Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-19
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

! holiday in difference to the religion Of
| the Jews?--A. J.
| A. An official Of the New York City
/ Department of Education says: 1t Is
! my understanding that the origin OF
/ Saturday never began in the cities but
/ in the rural sections of our country.
/ 1t is my understanding that it originate
/ ed in the colonial days when there were
! very few Jews in the community. l
believe Saturday began as s holiday In
! schools, because the children on the
farms had to help with thG work, so
that Sunday might be observed by the
/ family They had 10 bring in provi-
sions for the Sabbath and help in the
home so that they might staxt out TO
the nearest church which was usually
miles away"
@. What medical personnel and
/ equipment does a modern battleship
| carry?-S. H
! A The Department Of the Navy says
! that the U. S. S, West Virginia, one
i Of the newest battleships, carries one
/ commander in the Medical Corps. one
/ junior lieutenant in the Medical Corps,
one lieutenant in the Dental Corps. In
/ addition there are from 10 to Is phar-
macists mates. There is a hospital
| ward, the sick bay ward and emergency
/ operating room. There is also a dis
/ pensary. A complete line Of medical
| stores and medical supplies 40 also car
| ried.
! O. DO magpies chatter as much as
tl.at phrase indicates?-T H.
| A. The biological Survey says a mag
ME does not talk very much. This,
| however, depends on the individual bird
and its training.
@. What is the Chinese word for
| blessing r good luck?-A. c.
A. L. is a word pronounced "fu," and
/ the Chinese character expressing it Is
faVorite one with the Chinese people
for embroidering on linen or having
| placed n the walls OF their houses. IL
should be borne in mind that the wore
"fu" means blessing only when written
in this way. There are dozens Of char
acters having this same pronunciation,
all written differently and having ut
| terly different meanings.
| @. Is there any skill required in bal
| lccn racing?-F. T.
| A. There is a large element Of skin.
To get a maximum distance on bal
loon flight a pilot must make a very
careful study of the weather and q
| skillful search for favoring winds-a
search which must be made at the ex-
pense Of ballast or Of lifting gas.
| @. How much money is spent on the
| highways yearly?-C. K.
| A. The annual expenditures for rural
| highways construction and maintenance
amounted to about 81 500 ,000. 900. Be
sides this amount. apother $4,000 .000.-
900 is spent by the cities fo- street
/ facilities.
| @ Has the bobsled run been made
for the Olympic Winter Games next
Winter?-P. w.
! A., 1t has been in operation this
Winter 1t is known as the Mount Van
! Hoevenberg Olympic bob run, and was
opened at Lake Placid last Christmas
| day. During the season which has just
closed 6. different persons rode down
this great slide.
Q. Did 4Ienry Clay refuse to sign the
treaty of Ghent?-T. F. G.
A. After five months of parleying at
Client and a convention had been writ
ten Clay said of it that "it is damned
bad treaty, and don't know whether
I will sign 1t or not" but along with
the other American commissioners he
did put his signature to the document
CT December "a, 1914.