INTERESTING GLEANINGS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 11, 5 February 1907, Page 8

INTERESTING GLEANINGS.

From Russia the United Kingdom had nearly seventy-five million eggs last year There are 931,000 horses kept in Gieat ■ Britain solely for agriculture. ' Telephones are now being introduced on board foreign men-of-war. Crime is rarer in Finland than anywhere else in Europe, except in Iceland. The normal consumption 'of water in Manchester is about 21,000,000 gallons per day. Some New York mothers have organised a school at which their children are taught good manners. An American ccrresoonclcnt informs us that Wabash, Indiana, has a midget—" Mrs Sarah Store’s girl babe"—six inches in v height and weighing a pound and u half, The Hong Kong Legislature has passed law against stowaways. Their object is ti prevent the surreptitious emigration oi Chinese to Australia. Not less than 95,474 paupers were re lieved in the metropolis in the second wee of December, 36,073 outdoor, and 59,40; indoor. The electric light is being very slow! Produced in Vienna. In Berlin it is to i -mnd in almost every shop in the princip ■;t reels. The total estimate of expenditure for tl Congo Free State for 1891 is 4,555,0 c iancs, of which one-half is for the mail, tenance of an armed force. Bonnets are growing visibly less ir Palis, and broad brimmed hats are not much worn by married women, though still the fashionable headgear for girls. At Swaffham, in Norfolk, a miller named Goddard and his wife were found suffocated in bed. They had slept with a coke fire in their bedroom. The German Socialist leaders are about to undertake a forward movement in the rural districts of the Empire, They declare that German peasants are serfs merely. We here have but a small conception cf the terrible nature of the cholera which has afflicted Japan. Up to October 2nd, 33,863 persons were attacked, of whom 22,560 died The frosty weather at Home told heavily on the accident assurance companies. One company, whose headquarters are in Lon don, received intimation of no fewer than 226 cases of broken legs within seven days. It is calculated that the yearly production of paper in the world is 3,000,000,0001bs weight, and, according to an estimate which has been made, this emanates from 2,891 mills. Emperor William eats four meals a day —a substantial breakfast of meat, eggs, &c., at 7.30 ; second breakfast at noon, consisting of soup, meat, and vegetables; a regular dinner at six o'clock, and a light supper about 9.30. Neither the Emperor of Russia, as Grand Duke of Finland, nor the Senate (a permanent body, which acts as a kind oi executive), can impose new taxes on the Fins without the consent of the Diet, which Jb chary of granting money. The United States Secietary of Agriculture has prohibited the importation in ceitain ports of cattle, sheep, and other ruminants, as well as swine from Canada, The new regulations are desired to secure, if possible, a removal of restrictions abroad, especially in England. Commander Barber, of the United States Navy, asserts the principal naval Powers will own in 1894 the following armoured ships; Great Britain, 76 heavy armoured ships, go light armoured ships ; France, 48 heavy, 14 light ; Germany, 40 heavy, 10 light; Italy, 19 heavy, 17 light; Russia, 27 heavy, 3 light. During their adventurous journey the pioneers of the East Africa Company came across a cream of tartar tree 97 feel in circumference. If the interior were taken out, it is said, leaving bark sufficient on either side to keep the tree standing, three waggons could pass abreast through the shell. Notwithstanding the many changes on the island of Heligoland, there is na interference with a law, passed in ib66, enacting hat no youthful person under 16 years of ge shall be allowed to visit a public-house r dancing-room, or be permitted to enter a H-atre. 1 he New York belle has a new craze. She •as adopted the fashion of wearing a chain acele., lonned of links of great thickness, ;> a sign that she is betrothed. Gold is no anger the current style, silver and iron being he metal in high favour. The ingenuity 0 the leading jewellers is taxed to the utmost 0 produce new designs. The new “ palace chicken car” is a recent m ention by means of which live poulti x ire conveyed in comfort and safety without the necessary deterioration resulting from being cramped together in a crate and left for a day or two more without food or water. The first of these was recently made in Chicago. An exciting scene was witnessed at Halebank railway station, near Liverpool. A large lioness was observed making its way along the platform, and a cry being raised there was a general stampede from tlu premises. The stationmaster then locked the doors, and sent for two farmers with their guns. They wounded the animal, which was afterwards killed by a blow on the head with a hammer. It Is believed the lioness had escaped from a travelling menagerie. The stupendous undertaking of throwing a bridge across the English Channel has again received the attention of the French authorities. Having ascertained by sounding and dredging that the sea bottom is linn, the surveyors conclude that ninetytwo piers instead of one hundred and twelve would be suflicient. They have also found that considerable saving could be made in other directions. But intimation has been given that the British Government, as hithono, will oppose the scheme, and while this is the case there is little chance of the proposal being carried out. Lord Derby, speaking on behalf of sheltering homes and child emigration, at Liverpool, warned his audience not to let the good work now being done languish because some new and sensational plan seized un the popular imagination. England must oc an emigrating country, We could not employ 40,000 more beings every year. Emigration was a palliative. To dispose in some way of the growing swarms of the poorest class was a question of public safety. Colonists might object to swarms of adult emigrants, but none objected to juvenile emigrants, who could readily adapt themselves to new conditions of life. Notwithstanding the premium per head ottered by the Government for the destruction of wolves, there still exist many members of the wild family in France, official statistics showing that during the last year 515 were killed at a cost to the State of /1,430, the number being a dozen more than in the preceding twelve months. The rewards given for their slaughter vary from 30s. for a young wolf, to £.\ for one which has attacked or killed a human being. Formerly, the hunting of wolves was under the supervision of an officer of state, called the "Grand LouvetierdeFrance," but this post was abolished at the Revolution, and the extirpation of these pests, or at least the payment of the sums per head for t’Hr destruction, is now entrusted io the Apartment ni Wood* and Foieata.

MODERN LUXURY, Ti:;i extravagance of the ancients « oovu completely into the shade by the ury of modern times, as the following canoe amply proves< An Englishman oi name of Sheephead wrote a couple oi igedies, each of which was worth it never breathed a word to any one. The annscript of the one he gave to a young ■ Jinan who could not read, to be used by mr as curl papers. The manuscript of the '■cond he cut up into squills for lighting is cigars. But as he had a good memory e was afraid lest he might betray certain mutiful passages from his works when !cep or in liquor, and therefore went and myecl himself, thus depriving the world of o immortal masterpieces. A HAPPY MATCH. There was once a comic picture in Punch, epresenting " The Last Match"—half-a-bzen yachtsmen some miles out at sea on 1 windy day, clustering anxiously around he man who has got the only wax match in he party. The comedy was converted into grim earnest in the case of the crew of the “ Holt Mill," shipwrecked on St. Paul's Island. The nighty were so cold that to be without a fire meant certain death, and there was no ilint and steel and only one match. Imagine the trembling anxiety with which the three - and - thirty cold and starving wretches watched the kindling of that lucifer! Fortunately the operation was successfully performed ; a blaze was made and the poor fellows were saved. But it was a thrilling episode. A PERFECT CURE. There is a story that a farmer who had lost some cows was fully persuaded that he had himself been attacked by the epidemic. Forthwith he consulted his own medical man, who tried to laugh him out of the notion, but to no purpose. The farmer then tvent off to an old well-known practitioner, who, being a bit of a wag, and seeing how matters were, entered minutely into the details of the case, expressed his concurrence with the patient’s views, and told him he could cure him. He then wrote a prescription, sealed it up, and told the farmer to go to a certain druggist in the next pottery town. The farmer lost no time in going with the prescription, but was somewhat startled when the druggist showed him the formula, which ran thus : " This man has got the cattle plague; take him into the back yard and shoot him, according to Act jf Parliament." There is no need of saying that this was a " perfect cure.” THE LATEST FREAK OF FASHION. "Poralunes" is the name given to a recent invention of the Paris makers of fashion. It is pretended by the inventors of these "moon umbrellas,” that the moon’s rays are as fatal to beauty as those of the sun, as they just as readily cause a person to become moon-struck, i.e,, lunatic, as the hot sunbeams produce the sun-stroke Whilst the siin turns the skin brown, the moon makes it dry and pale. These umbrellas are certainly recommended to visitors in the country, where moonlight walks during the bright clear nights are so much in favour. They are made in elegant shapes out of gauge trimmed with red silk. At the same time cork shoes are worn, which are an elegant imitation of the sabots or wooden shoes worn by the peasantry. The rustic costume consists further of silk stockings with red and yellow stripes, a long skirt ol fine linen also striped red and yellow, a large straw hat surmounted with a bunch of wheat ears, and a white muslin kerchief which is tied over the breast. WEDDED IN HASTE. ETC. A lady of intelligence and observation has remarked, " I wish I could impress upon the minds of the girls that the chie end of woman is not to marry young.” If girls could be brought to believe that their chances for a happy marriage were better after twenty-five than before, there would be much less misery in the world ihan there now is. To be sure, they might not have so*many opportunities to marry after that age as before, but as they do not need to marry but one at a time, it is necessary that one should be satisfactory. As a girl grows older, if she thinks at all, she sertainly becomes more capable of judging ■vhat would make her happy than when younger. How many girls of twenty would think J accepting the man they would gladly have married at sixteen? At thirty, a woman, who is somewhat independent, and not over ’.nxious to marry, is much harder to please md more careful in her choice than one at Aventy. There is good reason for this. Her uind has improved with her years, and she now looks beyond mere appearance in fudging of men. She is apt to ask if this nan, who is so very polite in company, is really kind-hearted ? Do his actions spring Torn a happy, genial nature, or is it his attractive demeanour put on for theoccasion, md laid off at home as he lays off his coat ? A very young girl takes it for granted hat men are always as she sees them ir. ;ociety, polite, friendly, and on their good ichaviour. If she marries early in life the nan who happens to please her fancy, she earns to her sorrow that in nine cases out of ten a man in society and a man at home ire widely different beings. Five years a: hat period of life produce a great change n opinions and feelings. We frequently :ome to detest at twenty-five what we admired at sixteen. Similar changes take place in the moral md spiritual nature. Why should we feel he same towards persons in after life, vhen we have learned to distinguish be ween the false and true, the bad and good, ny more than we should like penny noveldter we have become acquainted will Dickens, Thackeray, and Shakespeare low few comparatively of the school-gii riendships extend into later life. Considering this, how is it possible to ne to feel surprise when a couple wh tarry in their teens grow to love each othe s years roll by ? When both grow alike vhethor it be rapidly or slowly, backwan >r onward, there is some hope of their eve ceing each other with the same eyes ; bu vhen one progresses and the other retro ,'rades, a difterencc springs up betwee; hem, and in time one looks down upon th, ■tiler with a feeling of superiority, perhap meonfessed, but still there ; while the othei mable to perceive the real cause ot th rouble, grows at once to dislike what w;: ■nee loved. And thus it happens that thovho loved at sixteen are often indifferent: wenty-fivc. One great cause of early marriages is tl ernicious habit of calling a girl who n mins unmarried until twenty-live an"ul laid." This is done by many well-mem . ng but thoughtless persons, who would i orry to think that any act or expression heirs had ever caused one an hour nisery ; yet this very dread of being calA in “old maid” has driven more women into narriage and lifelong misery than any .fiber thing, excepting perhaps poverty. It is a mistake to think that single life is any 'ess noble than marriage, especially it the spirit of discord is permitted to inflict it., l ion:ors upon % whole household.