MISCELLANEOUS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 63, 11 February 1884, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Two ladies contended for precedence in the Court of Charles V. They appealed to the monarch, who, like Solomon, awarded, “Let the eldest go first.” Such a dispute was never known afterward, Bronson—” Well, I always make it a rule to tell my wife everything that happens.” Smithkins—“ Oh, my dear fellow, that’s nothing. I tell mv wife lota of things that never happen at all." Ralph Waldo Emerson said ; “All healthy things are sweet-tempered,” We differ from Ralph. Now, we know a perfectly healthy red-headed woman who is—well, she just is, and no mistake about it. Sydney Smith being ill, his physician advised him to “ take a walk upon an empty stomach.” “ Upon whose ?” asked Sydney. A case is on record where a barber and his victim were both happy. The former talked on without interruption and the latter was deaf. “ How came that coat sleeve with such a big hole in it ?” indignantly asked a mother of her ten-year-old boy. “ Well, ma,” he replied, “ the fact is, I laughed in my sleeve till I bu’sted it.” In Berlin a decree has been issued forbid, ding the retail sale of all intoxicating liquors “on credit.” The penalty for disobedience is the immediate withdrawal of the license. The American railways have begun using the new standard time, setting their clocks by the 75th, 90th, and 105th meridians west of Greenwich, so that the variations will be by hours only. An announcement is made by a Belgian journal that the King of the Belgians has purchased large tracts of land in Morocco and Tunis, with the intention of causing them to be cultivated. The number of new buildings erected or in course of construction in New York this year is greater than at any other period of the same length in the history of the city. Twenty-eight wild boars and eight stags compised the “ bag” made by the Emperor William in one day’s shooting in the Royal preserves of Springe, near Hanover, recently. A subsidy has been granted by the French Government to M. Senecal, a well-known Canadian capitalist, for a line of steamships between Rouen and Montreal, calling at Swansea. Don’t be afraid of a little fun at home good people. Don’t shut up your houses lest the sun should fade your carpets, and your hearty laugh should shake down some of th e musty cobwebs there. If you want to rui n your sons, let them think that all mirth and social enjoyment must be left on the threshold without when they come home at night. When once a home is regarded as only a place to eat and drink and sleep in, the work is begun that ends in gambling-houses and reckless degradations. The Chinese carte de visite is a curiosity. It consists of a bright scarlet paper, with the owner’s name inscribed in large letters—the bigger the more exquisite. For extra grand occasions this card i 9 folded ten times ; the name is written on the right hand lower corner, with a humiliating prefix, like “ your very stupid brother “ your unworthy fiiend who bows his head and pays his respects,” &c., &c., the words “ your stupid ” taking the place of “ yours respectfully.” It is etiquette to return these cards to the visitors, it being presumable that the expense is too great for general distribution.