TWO-MINUTE
BIOGRAPHIES
KING CAROL
About seven years ago the roust
about son of beloved Queen Marie
returned to Rumania and became
king to succeed his nine-year-old
son. Prince Michael. At that time
he had been twice married, first to
a peasant girl and next to beauti
ful Princess Helen of Greece. Di
vorced, he formed a boon compan
ionship with the red-haired Mme.
Magda Lupescu, whose presence in
Rumania has long scandalized thou
sands.
At first an admirer of western
democracies, King Carol has more
recently veered to Fascism. He is
now in the news because of a recent
coup d'etat in which he made him
self virtual dictator of Rumania.
Carol lives sumptuously in the
new royal palace at Bucharest with
Prince Michael. Here he receives
dignitaries and peasants alike, often
surprising his people with his strong
concern about their problems. He
is not highly popular, though Ru
manians are interested in him.
Carol’s personal life is too expen
sive, it is charged, with special ref
erence to his palace.
When he works, he works hard.
Likewise he plays hard, being an
accomplished huntsman and hiker
who joins his son in many outdoor
sports.
Uncle Sam Goes Pioneering, Ever Westward
. - ' ii ——— ■ —— ■ ■ -
THESE pictures were taken when
Director Ernest Gruening of the
United States division of territories
and island possessions visited How
land island, America's most recent
territorial acquisition in the Pa
cific. Gruening brought coconut
palm plants (above) to start in the
island’s arid soil. Then (right) he
laid the cornerstone for Amelia
Earhart lighthouse, which will send
a beam across the South Pacific
every four seconds upon radio-re
quest from approaching ships. Di
rector Gruening is at right of the
stone. Next (below) he posed with
the four strapping Hawaiians com
posing the island’s sole population.
Dutchmen Solve Housing Problem
With Long Range, 177-Year Plan
By BETTY WELLS
yOU cant beat the Dutch! With
* practically no ado at all, they've
been quietly working away at a so
lution of the housing problem that
makes the plans of other nations
look pretty incidental.
In the first place, the municipal
ities or government own 99 per
cent of the residential land, even
that which private buildings occu
py It is leased for long terms to
builders But strict supervision of
structures and upkeep of buildings
is maintained. And government
loans are very easily available for
building when adequate quarters
Spririg Stripes
are not otherwise obtainable. All
rooms and houses for sale or rent
must be listed with the government
so that the supply and demand can
be closely followed.
Working men’s apartments are
usually government built and
owned. They are attractively laid
out with modern improvements and
pretty gardens while the better-off
families can have nicer places or
even estates, so there is plenty of
incentive for individual enterprise.
The present housing program be
gan in 1833 and the plan is worked
out as far ahead as the year 2000.
The results of the present housing
laws have been drastic decrease
of drunkenness, tuberculosis and
crime.
But maybe we can’t blame all of
Holland’s good conditions on hous
ing. Equal suffrage existed there
before it did in the United States,
and if you fail to vote you have
to explain why to the judge.
© By Betty Wells.—WNU Service.
BEDTIME STORy|
By THORNTON BURGESS
D EDTAIL the Hawk was lazily
I'- sailing round and round high in
the air. very much after the man
ner of Or Mistah Buzzard. He was
doing it for two reasons—because
he just loves to sail round and
round that way and look down on
all that is going on in the Green
Meadows and in the Green Forest,
and because he was getting hungry
and he was trying to make up his
mind what he wanted most for his
dinner. He wasn’t very particular,
not really. There were several
things he could think of that would
taste good. There was Chatterer
the Red Squirrel. He had had his
eye on Chatterer for some time,
but somehow Chatterer always
managed to give him the slip. There
was Danny Meadow Mouse. He
wouldn’t make a very big dinner,
but he would be tender and very de
licious. It was very annoying that
Danny managed to keep himself out
of sight so rpuch these days. Then
there were Mr. Greensnake and
Granfather Frog. But Mr. Green
snake was hard to see unless he
happened to be moving, and Grand
father Frog was so old and wise
that Redtail had about given up
trying to catch him. He had just
about decided to go over to the
Smiling Pool and try for one of
Grandfather Frog’s foolish children,
when he heard the voice of Blacky
the Crow down below him.
Redtail’s sharp eyes twinkled. "I
wonder what Blacky sees now.”
thought he. “If it can get him so
excited as all that, I guess I will
have a look myself.”
With that he sailed swiftly over
the Green Forest until he was right
over Blacky the Crow, who was in
the top of a big pine tree. Blacky
was so busy watching what was go
ing on below him that he didn’t see
Redtail at all. Now, Redtail's eyes
With that he sailed swiftly over
the Green Forest until he was right
over Blacky the Crow.
are very, very sharp, and, looking
down from high up in the blue, blue
sky, he could see all that Blacky
saw and more, too. He saw Peter
Rabbit dodging this way and that
way for his life, with Reddy Fox
right at his heels. He saw Old Man
Coyote and Granny Fox hurrying up
and he felt sure that when they got
there Peter wouldn’t have the least
chance in the world. He surely
would be caught by one of them,
and that would be the end of him.
Right away Redtail made up his
mind that neither Reddy Fox nor
Granny Fox nor Old Man Coyote
should have Peter Rabbit if he could
help it. Not that he meant to help
Peter. Oh, my, no! The fact is. he
meant to have Peter for his dinner.
He sailed down, down out ot the
blue, blue sky almost to the tree
tops and no one saw him. Then as
Peter ran liperty - liperty - lip
across a little open place, he closed
his wings, and with his great cruel
claws spread wide he shot down
like a brown thunderbolt to seize
Peter just as Granny Fox sprang
out from her hiding place and Red
dy came tearing along at Peter’s
heels. And, like them, Redtail the
Hawk was just a wee, wee bit too
late—Peter was safe under a big
pile of brush.
© T. W. Burgess.—WNU Service
AMAZE A MINUTE I
_SCIENTIFACTS ^ BY ARNOLD_
Color
counts -
Butterflies
GO TO
PAPER
flowers
JUST THE
SAME
WAY AS
REAL FLOW
ERS, SHOW
ING COLOR
AND NOT
ODOR
ATTRACTS
THEM.
150,000 FLYING PIECES/
Commercial biplanes are
MADE OF AS MANY AS 150,000
\ PARTS, NEARLY HAL!" OF WHICH ARE
IN THE WINGS.
L
Two-dollar bills
There are 500,000,000
ONE-DOLLAR BILLS IN CIRCULATION
AGAINST ONLY 25,000.000
TWO-DOLLAR BILLS.
(Copyright, by The Boll Syndicate, Inc.)
Stripes, one of fashion’s favorite
devices for spring gayety, are used
most effectively in this daytime
frock worn by Annabella, French
star currently seen in the Twentieth
Century-Fox picture, "The Baroness
and the Butler.’* The dress is of
wine-red wool striped in dull blue.
Tloyd
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB
———————
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF!
‘7/e Wanted to Live”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
Hello everybody:
Today, I’ve got a swell yarn for you. It’s the story
of one of the greatest disasters in the history of the Virgin
Islands—yes, and it’s a lot more than that, too. It’s the story
of a heroic deed and a darned swell illustration of what the
will to live will do for a man—or a boy. Fellow Adven
turers, let me introduce to you Harry Zielian of Brooklyn,
the man who wanted to stay alive. And now let’s get on
with his story.
It starts in St. Thomas on the Virgin islands in the year 1907, 10
years before the United States acquired that territory from Denmark.
Harry’s father was a judge under the Danish government. He lived in
St. John, but Harry and his brother Ed had gone with the local cricket
team to play a match with the team of the St. Thomas high school and
were returning on the sloop Sea Gull. There were 21 people on the Sea
Gull including the entire St. John cricket team and a woman with four
young children. They set out from St. Thomas about six-thirty in the
evening on July 13—sailed out of the harbor close-hauled in a freshening
breeze.
Their Sloop Capsized in the Gale.
In three-quarters of an hour, that breeze had become a gale.
A few moments later a “spinner” struck the sloop broadside
and knocked it completely over.
In less time than it takes to tell it the sloop capsized and sank. Harry
fras sitting at the stem, and he dived into the water as she went over.
He called to his brother who had gone below a few minutes before the
spinner struck but he got no answer. For a while he treaded water. As
he did so he felt a small body rub against his and raised it to the surface.
It was a little boy—the four-year-old son of the woman who had been
aboard the Sea Gull with him. He was dead, and Harry let his body
go again. It was four miles to shore, and it would be a miracle it
Harry got there himself.
Three Began the Long Swim.
Four miles to shore in a raging gale. Yes, it would be a
miracle if thirteen-year-old Harry Zielian made it. But Harry
wanted to live. He turned toward land and began to swim.
He had barely started when he saw his brother Ed and his pal, Jim
fny, passing him. He called to them and told them not to swim so fast—
to save their energy if they ever expected to get ashore alive. Guided
by the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor of St. Thomas, they swam
on.
"For a while,” he says, “we could hear yells and cries from people
Who were still afloat, but after an hour all was still except for the break
of the waves as the wind continued to lash the sea to fury. We swam
for another hour, then Jimmy began to tire. Soon he was in a bad way.
Harry dived as the sloop went over.
I swam to the windward side of him, the better to protect him from the
waves and put my right hand under his left armpit. When I got tired,
Ed would relieve me. This went on for quite a while but eventually
Jimmy became so tired he couldn't raise his hand. He sank for the
first time and grabbed my shirt as he came back to the surface. I
went under and would undoubtedly have drowned if Ed had not com®
to my assistance.”
Ed kept Harry’s head above water, but poor Jimmy went
down. He clung to Harry a few seconds and then sank. There
was nothing Harry and Ed could do about It. They were lucky
to get out alive themselves.
Both boys were tired now—dog tired. BUT THEY WANTED TO
LIVE. They kept on swimming. “We had been swimming for at least
three hours,” Harry says, “and the shore seemed no nearer than be
fore. Suddenly we heard a voice calling and for a time we did not
answer for fear it might be a drowning man who would pull us down
with him as Jimmy had almost done. But at length we swam in that
direction and found Louis. Jimmy’s brother, captain of the Sea Gull.”
How the Two Lads Saved Louis.
By this time all three of them were all in—so far gone that they
agreed to swim apart so that if one went down he wouldn’t try to drag
the others with him. They swam for another hour. Then, suddenly
they heard Louis calling. “I’m going down,” he shouted. “Ive got a
cramp in my leg!”
Ed and Harry swam to him. One on each side, they held him up
until the cramp had passed. Louis kept his head. If he had lost it
and fought them, all three would have gone down together. After that
they swam on again. They were swimming in a daze, almost dead
with fatigue. BUT THEY WANTED TO LIVE1
More hours passed. They kept on swimming. At last they
felt bottom under their feet and half-stumbled, half-crawled up on
a sandy beach. It was then between two and three o’clock in the
morning and they had been swimming for seven or eight hours.
Exhausted, they dropped on the beach with the waves lapping
their feet, and fell into a dead sleep.
It was morning and the sun was shining brightly when Louis
awakened the other two. They walked up the beach in search of other
survivors, but there were none. Then they walked to the cabin of a na
tive woman who fed them and got a boat to take them home.
There’s a sequel to that story. A month later the H. M. S. Ingolf of
the Danish navy steamed into the harbor, and shortly after that the
officers of the ship were drawn up before Harry’s home while Governor
C. M. T. Cold presented Harry and Ed with life saving medals awarded
them by the king of Denmark for their rescue of Louis. They wanted to
live, those two kids—but they weren’t too busy at it to help the other
fellow.
Copyright.—WNU Service.
Cockroaches Hide During Daytime
Cockroaches have flattened horny
bodies and large spiny legs, which
enable them to move quickly. They
remain hidden by day in cracks
and crevices, coming out at night
to search for food. They are es
pecially fond of all foodstuffs liked
by man. The eggs of cockroaches
are developed within a horny cap
sule or packet, which is deposited
by the female, usually in a warm
moist place. The young nymphs
hatching from the eggs are similar
in general appearance to the adults,
but are smaller and lack wings.
They shed their skins several times
while growing. Cockroaches emit a
peculiar odor which is sometimes
imparted to food over which they
have walked.
Invented Game of Chess
It is said that the politicians of
Hindustan invented the game of
chess, or board-warfare, to keep the
minds of men off real warfare. The
Hindu name was chatur-anga, the
four angas or members of the army
—elephants, horses, chariots, and
foot-soldiers. Finding of well-worn
chessmen on the site of the ancient
city of Tepe Gawra in northern Irak
is evidence, says London Tit-Bits
magazine, that chess or some very
similar game was played by the peo
ple of Mesopotamia as early as
4000 B. C. The Persians called the
game chetrang; the Arabs, she
tranj; later the Italians corrupted
this to scacchi; whence the Ger
man schach, the French echec, and
our chess.