The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-11-22

Of GOODNESS. As for the dryness OF the
air. It is sometimes painful in its results,
ones skin. and especially that of ones
lips, having a tendency to crack and
bleed unless It be kept soft with some
sort of salve. On the other hand. thanks
is exceedingly rare.
Davos. when once the visitor has be-
come aeelimatized. Is pleasant place
all the year round. except in April, May
and June; but It is most delightful in
midWinter, when, for several successive
months, 1t is probably the best place in
Europe for skating. tobogeaning, curling
and skiing There are few more d.
hghtful places for skating than the Dutch
poiders, but you can never count upon
nnuing frost, even In Friesland or Gran
ingen.
Davos does not disappoint In that wav.
In November or early December. after n
few preliminary calls. the winter frost
arrives to stay. Thenceforth each nights
adds to the thickness of the ice on lake
and rink, and rarely does the sun. in
spite Of is great power, again noisten
the surface until March As a place in
which to spend a winter holiday there
is nothing like It on this side of the At
lantic. But thoroughly to enjoy it you
should be young, healthy and able-bod-
led. Davos has it's uses as a curative or
ameliarative resort for certain forms Of
disease, but 1t is as a winter Paradise
for the hale and strong that 1t best de-
esrves notice. The combined charms of
snow, ice an air like champagne, the
deepest blue skies and the most brilliant
sunshine can be fully understood.
The conditions of life In Mars have
often been portrayed for us by specula-
tive scientists and scientific romancers
We know that If beings approximately
like ourselves exist upon the surface of
that planet, they must be creatures with
abilities, and disabilities quite different
from those which belong to us on earth.
They have to contend with much less of
the attraction of gravitation; they have
bitterer winters and briefer summers;
they live under lighter atmospheric
pressure, and, consequently, in a more
rarified air, than we, and while their
water, If they have any, boils at tenn
perature which would be scarcely intol-
cradle to the human hand, they possibly
find compensation In the facts that, other
things being equal, they are far more ac-
tive and enduring than their cousins on
earth; that our record high jump or
cricket ball throw would be considered
by the Martians as but a. poor perform
ance for any healthy child, and that
Mars has less cloud and more sunshine
than earth.
At present there are no facilities for
travelling to Mars, and for enjoying to
the full conditions so different from those
Of the sphere to which we are accustom-
ed. But in modest way we can ex-
perience an approach to the conditions
by going up in a balloon, or by gaining
the summit of high mountain. Neither
in q balloon, however, nor at the top of
any one of the very high mountains of
the world, are circumstances favorable
for more than very short sojourn.
The ordinary traveller will find, as yet,
no convenient lodgings on the top of
Mount Everest $4,000 feet, and if he
wants to reside at a really high altitude
in any kind of comfort he must go in
Quito (9500 feet, in South America, or
to Leadvi1le 10,2O0 fee), in North Amer
lea. Roughly speaking, Leadville is two
miles higher than London, but, since it
is in far-off Colorado, it is not easily ac-
cessible to the majority of Englshmen.
In comparison with Leadville, plant
like Davos is, of course lowland town.
Still, It stands almost exactly mile
above London. and it is sufficiently high
up in the world to enable it to offer. upon
a small and humble scale, some of the
conditions of life in Mars. Moreover, 1t
is a modern and, relatively speaking,
large town, with good hotels, one of
which is under an English landlady and,
besides being only thirty hours from Lon
don, it can be reached by railway even
in the depth of winter.