OUR MAIL BAG.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1033, 15 May 1902, Page 6

OUR MAIL BAG.

NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE THE SMALLEBT CONSCniIT. The dwarfs as well as the giants are eaught in the net of compulsory military servioe, and the last consoription in Franoe has brought out a recruit of very diminutive size. His name is Francois Finas; he comes from Montmeillan; his height is 3ft 3in; he weighs only 4st 31b ; he cannot carry a flag or keep step with bis comrades, but trots after tbem as they march through the town. It remains to be seen whether the medical officers will reject this warrior as unfit. A RELIO OF THR " MAINE " KOUNO IN SWEDEN. A curious find has just been made at Samrishamn, in Sweden. At low water a sailor discovered among the stones on the beaeh of Massakas Bay there a teaspoon of brass. After cleaning it he found engraved on the inside the picture of a man-of-war, with the words: " Maine" and " 6(100 tonß." The spoon would therefore appear to have belonged to the ill-fated Maine, sunk in Havana harbor in the spring of IH',lB, and it needed four years for the ocean currents to wash this tiny object ashore on the coast of southern Sweden. VACCINATED WITH A NAME. As a precaution against the spread of enall-prx thi children attending the London Board Schools have been examined by a public vaccinator. In the objection raised by the parents some confusion of thought has prevailed. " I do not object to my child being vaccinated," wrote one; " his name is to be James McCarthy.'' Another note by a boy's mother read : " Will you please alter Jim's name to Hazelwood, as I was married again last Sunday ?" Another wrote : " I do not object if it is done by the calf.—l remain, His Mother!" BI'ACK AT THE COIIONATION. Sixteen inches of room would strike mott of us as inadequate accommodotion for our persons in an omnibus. Yet this, so it is said, is the space to be allotted in Westminster Abbey to those fortunate eight thousand who will be bidden to attend the Coronation of Edward VII. If this information be correct, it will be a case of the survival, not of the fittest, but of the fattest, as the stout are certain to take an unfair advantage of the lean. Think of Lord Salisbury, of Sir Wm, Harcourt, and even of Lord Balfour of Burleigh ; think of certain portly dames, ornaments of the peerage ; for the women aro to fare no better than the men ; and then reflect on the irony of those sixteen inches. SIODEI. RESTAURANT FOll STUDENTS. The new co-operative restaurant for students in the Latin Quarter of Paris, which owes its origin to M. Gide, Professor of Political Economy at the Sorbonne, is now a thriving concern. Its capital consists of 1400 £1 shales, but a further £OOO is being asked for to enlarge the business, and then it will be possible to serve 210 meals at a time. Onco the expense-i of the house jvhieh in rent, water, and taxes amount to £2KO a year, not counting the cost of servants and fire insurance—are paid, the test of the money goes to procuring the best food possible, and the meals are sold almost at cost price. A good steak costs sd, a roasted thrush 4d. Millionaires and spendthrifts can gorge themselves to the extent of Is Gd, or even Is 8(1, but the average price of a satisfactory meal is Is. And one may more than satisfy his hunger for 7d. lIOW I'VTItONK ABE TltAlW.n. In certain districts of India where the snake pest is a terrible nuisance a curious trap is set for the larger pythons. A small hole a few inches in diameter is mado low down in a stout wall. On either side of this hole a young porker is tethered and left to bis fate. The python spots the first pig and swallows him. He then turns his attention to the second animal, which he can only reach by wriggling the fore part of bis body through the hole in the wall. Having swallowed the second porker, the python suddenly realises the penalty of his piggishness. He is now much the same shape as a dumb-bell, the thin part of which just (its the aperture through the wall, and the bulging portions of which (representing the swallowed porkers) effectually prevent him moving backward or forward through the wall. At this point it is etiquette to help him out of his difficulty by cutting him in two, and so saving the lives of the little pigs. This, it is needless to say, is an American yam.

A GRKAT I'IAXO MATCH. After playing all night M. Gamier, on Mutch J.jih lust, continued liih twenty-seven huurs' piano match at Marseilles. At two o'clock in the morning he look his first rest, which lasted for ten minutes, during which he swallowed some soup and a poached egg. At O.tfO he again rested for seventeen minutes, and took some kola and Umonade. At 10 a.m. he was massaged for ten minutes. After that he went on playing until 1.25 p.m., when he partook of consomme, two eggs, and the wing of a chicken, with a glass of Bordeaux and a cup of coffee. Just before r> p.m. crump seized the artist's lingers. He was immediately massaged, and after some kola and a gluss of champagne again attacked the piano. At 9 o'clock at night M. Gamier looking very tired, asked for a glass of Bordeaux, and took a rest for a quarter of an hour. As the evening wore on the crowd of spectators grew steadily larger, and the cafe was filled to suffocation. The pianist's face became very congested towards the end, his hands wero much swollen, and since the afternoon his arms had to be propped up with cushions. After a glass of champagne he recommenced, and did not stop again till midnight. He thus won his wager of £lO with fourteen minutes in baud, having only taken one hour and sixteen minutes' repose in the course of twenty-seven hours instead of one and a-half hours. He was then conveyed into a neighboring hall, and there he was massaged, during which he collapsed, being prostrated with a nervous attack.