DEVIL’S DANCE.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 5, 19 January 1912, Page 8

DEVIL’S DANCE.

Sclavonic legends furnish two or three, fhere is a strange fancy among them of jailing a whirlwind the “ Devil’s Dance/* ind when it blow's strongly the peasants ire directed to cast a knife into the midst of he blast, whereupon the evilone willappear n a fawning, crouching manner, and will je willing to do whatever his captor wishes. 1 A BULLET IN HIS HEAD FORTY YEARS. An interesting surgical study is that of a nan who has just died at St. Gallon. This nan, a certain Christian Zogg, was a soldier n the ’’ Sondefbund” war, forty-three years xgo, and in the fight at Kiemengrat he was severely wounded with a bullet in the head Fhe surgeon could no* extract the ball, lor it had pierced behind thcear, and lay against the hard skull. No one thoughl-he could live, bat he did, »we*.ring always he had the , bullet still is his head. Of course, after a time no one believed him, though he suffered from terrible headaches and- occa-| sional feeble-mindedness. But when he died his skull was opened; and surely enough je had lived for oter forty years with this bullet in hi* head. The skull at tbe point where the bullet lay was three or four time*: as thick as elsewhere, and a piece the sire of a very small egg had been forced aside. GENOA WOMEN’S DRESS. In Lady Morgan’s account of Genoa we find the following ;—" The women's head?, are ornamented by a quantity of silver bodkins, forming a sort of coronet or star at the back, and confining a profusion of plaited tresses. Many of the elder women wear square linen veils, embroidered and trimmed with -coarse lace. Dresses are here considered as heir-looms. Many a silken vest and quilted bodice, many a chain of gold and of coral, purchased in the days of Genoa's prosperity, still remain to deceive the eye with the appearance of rural' and commercial wealth. The shops at Genoa display a profusion of gold and silver filagree work, clasps, rings, ear-rings, chains, combs of coral, and even of cosily gems, all destined for the peasantry. The nobility were, in the latter times of the Republic, prohibited from wearing such sumptuous ornaments:; and the lower. classes are still, as formerly, tbe sole purchasers of the oldfashioned jewellery of the Genoese goldsmiths. The fullest dress allowed to the ladies by the sumptuary laws'was a black velvet, trimmed with coloured ribbons and point lace. The women of Genoa are covered, even on. working days, with gold and silver ornaments ; on holy days they add a profusion of pearl and coral to their ordinary decorations, and a female peasant, when making her marriage trousseau, thinks seven or eight hundred francs a very moderate price for a necklace or chain. THE GREAT WRECKS of h CENTURY, Terrible though the Utopia catastrophe be, the loss of life on similar occasions has been greater. Thus there were 800 men on board the Royal George when she foundered off Spithead, and 600 of them were drowned. The loss of the Princess Alice remains a shocking story of loss of life by wreck, since between 600 and 700 persons were drowned.' The Utopia disaster is closely approached by the wreck of the White Star liner Atlantic, ■which struck on Meagher Rock in 1873, with a loss of about 560 lives We append a list of the most disastrous wrecks of the last hundred years Lives Lost. 1782— H.M fi Koynl George, wrecked off' Spit head,. ~. .. .. 600 1786—IJalswell. Hast Indiaman .. 386 11^0—Royal Adelaide, wrecked on the Tongue Samis, off Margate .. 400 1852 Birkenhead, troopship,Wrecked tn Simon's Bay, South Africa.. 454 1859 Royal Charter, wrecked off the coast of Attglesea . . .. 446 1860— Lady Elgin, sank lltrough collision on Lake - Michigan ; Mr. Herbert Ingiurn, M P , ipurider of the lUiixtiii tcit London Nttot, and his son drowned .. .. 287 1866—The London, foundered in , the Bay ol Biscay; Mr. G. V. Brooke, the tragedian, was drowned .. .. .. .. 220 lino— II M S. Cautain. foundered near

Finisterre .. ... 472. r872--Northlleet, innintooll Dungeness 300 1873—Atlantic: White Star Liner, wr'k’d on Meagher Rock .. . 560 i«7B -H.M S, Lurydice, capsized near Ventuor .. .. .. 30& 1878—Princess Alice, pleasure steamer, \ run into in 1 the Thames, near Woolwich, by llteßywell Castle ‘6OO or 700 1878—Grosser Kurfurst, sunk by collision ~ .. .... 300 1887— Kapunda, emigrant ship, sunk off the Last Coast of S America 300 :Sgo—ll.M S Serpent, wrecked off the coast of Spam .. .. .. 200 \RTEMUS WARD ON THE CENSUS. The Scnces tqker id bur town being taken tick, he deppeitised me to go out for him one day, and as he was too ill to giv me in'ormasliun Row to perceed, I was consekently compelled to go it blind. Sittin Josp by the road side, I drawed up the follerin list of questions, which I proposed •o ax the peple I visited : Wat’s your age ? Whar was you born ? ‘ Air you marrid, and if so how do you liV-i .t? , How many children hav you, and do they sufficiently resemble you as to preclood tha possibility of their belongin to any of your label s ? , ( Did you ever hav the measels, and if so, how many? Hav you a twin brother several years older than yourself ? How many parents hav you? Do you read Watt’s Hims reglet ? Do you use boughten tobacker ? Wat’s your filin’wate ? Air you trubeld with biles ? How does your meresham culler? State whether you air blind, deaf, idiotic, or got the heaves ? Do you know any Opry singers, and if so how much do they owe.you ? What’s the average of virtoo on the Erf Canawl ? If 4 barrils of Emptins pored onto & barn floor will kiver it, how many plasecan Dion Boucicault write in a year ? ■ Isßeans a, regler article of diet in your family ? How many chicking hav you, on foot and in the shell ? Air you aware that Injianny whisky is used in New York shootin galrys instid of pistils, and that it shoots furthest ? Was you ever at Niagry Fails ? Was you ever in the Penitentiary ? State how much pork, impendin crysis, Dutch cheeze, popler suvrihty, standard poetry, children’s strainer’s slave code, catnip, red flannel, ancient histry, pickled tomaters, old junk, perfootnery, coal ile, liberty, hoop skirt, &c., you hav on hand ? But it didn't work. I got into a row at the fust house I stopt to, with some old maids. Disbelieven the ansers they giv i« regard to their ages I endevered to open their mo.uths and look at their teeth, same as they do with bosses, but they floo into a vilent rage aud tackled me with brooms and sich. Takin the senses requires experiunce, like any other bizniss.