The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-08-21
HORSE LATITUDES.


Weather, gives an explanation of the
curious name by which the tropical calm
belts are sometimes known-that of
Horse Latitudes. The NAME" he says,
would seem. though, to belong in strict
ness only to the northern belt; for the
account commonly given of its origin is
that vessels carrying cargoes of horses
from New England to the West Indies
were so often caught in tropical Gains
and compelled by the shortening supply
of fresh water to cast some of the horses
overheard as to make the region by
word for this experience.
LACE THAT GROWS ON TREES.
Alpheus Hyatt Verrill, author of ''Har-
per's Book for Young Naturalsts, tells
of a tree cloth or lace which Indian girls
in South America use for clothes. "In
order to procure this beautiful MATERIAL"
he says, lit is only necessary to break
open a branch of the lace tree, pull out
the pith, and unroll it into sheets. Often
these sheets of delicate fiber are over
yard square, and they are used by the
South American girls and ladies as wells,
handkerchlefs, qulto-netting, por-
there's, sheetings, etc. Although very deli
cate and pretty. yet the lace is extreme
ly strong, and is often made into harness,
ropes, hammocks, and even suspension
bridges across the mountain streams. 1t
is so abundant that it is seldom washed,
for it is far easier to cut some new lace
from nearby tree than to wash that
which is soiled.'
CONRAD'S FIRST ENGLISH SHIP.
Joseph Conrad has told in his book.
"A Personal Record" how he happened
to become an English writer. What is
perhaps not so we'll known is how he, a
Polish aristoerat, entered the British ma
rne. From his fifteenth year, though
he ''had not six words of the language
in which he afterwards wrote ''Nostro-
mo" and 1.-The Mirror of the Sea-" his
ambition was to be an English seaman
After much opposition he began to see
his way clear and he has recorded his
emotion when his hand first touched an
English ship. "There are Ships" he
says, 81 have known well by sight whose
name l have forgotten; but the name of
that ship seen once so many years ago in
the clear flush of a cold, pale sunrise
have not forgotten. How could 1.-The
first English ship on whose side l ever
laid my hand. The name-I read it let
Ter Nv lSIl6I vi lIe UOW was JdII6S
Westoll.' Not very romantic, you will
say; The name of very considerable,
well-known, and universally respected
James Westoll'. What better name
could an honorable, hard working ship
have? To me the very grouping of the
letters is alive with the romantic feeling
of her reality as l saw her floating
motionless and borrowing an ideal grace
from the austere purity of the light.
Gar TROUBLES.
eff "Car Troubles" by Harold Whit
ing Slauson, M. E., is one of the briefest
and thinnest books ever published, it is
also, and partly for that very reason, one
of the most Immediately useful. Little
more than dozen papers serve to CLASH
fly alphabetically by their symptoms all
the ills that the motor is heir to, and
to indicate the remedy with perfect
clearness. There are six general captions
Clutch Troubles, Engine Troubles, Fuel
Troubles, 1gnition-S System Troubles, Lu-
brirating- System Troubles, and Water
Cooling Troubles. Under each heading
the specific symptoms are arranged al
meath each of these ub-headings is a
causes, with the remedy to be applied in
each case. Nobody should be at loss
10 find anything in this book, which
is so much better than muddled memo
ry or an unguided gift of guessing that
nobody but an expert would wish to be
without it. 1t condenses into a brief
space a deal of mechanical knowledge
and practical experiences of motor lido
syncrasies. The volume is printed upon
extra-heavy durable paper, and cannot
we'll be thumbed to pieces or torn; it is
sn all enough to be slipped into the pock-
ct and brief enough almost to be memo
rized. To the motorist, "Car Troubles"
of trouble, and with the assistance it
offers, every one it seems, who has eyes
to see and ears to hear should be able to
treat his car intelligently.