HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18418, 21 March 1928, Page 8

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. Essence of Wisdom. There are proverbs in many languages which put into different words the same truth. The 'Persians say: “ Help your brother’s boat across and yours gets over, too.” Johan Bojer, the Scandinavian novelist, quotes this from the Norwegian; ** I went and sowed corn on my enemy’s field that God might exist.” An old German saying contains this penetrating exhortation; “If you feel hate against your neighbour, go and offer to carry some burden for him. He will look so different to you, you will hardly know him.” Many more can be found in other lands which have the same ideas at the back of them. The idea that the way out of all troubles is comradeship. The idea that God only exists as a reality for those who have generosity and forgiveness in their hearts. The idea that hatred gives us a false view of people and that w*e can only see them plainly when we shake it off and try to do them service. Proverbs are the essence of the wisdom of all mankind.

Not so many ’Phones. Despite the wide use of the telephone, it is authoritatively stated that in all the world there are only twentytwo cities having each more than 50.000 connections. New York, of course, has the greatest number of all, no fewer than 1.313,368, and Chicago is second with 741,883. Then follow London w’ith 432,303. Berlin with 392,172, Los Angeles with 260,567 and Paris with 226,552. Clock Chimes. Most chimes which tell the hours, the half-hours and the quarters are based on a tune which is more or less familiar, though it is seldom recognised by those who hear them. Dick Whittington is supposed to have been called back to London by the chimes in the tower of Bow Church. The fact that the tune, which is known as the Whittington Chimes, has not been rung on the bells of the church since before the Fire of London, if then, forms one of the nails in the coffin of the story. There is a bell tune known as “Turn again. Whittington,” which dates back nearly to his time. What are now commonly known as the Westminster quarters, but which went from Cambridge to Westminster, are based on four notes from the opening symphony of the solo from “Messiah.” "I know that my Redeemer liveth.” They were prepared by Dr Jowett and a young pupil of the then professor of music, William Crotch, who became one of the bestknown musicians of his day. At Cambridge they were known to the students as “Jowett’s Hornpipe.” They were not heard in London until about fifty years later, and then at the Royal Exchange, the Houses of Parliament not having them until about 1860. Proof Against Earthquakes. The pagodas before the temples in Japan seem to be the only class of buildings that are able to resist the action of the earthquakes occurring in that country. Many of these structures are centuries old„ and arc as firm and substantial as when first built. Though very high, the construction is such that their equilibrium is not disturbed, and they withstand shocks that are sufficient to demolish neighbouring buildings. The reason for this stability is .to be found in the peculiar manner in which they have been constructed. The pagoda, which consists of a framework of heavy timbers, rising from a wide hase, has suspended from the apex a long, heavy beam, two feet or more in thickness. At the lower end are bolted. on each of the four sides, four heavy timbers, and in the case of very high pagodas even more. The affair acts as a huge pendulum, reaching as it does to within six inches £>fthe ground, and at the occurrence of the earthquake it swings in unison with the motion of the earth, always keeping the centre of gravity at the base of the pagoda. Thus the equilibrium is never disturbed.