GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10836, 20 August 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

—■»— " THE SWEET by AND BY." ' I - The death of the author of the hYmi ■ " The Sweet By and Br," at Richmond, lT makes apropos the story of the origin of th' ' hymn. At the time the hymn was writ* * ' - S. Fillmore Bennett was associated in C * ' ' : ness with J. P. Webster, the composer 'Si l ' ' they published numerous songs in sheet form ■ '■' ; says the Chicago Times-Herald. Here is tV •' .story in* Dr. .Bennett's own. words-' "Sj:'W" ! partner, M. Webster, like many musiciaj i wis of an exceedingly nervous mid sensitive | nature, and subject to periods of depression ' I in which ho looked upon the dark side of alt : things in life. I had learned his peculiarity so well that on meeting him I could tell at a glance if he was melancholy, and had found -' ■' : that I could rouse him by giving him a new song to work on. One day when became to '' the office he walked down to the stove and turned his back on me without speaking I was at my desk writing. Turning to him I said: ' Webster, what is the matter now? ■- ' It's no matter,' he replied; 'it will be ail right by and by.' The idea of the hymn ■', • : ' came to me like a flash of sunlight, and 1 '' replied: 'The Sweet By and By! -; \vhj would not that make a good hymn?' * Maybe it would,' said lie, indifferently. Turn. : . ing to the desk I penned the words of the hymn as fast as I could write. I handed • the words to Webster. As he read his eye kindled, and, stepping to the desk, hebe4n - writing the notes. Taking his violin laplayed the melody, and then jotted down the ' notes for the chorus. It was not over thirty A''■" minutes from the time I took my pen to write the words before two friends and ' '' Webster and myself were singing the hymn. '', While singing another friend entered, and' ''■':; after listening awhile, said: 'That hymn is immortal.' " It is not necessary to comment upon the world-wide renown which; this ' - hymn has gained. It has been translated :: into various foreign languages and sung in '■'...'[ every land under the sun. The author "had '.-'-■■' a copy of the hymn in Chinese. METALS THAT WAST A HOLIDAY. \~' [, ' , It will pehaps be a revelation to 'manj;-%-". : to learn that metals suffer from fatigue as 1 •';'■' much as man, and feel equally strengthened ft by a holiday. Repeated experiments have ■'■■'• proved that steel and wrought iron deteriorate under constant strain or vibration, :. I and if they are denied the necessary rest the time comes when, like the human machine', : they collapse altogether. Lord Kelvin .has '■'• : V'.". proved that iron wires kept in » state of X : ; ; 'Yi oscillation during the week act quite differently after a Sunday's rest; and that an'.';-:'' iron bar, subjected to strain, will rise lp . . per cent, in elasticity after a three weeks' - holiday. A Bessemer steel rail, which bad done good service for twenty-two years with. out a (lay's holiday, not lone ago collapsed altogether under the weight of a train, and broko into half a dozen pieces. Singularly enough, cast-iron, which most people would ;-; imagine less durable than steel, improves -i.: greatly in strength under constant shocks. A'' While guns tried a month after casting burst ' - at the seventieth and eightieth discharge,';;:''; other guns' which had been in use for six : ' > years failed to burst after 2000 and 3000 di» > charges, and cast-iron bars after being sub- ;" jected to shocKs frequently gain 100 : pe' cent, in strength. ;.s^?;Ml; WALKING-STICK LEGACIES. - •• Walking-sticks have frequently been left - : by will. Franklin bequeathed his favourite./ . ; stick, with a gold handle shaped like a'cap'Vi.; of liberty, to George Washington'.' " Napo- =; : V ; leon's walking-stick of tortoise-shell was sold : : : . in London in 1823 for £38. Honoro de Bab :'■.'.- ■;,';.: zac had the mementoes he received from' various fair admirers, which consisted in part : \ of precious stones, set in canes, which was ."' certainly a good way of keeping and using :';;■;'; them. Men lose their sticks with less.fre-.'*'';;.-;; quency than women do their umbrellas ot parasols. . ■ ..'''.i'l-:.',';.. ROLAND FOE AN OLIVER. .::■:','..s£'. Recently two friends were travelling together alone in a railway carriage on a branch •:;.; ,1. line when at a wayside station a dirty, dis; t - reputable-looking loafer boarded the com-' ! j. partment. Not wishing to have their plea- f sant- tete-a-tete interrupted by so undesirable ■ ';;>£' a fellow, one of the occupants of the carriage .■>:;. yelled out,'" You had better not get in here, .;; ; my good fellow, we are only just recovering '. " from the influenza." "That don't matter,"- .• replied the unwashed one, getting in at the "'., same time, "We shall knock it otf capitally, - for I nave got- the itch." ' .;/\ : §p|: A SINGULAR COUI'LE. ' . JfgwJßg An interesting wedding took place at St/;.'£.£• Mary's, Islington, lately, when Qaptain Juan 1 Fernandez was married to Miss Maud Ashton. Captain Fernandez was A.D.C. to ' -. General Antonio Maceo, the leader of the , Cuban Republican Army, and now holds a-;' commission in the United States Army.' In : - a skirmish with the Spaniards near Santiago /h; eighteen months ago, Captain Fernandez was y-fr.. injured by the explosion of a dynamite shell, whica resulted in his losing his hearing, and, curiously, Miss Ashton was already stone deaf. In view of the strange peculiarity, the - ceremony was performed by the Rev. Br. Kilbey, chaplain of the Deaf and Dumb;,;/;, Asylum. ihe church was crowded with;:.;.;, friends, and a special portion was set aside 1 Y.-J; for such persons as were similarly afflicted j',J. : , the bride and bridegroom. ; ; .'.: ?.^ : a BRIGAND'S REVENGE. £ ffi A telegram from Palermo reports the dis- f", , covery of the dead body of a woman in »':--": sack "in a quiet spot on the outskirts of the} ;. town. Evidently a murder of determined ■■ character had been committed, for the- wo- i : ;v: man's throat was cut so deeply that the head ,"•,■;. was almost severed. The police, as the result of inquiries, identified her as the mistress of a well-known brigand, and it has trans- -: pired that the murder was committed out of -.; revenge, because the woman, when herself'.',•..■.;; recently arrested by the police, revealed to .■'..>;- the officials the names of the men forming ■;>■;, the gang of brigands, of whom her lover is a :,-..;: member, and details of some of their ex-., ploits. | * r _ YANKEE royal ACADEMICIAN. . o\'t_l At a general assembly of Academicians •;' and Associates, held on July 4. Mr. Edwin;,..':; Austin Abbey, A.R.A., was elected an Aca- ; , . demician'. Mr. Abbey's election had been ~ generally expected, as his scene from ''King'• ; Lear" has made one of the hits of the present exhibition. Mr. Abbey is an Ameri- ;/.;..; can, and his election is an appropriate cc-e- •. brat-ion on the part of the Academy of the.;.;;, glorious 4th of July. The Royal Academy . of Arts is one of our public bodies which., ;-.: : have always been Anglo-American. It has.•.'■•.■; had an American as its president (Benjamin.- ■ :■;. West), and it now has three American Aca-:, : •• demicians—Messrs. Abbey, Boughton, and . . Sargent. ,'; . : LONDON AND ELECTRIC TRAMS. The committe, presided over by Sir John :. Kennaway, to whom the London United..-.-, Tramways Bill was referred, presented a ■:■:.;■■ special report to the House of Commons recently, stating that, in their opinion, a suffi- ; cient case had not been made out for over- , riding the principle laid down by Parliament, •■: in the London United Tramways Order, • 1895, which requires the consent of the Lon- .■-.,- ; don County Council to the use of. me-■_.'■■;. chanical power upon tramways in the county..-;.-... of London, and that they had accordingly :' rejected Clause 27 (repeating existing provisions as to motive power) so far as it affects the county of London; but they are strongly - of opinion that the congested state of Lon-w' don makes the speedy adoption of electric. •:■.: traction on tramways necessary, and they. ■;,-.;:., earnestly trust- that arrangements may he';.;;:;. made by the London County Council with ;;..;; the London United Tramways Company ;•,;■ whereby the benefits of one system or an- ~ ■ other of electric traction may be secured t0..-v..; the public at the earliest possible date. ■ , •*,<, >;■..;• THE DYNAMITE GUN. "'..,; The recent- war between Spain ana America has seen the first trial of'the ■■~ the dynamite gun. The pound cartridge of j- ;; gelatine thrown by thL death- dealing ; .:\ weapon contains 93 per cent, nitro-glvccrine •--.■■ and 7 per cent, guncotton, which next to nitro-glycerine, is the most destructive .oi :> explosives. The . method of operating ,-c : : the gelatine gun is fin de Steele-.; ■;. in the extreme. Two explosions are'.; :, necessary to set it going, I'ne first is •£ '.-!'-'.'-;•, a hollow cylinder, air-tight, compact, and ■-■?: shut off from the gun itself by a valve. When ...;, the gun is to be fired a small dynamite car- ..,.,,■•,. tridge is exploded in this cylinder and "US the chamber with power approaching l|W feet to the square inch from the gases and el- .. ;• plosives power of the charge. When gelatine is.to.be projected to carry death ■ : ; and destruction ? mile distant, the gumis . . put into the gun modelled like a cigar, in* valve is turned, releasing the compressed air, . and the gases and the force hurl the gelatine towards its destination, where it properly «-. plodes by contact. The Government had nc little difficulty in getting a man to. operate - the gun. ; Finally Ballet Alsop Borrowe, a r , well-known New York society man and now ,• _ ; a sergeant of the regiment of" Rough Rideff ; '• in Cuba commanded by Colonel Roosevelt, volunteered for the risky task. . .';' ;*-. ;■.;•': : ;■'■'■: " ' -' ■ - "':'"••.'^KWi