Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/117

 Popular Science Monthly

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��This Actually Happens Oftener Than You Would Think

IT may be a mere matter of supersti- tion which causes so many hundreds of sol- diers to wear small Bibles and Testaments over their hearts. But the Pocket Testament League of England re- ports that it is very generally done, and oc- casionally we hear of incidents which confirm the report of the League. Superstition says that the heart so protected will never be pierced by a bullet. Certainly the soldier who wore the little volume shown in the accompanying pho- tograph must be a firm believer in its efficacy. He was struck by two machine bullets. One of them remained in the Testament, though prac- tically destroying it. The other passed through it and penetrated his ribs, but without causing seri- ous injury.

Superstition also says that if the Testament be the gift of a mother or sweetheart it is doubly valuable as a talisman.

���The Siberian native enters his home by a ladder leading from a door in the roof

��The Door to This Siberian Home Is Located on the Roof

MUCH of Siberia is a vast wilderness which still remains to be explored. In the winter season, when the streams cease to flow, disappearing be- neath the ice and snow, the animals hibernate in their dens and the natives repair to their huts to sleep away, so far as possible, the in- finite silence that broods over the land.

The illustration shows the interior of a Siberian home. The odd-looking ladder in the foreground leads to the door of the hut, which is situated in the roof. The ladder is hewn from a big log and the hole rungs in it have all been cut by hand. It is necessary to enter a Siberian home through the roof during the sever- est winter months, be- cause the snow, driven by the gales of the North, forms great drifts which not only effectu- ally cover up all side entrances but often con- ceal the whereabouts of the hut itself.

��Notice the face on the right-hand page.

���Two bullets pierced the little pocket Testament without doing the wearer any serious harm

��Have You Put the Cat Out for the Night? Then Don't

Says Lee S. Crandall, in Pets (Henry Holt & Co., New York) : "The practice of turning the cat out of doors at night is as cruel as it is unnecessary. No animal is fonder of warmth and comfort, and the pet's happiness certainly is not increased by a night spent outside in cold and dampness.

"If as much energy were exhausted in keep- ing the cat indoors as too often is expended in putting her out, how great would be the boon to human nerves and unfortunate wild things! All felines are normally nocturnal, and it is at night, if ever, that a curb on their activities is needed."

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