THE WONDERFUL CELT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 32, 7 February 1908, Page 2

THE WONDERFUL CELT.

Whatever other failings the Irishman may have, ho is an adept in tho art of cutting off tho nose to spito his face (remarks a London paper). It has'become a commonplace for all AngloSaxons who live or move in the West of Ireland to remark that the farmers in those parts deliberately impoverish their lnnd in order to get their rent lowered. An Anglo-Saxon who settles amongst them, and by an intelligent use of basic slag and other wonder-working manures, turns tho heathery common into a fruitful field, is looked upon with suspicion and dislike. All this cattledriving Injures the peasant proprietor. It drives away the grirzior, to whom at the approach of winter he U3ed to sell tho bullock bred and .reared in the summer and autumn. And now comes news that tho gamo of stopping the hunts has begun again. One hunt stud of thirty-five horses has already been sold, which means that the unfortunate peasants, who, in the first place-, supplied most of the horses, and afterwards kept tho stables going in hay, straw, and oats, will bo deprived of their means of livelihood. ■So tho country .goes on becoming poorer and poorer in spite of its splendid pasture lands, and the flower of its manhood troop down to Queenstown to take the steamer to New York. ROUND THE WOPvLD RACK. The Politiken of Copenhagen, the leading dnily paper in Denmark, recently mado a novel experiment, testing the speed capacity of ihe world's cable and telegraphic systems by despatching two telegrams in eastern and western directions round the world from Copenhagen to Copenhagen, via Shanghai, New York and London. Tho eastern telegram won the 'race, being delivered at Copenhagen in tho record timo of 3 hours and" 20 minutes. No notification whatever had -been supplied to Ixio various companies, and the telegram, which contained five words, was re-telo-graphed eight times on its route round the globo. ANTI-PATRIOTS IN SCHOOL. An interesting cctso, not -without its bearing on somo recent developments i» British schools, has been d'ecidedo at Dijon. The court there has derided that a teacher who has been instilling iinti-patnotie and anti-religious precepts into his pupils is liable to pay damages in a court of law, ancl cannot shelter himself behind the tV.ct that he is a servant of tho State. Attacks on patriotism und rcligidn are not part of hie duty, and he must cuffcr for going out of his way to vent his spleen on the foundations of his country's stability. Fortunately for Britons (says tho St. James's Budget) the vnst majority of our schoultanstei s and schoolmistresses are honost, religious, and sincere patriot?. It is doubtful whether such a fine body of v men and women exist* in any other part of the community. But even here there aie black sheep, who must bo brought sternly to book directly they begin to ventilate their own crude annd foolish ideas. The example set by the I'rench parent who prosecuted the Dijon schoolmaster is ono which may havo lasting consequences. THE MILLS OF BOMBAY. The Factory Lnbour Cpm'inission which rocently concluded its enquhies in Bombay, examined an immense number of witnesses, including inspectors, medical officers, mill owners, and managers. Among them was Mr. Bomanji l'etit, the head of ono o"f th'o largost factories in the Bombay Presidency, who, strongly advocated legislation restricting ihe excessive honrs of work in the interests of humanity. The general opinion of the witnesses, however, appeared to be hostile to legislative interference with adult male labour, but favoured rpgulations for the employment of women and children, tho contention being that, as the mills could .not be worked without these, the result would be an indirect lestriction of working hours in general, FORM OF INSANITY CURED. • 'Dr. N. M. Owens by, superintendent of the Bay View Lunatic Asylum at Baltimore, hhoa o discovered, says The Standard's New York correspondent, a cure for dementia praecox, ono of the most pitiablo forms of insanity. Hw inve&bigntions showed the disease to be duo to over-Fecrelion of the thyroid gland, and ho resolved to attempt tho operation, hitherto unknown, <Ji removing the diseased portion of tho gland, his theory being that an oppor ; tunity would bo given for the formation of new blood vessels. He consulted experts abroad, who ' concuired in his belief, and an operation was tried in July on ono of ' the worst cases in tho a.sylum. Th? man recovored all his faculties in 24 hours, but hi waa kept under observation till October, when he' was discharged. Four other ciisea wcie subsequently operated upon, throo 01 the operations proving entirely successful. Ihe fourth case was an extremely advanced one. The patient had not uttered a word for years, juid in his persxinal habita he resembled an animal rathor than a human being. i-^ice tho opeiation the man talks and iHts naturally ancl takes an interest in what is going on around him, thought ho is not wholly cuiod. RICH WOMAN'S KLEPTOMANIA. One oi' tho criminal courts of Paris has had to try a strange case of apparent kleptomania, the culprit being a womiin awning » considerable estato and having an income of &2400 si. year. She was caught, tho Telegraph says, in an attempt to steal in one of the

big shops in Paris, and was accompanied l>y her two grown-up sons, who displayed the same stealing propensity and acted as her accomplices. All three were tried together, ana the mother was sentenced to tt n months' and the sons to four months- imprisonment each. arbiter"of~fashion. M. Paquin (whose real name was Isidore Jacob), head of the dressmaking firm of Paris and London, who recently died in Poris at the age of forty-nine, may bo said to havo shared with half a dozen other great Parisian dressmakers the position of arbiter of th;> world '« fashions. The business which he built up was turned into a limited company in 1896, with a capital of £500,000, and headquarters in Paris and Dover-street, London. Ac still took a largo share in its operations, however, and the great interest he took in the 800 employes, a number which increased in busy seasons to over 2000, made him extremely popular.