WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 10, 7 March 1891, Page 7

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

Ti M E is the rider that breaks youth. Employment for women—Matchmaking. Two is company —three is being chajieioned. Grown people feel the truth, but it is the children who tell it. A woman forgets when she forgives ; a man forgives when he forgets. A church 1 azaar is like a bad scrape. It’s easier to get into it than it is to get out. If you would be capable, cultivate your mind ; if you would be loved, cultivate your heart. When a man starts out to a lecture he puts on a dress suit. When a woman starts out to lecture she puts on a nightgown. It is a good plan never to become well acquainted with the people who have been held up to you as shining examples. Probably one reason why a woman’s sins are never forgiven is that she never claims that she was drunk when they were committed. She : * You should introduce a little change in your style of dancing.’ He : ‘ How do you mean ? She : ‘ You might occasionally step on my left foot ; the right has hail enough.’ True happiness never flows into a man, but always out of him. Hence, heaven is sometimes found in cottages and hell in palaces. Heaven itself is more internal than external. A common error of men and women is to look for happiness outside of useful work. It has never Ireen found when thus sought, and never will be while the sun revolves and the earth stands. Everything Provided For.—Guest: ‘l’m glad there’s a rope here in ease of fire ; but what is the use of putting a Bible in the room in such a prominent position ?’ Bell Boy : ‘ Dat am intended foh use, sah, ic case de fire am too far advanced foh yoh to make yoh escape, sah.’ The Indian’s Physique.—Dr. Winder of California, who has been among the Indians for thirty years, says that no white man can hope to equal their physical development. They do not train, but are born that way, and the average Indian boy of fifteen can stand more fatigue than an athlete among the white men. Small-pox and bullets are about the only things which can kill them. There is always one disadvantage in keeping very closely to the fashion, and that is that one is the surer to be soon notably out of fashion. This is a fact that people in moderate circumstances should take to heart. It will prevent their wearing outre styles which are stamped openly with the season to which they belong, and are not to be mistaken. They cannot be carried over to next year. The Use of Sleep.—The question is often asked, ‘ How long can a man live without sleep?’ The victim of the Chinese ‘ waking torture ’ seldom survives more than ten days. Those condemned to die by the waking torture are given all they wish to eat and drink, but sleep is denied them. Whenever the poor victim closes his eyes he is jabbed with spears and sharp sticks until he is awake. There is no torture more horrible.

The ‘Happy Despatch.’—‘ Hari-kari,’ or ‘the happy despatch,’ was a Japanese method of execution. When an official of rank was condemned to death, a sword was sent to him ; he took leave of his family, performed certain religious rites, and then plunged the sword into his bowels, drawing it down and across. If a gentleman had been insulted, he would commit hari-kari on the doorstep of his enemy ; wbc, by the Japanese code of honour, was compelled to do the same. < fnly old-fashioned persons perform the ‘ happy despatch ’ nowadays in Japan ; it has been shelved along with many other old customs of that empire.

Marriage of Corpses.—A Chinese girl, recently deceased, was married to a dead boy in another village. It not infrequently happens that the son in the family dies before he is married, and that it is desirable to adopt a grandson. The family cast about for some young girl who has also died recently, and a proposition is made for the union of the two corpses in the bonds of matrimony. If it is accepted there is a combination of a wedding and a funeral, in the process of which the deceased bride is taken by a large number of bearers to the cemetery of the other family and laid beside her husband. In this case the real motive for the ceremony is the desire to have a showy funeral at the expense of another family.

Demoralizing a Brass Band.—One of the most annoying and at the same time amusing sights ever witnessed was a scene on a river excursion recently. There was a brass band on board the boat, and while the band was in the middle of a grand piece of music a small bov secured a conspicuous position in front of the players and began sucking a lemon. He acted so as to attract the attention of several of the players who seemed to be unable to avoid watching the urchin as he pulled away at the sour fruit. Now every one knows how the sight of a lemon will make one’s mouth water, and that is just what the musicians wish to avoid. The harder the boy sucked the lemon the more watery became the mouths of the players, and finally they had to stop to clean their instruments, and the leader of the band had the boy removed.

How High Can Man Live?—A traveller states thatin Thibet lie has lived for months together at e height of mote than 15,000 feet above sea level and that the result was as follows: ■ His pulse, at the normal heights only 63 beats per minute, seldom fell below 100 beats per minute during the whole time he resided at that level. His respirations were often twice as numerous in the minute as they were in the ordinary levels. A run of ICO yards would quicken both pulse anil respiration mote than a run of 1,000 yards at sea level, and he found that the higher the level the greater the difficulty of running or walking fast. He crossed the Gurla Mandhata mountains at a height of 20,000 feet, and found that lie had the utmost difficulty in getting his breath fa‘t enough. The native guides of the mountains suffered equally as much as the visitor.’