ODDMENTS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12615, 18 November 1911, Page 4 (Supplement)

ODDMENTS.

The Medical Health Bureau of MilAvaukee, Wisconsin, has issued an order recommending onions as a preventive of scarlet fever.

Shoe manufacturers claim that the American woman's foot is growing larger. The number two shoe is almost obsolete, they say, and' sizes four and fi vo are much commoner than threo. The explanation seems to bo that the phenomenon is due to the increased , use of the feminine foot as a means of locomotion. The constantly increasing number of women engaged in industry and the growth in popularity of tennis, golf and walking have had their inevitable result, and common sense has done much to abolish tho wearing of pinching shoes. The tradition that small feet aro an excellent thing in women has persisted long and will not die without a struggle. Conservatives need hot fear that women will carry this matter too far; they know when to stop. An aged nun has had a narrow escape from premature burial at Palermo. The officials at the cemetery were informed that a nun named Serafina Loverde, aged 90, had died during the night at the Giudino convent, and undertakers wero at once sent to make the funeral arrangements. A doctor left for the convent at the same time to verify the death and prepare the usual formal certificate. Great was tho surprise of the nuns, however, when tho doctor, after a close examination, ordered the "corpse" to be removed immediately from the chapelle ardente, saying that the aged lady was merely in a comatose condition, probably as the result of a cataleptic seizure. All the preparations for the funeral were at once cancelled, and with suitable medical treatment the nun was soon restored to her normal condition.

In the course of nn address on the diseases of stock to a Levin audience. Mr D. H. Rait, M.R.C.V.S., made the following reference to milk fever in cows. He felt sure tho trouble was duo to the absorption of the butter-fat. This conclusion was borne out by the fact that cows having milk fever wore invariably good testers. Seldom, if ever, did they- have a difficulty in calving "or an inflammation of tho udder. Nothing occurred ,- in fact, to lessen the butter-fat production of tho cow. As a treatment the injection of air was splendid, but there were other .things to bo attended to, especially the position of the cow. She must be stacked up and not be permitted to remain on • her side, or she would quickly suffocate, the pressure of the rumen or paunch being too great on the lungs. The. danger of drenching while unconscious was pointed out. A writer in the Lady's Realm makes the interesting calculation that "the women of the United Kingdom carry in their hair hairpins equivalent in weight to a couple of railway engines and tenders weighing in the aggregate one hundred and forty-four tons," which is an excellent illustration of the old Scotch proverb that "Mony a micklo maks a. muckle." Another amazing*; calculation as to the value of tho hairpins in actual use among the women of tho United Kingdom results in the statement that these unsuspecting ladies do, among them, spend not far short of £24,000 per year on the harmless, necessary hairpin! Following this astounding calculation, it -remains only .to add that if every woman in tho United Kingdom loses one hairpin every day, the value of all those hairpins would amount to £1800 per day, or £657,000 per year! !fhe moral is, never lose hairpins*; the; problem is. whero do the lost hairpins go to? , WANTED MORE. When Senator Taylor was Governor of Tennessee, he issued a great many pardons to men and women, confined in penitentiaries, or gaols in that State. His reputation as a "pardoning Governor*' resulted in his being besieged by everybody who had a relatiyo incarcerated. Ono morning an old negro woman mado her way into the executive offices and asked Taylor to pardon her husband, who was in gaol. "What's he in for?" asked the Governor. "Fo' notnin' but stealin' a ham," explainod the wife. "You don't want me to pardon him," said the Governor. "If he got out, he would only make trouble for you again." "'Deed I does want him out ob dat place!" she objected. "I needs dat man." "Why do you need him?" inquired Taylor, patiently. "Me an' de chillun,' she said, seriously, "needs another ham."

CAN A HUSBAND COOK. The idea that a husband should bo able to cook and should dp so in times of emergency lias received the indorsement of the judiciary. A Chicago man charged with beating his wife because she refused to arise at half-past three and prepare his breakfast was thus admonished by Judge Goodnow of. the Municipal Court: "The man that can't cook • shouldn't think of getting married. He is a pitiable object." The model husband, says the Chicago judge, should not only bake his early morning flapjack, but should minister to tho wants of his sleeping spouse. This decision may bo upset by superior courts pn the ground that "it is involuntary servitude complicated with cruel and unusual punishment. If it isn't, the tradition th»t the male is mentally incapable of concocting an edible breakfast, a tradition which he has carefully fostered, will have, roccived a damaging blow.