People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 2 October 1934, Page 6

People and Their Doings.

p endalton Vicar Talks to His Parishioners in Parables Over a Comic Pen-name : The London County Council has Decided to Put Una Tablet to Karl Marx.

THE London County Council has [ decided to place a tablet on the house j in Maitland Park Road. Hampstead, where j Karl Marx lived from 1873 to the time ot | his death in 1883. Marx's life at this j address was more or less free of the j poverty he had experienced at Dean Street, t Soho, and at Grafton Street. Tottenham ■ Court Road, though in later years he was j much troubled by ill-health. It was at ; this Hampstead home that Marx com- j pleted the drafts of Volumes II and 111 of his famous book ” Capital,” which were afterwards published by his friend and benefactor. Engels. The inscription will read: “ Karl Marx, Socialist philosopher, lived here.” 32? TT IS POSSIBLE that the now superfluous palace in Berlin may be converted into a Hindenburg Museum as a memorial to its last and lamous occupant. His private rooms would remain just as the'' - were when he last used them—as King Manoel of Portugal's rooms were left, newspapers and all. at the palace in Lisbon after the revolution —and other apartments would be converted into showrooms illustrating the various periods of Hindenburg’s career. There would be, for example, a Koniggratz chamber, with its chief exhibit the bullet-scarred helmet which the young Hindenburg wore during the. battle. Another room would illustrate his part in the Franco-Prussian war and another would be devoted to the events of the Great War. T*. has been discovered that, while tolling the death of the late President, the belt of St Mary’s Church of Schonach in the Black Forest cracked. It now emits only a jarring sound, and the country folk regard this as a perfectly natural phenomenon marking the passing of so revered a figure.

'J’IIE LITTLE GIRL was not far wrong who said that a parable was an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The Rev Otho Fitz Gerald, who is relieving the Rev F. B. Redgrave in the Fendalton parish, has spoken in parables to his parishioners rather of heavenly things with an earthly meaning. Humbly disguising himself as “ Old Stop Gap.” his parish as Jerusalem. ; and his old parish, Avonside, as Nazareth. ! he writes: By the way, Stop Gap went down to i Nazareth the other day, which has a | population of 230 church families He was asked what amount the church ; people of Jerusalem offered to God on 1 the preceding Sunday, and he said “£6 10s.” “ Why,” came back the voice of J Nazareth, “ there are 550 church families i in Jerusalem, and yet on the same Sun- j dav in this poor little village the people j offered £ll to God.” “ Now, how do you ‘ account for this glaring disparity?” i ” Well,” answered poor old Stop Gap, “ the only way I can explain it is that . the church people dwelling in Jerusalem do not approve of me imposing myself on them, and so with their instinctive kindness of heart they have made tip their minds to boycott me, and indirectly bring discredit upon their parish.” There is one very sad thing about the present situation in Jerusalem. Many of these people seem so determined to . ostracise old Stop Gap as far as worship j is concerned (otherwise they could not be kinder) that Mr Redgrave when he returns will be shocked to find what a ! landslide there has been in parish 1 finances. And he will not be content with telling Stop Gap to go back to Nazareth, but to go to Jericho (Jericho, by the way, is supposed to be the hottest place in the world), and he will never set out again to see the King.

COM E AMUSING STORIES aV-out the * dental chair were told to recent dental conferences in England Mr R C. ScottDow. of Edinburgh, said a Dundee dentist who had rooms opposite the Salvation Army noticed that some patient* who came to have gas sat down in the chair, looked out of the window, and then changed their minds, saying they would not have gas that dav. The dentist did not discover the reason until one day he sat in the chair, and. looking through the window, saw painted or. the opposite wall in big letters 44 Prepare to meet thy God.” Mr R Willcox. of Clifton. Bristol, told how a celebrated Welsh international footballer under an anaesthetic went into violent paroxvsm? as soon as he (the dentist) had simply removed a tooth. The foot-baller-patient seized him by the thigh, threw him against the wall, and caused the nurse to jump out of the window. The anaesthetist, a Scotsman, who also played the game, tackled the patient, who was finally mastered by the combined efforts of dentist and anaesthetist. On coming round, the patient said, 44 I feel I have been behaving extraordinarily. May I as compensation ask will you accept double fees?” ” That patient was a real sport,” observed Mr Willcox. 9 ® ® GIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “Star” of October 2, 1874): Maori house. The Maori artificers have commenced to erect the framework of the Maori house at the Museum, and the site has been fenced off so as to keep the public at a distance while the work is in progress. Auckland, September 30. The barquentine Falcon, 255 thus register, built to order for Messrs Watt Bros, Napier, was successfully launched to-day. The vessel is intended to trade between Napier and