MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 3384, 22 January 1919, Page 53

MULTUM IN PARVO

The Germany Reichstag was opened for -the first time by the present Kaiser 20 years ago—June 25, 1888. Only 56.285 people were sent to prison in England last year, compared with 48,362 in 1916-17, and 197,941 in 1904For feeding chickens with soaked bread two East London poultry-keepers were fined £ls 15s, including costs, the other day. —At the beginning of last year there were 35,000 typewriters in the British Government departments, purchased at a cost of £500,000, and now worth nearer £1,500,000. The first man to fly across the English Channel was the French aviator, M. Bleriot. He flew from Calais to Dover on July 25, 1909 winning the Daily Mail £IOOO prize King Albert's father ? the Count of Flanders, was a first cousin of Queen Victoria, and the King of the Belgians is a cousin, a few times removed, of King George. —Mr Lloyd George receives no salarv as Prime Minister. He: receives, however, a salary of £SOOO a year as First Lord of the Treasury. —At one of the London theatres Shakespeare matirees ara given mainly for school children, and the audience sings t Shakespearean songs before the curtain rises. '* Where the bee sucks" was learnt in about 500 of London's elementary schools in readiness for "The Tempest." The value, of fish-meal as food for stock was not realised before the war, practically the whole production—about 30,000 tonsgoing to Germany, where it was much appreciated as pig food. It is now being used more and more for pigs and poultry, and even —with special precautions—for dairy cattle. When the Gordons relief expedition was about to be despatched in 1884 Britain was 30 ill-prepared that the Government had to call on a tourist agency to do the work, and Thomas Cook and Son personally conducted 18,000 troops, 130,000 tons of stores and material, and 800 whaleboats. Extremely well they did it, and it was no fault of theirs that the relief came too late. There are 300 men logging at Cumshewa Inlet, on Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, and since April, when operations commenced, more than 12,000,000 ft of spruce for aeroplanes have been cut. The Government scaler recently scaled one tree which had three logs in it, with a total of 40,000 ft of No. 1 spruce. The smallest log in this tree was 80in at the top, while the butt of the largest log measured, lift'4in. —ln an autograph letter, written when visiting John M'Murdo, about 1790, Robert Burns expressed his belief that his old enemy the devil, taking advantage of his being affected by the potency of port, had tempted him to be a little turbulent overnight He then presented his host " with the following song, which I have hammered out this morning." Tho song begins, " Lang here awa, there awa, Wandering Willie.'' The. whole MS., one page and ahalf quarto, has been sold by Messrs Puttick and Simpson for £2OO. A good story is told of the surrender of Jerusalem. It was actually given over, he said, not to General Allehby, but to a couple of regimental cooks who had been sent out to collect some salad for the officers of their company. To these two British Tommies the Arabs came out, with many gesticulations, and the keys of the most war-worn city in the world. It was rather an embarrassing situation for the men, one of whom asked what he was expected to do with the "blinkin' city." But the scene has been judged to be so interesting historically that it has been reconstructed at Jerusalem and photographed. —lt is interesting to contrast with the destructiveness of the Germans in retreat the general orders of Henry V in the Agincourt campaign. Destruction of property, unnecessary bloodshed, offences against' women, stealing of horses, cattle, or even implements af labour, in the invaded territories of France were punishable by death or heavy fines, and special solicitude was shown lest any woman _ or child should be "in disease or despair through the action of the King's _ soldiers. If this was the standard of chivalry at that time, the Germans have all the more reason to be ashamed of their inhuman conduct- . There would doubtless be a special flag over " Mons Meg" in Edinburgh Castle on November 11. The " great iron murderer Meg," as Cromwell termed her, is said to have been constructed at Mons in 1486, and to have served for 200 years before she burst—perhaps as a protest—when fired in salute of James 11. Gtallowegians claim that tha giant gun was made, not in Flanders, but by "Brawny Jim" at Carhngwark (now Castle Douglas), in 1455, and that the King, by way of reward, granted the smith lands at Monance and raised Kirkcudbright to the dignity of a Royal borough But perhaps they will waive their claims—temporarily at least—in recognition of what has passed at Mons in August, 1914, and November. 1918. When the war correspondents entered Valenciennes they no doubt did homage before the statue of the town's illustrious son and their fellow-craftsman, Jean Froissart. No modern newspaper correspondent —not even an American interviewer—could well out-d 6 the medaeval chronicler as a gleaner of first-class "copy." He wanted to know everything, liked to get the story of a battle from both sides, and generally learned what he wanted from the lips of princes or privates. He was eager for picturesque detail, and the smart cavalry skirmish, the storming of a citadel, or any gallant feat of arms, set his pen speeding. And it is noteworthy that he admired the Scotch, did justice to English foes, and had a. very poor opinion of the Germans. Tho thirteen and the Friday superstitions are both strong in theatrical circles. A play with 13 characters or with a title containing 13 letters is believed to be doomed to failure, although there have been notable exceptions. Most theatres have no dressing-rooms numbered 13. A yellow costume, or a costume containing yellow, woiti on the opening night, has been generally considered certain to doom a show to disaster. In the dressing-room shops should never be placed on the table. Nor must hats be laid upon a trunk; it will mean the removal of the trunk and failure of the show. It is believed to be a fatal thing to open an umbrella on the stage at the first performance. To whistle in the dress-ing-room is looked upon as a portent of illluck ; so is the topping of a comb in the theatre, the ppilliiig- of wine', or the breaking of a cork in the neck of a bottle.