THE EDITOR'S SCRAP BOOK.

Southland Times, Issue 19185, 24 October 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE EDITOR'S SCRAP BOOK.

Interesting Gleanings from Various Sources. a Roofs of small dwellings in Paris - nre no**" made on a now principle. They havi.i- --.v i very gentle slope, nnd are covered wi.n oattens and tarred cardboard, over which is v layer of clean-sifted gravel, nearly two inches thick. Rain and hail and sun have very little effect upon such a roof.

Desdemona was a member of the Prussian Royal House, according to the theory of an eminent Teutonic Shakespearian scholar. He asserts that the story of " Othello " wns derived from the family papers of the Italian Collalti (Hohenzollern), whose coat of arms and colors are identical with those of the present Imperial family. Desdemona was therefore nee Collalti, or Hohenzollern.

The original bound books are bequeathed to us by the hand of the Romans. These old conquering, colonising folk wrote with a stylus, as everyone well knows, on tablets of ivory, metal, or wood (beech or fir for preference) coated with wax. Two of these tablet.-* joined together were called diptycha, and formed the earliest specimens of bound books. *

Almost every mountain in Japan is dedicated to some deity, who is believed to be its guardian. For this reason the grandest shrines throughout the land are to be found on high ana precipitous mountain tops. These temple grounds are covered with the oldest and largest forest trees, and to the eyes of the people below the effect of the clouds which hover around the peak has originated the belief that the gods bold power over the clouds to withhold or cause rain.

They do some mad things at the masked balls in Paris sometimes. On one occasion it was announced that a masked wild beast tamer would make his appearance at midnight, and on the last stroke of twelve a huge cage, seemingly full of gorillas, was dragged into tho hall. The door being suddenly opened, out jumped the animals, and, to tne intense terror of the assemblage, began to gambol, shrieking about the room. Tho dancers made a frantic rush for the door, and very serious casualties might have ensued had not the gorillas removed their masks and shown themselves to be the descendants, and not the primaeval ancestors, of man.

Mourning wns formerly fnr more rigorously observed than in our time. " Not only,'' says one authority, " did the widow wear mourning garments, but she was also obliged to remain in a bed draped wit.ii black, in a chamber hung with black, tv receive her visitors. Mourning was carried so far that kings changed their table service, using knives with ebony instead ot ivory bandies." A fifteenth-century writer says, in an old volume entitled "Honneurs do la Cour," "I have heard it said that the Queen of France imtst remain nn entire year without leaving her chamber, aftet* the death of the king, her husband." In the eighteenth century grey cloth obtained considerable acceptance as a marl; of morning.

A curious version of Rip Van Winklo exists in a Japan legend : — " A young man fishing in his boat on the ocean was invited by the goddess of the sea to> her home beneath the waves, After three day? he desired to see bis old father and mother. On parting alio gave him a golden casket and a key, but begged him never to open it. At the village where he lived all was changed, and he could get no trace of his parents until an aged woman recollected of hearing their names. He found their graves a hundred years old. Thinking that three days could not have made such a change, and that he was under a spell, he opened the casket. A white vapor rose. and under its influence tho young'' man fell to the ground. His hair turned grey, his form lost its youth, and in a few moments he died of old age.

The porpoise is found in many scai, but nowhere in such quantities aa in the Indian Ocean. Thoy are usually seen in swarms or " sohools," which often accompany ships for considerable distances. There is but little doubt that the porpoise is naturally curious. A ■' school " sees a new and strange sight in the shape of a ship, and turns aside to behold tbe wonder. No observer can fail to be impressed by the graceful movement of the porpoise, and also by the great speed at which it travels through the water. For hours a porpoise will keep pace with a steamer, crossing and recrossing her bows with the greatest impunity. Sometimes a " school " advances in Indian tile. In such a case, seen from a distance, they look like an enormous sea-serpent, each revolving porpoise appearing like a coil of the serpent's body.

It is curious just now to recall the fact that Ireland was bestowed on an English Ivingns a free "jgift by — the Pope! It was Nicholas Brakespeare, known in history as Hadrian IV., the only Englishman ever elected as Pontiff, who, proud of being able to confer a favor upon the Sovereign of his own country, granted a bull to Henry 11. in 1J55 containing this passage : " There is no doubt, and yonr nobility acknowledges, that Ireland, nnd all islands which bave received tbe Faith, rightfully belong to Peter and tho Holy Roman Chorch." Believing tliat Henry was likely to use his power for good, the Pope therefore granted Iceland to b>m and to his heirs, reserving certain rights and olaiming a due of 6no penny from each house payable yearly to St. Peter. It iST queer reading, that bull, to-day, and strange to realise ; and fetor's penny is still paid by. thousands and thousands of Irish homes.

The raoe loves danger — for others. Were it not so, there would be no crowds to 6ee a wonderful trapese act, a daring dive, or a balloon ascent. A man walking a rope stretohed a foot above the ground may be just as olever as one who takes the air a hundred feet op, but the public won't give a farthing to see him do it, while many would walk twenty miles to see his rival stand on his head on a rope as high ac n, church steople. It is this instinct which has made the latest cycle performance feuch a sensation in Europe, and brought to the pockets of htm responsible for it a tidy fortune. As

will be noted, a cyclist races up a spiral stair case which bas no railing, and when a certain way up enters what looks like the rim of a saucer around which he races at the speed which is necessary to keeping him from falling out. When be is tired of this cycling in the saucer, he just runs off through an opening at one point, and he is on a track which almost immediately descends to the ground at an angle just only thirty degrees off .the perpendicular. #'Down this he comes with the speed of a thunderbolt and in a moment moro te on level ground and sweeping around tfa« ring to (he plaudits of ttn&ou-TMttdafe-m, _ _ w