All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 7, 14 February 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

. Automobiles are to be s used"- in .Berlin Jor -.mail service to, the of the city, in place. of- horses .

In London they are using suction 'cleaners for the purpose of cleaning railway passenger cars.

South Staffordshire, England, makes - the best heavy chains, such as are used .for anchors and ships' cables.

. Dogs in France . have a , commercial value, being used for pulling small carts in delivering goods, _- the average price per head being £10. • - ' "The- Chinese tea trad& is on -the decline,- as competition from other countries,, especially India, in cheaper grades, is drawing the trade from the Chinese market. . Building material for the reconstruction of Valparaiso is, in. all probability, to be exempt from imi port duty. Foui leading English concerns .haxe_s*reoently established factories in ' the United States, through a conviction that they could hold their American ~ tirade better by having " their goods manufactured iri- the United States. Fireworks originated in the thirteenth century, along with the evolution of powder' and cannot: They were * first employed by the Florentines, and . later .the, use of fireworks became popular in Rome, at the creation, of the Popes. The first fireworks, which resemble those which we see "nowadays, were manufactured by Torre, an Italian artist, and displayed in. -Paris , in 1764. Miss. Sentimental : ' Charles, did you ever allow" your -mind to pierce the secrets of the urfiverse, to reason that this dull, cold" earth is .but the sepulchre' of ages past, that man. in all his glory is but the sail we tread, which every breeze wafts in ai. ever-shifting maze, to be found and lost in an infinity of particles— the dust-of centuries, reunited and dissolved as long as . time shall endure ?- ' - _ Charles ' ' Nb-o, I dunno as 1 did.- „ You see, I've Bad to earn my livin'.' - *• _ • Mr. Balfour was once travelling down from the north of Scotland, and at a junction some little way from Aberdeen got out to walk up and down while awaiting the connection of the trains. The weather was bright and very cold, and, stamping his feet and rubbing, his hanlds to get warm, Mr. Balfour called out to a friend a little way off, ' Isn't this invigorating ?'. ' Na, sir,' N said the railway porter, "who was passing and heard the remark; ' it's Inveramsay.' -- - - A woman entered a bar-room and advanced quietly to her husband, who- was drinking with three other - men. She placed a covered dish on the table and said — ' Thinking ye'd be too busy to come home to supper, Jack, I've fetched it to you here.' And she depar- - ted: The man laughed awkwardly. He invited his friends to share the meal with him. Then he removed .the cover from the dish. The dish was empty. It 'contained- only a slip of paper that said '- ' I hope you will enjoy your supper. It is the same your wife and children have at home.' The. Cheap Jack was exerting all his delicate subtleties in the science of, drawing a crowd, and he wound up by offering a bright new shilling for:^ sale by auction. ' Now, gentlemen,' he cried, ' here is the . chance of a lifetime. What- will you "bid for this shilling ? Don't waste time now. This is , only one ... of the- bargains, I've got for you to-night.' Pretty soon liids came thick and fast, till at last the childish treble ofi a small boy's voice was heard. * Elevenpence, for it, ' he cried. And no one seemed inclined to go any higher. ' Very well,' said the Cheap Jack, 1 it's yours, my little lad. "Where's - your^elevenpence?' 1 Take it out of the shilling, and hand.Yus. over the ■ change,' piped the little lad, who was .not ''taking any chances.- -- „ '. -*" '"""■ , . Mr. J. E. Hartirig, the writer of, a recently, published book entitled ', Recreations of a Naturalist,' offers some interesting remarks 0n ... the ancient opinion that large birds often carry small ones on their backs when migrating. • Some' years ago a Swedish naturalist, Hedenborg-, advanced -some*remarkable:state- • ments on the subject. During • . the -arrival of the

flights of storks at Rhodes^rom oversea, Hedenborg related that he .frequently; heard the voices. singing .birds witihout being able to see, .them., ;At r last, after careful ojbservatdon, when. a flight. 'of. storks • h&d just "alighted, he saw that they had -small birds perched on " their backs. . Most orrfithologists probablyi/.regard the - idea as a myth, but Mr. Harting's 'remarks seem to admit a possibility, that there may be some; truth, in it.