CHOICE EXTRACTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 250, 9 February 1877, Page 2

CHOICE EXTRACTS.

A STRANGE GIRL.

A curious peep into an unexplored condition of life is given in the story of Elizabeth Smith, a waistcoat maker. This girl was recently charged at the Guildhall with having made several attempts on her own life, She is capable, it was said in evidence, of earning her own living, which she seems determined not to do, finding suicide apparently an easier process. She has not given her mother more than ten shillings in the last six months ; and this indolence is the more extraordinary and culpable as this waistcoat maker is ten years of age. Some economists may be gratified by the statement that, at this time of life, she is capable of eai'ning her living. She is so averse to labor, however, that, between twelve and one in the night, she tried to throw herself off Blackfriar's Bridge, and that not once, but twice. When arrested and lodged in the police station, she endeavored to strangle herself with braid torn from her dress, and nearly succeeded. According to her father, she does the same kind of thing 1 every other week, and makes as, many "offers" at death—experiments on her own readiness to die—as Goethe did about the time when he was writing " Werther," So many failures argue the want of resolution which Goethe detected in himself. It is not easy to understand this conduct in one who has still her best years before her ; and it would be interesting to know whether Elizabeth Smith, apart from. own foolish conduct, has a happy nc^^«r

'a furvm epistle.

I fa the .-courn; of am inuuiry at C> vv,:<r ' l ''- Kiab r on fc '" c ** fc " .: ... .„ , r attempted suiohta preferred ,,u: Thomas Hesliu, and which n> suited in accord Loin- d.sohacgod witli a caution, the following tetter, a. by acensed to. the o»vy fiwe* Apj'-.j for publictttiony was read : Ist January, 1877. t. lle»Hnv Bcunnerten, in Ms nana! composed and proper senses, wants to let the populace know the cause of his hatred tu this world. la the nrst ptacu, my adhesion to this world should be strengthened Tenfold on account of my Family, which, everybody who knows them, pronounces beyond the (Common. Secondly--* must Justify my form to' m ?' mm ? tast Testament, she has. been strictly honest with me until after she Wii9 a Grandmother. Her deviation from, the right path has been caused by an oily snake, in the shape of » man— Joseph Carter—who works now at the Kuruara. Ife persists in headdresses,, although he knows it naacausud Family disturbance for some time. . jf oW lam going to commit suicide. The very name is abhorent to me ; and the thoughts of teavmg my children; O r . I cannot commit this to paper. I hope there is not a man who will call mo a fool or a coward for committing such 6ft act; for a foot, those who knows me will duciilu ; "-ml, for a coward, the act I am about to commit is a stranger to t r :e name. 'this paper is written for publication in the &r«>J £*«'-'' -W'- w » aml * hope tUtt finder will send it there, as £ know it will get Justice to the letter. Ailiuu. tn-earth,. aditm to rulri'h, mliua yoa Hold.-* where £ used to van ; Throe times adieu* I say to you my life, my soul, Maggie Kobertson. Ureunerton.

THE EFFECT OF OIL IX CALMING Tc£E SEA.

A very interesting account of the apptv \. cation of oil to mitigate the racing of the jjjttfc, and so relieve a vessel in, a storm, has )Ht»n received by the Bombay mail',, in re- * iivtioa to- the King t'enric, a vusajl o" 1,490 tons, which l:;£b Liverpool in June last for Bombay. When olf the Cape of Oooil Elope, she encountered a heavy gale from the uorth<wen:\ which continue I for some time. Tremendous sea* broke «v\.v the 3; ,: ,<; ynrstiu;; in the main-hatch, \y the l;atch-hou.:oe. anil boats*, smashing in tit" front of the e.ioi.i, and destroying thy captain's and oilier,'*-* stores ami clothing. A voting lul, wis of t!ui aw, iv;ii carried uved>oar.i, and itwas impossible t(>' reseuj hou. The gate lasted fof nearly live days, and though the vessel stood it very Well,, it was impossible to repair any of the damage, as the waves were continually sweeping her decks. At length, the chief oilieer, Mr. IJo-wyer, suggested the trial of throwing oil upon the water. Two canvas ctothes-bags were obI fcaincd, and into each two gallons of tine \ oil were pound, the bags being ptmctnred slightly, and flung one over each quarter in tow of the vessel. The effect was » magical; the waves no- longer broke over ,'*' the pwnp and sides of the ship, but several * yards away, where the oil had spread [ itself over the surface, and around the poop, in the wake of the vessel, was a largo circuit nf calm water. The crew ■ were thus able to repair the damage with greater ease, and- the ship was relieved from the tremendous shocks she had previously received from the heavy seas. The two bags lasted tw-> days, after which, the Worst fury of the gale having expended itself, no more oil was naaiL—Shir's Paris latter. pP* DEATH FROM HICCOUGH. A death from hiccough is recorded in a medical journal, which says : ~f>r. Elton wa* called to see a man named Henry 'Hustons, a slate miner, aged -15 years. |Bk>akins said that ha went to work withlot breakfast, as ho had not felt well. I eight o'clock he i vai j drunk some u«l the hiccough set in, violently but subsequently he did not mind uoh, thinking it would soon disapIt did not, however, and he then vend local cures, such as drinking wallows of water, putting a cold ■ slate down his back, and suchres. He became alarmed, for he was getting weaker every minntj. inued with renewed violence, and * was advised to go home by the His wife made him hot coffee, tried to eat his breakfast, but Ids r was entirety gone. He began to and the Meeoogh was as bad as

[ at once administered 20 drops of sal vola- : ttto and 15 drops of ether in n ivincglass- ' ful of camphor water, but that did not do any good. The doctor th.-n tried to divert ! the man's mind from ic, but it was pM to no purpose. He then gavt- :L_- ukui 30 drop's of laudanum, and drove back to hi 3 house to procure some other medicines. Still the hiccough continued, and in 15 minutes after the doctor left the man was a corpse. ilosktns seemed to he perfectly healthy in every respect. His throat swelled a great deal before he died, and seemed to strangle before his sufferings were over.

A NEW DOMESTIC SERVANT

The servant of the future is found. An ottraxig-outang is to dress my lady's hair, a troglodyte is to brush my lord's clothes, and a gorilla is to superintend my lady's nursery. M. Victor Meunier has solved the domestic servant qnestion ; the monkey is to replace ths man, and, according to this gentleman's showing, the change is to be greattey to the advantage of masters and mistresses notwithstanding certain inevitable drawbacks. The daily increasing difficulty of finding domestic servants in Paris fitted for their duties, and not asking higher wages than a moderately well-paid governess or tutor, has set 31. Meuuier thinking. The result of his cogitations is that things have come to a crisis, and he boldly proposes to society to bring down the insntiurable insolence of the va.tletaille by pressing monkeys ituo the service. M. Maunier assures us that rtp to the present tima his proteges have not been appreciated at their just vahu>. In his opinion, the larger spjeies of monkey, when duly traiujd and taught, would be finite capable of replacing our Johns and Marys, having this this advantage over the latter, and the" are not '-" enlightened," would require no wages, and could not spread about it ports of the tittle conjugal skirmishes which occasionally take place in the most united households. In support of Mr. Meitnicr's startling theory, a naval other, who has passed many years in Senegal, states that lie had in his service an orang-outang which he had accustomed to various domestic duths. and that these duties were performed in a way that left nothing to be desired. lie opjtud Ui'» door for his master's gutsls, waited at table. Cleaned the boots: in Sac;, was a perfect treasure to his master. Another fortunate possessor of a tvmarhahty n:u monkey, tvl.ates, as pn>,.i of tliv superior inU'liig»>nce of thes-pacu-s, chat >nt one occasion, when, according to custom, hu gave it a tetter to post, the animal, instead "i setting forth nit his errand with lib tt-uat agility, remained thoughthdly at the stamp. " V»"iiat is >vrnfr;, iiaro '" askjtt his ma-s-

ter. T.u t!u::i' survr-i'.; »■'►■:: t.inoJ to the status with I.L+ n;ut. Af his niEsU'i- uridf.-rstood —ho ha I put a ~oc. stamp on the letter, which, b*:ing for Uelytum, required 30«*.!

THE LIABILITY OF HUSBANDS.

The learned Judge of the Swansea County Court (the Cardiff Tim:* says) recently gave an important decision in a t;aae tried before him involving the muchvexed question as to the liability of litisbands for debts contracted by their wives. Robert J out a sued John Thomas for the value of goothi supplied to Thomas's wife, bttt the defendant repudiated his liahility on the ground that his wife had been " advertised," as he described it, therefore he was not responsible for her debts should tradesmen persist in giving her credit without his permission being obtained. His ILmor's decision was entirely in favor of thb view. In giving judgment for the del'.ndant, the learned judge observed that although a man's wife " might buy everything necessary for her household, the husband was- master of his own purse, and eordd revoke Ids wife's authority at any time." This, it also appears, can be done by a mere verbal communication to the wife of the husband's resolution, without any advertising at all, t' o husband having ''only to take the trouble to revoke his wife'* authority to pledge his credit," by simply "using his tongue." This is somewhat important information men afflicted, as some unhappily are, with reckles*, expensive, or intemperate wives, and it may be taken as a much-needed caution to not a fnv dealers w::o tempt wives to incur heavy responsibilities without the knowledge of their husbands.