HERE AND THERE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 116, 12 November 1931, Page 17

HERE AND THERE

Alexandra Home. The late Mrs. Stowc, with her sister, Miss Ellen Greenwood, was a generous and kindly supporter of the Alexandra Home, and a letter of condoloneo with her relatives in their loss was sent from the committee. Tho matron reported at a meeting of the committee that during the month there had been 28 confinements, three district eases, and that at present in the home there are 34 adults and 25 infants. The attendances at the antenatal clinics had numbered 132. Thoughts of Children. Charlotte Mason, one of the newest cultivators of ideas about children, is quoted in an exchange as follows: — "Charlotte Mason believes most firmly that the child should be taught to think. But, she says, to secure that a child shall think, we need not set him conundrums. Thinking is like digestion, a natural operation for healthy organs. Our real concern is that children should have a good and regular supply of mind stuff to think upon; that they should have large converse with books as well as with things; that they should become intimate with <n-eat men through the books and works o£ art they have left us. Thought breeds thought. Children familiar with great thoughts take as naturally to thinking for themselves as the wellnourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in. mind that growth, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education. Children who have been made free of the Republic of Letters are not slaves of other people s opinions, but do their fair share of that thinking which is their due service to the State. All that Charlotte Mason writes about children seems so simple as to be obvious; the important thing is that nobody has thought or said it before."

Music Hath Charms—Sometimes! Why do people sing in the bathroom? Why does the man of his houso lift his voice as soon as he sets the tap running or plunges under the shower? First, because the bathroom has bare walls and gives a reverberation to the voice, so that it sounds fuller and richer than it really is, says an exchange. Since we all love a little flattery, we siug and imagine the standard to bo almost operatic. Secondly, the bath acts as a resonator, reinforcing the voice in a certain region of pitch; and thirdly— and here is a scientific statement—the I falling water sets up a noise in_ a certain tonality which, selectively reinforced by the "bath, may even act as a physical stimulus upon the anatomical resonators in the throat. So when next you sing in the bath think of these things. A Novelty from America. ■Visitors to America—particularly English actresses —are always returning with new and amusing American novelties, says an English writer. The latest idea, brought back by one oil our well-known actresses, is a box of cigarettes, which to all outward appearance is perfectly ordinary, but it has a peculiar property. If the tip of the cigarette is brushed across the match box it lights. The actress has had some amusement from this box, for her

friends look wide-eyed while her cigarette suddenly becomes alight without any artificial aid. Strange "Pets." A startling incident lately happened at an old house known as the "Bungalow," on the Sevenoaks road, at Farnborough, states a London writer. The house belongs to Mrs. Tassell, who keeps in the grounds a small zoo, which is well known in the district, some of the animals being located in huts or cages near the road. In one of these buildings is a big brown bear, which came from London, and while Mrs. Tasscll was attending to it the animal bit her severely on the left arm. Thongh the iujury was not thought to be serious, Mrs. Tassell was unable to leave the house. This is the first time that anything of this character has happened among the occupants of the zoo, an interesting fact in view _of the presenco there of such strange pets as a python and a crocodile. Other inmates are a number of monkeys and several foxes and tortoises. The monkeys live in separate houses, each of which, bears a name. The outbreak by the bear could not be accounted for, unless, as suggested, it was upset by recent thunderstorms. Nuhaka Women's Institute. Members of the Nuhaka Women's Institute met at the Mission House for their monthly meeting and annual stall day. Mrs. H. B. Eames presided. After general business had been discussed, Miss Monteath gay© a brief but comprehensive report of the recent P.B. Federation meeting. She also showed a wool mat made direct from the fleece, a hold-all' from cast-off collars, and a toy from a piece of tire tube. These things had been demonstrated at the federation meeting. It was,unanimously decided to call a meeting to enable members and their friends to meet Miss A. Mf Stops as she is passing .through on her way to Hawkes Bay. Good business wa3 done by the various stalls, and the proceeds will augment the funds considerably. The meeting closed with the National Anthem.