LAUREATE 



3344 



LAUREL 



In this type of laundry, steam is used in 

 running the machinery and heating the water, 

 and sometimes ironing devices are also heated 

 by steam. The quality of the water employed 

 is of considerable importance. If only hard 

 water be obtainable, then the water must be 

 artificially softened. In the best modern laun- 

 dries clothes first go through a disinfecting 

 process, during which they are bathed in steam 

 at high pressure. They are then placed in 

 washing machines, which may be either revolv- 

 ing or stationary. In the first kind the clothes 

 are cleaned by being agitated by revolving 

 cylinders, while in the stationary machines 

 they are beaten by plungers. They may be 

 boiled in the same machine. 



After the clothes are thoroughly cleansed, 

 they are passed through a wringer and sent 

 to artificially heated drying-rooms, through 

 which air is kept circulating by fans. The 

 ironing machine consists of some form of hard, 

 polished metal surface, heated by steam or 

 electricity, which presses the clothes against 

 another smooth surface, usually covered with 

 a felt padding and a cotton sheet. Many va- 

 rieties of ironing devices are in use. 



There are over 5,000 steam laundries oper- 

 ating in the United States, representing an 

 investment of about $69,000,000. The receipts 

 for a single year are about $105,000,000. The 

 six cities doing the largest amount of business 

 are, in order, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, 

 San Francisco, Los Angeles and Saint Louis. 

 The Dominion government presents no statis- 

 tics for the industry in Canada. 

 LAUREATE , law ' re ate. See POET LAUREATE. 

 LAUREL, law' r el, a family of trees and 

 shrubs remarkable for their aromatic proper- 

 ties, including such well-known medicinal 

 plants as the sassafras, benzoin and camphor 

 trees. The name is probably most familiarly 

 associated with the bay, or sweet laurel, whose 

 graceful evergreen leaves formed the wreaths 

 which crowned the victors in the ancient games 

 (see BAY TREE). The name is also applied to 

 plants of other families, notably the cherry 

 laurel and the Portugal laurel, both of which 

 belong to the rose family, and to the beautiful 

 mountain laurel, a member of the heath family. 

 The latter is described in the article KALMIA. 



The Laurel in Legend. In classic mythology 

 the laurel tree was sacred to Apollo, the sun 

 god. According to the legend, he loved and 

 wooed the beautiful nymph Daphne, daughter 

 of the river god Peneus. Delighting only in 

 woodland sports and in the spoils of the chase, 



Daphne sought to elude her handsome lover. 

 Though she fled swifter than the wind she saw 

 that she could not escape, and so called to her 



THE LAUREL. 



The laurel branch, and the crown of laurel, 

 "meed of mightie conquerours and poets sage." 



father for help. Thereupon he changed her into 

 a laurel tree, ever afterwards sacred to the sun 

 god. 



LAUREL, Miss., the county seat of Jones 

 County, and a center of the lumber industry. 

 It is situated in the southeastern part of the 

 state, on the Tallahoma and Tallhala creeks, 

 twenty-nine miles northeast of Hattiesburg ; 

 ninety miles southeast of Jackson and 13S 

 miles northeast of New Orleans. Transporta- 

 tion is provided by the New Orleans & North 

 Eastern, the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicagc 

 and the Gulf & Ship Island railways. Laurel 

 is a city of rapid growth, as it had only IOC 

 inhabitants soon after its settlement in 1894 

 It was incorporated as a city in 1900. In 191C 

 the population was 8,465; it had increased tc 

 11,779 in 1916 (Federal estimate). The com- 

 mission form of government, with three elec- 

 tive officers, was adopted in 1913. The area oJ 

 the city is four square miles. 



Laurel is located in a district which produces 

 yellow pine in such abundance that many ol 

 its handsome residences are built of it, anc 

 some of its streets are made of creosoted yellov 

 pine. The city owes its existence to the estab- 

 lishment of extensive sawmills, which have suf- 

 ficient timber available to last for many years 

 In addition to the lumber mills, there are cot- 

 ton mills with 10,000 spindles, employing 40( 

 people, a brick and tile plant with a daily out- 

 put of 30,000 bricks, a large fertilizer establish- 

 ment, a knitting mill and a cotton compress 

 Notable buildings are the city hall, the Y. M 

 C. A. building and the Eastman Gardiner office 

 building, erected in 1914 at a cost of $150,000 



