Awake!, June 22, 1965
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Are Haunted Houses Hoaxes?
PAGE 5
Transforming Dry Deserts into Green Farms
PAGE 8
Making Mealtimes More Enjoyable
PAGE 12
An African Makes His Mind Over
PAGE 20
JUNE 22,1965
THE REASON FOR THIS MAGAZINE
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. "Awake!" no hefters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ties; it is unhampered by traditional creeds. This magazine keeps itself free, that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
The viewpoint of "Awakel" is not narrow, but is international. "Awakel" has its own correspondents in scares of nations. Its articles are read in many lands, in many languages, by millions of persons.
In every issue "Awake!" presents vital topics on which you should be informed. It features penetrating articles on social conditions and offers sound counsel for meeting the problems of everyday life. Current news from every continent passes in quick review. Attention is focused on activities in the fields of government and commerce about which you should know. Straightforward discussions of religious issues alert you to matters of vital concern. Customs and people in many lands, the marvels of creation, practical sciences and points of human interest are all embraced in its coverage. "Awake!" provides wholesome, instructive reading for every member of the family.
"Awakel" pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting a sure home for the establishment of God's righteous new order in this generation.
Get acquainted with "Awake!" Keep awake by reading "Awake!"
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CONTENTS
Do Not Jump to Conclusions 3
Are Haunted Houses Hoaxes? 5
Transforming Dry Deserts into
Green Farms 8
The Common Era 11
Making Mealtimes More Enjoyable 12
When You Drive, Look and See! 15
Furred Acrobats of the Treetops 17
Exemption for the Sheep 19
An African Makes His Mind Over 20
How Long Before Fruit? 23
An Encounter with Death 24
Church Group Visita Kingdom Hall 26
"Your Word Is Truth"
What Were Moses' Sources for
Genesis? 27
Watching the World
ONE Saturday night last February a Bridgeport, Connecticut, man visited a New York City bar. After a time he discovered that his wallet was missing. Immediately he jumped to the conclusion that two men at the bar had lifted it from his pocket. Accusations were made, and a fight ensued. Suddenly the Bridgeport man grabbed a gun and shot the other two men, one of them fatally. On leaving the bar he went to his car, and there on the seat was the missing wallet! It had slipped out of his pocket.
How terrible the consequences can be when one jumps to conclusions! While seldom may the effect be as-deadly as in the above instance, another's reputation often is unjustly damaged. Hard feelings and strained relations can result. People may even grow cold toward their neighbors, and avoid them, simply because of failing to decide on the basis of the facts.
For example, it has often happened that a person jumps to the conclusion that an acquaintance is angry with him merely because he failed to speak when they passed each other. As a result the attitude may
be taken. If that is the way he wants to be, I won't speak to him either.' But nine times out of ten the person has jumped to the wrong conclusion. His acquaintance is not at all angry with him; he may have simply been absorbed in thought and failed to notice. How sad it is that friendly relations should be damaged over such a small thing! Yet this regularly happens when judgments are based on emotions rather than on facts.
Jumping to conclusions can particularly upset family relations. A husband may arrive home late for dinner and by the time he walks in the door his wife may be so angry that she lights into him before he has an opportunity to greet her. She concludes that he has been inconsiderate for not advising her that he was going to be late. What an injustice this can be! Especially when she finds out that he was involved in an accident and was in no position to notify her. There is no question that failure to decide on the basis of facts can have serious consequences.
It is not uncommon, for instance, for a person who sees his marriage mate speaking to a friend of the opposite sex to jump to the conclusion that much more is going on than meets the eye.
There may be no facts or evidence to this effect, only unbounded suspicion. Yet accusations are made, and a verbal fight ensues. The marriage is often the fatality.
Another common n opinions of people on the basis of first impressions. Once in a while you will hear a person remark after meeting someone: "She impresses me as being snooty." On
than others. So when a crime is committed, you will often hear persons jump to a conclusion, blaming the unpopular minority. Yet those who are in the majority here may be in the minority elsewhere, and there, because of a different set of local prejudices, they find that they are under suspicion. How foolish! How unfair
How Real Is God to You?
Christiandom's Responsibility
for Communism.
A Mother Talks to Her Daughters.
Drilling for Earth's Mineral Resources.
what is the conclusion based? Probably not on any real evidence. Perhaps memories of a former acquaintance who had a similar facial expression or mannerism are responsible for the opinion that this person is of the same disposition. But how unfair to jump to conclusions before getting to know someone! A barrier may be raised to prevent what otherwise might develop into a pleasant friendship. Wise persons are not hasty about forming opinions.
People in positions of responsibility particularly need to guard against jumping to conclusions. When another person's welfare is at stake, it is no time to make snap decisions. It is a serious wrong to judge a matter without considering all the evidence. One's personal feeling, or what seems to be so, should not be the determining factor. One ought to be governed by the facts. Appropriately, God's law requires that matters be decided on the basis of evidence from the mouth of at least two or three witnesses.—Matt. 18:16; Deut. 19:15.
Many times popular prejudices are responsible for biased conclusions. In some localities, for instance, the popular belief is that certain races are inferior and have a greater disposition to criminal activities
it is to jump to conclusions on the basis of popular prejudices!
In the field of religion, too, prejudice often causes people to jump to conclusions. Many persons, for instance, see the hypocrisy of the clergy and so hastily conclude that all religion is bad. Yet the facts reveal that, just as in the first century, a few persons are practicing true Christianity and are accomplishing much good. Other people jump to the conclusion that, in view of the charges made by Higher Critics, the Bible can no longer be accepted as true. But neither is this so. Sald one leading archaeologist: "I was brought up a 'Higher Critic,' and consequently disbelieved the actual truth of the early narratives of the Bible. Since then I have deciphered thousands of tablets, and the more I learn, the more I believe the Bible to be true."*
In matters of religion particularly, it is important to get the facts. Fittingly it has been said that digging for facts is far better exercise than jumping to conclusions! So do not go by hearsay or what is popular. Investigate your beliefs in the light of reliable evidence. Examine the Bible with an open mind. Be willing to study to determine what is true and what is false. By all means, do not jump to conclusions!
FROM almost every part of the earth come reports of haunted houses. The strange goings-on are almost identical, regardless of the country. Not confined to any particular time period, accounts of haunted houses date throughout the centuries, one going back to the ninth century B.C.E. "It must be admitted," says one encyclopedia discussion of haunted houses, "that there is an element of mystery which calls for elucidation, and which the most scientific and critical minds have hitherto failed to make clear."
It would be a simple matter if one could say that all these cases are hoaxes. Certainly a number of hoaxes have been uncovered, but what about the many men of integrity and note who have reported cases of haunted houses? What about those numerous cases that have been thoroughly checked out by police, detectives or scientists and in which no human responsibility has been uncovered?
Even in the most recent accounts of houses disturbed by flying objects or weird noises, scientists have not been able to solve the problem. In the light of this inability of scientists, there is no reason to doubt the ancient accounts, such as the one reported in the Letters of Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia and Pontica about 111 C.E. In Letter 27 of Book VII he tells of an old house in Athens that rented cheaply because of the persistent sounds of clanking iron or chains and how a philosopher purposely rented
the house because of its very reputation of being haunted.
Noises and Flying Objects
Footsteps in the night are one of the most commonly reported noises. A haunted house in London, England, was reported on by the Ottawa (Canada) Citizen Weekend Magazine of October 5, 1963; a former occupant of the house
said a room would turn cold, then foot-steps would be heard on the roof—one upon which only the most acrobatic human could walk! "Hundreds of people heard our walking ghost," said the former occupant. "We used to have ghost-watching—or ghost-listening—parties and watch our skeptical friends turn pale and dive for cover when the room chilled and the steps started. Other tenants have been driven out of the house by the footsteps." Police never found a prowler and had to mark the case down as a haunted house.
Sometimes the noises are inexplicable voices or even a groan. Baptist clergyman John Leland of the nineteenth century had a house in Virginia in which the family was often disturbed by groans. One night the groan even entered the bedroom. The report says:
"It advanced towards them, and gathered strength and fullness, until it entered the room where they were, and approached the bed, and came along on the front side of the bed, when the groan became deep and appalling . . . it uttered a groan too loud and startling to be imitated by the human voice. . . No explanation was ever found."
Often there are a great variety of notices.
Years ago, British poet Stephen Phillips told about a house in Egham, near Windsor:
"No sooner had we been installed in the place than the uncamiernie noises conceivable beset us. There were knockings and rappings, footfalls, soft and loud; hasty, stealthy hurryings and scurryings and sounds as of a human creature being chased and caught and then strangled or choked."
In some cases objects in a house appear, disappear or fly about in a room. In a house in Dublin bricks fell down the chimney, hit the floor and disappeared. While a frightened householder looked on, the hand of the clock disappared. In 1962 the press told about a house in Indianapolis, Indiana, where glassware would sail through the air, smashing up all over the house. One piece even flew around a corner before shattering. The presence of policemen did not inhibit the glassware from moving about; In fact, one policeman was struck by a glass. Similarly at a house in Seaford, Long Island, New York, a few years ago bottles with screw-type caps would suddenly become uncapped and tip over and objects would move about. Detectives never found any human responsible. One detective watched a sugar bowl sail off a table before his very eyes.
Those who would mark down such cases as these as hoaxes must bear this in mind: No prankster has yet been found who can, without being detected, send crockery flying and smashing up in the presence of detectives and scientists and who can, at the same time, induce spectators to believe that those flying objects waver, swerve and wobble.
Flying Stones
a huge boulder, embedded in the road nearby, was wrenched from its bed and dropped with a foundation-shaking crash on the roof of the house.
Reports of houses being showered with mysterious stones come from many countries. In South Africa the Durban press reported some years ago about a house bombarded by stones. The climax came when
New Zealand's Auckland Star, in March 1963, had such headlines as: "STONE BARRAGE FELTS HOUSE FOR 7 1/2 HOURS." The Star's edition of March 25 said: "While 12 policemen and more than 20 civilians searched the area, a guest house at Brooklyn, a Wellington suburb, was peppered with stones for seven and a half hours last night and early today." During bombardments thirty police with dogs searched the area. Radar was also used to try to find the stones' source. Neither the radar nor the dogs helped solve the mystery.
Sometimes stones come in at varying rates, even floating in, as at a house in Big Bear, California. The investigating sheriff's car was struck by a stone but hardly dented. Some of the rocks were hot and others were cold. A Duke University scientist investigates and found that stones came from various angles. If humans were responsible, it would take a great number of them working together day and night; but not even one prankster was found. Said the scientist: "This case fits the classical pattern of poltergeist cases." A deputy sheriff said: "I don't think anything human is causing it."
Variety of Mysterious Phenomena
In some haunted houses a great variety of singular happenings take place. In a house on Chiem-Lake in Bavaria children's pigtails were cut off but not by human hands; cakes disappeared right out of a person's hands during baking operations; "holy" pictures were ripped off walls and smeared black; electric hot plates glowed without being plugged in. Professional investigators found no hoax.
From Europe come reports of haunted monasteries and convents and numerous haunted rectories.
One of the most famous cases is that of England's Borley Rectory, built in 1863. One hundred witnesses restified to such things as flying nebles, smashing candlesticks, levitating oars of soap, writing appearing on walls right under the very noses of investigators. Famed psychical researcher Harry Price himself saw a red candlestick whiz past his head and crash to the floor. Then he saw pebbles cascade down the stairs. One day Price brought wine from London to share with the rectory's cleric. As the wine was poured, the Burgundy turned to ink, the Sauterne to eau de cologne. With firsthand evidence and with testimony from so many witnesses about so great a variety of phenomena Price marked the case down, in his book The Most Haunted House in England, as "the best-authenticated case of haunting in the annals of psychical research."
Borley Rectory was gutted by fire in 1939, a stack of books falling over of its own accord and upsetting an oil lamp. The fire was predicted by a woman who used an Outja board.
The Invisible Forces Responsible
Whereas police must mark down many cases simply as "haunted houses," some psychical researchers mark them down as cases of "poltergeist" activity. The word poltergeist is German for "racketing spirit, and is used to refer to a noisy and mischievous ghost or spirit." But when the poltergeist is said to be some mischievous dead human, what are we to think? We can be certain it is no departed human, for the Bible assures us that the human soul is mortal, that the dead are unconscious and incapable of any work or activity. —Ezek. 18:4; Eccl. 9:5, 10.
Who, then, are responsible? Well, what is the force behind devices for predicting
events, such as the Ouija board? What is the force behind witches and sorcerers, following whose threats incidents involving flying stones and other objects have at times occurred? What is the force behind spirit mediums, who are said to have domesticated the poltergeist; some mediums performing telekinesis (controlled movement of an object without any physical contact by humans)? Further, other spirit mediums can cause objects or even themselves to levitate or rise in the air; some mediums can produce rappings, ghostly apparitions and similar phenomena peculiar to haunted houses.
Since God's Word warns his people not to have among them a "sorcerer" or those who consult a "spirit medium or a professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead," then the power behind all such activity must be evil. It is. —Deut, 18:10-12.
Evil spirit creatures that the Bible calls "demons" are the ones responsible. (Jas. 2:19) They are, as God's Word makes clear, "the angels that sinned," the "angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place" in the days of Noah, before the flood. (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Gen. 6:4) Since the "war in heaven," these disobedient angels have been confined to the vicinity of the earth, where they are causing every kind of "woe," including that of haunting houses.—Rev. 12:7-12.
By haunting houses the demons derive fiendish delight in harassing or terrifying humans; at the same time they induce people to believe wrongly that the ghost or spirit is some dead human, perhaps one who died in that house, and that the human soul is immortal. So though these haunted houses are not hoaxes contrived by humans, they are in a sense a hoax indeed—perpetrated by the Devil and the demons.
TRANSFORMING DRY DESERTS INTO
GREEN
FARMS
ABARREN desert might seem to be the last place on earth to set up a farm. Yet deserts may hold an answer to the world's food problem. Surprising as it may seem, they can be transformed into productive farms. What is needed is irrigation water.
Striking evidence of the marked change irrigation water can cause in arid deserts can be seen in the southern part of the American state of California. As a person drives through the hot Coachella and Imperial Valleys, he sees inhospitable desert lands baking in temperatures of more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit on one side of the road, and lush farmland, green with fields
of lettuce, carrots, melons and other crops on the other side. In the Coachella Valley there are approximately 4,500 acres of transformed desert land covered with groves of graceful date palms and thousands of acres in truck gardens and vineyards. Ninety percent of the dates produced in the United States come from this valley.
A little farther south, remarkable Imperial Valley has emerald patches of cultivated land spreading over about 500,000 acres of what was once bone-dry desert. Here is an eye-opening example of what can be done with a wasteland that receives only three inches of rain a year. Instead of growing nothing but sagebrush and cactus, it produces one-third of the carrots and cabbages for the entire United States during the winter. It also grows 28 million dollars' worth of lettuce. Having a year-round growing season, with bright sunshine beaming down on the land nearly every day of the year, it and its neighboring Coachella Valley have become one of the richest agricultural areas of the world.
Fascinated visitors see in the productivity of these valleys great possibilities for transforming the arid regions in other places into bountiful producers of food for their hungry people. What is particularly surprising to many is how these valleys can maintain their productivity in view of the well-known fact that, while irrigation water is needed, it can also bring gradual ruin to reclaimed desert land. Imperial Valley had this problem when it began to be developed more than fifty years ago. Tens of thousands of acres of cultivated land had to be abandoned because irrigation water had ruined it for agriculture by poisoning the soil with plant-killing salts.
The Salt Problem
The accumulating of salts in the soil contributed to the ruin of the once-fertile Tigris-Euphrates Valley, where the famous city of Babylon was located ages ago.
In ancient times canals between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers provided irrigation water for the valley, making it a rich farming area, but salt poisoning gradually made the land unproductive. The country of Pakistan is wrestling with that problem today. Approximately 100,000 acres of cultivatable land in that country are lost by farmers every year because of salt accumulation in the soil.
Desert lands tend to have a greater concentration of salts than other types of land because rainfall is insufficient to leach them out. When rain does fall or when irrigation water is put on the land, the hot desert sun evaporates a great amount of it. This leaves the salts from the water lying on the surface of the ground. Gradually the salt content in the soil builds up to the point where it kills the crops, making the land unfit for agriculture. Another factor contributing to increase of salts is the raising of the water table by the use of irrigation water for many years. The water table is the upper limit of underground water. Where underground drainage is not good, irrigation water accumulates in the ground, and gradually rises toward the surface. When it reaches the root system of the plants, it can rot them. It also causes a concentration of salts in the upper part of the soil.
A nation's food problem will not be solved by using desert land if salt accumulation can put the land out of production in a few years. But that has not happened extensively in Imperial Valley. It has conquered the problem.
At an expenditure of $30 million, 9,500 miles of tile pipe was laid at regular intervals under the fields. At a depth of six feet, the pipe does not interfere with farm machinery, and it allows for good drainage of the land. Irrigation water percolates through the soil, carrying with it dissolved
salts, and then it drains away through the pipes. There is no danger of its coming back to the surface. Eventually it empties into a network of ditches that dump it into the nearby Salton Sea.
Washing Out the Salts
Irrigation water usually contains small amounts of salts. There is not enough to be harmful to crops, but when the water is used on hot desert land where soil temperatures can reach 160 degrees F., a great amount of it evaporates, leaving the salts behind. Accumulation of these plant-killing salts must be prevented by periodic washing of the soil. In a period of only six months nearly two million tons of salts are carried into Imperial Valley by irrigation water. In a few years they could bring ruin to the valley if they were allowed to build up in the soil. But periodically the soil is leached with large quantities of water. Twenty to thirty percent of the water used by the valley is for this purpose. The process requires a field to be flooded to a depth of several inches and the water allowed to soak into the ground. As it does, it washes out the salts, carrying them away in the underground drains. This is repeated until soil analysis shows that the salts have been reduced to a safe level.
In some instances the farming of a desert cannot be done until the soil has been treated to change its chemical structure. This is the case with black alkali soils that contain abnormal amounts of sodium. By spreading calcium on a field that is being leached, the excessive sodium is replaced with calcium. The excess sodium compounds are washed out. This changes the soil, making the once-arid field a potential producer of bountiful crops.
Lowering the Water Table
A waterlogged field is not a food producer, but it can be reclaimed by lowering the water table.
When this is done the plants can extend their root zone with no danger of rotting, soil ventilation is aided, soil erosion is decreased and the growth of soil bacteria is favored.
Pakistan is attempting to overcome its waterlogging problem by means of drainage wells. At present its food production is cramped by having approximately 11 million of its 33 million irrigated acres of farmland waterlogged or badly drained. Its plan is to sink more than 31,000 wells that will be connected with 32,000 miles of drainage channels. The ground water that is pumped into these channels will be dumped behind a number of dams that are being planned.
Pumping out ground water is a good way to lower the water table to a really satisfactory level. However, tiles can be set deep in the ground, as they were in Imperial Valley, or very deep channels can be dug in a field. Once good drainage is established, the waterlogged land can be reclaimed and put into production. In some places the ground water that is pumped out could be stored and reused, but in desert lands this may not be possible because of its high salt content. And where the cost of operating pumping equipment is excessive, it may be that windmills can be used. Obviously, there are many problems that must be solved when reclaiming arid lands for growing badly needed food. The greatest problem, of course, is how to get water to them.
Transporting Irrigation Water
the Imperial Valley, the water is distributed to the many fields by means of 2,900 miles of lateral canals.
Life-giving water for the Coachella and Imperial Valleys flows from the Colorado River by means of the All-American Canal. This 200-foot-wide canal is 80 miles long, with a 145-mile-long branch going to the Coachella Valley. Twenty-five percent of the Colorado River flows to these remarkably productive valleys. When it reaches
When a farmer needs water, he puts in a telephone call to the water-control office of the Imperial Irrigation District, where a clerk presses a button on a control panel. This causes the water in the canal serving the farmer's field to rise as water tumbles in from the main canal. His gate on the canal is opened by an employee of the water office, and the amount of water ordered is delivered.
A major factor contributing to the productivity of these valleys is the fact that they have an alluvial soil that is hundreds of feet deep. But lack of rainfall and a torrid sun kept the area a desert until man began to irrigate it.
The water used in the valley flows along concrete-lined canals. If it did not, 40 percent of it would never reach the farmland but would be lost by seepage. Such waste of valuable water cannot be afforded in desert farming. Furthermore, lining the canals protects the land from becoming waterlogged as a result of seepage.
Concrete does not necessarily have to be used as a lining, although it may be the best material to use. Other materials are helpful, such as asphalt and clay. Even the cost of maintenance is reduced by a good lining. It prevents the growth of canal-choking weeds that must be removed and the need of repairing breaks in the banks of the canal. Still another advantage is that a lined canal can carry more water due to the fact that the water velocity can be safely increased without any danger of eroding the banks.
One-quarter of the earth's land area consists of deserts, but the greatest problem in transforming them into agricultural land is getting water to them. Not every country that possesses large areas of desert has a river near enough to be tapped for water as does Imperial Valley.
Even when there is water, a large investment of money is necessary to build efficient canals for distributing the water and to lay underground tiles for drainage. But the investment is worth the results of increased food production, especially in lands where food is in short supply.
One of the latest efforts to transform a desert into farms is being made by the Israelis. To accomplish this they have constructed a 108-inch pipeline from the Sea of Galilee in the north of Palestine to the Negev desert in the south, a distance of 150 miles. With irrigation water from the Sea of Galilee, they hope to change much of the dry Negev into food-producing acreage.
Not always is it necessary to transport water from a great distance in order to farm desert land. Sometimes it can be found right on the spot by drilling into the ground. In some desert valleys there are underground reservoirs of water within 100 feet of the surface. Even the famous Sahara desert has underground water reservoirs. Two immense ones are known to exist. By drilling a well 4,000 feet deep, one was reached at Zelfana, in the northwestern Sahara. Tapping such deep res
ervolrs requires powerful pumps and lots of electrical power. Installing a number of wells with pumping equipment, electrical power plants, a system of lined canals and underground drainage tiles is expensive, but when food is needed, the establishing of farms on the desert is worth the expense.
Still another promising source of water for desert lands is seawater that has been processed in desalting plants. The progress being made in cheapening the desalting process is slow but encouraging. With the prospect of using, atomic power to lessen fuel costs, the future for use of seawater is growing brighter. It already is being used on a small scale in a number of places to provide drinking water. When it is perfected to produce freshwater abundantly at low cost, desert farmlands will have the vast oceans to draw upon for an unlimited supply.
With the world's population increasing at an alarming rate, the growing of sufficient food is becoming a grave problem. This is aggravated by the loss of good farmland to expanding cities. As this continues, growing nations with arid lands will have to give serious consideration to transforming their deserts into green farms.
The Common Era
There are various ways of dating. To the Chinese this is the year 4683, and to the Jews this is 5725 A.M. (Anno mundi, or in the year of the world). To many others this is A.D. (Anno Domini, or in the year of our Lord) 1965. What does that mean? The 1965th year since the birth of Jesus Christ. But is it? There is considerable difference of opinion as to the exact year, but there is general agreement that it was some years B.C. that Jesus was born. Thus the present system, as set up in the sixth century by the monk Dionysius Exiguus, is in error. Moreover, Jesus did not become the Messiah or the Christ, which means Anointed One, until he was anointed with God's spirit at the time of his baptism in the Jordan River. (Matt. 3: 13:17; Acts 10:38) So the Christian era, strictly speaking, did not begin until quite a few years after Jesus' birth. Since the use of A.D. and B.C. is really chronologically inaccurate, it is more accurate to say that this is 1965 C.E. or the 1965th year of the Common Era. Likewise, B.C.E. would mean Before the Common Era. Why "common"? Because it is the method of dating that is used in common by a large part of earth's inhabitants. Man has long had problems with his calendars, and he still does.
More Enjoyable
MEALTIME is for many families about the only time when the parents and children can get together. The demands of life are so many that work, school and other activities often prevent family members from being together more than a few moments at a time. The home is more apt to resemble a railroad station, with people coming and going at all hours of the day and night, than a haven of rest and togetherness.
Nevertheless, with a little healthy persuasion, plus some good old-fashioned effort, the parents can do much to change the atmosphere of the home by using meal-times to strengthen family relations. To begin with, it may be that not every family member will be able to be present. But with determined planning, each one's activities can be adjusted so that eventually all the family will be able to be together for at least one meal a day.
Mealtimes, above all else, should be joyous occasions. They should be precious moments that every member of the family will look back on with warmth and meaning. But to make even these rare moments memorable, a certain amount of forethought is necessary. Where no planning is done, mealtimes often quickly deteriorate into just eating sessions, squabbling bouts and times for idle chatter. In some homes the mealtime is called "the silent time," when no one speaks. Often it is the period when Dad listens to the news and the children exchange stares and await
the signal to flee from the table. But with a little forethought all of this can be changed into delightful togetherness.
The thing to do is to give what you have in the way of knowledge and experience, and the rest will take care of itself. It is not knowing, but sharing, that counts, and there are many interesting things you can share.
Things to Talk About
During the course of a day something humorous or of interest is often heard or witnessed. Keep it in mind; and save it for mealtime. Perhaps it was something read in the newspaper; heard on the radio, an anecdote a friend told or an unusual incident that you saw on the way home from work. Encourage other members of the family also to bring items of interest to the meal table. Keep in mind the particular interests of the family. Are they interested in animals, music, sports, the theater, current events, history, automobiles, gardening, what acquaintances are doing, styles? It will create a pleasant atmosphere
when family members endeavor to relate information that interests others.
A Christian family has the advantage of a common interest in the Bible, and this provides much to talk about. Many families take a few minutes each day at one of their meals to discuss a Scripture verse. Members of the family often prepare for this discussion by reading beforehand the Bible chapter in which the verse appears. This provides background information and equips them to make helpful comments for the benefit of others. When such a discussion is held in the morning, children and adults alike begin the day with good, uplifting thoughts in mind. And prayer before eating reminds the children that the family depends on God and not simply its own ingenuity and strength.
Making Table Talk Interesting
Instructive and constructive play at the meal table may not sound fashionable at first, but when done right it is fitting and is in keeping with good etiquette. Quizzes, for instance, can be conducted in such a way that all may share and benefit. They can do much to bring the family closer together and to make mealtime discussions informative, interesting and enjoyable.
Oftentimes it may not be that a person knows all the answers, but simply asking questions may stimulate thinking and perhaps cause someone to do research in order to bring the answers to the table at another meal. For example, attention may be drawn to the food being eaten. It may be that you are eating chicken, which has become a very popular meat in the United States. Did early inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere eat chicken? When and how did this tasteful meat become popular? Perhaps no one knows for sure, but the inquisitiveness of a family member may be aroused so that he checks an encyclopedia and finds that early Spanish explorers and the Pilgrims brought chickens with them to the Western Hemisphere. Other information gathered by the researcher regarding the chicken may also be of interest.
Or someone at the table may propose that the family try to identify the different seeds being eaten. Lima beans, green peas, corn, rice and walnuts (all of which are seeds) may be on the table at the same time. When one considers the variety of foods in which seeds such as rice, corn and wheat are used, it is amazing the portion of the diet that is made up of seeds. But which items of food are from the flower and which are from the stem of the plant? When questions like this are propounded, the mind becomes alert and each idea gives birth to a new one. As a result, mealtime becomes an informative session when the family enjoys being together.
A family may use the mealtime to fix in mind information they want to remember. For example, the history of the human family as it is accurately recorded in the Bible. How many years was it from man's creation until the Noachian Flood? How long from then to the birth of the patriarch Abraham, and from the time when Abraham moved into Canaan until seventy of his descendants went down to reside in Egypt due to the famine in Palestine? How long were the Israelites in Egypt, and, after their release, how many years did they march in the wilderness? How long was it after their entry into the Promised Land that a kingship was set up? In what year? How many years did it last? Who were the kings? What were the names of kings and notable personages of contemporary peoples? Children enjoy being reviewed on information that they have studied. But do not cover too much at a single meal. Do not make the discussion so profound that heavy reflection is needed to come up with the answers.
Use it to make mealtime an occasion that all the family enjoy.
Vocabulary-building games are also enjoyed by children. At the table they can learn not only how to spell words correctly but also how to pronounce them properly. Make these moments enjoyable, so that if a word is mispronounced or misspelled, the embarrassment will not be too great. See that the laughter is upbuilding. It aids the children not to take themselves too seriously when they fail to answer correctly. Dad and mother in this way are helping the children to emotional maturity.
Learning About Other People
Another thing that provides great enjoyment at the table is to learn how peoples of other nations eat. Not all people eat with a knife, fork and spoon. Some use chopsticks. Others use their hands. Not all use dishes or eat on tables, or sit on chairs. It is a real experience to learn to eat rice with chopsticks. Try it sometime. It is fun. In India a great many people eat with their hands. They mix their foods with their fingers and eat it in a manner that is not the least offensive. Knowing how other people live creates respect and understanding. Have you ever tried to dine at home the Japanese way? Why not try it sometime?
To keep from slipping into the old routine of things, why not become adventurous and every once in a while prepare a meal that is native to a particular country, then have the family learn about that country, its eating and living habits. If you are preparing a trip to another land, cook a few meals that you will be eating along the way and then match your cooking with theirs. If you were to visit the Soviet Union, what would you order for
dinner? Would it be a Russian dish? Would you enjoy it? Now is the time to find out at home. If you were a guest in Lebanon, what would you have for breakfast? Give your family the treat of traveling around the world while dining at home.
Lasting Benefits
If you put forth the effort to make mealtimes interesting, joyful occasions, your children will never forget it. What they will remember the longest will not be so much the meals they ate, but what you as parents did to make them happy. And the least costly but most priceless gifts are the gifts of love shared on such occasions, of problems faced together as a family, the gifts of understanding and concern for one another, of laughter and fun. None of these cost anything in terms of dollars and cents, but they are priceless.
When away, children will miss this togetherness. These moments built up at home will provide hours of sweet reflection. The experience received will be rewardingly rich, unforgettable. Young ones will be equipped to handle themselves better in the company of others, and to be friendly, outgoing and confident. Family mealtime discussions will aid them toward maturity, helping them to develop into knowledgeable, upright men and women.
The lesson that will be learned around the table is that a good family is based on human and spiritual values and not on material possessions. Even with little materially a happy family life can exist. It is not how much money is spent on children, but how much time is spent with them, that is important. Parents, remember, nothing you can purchase for your children can substitute for the gift of yourselves. The family mealtime is an excellent time to give this gift.
WHEN YOU DRIVE
AT A place in Maine where one turns onto a highway there is a sign that reads: "YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE WORLD." An exaggerated warning? Not when one considers that just since 1900 over 1,500,000 Americans have been killed in traffic accidents, which is 300,000 more Americans than have died in all wars since 1775. Last year United States' traffic deaths leaped to 47,800, West Germany's jumped to nearly 16,000, and the combined French and British total rose to 18,000. Think of it! Traffic accidents in just four countries kill 224 persons, on an average, every day, or about one person every six minutes! Can there be any question that it is dangerous when one noses a high-powered automobile onto a highway?
Many reasons are given for accidents' occurring, such as driving too fast, improper passing, disregarding road signs, and so forth, but the fundamental fault in perhaps the majority of all accidents is failing to look and see. How common the cry after an accident: "I didn't even see him!" But why do so many people fail to see?
Develop Good Looking Habits
A major reason is that they simply fall to look. Their minds are on other things, and this is as true with pedestrians as it is
with car drivers. A child chasing a ball often is intent only on recovering the ball. So he does not see
the driver that slams into him. Parents should impress upon their children that the street is one of the most dangerous places in the world, and that they should never cross one without looking both ways.
Car drivers, too, need to cultivate good looking habits. When driving through sections where children customarily play, be on the lookout for them. Other critical areas are intersections, and when heading out of parking lots. Never fail to look both ways at such places! Do you always make sure to look behind when pulling out from a parking place at the curb? It is vital to do so.
A good driver is always conscious of what is going on behind him. He checks the rear-view mirror about every five seconds or so whenever there are cars ahead or behind. Never does he fall to look back before changing lanes. And when there is a slowdown in traffic or he sees a possible delay up ahead, he instantly checks the situation behind.
It is interesting that one out of every four daytime accidents is said to involve a vehicle going backward. So apparently many persons fail to look to see what is behind them when they are backing up. The proper way to do it is to turn your head to face the rear. In this way one can get a good view so as to know whether everything is all clear.
Failure to look explains why so many accidents occur in clear dry weather, on straight roads and in light traffic. Under such conditions the driver is more apt to feel secure and to allow his attention to shift to matters other than his driving, causing him to operate his car by habit alone. But beware of complacency! Distractions can be fatal!
Distractions to Proper Looking
A chief distraction to safe driving is concern over one's destination. Looking for road signs, street addresses or consulting a map often takes one's attention off the traffic picture just long enough to result in an accident. Or it may be that one is intent on turning at a particular corner, or heading into or out of a parking place. It is said that over half of all traffic accidents occur when drivers get absorbed in such route problems.
The scenery is another distraction that drivers with good looking habits avoid. This can be anything along the road that makes one curious and holds his eyes too long. It may be a beautiful sunset, a majestic mountain scene, or perhaps an acquaintance seen on the street. However, a good driver keeps his eyes moving all the time, and never stops them to fix on any object for longer than two seconds. He does not succumb to the bad habit of window shopping while driving past stores, nor does he allow himself to admire a new model car, an attractive girl or things like that.
Neither will distractions within the car grab the attention of a good driver. He does not turn his head to look at persons when he speaks to them. Nor will he allow disturbances such as quarreling children, a buzzing bee or a heated conversation to interfere with his concentration on driving. His sole attention is riveted on the traffic situation!
Look! Look! Look!
It is not surprising, therefore, that when a study was recently made of a group of professional drivers who have won safe driving awards for twenty years or more, they all were found to excel in one faculty: They drove with total concentration. Their pattern, as one observer put it, was "Look, look, look—drive, drive, drive."
But proper looking does not mean fixing one's eyes on the bumper of the car in front. Many persons unfortunately do this, and, strange as it seems, more than once it has occurred that when drivers have pulled off a highway to stop, the car behind has followed and smashed right into them! A good driver will never allow his eyes to develop such a disastrous hypnotic stare. He will keep them on constant patrol—glancing near and far ahead, to the sides and in the rear-view mirror—seeing things in quick flashes. He will get the big-picture habit, watching all objects for a block ahead in town, and half a mile ahead on rural roads.
Proper Seeing
Since looking is done with the eyes but actual seeing with the mind, it is vital that the mind pay close attention to what the eyes look at. If one is lost in personal thoughts, overly tired, irritated at another driver or hurrying for an appointment, the mind is less likely actually to see the traffic situations at which the eyes look. For proper seeing the mind must be clear of outside thoughts and centered on one's driving.
Eye defects can also contribute to faulty seeing. For instance, one may have 20/20 vision and yet his field of vision may cover only objects directly in front of him. This means that a driver with "tunnel vision," as this defect is called, will not see the pedestrian or car off to his side. Even persons with normal vision have their field of vision narrowed to little more than the width of the road at speeds in excess of 60 m.p.h. So speed is a chief hindrance to proper seeing.
It is, therefore, vital that a driver not only look, but see. If more persons did, there would be far less carnage on the highways.
To change direction in midflight, this squirrel acrobat just manipulates its forearms. If it decides to make a sudden left
Acrobatics with a Parachute Membrane
THERE they go! Those furred acrobats move swiftly through the treetops, yet speed is just one of their amazing traits. They twist and turn their way through the topmost branches as champion acrobats.
If man could better observe the night- roving flying squirrel, there is no doubt that more would appreciate the agility given this animal by the Creator. Here is a born acrobat that prefers the tallest treetops, bounding from one tree to another by leaps so remarkable-that the action is much like flight.
Found in many parts of the earth, this acrobatic squirrel scrambles to the topmost branches and prepares to launch itself in space by gathering itself into a ball, feet together. Then it leaps into the air with a tremendous spring, spreading out its hind feet at right angles to the body. But something else is spread out, something that enables this furred acrobat to perform in an extraordinary way. This is a loose lateral fold of skin on each side of its body, fastened fore and aft to the ankles. So the flying squirrel soars through the air with the help of this parachute membrane. As one would expect, it is not always a straight jump or glide.
turn, it drops the left arm lower than the right. Sometimes several turns are made in rapid succession. Beautiful spiral glides are accomplished by holding the turn position. Fancy acrobatics indeed!
But how about the landing? Toward the end of its glide, this miniature acrobat is traveling fast and seems headed for a crash. But suddenly it checks its speed with an upward sweep of its body and tail, and lands, softly and silently, spread-eagled on the trunk of another tree. This ability to check speed is indeed important. It never fails.
How far can these furred acrobats glide? It depends largely-on the height of the takeoff point. Some easily cover 160 feet or more. The record may well be 300 feet, attained when one glided down a steep hillside.
It does not take long for baby flying squirrels to get into the acrobatic act. At the age of six weeks they are doing limited gliding. By eight weeks they can execute 90-degree turns, lateral loops and other fancy maneuvers characteristic of the older performers. Out of pure enjoyment these furred acrobats sometimes ca vort in the moonlight in a game of aerial follow-the-leader.
But how do they make big jumps and yet land safely even on the darkest nights? Their eyes are important, but there is some possibility that they have a sonar system similar to the one the Creator made for the bats; for flying squirrels emit, during a glide, sounds exceeding the upper limit of frequencies heard by human ears.
folds hidden membranes until it looks like a man struggling into a bathrobe six sizes too large. With amazing speed it dashes along the underside of the limb, springs onto the main trunk, and leaps upward in a galloping motion with almost the agility of a squirrel. At this point the now incredulous watcher sees a blurred leap, and out on the still jungle air floats the most perfect gliding machine . . . looking for all the world like a small carpet with pointed ends, sailing through space."
And for an added safety feature certain flying squirrels of Africa have scales beneath their tails—an antiskid device for safe landings.
In Australia the popularly called "flying squirrels" or "gliders" are not really squirrels but are flying phalangers. These acrobatic marsupials resemble the flying squirrels because of the gliding membrane, enabling them to leap from bough to bough, covering 100 feet, the largest of them being able to leap 200 feet or more. When these furred acrobats are in action their
Even with a baby clinging to her chest, mother flying lemur does not quit her acrobatics, necessitating that a youngster hang on to mother for dear life, as she makes her glides up to 100 feet. Man has not fully understood yet how this acrobatic mother lands on a tree without smashing the little one, for it makes no apparent effort to land softly; but, somehow, the youngster survives.
Special Tail for Acrobatics
outline looks remarkably like an exaggerated sweptwing jet plane. Flying phalangers come in a number of different sizes, one of them being the smallest known parachuting mammal. About equal in size to a mouse, this miniature acrobat is named, of course, Acrobates!
The strangest of the furred acrobats is the cobego or flying lemur of the East Indies, a long-limbed, large-clawed, fox-headed animal that sleeps hanging upside down. The Creator gave this animal an unusual perchate membrane that continues
with gliding membranes; some were given by their Creator a prehensile tail, one designed for seizing, grasping or holding. Australia's "possums" are well equipped in this regard, for these marsupials leap about in trees, using their tail as an acrobatic aid. Some of the ring-tailed possums travel from one tree to another in the prettiest acrobatic manner. They swing by their tail from the end of a slender branch. Then they grasp with their forepaws leaves or twigs of a bough of a nearby tree, release their tailhold, and the next moment they
all the way from the neck to the very tip of the long tail! One observer of this singular creature said:
"Words can scarcely describe that jungle oddity, the flying lemur. Imagine, if you can, a catsized animal hanging slothlike from the limb of some jungle tree, resembling a giant tropical fruit but covered with silky, soft brown fur splotched here and there with yellowish white. Suddenly it un-
are across the gap.
Another furred acrobat with a prehensile tail is the spider monkey of tropical America. This monkey's tail is a remarkable one. It has twenty-three vertebrae and is more than two feet long—longer than the monkey's head and body. The tip of the tail is sensitive and naked and can grasp things with unshakable firmness.
Virtually a fifth hand, the tail enables these monkey acrobats to suspend themselves in the air, leaving all four limbs free for other activities. Or they can use the long tail to grasp a fruit they are unable to reach with their arms. Those who have seen spider monkeys in a zoo swing from rope to rope or leap about in cages have some idea of their acrobatic agility, although such feats in confined spaces bear little comparison to what they can do in the boundless freedom of their native forests.
If these furred acrobats wish to cross to another tree, they may swing themselves by their tail until they can grasp a branch of the other tree. But they also make speedy, flying leaps. They have been seen dropping straight down twenty feet or more from one branch to another of the same tree. The red spider monkey of Panama thinks nothing of prodigious leaps that may reach a length of 38 feet.
But tropical America is not alone in having champion monkey acrobats. Africa has the very long-tailed (but not prehensile) guenon monkeys that take long flying leaps between trees. Their style, of course, is different. They take a short run, jump upward, with arms outspread, and go sailing headlong through the air. By means of their tall, with its long, trailing weight, the monkeys alter their position from a nosedive to an upright stance. Then they land on the side of a mass of leaves and smaller twigs, with arms and legs spread-eagle fashion. They hug the foliage upon landing and then scramble to safety.
Speed Champion with Long Arms
When it comes to speed in acrobatic feats, the gibbon of southeast Asia and some East Indian islands claims the prize. These acrobats do not have a prehensile tail or, for that matter, any tail. They are, nonetheless, well equipped for fancy acrobatics in the treetops, the Creator having given these creatures long arms, so long that the tips of the fingers touch the ground when the animals stand erect. Some gibbons have a tremendous armspread of five feet, with the head and body being only three feet!
In the trees, where they spend virtually all their life, gibbons dash along trapeze fashion, using their hands and arms for locomotion, their feet sometimes carrying a small supply of food. "No other ape or monkey can travel through the trees with the speed of the gibbon," says George G. Goodwin, Associate Curator of Mammals, the American Museum of Natural History. Observers have watched gibbons in northern Sumatra forests in trees so high up it made them dizzy just to look up at them, as the gibbons sailed through the treetops with almost the speed of a bird. The gibbons would take hold of a branch only momentarily, sometimes drop twenty to thirty feet, grab another branch and make off again at high speed in their high-altitude homes.
We can be thankful that, after Jehovah God created trees to grace the earth, he saw fit to make them the homes of so many kinds of marvelous animal life, including those furred acrobats of the treetops.
Exemption for the Sheep
Few indeed are the warm-blooded animals that are not troubled by fleas. Dogs and pigs are often the objective of the flea's bounding jumps. But sheep, strangely enough, are not bothered. After burrowing into the sheep's wool, a flea gets so hopelessly entangled that it is unable to get out.
an AFRICAN MAKES HIS MIND OVER
ONE of my first impressions in life was the sound of a hollow drum played while my family planted a rice farm. My father spent much of his time hunting to provide for his three wives and seventeen children. When he would bring home a deer it would be dried over a fire and put in a big clay pot filled with red palm oil. This was our only refrigerator.
A deer horn was kept as a god for the family to worship. Father believed that it was this horn that gave him success in hunting, and at times we would kill a white chicken as a sacrifice to this benevolent horn. We also looked for help from clay figurines called "clay medicine." My parents taught me that one Supreme God was up, the One giving the horn power, but there was no direct worship or prayers offered to this One. Christianity had not yet reached our town deep in the Liberian forest.
One day a baby in our house became seriously sick. My mother went to the graves of our ancestors with a food offering and prayed to the spirits to reveal to her in a dream the medicine that would cure the child. Babies, it was thought, were gifts from these ancestor spirits, and the village women from time to time would leave food offerings for the ancestors on the banks of a nearby river. We were taught that under those waters our dead forefathers had made a big town.
Polygamy versus Love
All praying to such spirits was left to parents though, and as a youngster I was never taught to pray. I had never heard of Jesus.
One day when I was about ten years old father ordered my brother and me to carry wood to the house of another family who had a daughter about my own age, named Sua. Father had engaged this girl to be given as a wife when she developed sufficiently. From time to time dowry payments, such as money, cloth, or a bucket, were made for Sua. To keep the account straight, a stone representing the value of each payment would be put in a certain bag. Father had such a bag for each wife and engaged girl.
In the case of Sua, she would be given to father in time and he would be privileged to have a child by her. After that he could give her to one of us as a wife. However, if we did not keep carrying wood, father would not give us a wife, we were warned; we would have to hunt one for ourselves.
Once I asked my father: "Why have you married many wives?" "Many wives can make a large farm, increase your income, boost your importance in the community, put you in line to be chief," was his reply. Frankly, I was not really impressed. "If a wife gets sick," continued father, "then another can, cook for her." However, I well knew that my father loved his first wife and not my mother. If the favorite wife got sick, I reasoned, the other wives might easily say, 'Since you love her, let her cook for you now.' One day my doubts were confirmed. The wife my father loved became quite ill, whereupon the other wives quickly decided it was time for them to visit their families.
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