HERE AND THERE.

Evening Star, Issue 11664, 26 September 1901, Page 2

HERE AND THERE.

Bv a decision of.the registrar of the City of (Mr J. Anstey. Wild) it. is now oh record that a. 'sound commercial education'' does not include dancing, hor can that Davidian iiccomplishment be reasonably regarded as so indispensable for an infant that the youth is entitled to .r I'ledjrp.Jiis; father's credit for payment of ij ,-l!'S->6ti-4 therein. Thus is the Coekerton """.'jiufginerit' carried to its logical conclusion.' Young Master Howard, whose parents nside in Birmingham, was sent to the Rev. . W, Leach Lewis's college at Margate to imbibe there- such knowledge as would lit him for a commercial career •••but the. lad thought- his feet .were as worthy of education as his head,' and so he.ordered for 'hiniself lessons in dancing. When his '■'■' father saw the " deportment"" bill he refused : -to pay, because, he not only disapproved of the practice, but thought that the polka and schottische were incompatible with a prosperous mercantile career. Hence tho action in the City of London Court. Theregistrar .was against the collegiate proprietor. "Suppose," he asked, "the boy had ordered turtle soup, would he have been entitled to pledge his father's credit for it?" The idea was out of the question. A pnpil is not the agont of his parents to say what he will and will not learn; and boys could not'bo allowed to drag their relatives into expenses without their knowledge. Judgment was given for tho Birmingham merchant, but no costs were allowed. •-*■« - Professor Smcdley, who holds views radically different from those entertained by many other physicians, says that teaching ambidexterity;; (or right-and-left-handedness) is teaching contrary to the laws of life. When we go beyond nature and attempt to teach left-handed people to use the right hand we are making a mistake. Ambidexterity is likely to interfere with a child's best method of development, and may cause the' loss of speech. So says Processor Smedlcy, who in his investigations , on the tnbject discovered that a surprisingly- largs' number of children whoso ' speech was defective were left-handed. Out of thirty children of defective speech, twelve .were^left-handed —that was, about 40 per cent. . Several said: "When my mother learned that I was left-handed she made me carry my arm in a ding." Professor Smedley concludes with the remark that he believes that strong unidexterity—whether right-handedness or left-handed-.'iiesvr-is the natural and ideal condition. A fine Newfoundland dog named Cjesar has just been distinguishing itself by saving lite in very exciting circumstances. A Parisian merchant had been spending the afternoon at Joinville with his wife, their son and daughter-in-law, and two fnsads, also a married couple, when it was arranged that the party should proceed to his house, which overlooks the Manie, n, a little sailing boat. Through some mischance the craft was upset, and while the two younger men, who are capital swimmers, succeeded in getting their wives safely to the bank, the merchant and his wife had no resource but to hold on us best they could, hoping that help woald bj promptly forthcoming. For some ;une t'liey contrived to keep their hea-ls above water, but at last the lady, becoming exexhausted, let go, and disappeared below the surface. At this moment a gentleman who had approached the bank took in the critical situation, and without divesting himself of any of his garments dashed into the river, followed by a superb Newfoundland dog. A few vigorous strokes l-rought him to the spot where the merchant's wife had sunk, and after diving several times he succeeded in raising her to the surface, and soon afterwards in landing her on the bank. In the meantime his faithful companion had gone to the rescue of the husband, who ere long was also safely on shore. ' Few people are perhaps aware (says the ' Daily Chronicle') that there exists in our Roll Office a sealed-up bag of letters and documents which once belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and has never been opened. It seems that, according to tradition, it contains the secret correspondence of " our great Eliza"—possibly the love letters of Elizabeth—and that it can only be* examined with the joint consent of the Teignir\g Sovereign, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Chancellor —who, considering Queen Elizabeth and her affairs are ancient history, might now be induced to see for themselves, if not for the public, what- the bag really contains. o » o . ———■ Two derailments which have occurred recently on the Siberian Railway (says tho 'Scientific American') are a further proof, if any were needed, that the line has been too lightly constructed to enable it to carry the heavy locomotives now running on it, to say nothing of the ever-increasing freight traffic. The first derailment referred to was caused by a " burst rail," and, of course, until the entire line has been relaid with heavier and sounder rails, there will be always the risk of other " burst rails '•' causing loss of life and interruption of the traffic. The second accident, which is the fifth of this nature on the new line, shows that the supervision exercised over the traffic is far too weak. The control of the line is in the hands of one man. Both the people and the Press of Siberia have come to the conclusion that to ensure the proper working of the. line in the best interests of the country the Siberian Railway ought to be divided into three or four separate and independent sections. - - -—"——*•*« : When the discussion about the time of arrival of the new century was common in every newspaper. Lord Kelvin made an after dinner speech, in which he gave his expert opinion on the question. This was received with joy by the partisans of "1900.'' Someone then thought that it might be interesting to observe if philosophers could, like doctors, disagree. The late Professor Tait was accordingly approached," and after a little persuasion he was prevailed.cn to send a reply, which was opposed to Kelvin's view, but it is essentially philosophical. " This discussion about the beginning of the . new century is," said TWit, "a mere waste ' of time. If there was a year 0, then this (1900) is the beginning of the now century; if not, not!" ' —-i »*-• A New Sooth Wales parliamentary committee are taking evidence on the "subject /ftftied houses—i.e., hotels owned or controlled by brewers. Witnesses say that at .-.* tied .house no beer can be spkl except that made by the controlling brewery! whether it be good or bad. • Ninety per •ent. of tho Sydney hoteta are tied, and the brewers there are said to have entered into j compact to prevent Victorian or Queensland beer intruding itself under a common Customs tariff. It is the fashion to sublet bars. • As to the practice of tying, which prevails almost everywhere, the'fact is that brewers and wine and spirit merchants buy . licensed houses, and lease them on their own terms to licensees. The public can protect themselves from bad beer by going elsewhere, the trade being in cash, but licensees say they. must sell' what is given to them, whether the trade thrives or fails. . —: **-9 '■ . . 'One-day-a hansom drew up at a wellknown insurance office, in a certain Australian city, and ont stepped.an apparently feeble, white-haired, toothless' old lady, -who, leaning heavily on two stkks, entered the office: She explained that her husband had died not long; ago,' leaving her a furnished house and: a little over £2,000. As the investing of this was too great an anxiety for her, would they, take it and give her an annuity for the rest of her life. The manager readily agreed to give her £3OO a year for the rest of a life which he reckoned would last, at most, five or six years. As he helped her back to her cab he thought he saw cabby solemnly wink, and concluded that a fly must have tickled the man's nose, «s there was no sun to make him blink. When the cab stopped at the lady's house a transformation appeared to have taken place: inside, for out stepped an alert lady, who, as she walked briskly into the house' smilingly showed two gleaming rows of white teeth and a pair of rosy cheeks. The little incident happened nineteen years ago. She tells with pride that when each payJay comes round she takes out her teeth; takes off her cheeks' roses (with a sponge)

and powders her hair, which is now beginning to grow grey. With her two sticks and a bend in her body she is ready for the role, which she plays as a finished actress. But .the insurance society, have not made much out ofcthe bargain! having already paid in return for the £2,000 nearly £6,000, with every prospcot of this going on indefinitely. • »♦ » , ' The change in'.King Edward's title revives the mystery as to the authorship of the last addition to the title of Queen Victoria. Who first used the phrase "Empress of India" ?• As a correspondent points out, it was used by Disraeli asenrly as 1845 in his* novel 'Tailored,' In.a letter written by Beaconsfield many years later on the subject there is a curious phrase which makes it not surprising that he should desire to bestow high titles on the Queen. "I love the Queen," he wrote; " perhaps the only person left to me in this world that I do love; and therefore you can understand how much it worries and disquiets me when there is a cloud between us. It is very foolish on my part, but my lieart, . unfortunately, has not withered like my frame, and when it is affected I am as harassed as I was fifty years ago." The town fathers of Rouen (Prance) have been put into an awkward position by the will of one of its millionaires, who left his fortune to the municipality on the eondrtion that every year a couple of giants, whose offspring are most likely to be of such physical perfection as to improve the French race, are to receive a "prize" oi £5,000 _as a marriage portion. The 'Figaro' has made inquiries as to whether any candidates for this magnificent "clot" are already forthcoming. Of course there are, and plenty of them. One is a policeman of enormous proportions, aged twentyseven, who has never known; a day's illness. Another giant, whose profession is not given, writes:—"l am built like a Hercules in every way, and I know somebody who is fit and ready to marry me." A shepherdess (!) writes:—"My husband and I are the exact people you want. 1 defy anybody to show stronger children than ours are. My. husband is a shepherd, which is not a high position, but for strength and height he has no betters." And so on. Obviously,. the town fathers of Rouen will be obliged to hold an annual giant show, unless, indeed, those who are now contesting the will get the better cf the puzzled inheritors. 8.1 o Coincident'ly with the resuscitation of Sherlock Holmes in the 'Strand' comes Major Pond's capital yarn of the way in which Conan Doyle was beaten at his own game in Boston, United States. "You maydrive to Young's or Parker's," said he to a cabman. "Pardon me," said the polite cabby, "I think you will find Major Pond waiting for you at Parker's, sir." Doyle stared at the man, and took his seat "in silence. On arrival the cabman was handed his fare, but asked that he might have a ticket for the lecture instead. "Come, come," said Doyle; "I am not accustomed to be beaten at my own tricks. Tell me how you found out who I am, and you shall nave tickets for the whole of your family." The cabman explained: '" Of course we all knew that you were coming on by this train—that is, all the members of the Cabmen's Literary Guild did. If you will excuse personal remarks, your coat lapels are badly twisted downwards where you have been.grasped by the pertinacious New York reporters. Your hair has the Quakerish cut of a Philadelphian barber. Your hat, badly battered at the brim in front, shows where you have tightly grasped it in the struggle to stand your ground at a Chicago literary luncheon. Your right overshoe has a lar,'_'e block of Buffalo mud just under the instep. The odor of a Utica cigar, hangs about your clothing, and the overcoat itself shows the slovenly brushing of the porters of the through-sleepers from. Albany. The crumb'-; of doughnut on the top of your bag could only have come there in Springfield, and stencilled on your bag iu fairly plain lettering is the name ' Conan Doyle.' " Mr Chamberlain's allusion at the " Blenheim beanfeast" to the English " Copperheads " recalls what Hosea Biclow said of the C.B.s, Lloyd-Georges, Steads, and Labbys of the closing days of the American Civil War: Tiler's critters yit that talk an' act Fer Wat they call Conciliation; They'd hand a bufflo-drove a tract, When they wuz .madder than all Banian. Conciliate? It jest means "be kicked," No matter how they phrase an' tone it; It means that we're to set down licked— That we're poor shotes, an' glad to own it. May we hope that, the country has Got it's will at last bloom-furnaced In trial flames till it'll stand The strain o' bein' in deadly earnest. The verse is as appropriate to-day as when it was written. The " Copperhead" is a dangerous, deadly, and treacherous snake, hence the application of the name to those Northern politicians whom we should now • call "pro-slavers." If there is any truth in a tale told by a 'Birmingham Mail' gossip, there lives somewhere in the colonies a man who lias deserved well of his country, but has failed to reap any reward save exile. The ' Mail' writer says : " Although much of the credit of the suppression of the dynamite conspiracy has been awarded to" the late Mr Farndale, the real discoverer of the plot was an assistant in the employ of a wellknown firm of local chemists] ' After the conviction of the" dynamitards the assistant received a gentle hint from an unknown source that he had better make himself scarce, otherwise it might be unpleasant for himself and those connected with him. He took the hint, so-ld up his home, and left England for ever, his destination being the Antipodes. While'the police were rewarded pecuniarily and otherwise, the man who actually put the police on the scent never received a penny piece." The exile may find-consolation in the fact that he is only one of hundreds" who have discovered that assisting the police is generally unprofitable, and not infrequently a most expensive course of procedure. There appears to be a little bit of sugar for the gubernatorial bird after all (remarks our London correspondent). It is true that entertainments at Government House and subscriptions to charities and sundries often compel a Governor who wishes his term of office to be marked by some eclat to put his hand into his private pocket pretty deeply. But—so Sir Edward Sassoon tells* us—he has one perquisite that lasts for the term of his natural life—the telegraphic tip. Colonial Governors, Sir Edward is credibly informed, "are in the habit of accepting free passes for the purposes of their private telegraphic needs, not only during the incumbency of their offices, but for life." And it is these colonial administrators who have from time to time to; sit in judgment on the proposals of cable companies. Generous companies, guileless Governors! Sir Edward, on the principle that "gifts blind the eyes of the wise and pervert "the judgment of'the righteous," recommends that, the colonial regulations should be assimilated to the Indian, which preclude the Governor from accepting any gifts. But is not this rule in force in the colonies already and if so, how come colonial Governors, if Sir Edward Sassoon is correctly informed, to take the telegraphic tip? The cons'table of a North-eastern township in Victoria. was recently transferred jto a new' district. Prior to leaving (says the 'Australasian') hei was entertained at a dinner given by admiring residents, '.t so happened that his admirers were restricted to persons who had.been in the habit of painting the little village red, and it was their appreciation of his leniency which prompted the delicate compliment. At any rate none of the staid residents of the place took part in the valedictory ceremony. The new officer arrived fresh from town, and. the jovial spirits approached him with friendly overtures. He received them coldly, and the same night, when an attempt was made to perpetrate the usual riot in the bar of- the leading hotel, ho locked up four of the most violent. These proved to be the chairman and three of the Committee who got up the dinner to his predecessor. Dried fruits, finest quality, cleaned and ready for use. Wardell Bros, and Co.— [Advt.l