HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18190, 24 June 1927, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. Cat's Tenth Life. A cat’s remarkable power of resistance to gas was revealed in London recently. The animal’s apparently inanimate form was found in the gasfilled room of a house occupied by a journeyman upholsterer. The man was dead and the gas fumes had also killed a parrot and a canary. As soon, however, as fresh air was admitted into the room, the cat rolled over, jumped out of the window, and disappeared down the garden. It has since been found, and is being cared for. seemingly none the worse for its adventure. « A Boy's Fine Leap. Robert Greer has been awarded a silver watch from the Carnegie Hero Fund. He is a telegraph boy. Recently he saw a horse with a heavy lorry bolting down a street where children were pouring out of school. He raced alongside, leaped from his bicycle on to the lorry, seized the reins, and pulled the horse up before it reached the children. A more difficult or dangerous feat can hardly be imagined. Robert Greer, who is a lance-corporal in the Boys’ Brigade, has been awarded a diploma by his corps for his brave action. Ministers as Comedians. Six local ministers formed themselves into a concert party, called themselves the “ Piano Pippins," and gave an entertainment to 1000 people at Tooting, London, recently. After an opening chorus, in the best style of a seaside pierrot troupe, individual “turns’ with comic songs, serious songs, elocution and ventriloquism were offered to a highly-enthusiastic audience. Ont their choruses was, “We Won’t Go Home Till Morning,” Every item m the programme was encored. The nail was packed and hundreds were unable to obtain admission. *: a « The Origin, of Soap. The origin of soap is a mystery, but there are many evidences of its antiquity. it is mentioned at least twice in the Bible, under the name of borith, at a period corresponding to several centuries before Christ. In the Louvre in Paris there is an interesting old vase of Etruscan manufacture, whose age is computed at about 2500 years. It bears a group of children in relief who are engaged in blowing bubbles from, pipes. Though certain vegetable juices are capable of being used in blowing bubbles, it is for many reasons more probable that soap of artificial manufacture was employed for the purpose. In the unearthed city of Pompeii there is to be seen a soap manufactory, with all the paraphernalia pertaining to the business, also a quantitiy of soap, evidently the product of this antique “ soapery.” k « A Sleep on an Island of Grabs. Years ago I sailed a dhow across the Red Sea (writes Rosita Forbes, the explorer, in "Pearson’s Magaxine”). For fourteen days a crew consisting of eight Arabs and mysalf battled with a persistent southerly gale. We shipped vast quantities of water, some of which got into the drinking tanks. There was no shelter from a torrid sun. After the sixth day the food ran out, and we existed on the fish we caught. Then, one blessed evening, we came to a little island at the edge of the reef. It was so fiat and sandy that it looked like a pancake. We managed to anchor under the lee, but the dhow continued her gymnastics. With immense difficulty we disembarked. Drenched and sodden, I wandered over the island. It was as full of holes as a sponge, but it was sheltered from the worst of the wind by stunted bushes, and, above all. it was motionless! “I shall sleep here," I told the astonished crew. “And we’ll start late. Don't wake me before dawn.** Man and boy, they protested, but I could not understand their dialect. Finally they shouted and pointed to the holes at our feet. I took no notice. A tent was erected, under the largest bush. It blew down as soon as the pegs worked out of the sand, but I didn’t mind. Por a few hours I slept dreamlessly on top of it. The esrth was solid, thank God! Something tickled my chin. I woke in bright moonlight and hurled myself to mv feet. The whole island wss alive! It was covered with long-legged, sprawl r bodies. In fact, from every single hole had come a family of crabs, pink, squashy ones and tall, horny fellows. Crabs walked over eaoh other’s backs, and, to my excited imagination, more and more seemed to be pouring out of holes. I fled, crunching and kicking, on to the reef, and, waist deep in water, fairly ysllod for rescue!