All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, 12 July 1906, Page 38

All Sorts

The British Museum has books written on bricks, tiles, oyster shells, tncmes, and flat stones, together wit,h manuscripts on bark, ivory, leather, parchment, papyrus, lead, iron, copper, and wood. Under the Belgian law unmarried men over twentyfive have one vote, married men and widowers with families have two votes, and priests and oth,er persons of position and education have three votes. A horse can live twenty-five days without solid load, merely drinking water ; seventeen days without either eating or drinking'; and only fi\e days when eating solid food without drinking. The largest ocean in the world is the Pacific ; river, the Amazon ; gulf, Mexico'; cape, Horn'; lake, Superior ; bay, Bengal ; island, Australia ; city, London; public building, St. Peter's, Rome ; desert, Sahara ; State, Texas ; highest mountain, .Mount Everest, Hindustan, Asia ; largest sound, Long Island ; canal, Grand Canal, China-; bridge, that over the Tay at Dundee, Scotland. A lady going from home for the day locked everything up well, and for the grocer's benefit wrote on a card :—: — ' All out. Don't leave anything. This she stuck on the front door. On her return home she found her house ransacked and all her choicest possessions gone. To the card on the door was added ' Thanks ; we haven't left much. In connection with tlie discovery,, of payable oil in Taranaki, it is interesting to note "that the* iirst who made known the existence of petroleum in America was the Franciscan Father Joseph de la Roche d'Allion, who was at Niagara in 1629. The first who discovered the salt springs of Salina, New York, 'was the Jesuit Father Le Moyne, in 1654. The first who worked the copper of Lake Superior was the Jesuit lay Brother Giles Mezier, about 1675. The Jesuits were the first who raised a crop of wheat in Illinois, and the first who introduced sugar cane 'into Louisiana. One of the stories in Katherine Tynan's recent collection of Irish wit, is as follows :—: — ' A well-known Duiblin citizen, also prominent on the temperance platforms in Dublin, was addressing a crowded meeting and arguing against the assumption that stimulants were necessary to health ' " Look at me, boys," he said. " Here I am, 80 years old. X've been a total abstainer all my life, and could you see any man of 80 healthier than I am ? ' ' " Yerra, Mr. 8.," said a \oice in the crowd, "if you'd taken your glass like a man, 'tis a hundred you'd have been by now." ' In connection with the recent revent revelations regarding the methods of the meat-packers of Chicago following little story is interesting • — A certain lecturer says that the Indians of Alaska regard white men and canned goods as so closely associated that they are nearly synonymous. Wherever the white man is seen, canned meats, fruits, and vegetables are found. When the lecturer visited Alasikia recently -one of his fellow-travel--lers carried with him a phonograph, and it was exhibited for the especial benefit of the head man of one of the local Indian tribes. The old chief, who had never seen a talking machine before, showed marked interest in the performance, and when the sound of a human voice came from the trumpet of the phonograph, he listened gravely for a time, and then approached and peered into the trumpet. When tlie cylinder was finished, and' the voice stopped, the old chief pointed at it, smiled broadly, and remarked : ' Huh ! Him canned white man ! ' The following cable message appeared in Thursday's daily papers :— An inquiry regarding; the alleged extravagance in the Poplar Workhouse showed that the paupers on the country farm colony were allowed three meat meals daily, much more expensive tea than the House of Commons uses, week-end trips to London with fares paid and pocket money, , which they were allowed to spend in hotels. Speaking in the House of Commons the other day advocating an inquiry into the expenditure and administration of Poplar Union Lord BaHour ol Burleigh said that one out of every 16 of the population in the district was in receipt of poor law relief in some form or other, >and the actual, increase of cost per head per week of pampers had risen by 2s, a very alarming increase. The rates were 12s in the £, and the actual cost of out-door relief alone had risen from £16,000 in 1891 to £35,000 in 1005. These facts, taken together, established a prima facie case tfiat something was wrong with the administration.