Why. Put to Other Uses.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 52

Why.

Put to Other Uses.

I •' Your wife is very eucces.-ful on the lecture I platform, Binks." "Yes?" "She is, inclesd. She speaks right to the poiut, aud never sef nn a bit afraid." " Glad you thiuk so. I'm responsible for all that." "You? How?" '• " I sit in the audience, and she fixes her eye on me, and fires ahead. She says she feels just the same as the d,ots when she's got me in a corner with something I ought to hear."

The first bead of (saffron was smusrgU d out of Greece in the hollow of a pilgrim's staff; iv like fashion silkworms arrived iv the south of Europe, the first tulip bulb entered Holland, and the firat asparagus made its way iuto England. The seeds of the melon, apricot, onion, tomato, cauliflower, end quince were all carried cut ot the countries that strove to keep the monopoly of them in the hollow of a staff. The fashion of coucealing "portable property "in the walking st:ck was not confined to the days of the pilgrims; being a useful contrivance, it has survived to the present day. At one time a swordstick was the constant companion of a gentlemau's rambles A cane, innocent io appt-arance, sprang at a moment's notice into a formidable weapon. - Medicine, surgical instrument?, sextants, and theadolites have all been cirried in sticks. Sir Christopher Wren's substantial ebony cane was a veritable muUum in parvo ; it had a mariner's compass set in the head, and also held a pen, pencil, protractor, pair of compasses, and measuring rods. Among the quaint memorial sticks kept as relics may be placed one preserved by the pious monks of Tolentino. It purports to be the stick with which the author of evil belaboured the shoulders of St. Nicholas, of that city. The town of Tsaritzin possesses one belonging to Peter the Great, which ho presented to the Governor, saying: " Here is my stick, with which I have kept my friends in order. May it protect you against your enemies."