WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 41, 8 October 1892, Page 998

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

Only the quickening of conscience can hasten repentance. Gold is either the fortune or the ruin of mankind, according to its use. The more people become wrapped up in themselves the colder they grow. Gratitude is the music of the heart when its cords are swept by kindness. Society depends upon women. The nations who confine them are unsociable. Scientific riflemen say that people with blue eyes always shoot the straightest. One half the world does not know how the other half lives ; but the women are trying their best to remedy that. The farther away a man gets from his baby the more he praises its good behaviour. Self-love is at once the most delicate and most tenacious of our sentiments ; a mere nothing will wound it, but there is nothing on earth will kill it. If we look into communities and diversions of men we observe that the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, guides the conversation and gives measure to society.—Addison. A General Failing.—lt is rather unpleasant to hear a public speaker remark, ‘ my friends, ur, I wish to say a few words—ur, on this occasion—ur.’ But then it should be remembered that to err is human. The champion coin counter in the United States is a lady in the Treasury Department at Washington, who can count 75,000 coins a day. Her fingers are so familiar with the touch of good money that a counterfeit cannot slip through them, even when she is counting at this lightning speed. ” ‘Love-letter pillows’ are the latest institution. Girls stuff their pillow cases with the various tender epistles that they have received. Sentimental youths do likewise, and use for the purpose, not only their collection of love letters, but also the various withered roses, odds and ends of and locks of hair that have been given to them. SUE CAUGHT OX. Oh. maid of the. modern Athens. Bright jem or pulchritude. When I view your matchless beauty. Thine optics azure hued : Thy classic features clearly cut. In all their supcrnality Of faultless form, irradiate With superrtne mentality ; My timid tongue, in deadly fear. vVould fain its task doeline. And yet I must interrogate— Penelope, wilt be mine ?’ And then the young man paused abruptly In his oration high falutin ; ‘Such dictionary truck.' thought he, ‘ Will fetch her as sure as shootin'.’ And the Christchurch girl dropped her glasses And bowed her Minerva-like head. Then her silvery voice broke the silence And ‘ Oh, Rats !' was all she said. A Naughty Novel in Government Offices —Few expected much enlightenment from • My Lords ’ of the Admiralty, and there will probably be little surprise at the following tale In the latest catalogue of works published in Paris was an announcement of one simply called ‘ Mell nite.’ Under the impression that it would be a scientific brochure on the newest explosive, it was ordered by ‘My Lords’for the comprehensive library at Whitehall, but to the disgust of some and to the amusement of others there, when it arrived it proved to be a novel of distinctly advanced Parisian type, bearing its heroine’s name. What has become of the novel is not stated. Digestibility of Cucumber.—Many people are under the impression that cucumber is very indigestible, and when they eat it they do so under protest, and with apprehensions of possibly dire consequences. How this delusion can have arisen it is difficult to say, unless it be that cucumber is often eaten with salmon and other indigestible table fruits. It is not the cucumber, however, but the salmon that sits so heavily on our stomach’s throne. Cucumber, in fact, is very digestible when eaten properly. It cannot, indeed, be otherwise when it is remembered that it consists mainly of water, and that those parts which are not water are almost exclusively cells of a very rapid growth. In eating cucumber, it is well to cut it into thin slices and to masticate them thoroughly. Even the vinegar and the pepper that are so often added to it are of service to digestion if not taken in excess.

Some Ct. Riots 1 ruths. — There are a number of societies in the world that bear strange names, but probably one of the most cuiious was a club founded in 1735 by an English actor. It was called ‘The Sublime Society of Beefsteaks,’ and had among its members the Prince of Wales and other royal personages. They met in the painting room of the Covenc Garden Theatre, and dined upon beefsteaks. The club was in existence for more than a hundred years, and became quite noted because of its odd customs. Another strange name was that of the ‘ Scriblerus Club,’ which Swift founded in 1714, and to which Pope, Gay, and other literary men belonged. Sedan-chairs were first used in England by the Duke of Buckingham during the reign of .James I. l'he first chair aroused much indignation among the people, who said that men were being used to do the work of beasts, but later on they became very fashionable. The fashion of saying ‘God bless you !’ after sneezing, originated with the ancients. These people believed that some danger attended sneezing, so they generally made a short prayer, such as ‘Jupiter, help me ! It has been found to be the custom among savages to do the same, and Jewish rabbis also make mention of the fact. An old Roman writer says that the custom originated during a plague, when people who were seemingly in good health sneezed and fell down dead. Bagpipes are generally ascribed to Scotland, where they have been in use for a long time, but it was an instrument upon which the ancient Greeks and Romans played. Nero is said to have performed upon it, and an old piece of Grecian sculpture represents a player on the bagpipes dressed in the fashion that is known to-day as the Highland costume.