OCR Interpretation


The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, December 02, 1922, Image 1

Image and text provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016810/1922-12-02/ed-1/seq-1/

What is OCR?


Thumbnail for

VOL 88 SO 48
MANY FAIRS TO
BEHELD IN 1922
.1.-.
Commercial Exhibitions Spring
ing to Life After Discourage
ment of War Years.
FAIRS THAT 60 TO PEOPLE
Future May See Fair Established in
Ark of Air Capable of Carrying
Message of Progressand Cul
ture id Remote Places.
Washington."From Winnipeg to
Rio de Janeiro, and from Ghristianla
and Algiers to Singapore and Tokyo,
commercial fairs and exhibitions are
springing to life after the discourage
ment of war years, and are playing an
Increasingly important part in mak
ing nations acquainted with each other
and with the kinds of lives each
leads," says a bulletin from the Wash
ington headquarters of the National
Geographic society. The bulletin
points out that a greater number of
such expositions is scheduled for 1922
than those held in pre-war days In a
decade.
"Fairs have been important factors
in the lives of nations and in the evo
lution of society itself," continues the
bulletin. "But in order to Survive th&y
have had to go through some vital
changes. They probably started in the
dim days ot prehistoric Asia as sort of
Irregular markets held at relatively
long intervals and during the Middle
Ages when transportation was difficult
they were the chief agencies of Eu
ropean trade.
A Few Old Types Survive.
"Where conditions have remained
relatively primitive the famous old
fairs have continued to function until
today. The annual fair it Nizhni
Novgorod continued largely to dom
inate the commercial life of Russia
until the revolution, and even since
then the distribution of foodstuffs, tex
tiles and furs through this old gather
ing place of traders has been an Im
portant item. For centuries it has
been the gigantic exchange counter
between vast areas of Asia and Eu
rope.
"In the portions of the world well
developed with highways, canals, rail
ways and ocean ports, both the local
and international fairs of the old type,
devoted" largely to the distribution of
staple supplies, died out. But the fair
Idea lived on, merely changing its
form. Special industries and groups
of Industries began holding expositions
in England and France, and the idea
spread to other countries.
"Before a great while these local
ized and restricted exhibits expanded
to include many industries, those of
foreign lands as well as their own.
Soon came the full-fledged world's
fairs, the first of which was held In
London in 1851. Many have been held
since, both In America and Europe,
Paris holding the palm for numbers.
"But at the root of the world fairs
or international expositions was the
idea of general education, and closely
connected with It was the amusement
aspect. They served well as occa
sional more or less sugar-coated dem
onstrations of the progress of the
world, but they failed to measure up
to the efficiency standards of the mod
ern distributor. Side by side with
them had grown up special interna
tional Industrial exhibits and sample
fairs* and by the outbreak of the
World war these had been forged into
modern agencies meeting Twentieth
century conditions. Now that all na
tions are girding themselves for an
after-the-war scramble for trade such
fairs are being held on all sides.
"Samples of almost every conceiv
able manufactured product and ma-,
chine are sent to some of these ex
hibits, duty free, and orders are so
licited from the buyers who gather
from various countries. Among the
fairs of this sort which have become
established institutions are those held
In London, Birmingham, Bordeaux,
Lyons, Brussels, Dresden, Leipzig,
Prague, Barcelona and Milan and In
dozens of other cities it Is planned to
hold such exhibits annually.
Fairs That Go to the People.
"In meeting modern conditions not
only have fairs been placed on a sam
ple basis and confined largely to-spe
cialities, machines and manufactured
articles, but they are seeking out still
more efficient methods of reaching
larger numbers'of potential buyers.
Italian manufacturers have adopted
the floating fair, fitting out a special
exhibit ship which anchors for a time
In the various ports around the rim
of the Mediterranean from Port Said
to Marseilles. French distributors
carried the idea of a traveling fair
still further last year, sending an ex
hibit train across Canada and a
Czechoslovak train of a similar sort
has just finished a two months' tour
through the Balkans and Poland. Per
haps it is not too extravagant a vision
to see the fair which had its humble
beginning in some far off Asiatic oasis,
established in an ark of the air and
capable of carrying its message of
progress and foreign culture to every
little center of Industry and life."
8aved by Holding Dog's Tail.
Fresno, Cat.Floyd Johnson and
Altan Self, both sixteen, lost in a
blizzard in the mountains, thirty miles
east of here, were led to safety by
holding to the tail of a dog, it was
learned today. A short time later a
rescute
party
'ir.,~j
foundblinding
two other boys,
los in the same storm lying
't in the snow exhausted.
Dog First Saves Baby,
Then Runs for Help
Redwood City, Calif. The
faithfulness and initiative of a
Scottish collie saved the life of
three-year-old Jean MacAllster.
The child wandered from home
and was not missed until the
dog appeared in great excite
ment and began tugging at the
skirts of Mrs. MacAttster, who
was working in the yard. The
mother followed "Don," the col
lie, to a large pond nearly half
a mile away, where she found
her child lying on the bank with
her clothes drenched. Apparent
ly little Jean had fallen into
thr pond and had heeh-ptttt#a
i out by the dog.
DROPS HALF-MILE IN CHUTE
Mountain Climber Has Thrilling Ex
perience in Heavy Snow in
Washington.
Snoquolmie, Wash.Stepping out to
the edge of a snow-covered precipice
to point out some scenery to his wife
and little son, Howard Rupert, a.sales
man, disappeared into loose snow.
Mrs. Rupert quickly notified men
nearby, who looked in vain for several
hours for Rupert. They were about to
give up the search on account of dark
ness when the missing man appeared.
He declared he had dropped into a
loose snowdrift and falling through
landed directly into an unused log
chute to carry timber In summer to the
river far below.
Rupert said the chute was filled with
ice and that he tobogganed down Into
the valley at such a high rate of speed
he could not yell loud enough to be
heard. Loggers found he had taken a
ride of fully half a mile In the ice
bound log chute. Rupert was unin
jured, but was minus a large part of
his wearing apparei.
BISHOP OF ALASKA
Bishop Trymbal Rowe has been
bishop ot Alaska for 26 years. He re
cently called at the White House to
pay his respects to the President.
FATHER OF 28 BOSSES RANCH
Declares None of His Wives or Off
Spring Were Allowed to
"Talk Back."
Greensboro, N. C."Uncle Bob"
Austin, an old-time darky living near
here, Is the father of 28 sons and
daughters, 26 of whom are living. All
but seven having gone off to them
selves, he hat taken three other chil
dren to rear.
Uncle Bob's first wife bore him eight
children, the second, fourteen the
third, still a husky young woman, six.
Austin is the tenant manager of a
farm. He eats three square meals a
day and chews tobacco, but does not
smoke and doesn't allow smoking on
his premises.
No wife or child of his ever gave
him any "back talk" more-than once,
he says. "If they gets upity I soon
trims 'em," he said with a chuckle. "In
my house dey must go my way."
Austin is seventy-one years old and i
was born a slave, He remembers
hiding meat in the woods when Sher
man's army came through North Caro
lina after Its march through Georgia
to the sea.
False Teeth Scare Farmer,
Union City, Mich.Farmers living
near Athens have been puzzled for a
week trying to solve a mystery on the
farm of B. B. Adams. Christmas
morning while Mr. Adams was doing
the chores, he was-startled at what
appeared to be a grinning face peer
ing through a crack In the steps lead
ing to his corncrib. Investigation dis
closed a set of false teeth. No one
living in that region has lost their
teeth, he has learned, and how the
"grinders" happened to stray to so
remote a place Is a puzzle to the
ruralites..
J^T FratsUss Mental Torture.
^Providence, R. I.Intellectual bar
barity has replaced the traditional
physical punishment applied to fresh
men fraternity candidates at Brown.
Now upper classmen are substituting
mental torture by methods learned in
psychological courses Instead of by the
time-honored custom of paddling.-
HAS PORCH AUTOS CAN'T rllT
Postmaster Whose Home Is on Sharp
Curve of Road tires of Being
Bumped by Speeders.
Newton, N. J.~Postmaster Lester
'T. Smith of Layton has a big front
porch on his house, which is on Blng
man's road at a point where there is
a sharp -curve, and for many years he
vhas sat there In the evenings and
smoked his pipe without anything
happening to him. But the other day
he was having a smoke when an auto
mobile came around the bend, and
skidded, smashing into the porch and
wrecking one end of it.
The automobilist paid,for the dam
age and went on his way and the post
roaster sent for a carpenter, who
worked allr
night anct all morning put
ting a new end on the porch. Late
in the afternoon the postmaster went
out to have another smoke, but he
had hardly tilted his chair back and
lighted his pipe when another auto
mobile came whizzing around the
curve and skidded.
Once more the machine crashed into
the porch and wrecked an end of it,
and, since it was the end on which he
was sitting, he went down with the
wreckage. But he was not hurt, and
he got out of the debris in time to col
lect from the automobilist, who paid
and drove on. Then the postmaster
called for the carpenter and gave or
ders, but not for a new front porch.
He told the carpenter to tear down
the front porch and build one on the
rear of the house.
"Maybe I'll have peace there," he
said. "Soon as I get my new porch
done they can skid all they want to,
but to get me they'll have to jump
over the house."
BUILDING AT HIGH MARK
Reports From 141 Cities in the Uni
ted States Show Greatest Ac
tivity in Years.
New York.Building records for
June, showing a total construction val
ue of $218,674,499 In 141 cities, set a
new high record for 1922, Bradstreet's
reports.
The previous high mark for the year
was $206,804,015 in May. The June
figure compares with $127,671,278 in
June, 1921.
The total for the second quarter of
1922, $683,568,331, maks a gain of 82
per cent over the high-record first quar
ter of this year and of 63.7 per cent
above that recorded In the same quar
ter -of 4921. T^isisecond quarter's to
tal, It might be noted, Is slightly In
excess of the total for the combined:
GERMANY EXPELS COUNTESS
Hetta Trauberg, Pacifist, Driven from
Native Land for Her Peace
Propaganda.
Vienna,Countess Hetta Trauberg,
the German pacifist, who was interned
by the Germans during the late war
because she condemned submarine
warfare, the deportation of Belgian
and French women and children and
the treatment of allied prisoners, has
been expelled from Germany because
she still persists in her peace propa
ganda.
She is at present In Vienna, where
she Is compiling a book, deriving much
of her material from the archives of
Vienna. She is said to have secured
war letters exchanged between the em
peror of Russia, Emperor William of
Germany and the Austrian emperor,
Francis Joseph.
GREATER NAVY FOR SWEDEN
Parliamentary Commission Urges the
Building of Fast Cruisers and
Destroyers.
first and second quarters of 1921. This.
total for the half-year, with 23 cltte^pslands, Hawaii and formerly thY air
yet to be heard from as to June, is $1^forces in the army of occupation in
200,998,472, a gain of 75.9 per cent over Germany
the like period last year.
Stockholm, Sweden.A parliamen
tary commission, supported by navy
experts* has proposed for the Swedish
navy a building program for the next
ten years of four fast armored bruis
ers, twelve destroyers, six torpedo
boats, three mine layers, twenty-two
submarine chasers and a number of -S'Lteut
smaller craft. The armored cruisers
are to be 6,500 tons each, with a
speed of thirty knots* With eight 21-
centimeter and six 12-centimeter guns.
As the proposal is based on parlia
mentary consideration, there is a, prob
ability of its being passed at the com
ing session.
Board Bill Too Heavy,
Prisoner Is Released
Arthur States of Lima, O., lit
erally ate his way out of prison,
where he was serving a term be
cause of his inability to pay a
fine of $1,000 on a liquor charge.
He served only a few weeks
when the county commissioners
began figurlrig out results of
the incarceration of States at
a fixed amount a day to apply
on his- fine.
The board ordered bun par
oled with the understanding
that he pay $7 a month on the
fine. Eleven years will be re
quired to liquidate It His board I
bad already cost the county
$100. Commissioners figured that
it would cost $1,249.50 to collect
the fine for the state had he re
mained in Jail.
8T, PAW. MP B1HNEAF0LIS. mt. SATURDAY DECEMBEE 2, 1922
FOR AIR SERVICE
11
Uncle Sam Has Immense Supply
of Material for. Airplanes
on Hand.
LARGEST DEPOT IS IN TEXAS
Supplies Worth $90,000,000 Stored
There, While Machinery and Equip
raent of Plasjfr Represent
Another $1oJ,000,000.
San Antonio, Tex.Not much has
been said about it, but it is a fact
that the United States government
'air intermediate depot situated on the
outskirts of San Antonio, contains
army aviation materials valued at
$50,000,000, while the machinery and
other equipment that go to make up
the plant has an additional value of
$100,000,000.
It is one of the largest aviation and
repair centers in the United States.
The buildings which comprise the
government property are of perma
nent character. The speciai purpose
of maintaining the depot is to keep
constantly on hand a complete and
large stock of airplanes and their
parts for supplying the army aviation
service. The warehouses are filled
with hundreds of airplane wings and
motors. There are thousands of mo
tors. Every three months these mo
tors must be taken out of their boxes,
thoroughly sprayed with a form of
grease to prevent rust and then treat
ed to a similar coat of oil on the in
side of the cylinders and other in
ternal parts. They are-so delicate
that they must be carefully handled.
Hundreds on Hand.
Several hundred complete airplanes
are kept on hand Jn the boxes in
which they come from the factory,
and these must also be opened at
regular intervals, taken out and gone
over completely.
In another part of the warehouse
Is an assortment of tools that prob
ably surpasses in size and value any
in the Southwest. Its value runs into
millions of dollars. Every tool that
will ever be needed in the air service
is in the supply section. Spare parts
stored in another part of the ware
house represent "anothe* huge fortune.
This material goes to supply all the
army air service in the United States
.and, In addition, Panama, Philippine
The engineering branch is charged
with the repair of airplanes used by
the air service In the Eighth corps
area and in flying fields as far east
as Florida. It is divided into several
departments. There is the machine
shop, one of the most complete In the
country. Then comes the motor re
pair, fuselage construction, rigging,
fabric and upholstery, paint shop,
final assembly hangar and the test
hangar. Airplanes are built from the
ground up at the engineering
branch, but for the most part they
take the old ones that are turned In
by the various fields and rebuild
them.
Expert civilian mechanics are em
ployed to do this work. Baw mate
rials are kept on hand tor wing and
body construction, and- whenever a
spare part is needed that is not on
hand it can be turned out in the shop.
Wings, rudders and elevators are con
structed in the shops. After the
framework is completed it is taken to
the fabric shop, where linen cloth is
stretched over and nailed down, and
then it is painted.
The engineering branch was moved
to San Antonio several months ago
from Dallas, and took the buildings
left by the air service mechanics
school. Maj. William H. Garrison is
in command of both branches of the
depot.
The monthly pay roll at the depot
approximates $40,000, and, there are
about 400 civilians employed as me
chanics In addition to the 12 officers.
The supply branch is in charge of
Myron R. Wood and the en
gineering branch is in charge of Capt
Edward Laughlin.
THREE PRINCESSES SEEK JOB
1,600 Replies Received to American
Woman's "Ad" for Secretary in
Geneva?
Geneva.-Indication of the straits of
many European noble women after the
war is given in the,experience of the
American wife of a Geneva banker
who advertised recently in a Munich
newspaper for an educated woman sec
retary with a good knowledge of lan
guages, and offered a salary of 800
Swiss francs monthly, In addition to a
comfortable home.
Thus far she has received more than
1,600 replies, from all' parts of Ger
many and Austria. The applicants in
clude three princesses,- nine baronesses
and thirty countesses, but the majority
are widows or daughters of former
high officials. J^?'~*"*^
^r:f^ Snakes in'Snot^K^-
Pottsville, Pa.Notwithstanding the
deep snow on the mountains, snakes
are making their appearance at a num
ber of places. Charles Boeder cap-,
tured one alive and brought it to
Schuylkill Haven, where it has.been
placed on exhibition. This is the first
time snakes have ever-been seen here
while) anoWyla on the ground., ,_
FARMER FLEES FROM "IMPS"
Tale of Tricks of Evil Spirits Ex
cites People sf Nova Scotian
Community.
Halifax, N. S.~While no broomstick
riding hags of the traditional witch
features have been seen hurtling across
the face of the moon, there are any
number of people in Nova Scotia who
will take an oath that imps of no good
intent are peopling the fair hills of
Antigonish county.
Alexander MacDonald, a farmer, has
boarded up his valley home and fled
with his family and chattels in the
dead of winter. His neighbors say
they have seen with their own eyes,
and without the assistance of potable
spirits, the manifestations of the Evil
lOne.i
So much credence Is being given to
the tales of witches and imps that a
Halifax newspaper has assigned a
member of Its staff to break his way
through the inland snows until he
reaches the MacDonald house and live
there for two weeks.
MacDonald and his family awoke one
morning three weeks ago to find that
their horses had been driven into a
lather and returned to their stalls be
fore dawn. The cattle had been turned
out of the barns In a driving snow
storm. The tails of the heifers had
been braided.
This was repeated the next morning
and the next. The third night, Mac
Donald says, the fire imps appeared. In
unexpected places jets of flame would
break out for no apparent reason. The
following nights he called neighbors to
see for themselves. They swore that
they saw fires leap from bare floors
and subside, or flare up from a fireless
stove and disappear.
In each case a bit of absorbent cot
ton or highly inflammable calico was
found near the source of the fire, but
that only deepened the mystery. Where
had the cotton and calico come from?
After a week MacDonald and his fam
ily fled, taking up their home In Cale
donia Mills.
LONDON HAS BOBETTES
-Meaning policewomen of course.
Here is one of the uniformed police
women of the London force who Is on
duty at Trafalgar Square. The Lon
don cold and fog hold no fears for
her, for she Is amply protected by a
greatcoat and also a toughened rub
ber slicker.
CORSET STAY KILLS WOMAN
Bone Pierces Heart When Girl Falls
While Skiing in Swiss
Alps.
Geneva, Switzerland.A whalebone
corset stay caused the death of a
Zurich young woman while skiing.
She was making a steep descent with
a party of friends when she fell over
a ledge, landing 20 feet below in deep
snow. Her companions attached, no
importance to .the fall, but on reaching
her found the bone- had pierced her
heart
This is the second accident of the
kind In Switzerland this winter.
,...iiit tn*
"Egg Romance" Cracks
Husband "Hard Boiled"
Frank Olds, of Everton, Mo.,
wrote his name on an egg and
requested the buyer to write to
him. It was shipped to a cold
""storage house In Chicago, and
later found its way to a res
taurant, where it was boiled and
sold to A romantic maiden. She
wrote to "the man on the egg,4'
and he replied. More cor
respondence, and finally vthey
were married.
Now Mrs. Olds is suing'for
divorce. In her bill she charges
her husband with being "hard
boiled," a gambler, and a small
town Sport. She wants to cast
him out of the 'nest.
GHOST HAS APPETITE
Widow's Shotgun Squad Loses
Goat to Hungry Spook.
la Heard at Ail Hours of the Night,
but Is Never SeenCarries Off
Two Sacks of Flour and 50-
Pounds of Sugar.
Waukegan, HI. Although four
neighbors, armed with shotguns, main
tain nightly vigil at the home of Mrs.
Catherine Milakowich, a hungry ghost,
who has domiciled himself there, con
tinues to he heard but not seen. Ex
cept on Mondays. He has Mondays
off.
They've heard him at all hours of
the night. And occasionally he has
made his-presence felt in other ways.
For example, Michael Dezoma, a cigar
manufacturer, tells how:
"One Friday morning at 3 o'clock
there was a funny noise at the door.
The room was in darkness. I was
striking a match to light a cigar. The
door flew open, the match was blown
out, and a hand grabbed me by the
neck, choked me, and then hit me on
the nose. I called to Jack Schlosser,
the teamster, but the hand disappeared
before we turned on the lights. I'm a
brave man, but It made me nervous."
The ghost has taking ways. He took
two sacks of flour and 50 pounds of
sugar. The other night Mrs. Milako
wich heard him in the cellar. He was
making a noise like target practice.
When the vigilante squad arrived there
the remnant of the winter's supply of
coal was tossed all about the place.
And Daniel, her eldest boy, dreamed
the ghost walked into his bedroom one
night and said: "Hello, kid." Daniel
awoke the next morning to find his
bed had been moved from one side
of the room to the other.
"It all got my goat so," said Jerry
Womka, who used to live above Mrs.
Milakowich, "that I moved. We
couldn't sleep or anything. The ghost
used to carry on at all hours of the
night."
The shotgun squad now maintaining
vigil comprises Antonio Carrison,
Waukegan cobbler James Shanes,
George Mastron and Sam Surlas. They
do not, they aver, believe in spooks.
Still, they never separate during the
wee sma'.
First information of the ghost was
made public when Mrs. Milakowich
appealed for protection to Father Jo
seph Lauerman, pastor of St. Joseph's
church, of which she is a member.
""He'll -eat me-out ofhouse and
home," said Mra Milakowich, who is
a widow. "I don't know who he is,
but he can't be my husband's ghost.
My husband never had an appetite
like that."
'HONOR SYSTEM' CANDY STAND
Louis L. Kaufman, sophomore at
Pennsylvania State college, has faith
and trust In his 2,999 fellow college
men. So he has erected a little candy
stand with package sweets stacked
on it, right beneath the window of
Prexy John M. Thomas on the open
porch of Old Main building, on the
campus. Each morning he sets out
an open pasteboard box of change
and a fresh stock of candy. Then he
gives his business "absent treatment"
and attends his classes.
He does a business of from S3 td $7
a day and says that the "losses are
not worth mentioning."
He is paying his way.through col
lege with the profits.'
Rooster That Smokes.
Jamestown, N. Y.One of the unique
features at the poultry show of the
Chautauqua County Poultry associa
tion, held here, was Warren G., a
rooster, which smokes cigarettes. The
bird is well trained and rides from
city to city with its owner on the top
of an automobile. The rooster has
been exhibited before President Hard
ing in the latter's private office at
Washington, according to the'owner.
Seaplane Is Disabled
by Hitting Porpoise
Pensacola, Fla.While land
ing in Pensacola Bay a seaplane
in which were Lieut J. Smith of
the Marine Corps and Chief
Machinists' Mate Balski hit a
porpoise so hard that the plane
was damaged beyond use and
had to be towed back to the
station. The porpoise came up
to "blow" just as the plane
leveled off to hit the surface of
I .the water:
i^
0 0 0
0 0 0 $ 4
0 4 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 4 0
i 0
$2.40 PEE TEAR
STORY DIDNT
GET HEADLINE
"Tiruvannamallai" Is Name of
Place Where News "Broke"
and That's Reason.
IS CHIEF PILGRIM CENTER
Scene of Recent Encounter Between
Indian Police and Mob of 10,000
Natives Is Describee! by
Geographic Society.
Washington.One recent encounter
between British Indian police and a
mob of 10,000 natives was not "played
up" in American newspaper headlines.
The name of the town where the dis
turbances occurred was
Tiruvannamallai. "This town is one of the chief pil
grim centers of South India but is lit
tle visited by Europeans," explains a
bulletin from the Washington head
quarters of the National Geographic
society. "This ostracism is not be
cause the occidental cannot pronounce
the name to ask his way, as one wag
suggests. Tiruvannamallai has 40
large chuttrams, or rest houses, while
the only provision for the foreigner is
a small bungalow of two rooms.
"Two great festivals every year and
a fair every Tuesday assure the gath
ering numbers of natives," the bul
letin continues. "During the Kartigai
festival in November or December,
100,000 pilgrims visit the finely carved
temple or climb the 'Holy Flre^ Hill'
which gives the town its name. At
such times cholera frequently takes a
heavy toll and for many years attempts
have been made to improve the water
supply.
A Cross Roads of Religion and Trade.
"Four roads meet at Tiruvannamal
lai, three of them crossing the alluvial
plain toward the north, soutlr and east.
The fourth road carries a heavy traffic
over the Chengara Pass into the Salem
district. Thus the town Is not only a
famous religious center but an impor
tant entrepot of trade as well.
"South Arcot, the district in which
Tirumvannamallal is found, sweeps up
from the harborless Coromandel coast
fronting on the Bay of Bengal to the
Eastern Ghats, the hills which mark
the fall line between the plain and
the plateau, whlch-drives south-like a
wedge from the Deccan and splits Mad
ras Presidency into two widely dis
similar regions. Great expanses of re
served forests clothe these hills and
the sandalwood and teaktfound there
form some of the most Important as
sets of the region. Leopards, small
bears, deer and wild hogs abound and
there are several favorite shooting
grounds near at band.
When the Sun Went Out.
"But the main interest in Tiruvan
namallai is the fire festival, whose in
ception recalls one of the famous leg
ends connected with Hindu mythol
ogy. Many ages ago, the legend runs,
Siva, the destroyer, and his wife Par
vatl were wandering through Kailasa,
the Hindu paradise. It was the twi
light hour and the flower garden in
which they strolled was filled with the
seductive perfumes of the East. In
a flirtatious moment Parvati playfully
covered the eyes of her lord with her
shapely hands and drew the godly
head to her bosom.
"The time quickly passed for these
two wanderers In Elysium. But what
seemed but a moment to them was a
period of many years for the hapless
Inhabitants of the world whose sun
and moon had thus been darkened.
When Siva realized the hardship which
his wife's coquetry had caused, he
sent her forth to do penance at the
various holy places with which the
southern portion of India is dotted.
When she at last reached Tiruvan
namallai, the famous 'Holy Fire Hill'
of South Arcot district, Siva appeared
at the top of the isolated peak, as a
sign that his wife's thoughtlessness
was forgiven.
"At the foot of the hill, just outalde
the chief town of the region, lies the
fine temple of Tiruvannamallai. It is
to this place that the pilgrims flock on
the occasion of the festival which com
memorates the reconciliation of their
chief god and goddess. /The culminat
ing feature of the celebration is the
lighting by the priests of a beacon fire
on the summit of the hill, which can
be seen for many miles throughout the
district.
Camphor and Butter Feed Beacon.
"So heavy is the rush of pilgrims to
see the blaze on the summit that strict
police control Is needed throughout
the 48 hours that the fire usually
burns. Camphor and clarified butter
or ghee, brought as offerings by the
pilgrims, make up a large part of the
fueL The festival, which lasts for
ten days, ends with this sacrificial
fire which commemorates the forgive
ness of Parvati by Siva and the re
turn of light io a darkened world.
"The large Siva temple is among the
most interesting in South India, for
from the slopes of the sacred moun
tain, whtch blushes red with the com
ing ot the morning sun, one can look
down upon this typical Dravldian tem
ple and see how, with the Increasing
wealth of the shrine, successive courts
were added around the central manda*
pani. The outer wail,, embellished by
four large gopurams or entrance-gate
ways, is most Impressive of all. These
gopurams, er gopara, which somewhat
correspond to the pylons of the Egyp
tian temples, are in themselves books
of mythology. The thousands of fig
ures on their sloping sides picture
'scenes ttnen Hindu mythology."
5^
'&*
JL.

xml | txt