HERE AND THERE.

Evening Star, Issue 10931, 13 May 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

HERE AND THERE.

A traveller in Paris tells the strangest tale of a christening in the Bercy quarter which one has ever heard outside farcical comedy. A father and godfather agreed on the name of a child before the christening, and the father, although he was but ill pleased with the namc^-Joseph l —consented to have it registered at the office of births. On the day of the ceremony, however, he began to regret having given way to the godfather, and over the font announced the child’s name to be Theophile. The godfather would not yield, and shouted out that his godson’s name was Joseph. From shouting they got to blows. The guests took sides, and the scandalised priest was powerless to stop the brawl. Finally the police came into the church and marched the chief offenders to the police station. The unfortunate baby was returned unchristened to its mother, and is at present neither Joseph nor Theophile. The interest in incandescent gas lighting for street and public purposes grows apace, and Mr C. R. Bellamy, the engineer of the Liverpool Corporation, was fully justified in saying that we are a long way from hearing the last word on the subject. The Jasper light—the latest aspirant for public favor—is 44 made in Germany,” where its excellent qualities have created for it a very large demand. . The Welsbach people in Paris have been experimenting with it, and with such pronounced success, it is said, that they are negotiating with the inventor for the transfer to them of his patent rights for France. From the latest number of the ‘ Gas Journal 1 we learn that the inventor’s process can be utilised cither for the making of new mantles or for rendering “ existing incandescent bodies for illuminating purposes sufficiently durable to withstand any vibration to which the burner may bo exposed.” The new mantle was recently tested in London with astonishing which are thus described in the trade journal: The first mantle 44 to try its strength ” was a Jasper, which had been made a few minutes previously. It underwent 1,200 shocks at the rate of about 100 per minute; but as there wore no signs of its succumbing, the test was stopped. A Crown mantle —a German compotilnr of rnther coarse toxluvo— vras next put under trial; but it commenced to fracture at

25 shocks, and completely collapsed at 44. A Welsbach O mantle followed. At the 18th shock a fracture appeared near the tip; and by the time 200 shocks were readied a split had run almost round the base. A continuation of the test did not appear to further affect it, but on its being relighted the fractures soon widened. A Jasper mantle was again successful in a test of 160 shocks a minute, but a Welsbach G collapsed after some five or six shocks. Then a new Welsbach mantle was burnt off, slipped in the Jasper solution, again lighted, and when cold was subjected to the test. Although the treatment it had received had caused a slight split at the bottom, 1,000 shocks made no further impression on it. Various mantles were also placed on a loosely-fitted upright gas pipe, and roughly vibrated sideways; but this had little or no influence on any of them. It only remains to be added that the life of the new mantle has been proved at 1,420 Hours, and that its illuminating power is equal to seventy Hefner candles, at a consumption of gas equal to the Welsbach C burner, and some idea was to be gathered of the commercial value of Herr Jasper’s invention. There was lately given in London a public exhibition of the Machebach gas lighter, a system of rapid automatic ignition which, it is claimed, offers a large field for enterprise m connection with electric and gas lighting. The system is stated to have been the oughly tested for a period of eighteen months, both m this country and on the Continent, and a testimony to the efficiency of all the parts is furnished by the fact that both the English and German (Welsbach) incandescent companies, after lengthy trials, have adopte 1 them in conjunction with their burners. The apparatus appears simple enough in construction, in view of all the parts being interchangeable and easily renewed at a small cost. The open burners are already in use in several factories, including those' of some of the principal railway companies, and have so far given the greatest satisfaction. They dispense with the use of matches, and thus avoid one of the most prolific causes of fire.

A hospital matron, writing in the pages of the 1 Hospital,’ is responsible for the statement that most of her patients have an ineradicable and apparently instinctive dislike to ventilation and water, especially water. A young man, when confronted with the “ ordeal by wafer.” said: “ Madam, I must

respectfully but firmly decline. 1 am twenty-seven years old, have never had a bath, and- ” Nurse interrupted him by remarking that it -was high time he had one, and, to his intense disgust, he was .helped into the water and “ respectfully but firmly ” bathed by the porter. Not long ago I went to see a favorite old woman, and found her suffering from a severe cold. “ Why, .granny,” I said, “how did you get th' ; s dreadful cold?” “Well, m’m,” was the reply, “I don’t rightly know, but I can only think ’twas because I washed my feet!” Perhaps even better was the saying of an old lady admitted into hospital the other day. In a mild and tentative fashion I hinted at the bath in store. “Indeed, my dear, I dare not,” she exclaimed, “for if ever I even wash myself I am sure to take cold.”

A telegram to the ‘ Railway World,’ from New York, gives particulars of the successful trial of a new system of electric traction for trams. It is called the Murphy snrf-face-rail system, and the current is supplied by a sectional rail laid flush with the surface of the roadway, no open conduit or overhead trolly wires being required. The only portion of the rail which can be made electrically alive is that immediately under the car, and all danger is consequently avoided. It is claimed that the Murphy system is cheaper than conduits; that it can, in fact, be established at as low a cost as the trolly system..

The following is the latest shepherd’s story. It comes from Canterbury, and is said to be positively true. The manager of a station was accosted one evening by a new-chum Irishman looking for a job, who said he could help mustering during the shearing season. Asked where his dogs were, he said he had none, as they did not use dogs for mustering where he came from. Thinking to bluff him, Mr Manager pointed out some sheep on the downs, and told him if he could yard those sheep by dinner time next day he would give him a job. The new-comer was up early in the morning, and had the sheep yarded by dinner time. Then proceeding to the office he reported to the manager that the sheep were yarded. The big ones were quite easy to yard, but he had a job with three or four little ones, and these he had ran down and caught. A

visit of inspection by the manager showed that four hares were included with the sheep! The funeral of Prince Bismarck furnished a unique opportunity for indulgence in one of the most curious crazes of modem Germany. While the procession was wending its way from the Castle to the Mausoleum a clamorous multitude surrounded the little post office at Friedrichsruh bent on dropping into the box numberless post cards illustrated with views of the burial place. Their ambition was to send to their friends and to themselves picture cards bearing the stamp of the date and the hour of Prince Bismarck’s funeral. One Beilin dealer, with a keen eye to business, addressed to himself no fewer than 6,000 of these “historical” documents. In all, over 20,000 picture cards were posted at Friedrichsruh in the course of the morning. A Home paper hears of a remarkable case of the universality of influenza, and the impossibility of escaping its ravages. The victims of the fiend in the example were residents in a lighthouse on the south-wes-tern coast of England. It was a rock lighthouse, some three-quarters of a mile from the land. The men were quite free from any trace of illness, but after a week one was seized, and each of the three men followed suit. Such was the story told to the reliefs when they came. Luckily the men were able to keep the lights trim. »-m—:— The curate of St. Paul’s, Gateshead (Eng.), was lately charged at the Newcastle Police Court with refusing to pav for a cinematograph entertainment given at the parish hall of the church. In making arrangements .for 'this entertainment the Kev. B. Stone Spencer showed himself properly solicitous for the morals of his parishioners. He asked the exhibitor if the pictures were fit to be shown, and was told that the only dirty scene ” was one showing a man at one side of a fence tarring it and a man at the other whitewashing it* But towards the close of the exhibition two pictures were shown that created a terrible sensation in Gateshead. One represented a fisherman sitting on a rock, and four properly-attired boys anxious to bathe, they succeeded in throwing the fisherman into the water. The boys were' rather indistinct, and the curate did hot interfere, but the next picture, called ‘ Courtship,’ brought

matters to a climax. It represented ft lady sitting on a seat. A gentleman came up slyly front behind and kissed her. This was declared to be an indecent assault, and to have done a lot of injury to the parish. Indeed, counsel stated that the people of Gateshead had been so injured that it would be impossible ever to redeem them. The curate thereupon stopped the performance, because, as he said, with these pictures, you never know what they are coming to. The judge gave judgment for the plaintiff, partly on the ground that some of the audience enjoyed the picture extremely.

An item of the ’Frisco mail news told how the craze for despatching boy messengers over the better half of the universe in advance of the mails has been taken up by the gilded youth of London, The initial journey is thus described in the London papers : William daggers, the London District Messenger Company’s boy, who has been sent by an- American gentleman in London to deliver a letter in America ahead of the mails, arrived by the American liner St. Louis at New York on March 18. He was met on arrival, ,and taken in an electric cab from the dock to Thirteenth street, where he delivered one of the letters entrusted to him. He was then conducted to the railway station, and left at one for Chicago, at which city he is due to arrive on Sunday rooming. Having fulfilled his commission there, he will leave for Philadelphia in the afternoon, return to New York on Monday night, and sail for England on Wednesday. Local messengers in each city met him at the stations. On arrival at Chicago he discharged his duty, and in the afternoon was shown over the “ lions ” of the city, returning the same night en route for London,

South Australia is sound enough on federation. The recent referendum showed 62,777 in favor of the Commonwealth Bill, and 16,401 against it, while no less than 10,512 votes were cast. Returns from several small polling booths have yet to come, but the net result so far—a majority of nearly four to one—is very gratifying to the Federal party.

A plot for the novelist suggests itself in the experience of Miss Mary Biddle, a popular leader of Washington society, who has been nearly poisoned under mysterious

■ circumstances, recalling the recent poison- ‘ mg cases in New York. She received by mail a volume of Browning’s poems, anil between the leaves was a bookmark indi--1 eating the poem ‘May and Death.’ Miss * Biddle began to read the poem, meanwhile • holding the bookmark to her nose, because of its delicious odor. The scent quickly ■ overpowered her, and she became comatose. ( Physicians were sent for, but, in spite of i their efforts, an hour elapsed before con- ' sciouSness was restored. The physicians secured the bookmark, and a short exami--1 nation showed it to be saturated with poison. ’ lb has been retained for analysis. i All the passengers who travelled by the China on her unlucky voyage last year were I unanimously of opinion that the one officer , who eschewed the world, the flesh, and the saloon, and stuck unremittingly to his duties was Mr Crawford, the second mate. If Captain de Home would have listened to 1 him the vessel need never have been cast away. He did point out that a blunder had been made, but the skipper couldn’t agree. The Aden tribunal- which investigated the matter severely censured Mr Crawford for not insisting to the captain that the ship was on a wrong course, although he had pointed out to him that she was out of her position, as evidenced by the bearing of the Perim light. A rehearing was ordered by the Board of Trade, and the Admiralty Court has now decided that the censure of Mr Crawford was wrong. That officer fulfilled his duty by reporting the position to the captain, and it would have been inconsistent with discipline if he had gone farther. The judgment is most certainly a sound one, for a subordinate officer, having no power to take the command out of his captain’s hands, ought not to be exposed to censure when he has carried out his duty by putting the facts before his superior officer. Who, we wonder, is “the well-known botanist ” responsible for this delectable yarn that is going the rounds of the English papers? He was on a collecting expedition in New Zealand, and lost his way in the fern scrub. After spending anight in the open, without either supper or breakfast, except a few berries, about noon the following day he came with joy upon a cluster of Native huts belonging to a friendly Maori chief. The entire family was away from home, and not a, scrap of food was discoverable except a how! of but

hangiug upoH Ike wall ol one of the Luts was What he took to be a string of dried fungi of W edible species about the size of a biscuit. Of these, with the milk, some herbs aid salt, he Soon made a steaming stew, and, although the fungi proved tough, leathery, imd slippery to a degree, they were Warm and filling Scarcely had he finished before the old chief apologised profusely for the abeence of food. Rut the botanist explained that he had managed to make a meal with the milk and mushrooms. The old Maori threw up his hands in dismay. “ Why,” he cried, " you’ve destroyed my trophies; you’ve eaten all my enemies’ ears!”