modernized re gion of Europe. For cue thing the man who has a 'blood foe' is immune from attack while in com pany of women. Some men are known not t<> have gone abroad for years w ithout female escort. "During times of. feuds which amount to tribal warfare, women attend largely to outdoor duties. Marriage is by contract: generally arranged upon the birth of a child. A woman cxercies no choice but has a veto power in respect to her husband. Should she not wish the man of her parent's ar rangement she may reject him. hut. in that event, must take vows to remain a virgin, assume the status of. a man. and in some regions she dons men's clothing. ? Should she marry another man her rejected suitor's famliy must ueck blood veng eance upon her male relatives. Shocked at Western Laws. ? "These customs seem strange, but no less so than some,-of our ways to the Albanian. When told that in England a woman must hang for murder an Albanian company was deeply shocked. It was beyond their comprehension how a man could be found who would hang a woman and they conclud ed that England must be a barbarous island indeed. No less surprise was caused among .another group when informed of the flirtatious tendencies of the Anglo-Saxon maid. They couldn't see how tiie parents of a yoatng.woman who jilted a man could escape dire venegeance by his brother's?'broth ers' meaning all his muh- relatives of near and far degree. ''Even the minor habits in the daily life of so isolate a people are novel. To be without a mus- ? tache is a disgrace in many parts of North, or High, Albania. The Albanian mother tells her child stories in which, unlike our stage melo drama, it always the hairless man who figures as the villain. Neu .Moon Bars Hair Cutting. "An Albanian barber shop. Were there any. would have periodical vacations. For i!ni hair must not bo mit during the new moon lest it turn white. One. Albanian explained io a traveler that his mustache was white because he had clipped it thoughtlessly at new moon. Fortunately h< had waited until the moon wits on the wane l?> trim his hair. "The things that people laugh at might readily be considered an index to their development. A specimen of Alabnian humor is furnished by a visi tor who relates how a villager would ruminate und then laugh uproariously. This visitor took pains to find the cause of his merriment. .\ typical re ply was this. 'Suppose o cow feil from the cliff opposite. Ev *ry man would run to pick up a bit for supper. Th< n suppose, just as they go; there, all the bits joined into a cow again and ran away.* He burst aga.a into peals of laughter al his fancy," Movies ruined the stage, is the plaint of some. Look* it was tho other way 'rotind M?sl mo vie actors were formerly <>n the stage:- Fort Worth Star Telegram. Pink br.hes for command officers in the army may have been suggested by those who contend th.-if the way to end war is ;<> make h nu?re horrible.? Detroit News. One of the. main uses ??f the seismograph seems t?i be : ocause people \<> worry over something they otherwise would ii"t haw known a hont.?Indian apolis Star. \\'i:it?-r is just oil* ton .-t eoal :fi. j mother Detroit Journal. 4 BAVARIA'S SPLIT WITH PRUSSIA Washington, Fob. 1-3.?Munich leaps ahead of Berlin as. the premier date line of Central Europe. Bavaria emerges to dispel the illusion thai Prus sia spells Germany. Conceivably the land of Wagner, toy making, brewing, and lenses may achieve a political entity which suffered a "fade away" when William was crowned emperor in that hall at Versailles where, more recently, another William was consigned to ( the limbo of ex-monarchy, r Chance to Alter Map. "Were major problems affecting us and our nat ional friends not pressing so hard upon us. Ameri cans might he paying considerably more heed to the renewal of an old time internaJ strife in Germany which has potentialities at least, for further re making the map of Europe." says a bulletin of the National Geographic Society,"concerning news dis patches that tell how Munich is Iockrog horns with Berlin. "Many folk who abhor Germany's war ways, and Prussia's ways at any time, soften their rancor with the admission that 'Bavaria is not Prussia.' Bavaria always has been clamorous about that distinction, and it is not surprising that she should be anx ious to limn the cleavage on the political map of Europe now that Prussia has suffered so complete an eclipse. "Should Bavaria embark upon a career of 'self determination' within the bounds of the German Republic, she would have one important factor in her favor?a factor that might be called 'geo graphical determination.' For Bavaria has a nat ural boundary of mountains, and squats with this security upon an elevated plateau whene the soil is fertile, certain minerals abound snd vast forests, not so many years ago overrun with bears and bears, are to be counted among her natural as sets. Bavaria Split by Danube, "Bavaria proper Is split by the now international ized waters of the Danube. Besides her capital she possesses Nuremberg. Augusburg. Wurzburg, and Regcnsb?rg, or Ratisbon. if one would break the monotony of the 'burg' ultima. 'Bavaria prop er' connotes the eleven-twefIfhs of the Bavarian kingdom bounded, in part, by Czechoslovakia. Aus tria. Switzerland. W?rtemberg, and Saxony. This portion of it is somewhat larger than West Vir ginia. The rest of the kingdom, nearly twice the size of Rhode Island, is pa rate from the main part, lying across the Rhine, within the area of the present zone of allied occupation. "Temperament and religion distinguish Bavaria from Prussia. About three-fourths of its popula tion, upward of seven million, are Roman Cath olics. Its people have a reputation for good na ture and a special fondness for beer, for easy going ways and love of tradition; for exalting art, rather than science. So far as they were compelled to v.aid commerce, one writer puts it. the dealt in the two things they like best. :irl and beer. To this easy'generalization should be added the toy making industry which arose in the forest areas of northern Bavaria, and from it should be except ed the optical instruments for which Munich was noted. Before the war both these products found ready markets in America. Loug Held Separatist lea. "There are political reasons, also, why the Ba varian viewpoint and that of Prussia arc enough ? opposed to hold the possibility of cleavage in this time of Germany's stress. Along with the so-called 'middle states' of Wurtemberg and Baden. Ba varia early achieved constitutional government. The birth of the constitutional form dates back' to Na poleonic times. So rapid was the expansion of. Ba varia then that constitutional bonds were needed to bind new territory. Fuodalism was swept away. Nobles and clergy had privileges curtailed. Military solidarity demanded that each man be made con scious of his duty to the state, and in concession to that necssity each man had to. be granted certain equal rights before the law,. Prussia's ambitions toward confederation demanded an an tidote in the form of privileges which would keep Bavarians anxious to maintain their independence. "Like Pericles of Athens. Ludwig I. of Bavaria, realized the patriotic impulses generated by a beau tiful capital. 'I am going to make Munich such an honor to. Germany that nooody will know Germany who has not seen Munch," he declared. But in Lola Mqntez Ludwig found not an Aspasia, hut a Gaby Dclys. So obnoxious did the royal scan dal become that one of Iiis cabinets was popularly known as the 'Lolaministerium.' 'Finally the patron of Wagner had to abdicate And under his son and successor. Maxmilian II. further popular demands were granted. When States Become Provinces. "Bavaria's struggle for separation is a long story. Frequently she sided with Austria against Prussia. But she succumbed following the Fran co-German war after which, it has been remark ed, there were no longer atiy states in Germany, only provinces. "Even then her spirit was not quenched. An old proclamation was revived as recently as 1900 by which the German emperor's birthday-was to be celebrated by the display of only the Bavarian Hag on public buildings. "Treaties and alliances cannot combat geography. Amid Germany's extremest rationalism there r< - mained villages in mountain-rimmed Bavaria where the young men gathered on hill tops at twilight to crack whips in unison, for long experi ence had shown that evil spirit** would Roc that sou nd." Drakes frequently change their plumage in the breeding season, states ;i nature observer: during this period of "eclipse" they pay no attention fo their mates or broods. The annual migration of spiders during the re cent autumn months has resulted in aeroplanes, which crossed the channel between France and England, arriving silvered from end. to end with gossamer webs collected from the air. Budapest embraces the historic town of Ufon, once :i Roman colony. A centenarian of Aldershot. England, is recorded as having lost his tirst tooth at the aj;<- of 10-. Tlie Crown of Hungary conslsta of two diadems. o:v dating back to 1000 and the other to 1072. Deal people are to have special church's in (;<-r niany, with telephones between the pulpit and the pews. I i;.-]iius ha* been explained by an Irish surgeon as the product of germ which gets into and round the human brain. Tiaers are to have .i close season in future. Domestic life and affection is \?t\ highly de eloped among wild ducks. 'ins-tar workers are mii-i to bcnelii from the 'lurry" smell in ul.i< h they work. Will, it Franc?' oan'l make a deal with the dove, .iradence would suggest thai she rvi on ?:on?l terms tili tin si oik. f'a llinior?: S'u u. JAPAN'S PLACE IN THE PACIFIC ? - _ _ Washington. Feb. 13.?"Japnn, which from a position of isolation in tho Asian <*>cas. has emerg ed to become one of tho dominant factors in the Pacific, might be termed the narrower and less compact Britain of the Far Fast," says a bulb-tin from the Washington. I). C. headquarters of the National Geographic Society. "Like ihr- British Isles, the Japanese Islands form the fringe of a great continent; both were in the hands of petty kings ami grew into a centralized nation: both looked abroad for expansion: and both have conceived of their safety and future prosperity as dependent largely on sea 'power. Has Remained t enter of Empire. "But there are differences as well as likenesses between these two island nations. Since she began to grow into an empire Great Britain has resolute ly turned her back on Europe in so far as terri torial acquisitions are concerned, and has sent her colonists into the remote parts of the world. Japan, on the other hand, has acquired large blocks of the neighboring continent, but has expanded somewhat in other directions also. Great Britain has become the headquarters of a scattered, distant empire. Japan :as remained so far the center of her em pire with her possessions drawn, relatively close ly about her. "Though Japan had imperial ambitions even in the early centuries, as indicated by the fact that she once conquered Korea, and laid claim in the sixteenth century to Formosa and even the Phi ippines, the national life, when Comodore Perry opened communications with tho west in 1854, was confined to the three main southern islands of Japan proper and the small islets near their shores. Nor until the seventies did the government begin development of fezo, the big island to the north?the Japanese Scotland. Both Russia and Japan claimed Sakhalin, the fifth and northernmost of the large islands of the Japanese group, and*5 there wer?- similar double claims to the Kurile group, a chain of small volcanic islands, compar able to the Aleutians, which stretch from Yezo northeastward to the tip of Kamchatka. In 1875 Russia induced Japan to take the Kuriles and re linquish all claims to Sakhalin. Wars Have Profited Japan. l "These expansions to the north were of little value, for the cold, bleak northern lands have neve rappeated to Japanese colonists. Yezo is sparsely settled, and the Kuriles 'nave only a hand ful of inhabitants. Japan's next step was to the south.. In li<7a she annexed the Lu-Chu archi pelago, extending from the southernmost of the large Japanese Islands south west ward for 700 miles to Formosa. China laid claim to these small but pleasant and populous islands, as she did to Formosa, but she finally consented to Japan's an nexing them. "Japan's victorious war with China in 1S95 gave her immediate territorial advamage and in addi tion greatly heightened her prestige among the na tions. China ceded tho island of Formosa (now officially known as Taiwan) with its 13.000 square miles of territory and its 3.500.000 inhabitants: and the Chinese peninsula of Liaoturg on wdiich bat tle-scarred Port Arthur is now situated; and ac knowledged the independence of Korea. Russia. France and Germany forced Japan to relinquish the Biaotung peninsula, and Russia later leased it from China: but the Russo-Japanese war placed it again in Japanese possession, and tho island empire now holds it under a 9'J-ycar lease. By defeating Russia. Japan further extended her in fluence both on the mainland of Asia and among the islands. She obtained a protectorate^over Ko rea, a 'sphere of influence' in Manchuria, and the cession of tho southern half of tnc Island of Sak halin. Fares Forth into Pacific. s "As a result of the World War, Japan has made further territorial advances north, east, south, and west. Her sphere of influence has included eastern Siberia, she has taken over the German lease on Kiaochow in China, and by receiving a mandate for the three archipelagoes of former Ger mane! islands in the Pacific north o: the Equator, she has fared thousands of miles eastward into the Pacific. ^ "The magnitude of Japan's present interests in the Pacific can better be understood, perhaps, by imagining her island territories transferred to the more familiar Atlantic and the directions reversed. The various groups of Japanese islands would then extend from the Shetland Islands southyard along tho coasts of Europe and Africa for 2,700 miles. Formosa would be situated just north of the Cape Verde Islands. The Marianne or i,adrone Islands of the mandate would occupy a position near the Azores: and the hundreds of Islands of the Caro line and Marshall groups (the remaining mandate islands) would string out across ttte Atlantic from near the Cape Verdes almost to Cuba. Honolulu, under this transposed geography, would occupy about the position of Santa Fe. New Mexico. "As direct outlets for emigration. Japan's man date islands, because of their restricted area, are of little importance: ?lut as bases to facilitate na val operations and trading activities to the south and east they are comparable in importance to Hawaii as bases for the westward activities of the United States. And Japan means to make the islands 'pay for their keep.' She is stimulating the systematic planting of coconut groves, and her traders are fast replacing foreign goods in the islands with those of .Japan. The islands add only a few thou sand miles of territory and some &0.000 people to the Japanese empire. But the scattered points of land 'fence in' 'approximately one million square miles of tin- Pacific." Peasants of those European eountries where black bread is eaten usually have exceptionally good teeth. Having let his right hand in the war. a Lon don organi.it "carries on" excellently with the left only. Women wen- called in to aid the National Council of England, the predecessor of the House of Lords, as long ago as <>70. Soft foods, especially puddings, arc blamed by an eminent physician for the great number of adenoid cases in the United States. ? Cough as silently as you can. gargle as much as you like, and always smile when you sniff." says Sir James Dundas Grant, the famous special ist . ;.e:i\-.s of trees*, shrubs*, etc.. <v<- perhaps the most vital factor in the world of living things, as every element of food, save salt and water, comes to mankind through haves. The Severn Tunnel, the longest railroad tun nel in Kngland. is to have a new system of venti lation, one feature of which is * fan 27 feet in diameter und ? feet in width., which will revolve one hundred times a minute. !? Hanover Square. New York City, there stands u house in which Captain Kidd the famous pirate. on< e lived. Cleansing the teeth properly culls for the ex penditure of :it lensi one minute and :J half e-jeh time the brush is used. SIAM Yankee-Land of the Orient Washington. Feb. 13.?Siam's entry into the pa per making field, as indicated by the recent .ship ment of a paper plant from this country to Bangkok for experiment with such raw materials as riee straw and native grasses, is more character istic of Siam's civilization than the white elephants: or little boys smoking big' ejgnrs popularly .asso ciated with that Asiatic kingdom, says a bulle'in from the Washington. D. C. headquarters of the Notional (toographo Society. "Quaint and curious customs do prevail in Siam. wild men still may be found on the Burmese half of the Malay peninsula, and in the northern for ests of Siam roam the tiger. leopard, rhinoceros and tapir." continues the bulletin. "But in Bangkok electric lights illum? .trcets traversed by trolley cars. ex^whiW elephant paths have been converted into bbuk-vards along which spin famil&r makes of automdviies. and a royal establishment which clings to thft sacred elephant employs a yacht for week-end trips on the Menam River. ' "Bobbed Hair" and "Knickers." "In some superficial aspects it would seem that Bangkok is several laps ahead of ultra-modern America. Knickerbockers attract attention when ^_ worn by American women in city streets, and bobbed hair is frowned on in some of our conser vative business and social circles. Yet the Siamese women wears the knee length panung as does her brother, and for generations she has refused to be bothered with long hair. She has a freedom that has developed a shrewdness and independence in contrast to most oriental women, though she is ajd to bo unlettered. "The spirit of progress in Siam lies much deeper than surface likenesses or acceptance of fads. No duress compelled her sovereign to convert a tract formerly used for cremating members of the roy al family to a park for cricket, golf and football playing. From this park in "the Royal 'Palace runs a boulevard with three roadway*, set apart by double rows of trees, and flanked oy shaded, foot paths?an avenue which would do credit to. the plan of an American city. Nor are Bangkok's many improvements due to foreign promotion, for there are fewer Europeans in Si?m's capital than in almost any other Eastern city of its importance. "Bangkok is a city of half a million inhabitants, the capital, metropolis and port city of Siam. The kingdom has an area about equal to that of Spain, and a population of some eight million. They Pickle Their Tea. "The high civilization of Bangkok has a contrast in extreme primitive conditions of other parts of the country.' Curious customs abound. In upper Siam tea is pickled for chewing instead of being used as a beverage. First thefleavcs arc sun dried, then they are steamed to rid them of tannin. Next they are weighed down for fermentation, a pro cess suggestive of the German preparation of sauer kraut. The substance thus'formen is placed in tho mouth until the juices are removec The appear ance of the individuals with the balls in their checks forms a never-ending source of amusement for travelers. "The capital of Upper Siam is Chieng-Mai, fa mous for its lacquer ware and center of the teak tree trade. This region is a land of boats. , Water routes form virtually the only lir.es of communica tion between the upper and lower kingdom. "In Eastern Siam a plateau and a plain sup port a population which must move from swamp lands in the rainy season to^ higher elevations Which are barren and stony. Hence living conditions are most primitive. The ' Venice of t!>c East." "Bangkok has been called the 'Venice of the East.' The Menam River is the great trading street of the city. Floating'houses do a 'Cash and carry' business through windows opening- toward the channel where pass the shoppers in almost ev ery conceivable sort of craft. The^e range..from great steamships to the priests* boats propelled by novitiates, and from the immense nee boats to the canoes which carry tho postmen. Then there are the river-going cafeterias, serving the residents of floating houses. These, too, arc canoes, equip ped with tiny stoves. "Perhaps the most colorful river scene is the wa ter market, where each tiny boat with its cargo of food bears a little lamp. The market hours are from midnight until early .morning. And during that period the market section of the river re sembles a fairyland with Its myriad glimmering lights." THE YACHT OF THKt PRESIDENTS. (By Fred J. Haskin). Washington, ?. C. Feb. 13.? The president's yacht is otic of the most attractive of his posses sions, yet very little has been written about it. The president's pets, his hobbies, Ms daily progr?ni, his home, and taste in dress a re-familiar topics to the people of the United States. The Mayflower is known simply as the presidental yacht, though be cause of its history and its association with four presidents, it is one of the most interesting ships in the navy. The S. S. Mayflower is a yacht of which any potentate of Europe might be proud. Although it is a quarter of a century old it is still known as one of the largest yachts afloat, and while it is no longer a strictly modern vessel of its type, its beau tiful furnishings and appointments and its picked crew make it a comfortable little palace. The Mayflower is not .extravagantly outfitted with antique furniture and art treasures. Its at tractiveness is in its simplicity. From the shining docks with their polished brass to the miisfc room fitted ou in cretonne and cool green, the yacht is a model pleasure boat. The ship's rooms are mainly done in blue and green now?Mrs. Harding*s selections. In De cember, just after Mr. Harding's election, the May flower caught fire and was seriously damaged. Mr. Wilson was not using the ytaftht and. as it is called for very little during the winter anyway.' the ques tion of redecorating the rooms was left to the in coming president and his wife. ' Mrs. Harding planned a new coior scheme for the ship. Before.' rose had been the favored col or for the bedrooms and salons. Mrs. Harding had the bedrooms dene in a soft shade of blu". With blue silk covers on the polished wood of the beds, and with pink roses on the chests and d^ess ing table, the staterooms of the yacht are one Vf the most generally admired features of the ship w h< n it is shown, to sruosts. The music room chairs and sofas are covered with effective cretonne in black with a pattern of marine animals and plants in bright colors. Tho prevailing color here and in the white-paneled din ing room is green. SufCerers from chronic headache should have*' their eyes and their teeth examined by oculists and dentists. The boundaries of the area .covered by the Lon don County Council have not been changed since 1* .">."). Abb- to crack a Brazil nut between his still strong teeth. Mr Lamb <?!' Ash. Surrey England is 103 Of age.