WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue VII, 16 February 1895, Page 152

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

Opposition is opportunity.—Emerson. Unholy tempers are unhappy tempers.—John Wesley. How to Select Lodgings.—A doctor gives the following account of his own course of procedure in selecting lodgings : * In the first place, I carefully note the appearance of the servant who opens the door. Is she healthy and bright, or pallid, and either languid or cross ! Next, ! similaily note the condition of the landlady and of her children, if any. Then I inquire into, and, if necessary, personally inspect the three essential elements of a healthy house—dryness, drainage, and water supply. But, from long experience, I can pretty accurately infer the state of the drains from the aspect and manners of the inmates, and where either pale faces or vixenish manners exist I do not go.’ A Red Sea Phenomenon.—A singular phenomenon occurs on the borders of the Red Sea at a place called Nakous, where the intermittent underground sounds have been heard tor an unknown number of centuries. It is situated at about half a mile's distance from the shore, whence a long reach of sand ascends rapidly to a height of almost 300 feet. This reach is 80 feet wide and resembles an amphitheatre, being railed in by low rocks. The sounds coming up from the ground at this place recur at intervals of about an hour. They at first resemble a low murmur, but before long there is heard a loud knocking, somewhat like the strokes of a bell, and which at the end of five minutes, becomes so strong as to agitate the sand. The explanation of this curious phenomenon given by the Arabs is that there is a convent under the ground, and these are sounds of the bell which the monks ring for prayers. So they call it Nakous, which means a bell. The Arabs affirm that the noise so frightens their camels when they hear it as to render them furious. Scientists attribute the sounds to suppressed volcanic action—probably to the bubbling of gas or vapours underground.

The Decline of Marriage.—ln future times, perhaps, the bashful girl of the period will come forward herself as a ‘ candidate for marriage but, at present, in flat contradiction of the French proverb, man no longer proposes. Many and varied are the reasons given for his remissness. The subject has been frequently ventilated, and * Why men don’t marry’ has more than once formed the theme of a copions newspaper correspondence. Some attribute it to the selfishness and luxury of the * skulking ’ male creature ; others to his shilly-shally and want of pluck ; others again, lay the theme on those odious clubs. One brutal person of my acquaintance says it is all the fault of the modern girl, who has such expensive and luxurious habits ; but then I do not hesitate to characterise him as a * man of the moment ’ of the worst possible description ! Mr Grant Allen in his * Post Prandial Philosophy ’ disagrees with them all. He thinks that in most things the modern young man is an improvement on bis progenitors, but he neverthelesss discerns in him a distinct and disastrous weakening of the matrimonial impulse. He attributes the present crisis in the English marriage market to the cumulative effect of nervous over excitement, consequent upon the wear and tear of modern existence. Tot homines quot sententice: no two people can agree as to the cause ; only the distressing fact remains, patent to all mothers of marriageable girls. The decline of marriage is, in fact, a new social phenomenon that has to be reckoned with and, if possible, explained.— Blackwood’s Magazine. - Effect of Fear.—A man connected with a travelling menagerie was sleeping on some blankets on the door of a tent, when something crawling over his breast roused him. Springing up he threw off the creature, which proved to be a huge rattlesnake. As he struck it be felt the prick of its fangs in bis arm, and, with a howl of pain and terror, bounded from the tent and shouted for help, whisky, a doctor or some medicine. There chanced to be nothing available within reach, and bis fellows stood around with scared faces waiting for him to die, which he appeared likely to do in a very short time. The arm began to swell, and the poor victim was soon gasping for breath and groaning with almost intolerable pain. At last, just as the breath seemed to leave his body, someone among the waggons shouted that one of the pet snakes had escaped. It was an enormous rattler, but harmless, as the fangs bad been removed. The reptile was found dead under one side of the tent, where the man had flung it. The bite proved to be the prick from a sharp tack in the canvas of the tent. In an hour the man was as well as ever save for weakness caused by the nervous excitement. It was the opinion of all who witnessed the incident that but for the timely disabuse of the man’s mind he would have been dead within a few minutes, the victim of nervous dread and terror.

Number Three.—There is a superstitious regard for the number three in the popular mind, and the third repetition of anything is generally looked upon as a crisis. Thus, an article may twice be lost and recovered, but the third time that it is lost it is gone for good. Twice a man may pass through some great danger in safety, but the third time he loses his life. If, however, the mystic third can be successfully passed, all is well. Three was called by Pythagoras the perfect number, and we frequently find its use symbolical of Deity ; thus, we might mention the trident of Neptune. the three-forked lightning of Jove, and the threeheaded dog of Pluto. The idea of trinity is not confined to Christianity, but occurs in several religions. In mythology, also, we find three Fates, three Furies, and three Graces; and, coming nearer to our own times, Shakespeare introduces his three witches. In public house signs three seems to play an important part, for we frequently meet with * Three Cups,’ ‘ Three Jolly Sailors,’ ’Three Bells,’ ’Three Tuns,’ * Three Feathers,’ in fact the number of almost anything of which a fertile imagination can conceive a trio. In nursery rhymes and tales this number is not unknown, and if we look back to the days of our childhood most of us will call to mind the three wise men of Gotham who took a sea voyage in a bowl, not to mention the three blind mice that had their tails cut off by the farmer’s wife. Perhaps there is some occult power in the number which governs the division of novels into three volumes and induces doctors to order their medicines to be taken thrice daily. It is said that some tribes of savages cannot count beyond three. But. although they may have no words to express higher numbers, perhaps we should he scarcely justified in assuming that they are incapable of appreciating the value of the latter.

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