Facts & Fancies.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 12 June 1912, Page 7

Facts & Fancies.

1 Laziness* Indeed! [ It is not many years since the bicycle was first introduced into Canada; and when it did come ' along its appearance was greeted [ with derision by the few remaining J f Indians. One of the noble red; men, observing a cyclist for the first time, drew his dirty blanket closer [ around his shoulders and commentJ ed thus: "Huh! Heap lazy man— | sits down to walk!" - Mothers of Great Men. The mothers of men of genius have been frequently somewhat remarkable women, more remarkable '_ than the fathers. Caesar's mother P was "a strict and' stately lady of the p old school, unirifected 5y the cosmopolitan laxity of her day." Conse- [ quently, though the Caesars were t wealthy, their household was "simj pie and severe." Its greatest son k "was always passionately devoted to . his mother, who shared his house up to the time of her death," when he f. was forty-six years old. "Her influence upon him was doubtless . great and beneficial." Cromwell's mother was "strong, I homely, and keen" of face; "with a ', firm mouth and penetrating eyes, a , womanly goodness and peacefulness of expression." Cromwell "thought more of her than of any other woman, more than of his wife." Napoleon attributed "his elevation to his mother's training, laying down the maxim that the future good or bad conduct of a child depends entirely on the mother." Mo--1 zart, Goethe, Scotii, Leibnitz, Aug- : ustine, Gregory and Francis d'Ass- : isi, all these had mothers of some 5 note and fathers of less —Augustine's father, was an "unprincipled 1 scamp." Martin Luther took after his moi- \ tlher, who ,although she had a sing- ; ular reputation for mildness, whip- ; ped him till the blood came for steal. ' ing a nut. ' Psychology of the Pipe. There are various ways, more or ( less correct, of determining charac- , ter. Character from the hand, character from writing, facial expression, and deportttnent. Perhaps character from handwriting is the safest of all the 'tests abovenamed, . but to these a Paris contemporary , adds character from the pipe. The , cigar, we are told, witjh the cigarette, is cosmopolitan, so no deduc- . tions can be safely made. The ac- • tivity of a people may be gauged by the length of the pipe stem. The . shorter the stem the more industri-' ous the race. Inversely, the longer j the stem the more indolent! the people. The more economic the \race ( the shorter the pipe, and so on. Origin of Panic. > No word has moved with the • times more than "panic." Long ago 1 in ancient Greece it was a mild fear • inspired by mysterious sights and sounds among the valleys by night, which were attributed to the god Pan. Nowadays it has by no means supernatural significance on the , Stock Exchange. "Panic fear" was the original expression, and in shor- j : tening it to "panic" we have all I t really been as slipshod as the small : boy who calls his "comic paper" a : comic." I Superstitions of Savage Races. The small things of life catch and hold the wonder of mankind, par- . ticularly when he is in the savage! state. For centuries tihe Hottentots' and the Bushmen have worshipped ■ j the Mantis, or "praying-insect."' This is probably due to the insect's , strange attitude and colourings. r The forest negroes all over Tropical [ , Africa think the spider one of the [ wonders of the world, and endow it with human attributes*in their folk-; [ lore. And we find savage races col- . lecting^ and treasuring pebbles and j ! odd-shaped bones, and many North American Indian tribes attach great importance to oertiain canyon pebbles as possessing curative power. ■ These,are gathered as the miner gathers his gold. And the old . squaws weave little bead-bags in » which securely to hold these magic . pebbles. If an Indian bcisick, one ot L these treasures is hung about his . neck or his arm. It is supposed to help the medicine man to charm . away the evil spirit which causes the . sickness. I Whistling Trees. ' Poets have told us how the wind i. made music in the trees, and return- '- ed visitors from the West Indies have adduced facts to show that the poetic fancy is actually a thing of undisputed fact in Barbados. It is the musical or whistling tree, hay- ■ ing a peculiar-shaped leaf and pods < with a split open edge. The wind • passing through these sends out the " sounds which give the tree its pecul- ■ iar name. In Barbados there is a valley filled with the trees, and when : the trade winds blow across the - island a constant moaning, deepJ toned whistle is heard from it whch in the stall hours of tHe night has a t very weird and unpleasant effect. A i species of acacia which grows very r abundantly in the Soudan is also called the whistling tree,by the na--1 tives. Its hollow shoot sheaths are 2 instruments equal in sound to a sWeefc-toned flute.