At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began. Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away.
Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any broken glass. They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire. This morning, however, a fireman accidentally discovered the cause. He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000-volt power line. In this way, he was able to solve the mystery.
The explanation was simple but very unusual. A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires. The snake then wound itself round the wires. When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire.
After breakfast, I sent the children to school and then I went to the shops. It was still early when I returned home. The children were at school, myhusband was at work and the house was quiet. So I decided to make some tarts for tea.
In a short time I was busy mixing butter and flour and my hands were soon covered with stickypastry. At exactly that moment, the telephone rang.
Nothing could havebeen more annoying. I picked up the receiver between two sticky fingers and was dismayed when I recognized the voice of Mrs. Bates. It took me ten minutes to persuade her to ring back later. At lastI hung up the receiver.
What a mess! There was pastry on my fingers, onthe telephone, and on the door-knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kitchenthan the door-bell rang loud enough to wake the dead. This time it was the postman and he wanted me to sign for a registered letter!
Firemen had been fighting the forest fire for nearlythree weeks before they could get it under control.
A short time before, great trees had covered thecountryside for miles around. Now, smoke still rose up from the warm groundover the desolate hills. Winter was coming on and the hills threatened thesurrounding villages with destruction, for heavy rain would not only wash awaythe soil but would cause serious floods as well.
When the fire had at last been put out, the forestauthorities ordered several tons of a special type of grass-seed which wouldgrow quickly. The seed was sprayed over the ground in huge quantities byaeroplanes. The planes had been planting seed for nearly a month when it beganto rain.
By then, however, in many places the grass had alreadytaken root. In place of the great trees which had been growing there forcenturies, patches of green had begun to appear in the blackened soil.
Geoffrey Hampden has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his fine sense of humor--everybody, that is, except his six-year-old daughter, Jenny.
Recently, one of Geoffrey's closest friends asked him to make a speech at a wedding reception. This is the sort of thing that Geoffrey loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the wedding with Jenny.
He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course, it was a great success. As soon as he had finished, Jenny told him she wanted to go home. Geoffrey was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked.
On the way home, he asked Jenny if she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise, she said she hadn't. Geoffrey asked her why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him!
Last Christmas, the circus owner, Jimmy Gates, decided to take some presents to a children's hospital.
Dressed up as Father Christmas and accompanied by a 'guard of honour' of six pretty girls, he set off down the main street of the city riding a baby elephant called Jumbo.
He should have known that the police would never allow this sort of thing. A policeman approached Jimmy and told him he ought to have gone along a side-street as Jumbo was holding up the traffic. Though Jimmy agreed to go at once, Jumbo refused to move.
Fifteen policemen had to push very hard to get him off the main street. The police had a difficult time, but they were most amused. 'Jumbo must weigh a few tons,' said a policeman afterwards, 'so it was fortunate that we didn't have to carry him. Of course, we should arrest him, but as he has a good record, we shall let him off this time.'
Haroun Tazieff, the Polish scientist, has spent hislife-time studying active volcanoes and deep caves in all parts of the world.
In 1948, he went to Lake Kivu in the Congo toobserve a new volcano which he later named Kituro. Tazieff was able to set uphis camp very close to the volcano while it was erupting violently.
Though he managed to take a number of brilliantphotographs, he could not stay near the volcano for very long. He noticed thata river of liquid rock was coming towards him. It threatened to surround himcompletely, but Tazieff managed to escape just in time.
He waited until the volcano became quiet and he was ableto return two days later. This time, he managed to climb into the mouth ofKituro so that he could take photographs and measure temperatures.
Tazieff has often risked his life in this way. He hasbeen able to tell us more about active volcanoes than any man alive.