davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1936-08-01
Ships
Continued From PaSe BID

the ships, although it would seem
impossible for any one to get aboard
except by climbing the Mount YER
mons ladder, the top Of which ends
at a landing where barred doors
block entrance to the ship. However,
the four still patrol the vessels, for
they are an important part of the
national defense.
In touring the ships flashlights are
required to light the cabins, state
rooms, dining salon, lounges and gal
leys. We went first to the bridge,
from which one gazes dizzily down to
the decks, which seem hundreds of
feet away. Gone are the compasses
and navigating instruments which
could be quickly replaced
Going down from the bridge, we
entered the main salon, a picture OF
desolation. Musty air greets the Wis
itor. On the once highly polished
floors tinsel, which had rusted and
fallen from the loaded windows OF
the skylight, Uttered boards which
have been tapped by thousands OF
dancing feet. Beautiful paneling is
dull and lusterless, yet beneath the
coating of dust the rich grain ot
lovely wood almost seems to call fol
polishing cloths and wax.
Down in the dining salon the same
depressing impression is received.
Wherever you go in the sections OF
Evening star., 1936-08-01

the ship devoted to the passengers
and their service an odor OF mold Is
predominant. You can't get rid of it.
1t is a relief to step into the engine
rooms. Here the air changes. In
stead of mustiness, the odor Of clean
paint is in your nostrils. Here the
ship is not neglected. Cleanliness and
oil, fresh paint and oil, shining brass
and OIL Here is where the Govern
ment is spending about $1,000 a
month to keep the boats ready for
service.
The Shipping Board doesn't want
the boats. They'll never be in passen-
ger service again. You can't sell an
old model auto In these days OF
Streamlining. The Shipping Board
keeps the boats only because the War
and Navy Departments want them
kept. But just let the Army or the
Navy need them and that $1,000 a
month being spent to keep them In
running order will be cheap, about as
cheap an investment in national de-
fense as the Government ever made.
Evening star., 1936-08-01

booming sound. "The general effect"
says Kennan, was that Of a short,
thin electric discharge, striking and
igniting a pocket Of inflammable gas
In the cloud of volcanic vapor." Prob
ably the real explanation of these
stellar outbursts is that the lightning
discharges pass through and volatilize
some of the chunks of rock spouted
up from the crater.
Most lightning is white or yellow
Some flashes are Redeemed by hydro
gen, resulting from the dissertation OF
rain water along the path of discharge
Green lightning was reported recently
} the Weather Bureau in connection
with tornadoes in the Southern States
A tornado stirs up a great deal of dust
and some Of this may be of such com.
position that when it is volatilized b.
the passage of lightning through i
the spectrum of the glowing gases i
richest in green rays.
Black lightning is common in photo
graphs. but does not exist in nature
1t is due to the reversal Of the imag
of lightning flash by the exposure o
the film or plate to a second flash be
fore the closing Of the shutter. Thi
process Of reversal is known to pho
tographers as the "Clayden effect"
Evening star., 1936-08-01
one for the news that it is q COM
paratively recent demand Of civilized
people.

one for the news that 1t Is a COM
paratively recent demand Of civilized
people.
CAN you imagine a soapless world?
~ 1t was only in the last century
that soap was manufactured plenti-
fully enough that average citizens
could get 1t.
Washing the things one wears prob
ably originated with the ancient
Egyptians, who believed that dirt was
an offense against the immortal gods
before a goodly portion of the rest
of the world came to the conclusion
that it is also an offense against man.
Even as late as the first part of the
nineteenth century British "fuIlers"
were apparently using much the same
cleaning methods of those Of Greece
and Rome, scraping and employing
lye. They still worked without soap,
because 1t was too expensive.
Not until the Forty-niners Of the
California gold rush found themselves
forced to launder their own shirts or
wear them dirty, because most Of
them did not have wives along, was
the laundry industry born. Some ac-
tually sent their soiled clothing to
Hawaii, 2,400 miles away, by ship,
with a six months wait between COL
lection and delivery, for native wom-
en- to wash. A few Chinese conduct
ed hand laundries along creek banks,
near Sierra Nevada mining camps.
But in Oakland, a struggling set
tlement Of 100 bachelors across the
bay from San Francisco, a gold seeker
rugged up some makeshift machinery,
consisting of a water-tight box agi-
tated by a discarded donkey engine
and the first power laundry machine
was born. The business then started
still prospers today, its originator hav-
ing given up searching for gold in the
hills to find lots Of 1t washing shirts
and overalls.
Even the White House patronizes a
laundry today, abolishing the clothes
line visible for generations from the
executive Offices. Under contract to a
local firm, the executive linen goes
out for washing and the Presidents
swimming pool is on the site Of the
former White House laundry.
Evening star., 1936-08-01

discharges from clouds to earth, some
striking within 1000 to 1000 feet,
which left their courses distinctly
marked by beautiful strings Of fire
beads. There seemed to be bead OF
fire at every angle in the course OF
the spark, and these beads remained
visible long enough to be clearly seen
perhaps a quarter Of a second or long
er. should add that there were
many discharges from clouds to earth
that were not Of the beaded variety"
DR.. Humphreys explains this variety
of lightning as resulting from an "end-
on" view If irregularities in the light
ming path, which remain visible after
the intermediate portions, seen from
a sideways direction, have faded out,
but other explations have been sug-
gested.
Lightning that shoots up from the
horizon at the apparent speed of a
skyrocket, or occasionally travels hor-
izontally from the edge Of cloud at
the same deliberate pace, has been re-
ported several times during the last
two centuries, but it remains one OF
the great rarities in lightning's reper-
tory. Profs. Everett an Bruehl have
described a case they observed near
Calcutta one evening in July, 1908
The night was moonless and the sky
clear, except for a low bank Of clouds
behind which lightning flashed from
time to time. "At intervals of three
minutes or So" says the description
Immediately after flash, luminou!
trail shot straight up about as fast as
or rather faster than, a rocket anc
very similar in appearance. 1t ter
minated in apparently clear sky. NJ
thunder was audible"
This manifestation is known a.
"rocket" lightning. One Of the sew
eral cases in which the discharges
travelled horizontally was observed a
lie Mans, France. in September, 1929
"All the flashes" says the observer
went from north to south at SLOW
| speed, like shooting stars, the effec
being absolutely as If one were watch
ing slow-motion moving picture. Tht
phenomenon went on for half an hou
at the rate OF about one fash {
minute"
THE vivid flashes of lightning seer
in the smoke cloud over a volcano
in active eruption have been familia
to mankind for ages. They usual.
occur exclusively within the cloud
rather than between the cloud ant
the earth; hence, the tradition in Ital,
that the thunderbolts Of Vesuvius ar
harmless.
The spectacular displays Of light
ming seen during the eruption of Noun
Pelee in 1902 have been escribed b.
George Kennan. In this case, as Il
some other volcanic outbreaks, tn
streaks Of lightning terminated in star
like outbursts. accompanied by
Evening star., 1936-08-01

he demanded, was that all about?"
"Oh, didn't they tell you? We need
ed model for an ad. New account;
Just came in. The deadline for the
magazine is today, SO we didn't have
time to get a professional model Why.
young fellow, your face will be spread
from the hidebound coast of Maine to
the funny shores of California"
Well" Larry was pleased. Think
Of that"
He told his wife about it that night,
with something of an air, but Helen
didn't seem impressed. She muttered
something about ''egomania" and
stalked early to bed. Apparently the
cigaretteless day hadn't helped her
disposition.
All that week the fragrant scent Of
tobacco haunted Larry. In vain he
told himself that they never taste as
good as they smell, anyway" He want
ed cigar. He was angry that Helen
stuck so stubbornly to their agree
ment; we'll, he wouldn't weaken first.
r
&IX smokeless days passed, and on
Sunday Larry sat stretched out
in lawn chair, resenting Hastings,
who was putting a rich Havana and
watering the grass next door.
Suddenly into the aroma of Hast
ings' cigar was blended the sweeter
scent of cigarette smoke. He whirled
in time to see Helen take deep drag,
then exhale the smoke with salts
faction.
He frowned. After this torture, this
self lf-denial, for her sake
Whats the idea?" he demanded.
For answer she threw late number
of popular magazine in his lap. Lar
ry saw his own picture, in profile
against a lighted window, and-smok-
ing pipe! No doubt about it; there
was smoke curling from the bowl.
He read some of the copy. Every
pipe smokers dream-Mellowtwig to-
| bacco-"
Helen was speaking. THAT picture
was taken Monday; remember your
telling me. If you can break the
agreement so can l." She blew cloud
of smoke into the air.
But, honey" Larry began
then paused. Helen wouldn't under
stand about retouchers-artists who
could draw a pipe and smoke into a
simple profile picture Besides, she
had broken the agreement first. In
stead of trying to explain it would be
| easier to-
Hastings he shouted in glee, "got
q cigar?"
(Copyright. 1e36,)
Evening star., 1936-08-01

points out, will fit even custom made
shirts, unlike some of the mechanical
devices built for factory models.
EXTREMELY fastidious Washing
tonians have Dad" Glascoe or
other veterans of his trade, iron all
their shirts, not merely stiff ones. It
costs about IS cents to have a day.
time shirt hand-ironed, rather than
the usual cost Of about 20 cents, but
persons like Andrew Mellon, just to
name one, prefer paying the differ
I ence. dad" Glascoe says.
When your dress shirts, sheets and
napery arrive at the end of the wash
ing and ironing process they are as
Sembled miraculously from all over the
plant and deposited in the laundry
bin of your driver for delivery. Err
rors of employees are posted, and when
sheet is lost from its mates, at the
end of the day it is sent to the request
department Complaint departments
bSAAA6 OOt VA aoCII 6AA0 0CA4bCASo w 4to
owner the next trip.
Where clothes are dry cleaned the
machine, too, is not of the first i'm
portance. The men who decide how d
fragile party gown shall be cleansed,
to be returned fresh as a flower, are
the guiding spirits of the cleaning Sec
ton of modern laundry plant
Chemists and scientists decide how to
clean and not to clean, and what to
do about stains.
LipStick stains, for an example,
tinted with the same kind Of dye used
by the silk manufacturer are some
times impossible to remove.
Should Summer suit be washed or
dry cleaned? This is a problem laun-
drymen wish housewives would leave
to them, they say, whereas customers
are likely to have preconceived notions
about whether or not a garment
should be tubbed. Wool blankets
should always be washed, they say,
pointing out sheep are dipped in a
river before shearing.
New kinds of materials, synthetic
and experimental, flooding the market
in recent seasons, keep the research
experts busy, and sometimes result in
warnings being broadcast that a new
kind of goods reacts badly or shrinks
at certain water temperatures, or in
dry-cleaning solutions.
Novelty buttons and buckles on
women's dresses actually frighten dry
cleaning men. They've gotten so they
take them off before the dress Is
cleaned, risking getting wrong ones on.
Fresh potatoes, processed to resem-
bic pearl, are the material from which
many fancy buttons are made. They
dissolve at once in fluids. Milk curds
are used in constructing other but
tons. They 60 to pieces, too.
When buttons are lost or vanish in
dry-cleaning fluid it means a special
shopping trip to attempt duplicating
them, because no matter whose re-
sponsibility the melted buttons may
be they must be replaced by the
cleaning establishment.
People who gain weight after they
store their Winter clothes, dry-cleaned
and packed in mothproof bags, are
another source of horror to the Ma
tion's cleaning men. Vainly attempt
ing to be comfortable in suit or
dress when the first cool Fall day
comes along, they seize the telephone
and protest: you've shrunk my
clothes!" Most dry cleaners measure
everything against scale now and
keep the records.
The infinite pains taken today to
keep clothing clean does not prepare
Evening star., 1936-08-01

sion on Hastings face and Larry felt
contrite. After all, it wasn't Hastings
fault
He emerged from his paper again.
SIN sorry, ]. H." he said. Not feel
ing hot. No sleep"
oh" Hastings was Modified.
"Come to notice, you do look jumpy.
Here" His hand went to his vest
pocket. Its good one. Blake gave
1t to me yesterday"
Larry looked long and tenderly at
the cigar in Hastings hand, but finally
shook his head. No, j. H. That's the
trouble. You see. I made an agree
ment with my wife. I don't like her
to smoke-she smells like a cold pipe
all the time. So to persuade her I
promised to give up smoking if she
would" He sighed. And this is
the second day
"OH." HASTINGS nodded. Good
idea. Wish Fanny'd quit smok-
ing. But I wouldn't do anything as
drastic as that to make her." he
avoWed.
The car was blue with tobacco
smoke. Men were leaning back from
their storytelling, chuckling and
putting deep; two seats ahead, the
morning poker game was in progress,
with cigarette butts already littering
the card table; the conductor, count
ing his tickets in the seat behind, had
lit his pipe.
BAIL" Larry stuck his head into
his paper again.
In the Office it was the same thing
II seemed that people went out of their
way to blow tobacco smoke into Larry's
face. He struggled with his array OF
pens, trying to concentrate on "bed
springs that invite slumber" Slumber
He hadn't slept last night, longing fol-
Q cigar; he wouldn't sleep tonight.
The door of the front Office burst
open. MacBlair himself stood there
squirting out at the artists. Larry
leaned farther over his board, and
drew two unnecessary lines.
There's a mani" he heard Mac
Blair say, and he looked up as the boss
. came charging across the room, fol-
lowed by two looking satellites
Turn sideways" MacBlair thun.
dered at Larry. Il want to see youl
profile"
Larry gawked, then snapped his
head around. What in the devil!
you'll do" the boss considered
Slump on your nose, but a good re-
Evening star., 1936-08-01
and frequently lasted for a

minutes and frequently lasted for a
second"
Ball lightning-that curious, rather
rare, and hence little understood phe-
nomenon observed occasionally, when
globe of fire seems to bounce around
alarmingly during a thunderstorm
has long been the quarry of per-
sistent and patient hunt by Prof.
w. j. Humphreys of the United States
Weather Bureau. At a recent meet
ing of the American Philosophical
Society, he reported on several hun
dred letters he has received from per-
sons who have seen ball lightning-or
thought that they had seen it.
CEVERAL things can fool the OBJ
server, Prof. Humphreys commented
Brush discharges from high-tenSion
conductors sometimes take the form OF
pseudo-ball lightning. The dropping
of metal, perhaps fused by a strt\e
of ordinary lightning, can also Gre
ate the illusion. Once in while an
observer will see a lightning flash
"end-on," and thus get the impress
sion of a round object instead of a
streak. Finally, the familiar optical
effect known as "after-image" may
make one see moving, glowing spot
when nothing is there at all except a
disturbance in the observers retina
Nevertheless, Prof. Humphreys con-
cluded, even these cases OF "SeeiA1
things" in a lightning storm have had
| their value in his scientific stalking.
of ball lightning.
Some authorities, however, are les
skeptical about the reality of bal
lightning, though no satisfactory ex'
PLANTATION of it has yet been offered
In some cases the apparent ball
may be a brush discharge from
particle of electrified dust or some
other electrified object floating in tht
air or falling through it; in which
case the phenomenon would be merel!
a case of the well-known manifesto
ton of atmospheric electricity called
St. Elmo's fire, or, in the language o.
electrical engineers, corona dis
1
Hundreds Of cases of supposed bal
lightning have been described in cir
cumstantial detail by eyewitnesses il
scientific journals and elsewhere. Re
ports in which the luminous ball il
said to have travelled swiftly through
the air and to have remained visible
only for an instant are more easil!
explained as cases of optical illusion
than those in which the ball is al
legged to have moved slowly and II
have been seen for considerable time
Here is an observation of the latte
kind reported to DR.. Humphreys by
medical man, DR.. w. E. B. Hall. II
the Summer of 1917, DR.. Hall wa
living at Lindsay, Ontario, where, witt
his mother and sister, he occupied (
second-story apartment across th'
street from a large automobile bod,
Evening star., 1936-08-01
Laundry
(Continued From Page BID

drawn from spigots by the bucket
full
The last seven waters are rinses,
the tenth being sour or non-sour
blue, according to whether or not a
fluride is added to the bluing to cut
any last vestiges of soap. For the
final rinse the water is dropped to a
low level in the tanks and Sizing"
is added to materials requiring starch
ing. This last rinse water is purer
than ordinary tap water, experts
proudly explain, because it is just as
clean and since it is hot it is more
free of bacteria. To protect employees
the huge washers cannot be opened
until they stop revolving, because
laundry workers used to get their
arms torn off now and then trying
to hurry things.
THE efficiency of the machine age
impresses the observer when it Is
explained that scalding water, drop
ping out of sight from the bottoms of
the washers automatically every seven
minutes during the washing process,
passes over coils of piped water be-
fore descending to the sewers, ex-
tracing the last degree of temperature
to cleanse additional nets of laundry.
Not a clothesline is in sight around
q modern laundry, drying being done
by extractor" machines. The wash
arrives at the flat-work presses at the
correct dampness for ironing, and
bath towels are "huffed" dry in a
special machine.
No mangles exist in a laundry
plant, and laundrymen don't even like
to hear the word used. The correct
phrase is presses"
1t takes a crew of six girls to iron
your shirt and a crew of ten to do
your sheet, and the array of ma
chimes for ironing shirt arcuses the
cupidity of any woman who has ever
tried to do one alone with her iron
and her ingenuity.
One machine presses the collars
and cuffs to f1awleSs f1atness and curv-
atures, another the body, a third the
bosum, another the sleeves, and then
the shirt is turned over to a hand
ironer for finishing. Shirt sleeves
point at the ceiling, slipped for iron
ing over presses shaped like arms.
A man guilty of comparing his
wife's technique with an electric iron
to that of laundry should be shown
the six girls and machines working
on his shirts at a modern plant.
But the machine age bows to art
where Washington's stiff f-bosomed
dress shirts are ironed by veterans Of
steam and starch, without an electric
wire in sight. The irons they use re-
semble the ones some of us remember
in our grandmother kitchen, and are
really made of iron. They are heated
on gas plate.
Ironing shirts for 80 years is the
record of Allen P. Glascoe, the oldest
service, at one local laundry. He has
been ironing the finest shirts Of the
Nations lawmakers and foreign diplo-
mats for more than IA years, and be-
fore that ironed sample shirts which
statesmen for shirt company took on
the road for display purposes.
dad" Glascoe used a rough-faced
iron that does not scorch under ter
rife heat, because the steam from the
damp linen passes off by way Of the
scarifed lines. His ironing board, he
Evening star., 1936-08-01
TOBACCO &C; &C; GO; GOAD.
toucher'll take that
ont Come Onl"

toucher'll take that
out. Come on!"
y y y \
THEY led Larry
into the pho
tographer's room;
plunged him into
a Stufy dressing
gown, then sat him
down beside an i'm.
itation wind o W
t h ugh which
light poured from
a hidden lamp.
Nov, hold It'll"
the photog called,
then it was over.
MacBlair was al
ready through the
door, calling back,
Get that plate de-
veloped. Quick!"
Back at his easel,
his head SWIM
ming, Larry waited
for a chance, then
called Hastings.
ssyHYr 49, lz,,sl %
Evening star., 1936-08-01

7 AR r Y sought
his usual seat
on the 7:15. He
dropped down be-
side Hastings, his
neighbor and CO.
worker in the lay
out department of
MacBlair's Adver-
tising Agency.
Good morning, !"
said H a S t in G S
cheerily. T h e n
with a playful
nudge in Larry's
ribs: Saw you
running for the
train. Almost late,
weren't you?"
Sometimes Hast
ings irritated Lar
ry and this was one
OF those times.
BAH" he growl-
ed, disappearing
behind his paper.
"Bah?" There
NOS O hurt ovnraS
Evening star., 1936-08-01
actory. A moderate electrical storm

factory. A moderate electrical storm
was nearly over.
MY mother and sister," he writes,
"who were watching the storm from
the window, saw a large round ball
of marked brilliance, whitish-blue in
color and over feet in diameter, en-
ter the second floor of the factory
through an open window. Workmen
in the factory said that 1t pursued a
leisurely course through the building,
apparently without sound, did not
vary from straight course, badly
singed one ambulance body that it
touched, but did not set it on fire.
Nobody was hurt. After travelling
about so yards, it suddenly shifted
and sailed slowly out of another open
window, on straight across the street,
and into the window of our apart
ment through which my mother and
sister had been watching.
Both of them fled, my mother
hiding under table and my sister
retreating through an adjoining door.
Without a sound this brilliant ball,
which apparently had lost none of
its bulk, glided after my sister, who
FLED from room to room. Suddenly
she fell In faint and the ball glided
on over her head without harming
her. At least, that is what we sup
posed to have happened, for she was
quite unconscious when we found her
nor was there any damage found
The ball itself disappeared entirely
after travelling at least 25 yards ir
our home. Both in the factory ano
in our apartment 1t maintained Q
height Of about four to five feet above
the floor"
WHAT Arago misnamed zigzas
w lightning is now better described
as streak lightning. 1t is merely Q
huge electric spark; usually more ol
less sinuous and branched. Specia
methods of photography have revealed
the fact that the flash Of lightning
often consists of several discharges II
rapid succession along common
path. The individual discharges can.
not be distinguished by the eye but
they give the flash Pickering appear
ance. There are still other types o.
lightning-real or apparent-of which
Arago never heard.
Lightning that presents the appear
ance Of a string of glowing pearls IL
the sky is usually called beaded
lightning" It was first described il
scientific literature in 1875 and severa
more recent examples have been seel
and described by scientific men Of rec
ognized authority. One of these OBJ
servers was the well-known civil en-
gineer c. E. Grunsky, who, with tw
other engineers, saw specimens Of sucl
lightning at Calexico. in Southern
California, during the evening of Ma,
81, 1907. He says:
There were four or five electrica