FACTS AND FANCIES

Dunstan Times, Issue 2489, 12 July 1909, Page 3

FACTS AND FANCIES

A Court-room in China.— ln the magis irate's dirty court-room the prisoners art Drought in, tried, tortured if they refuse tc zonicss, sentenced, and punished with a disp.itch that is in admirable contrast to the !ibo.Rations of our enlightened courts. If ' r ■ r d oifender cannot be found, they seize \ ne of his relatives and hold him at ■j ~e. It is generally a poor relation, and ,>e longer he stays in gaol the better his imily prospers. The mandarins are inlined to look leniently on any who are wilng to pay their way out of gaol, or pay a übslitute who will be caught and imprisoned r the n, so that in the 1 small number oJ s lettered prisoners Canton stands well i comparison with civilised, law-abiding ■jn.".anilics a third of its size. Feathered Suicides.— The keeper of the .ighthoase on Fire Island, which is generally ho first land seen by vessels from Europe ;uund for New York, has made an interest-;-,g statement with reference to the number ; birds which commit involuntary suicide , . ; ainst his lantern and his lenses. The hick lenses are chipped in places by the lucks and geese striking them with their ,:eavy bill, after flying through the glass one-eighth of an inch thick) which covers he outside of the lantern. Frequently, he says, he has found one or more ducks oi ,eese flying about in the lantern chamber, Founded with the cut glass, and sprinkling .bo lenses and floor with their blood. As nany as 6o dead ducks have been picked up on he ground about the base of the lighthouse .m a single morning ; and sometimes more nan ioo birds of various kinds have been ound; while the large metal bail which Towns the lighthouse has been bent and nearly twisted from its position by flocks of .viid geese coming against it. Tales of Sacred Trees.— The palm, the j oak, and the ash are the three trees which, since time immemorial, were held 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 dac.tilifera), 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," j said Mahomet, "thy paternal aunt, the date I palm, for in Paradise it was created out of j the same dust of the ground." The Jews I and the Arabs again looked upon the same j tree as a mystical allegory of human beings, for, like them, it dies when its head (the j summit) is cut off, and when a limb (branch) 1 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 oi present and future events are communicated i-v the tree. Abraham of old, so the Rabbis -ay, understood the language of the palm The oak was always considered a " holy' •reebyourown 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 tree,’ . which, eternally young and dewy, represented heaven, earth, and hell. According to the Edda, the ash yggdrasil was an evergreen tree, A specimen of it grew at Upsala, in front of the great temple, and another in Dithmarschen, carefully guarded by a railing, for it was, in a mystical way. I connected with the fate of the country, j When Dithmarschen lost its liberty the tree withered, but a magpie, one of the best prophesying birds of the north, came and 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 mbre j things necessary to the make up of an umbrella than one would suppose. There is the J stick, generally of maple or ironwood, ribs, [ stretchers, and springs of steel, the runner, runner notch, the ferrule, cap, bands, and tips of brass or nickel; the covering of silk, gingham, alpaca, or the like; the runner guard of leather, the inside cap and 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 manu- j factured elsewhere, and still another factory j gets out the steel ribs which have supplanted * the old rattans. The goods forth* 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 I springs, over which slides the “ thingumbob" j that keeps the umbrella either up or down, j 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 J the ribs, and strings the top cords of the 1 ribs on a wire which is fitted into the | "running notch." He then strings the j lower-ends of the "stretchers" on a wire j and fastens them in the “runners," and 1 when both runners are securely fixed he j turns it over to the coverers. Around the 1 room are hanging V-shaped wooden patterns, brass bound on the corners. The cutter 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 piece* arc then 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 sew on a cover in live minutes, besides stitching on the tie. The sdges of the umbrella are then smoothed with a flat-iron. Once more a woman hold: the 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 th- < sale room it goes to take its chance of bom ,■ sought and going out into the incleiuenl world. And how long does it take no important a, thing as an umbrella to come inU ?eiaf ? jm fj minute*,