WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume X, Issue 24, 17 June 1893, Page 560

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

A heavy purse is an excellent counterweight to a light heart. He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. It is no point of wisdom for a man to beat his brains about things impossible. One of the most fascinating of occupations is watching other people work ; but only a foreman can make it pay. A mule would rather hear himself bray than listen to any other music. A good many people are made like him. Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in the soil, and a scarred or crooked oak will tell the act in years to come. How forcibly does this figure show the necessity of giving right tendencies to the minds and hearts of the young.

Happy are those who have lost their relish for tumultuous pleasure, and are content with the soothing quiet of innocence and retirement ! Happy are those whose amusement is knowledge, and whose supreme delight the cultivation of the mind ! Wherever they shall be driven by the persecution of Fortune, the means of enjoyment are still with them ; and that weary littleness which renders life unsupportable to the voluptuous and the lazy is unknown to those who can employ themselves by reading. Curious Habits of Hooks.—Among the odd habits of rooks is the way that members of the same rookery have of inter marrying generation after generation. The males always choose their wives from among their near neighbours ; and if one should be so bold as to bring home to his rookery a bride from a distance the other looks will invariably refuse to receive her, and will force the pair to build some way off. In the neigbb-rurhood of big rookeries outlying nests of this kind may always be found. Romance in Real Life.—When ill, a man is peculiarly susceptible to kindness, and a pretty nurse is apt to become dangerous to his peace. Not long ago a young man with a broken leg and an attractive appearance languished in a city hospital. The demure, white - capped nurse began to take an unusual interest in him,' and, after a time, asked hint if there was nothing she could do for him—no book she could read, no letter she could write. The patient gracefully accepted the latter otter, and the nurse prepared to write from his dictation. He began with a tender address to his ‘dearest love,’and the little nurse felt slightly embarrassed. But she contiaued through the most ardent declarations of all absorbing affection to the end, where he wished to be subscribed an adoring lover for all time. Then she folded the letter and slipped it into its envelope. *To whom shall I direct it?’ she asked. The wicked young fellow said amiably and even tenderly, ‘ What is your name, please?’ They have been married a little more than a year now.

Split English Pennies.— How many collec’ tors of coins know anything about the curious halfpence issued centuries ago by Euglish authorities, halfpence in the truest sense of the word, since they were nothing more than minted pennies cut directly in half? Specimens of these coinshave been discovered frequently among the buried treasures which from time to time have been unearthed in Great Britain. In Lancashire in 1840 were found a rare lot of coins, among which were several pennies of the time of Alfred a d Edward divided in this way. Similarly divided pence of the time of Edward the Confessor have been found, and in speaking of the discovery, in 1833, of a number of these curious half-pence of the time of William the Conquerer, an unquestioned authority states that they were probably issued from the mints in that form, since the whole collection had evidently been in circulation. In the British Museum in London are specimens of these divided coins issued under various monarchs from Alfred to Henry 111., with the latter of whom the custom ceased. An eminent archaeologist accounts for the divided coins by saying that this doubtless arose from the scat city of small change, which was in part remedied under the reign of Edward I. by the coinage of half pence and farthings.

A Dog goes into Hypnotic Trances. — All St. Petersburg has gone wild over some-

thing new, a dog which goes off into hypnotic trances. This remarkable animal belongs to M.

Duroy, who was awarded a gold medal by the Paris Academy of Science for his original investigation and discoveries in the science of hypnotism as applied to animals and its effect upon them. Several tests have been made of the animal in the presence of no less a person than Dr. Afanasiev of the War Department. One of the tests consisted in placing several articles, as a pencil, cigar case, handkerchief, cuff button, etc., on the floor. Then the dog, having been thrown into a hypnotic trance by him, M. Duroy requested one of the audience, which consisted also of several other physicians of ronown and some newspaper men, to think about something and what the dog was to do with it, then to write it out on a piece of paper and show it to the rest of the audience, excepting, of course, himself. This was done, and, the dog having been b-ought in, what was the astonishment of the whole assemblage to see the animal go up to the cigar case, pick it up and bring it to the one who had been indicated in the wish. Another test consisted in laying several cubes with figures on them in a certain order in a closed box. At the same time several pieces of paper were put upon the floor bearing like numbers on each. The dog was then called in and required to place the pieces of paper in the same order as the cubes were laid in the closed and sealed box. This he did, to the astonishment of all assembled. The strangeness of the whole procedure is increased when it is remembered that M. Duroy knoss no more about what is being done or wished than does the dog, and is, therefore, entirely unable in any way to prompt him.