Fireside Scraps.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 305, 22 December 1894, Page 3 (Supplement)

Fireside Scraps.

A Queer Appetite.—lt is hard enough for us sometimes to explain to people who do not like olives and other edibles of a like nature why we like them, bub how touch harder would it be to explain why the Emperor of China should so delight in tho things he eats! A news item which has lately come from that Flowery Empire over which the young man rules asserts that he has as keen a relish for the pleasures of the table as any epicure in his dominions., Eight plates form the staple of his dinner mem'i. The Emperor insists on having bears' paws, antelope tails, ducks' tongues,' torpedo-eels' eggs, camel's bumps, monkeys' lips Fj carps' tails, and marrow-bones served, at his table every day in the year.

Dundee and ClavErhousk. —A6 on* period Dundee was harassed by the attacks of a well-known character, John Graham,' of Claverhouse, who took from it his title. of Viscount Dundee. On-him James 11., shortly before his flight, had conferred the' estates of Dudkope and the constabulary of Dundee, besides raising him to the Peerage. Claverhouse's cruelties to the Presbyterians bad made him peculiarly obnoxious to the: good folk of Dundee, who, with their Provost, were staundi opponents of episcopacy; and before long the disputes came to a head, when . Claverhouse attempted to nominate a Provost, and claimed other ancient privileges which bad fallen into desuetude. This the townsmen vigorously, resisted, and, as he was in the minority, he found -it advisable to beat) a retreat from the Town Hall and the town itself as, quickly as possible. Ho determined to show the citizens, as here asserted, that they had ' no seen the last of my bonnets nor me,' by assembling a force in the Glen of Ogilvy, and marching upon Dundee, in the hope of getting »6 into his power by an unexpected attack. Intelligence, however, was conveyed to the place by the intervention of a lady, who had seen bis troop on the march, and when Claverhouse appeared before the town, preparations had been made for its defence, so that he was obliged to content himself with burning a suburb. '■ Not long after, to the great delight of the, Presbyterians, a bullet—the silver button of a trooper, as some say—-broke at Killiecrankie the charm which fenced his life, and delivered them from their persecutor. -

A Modern Deluge.—The 10th of October, 1634, was a day so remarkably calm that a foreboding seized the inhabitants of Nordstrand than something strange was about to. happen. Next day was Sunday, and they were in church. About the middle of the day bhe sea, which should have been ebbing, rapidly rose, and attained a height unprecedented in the annals of the island. Still they hoped and believed that the dykes would bear the strain. Bub almosb simultaneously these bulwarks gave way, and in a few moments the sea broke in. By ten o'clock at nigTiC sll was over. The dyko had broken in forty-four places. The sea had divided Nordsbrand into the two largest islands, known now as Nordstrand and Pellworm, and fifteen other Hallige. Of the population of old Nordstrand 6,300 were drowned, and in addition 50,000 head of sheep and cattle, thirteen mills and many cbarches were swept into Lhe sea, leaving ia some cases not a trace behind them, The flood was experienced along the whole coast, and especially in the neighbouring ' amb' of Tondern in Schleswig, where great destruction was caused. Altogether, in the Cimbrian Peninsula, from Holstein to Skag'ca, in Jutland,b i was calculated that upwards of 15,000 human beings perished by this terrible viciory of the sea over the land. Some of the Nordsbrand people managed to reach Foot, where their descendants >form-to 'this fday a-considerable' portion of the population..- But the memory of their advent, is 'still preserved by the peculiar dialect of Frisian which they speak, and by Tihb mime of' Wieck'tirige"—or 'people who have fled'—applied to them by the oth,er inhabitants of the island. Jusb now half of the village of Wyk and the whole of Neiblum are peopled by these ' Wiecklinge.' After the flood had subsided some of the poople returned and commenced bhe world anew. But others of the new-old islets remained uninhabited until settlers from Holland lighted on them, and immediately with their usual industry, set to work to dyke them, and generally to extract food out of the sand and mud. Nordstrand and Pellworm were generally affected by these Hollanders. Hence these two islands form an exception to the others in so far thab in them thab broad dialect of German known as Platb-deutsch, and nob Frisian, is the language of the inhabitants. Many ' improving' sermons were preached on the' event. Ib was demonstrated, for example, thnt this deluge was only a second edition' of 'Noar'a Sin Flood,1 brought for the Frisians' iniquity. One preacher is said to have declared that he never doubted the flood being a punishmenb for the people's shortcomings, yeb he would allow that the Nordstrand dykes were very low at the period.

To Boil Rice. —Pick your rice clean and wa&h it in two cold waters, nob draining off; the lasb water till you are ready to put the rice on the fire. Prepare a saucepan with water and a little salt. When ib boils sprinkle the rice gradually so as nob to stop the boiling. Boil hard for fifteen minutes, keeping the pot covered. Then take ib from the back of the fire and pour off the water, after which set the pot on the back of the stove to allow the rice to dry and the grains to separate. Remember to boil rapidly from the time you cover the pot until you take ib off; this allows each grain to swell to three times its normal size, nnd tho motion prevents the grains from bticking togethor. Don'b stir it, as this will cause it to fall to the bottom and burn. When properly boiled rice should be snowy white, perfectly dry, soft, and every graia: separate.