SIX PEOPLE'S LIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14906, 3 February 1912, Page 5 (Supplement)

SIX PEOPLE'S LIVES.

Here are glimpses' of six different, liveseach a story in itself: — . . ; ......... • (1) A Hand-loom Weaver. " The hand-loom is not now a'force-or a factor in Lancashire industry, but* it is still a survival, and a correspondent of the Factory Times gives an interesting account of a talk with an old gentleman at the village of Woodhouses who, at the age of seventy, has sixty-two years at the hand-loom' behind him. " This Mr. Kenyon considers his village behind the times, but when handloom weaving was in vogue it was well to the fore, and perhaps we may.imagine a pride, of eminence in,.one generation changing to conservative tenacity in another. ■ '■■■. ■ - ■ "There is an element .of pride in the statement that over eight hundred- motions of hands and feet must be made in order to weave an inch of cloth, and yet quite naturally from tin's flows.the. story, of a wager through which . wool -was, shorn, spun, woven, and worn, as a coat in the course of a .single , day. ....... ........ . "Mr. Kenyon is said . to.have mastered the' Spanish, language while he sat, at. his loom. It would be incredible if this had not long ago proved ,to> be a . fantastic world. Why Spanish?" asks the Manchester Guarlian. " Why should this* aa tonishing old man contribute to 'several Spanish periodicals' Perhaps it is better not to inquire. There must be causes and reasons for such things, but the unsupported facts are romantic."

(2) "Workman's £80,000 Fortune. I "Mr. -John' Smith, a Sheffield man who lived in a cottage at a rental' of about 2s. 6d. a week, and who had never been in receipt of more thn £120 a year has died at the age of 77, leaving a fortune of £80,000," says the Evening Standard. "At the ago of fourteen he began to work for Messrs. Naylor, Vickers and Co., the enterprise that led to the great firm of Vicker's, of Barrow, and earned a few shillings a week by treading the clay that was made into crucible pots. He was transferred to the warehouse, and remained in the eervce of the firm for forty-live years, retiring about eighteen years ago. "The beginning of his fortune was the investment of £200, saved in pennies, in .Vickers' shares. These shares advanced in value so rapidly that in fifteen years the £200 investment was worth £15,000. Smith's next investment of £200, in Spanish seourites, was lost, but after this he never looked back, and bis speculations were remarkably successful. The rigid personal economy which brought him his first £200 became part of his life, and even in later years he made very little departure in the way cf spending money on personal comforts or, a better style of dress. He married" in life," and' left' a widow, a son. and a daughter." ■'"

' (3, 4) Revolt of the Husband. "A Paris husband suing for a divorce, gives as his sole reason for his petition that, being unable to afford, a maid, he has to do- up-the back of his wife's dress every day and sometimes several times a day," - says the Evening Standard. "If he. goes to the theatre his enjoyment is previously marred by ' the fact that madanie usually' wears a princesse robe which has forly-nine buttons, and .he generally finds that he has made a mistake, in the , fastening after, he is about halfway through. He appeals to the law, therefore, to release him from his slavery."

(5, 6) Deadly Purpose. In the Socialist paper Hnmanite the true story of the argues' suicide is told, and a remarkable instance of cold determination it is," says the Evening Standard. " Ten years ago, Lafargue (a socialist) was sixty and wealthy,, his wife (a daughter of Karl Marx) being about the same age as himself. They decided that life after seventy was melancholy and useless,' so they divided their fortune into ten equal parts—increasing it by mortgaging the estate—and decided to live free from anxiety, their last ten years to the uttermost. So thoroughly were their plans carried out that they have left less than £20. Here is socialism with a vengeance, but it is difficult not to admire the serene strength of mind which can arrange a life as a housekeeper arranges. a week's meals, •"•'■■■,■