Mama, Please Read A Book

HELLO FOLKS! — Giving children the privilege of telling parents what they can do is placing an awful burden of responsibility where it does not belong and cannot be directed.

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MY SISTER Erna has four handsome sons. One day I heard her say something that impressed me deeply. I asked her to put it in writing which she rather reluctantly agreed to do. Erna's husband Bob teaches in the Albert Lea Schools. Here is what she wrote.

MAMA, PLEASE READ ME A BOOK?
By ERNA BERTHELSEN
"Mama, please read me a book? This is the question often asked by my three-year-old son when I am busy with some household chore. Only a mother can know the joy of seeing a little boy's big blue questioning eyes turn to happiness when the answer is, "Yes, I will."

This little boy knows which day his older brother will bring home a library book just for him. Even our one-year old boy knows the joy of story time as we sit in the big rocker to share this favorite book together. I have learned that in no other age can I make them so happy with so little. So that household chore has been delayed; but two little boys have received the loving attention they needed and Mother has rested.

Five or ten years from now, no one will know that the refrigerator wasn't cleaned, the dishes weren't dried, or the floor wasn't swept, but my boys will know that I took time to read to them."

P. S. — I believe that if every mother everywhere would take a few minutes a day to do the above described duty, wars would soon end, crime would cease and man would soon be at peace with his fellow men.

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I totaled up the rainfall for the month of May. It reads as follows. Three and seven-tenths inches, with almost half of it falling on the 25th and 26th of the month. The only other large amount was on the 5th with 0.7 that day. The month of April gave us 3 inches.

I am aware that this figure is tremendously different than what was received in many other parts of the county and elsewhere. We had only one storm which slowed up field

A Confusing Situation

By Edwin B. Petersen

HELLO FOLKS – John and Jim are twin brothers. John is also Jim's uncle, which makes John Jim's nephew. On the distaff side, John's wife is blood niece of Jim's wife, the two women are sisters-in-law. And that is just the beginning. You see, twin brothers married niece and aunt.

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THERE IS a big difference between telling a woman the her hat is "real cool" and telling her that it is "not so hot."

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IN THIS DAY and age, when books can be bought for an hour's work or less, it is easy to forget that through the ages books have been precious possessions. Before the printing press was invented in the 16th century, books were few and highly revered because they were handwritten.

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WRITINGS WERE not always in books as we have them today. "Sticks" of scrolls were the more common forms of recording; but there were others. Hieroglyphics were carved on stone, metal and any other durable material.

While books are very easy to come by today, there are still many selling for great prices. For instance, a gilt edge copy of Samuel Clemens' "Tom Sawyer" recently sold for $1,500. A rare copy of Huckleberry Finn sold for $925. A presentation copy of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," printed in 1850, went for $7,500. In Hamburg, Germany, a first folio edition of the works of William Shakespeare brought $83,965.

Think these are high prices? Consider what was paid for a receipt for the country of Palestine signed on June 30, 1920, by Major General Louis Bolz and Sir Herber Samuel — $5,500.

Then, too, one of Thomas Edison's note books brought $2,700. And a wealthy New Yorker paid $182,000 for an early copy of the "Apoclypse."

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Foil The Freeze
Have you ever discovered, a short while before dinner, that you've forgotten to take the food out of the freezer? If you stand it in front of an electric fan, it will defrost in half the usual time.

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Cones of a fir stand erect: cones of a spruce hang down.