BREEZES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 2 March 1934, Page 4

BREEZES

The Reason. ' “How did you miss that partridge ? ’ ’ “It flew zig-zag, and I shot at zig and it flew zag. ’ ’ ‘ 1 * * ft * Our Ancestors. 1 Mr Newrich; “ ’Ow much do you charge to trace back family ’ist’ry?’* Genealogist: “Fifty pounds to have it hunted up. A hundred and fifty to have it hushed up.” **\ * * Where the Colonel Was. The editor was furious. “Are you the chump who wrote up the county ball?” he said to the quaking reporter. “Oh, you are? Well, look here. ‘Among the pretty girls in the room was Colonel Oldnut. ’ Nice rubbish, that is! The colonel is a man, I suppose, isn’t he?” “He may be,” said the reporter brazenly, “but that is where he was.” f,* * * A Jam. ] ' } Old Gentleman (to small boy, who is crying): “What’s the matter, little man ? ’ ’ Small Boy: “Please, sir, father hit me cos I jammed my fingers.” “Here’s sixpence. Stop crying and tell me all about it. Where did you jam them?” “In the jam jar.” * * # * Protection for Husband. A wife, six feet tall and strongly built, was bound over at Southend (London) recently to keep the peace for six months towards her husband, who said he went in bodily fear of her. He is Mr Arthur H. Norris, of Central Avenue, Southend, and he summoned his wife for threats. “After spells of silence,” he told the Bench, “she suddenly threatens me with the fire tongs.” When asked if she would promise not to threaten her husband, Mrs Norris replied: “It all depends.” A sister-in-law of Mr Norris (who appeared in court with a black eye) and a man who, he said, was his wife’s friend, were bound over for assault. *■ ft * * Rights of Way. A vast Domesday Book of six-inch-to-the-mile maps, showing every footpath, bridle path, stile and stepping-stone in England and Wales to which the public has right of access, is in course of preparation. This- book owes its origin to the Bights of Way Act, 1932, which became law on Ist January. The Act makes provision for landlords to lodge with their rural district or estate, showing the footpaths which they concede to be public. The new Rights of Way Act marks the end of a twenty-five years’ struggle on the part of the Footpaths and Commons Preservation Society to get it placed on the Statute Book. Every path that finds its way into the new Domesday Book becomes part of the national heritage for all time. * * * * Mansion Sold for £4O. The ancient mansion called St. Love, for many years the residence of the Bishop of Exeter, was sold by auction to an Exeter workman recently for £4O. It has 37 rooms. Some of the rooms have 10th century flooring, and there are archaeological treasures in the grounds, which, however, have not been sold with the house. Mr Ernest Baker, the purchaser, stated that the bidding began at £5. “I have already sold £2o worth of Tudor flooring and other properties,” lie added, “and I hope to make my purchase price several times over by selling the house piecemeal. “An ancient stone archway is to be sent to London, and a stone cross in the grounds, which is so old that its age is uncertain, is to become the property of antiquarians. Priceless old Tudor panelling will be moved to the Exeter Guildhall. The whole property is to be demolished in three months.” i The writer stood in the middle of a group of local residents who have lived in Exeter all their lives, and came in crowds to see the end of the old house. “It is sad to see it go,” one of them, a solicitor, whose family has lived in the town for generations, said. ‘ ‘ St. Love has been connected for years with the cathedral and its affairs, and has been lived in continuously up to now. We regarded its treasures as a part of Exeter. At the bottom of the grounds, not included in the sale, of course, are the ruins of the old church. ’ ’ * ♦ * * Man’s Miscroscope Eyes. There is a man in Bolton (England) who lias eyes which must astonish oculists. For they have the quality of a microscope. He is also an artist in script. This wonder penman is Mr dames Tierney, of 39 Hastings Row, Bolton, a clerk in the offices of the Bolton branch of Messrs Peter Walker’s breweries. Finding his gift of fine script in his extraordinarily keen vision, he does this microscopic writing as a hobby. Within the space of a pinhead he writes the alphabet twice over —every letter distinct under the glass, lie can put the Lord’s Prayer 21 times on the space of a threepenny bit. But one of his most marvellous feats is to write the Lord’s Prayer along the edge of an ordinary postcard. It amuses him to write out the full name of the famous Llanfair P.G. village, in Anglesey, on a space one-eighth of an inch square, or to do a verse of Omar Khayyam in about the same space in the beautiful text used by the old writers of manuscript.

It. is not that ho does this work so small as to be beyond the vision of the average human eye. It is as correctlv and artistically done as an expert would do it in ordinary script. Mr Tierney is, in fact, an artist, as his drawings for Christmas cards and other purposes show. It is a mystery to his friends why Mr Tierney does not turn his astonishing faculty to commercial or scientific* use. Such eves as his, it must bp presumed, would be invaluable in the laboratory or the workshop.