BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 114, 12 May 1909, Page 5

BRIEF MENTION.

"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.'

Pioneer expedition left England for New Zealand, May 12, 1839.

Postage stamps in England use up 4,000,000 gallons of gum per annum. In the Philippines cigars 2i feet long are made and smoked. Instructing the new girl: ''Eggspoons, Annie'! Egg-spoons! When you lay eggs, always lay spoons, too!"

Paris has a club for young men pledged to keep down their wives millinery bills. The Union, the famous Cambridge debating society, dates back to 1802.

May 12—Born: John Bell, eminent anatomist, 1763; Hon. General Sir George Cathcart, 1784; John Russell Hind, astronomer, 1823. Died: Thomas, Earl of Stafford, English Minister, executed, 1641; Christopher Smart, poet, 1771; Francis Grose, antiquary, 1791.

"You must let the baby have one cow's milk to drink every day," said the doctor. "Very well, if you say so, doctor," said the perplexed young mother; "but I really don't see how he is going to hold it all."

In the River Hoogly at Calcutta, 1000 vessels are sometimes anchored at one time. They lie in tiers parallel to th& shore, each vessel moored stem and stern to buoys.

It was an Irish pension claimant who, hi confiding tones, said—"Small as it is, yer Honour, it will be a Godsend, because I'm thinking it will just pay me income tax."

An entire absence of temper is apt to mean want of pride, want of pluck, or a big slice of laziness and indifference.—Tatler.

China is a quarter of the globe about which the whole globe will talk more and more as years roll on.— Sir Robert Hart.

He was learning French, and thus addressed his wife—" Araminta, je t'adore." "Shut it yourself," she replied.

Professor, lecturing on hygiene— "Tobacco, gentlemen, makes men ugly, short-winded, idiotic, paralytic, and I can tell you this from experience, for I have smoked for many years!"

Walter Morley, a Nottingham joiner, was made a bankrupt twentythree years ago, when he paid a first and final divfdend of 10|d in the £. At Nottingham County Court it was stated that £4.00 had been paid in, sufficient to settle with the creditors in full ; with 4 per cent, interest besides since 1888.

Mr Pepper: "I don't believe there was a dry eve in the house when the curtain went down on the first act." Mrs Pepper : "No; but there seemed to be the usual number of dry throats."

Wool shorn in Victoria during the past season weighed 10,189,772 pounds less than that shorn during the preceding year. The average weight of the fleece was .07 of a pound lighter. *

"I suppose your constituents ask you a great many questions?" "No," answered the M.P. "I make the first question serve as a text for a halfhour speech, and then they are afraid to ask.any more."

On Lundy Island there is a man who, although a Londoner, has never seen a motor-car. Twelve years ago Mr Allday was placed in charge of Lloyd's signal station on Lundy Island., and has never been on the mainland since.

The headmaster of a school recently put up a notice that on an early date he would lecture on the following subject: "Our Eyes, and how we see through them."_ Shortly afterwards he Was astonished to find an alternative title written underneath, "Our Pupils, and how they see through us."

Gunner Moir, the famous boxer, took part in the men's meeting on Sunday afternoon in connection with Canon Brookes' church at Kennington, and delivered an address on "Sympathy." He received a great welcome from the congregation.

When a Scotsman answers a question he settles.the matter in dispute once for all. On a certain occasion the question was asked: — "Why was Mary Queen of Scots born at Linlithgow?" Sandy Keer promptly answered, "Because her inither was staying there"; and there actually seemed to be nothing more to be said on the subject.

Reading his brief by the Braille system, a totally blind solicitor appeared at Wandsworth County Court. In spite of his affliction, augmented by partial deafness, he won his case.