HERE AND THERE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 79

HERE AND THERE.

A Midnight Burial.— The body of a dead German lying mid way between French-’ and German trenches, about 30 yards apart, was the indirect cause of 40 Germans surrendering (says th© Paris correspondent of the Express). The body had been lying there for some days, and finally three French soldiers made up their minds to creep out on the first dark night and bury it. They had not proceeded far before the snipers oecame busy; they had to hurry hack. One of The three scribbled a note on a piece of paper, rolled it round a stone, and threw it into the German trench. It was a request that the Germans should either bury the man themselves or else allow the French to do it. A little later a stone fell in the French lines. It carried the reply, “ If that is all you want, we will come and help you.” There was a pause, and then a Frenchman came out unarmed; then came a German, then another Frenchman, until eventually there were 10 French and 10 Germans digging' a grave. No one spoke a word. The work was just finished when a shell from a “75 ” burst about 50 yards away. An artillery observer had noticed a group of men, and, suspecting a surprise attack, had warned his battery. As the shell burst there was a wild scamper. A German non-commis-eioried officer and a private became confused, and before they realised where they were they found themselves on the brink of the French trench, where willing hands pulled them in. They took kindly to their position, and when the non-com. said he would like to go back and fetch some of his friends, the French decided to see if a German could keep his word. The man was gone two hours, and the Frenchmen were just becoming annoyed with themselves for losing a prisoner when two figures were seen crawling towards the trench. Two others followed, and two by two they came, until 40 had surrendered. A French Heroine.— The Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph tells a story of remarkable heroism on the part of a French girl. Near Vervins a miller had hidden 11 English soldiers who had lost their way and been left behind by their corps. Everyone in the village knew they were there, but nobody gave them away when the Germans arrived, until one wretched man, bribed, denounced them to the German officer. They were captured. and sentenced to be shot. The miller’s family were arrested also, and. examined by the

German officer. Ha asked the miller’( 17-year-old daughter whether her fathef had accomplices. "Do with me what you like,she said; “you will get nothing out of me.” “I am going to have these Englishmen shot.” “'Why? They have done nothing,” she answered. “It is I who hid them, and I you must punish. ’’ “Which was the one whose mistress you were?” asked the German officer. The girl cried, “ They were all only my friends.” Even the German officer had to give in then, and said to the girl, “ You are a good Frenchwoman.” Then came his verdict. The miller was to be shot, his wife sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, their daughter to* two years’, her brother, a boy of .15, sent to a German reformatory. The sentence at once carried out. The 11 English soldiers walked to a wall to £ tend up and be shot, and, as they passed, the Frencn girl, having asked the German officer’s permission, kissed each one. Tuberculosis in Sweden.— Tuberculosis in Sweden is a compara* tively widespread disease, in spite of the fact that the country is but sparsely copulated. The spread ot tuberculosis is greatly facilitated by the habits of the country folk in regard to domestic hygiene, and in the rural districts of the North more especially the people have primitive ideas on the subject of ventilation. Their houses are often roomy, but are not used to full advantage. As a- rule the whole family lives in the kitchen, while the vest of the house stands unused and unventilated. A serious factor in the spread of consumption is the custom, to which even now the people cling, of sleeping in the cupboard beds Pound in these houses. These are beds, or, rather boxes, fastened to the wall and fitted with tightly-shat-ting doors. In these cupboards the long cold winter nights are spent, the members of the famly lying huddled together in furs, with the doors closed. The opportunity for transmitting infection by this state of affairs does not need emphasising. The death-rate from tuberculosis in Sweden at the present time averages about 2.3 per 1000 for the country at large, but in certain districts tire rate is considerably higher. The Fastest Thing on Earth.— The highest speed ever travelled by a man on the face of the earth —nearly 143 miles an hour —-was recently made by a racing motor car on the great expanses of level salt deposits in Utah (says a writer in the Railway Age Gazette). This bed of salt is on the line of the Western Pacific, at Salduro, Utah, 112 miles west of Salt Lake City! The motor run was made by Teddy Tetzlaff, and the best time for one mile "was 25.25ec, which is equal to 142.85 miles an hour, a Lille better than the best preceding record, which was made on the beach at Daytona in April, 1911. This is the highest speed ever travelled by man on the face of the earth. The best speed ever made by a vehicle running on rails was that recorded in the Berlin-Zcssen tests of electric cars, in 1903, when a rate of 130.5 miles an hour was made, on October '6l. The crystallised salt in this Utah bed makes a hard and absolutely level surface, and it is said that even in the hottest weather it does not heat the tyres of motor cars. The salt-beds are .65 miles long and eight miles wide. The estimated depth in the middle is 12ft to 15ft. , The salt is white, and averages 98 per cent. pure. Tetzlaff says that with more preparation he can make still better speed. —Savages’ Wireless.— An explorer in South America says thers is a kind of wireless telegraphy among the savage tribes there, and that it has been in use for more than 3000 years. In his travels he w 7 as met in one part of the country by a number of natives who had evidently been expecting him. When vs asked how they knew that we were coming, they pointed to an arrangement suspended between two tree stamps on a horizontal bar. It was a means for sending and receiving messages among the various tribes throughout the Amazon Valley. The transmitter was a hollowed trunk of a tree suspended from the pole so that the base was slightly off the ground. Inside it had been arranged very much like a violin. When the_ instrument was struck sharply with a rubber hammer a vibration was created that carried for miles over the hills to a receiver of x somewhat similar arrangement. —The Iron Crown of Italy.— By a curious coincidence that Italy declared war on the same day of May that Napoleon in 1805 was crowned King of Italy at Milan, and with his own hands placed the ancient iron crown of Lombardy on his head. This most famous crown of Europe is so called from a narrow hand of iron, “miraculously” preserved from rust, attached to the inner circumference of the circlet. It is composed of jewels and embossed gold, the workmanship of which bears strange resemblance to that on the enamelled gold ornament belonging to King Alfred which was found in Somerset, and is now preserved in th« Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. -—Robin’s Nest in a Soldier’s Overcoat.— Apparently even the birds are attracted by the brave men now serving their King and country, and an interesting instance is that of a robin which has just built its nest in the shelter of a soldier’s overcoat. The coat was hanging at the head of its owner’s bed, in the Red Cross Hospital provided by Messrs drivers and Sons (Limited), the well-known jam and jelly manufactures, at Histon, near Cambridge. The ward is an open one, and the robin, after selecting its site, went about its work of building very coolly, showing no fear of the soldiers, who were much interested in their little visitor. The bird comes and goes as it likes, frequently sits on the head of the bed while the soldier is in it, and stays at night in its nest. The men are leaving the coat untouched, so that the sociable little bird may bring pff its brood successfully. Already it has laid four eggs in the nest.