FACTS AND FANCIES

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 24, Issue 19, 11 March 1913, Page 8

FACTS AND FANCIES

A Comn -room in Chin*.—ln tlie inagis Irate’s diny court-room the prisoners an brought in, tried, tortured if they refuse h confess, sentenced, and punished with a dis patch that is in admirable contrast to tin deliboraliois of our enlightened courts. II lhe real offender cannot b» found, they seizi tipon one of his relatives and hold him a: hostage. It is generally a poor relation, am the longer he stays in gaol the better hii Inmily prospers. The mandarins v.a in dined to look leniently on any who an wil ling to pay their way out of gaol, or pay ; mbstitute who will be caught andimprisoncc or them, so that in the small number o ts fettered prisoners Canton stands we) n comparison with civilised, law-abiding ■ immunities a third of its size.

F fathered Suicides. —The keeper of the i ' hthonse on Fire Island, which is generally he first land seen by vessels from Europe > and lor New York, has made an interest ■ig statement with reference to'the numhc: T birds which commit involuntary suiciJ< 1 , , t '.b;st his lantern and his lenses. The hick lenses are chipped in places by the mks and geese striking them with their ■ ivy bill, after flying through the glass .-.e-eighth of an inch thip*) which covers ;c outside of the lantern. Frequently, lie .s, he has found one o>‘ more ducks or ~:se dying about in the lantern chamber, minled with the cut glasi, and sprinkling <: lenses and floor with heir blood. As 'll y as 6odead ducks havefaeen picked upon ■ ground about the base jf the lighthouse i a single morning; and sometimes more i ni ioo birds of various kinds have been tn.d; while the. large n.jtal ball which • viis the lighthouse has been bent and . !y twisted from its position by flocks ol ild geese coming against ii. Tales of Sacred Trees, —The palm, the i 1;, and the ash are the three trees which, a e time immemorial, were held to be trees. ' The first among them, which on es on the oldest monuments and pici c s of the Egyptians and Assyrians, is the ue palm (Phoenix dactilifora), which was symbol of the world and of creation, 1 the fruit of which filled the faithful itb divine strength, and prepared them for be pleasures of immortality "Honour," iid Mahomet, “thy paternal aunt, the date ..hn, for in Paradise it was created out ol ie same dust of the ground." The Jews nl the Arabs again looked upon the same roe as a mystical allegory of human beings, like them, it dies wh«n its head (the ummit) is cutoff, and whena limb (branch) ,s once cut off it does not grow again I hose who know can understand the mys.rioiis language of the branches on days .lien there is no wind, when whispers ol .-■•went and future events are communicated n the tree. Abraham of old, so the Rabbis say, understood the language of the palm. The oak was always considered a *• holy' tree by our own ancestors, and, above all, by the other nations ol the North of Europe When Winifrid, of Devonshire {680—754), went forth on his wanderiiigs through Gerany to preach the Gospa*,, one of his firsl lions was to cut down the giant oak in ..atony,' which was dedicated to Thor and .vorshipped by people from far and Avar Gut when ha had nearly felled the oak, and a bile people were cursing and threatening ho saint, a supernatural jtorm swept over it, seized the summit, broke every branch, md dashed it with a tremendous crash to lie ground. The heathens acknowledged ho marvel, and many of them were con-

.cried there and then. But the saint built i chapel of the wood of this very oak, and le hcaled it to St. Peter. The Celts, and iemians and Scandinavians, again, wor.l tipped the mountain ash (Fraxinus), and it especially in the religious myths of the .liter that the “Askr Yggdrasil” plays . prominent part. To them it was the mliest among trees, the “world tree," , inch, eternally young and dewy, reprein ted heaven, earth, and hell. According > the iidda, the ash yggdrasil was an overi ecu tree. A specimen of it grew at . ; psala, in front of the great temple, and ■lothcr in Dithmarscheij, carefully guarded •y a railing, for it was, in a mystical way, jniieclcd with the fale of the country Mien Bithmarachien lost its liberty the tree ithered, but a magpie, one of the best ! ■ iphcsying birds of the north, came am 1 hit its nest on the withered tree and ached five little ones, all perfectly white . a sign that at some future time the ■ uutry would regain its lost liberty.

Making Umbrellas,—There are more mgs necessary to the make up of an umbrel la an one would suppose. There is the ; cl:, generally of maple or ironwood, ribs, ■•etchers, and springs of steel, the runner, inner notch, the ferrule, cap, bands, and os of brass or nickel; the covering of silk, ■agham, alpaca, or fhe like; the runnei lard of leather, the inside cap and the iu, v handle, which may be of oxidised ' .er, horn, curiously carved wood, motbm pearl, or any subs'ance that the cunning .i deer can devise oe shape. The runne.; s ide, cap, band, an.lsuch parts aremann tim'd elsewhere, and still another factory s out the steel ribp which have supplanted te old rattans. The goods for the covering c mostly made at Hon®, except the ;c silks, which a*e almost all imported nn France. Havng gotten together the derials, how does the umbrella get along 1 10 stick is turned stained, and polished handle is put or, the little brass cap or ■ i end is riveted last, and then two sloti ■ cut in the sti ;ks, which receive two rings, over which slides the " thingumbob’ it keeps the ural rella either up or down bind is then fastened on it which tin M of the ribs of the umbrella are to slip ■n it gets ribs The frame-makei then Acs tire sticks, fastens the stretchers tc , ribs, and strii gs the top cords of the hi on a wire which is fitted into the running notch. 1 He then strings tin•.ver ends of the ‘stretchers” on a wire

id fastens them in the “ runners,” anti ■!n‘n both runnevi are securely fixed he ■inis it over to tUg coverers. Around the ooiu are hanging V-shaped wooden pat eruis, brass bouod on the, corners. The utbr. - lays his silk or gingham very smoothly ik on a long counter, folding it back and irth until there are 16 thicknesses, lie len takes oneof.hese patterns, lays it on ie pile of cloth, and with a keen-cdgec. life he slashes cruelly in the fabric, ac ■ ling to the pattern These pieces arc m carefully scanned by a woman, win every one having a hole or flaw in it icii a man takeij the pieces and carefully ••etches the edges Unless the whol” uth of the edg«. is properly stretched tnr er will not fit ipnoothly. Next the piece; • into the sewing room, where they ar- ; .vn together on machines by what is callc r; pudding bag stitch. Then a wom;n •■.vs the covers on the frame, keeping llk aihrella half open with a contrivance mad; that sole purpose. If she is a- gooi a.nan she can sew on a cover in lb-, in a I es, besides stitching ou the tie. 'Jin Igc;. of the umbrella are then smoothei ■ith a Hat-iron. Once more a woman hold >e umbrella up to the ugm and searche; •c Haws. If it by all right then the cover.’, indy folded rci nd the stick and into th< J.e room it goes to take its chance of bein. '"■cht and going out into the inclemtn >;ld. And how long does it take so in ant a thing as an umbrella to come, in ng? Just about ij minutes.