HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16411, 27 April 1921, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

A LOAN TO THE STATE. Steps are being taken bv W. F. Morgan. n Syracuse machinist, to collect from the State of New Hampshire £42,000, which he says is due to him as the result of a loan of £lO made by John "Winslow, of Concord, _ New Hampshire, to tho colony in 17» 4. to finance the approaching revolutionary war. The torn and tattered note bears the pledge that it is to bear compound interest to be paid annually. Morgan says that as far as he has been able to learn not n pfcnny of the interest has ever been paid. The note was given to him by bis grandfather, J Judge R. F. Winslow, of Chicago. HERO AND THIEF. Theodule Poiselat. against whom ' there were many previous convictions, j was sentenced in Paris recently to j fifteen months for theft. He courage- | ously stopped a runaway horse and cart, which threatened to kill children, leaving school. After this brave act he stole the cart, and sold it in a neighbouring street. SWEETMEATS FOR THF. WHALE. The eastern mind, as it shows iteelr in India, is in some ways a curious mixture of what is good and what we regard as foolish. Care for animal life is good, though the ijeason for it is often faulty. Tim reason is that the chief Indian religion supposes tiie possibility of the human spirit passing after death into I an animal, and so in hurting an animal one may be causing pain to a dead friend. This belief leads to some curious I scenes. For instance, recently a largo j whalo was stranded on the shore near j Bombay, and tho people around, not; I only trooped down to the place to see ! the sight, quite strange to them, but, many of them made offerings—such as sweetmeats and other things quite unsuitable Zor a whale’s enjoyment—to the dead whale. The mixture in the eastern mind of what is good and what is unwise makes the wise guidance of the people difficult. .SYDNEY CARTON TOUCH. There was a flavour of the prison scene in the “Tale of Two Cities” in ; an incident which was related to the Wrexham Magistrates recently. Fred. , Perrin had been summoned for stealing goods from a railway waggon, and had . been remanded at Wrexham in custody. ,He was removed to the Bridewell, , Wiiere his brother, Herbert. tj».k him | food While in the cell together (so j the <L'ourt was told) the brothers ebangj ed clothes, and Fred, in the nttir? of ! his brother, clamly walked out of the I Bridewell. Later! in the day ihe prisoner was taken to Shrewsbury, •♦hen i the police discovered that they had i he i wrong man. The brothers were charged j with being ctfncerned jointly in Fred’s j escape, and were remanded in custody. SPOONERISMS. j Probably nothing will ever quite j equal Professor Spooner’s remark to tho railway porter that his luggage consisted of “two rags and a bug.” I However, the following runs it close. A / professor sat down at a restaurant, and was asked by his companion to order a glass of porter from tho waiter. “ "Waiter,” called the professor, “ bring me some water.” “ No, porter,” prompted his friend. “ Ah, dear me. How foolish. Pater, some porter. ’ But that did not sound right. He tried again. “I mean I want some water, porter.” Perspiration dripped. Ho made one more effort. “Please, pater,” he murmured, “bring the porter som** waiter.” Then ho gave it up. And quit© right, too !

BULL-BAITING IN ENGLAND. As looked at in England, . although bull baiting was a cruel pastime, it was also a fulfilling of the law, for formerly no butcher was allowed to offer for sale the flesh of any bull that had not been baited. Tho goading of the bull with dogs, until its fury was was aroused was supposed to have some influence on the flesh. In a similar belief, the flesh of a hunted hare was thought superior in flavour to on© that had not been, and the present of a.

“hunted hare” was considered to bo a special compliment. In the records of the corporation of Leicester, England, the following orders appear to have been issued at a common hall held on Thursday before St Simon and St Jude, 1467 : “ No butcher to kill a bull till baited.” At Winchester it was ordered “ that henceforth then© shall be no bullstake sot before the Mayor’s door to bayte any bull, but only in bullrings in said cytie.” The practice formerly was very popular in England and among those who at a later period patronised bull baiting were Windham and Pass, and even Canning and Peel opposed the passage of the law that abolished the bull baiting.

“ SWALLOWS ” SHOP. A new kind of bird shop has made its appearance at the south-east, corner of Central Park, in New York, says the “ Daily Mail.” Customers obtain admission by ringing the bell three times. Only “ swallows ” are sold. There are varieties, Kentucky Rye. Canadian Club, and Scotch. These “swallows” are remarkable in that they are kept in bottles and sold in glasses instead of cages. It is only a question of time before the “ swallow ” shop is visited by a bird fancier who is also a Prohibition enforcement officer.

SCOTCH “CORPSES.” Checking up on liquor they seized at th© undertaking of Jackson and Harris, Chicago, prohibition enforcement agents listed nearly 100 gallons of various kinds of liquor, says th© u Tribune.” Smiles instead of tears were on the faces of visiton* to tho undertakers. Neighbours noticed and a squad of prohibition agents arrived suddenly. In a purple coffin, lined with grey satin, three dozen quarts of high grade Scotch whisky reposea ; more whisky was found in a body basket, while the coffin cupboards lining the rear room of the establishment were loaded with cases of whisky.

A HEART FOR A HOUSE. Richard the Third offered his kingdom for a horse, but a man has com© forward in Rome and offered his heart> for a house. An advertisement appeared the other day in a Rome newspaper, which contains a “ Personal ” half column devoted to matrimonial and sentimental insertions, that shows howdesperate the condition of things is. One of tho “ roofless ones,” as they are

called, inserted an advertisement offering liis heart and hand, with a desperation only to be expected from one who has been constrained to live in hotel or pension for a long time, to any spinster or widow possessing a house of her own. The advertiser, moreover, stated himself to be well off. and worded his insertion most- gracefully and inriclngiy-

CALMING TROUBLED WATERS. It is well known that the ancient metaphor about “pouring oil on troubled waters” to calm them is literally true ; and ships at sea have been Baved. from foundering by j>ouring barrels of oil on the waves around. A striking experiment of the kind was once made at Peterhead in Scotland, in order to allow a fleet of fishing boats to enter the stormy harbour with their cargoes- By means of a reservoir and pipes leading to the harbour a stream, of oil was discharged upon the water, and spreading in a thin film over its surface, reduced the rough waves to a. mere swell, and permitted the boats to land. The chief action of the oil ia probably to diminish the friction between the wind and water, and thua prevent the formation of waves, while the existing motion of the water quicks ly subsides into a low hearing. Probably the experiment, after the suci«&* at Peterhead, will be» repeated eb»v. where.