16 THE ACORN What a tiny thing is an acorn When it comes right down to its size; And yet to a little squirrel, Each acorn is quite a prize. Carefully stores he each acorn For use on a cold winter's day, And then when the snow is fast falling, He's glad that he put them away. What a tiny thing is the "The Acorn," When it comes right down to its size, And yet to each loyal student "The Acorn" should seem as a prize. A tiny thing is "The Acorn," But there's truth in its every line. Read it, you'll find it is teeming With valuable thoughts every time. A tiny thing is an acorn, Yet it harbors the great oak tree, Which spreads out its branches so widely To make shade for both you and for me. "Where is 'The Acorn' planted?" "What grows from it?" you will say. 'Tis deep in the hearts of each student And is nourished there every day. "What grows where 'The Acorn' is planted? Good thoughts and the noblest deeds. It broadens the mind of the student; O, 'tis one of the student's needs. It strengthens the mind in its power, So heed to its every call. A tiny thing is the "Acorn" Yet good it does unto all. Myrtle Young, '12 THE ACORN 17 The last two centuries have witnessed no more stupendous drama of disaster than that enacted last week in Sicily and Calabria. In the early morning of December 28th the cities of Messina and Reggio were overwhelmed by a triplet catastrophe of earthquake, flood, and fire, their fate being shared in varying degrees by a score of other towns and villages in the stricken region. According to an official estimate 115,000 lives were blotted out, while some dispatches double this figure. Scarcely less appalling than the terrible toll of death is the physical and mental suffering of between 200,000 and 300,000 survivors whose condition cries out to the whole civilized world for alleviation. If even the lowest of the present estimates stand, the closing week of 1908 will have to its credit a disaster surpassed in kind only by the Yeddo earthquake which killed 200,000 Japanese in 1703, and by that of Antioch in 526, which is credited with the destruction of 250.000 The Literary Digest The feat performed by a Dutch diver some time ago in going down 175 feet to the wreck of the treasure ship Dorothea, on the Tenedos reef, and remaining there for nearly two hours, is a remarkable per- formance. Nevertheless, it is not true, as has been stated in some quarters, that it establishes a record in deep-sea diving. This is held by an English diver, who descended 201 feet to the wreck of the Cape Horn, lost off the coast of South America ,with a cargo of copper worth $50,000. An almost equally wonderful piece of work was that performed by Diver A. Erostarbe in 1896, in connection with the wreck of the Skyro off Cape Finisterre in 180 feet of water. After many experienced men had tried and failed he saved by his own exertions, bar silver to the value of $9,000, to get at which he had first to blow the iron deck to bits with heavy charges of dynamite. On January 18th for the eighth time since statehood, a Utah legislature will assemble to listen to a message from the State's chief executive on the commonwealth's needs. This message will differ from those that have gone before it in that it will have brighter hopes to hold out in picturing the certain rewards of industry, and will have more definite problems to state in setting forth the needed development for each section of the community