WHY?

Northland Age, Volume 4, Issue 3, 3 September 1907, Page 6

WHY?

1 WHY DO WB SAY 'HONEY- ~ ( MOON"T . £ Because or an ancient custom in th# Northern nations of Europe. Hie bride and bridegroom, (or a month alter the wedding, drank a wine made from hone}- aa their principal form o( nourishment. It was called the honey month or moon. WHY IS A SERVANT'S FEE CALLED A "TIP." ? Because the letters which compose the word are the initials ot "to insure promptness," an inscription on the money-boxes which used to be in every tavern. Into these the traveller dropped his coin, and the stall as a whole shared the benefit. WHY IS THE 8 AND WITCH SO CALLED? Because the Earl of Sandwitch on one occasion, not wishing to leave his place at the gaming table, called a waiter and ordered some slices of bread with ham between .them to be brought to him. so that be could go on playing without interruption. To this combination his (rLinds gave the name. WHY DO MEN GROW TALLER THAN WOMEN ? Even at birth there is a difference In height and weight between male and femalo children, to the advantage of the former. In average Britons brought up under favourable circumstances the normal difference in stature between the sexes when full grown is five inches. Women, in fact, are everywhere shorter than men, and there is no other explanation to be found of this fact than that in tha physics! development of women, at a certain stage, the nutritive processes are turned into another direction than the continuation of the growth of the individual, and arc diverted into the channel of preparation for the spoclal functions of motherhood which they are destined to fulfil in the great scheme of Nature. The exceedingly varied and complicated phenomena of life find their highest perfected expression in the duality in unity of mankind—the man, as It were, building for himself the woman for new generations. WHY IS "THIRTEEN" THOUGHT TO BE UNLUCKY ?

Thirteen is regarded as unlucky by a great many people who claim that they are not euperstitioue about other things, and there are thousands of tales about unfortunate occurrences supposedly due to that number. The origin of the superstition Is very generally supposed to be the "Lest Supper,” at which the Lord and hie twelve apostles were present. As a matter of history, the belief in the "hoodoo" antedates Christianity by centuries. Norse mythology deemed It unlucky to sit down thirteen at a banquet table, because at such a feast in the Valhalla, Loki, the spirit of evil and the god of strife, once intruded. Balder, the god of peace, was killed by the blind war god Hoder. at the instigation of Loki. The Turks so dislike the number that the word Indicating it has become almost expunged from thoir vocabulary. The Italians never use it In making up' their lotteries, and in Paris no house bears the number, and there it 1 in existence there a profession the members of which make their living attending dinnerparties In order to make tho fourteenth at table.

WHY IS A SOLDIER CALLED "PRIVATE" ?

The origin of the word "private," when applied to a soldier in the ranks, may be traced to the much earlier use of the same word as applied to civilians : "a private man, or citizen"—that is. one not invested with public office or employment. Blackstone so uses the term when ho says, "A private person 1 may arrest a felon." The epithet, being thus applied in common language to any civilian 'holding office, has, by a Blight extension of meaning, been uaed to signify soldiers not holding rank.

WHAT COLOUR WAS ADAM ? Many suppose that Adam and his wile wero negroes, whilst others suggest that the first man may have been brown. Tho name of Adam, which in Hebrew means "red,” might be urged in favour of this, though we know that the epithet "red," as applied to a man, is adopted in Eastern countries in preference to "white,” because the latter is used to signify "leprous." The author, however, of "Genesis of the Earth ar>i Han,” whose opinion is endorsed by Mr. R. Stuart Poole, of the British Museum, maintains that Adam was the progenitor of the white races only, and that before bis creation the black race had been estab-' lisbed In Africa, and that in the Mosaic narrative there are intimations of the existence of prc-Adamic races. The conclusion that Adam was white obtains much support from tho theory propounded by the lata Hugh Miller, the geologist, that the Caucasian race are the type of the first created human beings. WHY DO HANDS "CHAP" ?

'■ The efiect of cold Is to contract, and that of heat to expand. This general law ot Nature finds no exception in our bodies, and when any portion of tho body gets cold, the blood vessels which. traverse it contract, with the result that the flow of blood Is diminished. Subsequent exposure to heat causes the blood vessels to resume their proper size, and, if anything, to slightly exceed * it, owing to the reaction on the effects of the previous cold. The result of these different operations is, very naturally, to crack the surface of the skin and form the unpleasant Utile wounds which we call "chaps."

Mrs. Brown was rather tired of posing while waiting to have her photograph taken. "Oh,, my dear Mr. Dooley.” ehe cried, "haven’t you got the camera