MISCELLANEOUS.

Dunstan Times, 28 December 1900, Page 6

MISCELLANEOUS.

H, « The automobile race from Berlin to Aix-la- ■ Chape-He resulted in the following loss of V life:—A cow, two hogs, three sheep, sixteen 9 di<*. van: twenty-three chickens. A stuie ■ f;:j.U an i a haycart were also injured. The Austrian Emperor's crown, which is regarded as one of the finest works of- European goldsmiths, contains over £IOO,OOO worth of gold and jewels. Some extraordinary evidence has been given #,t an inquest ai. Wetheringsett, (Eng.) relative to the death of a young man who was " killed by lightning. On his chest were found red marks resembling trees with branches. A doctor in his evidence said he believed this was due to the electric current having first •. struck a tree and then entered the chimney of the adjacent cottage in which the deceased and his mother had taken shelter. Some mothers are providing their children with sandals instead of boots, to prevent the feet being cramped and perhaps deformed I Several well-dressed children have been about liondon wearing sandals. Canaries have been known to live,-twenty-one years. A miser living not far from Philadelphia, U.S.A.,. recently died, but his savings could not be 'found. All endeavors to trace his hiding-place proved unsuccessful until recently, when, on cutting down a tree in the deceased man's garden, more than a thousand pounds was found concealed in the trunk. The. tea used in the immediate- household of the Emperor of China is treated with the utmost care. It is raised in a garden surrounded by a wall, so that neither man nor beast can get anywhere near the plants. At the time of the harvest, those collecting these leaves must abstain from eating fish, that their breath may not spoil the aroma of the tea; they must'bathe three .times a day, and, in addition, must wear gloves. The new Factory and Shops Act in Queensland provides very stringently against insanitary arrangements. Links are often trace- ( able. The plague scare has been educative. Out of evil good may ever be educed. The thousands of toilers in our workshops will work under more decent and cleanly conditions in the future. In the village of Waddesdon, Bucks, there are eleven men of over eighty years of age, one being ninety. Four members of one family—two brothers and two sisters—have reached eighty-eight, eighty-seven, eighty-five, . and eighty-four years—a total of three and a-half centuries. Maximin, the Roman Emperor, was over Bft high, and could wear his wife's bracelet as a thumb-ring. .Once, when serving as a barbarian soldier in the Roman Army, he, on a awger, killed an ox with his fist, and ate one of his hindquarters for a single meal. The man. who attempts to flatter you is » either a fool or he thinks you are oneNo fewer than '6sS£R3vue sons passed the turnstiles at the Paris on one Sunday—a record total. W$ The imprisonments ii England last year numbered 169,369, abo.it 14,000 fewer than in the previous twelvemonths. The daily criminal pouulation : has declined from 20,833 in 1878 to U,49<5 in 1900. A window in memory of Chaucer has been placed in St. Sav'o rr's, iiouthwark, and was to be unveiled byrtShe Poet Laureate on October 25, the. 500 th aliiiversarV of the poet's death. Strikers wer* hanged in England less than one hundred Tears ages. The United fcjtates manufactures extensively perfumes from! wintergreen, sassafras, and several other woods and herbs. Every boy in Germany, from the Crown Prince to the meanest subject, is obliged to learn some .useful trade. Not a day pa.sses over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak groat words, ahd suffer noble sorrows. Of these obscure hferoes, philosophers, and martyrs, the greater part will never be known till that hour flien many that were great shall be small and the small great.—Charles Reade. . A curious point arose In connection with the Roe street (Perth) wife murder case. When Peter Joyce was before the coroner the medical evidence went to prove that one bullet had entered deceased's right lung, and another i the cavity of the chest. The jury returned u the following verdict: —" That Elizabeth Anne 1 Joyce came to her death on November 12 by a jl bullet wound inflicted by' Peter Joyce." The II coroner informed Inspector Farley, who con- jj ducted the case, that ho would have to take Jl the case to the Police Court, as he (the coro- Jjß ncr) did not know how to commit the man on«H the verdict. The Foreman: " I don't know how we could put it clearer. We wanted to convey that it was wilful murder." The Coroner said that he knew of no power to amend : the verdict, and declined to interfere. It is announced that Mr Alfred Vauderbilt, head of the Vanderbilt family, and said to be the richest man in the world, having inherited £10,000,000 from his father, has decided to begin his business career at the foot of the ladder, and will enter the employ of an American railway. "And why did you leave your last place?" " Cook an' me had a fallin' out, mem." " I don't see why you should leave for a little thing like that." " But we fell out o' the third-storey window, mem." Penalties of Society Life. —" Children," said the mother of the family, opening the door of the nursery and locking in, " what are you doing to Puggy that makes him yelp so?" "Bcn*s been using the curling tongs on his tail to make it curl tighter,'' explained Eunice. The following epitaph may be seen in the cemetery of a parish in the environs of Paris : "Here lies Madame N , wife of M. N——, master blacksmith. The railing around this tomb was manufactured by her husband." Two of a Kind.—" Do you know, clear," remarked Mrs Homer, as her liege lord stumbled upstairs, " that I've been awake for hours waiting for you to come home from the club?" " That's just like a woman," growled Homer. " Here I've been at the club for hours waiting • for you to go to sleep." The smallest coin now current in Europe is the Greek lepton. It is'worth one-tenth of a penny. The Rev. W. Williams*, in his 'Personal Reminiscences of C. H. Spurgeon,' tells a story concerning the great preacher as a smoker. Some gentleman wrote to Mr Spurgeon saying he had heard he smoked, and' could not believe it true. Would Mr Spurgeon". write and tell him if it really was reply was sent as follows:—"Dear fcs><fffl cultivate my flowers and burn my Yours truly, C. H. Spurgeon." The St. Petersburg correspondent of I 'Siecle' telegraphed on August 29 that Muravieff committed suicide on account Czar having accused him of being resp/w£iifc,i e HF for the disturbances in China. /"' Junior : " So you didn't propose to her after all?" Senior: "No; and I'm not going to do so. When I got to her house, all ready to put the important question, I found her chasing a mouse with a broom." He: " I don't know whet her to make a fool of myself playing golf, or sit en the hotel piazza and make love to some girl all the afternoon." She: " What's the difference ?" Paymasters and commissariat oiricials of the German Army receive special training in examining the quality of food supplied to the army. An attempt is to be njade to acclimatise ( American fish in Ireland. A vessel hag left i New York with 700,000 eg»s of the which will be deposited in the Shannon —JB