HERE AND THERE

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 81

HERE AND THERE

•— 'Menelik's "Paternal" GoveTnmeat. —

The Government of the late King Menelik of Abyssinia — there is, by the way, some doubt as to whether he is dead — 3ias often been described as a paternal" one. If a chief displeased him he called the offender to the palace and settled the score at once with a heavy cane. Again, instead of getting reports about happenings in the city from his -policemen or •other subordinates, he found oat what was going on himself with the help of a powerful pair <of field-glasses. With these in hand tie used to spend many hours in a tower «built for the purpose, from which he could sweep the principal streets and open places. And as the people never knew when the Emperor might be watching them, they were careful what they did. King Menelik, it is further said, was constantly supervising all that went on in the palace, making bis tour of inspection at all times of the day and Bight. Now he would stop at the kitchen, which is a building by itself, and see what the cooks were doing. Now he looked in at the treasure-house, where the gold and precious things of the kingdom are guarded ; How at the saddler's and blacksmith's ; now ! "he would watch the women making hydro- j nel, and "now the children chanting their : oading lessons in dull sing-song. Or, ■ .rain, be walked through the gardens, a ere acres of fruit trees *-ere growing, . any of them specially-imported from .urope. He lov&d every detail of garden.'ig, and was particularly interested in experiments in irrigation, fertilising, and the like. — Stopped Growing at Five Years. — An interesting experiment Is being made on Mildred Hart, -the Devonshire girl of 23, who has not developed mentally or .physically since ehe was five years of age, still plays with, a.' doll, and still wears infant's clothes. ' The glri is suffer ing from what is known as sporadic cretinism, and the one remedy which has so far l)een discovered consists in the administration of an extract of thyroid glands, taken usually from sheep. Accompanied hy her mother, the girl arrived in London :s day or two ago, and the treatment has already commenced. If thyroid gland snb..tance be given to such cases development proceeds in the most remarkable way. But to ensure success the patient should be treated when young, before the ossification of the bones 'has. proceeded 60 far as to render growth .impossible. This ossification is .generally- completed by or before the age which^Jwildred Hart has reached. It is probable, therefore, that in her case the administration of thyroid gland will be too late materially to asitt grow th, though it may profoundly stimulate her mental processes. — Strange Diet. — Clayton King, a middle-aged carpenter, of Long Island, is securing enormous attention in America because he claims to have proved that a simple diet of sand will cure almost every human ill, arid more particularly indigestion. Dyspeptics have pilgrimaged to King's home, and in their presence the carpenter explained "how to eat sand three times a <lay and feel i^rand. " Yellow sand, according to King, !as the best curative properties, but you should pick out shells, and do not eat too much at once. 'Take it on a spoon first," he *ay«. "There is time enough to use a shovel when yem get accustomed to dt." On the other hand, John Williams has been trying to persuade tlie American people that they can live most healthfully by munching fresh ,jrass I; ke sheep. —The N*w Sultan and .he Englishmen . — Mr Charles Beadle, an Englishman entertained at the 3ourt of Mulai-el-Hafki, contributes a vivid article to the Octob^i Pall Mall Magazine on the new rulci ? prospects and relations with the Pom«i"-. Describing an audience with the ruler. Mr Beadle says : — "At the far end of the room, seated cross-legged on a. gilt Louis XV sofa, was the Sultan. Mulai-el-Hafid. Advancing barefooted to within a few feet I, as before instructed, saluted, military ft^hion, and sat on his left in a chair provided. On Ills right sat the Foreign MinisUa t and tho Grand Vizier Hadj Marani el

Glawi. In appearance the Sultan was undoubtedly a handsome man, with large, black, humorous eyes, alight with vivacity, a black, well -groomed beaTd, and olive ekin, high forehead, and lather prominent cheek barter— the lower part of his face, it anything, was the weaker. Particularly I noticed his really beautiful hands and feet, tapering fingers, and filbert nails. He -was of medium height, slim, and well formed." The Sultan immediately took stock of bis visitors, and smiled as if pleased, whispering something to his Grand Vizier to the effect that he "liked these Englishmen." 1 — Ireland for Centenarians. — I As might perhaps have been expected, Ireland seems to have produced the doyen of old-age pension claimants in Charles Kelly, a County Donegal veterau, who is old enough to remember Trafalgar and was a full-gTown man when Queen Victoria was cradled. There is no doubt i that, whatever grievances Ireland may , have, she cannot complain of her prod>ucj tion of centenarians, w-ho, at the last ( census, numbered just raider 500, or more than could be found in France, England, and Scotland combined. And even more remarkable than this number are the ages many of these centenarians reach. To take only one year's records, among the Irish centenarians whose deaths weie re corded in 1905 no fewer thai fourte^i had seen 105 years or more, and of these eight had pas<*od their 110 th birthdiy. — Bunk Xotes in a Dustbin. — Ton ICOOfr bank notes, representing the savings of a woman who lived at Non-t-erre, near Paris, were hidden by her m an old envelope, which was placed in a drawer. In a moment of forgetfnln-ess the envelope (the Chronicle says) found its way • into a dustbin. In the morning the rag- ! pickers turned out the bin. but tossed I aside the tattered envelope without inspec- . tion. Some carters liappened to pass that , way. They picked up the now mudsplashed piece of paper, one remarking to i the other, '"Perhaps there is a fortune ' inside !" They drew >ut the note?. "This is some fool's pleasantly," iliey said ; fo, by way of revenging themselves on th<? , unknown joker, and not belieA - ing the notes were genuine, they tore them to • pieces and thiew them aside. Two market ! wonven came along shortly afterwards. i With the shrewdness of their class they • recognised the scattered pieces of ppper, , and leathered them up and took them to the Commissary of Police. There they were pieced together, and it was found that none was missing. Two hours later , the note? so curious! v discovered were iestored to then owner. — Eskimo Villager.* Starved to i Death.— , The Re\. Ed w .aid O. Campbell, in charge of the Preebyteiian mi&sion station at St. Lawrence liiands, ueur Nome, Alaska, tell.- v strange tale of death by starvation in the Far North. Frozen stiff, and Ijav- ' ing evidently been a long -time d&ad, a ' whole village of Siberian Eskimos were found on the Siberian coast by a party of Indians who went in a canoe last June to ' see their comrades and to inquire what ' experiences they had gone through during the long Aictic wmtei. The party found I the villagers to a man dead and frozen stiff. Their provisions had evidently been ; exhausted, and in their famished condition i they had eaten the valrii;- t-khi coverings j of their huts, and there »vas evidence that ■ the unfortunate'; had actually commenced 'to devour parts of their own clothing i before {succumbing to the pangs of starvation. Only once a year is the Island of St. Lawrence in communication with the outside world, and the letter just received j.s the first news of the tragedy that has, become known. — Feminism in India. — Tt was, of couise, inevitable tnat the lnnny-xidcd movement now in progress ; 'MiMi^hout India should reach upon, the '■vei in )Wing community of educated • v, „,men both Hindu and Mohammedan. i In t\i)i. lit t a Kii'J Bomb:;}-, for =ome years i pay, < '>m:i i 2tt;Kv or Indian ! idio* have | been at w.ilv in j-ociol ar.d ""lucai.oru.l <-n-i"ipr:-e i oil uulem i'! r ~ -i:-i il'i-ing the la.-t ff-v, * ih-Im; th-e nay -;> ip-"-s ha.ro U--Ti le^oivling the surpvi--iiii; f^ , j*=vo. achieved by a Hinfhi ] «dy l'cfnr- h' PtT'-i Sl-"-hi fc>riui«.ti (jjyutii Dum, Lv tubjfcct xs

the education of women, her language Urdu, and she has been speaking day after day to audiences numbering several hundreds of purdah-nashin, that is, ladies whos© rule of life is seclusion in the zenana. - Srinsati Gayatri Dcvi is fey no means bhs ftwst Hindu "woman "who has become a public- lecturer, but she is the first who has spoken in Urdu, tl*erebv drawing far larger audiences' of purdah ladies than an English-speaking lecturer could expect to get-. '• '

— An Elephant on the .Kailway. —

rh-e -wild elephants in Siara occasionally^ <lo a considerable amount of damage, but rarely do they go to the length of stopping trains: Still, this has happened, as a writer in the rnrrent Strand tells. A goods train, heavily loaded, and drawn by two eiri^ines, was coining down to Bangkok just after dark a few months ago. when it suddenly ran into an elephant. The first cttkgine was knocked off into the adjacent rice fields, while the second was thrown on its side across the line, and some 13 ->f the v trucks were telescoped behind it. Three Siamese members of the train staff were "killed, but both the drivers (Britishers) escaped unhurt. The elephant — a small one, weighing psrbaps from ?oui to five ton? — was smashed to pieces, its bulk being driven some yards ahead of the> front of the leading engine. The damage xione to the line and Tolling stick is estimated at about £60,003, and traffic was seriously hindered for the best part of a week.