The Libby herald. [volume], October 26, 1911, Image 2

About The Libby herald. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1911-1913

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AT AsISI
PART C*f 7 / CATTL*' F/ /
7~j £ArrA. ~A/
SIE ancient city of Assilst, on iti
peaceful hillside, midway be
tween the fertile Umbrian plair
and the barren heights ol
Monte Subasio, has an inde
scribable charm for all who bend
their steps thither to visit the famous
Shrine of St. Francis. The white
towers and domes rise out of a sea
of dusky olives, it is encircled with
massive old walls crowned with a ru
ined castle, and entered only through
its battlemented mediaeval gateways.
It is guarded on the side that drops
abruptly towards the plain by the for
titfled monastery, whose mighty but
tresses and long lines of arcades
form so picturesque a feature in the
landscape.
The beautiful churches, convents
and palaces of Assisi are all built of
a fine creamy stone, quarried hard by;
a stone that is veined with rose and
gold, and seems to hold the sunlight.
The dwelling houses in the main
street, with their solid masonry,
pointed arches and narrow windows,
date mostly from a time when Assisi
was liable to attacks from her war
like neighbors, Perugia and Foligno,
and when fire and sword ravaged her
fair beauty. St. Francis must have
trodden this street seven centuries
ago; but it is in the olive woods
round the Convent of San Damiano
and on the stony track leading to the
Hermitage of the Carceri that his
memory is all-abiding.
At the beginning of October each
year Assist wakes into unwented ac
tivity for the Feast of St. Francis.
The religious festival of the Saint is
held on the 4th, when the townsfolk
and clerics from the neighborhood
and visitors from Perugia throng the
services in the frescoed Lower Church
of St. Francis. But it is on the 5th
that the country people pour into the
city to attend the great annual Cat
tle Fair. Many of them come from
afar and start overnight, snatching
an hour of rest and sleep by the road
side. Nearly all the houses at Assist
have balconies overlooking the plain,
and it is thrilling to stand at an open
.window long before dawn and to lis
ten for the distant murmur that tells
of an approaching multitude, as yet
'nvisible in the morning mists. By
degrees, as the light strengthens, one
can make out the long white ribbon
like roads that cross the level plain
and mount the hill from various di
rections. Strings of figures are mov
ing along these roads, all with one ob
jective-the field outside the walls,
where from time immemorial the fair
has been held. The men and women
are mostly on foot or on mule-back;
but there are also carts with creaking
wheels drawn by oxen, which contain
whole families of fifteen or twenty
souls. Smaller carts are harnessed
to donkeys and little hand-carts are
filled with every variety of live stock
for, sale. The carts enter by one of
thd great gates and traverse the town,
and pass out of another gate close to
the market-field, but the pedestrians
and the long string of white cattle
take short cuts through the olive
yards.
There is a hum of voices on the air,
the shuffling tramp of the oxen, the
tinkling of bells, the soft padding of
bare feet; but when the sun has sent
one shaft of light over the hillside all
other sounds are lost in the wild clang
of bells that heralds the approach of
day. The whole hillside awakens into
life, and in the freshening breeze the
tips of the olive branches are silvery
white, the vines and poplars are gold
en. Under the dark archways and
up the steep paved streets climb the
carts with their heavy loads, and
there is much shouting and shuffling
as the oxen and mules struggle and
slip in their efforts to gain a firm
? c Q
j /r Ct P IIIV.
foothold. They must hurry on, I:
the fair opens at six, and already tU
peddlers have set up their booths I
the open spaces in front of U
churches and in the Plassa
Passing out of the road by the Bps
lo Gate, the animated scene on tb
field below comes into view, an
looking over the seething mass :
people and animals, one is strongi
struck by the bright effect of colt
prevalent everywhere. The shimme
ing mass of hundreds of milk whit
oxen waiting patiently to be so14
their heads gay with scarlet fillets an
tassels, the women in blue skirt
white linen shirts and gay handkei
chiefs, the children in crimson c
scarlet petticoats with white sleeve
and headgear and large green and re
umbrellas, all help to make a veritabl
feast of color.
Besides the huge horned oxen a
prized for farm work, there are mil'
white cows, and calves with larg
At the City Gate.
pathetic eyes, whole flocks of moun
tain sheep, under the care of an old
gray-bearded herdsman in goat-skih
,oat and buskins, leaning patriarchal
ly on a long staff. There are blacl
,nd white goats tethered to stakes
and incessantly butting one another
while shy little girls try in vain to
keep refractory pigs in order. Hard
bargains are driven On "scudi," an
utsider usually acting as go-between.
When the price is agreed upon, he
seizes a hand of each of the contract,
Ing parties and, clasping them to
gether, shakes them violently up and
down.
By midday the fair is over and the
peasants start homewards, driving the
cattle before them. The sheep and
pigs have mostly been sold to butch.
srs from the neighboring towns, and
,re treated with little consideration,
being expedited cn their way with
many cruel blows and kicks. A pig
hat is thoroughly refractory is seized
by the tail and one ear, stuffed into
i sack and slung over a man's back,
bead downwards, as giving less trou
ble in that position. Turkeys and
lucks, panting for water, are packed
Into hampers so small that one won
ders how many of them will survive
he Journey.
On the way through the town a
good deal of the money taken at the
!air is laid out at the booths.
Carts that have come filled with
calves and pigs return laden with
terra-cotta pots for oil and wicker
covered bottles for wine. It is the
mcjief holiday and merrymaking of
the year to many of these simple
winded, hard-workirg peasants; but so
unwilling are they to lose an un
necessary hour that the moment the
business is done they turn their backs
upon the delights of the city.
F. F. MAXWFLL.LVTF
WONDERS OF TREE SURGERY
Wounds Treated Almost as Intelligent.
ly as In the Case of Human
Beings.
The wonders of tree surgery will
amaze the average layman in such
matters, declares a writer in the Chris
tian Herald. It is only a few years
since the ravages of a severe wind
storm would have proved fatal to
many trees in its path. It was cus
tomary merely to cut off the brokes
or splintered limb and leave the
wound to heal as best it could. If thQ
tree were badly split it was removed.
Today few accidents to trees prove fa
taL The fractured surface is first
treated antiseptically. It has been
found that these exposed surfaces of
living wood are sensitive to many
germs. The air itself is full of germs
dangerous to trees, and if these be
allowed to lodge and develop they will
gradually produce a sore, and if neg.
lected will eat out the very heart of
the tree.
The broken parts are then brought
together and bound up. A wound of
this kind, intelligently treated, will
heal itself completely and the tree
will in time be as strong as ever. The
latest idea in tree surgery is to bind
the parts together by means of metal
r bars passing directly through the
limbs, tightened by bolts at either end.
The practise of binding the broken
parts together by metal bands is dis.
couraged, since a tight band tends to
check the free circulation of the sap
and hinder the healing process. Then
again the tree is likely to grow about
the metal band and sustain serious in
Jury.
A wound of this kind, even after it
has been skillfully treated, must be
carefully watched. There is consider.
able danger of water working its way
into these crevices and hindering the
knitting process, perhaps causing the
entire interior to decay. To prevent
this, ingenious sheds of concrete or
metal are built about the exposed sur
face to shelter them. The cutting of
a limb is performed with the same sci
entiflc attention. The limbs are cut
at a carefully calculated angle, and
the exposed surface is treated with
antiseptic washes or salves to protect
the living fibers from germ infectin.
Chivalry Not Yet Dead.
An incident on an "L" train awak. n
ens the thought that the days of C
chivalry are not yet departed, records I
a Boston correspondent. It was on at
busy morning and every seat in the 9
car had its passenger and every strap 1
its "hanger." There were also per
sons in the car who had neither, and G
it was then that one man's politeness C
shone out as all good deeds do in d
this naughty world. He was hanging
on to his strap, but beside him was a "
woman who had nothing to which she I
could anchor. The gentleman, notio.-e
ing her predicament, tipped his hat "
with his free hand and said: h
"Madam, may I offer you my strap; t'
it is the best I can do." T
The woman smiled and took it.
Old Car a Chapel.
Possibly the most honorable post
filled by a discarded tramcar is that
of a chapel in the neighborhood of
Cheshunt, England. Standing by the
roadside is a quiet lane, the chapel,
as far as a passing cyclist could judge,
attracts quite a large congregation
Sunday afternoons.
The uses of the tram and 'bus are
many and varied. The writer has
dressed in a cricket pavilion that was
once a tram, and fed at a wayside
stall that he may have ridden in when
it was a 'bus. And on the Broads he
has seen a railway carriage doing duty
as a bathing shed, with several com
partments.-London Chronicle.
The Way Waddell Eats.
George Edward Waddell, known
from one end qt Uncle Sam's domain
to the other as "Rube" Waddell, was
the guest of Henry Glassen at a din
ner a few nights ago. The manager
of the Ironside A. C. had a regular
course dinner, but this is how the
ececentric twirler started and finished:
Fried oysters, potatoes mashed,
sliced tomatoes, baked beans, roast
beef, chicken, pickle, beer, cake, clam
chowder, ice cream, beer.
It only cost Manager Glassen $2
for the Rube's share, and then George
Edward remarked: "That's just half
what I eat when Joe McGinnity pays
the bilL"-Newark Star.
Secret of Morgan's Longevity.
When J. P. Morgan was in his fif.
ties he had very poor health, and
went to a great New York physician,
who said to him:: "Stop exercise in
every form. Never even walk when
you can take a cab. You have formed
the habit of living without exercise,
giving your energy to your brain. It
is too late to change the habits of a
lifetime." This advice* Mr. Morgan
followed implicitly. Since that time
he has absolutely shunned exercise;
has eaten heavily and smoked much
and has buried all his own business
generation, and remains robust at
seventy-three.
The Short Days.
Post Wheeler, the secretary of the
American embassy in St. Petersburg,
said on his arrival in New York last
month:
"I shall enjoy the autumn here.
Our autumn, with its stillness, its yel
low sunshine, its base and its smell
of burning leaves, is by far our best
season."
Mr. Wheeler smiled.
"The only trouble with the autumm,"
he ended, "is, ad the Mrishmam esay
that is gets late too early."
v TRAP FOR KILLING INSECTS
Novel Method of Destroying Moths
and Other Insects Which Are
Harmful to Grapevines.
A novel method of killing moths and
other insects which are harmful to
grapevines has been adopted near
Rheims. Posts supporting five-candle
.power electric lamps were placed in
the vineyards, and from each post a
dish containing water, with a top layer
of petroleum, was suspended. During
the first night these traps were placed
in, three parallel rows at distances of
about 200 feet from each other, the
distance between each lamp being
about 75 feet. On the first clear
wvening the current was turned on
about eight o'clock and the lamps re
mained burning until an hour or so
after midnight. Soon after the lamps
were lighted the insects swarmed
toward them and were rapidly killed,
either by the fumes of the petroleum
or by the petroleum itself. The same
operation was resumed the next clear
night, but the lamps of the two out
side rows were placed about 25 feet
closer to those of the center row, and
this was repeated on each of five sub
sequent clear nights, so as finally to
bring the three rows within about 50
feet of each other. During the suc
ceeding six or seven clear nights the
movement was reversed, in the same
manner, so as to return the lamps to
their position of the first night. As to
the position of the lamps, numerous
experiments were made during these
trials, and it was proved that the
greatest number of insects were killed
when the. petroleum dish was only a
few inches above the ground.
MUSIC AS A LIFE-SAVER
Tale From the Vasty Deep That
Proves Truth of Song Warbled
by Poet.
Up from the vasty deep comes a
tale that proves the truth of what the
poet sang when he warbled to the
effect that "music hath charms to
sooth the savage breast."
The story has been delivered in
New York by the crew of the bark
Pallas, which was wrecked on Grand
Cayman island in the Caribbean sea
during the recent tropical hurricane.
When the vessel struck it was in the
night, and in order to cheer up their
comrades during the hours before day
light, two of the crew, who happened
to be musicians, ground out tunes on 4
a fiddle and accordion. That the per
formers escaped to tell the tale must
be put down as a remarkable evidence I
of the fortitude and forgiveness on the I
part of the men who were facing
death in watery graves.
However, no murder was done, and
when day broke the natives of the
Island were seen hurrying to the res
cue in such boats as they could com
mand. They explained that they had
beard the music and had come down
to investigate the strange occurrence.
The whole lot of shipwrecked men, as
well as some chickens and a pig were I
taken ashore, and a grand barbecue i
with fiddle and concertina accompani
ment, celebrated the rescue.
All of which points to the moral
that when one goes down.to the sea
In a ship he should carry some pro
ducer of sweet sounds-even if noth
ing more than a jewsharp-along as a t
life preserver. I
Ship Narrowly Escaped Meteorite.
The Hull trawler, which recently
recorded that during its voyage in
the North sea a meteor fell a few
yards away from the vessel, shaking
It from stem to stern and rendering
its compass useless, was not the first
vessel to have narrowly escaped dis
aster by the fall of a meteorite.
The African Prince of the Prince
Line was nearly engulfed in the At
lantic from a similar cause in Octo
ber, 1906, and the captain on reach
.ng Liverpool gave an interesting ac
count of the escape. He and the sec
ond officer were on the bridge when
the bolt fell from the blue and it seem
ed to them as it entered the water
close to the ship, to be a huge mass
Df molten metal poured out of the
iky. "Had it struck us," said Capt.
Anderson, "we would have been to
tally annihilatetd without a doubt
another mysterious loss of a vessel in
every way fitted to undertake a voy
age.
"I am of opinion," he added, "that
to some such cause must be attrib
ated losses so mysterious that neither
seamanship, engineering nor ordinary
theories can explain them."'-London
Daily News.
Marriage and Liberty.
Liberty comes in such different
ways For women it comes most oft
en through marriage.
Nine women in ten have more space
after they are married for the exercise
of their wills than they had before;
therefore we can all see more clearly
what they really are. The most ty
rannical husband cannot rob a woman
of her authority over her children and
her household. The good woman is
better, the hard woman is harder, the
mean woman is meaner than ever she
was.
Usually a married woman has a
more strongly marked character than
her unmarried sister. Her friends
find it more easy to call up her men
tal face; they are more sure how she
will act in given circumsances. Mar
riage is almost always fraught with
some surprises to the student of char
acter. These surprises are loosely
described as changes; but change in
character is so rare an occurrence,
more especially In women, that it
should never be regarded as asa
planation unless all others fL
TnE PROBLENI p
orA
/ 'Al.4.
'0'~WJ j4 y Y^. y. fat C' -*
ECENTLY the ever uneasy Mo
roccan cat once more leaped ou
of the diplomatic sack int(
which it was hastily thrust b3
the panicstricken powers at Algeciras
As a result France, Germany
and England have been filled witt
the most dreary forebodings, and
all because Germany saw fit to sent
a gunboat to a little known but grow
ig port on the coast of Africa.
The coast of Africa has long beet
one of the storm centers of European
diplomacy. It tempted the legionaries
of old Rome and awakened in the
bosom of Napoleon splendid dreams ol
empire. The colonizing nations of
the present, especially England and
France, have lost men and sunk money
in its conquest. Morocco is the last
tempting bit of land on the northern
coast to maintain its integrity and
there are indications that this last
prize will soon pass under European
control. Germany's possessions in
Africa are relatively insignificant,
rather a burden than a benefit to her
financially. It is but natural that she
should wish to have some say about
the future of Morocco. Her anxiety
is the greater because her possessions
in other parts of the globe are deemed
insufficient to support the pretensions
of German world-influence. If Ger
many, when the time comes for the
sultanate to fall, is to surrender her
claims to France, she will take good
care to assume such a position in the
meantime that substantial compensa
tion can be demanded. Morocco is
thus a pawn on the complicated chess
board of diplomacy. But as such it
is very useful to Germany.
It is not a source of satisfaction to
Germany that it was the triumph of
her own arms which indirectly result
ed in the expansion of French terri
tory. France had established a pro
tectorate in Algeria in 1830, but had
taken on the whole a rather languid
interest in the province. After the
reverses of the Franco-Prussian war,
however, a definite policy of colonial
expansion to the immediate south was
adopted as the surest way of regain
ing lost prestige. It was the dream
of some ambitious and imaginative
statesmen that a great new France
might in time rise on the northern
coast of Africa. The occupation of
Tunis marked the first definite step
after 1871 in the carrying out of this
policy.
Meantime both England and France
were engaged in Egypt. France had
inherited from Napoleon certain po
litical interests in Egypt. They were
not highly regarded, but they enabled
her to drive a good bargain with Eng
land when the occasion arose. Mo
rocco furnished this occasion. For
800 miles the western boundary of
Algeria marches with the eastern
frontier of Morocco. The French
drove a thriving trade with Algeria
and through Algeria with Morocco, a
trade, however, that was menaced by
the constant turbulence within the
Moroccan state. Peace in Morocco
was very necessary to France; order
could be insured only by European
policing. In 1904, therefore, M. Del
casse, then foreign minister of
France, made overtures to England
which resulted in an understanding
between the two powers. France en
gaged to recognize the exceptional po
sition of England in Egypt, and in
return for this concession England
agreed to leave France a free hand
in Morocco. This was the so-called
Anglo-French agreement. It was deep
ly resented by Germany.
The resentment of the Wilhelm
strasse, after smoldering for some
months, culminated in 1905 in the
fiery outbursts of the kaiser at Tan
gier. This outburst presently set
Europe by the ears, for the kaiser de
clared that Germany was prepared to
protect her commercial rights in and
to guarantee the political integrity of
Morocco. This amounted to an ad
mission that Germany distrusted the
mortives of France, choosing to believe
that France's desire to be recognized
as occupying an exceptional position
in Morocco was but a preliminary'
step to French seizure of the terri
tory. It looked for a time as if'
France and Germany were to fly at
each other's throats. A conference of
European powers was called, which.
met at Algeciras, to hear the griev
ances of Germany.
France claimed a predominant in-.
terest ih Morocco by reason of the
fact that Morocco immediately ad
joined a French province, which suf-
fered as A result of Moroccan convul
sions. The commercial interests of
France in the sultanate were large;
and, moreover, Morocco directly con-,
fronted France across the Mediter
ranean. For these reasons France
claimed the right to see that order
was preserved in the Shereeflan em
pire.
Against these claims Germany ad
vanced her theory of internationalism.
If Morocco proved troublesome, let all
the nations take a hand in discourag
ing her. It would be easier so to se
cure equal commercial rights among
nations and to maintain the open door.
If France were to be allowed to police,
Morocco it would be but a short stepl
to French possession.
A settlement was finally reached at.
year after the kaiser's visit to Tan
gier. The powers decided that the,
sultanate should be policed by troops:
under French and Spanish officers,.
jointly answerable to the sultan and'
the diplomatic corps at Fez. In Tan
gier and Casablanca both French andl
Spanish officers were stationed. Spain
was intrusted with the exclusive po
licing of Tetuan, on the Mediterran
ean, and Larache, on the Atlantic; tc,
France fell the policing of the At
lantic ports of Mogodor, Saffl, Ma-
zagan and Rabat. On the financial.
side France fared equally well, being
allowed to hold three out of fifteen:
shares in the new Moroccan bank, noc
other European nation being allowedc
to control more than one.
France had got practically every
thing she had a right to expect. The
special interests of France in Moroc
co, recognized by the powers of 19068
were specifically admitted by Germany
in February, 1909, in what is known
as the Franco-German agreement. In
that document Germany admitted that
she possessed only economic interests.
in Morocco and that France was.
bound to bestow on her only such com
mercial and industrial rights as were
enjoyed by other nations there. This.
was regarded as a formal conclusion
of peace between Germany and
France so far as the Moroccan im
broglio was concerned.
Yet recent events show with suffi
cient clearness that neither the Al
geciras conference nor the Franco
German agreement has disposed, as
was confidently asserted at the time,
of the troublesome Moroccan prob
lem. All that was needed was a spark
to kindle the old resentment into.
flame. That spark was afforded by
the recent revolt of tribesmen in Mo
rocco and the investment of Fez. Ger
many was pleased to regard the in
terference of France to save the sul
tan as gratuitous. No European lives,
Germany contended, were imperiled.
by the uprising. There was no call
for French troops to march to the re
lief of Fez. The military demonstra
tion was only another attempt to ex
tend the French zone of influence in
Morocco. Further complications were'
introduced by the Spanish occupation
of Alkazar and the resultant friction
with French officers. France suspect
ed Spain of playing into the hands of
Germany and althaogh Spain dis
claimed any such purpose and prompt.
ly apologized, the tension was by no
means relieved. The upshot of the
new trouble was that Germany sent
a gunboat to Agadir and landed me
rines. Thus for the second time Ger
many brought on a crisis which has
been occupying the diplomats of gi1
dountries.