GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9010, 15 October 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

ANNOxING A QUEEN'S COUNSEL. GuiseppE Gaspari, •an Italian organgrinder, who professed to be ignorant of English, was charged at Westminster Court with playing a piano organ outside >'o. 6, Chester Square, S.W., after being ordered to desist, to the annoyance ofV Mr. Fred. Waller, Q.C., the occupier. Mr. Waller is an invalid and had been greatly disturbed by organ-grinders, among whom the defendant for the last month has been one of the most persistent. i Between one 'and two on Thursday i afternoon both Mr. Waller's valet and the footman ordered tho defendant to cease playing, but all he did was to shake bis head, hold out his hand, and say, " Money." Holder, 381 B, was fetched, but prisoner went on playing, though the constable pointed with his finger out of the street, and clearly made the fellow understand what was. required. At length the policeman seized the man's hand to stop him. On releasing his hold, the Italian began to grind again and he was thereupon taken into custody. Through an interpreter, defendant said that he did not understand that his music was objected to. He was bound to finish the tune. The magistrate told him that if he went on doing this sort of thing, he would get into trouble. This time he must pay 2s 6d fine, or go to prison for three days. AN ANECDOTE OF WOLFE. English admirals and generals of renown have seldom been teetotallers. At all events they have seldom been fanatical apostles of the pump. General Lord Wolseley is, of course, a notable exception. But although he would restrict the rank and file to the enjoyment of water and wishy-washy tea and coffee, he himself is not believed to be averse to the personal consumption of more generous liquors. ¥evr generals have achieved more fame, for their years, than Wolfe, and it is related of him that when he was appointed to the command of the expedition which resulted in the wresting of Canada from the French, Pitt, as was his custom, invited him to dinner on the day preceding his embarkation. The only other guest was Lord Temple, Pitt's brother-in-law, who afterwards told the story to Thomas Grenville. As the evening advanced, Wolfe, fired with wine, broke forth into a strain of gasconade. He drew his sword, he rapped the table with it, he flourished it round the room, he talked of the mighty things that sword was to achieve. The two Ministers stood aghast at an exhibition so unusual from any man of real sense and spirit, and when at last Wolfe had taken his leave, and his carriage was heard to roll from the door, Pitt seemed for the moment shaken in his high opinion which he had formerly held for Wolfe. He lifted up his eyes and arms, and exclaimed to Lord Temple, " Good Gcd ; that I should have entrusted the fate of the country and of the Administration to such hands." But, as the event proved, he could not possibly have done better. STUFFED POTATOES. I went to an entire dinner lesson at the National Training School of Cookery lately, and there saw some very nice dishes, one of which I venture to transcribe for your benefit. It is called " Stuffed Potatoes." Choose small, even sized, floury potatoes, wash and peel them thinly, cub off the ends of each to make them stand, then (with a column cutter if you have one) scoop out the centre of each, and fry the cases in boiling fat till of a pretty gold colour. Meanwhile put an ounce of butter in a stew-pan, and when quite hot add to it a small Spanish onion, previously boiled in stock and finely chopped, a handful of grated Parmesan cheese, the yolks of two eggs, and a tablespoonful of freshly-grated breadcrumbs ; stir this altogether, seasoning it to taste, then fill the potatoes with this mixture and bake them for a few minutes in a hot oven. This is very nice, either as a second-course dish, or as an addition to a joint of roast meat. A STUPID SOLDIER CHANGKD BY A BULLET IS HIS BRAItf. J "The war was responsible for many queer things," said Dr. Eugene Hardcaatle, a St. Paul surgeon now at the Southern. "Up in Northern Minnesota lives a man who entered the service in 1861. He was a very dull fellow, almost a fool. During one of the sorties made by the Confederates at Donelson he received a buckshot in ' the head. The surgeons could not find it and the wound healed. He returned to duty one of the brightest men in his company, and in time he became second lieutenant. At the close of the war he returned home, married a superior woman, prospered in business and was elected sheriff of his county. Three years ago his head began to give him a great deal of trouble. He came to St. Paul and I located the buckshot and removed it. He is now as healthy as ever, but is the same stupid dolt that he was before the fight at Fort Donelson." a widow's shrewd deal. A New York widow has got ahead of the Inman steamship line in a way that the company must despise. She owned a narrow strip of land which the company wished, and of coarse she asked an outrageous price for it. A compromise was finally reached. She offered to deed the land if the company would in return agree to give to her and her two daughters, as long as she lived, free passage upon the steamers of the line. As she was an elderly lady the company agreed to it. This was in 1889. Ever since then the lady and her daughters have lived aboard the company's steamers, and a? they run vessels to nearly all of the principal parts of the world, she travels wherever she wishes. Hereafter the company will doubtless keep in mind the advice of Tuny Weller. KILLED BY A RATTLESNAKE. News has reached Athens from Madison County of three children being killed by a rattlesnake, and a fourth drowned as an indirect result of the other deaths. One Wilson, a mill employe, lived with his wife and family in a cabin recently erected on some cleared ground in the woods, about twelve miles away. While Wilson was at work his wife took the youngest child, a baby, and went to the creek to do some washing. Half an hoar afterwards she heard screams from the house, and running back found two of the children lying on the ground outside the door, dying from snake bites. The eldest child was in the house, and was also dying, but was able to talk. They had seen a hen under the elevated cabin and crawled under. A big snake lay coiled beside the hen, and when they tried to take the fowl away the reptile struck at them. While the woman was listening to this narrative her baby, whom she had left on the creek shore, crawled or fell into the creek. Wilson later made a search for and killed the snake, which was a " rattler" of the largest size, having 22 rattles. EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF CANINE ADOPTION. A singular case of adoption by an animal has just occurred at Castleford, Yorkshire. Mr. G. Hepworth, of the Crown Hotel, Hightown, has a sow which gave birth recently to twenty pigs. Three died shortly afterwards, leaving seventeen for the mother to suckle. As these were boo many for her to properly attend to, and as Mr. Hepworth was anxious to save as many as possible of this numerous progeny, he book five of the newly-born pigs and placed them with a setter which had only recently had pups. Strange to say, this animal not only displayed no resentment, but actually took the five little aliens under her protection, and is now suckling them, exhibiting the utmost affection towards the little piggies. Mr. Peck, veterinary surgeon of Castleford, speaks of this case of adoption as the most extraordinary that ever came under his observation. ASSUMING THE HUSBAND'S NAME. The practice of the wife's assuming the husband's name of marriage, according to Dr. Brewer, originated from a Roman custom and became the common custom after the Roman occupation. Thus Julia and Octavia, married to Pompey and Cicero, were called by the Romans Julia of Pompey, Octavia of Cicero, and in . latter times married women in most European countries signed their names in the same manner, but omitted the " of." Against this viev; may be mentioned that during the sixteenth and even at the beginning of the seventeenth century the usage seems doubtful, since we find Catherine Parr so signing herself after she had been ' twice married, and we always hear of Lady Jane Grey (not Dudley), Arabella Stuart (not Seymour), etc. Some persons think that the custom originated from the scriptural teaching that husband and wife are one. This. was the rule of law, t ßo far back as Braeton (died 1268), and "ft was decided in the case of Bon versus Smith, in the reign of Elizabeth, that a woman by marriage loses her former name and legally receives the name of her husband. Altogether the custom in ini volved in much obscurity.