CHOICE EXTRACTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 184, 22 November 1876, Page 3

CHOICE EXTRACTS.

COLLECTING ACCOUNTS.

The fullortng notice to subscribers appeared in an American papsf, whtcn we Irate 110 ductbt wili (enable t.tc proprietors to dispense with the services of civil bill olSeers. Localising it, and making it do dat; for oaraelves, we give the following notice : —Subscribers to the Ev&siso

; Mail are hereby notified that Mr. Fred, Thompson", our duly authorised will cdl on thera sonic time during ui«s week for the purpose of collecting the amount that 11135* ' jy due to on account of sill?'W> really trust chat every v. H :>c prcpr.ivd t-> " balar.ee books,' and tioi subject us to the unnecessary trouble of catling a second time. If we are obliged to do so, the expense attending it will nearly consume the amount of the subscription. We would also remind our friends that if they are obliged to be absent from home, the sum due to us is so very small, they can leave it at their houses, and by that means save us from calling twice. '* Breather, there a irr.n with soul so dead, Who ne'er to himself hath said : • I'i! pay be;">rc I ::<> to bid, The debt I owe the printer.' " There's man}" a man we know full well, That never such a tale can tell; But lie, v.c kuov,*, will go to , well, The place where there's no winter." We should be sorry, very sorry, to think that any of our patrons were so dead to our interests, or so blind to their own, as to come under the above condemnation. Still, more would we grieve if the fate above depicted is in store for any one who is indebted to us. If it is, that if you had paid tlse printer you would not have gone to -—, well, come down to the office, and we wiil teil you the rest. ANCIENT AND MODERN. With tlse use of modern machinery a single miller is now able to produce flour enough tor the daily supply of 3,600 men. With the hand-mill, which was the machine for grinding corn among the Greeks, a man could produce onh" enough flour to supply 2-3 men. Thus the machinery of the present mill represents the labor of 144 men. A lively knitter can make 30 stitches a minute with her needles. The knitting machine will make 4,800 stitches in the same time; or in other words, works with an efficiency equivalent to 160 laborers. In the light of these illustration.!, if we compare the slow process of hand labor which prevailed among the ancients, 1,000 years before Homer's time, with the abundant and complex luxuries enjoyed by the aristocratic and idle classes of that period, we shall give some conception of the drudgery performed by the laboring people, and of their miserable reward. The splendour grows dull and unenviable when it is considered at what a vast expense of human poverty and suffering it was procured. ABOUT KINGS. Although the df3ire to rule has been so often productive of fatal results to princes, there are still men willing to sacrifice almost anything for a crown. It is estimated that out of 2340 emperors or kings who ruled f>4 nations, 220 were dethroned, G4 abdicated. 20 committed suicide, 11 went mad, 100 died on the battle-field, 123 were made prisoners, 23 were pronounced martyrs an-l saints. 151 were sentenced to death. With this gloomy record staring them in the face, it is a wonder there should be so many persons found ambitious to don the Royal purple. ROYAL CROWN OF ENGLAND. Qncen Victoria's Crown is composed o" hoops of gold, enclosing a cap of deep purple, or rather blue, velvet, the hoops being completely covered with small diamonds, and having a Maltese Cross of brilliants on the top it. I'm is cross has in its centre a splendid sapphire. The rim of the crown is clustered with brilliants, ornamented with jHur-dc-hs and Maltese Crossis equally rich. In front of the Maltese Cross wliicli is in the front of the crown is the celebrated heart-shaped ruby, traditionally s.ii-l to iiavu been worn by the Black Prince at the Battle of Crecy, and by Henry V. at the Battle of Agincourt." Beneath, in the circular rim is an iairnensa long sapphire. There are many other precious gem? —emeralds, rubies, and sapphires—and several small clusters of dr.tr 1 pearls. A .SINGULAR REMEDY. Win never Edmund Burke felt himself indisposed, he ordered a kettle of water to be kipt boiling, of which he drank large quantities— sometimes as much as four, and even five, quarts in a. morning, without any mixture or infusion, and as hot as he could bear it. His manner was to pour about a pint at a time into a basin, and to drink it with a spoon as if it had been soup. Warm water, he said, would relax and nauseate, but hot water was the finest stimulant and most powerful restorative in the world. He certainly thought it a sovereign remedy, and net only took it himself, but prescribed it with the confidence of a Sangrado to every patient who came iu lus wav.