HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16782, 11 July 1922, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. PLANTS FOR SOAP. Years ago people washed themselves with a plant called the Soapwort. This plant, which is found in several European countries, grows about eighteen inches high near hedges and thickets Its leaves and stem are very smooth, while the flowers are of a pale bluish colour, possess a heavy scent, and bloom in August and September. Tbe soap will form a lather when mixed with water; the leaves also serve as soap, and will remove grease stain* from clothes. Another form of vegetable soap is the fruit of the sapindus. a tree that grows in the East and West Indies. The fruit is pulpy and .about the site of a cherry, but on account of its caustic nature it require* to be mixed with a plentiful supply of water. “ SOUVENIR ” SILVER. With the rapid increase in the number of Atlantic passengers steamship companies are beginning to feel the effects of the souvenir hunter. A timely article on this subject appears in the “Cunard Magazine. " which states that in spite of all .precautions silver is lost-, and tlve value ranges from £250 a year in one ship to ten times that amount in another.

“ Silverware plays an important item in the fitting out of an oceen liner,” says the writer. “ The amount required has to be requisitioned months l>eforehand, and will range in number • of pieces from 8000 iu small ships to more than 30.000 in leviathans of the Aqnitania type, and tbe weight- will ho anything from one to three tons. “ There is no doubt that much of the silver * lost ’ is due to the souvenir hunter. Cases too numerous to mention could be cit-ed of bedroom stewards. when packing passengers’ baggage, having come across teaspoons, pepper mills, and even cream ewer*. Sometimes tbe will boldly ask for a: ‘ small piece, of souvenir silver to add to my collection ’ ; at other times surreptitious means are employed. . « . The average *’ souvenir hunter,’ however, does not look upon it- as misappropriation; it is simply that his pet hobby has developed into a mania.” A COOL MIXER. One day Jones received two letters. One was from his friend. Jack Smith, asking him to play in a football match, the other was an invitation from his employer, whose name was also Smith, to spend the day at his home. N'mr Jones had long admired from afar hi» employer’s daughter, so this invitation was like opening tbe' gates of Paradi§e to* him. He eat down and wrote a brief note of acceptance, while to his friend he sent a brief scrawl. A few hours later Jones was surprised to see Jack Smith burst into his room exclaiming, “ Why aren’t you ready?” “ Ready? I wrote and told you I couldn’t play.” “ Nonsense! You wrote me a courteous note accepting my invitation. I took your excessive politeness as a joke.” “ Then the guv’nor got the scrawl intended for you!” Jones gasped. H What did it say, old man?” M * Dear Smith,Rats! I s ve something better on 1” BYRON’S PLAYS. Captain Calvert, who is directing tho ” British Screen craft ” production of “ Byron.” made the interesting discovery quite accidentally that the last theatrical producer to present any of Byronworks as stage plays was his grandfather. Charles Calvert. The discovery was made through a theatrical man who, learning that Calvert- wadoing the first film of “ Byron,” produced for his inspection the pnblribed manuscript of “ Byron’s Hi sternal Tragedy of SardanapaJus— Arranged for Representation by Chariot Calvert.” On the back of the book there are also particulars of Mr Charles Caivert’s representations of *• Manfred.” “The Two Foscari.” and :: Tim Deformed Transformed.” According to con temporary reports, these stage representations were verv fine, and Calvert now has the additional inspiration to produce a Bvron plav worthv of the traditions of the Colvert family. HYPNOTISED IN TR AIN. Unique in the annals of German crime is a robberv case where a man was hypnotised and robbed bv a woman fellow passenger in a train (writes the Berlin correspondent of the “ New York Herald ”). Upon her command the victim forgot his name and address, adopting new ones which she gave him. The case has puzzled the police for several months. The man is a commeroinl traveller. Walter Werner, of Cologne*, who called on a customer at K.arden, Westphalia, last June. His client's remark that Werner could take with him the money due his firm was overhear.! 1 by a woman oassing by. who followed Werner t-o the railway train and got into his compartment. After the train (ha<y istaritod the koman hypnotised him, took his wallet and then told him, “ You have forgotten your name and address. You are now William Weber, of Dnsseldorf.” She commanded him te > change his destination. Upon awakening from the trance. Werner followed her instructions and passed himeelf off as William Weber, eventually landing in the hands of the police, penniless. Physicians hypnotised him to no avail repeatedly until they t-old him while he was mesmerised, “ You arc twelve years old and just- coming home from school. Now you are in front of your father’s house. What is the name on the doorplate?” * Gustavo Werner.” the subject replied, and in & flash his raomorv rame back to him. V IMPULSES OF CHILDREN. Children, instead of being golden and pure, as generally believed, have primitive and unanalysed instincts of the crudest kind, according to Dr Duvvt Forsyth, lecturing before the Institute of Hygiene, London. “ Children. ht* said, “ are suhrjeo* to the same emotions as tfrow-n up men and women. Lore, jealousy, hate and feat- are all apparent, and you cet emotional ljta even in the nnreerr. Cffiildren see life only from a selfish point of viesr, and their self importance seems raagniSel beyond their deserts- They experience the greatest difficulty in restraining their impulses or fulfilling them promises to their mothers. The trouble that yhen -sre are older me forget the earlier impulses. They are relegated to the unconscious miud. u-hene thev bocome repressed. I hare seen many fathers who punish tlielr sons for steak, inst jam tarts, hut T hare n't- heard ot>a tell the child afterward that he did exsctly the some thing himself,. Most botf and ffirla Roino to school parries har» ♦heir lore affairs. Tt W the date of thfc mother to detect the self lore cycry child feels and him it to a deferred object. If She fails in this die is sowing seeds of mental disorder for tho child which may last- a lifetime. .Sty S- f ■