HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17830, 26 April 1926, Page 8

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. TYPING TO MUSIC. Instead of tapping out pages of letters with not even a sentence to relieve the monotony, girls at a certain college in London learn typing to the accompaniment of fox trots and military marches. If a girl had a good sense of rhythm, this system hastens the early stages of training in a remarkable way. Gramophone records are used, and pupils first type words of three letters to a military march in four-four time, one letter to a beat and. the space movement to the fourth. Progress is then made in words of different lengths, until finally whole sentences are typed. When speed increases, students type two letters to each beat. The idea behind this system is that regular rhvthmic movements are less tiring than irregular ones, which waste the worker’s energy. a *.* DOOMED TO BE SPINSTERS. An old superstition of obscure origin is responsible for imposing a severe handicap on Japanese girls who are twenty years old this year. It is said that they must all be so bad-tempered as to be unsuitable for wives. This unlucky time occurs every sixty-one years, and although „ the superstition is waning there are still large numbers of parents who will not allow their sons to. marry girls under this cloud. A number of this year’s unlucky girls have taken up professional work in the belief that they are doomed to remain single. To combat the superstition, efforts are being made by a society organised in Tokio to help its members select their wives and hus bands without parental help or interference. In the past, thousands of girls, fearing a lifetime of loneliness, have committed suicide. M M BOYS AT A TOMBSTONE. The curious spectacle of a tombstone under canvas was witnessed in Wotton Churchward, near Dorking, lately. The tent sheltered seven boys who were competing for the yearly prize of £2 each under the eccentric will of William Glanville, a connection of John Evelyn, the great diarist, who lived at Wotton. The boys had to recite the Lord’s Prayer, Apostles’ Creed, and the Ten Commandments while standing round the tombstone over Glanville’s grave, with the forefinger of the right hand resting on the stone. The conditions also included a reading and writing test from a portion of Corinthians. All seven boys were successful. Glanville died in 1719, and ever}' year since this ceremony has been held. The day is known locally as “ forty shilling clay.” CONTEMPT FOR THE MACE. “ Until we see more signs of real endeavour by the Mayor and City Council to better the conditions of the mass of the citizens we pledge ourselves to treat the mace with the contempt we consider it deserves.” The above is part of a resolution passed by the Oxford Trades and Labour Council and forwarded to the Mayor, the Rev John Carter, who has been endeavouring to inculcate a greater respect for the civic emblem by making school children salute the mace. “ It is useless,” continues the resolution, “ to try' to instil into the minds of children any respect for the mace as an emblem of civic responsibility and equity, while there are 2000 houseless and thousands more existing in courts where decency is impossible.” QUEER ROMAN RELIC. Some fresh light has been thrown on the. Roman occupation of Britain. A recent discovery of the leg and foot of a gilded bronze statue has provided new confirmation of the disappearance about 120 A.D. of the 9th Legion of the Roman army, which moved from Lincoln to York. This relic has lain for 100 years in the charter room of a Roxburgshire landlord, and until now its true importance has not been realised. Originally it was found by a farmer in the uplands of the county. Archaeologists consider that the footgear is such as an emperor would have worn in the early part, of the second century. The fragment, probably belonged to a statue of Trojan or Hadrian, standing in the. legionary fortress of York. and. when the fortress was sacked, provided part of the. loot abandoned by the raiders.