WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 79, 31 October 1874, Page 12

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

A Hat Stoby. — The ' Christian Union ' vouches for the trnth of the following, which would be more surprising to us, were we convinced of its accuracy :—": — " A young rat had fallen into a pail of pig feed. Six friends — or relatives, it may be, but that is only surmised — suddenly appeared and consulted how to rescue the unfortunate. So earnest were they in their consultation that the numerous spectators wore entirely ignored. The six rats entwined their feet together and formed a chain over the edge of the pail, and the foremost rat, 'which was supposed to be the mother' of the infant rat, grasped it in her arms, and both were drawn out upon the floor. The affect <vg story in its close moved one to tears. .The infant rat was drawn out too late, and after it was found to be dead the 6ix friends gave a last fond look, wiped the tears from their eyes with their paws, and departed without trying to resuscitate it. No wonder we fail in in defending our corn cribs from such sagacious enemies." The Palace Hotel in San Francisco.— Work on the Palace Hotel is being actively pushed, and great interest is being manifested by the public in the mammoth structure. The work already done on the foundation shows that it will be a very substantial as well as elegant building. The edifice -will occupy the space of 96,000 feet, bounded by Market, New Montgomery, Annie, and Jettoe Mitels, and will have the following frontages : On New Montgomery, 344 feet ; on Market, 275 feet ; on Annie, 344 feet ; on Jessie, 275. To show the magnitude of the building, it may be stated that the Stuyresaut House, New York, covers 36,000 fcefc ; the grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, 56,350 feet. The Palace Hotel will bo of six storeys, and -willaccomodate 1,200 guests. The plans of the building and all the details are being carried out in the most careful and accurate manner under the able supervision of Mr John P. Gaynor, the architect, to whose industry and skill the vast pile will be an enduring monument. When completed, which will probably be in about a year, the Palace Hotel will be opened under the management of Mr Warren Leland, irho stands preeminent among the few who know how to keep an hotel. ' * No Children.— The following, taken from an American paper, can bo read with advantage by a certain class of the community, to whom children appear to be particularly objectionable : — A Tio-n-o without children is like a heaven without angels. We often hear '.^ucllords say of some of their tenants: "They are desirable tenants 1 because they have no children." Advertisements and notices * ' houses to let, or of board, are qualified by the words: "With -it, children." Children are an incumbrance, a nuisance, and they .. ■ not -wanted. Supposing we change the order and say, select em/es md classes of society, of single persons and childless parents ; houses vid homes where no little lips prattle, no little voices cry. How stiff *nd prim the parlors ; how orderly and mechanical the company ; bo*r cold and formal the salutations j there is no romp nor fun there, no scratches on the furniture; nothing awry, and no glee. The guests are like fish, cold-blooded, no throb of paternal feeling beats in theso veins ; no pet nor playthings, because no children are there. Any of the company are free to bring in a kitten or a poodle, with its weak eyes, and the corners of its mouth streaked in channels, like the stream that flows from the mouth of a tobacco chewer ; to be fondled and kissed, and lie on the lap of its devoted mistress. But no children. Better sweep the flowers from the soil ; better pluck the stars from the sky ; yes, let the paint aud varnish, and fine upholstery go, but let the children come. Next to the song of an angel is the laugh of a child. And tho heart that can feel, and the lips that can aay, I hate children, should exchange places with Lot's wife. Tho nnan or the woman that has fallen, no matter what his crime is who rretams in his soul the love of song, of flowers, and of children, has Tiot yet been left without the ministry of angels, to woo and win him l)ack to virtue. And the home that has not echoed to the merry -voices of childhood, has not yet been baptized to its name, even though Sormal prayers may have dedicated it to the purposes of lorn 3. Cubkan Preparing his SpEECHES.—Curran had an unconquerable aversion to tho labor of writing. In the composition of his speeches, Cm-ran trusted only to meditation and memory. He tried wt nrst to write his speeches, but immediately gave up the attempt Writing was not to him an aid, but an embarrassment. He much loved walking, and as he walked, he loved to think. In these thoughttul walking* much ho mused, and out of theso musings came many of the electee brilliancies of his speeches. He loved music too ; and Having some skill on the violincello, while he poured along the strings some love song, or war song, or death song, he composed and elaborated his orations. But though Curran did not write his speeches, he was no merely extemporaneous speaker, as indeed no great speaker can ever be. His preparation was one of careful and most thorough labor. What he was to speak, he made ready to his I thought, that it might be also ready to his tongue ; and this he did by toii winch it required the utmost ambition and enthusiasm to undertake or bear. Curran was a man of genius, and because he was such, no was a man of labor. He neglected nothing which could perfect his gxfts, but was honestly vigilant that, in all which work could do, his gifts should not be vulgarly spoken of. He trained an obstinate voice into musical obedience j by the habit of nobly thinking, he gave glory to homely features j and nature blessed him with an eye that, large, grand and deep, was as variable as the phases of the sky—living as the spirit mind— soft; and tender to pity or console gay and sportive to amuse or delight—earnest or solemn to threaten or command. American Immigrants.— A calculation of a simple kind has been made to show the value to the United States of the immigration that country has received in the mere matter of money brought in by o „ J lC^' arriTals - Ifc is estimated that from 1783 to 1873 there were 8,779,1,4 aliens landed in the United States. They brought about 68dols. per hea-. Placing it at only 50d015., we have £444,000,000 as the result.

A Substitute pob Paper.—A writer in the < Scientific American, taking up the queation of possible substitutes for paper, mentions the feasibility of the use of sheets of metal rolled to almost infinite attenuations, and states that iron has been rolled so thin that a slieet ot it 10 m. by 5* in., or 55 inches in surface, -weighed only 2a grams 4,800 such sheets being required to make up a mass one inch in thickness. Hippophaoy.— The consumption of the flesh of horses, mules, and asses is decidedly on the increase in Paris. Returns show that the flesh of 2xll horses, aßses, and mulee was sold to the Parisian S^^T^n^ 6 fS?Aqu^^ the CUrrenfc year ' 1275 in SJSI V* 87?' A 8^ lar inCreaße of co^^Ption is also reported from the provinces. The Society for the Propagation of the Practice of Eating Horse-flesh at their last meeting, co^frred medal. on J*L. Necrose, a military veterinary surgeon, its founder; and on M Condore, who was the first to preserve horse-flosh. It was etatod at the meeting that horse-flesh preserved in February, 1871, by M Condere a process, and opened in April, 1874, could not be distinguisned from beef preserved according to the best methods now in use.— London Medical Record.' Whebe thb Fault Lies.—With such a climate, such a soil, and such a people, the inferiority of Ireland to the rest of Europe i» directly traceable to the long wickedness of the English Government —Mev. Sydney Smith. ti. „ 1 LoVE °* Justice.—l have been informed by many of those that had judicial places in Ireland, and know partly of my own knowledge, that there ie no nation of the Christian world that are greater lovers of justice than the Irish are, which virtue must needs be accompanied by many others.—Lord Coke. Physical Stbenoth op the Ibish.—Considering man merely as a source of animal power, it is gratifying to have it proved that, •when well fed, there is no race more perfectly developed as to physical conformation than the inhabitants of Ireland. Professor Forbes instituted an extensive series of observations of the size and strength of the students attending the University of Edinburgh, who may be considered as fairly representing the middle classes of their respective countries ; and I have subjoined the similar results of Professor Ouetelet, regarding the students of the University of Brussels. .' he stre^^h indicated iB that of a blow given to the plate of a sprint dyn- -lu^cer: — I '

I'Ue Irish are thus the tallest, the strongest, and the heaviest of the four races. Mr Field, the eminent mechanical ongineer of London, had occasion to examine the relative powers of British and Irish labourers to raise weights by a crane. He communicated his result* to the Institute of Civil Engineers in London. He found that the utmost effort of a man lifting at the rate of one foot per minutelranged — Englishman ... from 11,505 lbs to 24,255 lbs. Irishman ... „ 17,325 „ 27,562 lba. The utmost effort of a Welshman was 15,112 lba. The Pbogeess op Cremation.—At a meeting of the German Cremation Society in New York, recently, an address of some interest was delivered by Mr. Stilck, the president of the society. The proposed leform, he thought, would greatly lessen the cost now incurred in disposing of the bodies of the dead. This the society shortly intended to prove by erecting the necessary building and apparatus. Their design was to build a hall with walls of iron, 60ft. by 44ft, with a rotunda in the centre, supported by eight pillars. All light would be admitted, from the top. In the centre would be erected an altar for religious ceremony, and upon a large plate in front of the altar the coffin containing the dead would be deposited by the relatives. On this plate would be an iron coffin, in which the friends might place the body only, or their own coffin, if dwsired. A light composition plate would beattached, and screwed to the coffin, and every other service performed s>3 in present burials. The ceremonies ended, the coffin would gradually disappear from view, the plate on which it rested bein^ lowered by screws to a furnace. By means of other screws the plate and coffinwould be raided to the furnace, and the remains submitted to v hot-air blast of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. From 250 to 450 pounds of coal oil would be required to feed Hie furnace, and complete cremation would be effected in an hour and a-half. Connecting with the furnace was another apparatus for condensing the gases and smoke. At the expiration of the time mentioned the coffin would again be returned to the altar, and the ashes gathered and given to the relatives. The entire procest would cost about S doU. The society at present numbers 450 members, and an effort will be made to have it incorporated by the next Legislature. Irishmen iir the Prelacy.—The number of Irish ecclesiastics distinguished by His Holiness the Pope for advancement hi dignity is very remarkable. The following appeared in the list published at the recent Consistory : Church of Melbourne (Australia), erected into a metropolitan See: Mgr. James A. Goold, Archbishop of that See. Archiepiscopal Church of Daniietta, (in partilus) : Eev. P. Lyons, Dominican, Delegate, Apostolic of Mesopotamia, of Kurdistan, and of Armenia Minor. Cathedral Church of Hamilton : Eev. Peter Crinnon, V, G., London. Cathedral Church of Wellington, Ifew Zealand, Eev. Father Redwood, Marist. Church of Ballarat (Australia), elevated to the rank of cathedral; Eev. Michael O'Connor of the dioceseof Dublin. Church of Sandhurst (Australia), elevated to the rank of cathedral: Hey William Fortune, rector of the All Hallows, Dublin. Episcopal Church of Alabenda (in partibus) : Eev. William O'Carroll, Dominican, Coadjutor of Mgr. Gonin, Archbishop of Port of Spain.

English Scotch Irish Belgians Average heigl in inches. ... 68fr ... 69 ... 10 . 68 .verage weigl in lbs. 151 152£ 155 150 lit .verage strengtl in lbs. 403 423 432