From all Parts.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1263, 15 December 1920, Page 2

From all Parts.

" GENIUS IN IRONS. id *f Celebrities Who Pined in Prison. ,j What would the world say to-day if on arriving in Ireland after their ' magnificent flight across the Atlantic, . a (he heroic Alcock and Brown, instead of being received with the enthusiasm they so richly m*erite.l, had been s seized by the authorities and thrown s into the Detention Barracks in y Dub/in? And yet it was into a gloomy dungeon that Christopher Columbus was hurled for an exploit no less daring. <'.H the gratitude that he received was the displeasure of his so-called pats ions, the abuse of the populace, r threats, imprecations, and then, as if s that were not sufficient, the luckless . discoverer was clapped into irons. f All that Galileo got for his services " to science was public ridicule and a . prison-cell. It was Galileo who declared that the earth went round the . sun, for which preposterous assertion f his judges had only one sentence. , "We'll let you go free if you admit , that statement to be a tissue of lies," , he was told, after he had languished in prison for months. "Very well, , the earth does not go round the sun," I remarked the great, astronomer. "It . does, for all that!" said he to himseir as soon as he had quit the judges' , presence. , Sir Walter Raleigh spent over ten | years of his life in prison, and the ,! beautiful Mary Queen of Scots a much ; , longer period. So absolutely bored . was the first named with prison life I . that he attempted to destroy himself. ' As for Queen Mary. site, too, became terribly depressed owing to her mono-.' • lonous existence. It was from one ] . of the many prisons in which she was ' confined from time to time that she escaped just prior to the Battle of Langside, after which disaster to her cause she was once more promptly ; placed in custody. It was as a prisoner that Cervantes I , wrote "Don Quixote" and Bunyan the j "Pilgrim's Progress." Leigh Hunt j wrote some of bis finest essavs in m-ison, and the late \V. T. Stead" used : to refer to the months he spent in Holloway as one of the happiest periods of his life. Barnum. the famous showman, once , found himself In jail, though when he ; left it it was in a coach and four, surrounded by crowds of admirers! .Napoleon 111. spent a number of years behind bars, as did also thai mighty genius Mirabeau. one of the greatest siaiesmen France ever pro duced. i UNLUCKY TO LOOK AT • MAIN-LAW. i (By Capt. F. A. M. Webster, K.A.R.) 1 did not realise until 1 was out , in the African bush how complex is | the life of a savage native, and how , completely he is hedged in by rules . and prohibitions, the breaking of ; which results often in death, if only j by reason of his entire belief in the , inviolability of these rules. . , On one occasion, a burly, deep- i chested native of mine temporarily lost his voice. He came to me and,; speaking in a whisper said, "Bwana ': (Master)' My most beautiful child is dead. My eldest, but less beautiful, child is ill. My wife has run away, taking with her my best cooking pot.! ! 1 am not feeling well myself. Is it j ' your will that I go away to sacrifice \ ' i one chicken that the Evil Eye may' • j be averted?" ' I laughed at this idea until I remembered that, according to the ethnologists, the natives have lived in this state of ignorance for thou- j sands of years, performing every act of life in accordance with those rules and prohibitions. For instance, ill-luck will fall upon the child who is praised or admired by a white man or a neighbour. On . no account must a black man look his mother-in-law in the face. There are many strange customs : in connection with journeys. Before . a long journey is undertaken, offer- , ings must be made and complicated | ceremonies performed. The journey • | must be abandoned or the course ,! altered if a hyena has crossed the ; I trail in a certain way, or if a wood- . , pecker calls from one. side of the road. . In any case, it is the custom when j crossing the first stream to dip the i end of the bow into the water and 1 space it to the lips. If a man drinks (from a stream he is about to cross, ; he must retain the last mouthfitl and '■ spit it back into the water when he j reaches the far bank. j • In West Africa it is not unusual to 1 see at native crouched over a stream r talking to the "Spirit of the Water," . and ia that country, too, the traveller ~ is unwise who looks behind him at 1 any/sudden sound,Vfor he will probably t behold a native with the Fangaree ? charm, .and will -see hi mbea't- with a s bamboo hammer info a tiny drum held ■{'■ above a live animal. As Vhe traveller j looks round the charm is struck, and e it is the belief of the natives that s whatever part of the animal is ine jured, the human victim will suffer in j j the same region. ; - j e, ; : I *f •'/' — '■••■ I s ' ■ • •' a MERE MALES WHO SUE FOR " "BREACH." y :■■ j if Disappointed Lovers in the Courts. , d , o. If the privilege of suing for breach, 9. of premise of marriage is exercised if nearly always by the woman in the )f case, it is none the less true that, men is can, and occasionally do, seek the aid m of the law on the same grounds, in A case of the. kind, that occurred ;u a year or two ago was that concerning io a young Persian who came to this bs. country to complete his education, to Pnfortunately . for him—and probably i for his studies!—an Englishwoman i's 1 proceeded to make love to him, and .e-' the student succumbed to her wiles, he. In due course they became engaged, d; The lady penned long epistles, one ?" of which, on being read in Court, tot I caused no little amusement on ac-

a' count of its reference to the fact that U the student had lately had his haii e cut, much—so the lady averred—tc 1- the detriment of his appearance. On the day fixed for the wedding, however, the would-be bridegroom was astounded at receiving a letter from the prospective bride breaking off the engagement and demanding the immediate return of her letters and other mementoes. But the disappointed lover was not f spared to release the lady on these lerms. He. consulted a solicitor, sued for breach' of promise, and obtained £SO damages. i An American medical man brought, a suit against a woman for ■ breach of promise, claiming £IOOO byj way of damages. The amusing part ! of the case lay in the fact that the lady, who was declared to be thei stoutest woman in the United States,J had, in the worthy medico's absence'' contracted with a travelling showman> to appear as the Pat Lady of the' circus, and, in order to fulfil this en-! gagement, she had broken off hers with the doctor. When the latter got home, he found that his fiance had already joined the show. He followed: discovered her at a remote spot in Indiana, and promptly sought redress in the local Court. But'the lady boldly declared before the jury that it was a woman's privilege to change her mind and the point carried the day. Undoubtedly the biggest claim for damages in any "breach" case brought by an embittered male was the £IO,OOO which was claimed from the daughter of a wealthy Long Islander Among olher items, a number of mysterious signs, said to represent kisses of a distinctly novel nature, made by the lady, were cited in the evidence against her; yet the jury was not sufficiently impressed by them to bring in any other verdict than one for the defendant. ! Another suit which excited a deal of attention on both sides of the Atlantic at the time was that in which a middle-aged bachelor and his fiancee, both of Chicago, were the principals. The couple, who had been engaged for twelve years, were due to be married one Easter Sunday when to the consternation of the the lady suddenly transferred her affections to a youth of nineteen The distressed lover, finding that his powers of persuasion were unavailing, sought consolation in an action for breach of promise, in the course of which several hundreds, of letters were produced and read in Court as evidence of the lady's love for the plaintiff. All the efforts of tbe latter s counsel, however, proved equally unavailing, and the jilted one it is recorded, retired to the solitudes of the Great North West, there to live his remaining years in sorrow and in! silence. !