The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 36
- Publication:
- The Tennesseani
- Location:
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Issue Date:
- Page:
- 36
Extracted Article Text (OCR)
mmmmmtmm 'mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm- mmmmmma mm mmmmmi mmmmmmg mmmmmma mmmmmmm. 'mmmmmma mmmmmma mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmmi mmmmmmm 0000mm 00tmmm taimmmt milmmm 00000m II turn 0011mm tmaimmm tllmm mm tftmmm 0000mm 001mm 0000mm 0000ml 00003 000mm) 0000mm m0imm, mm mm mm mm. ItWOTeTefh' Etoirigrnsg Country Mop mm mm mm if mmmmmml mmmmmmm mmmmmma 09000 '0000100 mmmm mmmmmmm. mm rUR men swear to It ont of them an important photographer, another a government official, a third a distinguished Britistfi artist, and the last a native. In the steaming jungles ot Ceylon, after weeks of hardship, they reached the hidden temple of Katargama, more ancient than the jungle surrounding it.
Mr. Brooke-Farrar. the artist, was planning to do sketches of the exotic temple from photographs; Mr. G. A.
Smith, a photographer from the Colombo, had along a motion picture camera mo as to do a travelogue; and the government official with, his assistant had been prevailed upon to sUd them in getting to the secret jungle shrines. When at last they atrrived, the granite temple seemed to start from the very edge of the jungle; no sooner were they out the underbrush thin they were at the steps leading to the sacred entrmnce. There, on the carved steps, they beheld a temple grirl dancing In a religious ecstasy. The Tamil woman, almost indecently in the full light of day, It seemed to them, was shrieking; and trembling with the passion of her dance. Her slight costume as she whirled was like a denying knowledge of any such woman.
There was, he declared, a "death woman" who danced on the temple steps every year, but those who saw her were accursed. Indignant at the abysmal ignorance and superstition of the fellow, the explorers let him go. It didnt matter much that they didn't know the girl's name. She was no doubt attached to the temple In some way, and so was respected by the' natives, perhaps being one of the paid dancers who are Introduced into strange rites at an early age. Perhaps it was Imagination; but they began to feel that all eyes were on them.
Word may have spread that these white men had seen the "death goddess" and it looked as If the pilgrims were inclined to fulfill the threat of her name by killing those who had looked upon her. For the tradition, It turned out to that those who behold the mysterious dancing girl are themselves deadly and contagious. If they were to be killed. It would be with disgust and without pity. The explorers consulted among themselves hastily and decided leave wjthout' delayr If IT ALL '-omen down to one thing, says the British Industrial Health Research Board In a recent report The strong man's job la being taken over by machines which he isn't fast enough to operate.
That is how it happens that In Industry the strong; man is being replaced by the dancing type of man. A generation or two ago, when most of the systems of gymnasium exercises were. being worked out Industry still had many heavy tasks for manual labor, and it was ready to pay well for the loan" who could 'fen an ox or pick up a quarter ton Ingot of iron. Nowadays what workers in factories need Is strength least of all, but rather an atillty to do the most work with the least waste effort Speed is Important, and so is precision, according to the report "Factory fatigue," for Instance, has been discovered by the Research Board after years of study to be caused, not by over-use of the muscles, but always from boredom of the nerves, or exhaustion of them. The solution for this, says the scientists, is not to develop muscles, but to train for agility and the enjoyment of rhythmic motion.
From such indications It might be decided that the best training for employment is not the old-time "setting up" exercises, but the seemingly more frivolous pastime of dancing, whether acrobatic dancing or the ballroom kind. This means, according to the experts, that old attitudes must be changed. Most of the setting-up exercises used in physical training courses are of the old type, intended chiefly to develop strength instead of grace. Advertisements Of physics! culture courses guaranteed to produce "strong men" still are in the majority, It Is indicated; and this also la contrary to the direction that industry in general Is taking. The London scientists add that this trend is not restricted to the commercial world either.
Even in the army, they say, the day of the strong man Is past There, too, agility, quickness and accuracy In handling machines are now far more important than muscular strength, in peace or in war, strong man is taring: out Samson, the great strong man of Biblical times, was A RED flannel undershirt' or a tablecloth was an urgent call A blue denim shirt or pair of overalls meant a baby was on the way. A white shirt towel or pillowcase meant that there was somebody ailing but that It wasn't serloua A child's red or white dress announced that a child was ill, red meaning serloua, white meaning Those were the "distressing signals' that guided the route of Dr. George Bicknell Cleveland, of Indian Head In Maryland, for 31 years until just the other day. Every day he covered more than 100 square miles, In the early years by horse, and later by car. On Vis routs he travelled the arterial highways of his district regardless of weather conditions.
As he rods along, he kept a weather eye open for the mail boxes and newspaper tubes, since from these the signals were hung. I When he started opt of a morning, he never knew where he was needed. Often he traveled 60 or more miles before seeing his first summons. But as soon as he'd spy the telltale garment, towel or sheet, he'd turn off, the highway and clatter; and bang with his Iron buggy over the rough back roads down to the river or 00 miles back In the woods where he was needed. The reason for it was that his patients lived In houses scattered all through the sparsely populated farm country.
And, although he had a telephone, it was of little use to him because not one of his patients In that vast Nanjemoy District of Charles County which he serves had telephones until Just the other day. There was actually no telephone system in the district and so his 1,500 and mors patients had to depend on the most primitive methods of summoning aid. To leave the necessary signal that the doctor could see, often some member of the household would have to tramp the miles to the highway during the night to "hoist" the call for help. Often by the time he arrived it was too late to deliver the baby, for example. Some neighbor would likely as not have played the part of obstetrician, and all he had to do was to approve the work.
lorn veil rcvesung the Infinite. SbV danced on a carved moonst one, and she seemed to wear rings of jeweled moonstone on her hands at least, her hands flashed in the sunlight as she danced. Then the danos was over, the musical accompaniment died abruptly away, and the beautiful girl vanished. Less professional men might well, have forgotten what they cam for, to Impelling and a 1 nating was her dance. But the three cameramen could think of this magnificent dance only In terms they stayed longer, the temper of the natives might turn ugly at the very least, their cameras would be smashed.
They plunged back into the jungle without a baekw a glance, deciding there was no further reason for staying. True, they had not made the travelogue and the pictures they had taken gavs only the sketchiest outline of the fabulous place. But there was the possibility of danger, and also they were becoming obsessed by the thought of the girl they had filmed. They were somehow con rzrz f00 jm, ssn? The Excited Cameramea Ground Away to Catch the First Pictures of the Myssterloot Dancer But, Later, VThea They Developed Their Film, They Discovered That She Was Invisible to the Camera's Eye. of showing? It to I -I others when they got back to civilization.
The light was good, the timing right and. as they stood on the steps before her they were able to see her plainly In the camera-finders when the picture was taken, according to their own statement It was a happy moment for the strangers. They had the first known record of a religious transport in the mysterious temple of Katargama, had It Imprisoned in their little black hoxw more cieeurly than words could ever convey. Or so they thought. Much later, when the pictures were developed, they caume out perfectly except that there was no sign of the Rlrl in them.
At the time, the explorers went ahead to see the rest of the temple and to take snore pictures. They were satis-fled to know that they had ten separate photographs and a good many feet of moving- picture film of the girl's astonishing performance. All that they saw after it, however, seemed to be an anti-climax. The elaborate animal rings in the stone floors, the guardstones to the steps, the ornate carvings of the nine-headed cobra and the dragon-lion in the granite temple with braxen roofs were things they would have been enthusiastic about before. But not now.
The more they thought about the dancer, the more they were fascinated. Mr. Brooke-Farrar, the artist, regretted that he hadn't taken a sketch of the girl. He wanted the chance to do so, and asked the Cingalese assistant to find out her name. The temple, which nine months of the year cannot be reached at all, was teeming, with Hindus and Buddhists, thousands of whom annually make a holy pilgrimage to it from all parts of Ceylon and even India.
But whenever the assistant to the explorers asked one of the pilgrims about the woman, he was stared it and then avoided. One native of Ceylon they managed to comer and ask why the people were so terrified at mention of the religious dancing girl. But this one only rolled hli eyes and shook his head. vinced that the pictures they had taken were worth a dozen travelogues. Already the memory of her was fading from thir minds and they were tempted to develop the films in the "dark room" of the jungle Itself.
But it seemed more important to get back with their pictures of the dance of ecstasy. The girl, it seemed to them, had something immortal about her that transcended anything in life. They did get back, finally, and since no word had been heard from them for some time it was with a feeling of festivity and relief that they were greeted. A welcome party was at once organized and the four of them, having scarcely had time to bathe and shave and dress, were hustled to the reception. It was attended by the Acting Governor, Mr.
M. M. Weddenburn. Soon the explorers were telling him about the films which they had not yet had time to develop. The governor was Interested and suggested that they develop the films on the spot Agreeing to this readily, they sent a boy for the films, and soon they were at work in the cloak-room converting their photographie records into visible proofs of what they had seen.
To their complete astonishment there In the center of the moonstone on which the girl danced. Was no girl at alL The pictures were all perfect, except for that detail. Picture after picture was developed, but no sacred girl in a fiery dance showed up. The phbtographers, curiously enough, are now aroused. They want to go back even If it endangers their Uvea to get at the bottom of the vanishing girl.
Such things, they declare, do not happen; even though Pliny, the ancient Roman historian, knew a way of becoming invisible that called for a diet of dragon heads and dragon tails. Fortunately, they must wait until next year when the rainy season holds up again and will let them pass back to the pagan shrine of Katargama with their cameras. By then, they may be willing to let well enough alone. mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm00i Odnaped A Corpse If For teom mmfmmmmt The Strong Mu'i Job, Says the Scientists, Bu Bern Taken Over by Lighter and More Agile Worker Who Can Operate Machines That Big and Muscular Individuals Are Too Slow and Heavy-handed to Run. able to control the Philistines, who feared him, ao long as he was able to keep his fabulous strength.
Yet In a modern factory his strong and muscle-bound arms would have little value and he might get caught in the machinery because of his slow movements. Though he tor down the Temple, nowadays he would probably be replaced by the machine even in the house-wrecker's trade. Rustlcellus, an ancient Roman worthy said to have picked up his mule every now and then to amuse his friends, might still be a "card" to his friends if he lived now, but Industry would probably disregard htm. Atlas, the mythical Greek hero, who carried the world on his might find himself next to Hercules on the breadline in our modern times. That doesn't mean there isn't just as much lifting, pushing and pulling to be done.
There's more of it than ever before, but such super-tasks are increasingly being done with machines. Learning to dance the rhumba may turn out to be the best preparation in the world for a factory job. But the man who always steps on his partner's toes would not be hired. Neither would the person wha can't keep time to music, for a poorly developed sense of rhythm keeps one from working at an even rate of speed. And then the machine would be "out of step" with the operator.
Future applicants for factory jobs may find themselves given dancing testa to show fitness. Good tap dancersmlght be chosen for work that needs quick, staccato movements. An old-fashioned square dance might help a person to change from one motion or operation to another. In some silk factories, for Instance, It takes almost a perpetual waits to keep the threads unbroken. Actual music and dancing have already been used in factories to help workers rest when they are tired.
In England, afternoon tea is often served to weary factory 'dancers." But such "sissy" methods for getting efficiency are not altogether new. Cotton pickers and chain gangs sing at their work to make their task eaaier. The Volga boatmen and armies alike find that efficiency sometimes increases with melody. Rhythm was the real power that moved the ships in the days of galley slaves. Only now a new value is put on working rhythm because it no longer calls for sheer strength.
Thus daily are the alow Ooliaths In Industry being made to realize that the more agile Davids are getting the best factory jobs and the best pay. As the British report points out, physical exercise la of real value only when the body can take advantage of It. "Few employers," it explains, "now want a man who can only push and pulL It is worth remembering that the strong, muscle-bound, cheat-expanded sergeant-major, with a straight back, is little in demand for industrial work. Training, nowadays, alms more through rhythmic exercises (as the Scandinavians were among the first to show) at the production of a lithe alertness. Ability to acquire "knack." which is the result of quickness In muscular response, Is in general a sufficient substitute for man-power, even in weight-lifting.
Exercises designed to develop agility and lissomeneee are likely at the same time to develop In the body a capacity to maintain more easily the postures which may have to be endured In Industrial life: and to teach It how to do Its work with a minimum of un -coordinated and useless effort" Dr. Cleveland Used to Drive Along the Country Roads, Keeping His Eye Peeled for Ruck Signals of Distress as a Suit of Bed Underwear, a Checkered Tablecloth, Or Some Other Symbol That His Services Were reded. Frequently Dr. Cleveland was forced to abandon his car because of the Impassable condition of the roads, and then he would have to tramp miles through woods and across fields, carrying his two suitcases filled with medicines. There is no registered pharmacist in the county and Dr.
Cleveland is both physician and druggist When Dr. Cleveland begin practising in 1906, he traveled on horseback. About 1915, he bought an automobile. A car generally lasts him from seven to nine months. Recently he consigned his 29th car to the junk pile that is all they are good for when he is finished with them.
But now, instead of following this "blind" and pioneering kind of route method of travel, he is able to plan his trip before he starts. He knows exactly where he must go first, which call is the most urgent, and which one Is Just another "belly-ache." the treatment of which can be told over the telephone. For now a telephone service has been Inaugurated connecting Dr. Cleveland with every square mile of his territory and giving the Inhabitants their first constant communication with the outside world. It migrht seem unbelievable that this once prosperous tobacco section within 30 miles of the nation's capital city should have been denied this modern convenience.
Even darkest Africa enjoys better communication; lacking telephones, the natives there are able by means of the tomtoms to send news of danger and to summon help. But the Nanjemoy District on the Potomac In South-? era Maryland, within the shadoV of the Capitol's Dome, has the satisfaction that while everybody can't be first, it probably is the last community to get telephone communication. For on January 1st, the district began to enjoy, for the first time, the conveniences of electricity. A county co-operative plant, aided by REA funds, began to function on that day. The telephone's arrival In the county Is expected to bring about a considerable reduction in loss from fires.
And the gravest concern over eccident and illness Is now solved. All these years the great problem was how to reach Dr. Cleveland in a hurry. In emergencies one either walked, rods horseback, or if fortunate enough to own an automobile, drove to his office in Indian Head. If he was out In his district there was little hope of reaching him until hs returned.
Night calls were made almost Impossible. There was Uttle to be gained by a whole night trip, for the doctor was bound to be along a few hours after dawn. Still, "he who laughs last, laughs best" goes the saying. By being the "last" outpost to get telephones, Nanjemoy also has the best and newest equipment Engineers all over the country are watching the results of this, the first entirely automatic system to be installed. No human aid is needed In the operation of the robot exchange.
There are no telephone poles or visible wires' It's all underground, put there by a new machine which digs -trenches an inch wide by feet deep, stretches the wlree refills the" trench, and packs-H, all in one. In short, the" heroic lineman who risked his life off the ground on "hot" wires may soon vanish like the very "doctors on horseback" whose work he made easier. Thus Nanjemoy County finds that to be last sometimes makes It possible to be first the coffin lid screwed off, revealing the theft A neighbor called the police, who found the ransom note but didn't give out all the details of the note. The parents, overcome with grief, could only sob that they had no enemies and did not know why this was done to them. "We are poor people," the mother said; "everybody in Streetsvllle knows we could not pay $100." The note scrawled by the corpse-snatcheri and addressed to the parents said the money would have to be paid "before your boy will be returned." But curiously 4 the note left no directions as to where the money should be delivered.
Maybe a dog frightened them away, it Is thought before the note was completed. It Is supposed the body was put in the ditch for safe keeping until the ransom would be paid. But the playing school children spoiled that The 20-year-old youth, who was not allowed to rest in peace, must have been easy to carry he weighed only 55 pounds when' he died, having wasted away from an intestinal tumor. The cruel and criminal cashing in on the grief of bereaved parents has roused the peaceful community to a pitch of passion which would have been dangerous for the kidnapers, except that nobody has been able to trace them. Although the community Is only about 20 miles west of Toronto, the second biggest city In Canada, crime until this happened was almost a myth to the residents and something to read about In the papera- Though corpse kidnaping Is much simpler than abduction of the living, it la generally believed that its unpleasant nature will prevent it from becoming popular with criminals.
SHIRLEY. Bernlce, Florence and James, on the way home from school one recent afternoon, found a swell, deep ditch to explore a mile from the village. "Come on." shouted James, and Jumped In. The girls were more timfd about getting their clothes dirty and just leaned over to watch. Then they all saw the same thing, and Shirley screamed, it was the horrid corpse of a young mem, terribly thin like i stick, lying at the bottom of the ditch.
James jumped out of that pit as though the devil himself were sufter him, All four, with fear in their hearts, went running hack to the village. They knew whose body It was they saw in the ditch. Everybody In Streetsvllle knew about Hayden Pope, whose grave was found robbed only the day before. In Canada a kidnaping used to be looked upon as something fantastic that happens In the United States. But it remained for the province of Ontario to experience an even more ghoulish kind of crime, the victim of which was found by the four playing children.
A dead youth was taken from the local graveyard where hi was freshly buried, and the body waa hidden for ransom. Hayden Pope in life had been a hard-working, well-known young man who waa planning to marry tr the time he became 111. When he died, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Anson Pope, although extremely poor, managed to have a funeral for him that was attended by most everybody in town.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," Intoned the minister as the coffin waa lowered into the grave that was so soon to be profaned. The next morning Mrs. Robert Edwards, a family friend, visited the cemetery to arrange the flowers on the grave. She waa shocked to find the coffin unearthed and 1981, bj Amcrksa Weekly, Inc. Great Britain Rights Reserved..
Get access to Newspapers.com
- The largest online newspaper archive
- 300+ newspapers from the 1700's - 2000's
- Millions of additional pages added every month
Publisher Extra® Newspapers
- Exclusive licensed content from premium publishers like the The Tennessean
- Archives through last month
- Continually updated
About The Tennessean Archive
- Pages Available:
- 2,714,345
- Years Available:
- 1853-2024