Evening star., 1924-07-27
Dog Days, Noo Feared, We're Adored
BY Egyptians Before Tut-Ankh-Ame,,
Sirius, After Which Star
Period Takes Name,
indicated Good Crops.
District CANNES Suffering
From, Superstition, Is
Report From Pound.

| Dog days to barefoot. youth means
when scum forms on ponds and slug
gish streams checking swimming de-
lights. The parental ban upon swim
ming becomes sterner, and, of course,
the joy of "goin' in" greater.
To the savants of the Naval OBJ
| servatory dog days have astronomi-
cal significance. They are, that Is to
say, coincidental with the heliacal
rising of Sirius, the dog star. Thus
you get over the head Of the barefoot
| boy and some bald-head men, As
near as layman Of the man in the
street type can reduce the star-gazers'
| language to understandable terms.
| the heliacal rising of Sirius, or of any
other star. is the first rising of the
star each year in time to be seen
| before sunrise.
| Back before the days of Tut-Ankh-
Amen; doubtless. the Egyptians per-
celved that Sirius rose just about or
Just before the time OF the annual
| overflowing of the Nile, which en-
riched their lands and made bounti-
ful crops; hence. the Egyptians had
an altogether benevolent attitude
toward dog days. They began about
July and the period lasted to
August IL.
Appears in Hottest Season.
In other countrieS the rising of
Sirius was coincidental with the hot
test season of the year and the fash
ION came about that diseases
peculiar to this period were associat-
ed with the star. SO that the attitude
| toward dog days was one of fear
| This is largely the current view of
ooS days, with the addition of an as
! sumption that it is the period when
dogs go mad and bite people. The
| dogs, like the barefoot boy, know
nothing of Sirius, however
One Of these days. according to the
| astronomers, Sirius will play a dog
gone trick on dog days. For Sirius
rises a little later each year, and
in the course of time it may rise in
the dead of winter! Then it may be-
| come the fashion to blame FROST
bites and automobile starter trou-
bles upon the star. A keith's circuit
| smart actor will provoke a laugh
put the star in starter.
| Sirius, parenthetically, is the
| brightest OF all the stars in the
| heavens. 1t seems too beautiful to
| be picked on by mortals associ~eing
evil with it, The ancients set the
was star of i'll omen. The name
Sirius is Latin from the Greek mean
| ing "scorching." The Egyptians
| called it '.Sothis." The ancients had
a way of drawing lines from star
to star in such way as to make a
| good likeness of a dog, and Sirius
was in the mouth of this dog. The
| whole constellation is called CAMS
| Major, CAMS being the Latin for dog.
Dogs Give Their Views.
At the District pound. where dogs
who forget their manners and bite
| people are brought for execution, the
subject of dog days naturally is
more engrossing than the presiden-
| tial election. One dog with a face
| that gave no indication of a malicious
| disposition was overheard as follows
giving a free translation of dog
| language:
| "Fellers: Dogs don't get justice
| When the sun beats hot on gol1
links and men get kinder riled anG
maybe smack each other about q
little, do they get sent to the hoose'
| gov? They do not Most of the
| time nobody pays any attention to it
but in a while some notice is taken