All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 2, 10 January 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

The only -fish that never sleep are salmon, .pike, and goldfish.

The matriculated students in Germany's twenty-one - universities numbered last, session 44,964. This is an increase of nearly 15,000 in ten years. .''..- In Madagascar silk is the' only fabric used in --the manufacture of clothing. lt~ is cheaper than linen' in Ireland

Teacher : ' You've been a very good boy for the last day or two, Bobbie. I haven't seen you fighting with the other boys or romping in the schoolroom.' 'Bobbib : ' Yes'm. I got a stiff neck.'

The Bird : ' And did your mother not tell you that „ the birds eat the early worms ? ' The Wiarrn : '- Oh, no, sir.'- The Bird: l Well', I'm sorry; but you really can't blame" me for omissions on the part of your...parents.' ' - . . „ - In Alaska is found a kind of fish that makes a capital candle when it is dried. ,The" tail' of the fish is stuck into the. crack of a wociden table, to hold 1 it upright, and its nose is lighted. It gives a good, i steady light of three-candlepower and ~ considerable heat, and will ' Burn for about' three hours.

Perhaps the most notable native 'bird 'of the Sandwich Islands was the mamo, which has been extinct

comparatively , only a few , years. -It had two little tufts of yellow" feathers on its wings',' which were used exclusively in the manufacture of cloaks woarn by the kings of those, islands. . The estimated value of one" of the cloaks is £200,000, and it -took an almost indefinite number of birds to furnish the feathers. *

The changing, rose is a plant to the cultivation of which the Japanese devote much "attention!. It produces a tiny, • but beautifully formed flower. On being ta>l:en suddenly out of a dark place into a sunny room, it slowly assumes" a pink hue, which gradually -grows in intensity until it- becomes of the deepest red shade. The color vanishes again at night, or when the rose is replaced in a dark Toom.

There are said* to # be 10,000,000 migratory sheep "in Spain, which travel on occasions as much as- 200 miles from the plains to the mountains, They— are Known as transhumantes, and- their march,' resting places, and behavior are regulated by special regulations dating from, the fourteenth century. At certain times no one may- travel the same .route as the sheep, which have the right to graze on all open and common land on" the way.

On a recent Monday morning the pastor-of a church in was the recipient of a basket of strawberries, Brought to him by a little girl of the parish. ' Thank you -very much, my dear,' said the minister. ' These berries are as fine ~as any I've ever seen. I hope,, however, that' you did not gather them yesterday—the Sabbath.' • ' No, sir,' replied the child. ' I picked, 'em early (his mornin", but they was a-growin' all day yesterday.' - ;.

. The inventor of aitiline color§,-.JD.r.i William Perk-in, has fcesri knighted. He is , the man who ruined the madder and cochineal husiness, and wouUThave "quite ruined indigo planting could he have prevented his colors from, fading. Their sole merit, is their cheapness, and their "ugliness is intensely irritating to -the ' sensitive eye, But they have greatly stimulated British manufactures, and hence the knijghthood. . : German and French chemists have made .'auxiliary discoveries, but Sir William Perkin was the pioneer. His colors have at ' least one real value, iney enable one to distinguish genuine old Oriental' rugs, shawls, and silks 1 from European imitations. One thread of aniline color condemns a whole piece. It is just possible that it is the work •„ of. some silly Persian or Hindu, or Japanese or Chinese workman, but it is not old.. There was no mauve or" magenta, or solfei«ino, or fiery green or blue in the" .world before 1856. .. .

Victoria's" Premier, Mr. Thos. Bent, has.. just completed his 68th year,' ami it is just > about 34 V "years _ since, he was first elected to the ' VictoiSan Legislative 'Assembly, whe.ii. he defeated the late George*Higinb'othanr,- on© of -the greatest Irishmen" who. ever graced the public life of Australia.

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