GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9028, 5 November 1892, Page 10 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

THE USE OF A. LEMON. Take , a lemon. What is it good fori Hero are a few of its uses . Squeezed inW water, and a little drank every morning, you have almost a specific for incipient dyspepsia. A lemon decoction applied to th<» scalp when your hair is falling out will tend to stop this difficulty. The fuice Idled to milk and applied to the hands on retiring at night .will whiten and soften those useful appendages. Applied to the face the effect will be the same. A little pare glyceric added will do no harm. Apply a few drops of the undiluted juice to the sting of a beg or hornet, and a ready relief will be found. ANOTHER DISCOVERY AT POMPEII. A beautiful palace has been disinterred from its grave of ashes at Pompeii in the fifth region of the excavations. The entrance is an elegant atrium of tufa columns covered with stucco, and having Corinthian capitals finely sculptured. From the number and measures of tho fragments broken at the time of the great eruption, it will bo possible to restore completely the antrium. Then comes a peristyle, less injured, also of tufa columns, fluted- and covered half-way up with stucco. The pediment resting on the columns is decorated on both sides with 'ery fine stuccoes. Iron supports have been specially arranged to preserve the peri style it» its ancient state, and the roof has been repaired with tiles made exactly like those still remaining. The lower half of a pair ol folding doors has been successfully reproduced in plaster. A POINT OF ETIQUETTE. The etiquette of salutation (says the St. Janes' Gazette) has hitherto been treated exclusively from the masculine standpoint. But in these days of democracy, 'when everybody is as good as everybody else, a lady may find herself in an equally embarrassing and awkward situation when aha receives from her butcher, arrayed in Sunday clothes, the same conventional recognition as she receives from her social equals. If she be haughty and retain hei presence of mind she passes straight on, and on the next occasion the tradesman very likely only touches his hat; but in nine cases out of ten she feels herself snobbish in doing this, and sees no other course bus a bow. LIMNS AND LAVENDER WATER. A lady correspondent writes to the Daily Telegraph stating that a recent article in that journal on the influence of music upon certain inimals reminded her of a visit which she paid, four or five years ago, to a country me?agerie. She was accompanied by her brother, the late Rev. J. G. Wood, who wished to demonstrate to a party the effect of scent upon the brute creation. " No soonfir," she states, " were we near, the cages containing the lions and tigers than theY got restless, and rubbed themselves against the bars, evidently recognising a friend my brother. They received his caresses with much pleasure, though apparently with the expectation of something more to come. Upon his taking a small bottle from one pocket, and some pieces of thick brown paper from another, their excitement increased. He poured a little lavender water upon the paper, and, calling each animal by name, presented it upon a stick to the favoured one, who, on taking it, rubbed the paper upon paws, cheeks, and back, and indulged in other antics, all expressive of extreme delight. When two animals were in one cage, the favoured possessor of the scent would lie down upon the paper and roll over and over upon it to keep it from its disappointed mate. The strange part of the matter was that no other scent than lavender water had any attraction for these creatures." THE STRANGE STORY OF A DIAMOND RING. No claimant has yet appeared for the magnificent diamond ring, value £'250, which ac present lies at the Lost Property Office at Scotland Yard, where it was deposited by a lady, who discovered it in a mysterious manner. One day she rode in a 'bus from Hampstead to the city to do some shopping. Next her sab a gentleman faultlessly attired and gorgeously jewelled. Among other rings he wore a diamond sioglestone, which sparkled and scintillated with every movement of his head. On arriving at her destination the lady discovered that she had been relieved of her purse during the journey. She returned .mine disconsolate, as it contained all her pin money, and related her "misfortune to her husband. On his suggestion she turned out her pocket. No purse was discernible, but a splendid ring dropped on to the floor. After having the ring valued the finder deposited it at Scotland Yard, where it will lie for three months, unless claimed, and at the end of that period she will be entitled to wear it until the owner turns up, which, in all probability, will not be foi some time. A novelist's EXPERIENCE.

Mr. Sala, in his journal, relates the following experience of Mr. William Black, the novelist When at work Mr. Black loves quiet, and cannot bear the slightest noise. For this reason he always selects a room at. the top of the house as his study. At one time it was his misfortune to live in what he describes as a jerry-built house, and while endeavouring to work in the early hours of the morning, as is his custom, he tells of one amusing inconvenience that he was called upon to put up with. The nursery of his next door neighbours was in a line with his study, and in this a somewhat numerous family were located. Every morning, as regular as clockwork, Mr. Black could hear the elder sister call out, " Now, then, you horrid little things, kneel down and say your nasty little prayers." A profound silence would follow; but the interval was a brief one. Then came a rush and clatter, and the shrill voices of the children were heard exclaiming, "We have said our prayers; we have said our prayers." MISS FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE ON HUSBANDS AND WIVES. Miss Florence Nightingale contributes the following to the discussion in the Daily Telegraph on English wives —" I endorse what an ' Irish Wife and an Irish Spinster' says. Irishmen are more sympathetic, more true to their wives, and, in my opinion, we should hear of less unloved and unlovely marriages, less of the divorce courts, if Englishmen showed more sympathy and interest in their wives. Women need more—and I speak from a worn an'i standpoint of view—than the conventional husband who judges his wife from the care she bestows upon his household and his children. We need someone we can lean upon, and if a wife wishes to welcome her husband with a bright, smiling face, knowing she has nothing to hide, nothing to fear, and nothing to conceal, she can only do so in the perfect love' which 'casteth cub fear.' Irishwomen are far more virtuous than their English sisters as a rule, and I believe it is in the main because there is more oneness between them and their husbands. Those little attentions, those little words of love, are not lacking in an Irishman which are so dear to every woman's heart, and more particularly so when she is tired and harassed with household cares ; and these words, so often withheld, would soften a wife's monotonous duties and help to make English homes ideal homes." THE OPAL SUPERSTITION. The superstition about opalsthat they bring ill-luck—dies hard. In fact, although Queen Victoria has taken a firm stand against it and provides her position by making presents of opal jewellery to her friends and relatives, there are many who think that it is increasing. This superstition and the arrival within a year of a bushel or so of opals from Australia, unsurpassed in colour, have had a tendency to lower the price of these lovely gems, and some dealers are willing to dispose of their stock of them for less than their ccst. One jeweller in New York, who formerly sold a good many, refuses to keep them any longer. " I haven't one in the place," said he. " Mind, I'm not in the least; affected by this idea of opals bringing bad luck, for I love the stones, and would as lief have an opal on my finger as a diamond, but they are running down in value and have few buyers, so that it does not pay me to keep them, and, besides, women come back here with opal rings and pins that I sold to them years ago., and demand tc change them for something else, because in the meantime their cats have died or their babies have had croup, or their neighbours have expressed horror of their temerity in wearing a forbidden gem. In other words they want to exchange worn and unsaleable goods for things that are newer and of mors value, and in cases whero they are good customers ■ i have to submit to it." One man in Brooklyn took the opal out of his ring and smashed it to atoms with a hatchct) because he had failed in business.