GLEANINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 937, 14 February 1890, Page 5

GLEANINGS.

THE COMMON.PL ACE BOOK. In reading authors, if you find Bright passages which strike your mind, And which perhaps you may have reason To think of at another season, Don’t be contented with the sight, But put them down in black and white. ‘OF THAT ILK.’ A correspondent of Notes and Queries calls attention to a very oommon misuse of this phraße by English writers, who use it as if it were synonymous with the words *of that sort.’ It has, he explains, no such meaning ; but, on the contrary, has a very different signification. *Of that ilk ’ means ‘of the place bearing a similar name.’ Thus we speak of ‘Grant of that ilk, ‘ McLeod of that ilk,’ &c., meaning Grant of Grant, McLeod of McLeod, and so on. Cosmo Comyn Bradwardine of Bradwardlne would be called in Scottish phrase * Bradw&rdine of that ilk.’ AGES OF BIRDS. Among the candidates for the prize of longevity, says the Eleveur, must be cited the eagle, the swan, and the raven, which live for over a century. The parroquet, as well as the heron, is content to become a sexagenarian. The sparrow-hawk lives to the age of forty, which is the age likewise reached by the duck and pelican. The peafowl lives to be twenty-five, the pigeon twenty, the crane twenty-four, the linnet twenty-five, the goldfinch fifteen, the lark thirteen, the black-headed warbler fifteen, the blackbird twelve, the canary-bird twentyfour, the pheasant fifteen, the thrush ten, the domestic cock ten, the red thrush twelve and the wren three.

English strikes in the past three months, according to the London Times, have advanced wages about 10 per cent. In this respect England is going through little less than an industrial revolution.

As the human heel is covered by nature with an elastic pad, it is suggested that we should replace the hard boot heel with one made of elastic rubber. It would cost but a few pence a month to keep in repair, and would have the additional advantage of lessening the noise of hurrying feet, and preventing to some extent, broken bones in winter.

It is the great art and philosophy of life to make the best of the present, whether it be good or bad ; to bear the bad with resignation and patience, and to enjoy the good with thankfulness and moderation.

The British Nurses’ Association has been formed, where trained nurses shall be registered. Of the 15,000 now estimated to be in England, nearly two thousand five handred have joined the association.

The Bishop of Durham threw the park of his palace open to the general public on a recent Sunday afternoon and permitted a military band to give a concert of sacred and secular music chiefly secular.

The Princeßs of Montenegro has presented her lord with another olive branch. This time it is a son—tho third Princelet who has been born to gladden the heart of Nicholas I. of Montenegro. His Highness is now blessed with a flock of ten children, for there are seven Princesses—Zorka, Militza, Anastasia, Helena, Anna, Xenia, and Vera. So the Montenegrin quiver may be said to be distinctly well filled by this time !