FACTS AND FANCIES

Dunstan Times, Issue 2483, 31 May 1909, Page 3

FACTS AND FANCIES

A Court-room in China.— ln the magis trate’s dirty court-room the prisoners art brought in, tried, tortured if they refuse tc confess, sentenced, and punished with a dis patch that is in admirable contrast to th* deliberations of our enlightened courts. If the real'offender cannot be found, they sci/.i upon one of his relatives and hold him as hostage. It is generally a poor relation, and the longer he stays in gaol the better his family prospers. The mandarins are inclined to look leniently on any who are willing to pay their way out of gaol, or pay a substitute who will be caught and imprisoned for them, so that in the small number of its fettered prisoners Canton stands well in comparison with civilised, law-abiding communities a third of its size.

Feathered Suicides. —The keeper of the lighthouse on Fire Island, which is generally the first land seen by vessels from Europe bound for New York, has made an interesting statement with reference to the number of birds which commit involuntary suicide against his lantern and his lenses. The thick lenses are chipped in places by the ducks and geese striking them with their heavy bill, after flying through the glass (one-eighth of an inch thick) which covers the outside of the lantern. Frequently, he says, he has found one or more ducks or geese flying about in the lantern chamber, wounded with the cut glass, and sprinkling the lenses and floor with their blood. As many as 60 dead ducks have been picked up on the ground about the base of the lighthouse on a single morning ; and sometimes more than 100 birds of various kinds have been found; while the large metal ball which crowns the lighthouse has been bent and nearly twisted from its position by flocks of wild geese coming against it.

Tales of Sacred Trees.— The palm, the oak, and the ash are the three trees which, since time immemorial, were hj ’i to be sacred trees. The first among them, which figures on the oldest monuments and pictures of the Egyptians and Assyrians, is the date palm (Phoenix dactilifera), which was the symbol of the world and of creation, and the fruit of which filled the faithful with divine strength, and prepared them for the pleasures of immortality " Honour," said Mahomet, “thy paternal aunt, the date palm, for in Paradise it was created out of the same dust of the ground." The Jews and the Arabs again looked upon the same tree as a mystical allegory of human beings, for, like them, it dies when its head (the summit) is cut off, and when a limb (branch) is once cut off it does not grow again. Those who know can understand the mysterious language of the branches on days when there is no wind, when whispers of present and future events are communicated by the tree. Abraham of old, so the Rabbis say, understood the language of the palm. The oak was always considered a *■ holy" tree by our own ancestors, and, above all, by the other nations of the North of Europe. When Winifrid, of Devonshire (680 —754), went forth on his wanderings through Germany to preach the Gospel, one of his first • actions was to cut down the giant oak in Saxony, which was dedicated to Thor and worshipped by people from far and near. But when he had nearly felled the oak, and while people were cursing and threatening the saint, a supernatural storm swept over it, seized the summit, broke every branch, and dashed it with a tremendous crash to the ground. The heathens acknowledged the marvel, and many of them were converted there and then. But the saint built a chapel of the wood of this very oak, and dedicated it to St. Peter. The Celts, and Germans and Scandinavians, again, worshipped the mountain ash (Fraxinus), and it is especially in the religious myths of the latter that the “Askr Yggdrasil” plays a prominent part. To them it was the"' holiest among trees, the “ world tr.;e." which, eternally young and dewy, re sented heaven, earth, and hell. Accorcrm* to the Edda, the ash yggdrasil was an eve green tree. A specimen of it grew :m Upsala, in front of the great temple, and another in Dithmarschen, carefully guarded

by a railing, for it was, in a mystical way, connected with the fate of the country. When Dithmarschen lost its liberty the tree withered, but a magpie, one of the best prophesying birds of the north, came aud built its nest on the withered tree and hatched five little ones, all perfectly white, as a sign that at some future time the country would regain its lost liberty.

Making Umbrellas. —There are things necessary to the makeup of an umbrella than one would suppose. There is the stick, generally of maple orironwood, ribs, stretchers, and springs of steel, the runner, runner notch, the ferrule, cap, bands, and tips of brass or nickel; the covering oi silk, gingham, alpaca, or the like; the runner guard of leather, the inside cap aud the fancy handle, which may be of oxidised silver, horn, curiously carved wood, mother of pearl, or any substance that the cunning artificer can devise or shape. The runner ferrule, cap, band, and such parts are manufactured elsewhere, and still another factory gets out the steel ribs which have supplanted the old rattans. The goods for the covering are mostly made at Home, except the fine silks, which are almost all imported from France. Having gotten together the materials, how does the umbrella get along ? The stick is turned, stained, and polished, the handle is put on, the little brass cap on the end is riveted fast, and then two slots are cut in the sticks, which receive two springs, over which slides the “ thingumbob” that keeps the umbrella either up or down. A band is then fastened on it which the ends of the ribs of the umbrella are to slip, when it gets ribs. The frame-maker then makes the sticks, fastens the stretchers to the ribs, and strings the top cords of the ribs on a wire which is fitted into the "running notch." Fie then strings the lower ends of the 11 stretchers'' on a wire and fastens them in the ‘‘runners,’’ and when both runners are securely fixed ha turns it over to the coverers. Around the room are hanging V-shaped wooden patterns, brass bound on the comers. The nutter lays his silk or gingham very smoothly out on a long counter, folding it back and forth until there are 16 thicknesses. He then takes one of these patterns, lays it on the pile of cloth, and with a keen-edged knife he slashes cruelly in the fabric, according to the pattern. These pieces are men carefully scanned by a woman, who rejects every one having a hole or flaw in it. Then a man takes the pieces and carefully stretches the edges. Unless the whole length of the edge is properly stretched the cover will not fit smoothly. Next the pieces go into the sewing room, where they are sown together on machines by what is called the pudding bag stitch. Then a woman sews the covers on the frame, keeping the umbrella half open with a contrivance made for that sole purpose, If she is a good woman she can sow on a cover in five minutes, besides stitching on the tie. The edges oif the umbrella are then smoothed f with a flat-iron. Once more a woman holds ;he umbrella up to the light and searches for flaws. If it be all right then the cover is trimly folded round the stick and into the sale room it goes to take its chance of being bought and going out into the inclement world. And how long does it take so important a thing as an umbrella to com* Uu? bslM ? Iwt n minute*