In Virginia there is also a serious forest fire. The Dismal Swamp, as it is called, is on fire. The smoke has become so dense that the people on the trains which run through are forced to keep all the windows closed, and even then the smoke is almost unbearable.
The train hands report that the game and wild animals that have made their homes in the swamp are deserting it and fleeing in all directions.
All over these sections of the country the constant prayer is for rain, rain, rain!
Curious, is it not, that in one year we should have had a period of such heavy rain that dams were burst, rivers overflowed their banks, and the farmers lost their hay crops, and that this wet season should have been followed by such a severe drought that the forests have taken fire!
The latest news from Guatemala is that the government troops who are supporting Dictator Barrios have succeeded in recapturing the important city which the rebels had previously taken by storm.
It is necessary that you know the name of this city, but it is one of the hardest we have had to encounter so far. Quezaltenango is its name.
(Strange, isn't it, that foreign names should sound so funny to us, and be so difficult to pronounce? In many foreign tongues the e is pronounced a, and the a, ah. If you remember this it will help you to a correct pronunciation of many names and places.)
Quezaltenango being once more in the hands of the Government, Barrios has plucked up fresh courage, and attacked the insurgents with such vigor that one wing of their army has been defeated and driven into Mexico.
President Diaz does not, however, intend to allow the rebels to use his country as a refuge, and he is sending forces to the frontier to drive them back into Guatemala, to be captured by Barrios.