OUR FAMILY CORNER
Illustrated Current News, Fashion, Household
and Entertainment for the Juniors
I_ *
JIMMY SKUNK MEETS THE
STRANGER
HEN at last Unc' Billy Pos
sum got safely back to his hoi
low tree he knew, of course that
Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow
and Peter Rabbit were not crazy,
as he had so often said they were
Anyway, if they w»ere. why he must
be himself, for hadn’t he seen the
very stranger Sammy and Blacky
had told about? If Unc' Billy
couldn't believe what they said he
felt sure he could believe his own
eyes. He just knew his own eyes
couldn't tool him like that.
It made Unc’ Billy shiver every
time he thought of that stranger he
line' Billy Looked Down to Find His
Old Friend Jimmy Skunk Looking
Up at Him.
had seen deep in the Green Forest
by the pond of Paddy the Beaver.
He was so big! And he had such
great cruel-looking claws!
“Ah—Ah hope he can’t climb
trees!" said line' Billy.
Now Unc’ Billy had spoken aloud,
for he didn’t know that anyone was
near. So he jumped almost out of
his skin when a voice said:
“Who is it you hope can’t climb
trees. Unc’ Billy?"
Unc' Billy looked down to find his
old friend Jimmy Skunk looking up
at him. He hesitated a few min
utes. He knew that Jimmy thought
that Sammy Jay and Blacky the
Crow were crazy or else were tell
ing untrue stories, and he didn't
like to tell Jimmy what he had seen
himself. You see. he didn’t want
to be laughed at or thought crazy.
But he felt that he just had to tell
someone, and so finally he told Jim
my Skunk all about it. Jimmy
looked at Unc' Billy very sharply,
but Unc’ Billy was so very much in
earnest that Jimmy had to believe
that Unc’ Billy really thought he
had seen this terrible stranger. Jim
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“A husband’s starvation wage,”
says poverish Pearl, “seldom gives
a wife anything new to her back but
weight.”
©— WNU Service.
Love, Honor and Obey
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my never had heard of such a
stranger in the Green Forest. He
couldn't quite believe there was one
even after Unc' Billy had said so
But he didn't like to say so. You
see, Unc’ Billy was an old friend
and he didn't want to hurt his feel
ings.
"I think I'll go up to the pond
of Paddy the Beaver and see if I
can see anything of this stranger,"
said Jimmy.
"Ah wouldn't if Ah was yo’, Br'er
Skunk! 'Deed Ah wouldn't. Yo' don'
know what he may do to yo’ with
those great claws Mah goodness.
Ah cert'nly does hope he can’t
climb trees!" Unc' Billy looked so
anxious thal Jimmy had to turn his
head so as to hide a smile.
“I’ll go ask him if he climbs trees
and then I’ll come and let you know.
Unc' Billy.” said he.
Now, Unc' Billy knew that Jimmy
Skunk is afraid of nothing and no
body unless it is Farmer Brown’s
boy when he has his terrible gun.
but he also knew that Jimmy had
never seen and had no idea of this
great stranger who had given him
such a fright, and he couldn’t be
lieve that Jimmy would dare ask
him any questions. He watched
Jimmy march off into the Green
Forest and he grinned just a little
"Br’er Skunk never hurries, but
Ah reckons Ah’U see him hurry
right smart if he meets up with
that stranger." muttered Unc' Billy
Jimmy Skunk went on until he
came to the pond of Paddy the Bea
ver, which you know is deep in the
Green Forest. Jimmy was tired and
Combating Crime With Speed in Tokyo
In the ellort to suppress crime in Tokyo the police administration
has purchased a thousand bicycles which have been distributed among
the officers stationed at street corner police boxes. These men are usu
ally the first to arrive at the scene of a crime and now can get there
more speedily.
he sat down to rest. It was very
still there. Paddy the Beaver was
nowhere to be seen. Neither was
the stranger. Jimmy grew sleepy
He made up his mind that he would
take a nap before he looked any
further, and he started to find a nice
soft spot to curl up on when he
heard a heavy step behind him.
Jimmy whirled about and there just
coming out of the bushes was the
stranger of whom Sammy Jay and
Blacky the Crow and Unc’ Billy
Possum had told, and he was just
as big and just as black and had
just such great cruel claws as they
had said.
“1 don’t know who you are, but
I’m very glad to meet you,” said
Jimmy Skunk politely.
© T. W. Burgess. —WNU Service.
i FIRST-AID TO AILING HOUSE j
■r ROGER I. WHITMAN j
--— — — --A
DODGING TROUBLE
I HAVE had more questions on
how to overcome wetness in cel
lars than on any other one subject
Questions have come from every
part of the country There is no
commoner house trouble.
In a flood, when water runs into
a cellar through the windows, it is
a catastrophe that cannot be avoid
ed But ordinary wetness, due only
to water in the ground outside the
walls or under the floor, can be
kept out by adapting the construc
tion to the conditions, and with high
quality materials and good work
manship Almost always, cellar wet
ness can be blamed on careless
ness; on poor construction; on a
failure to study ground conditions
and to plan the cellar according to
the needs.
Common faults are poor materi
als in the walls and poor workman
ship: porous mortar joints; too lit
tle mortar in the joints: low quality
concrete in poured concrete walls
and carelessness in the pouring;
thin concrete floors, and no provi
sions for drainage. All of these
causes are avoidable. I feel very
strongly that a home builder should
foresee them and insist on materials
and workmanship that will make
his cellar waterproof.
One of the commonest mistakes
is in the filling of the part of the
excavation that is outside the walls
Thi3 cavity is usually filled with the
debris of building; chunks of con
crete and plaster, old bricks, stones,
and even cut-off ends of timbers,
the whole thing being covered and
hidden by a layer of top soil. In a
rain, water running down the side of
the house soaks through the top lay
er and collects in the open spaces
beneath. It stands in a pool against
the outside of the foundation walls.
and finds its way under the floor.
The pressure that is created drives
water through weak and porous
places in walls and floor. Pressure
may be sufficient to crack the floor.
To remedy this, fill the cavity out
side the walls with solidly packed
earth. There will then be no spaces
in which water can collect; pressure
will not be created, and this cause
for cellar wetness will be complete
ly avoided. In addition, the outside
of the walls should be coated with
tar or asphalt.
The filling of the excavation is not
the only cause for cellar wetness,
but it is the commonest. Avoiding
it will add little or nothing to the
cost of construction. But whatever
the extra expense might be, it would
not compare with the cost of mak
ing the cellar dry after the house
is finished.
© By Roger B. Whitman
WNU Service.
[iiMiiiiT wonii
I By W. Curtis Nicholson
L^^OThn Amocialrd NrwMpapmvJ
IS IT ALWAYS TRUE?
THE following letter has been re
ceived from Charles Riegels:
“I would like to ask ‘The Right
Word' a question. At different
times. I have noticed that the col
umn has told its readers that the
possessive case should always pre
cede a verbal noun. I agree with
this, but is it always true that a
construction that appears like a
verbal noun construction is really a
verbal noun construction. I am re
ferring to something like this:
" ‘I have read about his refusing
the appointment.’
“In the light of my study of ‘The
Right Word,’ 1 should say that the
word ‘refusing’ is a verbal noun,
and that it is the object of the prepo
sition ‘about.’ It is for this reason
that we use the possessive ‘his’ be
fore It. But please examine the fol
lowing sentence:
“ ‘I was watching him struggling
up the incline. He looked so feeble
I wanted to go to his assistance.'
"In this sentence, is not 'him' the
object of 'watching,' and is not
‘struggling' only an adjective modi
tying ‘him’?
Mr. Riegels has analyzed this
problem very well. There is no
doubt that "refusing” is the object
of "have read” in the first sentence;
and, from the underlying thought
of the second illustration, it is ap.
parent that “I was watching him"
and noting his appearance (while
he was struggling up the incline).
Mr. Riegels should have begun
his letter with "I should like to
ask."
WNU Service
Summer Sun Below Florida
The sun never gets as far north
as Florida during the summer
months. Its rays strike the north
side of buildings far up in the tem
perate zone.
THE INDIAN BOY
By DOUGLAS MAI,LOCH
UPON the plain the Indian boy
Is playing with the white man’s
toy
And talking In the white man’s
tongue.
An Indian boy whose fathers sprung
From a long line of braves of yore
Who now are legends, nothing more
But now and then he lays aside
The white man’s toy and looks with
wide,
Wide eyes across the ancient plain.
Now ripening with the white man’s
grain,
Forgets awhile the white man’s
school.
The white man’s bounty, and his
rule.
A frightened bird stirs In her nest.
And something stirs within hi*
breast
Beneath the white man's clothes he
wears.
From plain to ridge to hill he stares.
Yes, seeking in the sky above
For something he is cheated of.
Only a legend, not a land,
A boy finds hard to understand,
Only a legend he recalls
That echoes like far waterfalls,
The people of his form and face
Only a legend, not a race.
© Douglas Malloch. — WNU Service.
■iiiii:immintm:iiiiiiimiiniiiiiii,:miuiiiniiinmiiiu ■Mmmmmmmmm
In White Ermine
Snowy white ermine makes an
ideal evening coat of finger-tip
length for a young girl. The nar
row self collar which loops into a
tricky bow and the softly draped
sleeves with the skins worked on the
diagonal promote the youth idea.
n= /mm Biti AB.=ji
CRACKERS
By WARREN GOODRICH
O Bril 8) nriirat*
-‘Old McSnartph U drinkim
WNU Service
Way Back When
By JEANNE
ARTIST WAS A LAWYER’S
. APPRENTICE
HENRI MATISSE, one of the
greatest of modern French art
ists, whose works now sell for hun
dreds of thousands of francs, might
have been a commonplace lawyer
had not Fate stepped in when she
did. He was born in a small town
in Picardy in 1869, son of a wheat
dealer. His childhood was unevent
ful and he became a lawyer’s ap
prentice. Then. Fate came along
with an attack of appendicitis
which left him an Invalid for many
months. In order to keep occupied
while convalescing, he took up
painting; and it proved so fascinat
ing that he never opened another
law book.
Matisse’s first paintings, in the
early 1900s, brought but a few
francs. He and the group with
which he associated himself, all fa
mous now, were called “the wild
beasts” because of their mad style.
Their paintings outraged conserva
tives of the art world. Matisse was
accused of willful eccentricity,
senseless disregard of nature, and
a deliberate intent to advertise him
self. His paintings were refused
exhibition space in many galleries,
but slowly he built recognition for
his work. In 1927, his "Fruits and
Flowers" won first prize in the Car
negie International exhibition. In
1928, the Luxembourg galleries bid
300,000 francs for his picture, “Side
board,” but the man who,once could
hardly buy enough bread with the
few francs his work brought could
now afford to donate the picture to
them, accepting only one franc in
order to make the transaction le
gal.
m m m
SINGER WAS A BISCUIT PACKER
USUALLY we are inclined to give
too much credit to chance or
luck in analyzing the success of
prominent people, forgetting that
without the talent to take advantage
of an unexpected opportunity they
could not have risen. Helen Mor
gan's sudden rise to fame is an ex
ample.
Born in Danville, Illinois, her fa
ther died when she was very young,
leaving Helen Morgan and her
mother practically penniless. When
she was five years old, paint thrown
by another child partially blinded
her, and she had to spend a full
year in a dark room. She sang to
herself to pass the long dark hours
and later she sang in a church choir
in Chicago. There, she worked as
a manicurist, a waitress, a comp
tometer operator, and a model She
was a ribbon clerk at Marshall
Field’s department store and a bis
cuit packer for the National Biscuit
company. None of her jobs lasted
long, for her eyes were always on
the stage. She sang occasionally in
cabarets and finally got a job
through Ziegfeld in the chorus of
“Sally.” Dissatisfied, she quit, and
Billy Rose hired her to sing in his
Backstage club
That was Helen Morgan's lucky
chance. The Backstage club was
so small that she was forced to sit
on the piano! Most of us would con
sider it a disadvantage, and per
haps she did, too. But the public
was interested; she became a sen
sation, and speedily rose to fame.
Musical comedies and motion pic
tures starred her, and soon she was
singing in a night club named for
her, at a salary of $1,500 per week.
Today she is known the world over.
Perhaps, if Helen Morgan had not
had to sit on the piano in the Back
stage club, she would never have
risen to stardom. Perhaps, she
would have sung comparatively un
known for a couple of years, and
gone back to manicuring or biscuit
packing. But, remember, she had
something worth delivering when
she sat on that piano.
FEMININE TECHNIQUE
Marjorie Gestring, Olympic 3 me
ter springboard champion, gets off
to a good start with plenty of what it
takes for a full twisting dive.
It is hardly believable that this
young lady’s tender years carry
enough weight to get the most out
of such a heavy board, but—
— what could be more graceful
than this flight into the higher alti
tudes of fame?
Not everyone can twist like this,
while in mid-air and still expect
their bridgewoi'k to remain in its
proper anchorage.
A beautiful recovery and in perfect
form—Ah! What form, what form!