SELECTED ARTICLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 180, 17 November 1876, Page 3

SELECTED ARTICLES.

GOING TO SCALE. kveral years ago eighty young colbaß weighed at Cambridge- i they M, from eighteen to twenty-three M age, and their average w Jght was lb., or iOst. lllbv Tuis tells a good |uf the batsmen and oarsmen of the k for Frenchmen and Belgians of

ft ages would not reach quite tt> such watage. Factory life lessens the |ht below the level of open-air life. A {'ears back Mr. Cowellt caused 1,500 W and young persona in Manchester Stockport, some employed in cotton »ri«9 v unci some loading an out-of-door to be weighed. He found that, all «5e of eighteen, the average weights »as follow : —Factory youths, IQ6£l>.; loor yuutha, 1261b-.; factory girt*, k out-door girls, 1211b. This seems 'note that youths are relatively mure •«il than girt* by factory Me. FrofJ. IX Forbes, availing himself of the jjtitia afforded by his scientific position "linburgh, weighed no less than 300 '•'» and young men who attended the *teiity in that city. He divided them Nationalities and into ages. He found 'it fifteen year* old the average for itf the three kingdoms was about *j and that at the age of twenty-five .Englishmen averaged l~>lib., the iSStb., and the Irishmen 1351b. w%ian average for that age t» about S and the French average a few Mm. **&? STRANGE TRICKS OF TRADE. extent to which the trade is carried on in this *JS is not generally known. In * ia china, and in almost every

' branch of trade in which there is a mania for ancient productions, a brisk manufacture of these precious rdiques 13 carried on, and carried on with the utmost success. If people who live to adorn their rooms with rare specimens of enrfont art could have their eyes miraculotuh" 'jjued. l ;* e Balaam's ass, so as to perceive ♦*■« many of which at preset mey # prize as priceless retinues w—"* be consigned to the kitchen or'Ae meltmg-pot. There is what nw °« called the '" hereditary late This plan is to get up articles after the antique, and to engrave upon them a fictitious inscription, as, e.g., " Presented by Lord A to his esteemed friend, the Earl of B-—, on coming of age, a.d., 1750." The next step taken by the ingenious swindler is to write to some descendant of Lord A , or of the Earl o? B , informing him that Mr. lias obtained possession of an interesting relique of his distinguished ancestor, and to suggest the advantage of his Lordship keeping it in the family. Then there is " the ordinary trick " of the trade. The method here lacks tr.e invention of the other, but it is sufficiently ingenious for the gulls for whom it is intended. The dealer also purchases some ancient article, say a salt cellar, worth about £1 sterling. He then takes this to some needy and unscrupulous silversmith, and induces him to clip the Hall-mark from this genuine article, and to solder or affix it to the bottom of some spurious article of a much larger size. Sometimes the silver of the latter is *>f a much inferior quality to that of the former, but not always. The article is then displayed in the dealer's window, with a well-devised advertisement, and sold as a genuine antique at a fancy price. The *' spoon trick " is probably the mo3t lucrative method of swindling the public known to the p-wiirfo antique-artificer, and at the same time the most difficult to detect. It is managed as follows :—The dealer purchases some old spoons, and cutting off the shanks beats the portion on either side of the Hall-mark out thin, and then incorporates it with some large vessel of inferior workmanship ; or cutting oat the mark op'y, solders it into the " wire," runn'ng along ihe ba3e of a cup or vase. This can be dune by an ordinary worfcman, so neatly as to defy detection by any but an expert. In all these instances it will be observed that a genuine mark is ttsed, the imposture consisting solely of fixing the antique stamp to a modem vessel, and thereby inducing the unwary customer to pay an exorbitant sum for the article. But there are members of the fraternity of knaves who descend to a deeper depth of rascality. Probably they do not see the advantage of being nice in iniquity. At all events they do not scruple to forge the Hall-mark, as well as the age of the article which they sell. This is easily accomplished with the aid of a book of Hall marks, which was originally intended as a shield to honest dealers, but which has become a twoedged sword in the hands of knaves. To give the article thus stamped with forgery an antique appearance, the dealer oxydases it with sulphur fumes, and sells it for twice or twenty times its value. ♦■ HUMOR AND SARCASM. It is not everybody who knows where to joke, or when or how ; and whoever is •gnorant of these conditions had Cetter not joke at all. A gentleman never attempts to be humorous at the expense of people with whom he is bnt slightly acquainted. In fact, it is neither good manners nor wise policy to joke at anybodys expense ; that is to say, to make anybody uncomfortable merely to raise a laugh. Old JEaop, who was doubtless the subject of many a jibe, on account of his humped back, tells the whole story in his fable of '•The Boys and the Frogs." What was jolly to the youngsters was death to the croakers. A jest may cut deeper than a curae. Some men are so constituted that they cannot take even a friendly jtAio in good part, and,'instead of repaying it in the same light coin, will requite it with contumely and insult. Never banter one of this class, for he will brood over your bandinage long after you have forgotten tt ; and it is not prudent to incur anyone's enmity for the sake of uttering a smart double entendre or a tart repartee. Ridicule, at best, is a perilous weapon. Satire, however, when levelled at social follies and political evils is not only legitimate, but commendable. It has s .amed down more abuses than were ever abolished by force of logic.