HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17346, 29 September 1924, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. WHAT IT WAS FOBIn an examination a schoolboy was asked to state what he knew about salt. “ Salt.” be began. “ is the stuff that make the potatoes taste nasty when it is not put in the water in which they are boiled.” LEO’S BODY TO BE REMOVED. The body of Pope Leo XIII., who died in 1903, has been removed from St Peter’s to the basilica, of St John Lateran. says the “ Nuovo Paese.” Burial of the late Pope in the basilica, requested in his will, has not taken place before because of the fear of the anti-clerical demonstrations. “ KING OF THE COSTERS.” There was unveiled at Shoreditch recently by Lady Kirk a memorial to Air W. j. Orsman. founder of the mission there which bears his name. He lived to be eighty-four, and as a wouth of sixteen be assisted Florence Nightingale in her work among the sick and wounded in the Crimea. Air Orsman was associated with the mission for sixty-three years, and for his work among the costers was designated by the late Lord Shaftesbury as “King of the Costers.” LIGHT THAT FAILED. “ Your acceptance of my proposal of marriage has brought me happiness so radiant that everybody could sec, for it shone from me like a. lamp,” wrote David Emlyn Evans, a theological student. of Leeds, to Mary Ellen Howells, of Treorchy. Aliss Howells was awarded £25Qp damages against Evans for breach of promise. During the engagement she said she had lent Evans various sums to purchase books for his studies. His letters were always couched in the most affectionate terms right up to the time she received a letter from his father saying the young man was already married. UNUSUAL RECIPE. A grocer, who was in the .habit of printing his advertisements under the heading of Advice to Housewives,” rftcei tly published the following advertisement which brought many enthusiastic letters of approval :—Take 1 large grassy field. 1-2 dozen children. 2 or 3 small dogs. A pinch of brook and pebbles Alix the children and dogs well together sprinkle field with flowers ; spread over and put them in field, stirring constantly. Pour brook over pebbles; all a deej) clue sky; and bake in the sun. When brown, remove, and set to cool in a bath tub. V GOOD FOOD AIAY POISON. It was stated at an inquest at Hastings on Arthur James Walker, Upper Norwood, London, that it is possible lor perfectly good food to poison a. person. Harold Walker said his brother, who was on a visit to Hastings. was taken ill after eating some tinned peas at a local cafe. Dr Harry Gabb said Walker was very liable io> gastric trouble, and the symptoms of ptomaine poisoning were similar to those of several other diseases. Perfectly good food which would he innocuous to most people might in tho case of a man in Walker’s condition set up poisoning. The proprietor of the cafe said the peas were served t«.* forty persons daily, and he himself and staff ate them. In returning a veri diet of death from natural causes the coroner said he was satisfied that the tinned peas could not be connected with the death. f “ PRACTICAL EDUCATIONIST.” Not long ago Air E. Plummer, of London, now ninety-two years of age, recorded bis recollections of Air Wackford Squeers and Dotheboys Hall, where All* Plummer went to school. He did not exactly give Squeers a clean bill of health, but the fact that any of Squeer’s victims should have lived to the age of ninety-two is a marvel. Air Shaw (the original Air Squeers), tho master of the school attended by Nicholas Nickleby and young Plummer, was a short, stout man, ‘‘always dressed :u dark velvet.” Airs Shaw used to administer the brimstone and treacle. Now comes no less an authority than Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, the famous physician, who declares that the only educationist who has dealt practically with the habits of school children, “ was tlie much-abused Air Wacktord Squeers, of Dotheboys Hall. His pupils probably owed long lives and happy ones to his brimstone and treacle, both of which are ideal ami beneficial.”

POSED SIX WEEKS AS A GIRL. Having successfully posed as a girl for six weeks, Aubrey Morris, a 17-year-old lad. of Northampton, has been sent ifack home. Dressed as a. girl, he made for London, alter wliioh he visited Liverpool, Blackpool, and other places. llis appearance was sufficiently attractive to encourage the attention of a number of men, and the young masquerader revelled in his assumed role during the flirtations. The “limit” was reached when a staid policeman from a seaside town fell a victim to the “girl’s” charms. Eventually Morris reached Burnley, and there, with remarkable audacity, gained admission to the Home of Help for girls who are penniless and stranded. He was given food and a bed for the night. The following day, however, the matron noticed by chance that her guest wore a wig. Her suspicions were aroused, and Alorris then admitted that he was a boy. He was handed over to the police and sent back to Northampton, to the great relief of his mother and family. EARTHQUAKE WIZARD. Seismic experts in Italy and abroad are very much interested in Raphael Bemlandi. Some say he is a genius, and others that he is a human seismograph. Tradition tells us that Goethe could tell when an earthquake was in progress in some distant land, owing to his nervous condition, but Bendandi goes one better by stating at what distance from his observatory this earthquake is taking place. Beadandi has a seismic machine with five registers quite as delicate and sensitive as tho famous one in the Ximenian Observatory at Florence. He has built his observatory in the cellar of his humble home next to the carpenter's shop where he is employed. He has only recently come into the limelight, but in reality be has been for the last few years prophesying eruptions. For fifteen years he has been studying, although only twenty-nine now. The theory is as yet a secret, hut it is based on the following; Earthquakes are not a casual phenomena, hut an inevitable .and provable movement of the earth regulated by precise laws.

which, when once known can illuminate any reading of a seismic register.