All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 42, 17 October 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

Some people are doing nothing to-day, but they hope * to move a mountain to-tuorrow. - , ■' y > ■ If a reputation be of pure metal it bears' rough handling j if ' of tinsel it will tarnish easily.A hurricane is a wind that blows at 77 miles an hour or more. Such a wind exerts a pressure of nearly 15 pounds to the square foot. The carbon of the food mixed with the oxygen o£ the air furnishes fuel for the body which evolves the heat in exactly the same way that a fire- or candle does. A leafless tree stands little chance of living. Trees denuded of their leaves- by caterpillars -ana other mischievous things are deprived of their stomachs and lungs at once. Mr. Sophty— ' Look fiere ! This hotse you sold me rims on the pavement every time he sees a motorcar.' Horse-dealer — ' Well, you don't expect a£s horse -to ..run up a telegraph pole or climb a tree, do you ? ' '"■-' The annual crop of chamois skins in Switzerland does not exceed 6000, not more than enough to supply the United States for one day. What is usually sold a,s chamois is really aa oil tanned -sheep orrlambskin lining. "" - . .._"--. Brown — ' What is_ -the. most afflicted .part,,, of the house ?'- . n «s . ■ • r ._•„•■:.'.. Jones — ' I give it up. What is it ? ' .- -' Brown — '-'Why, • the window. - ' It' is full of pains (panes), and whx> has "not seen many a window"' blind ? ' (window-blind). - , ' '" '--. ~'~- '• - A fleet of vessels is engaged from January 'to Augustl each year.. in the capture of sharks near Iceland. -..Only the livers are sought. That of each yields five gallons of oil, which has ff«dicinal virtues resembling those of cod liver oil. His ,mother-in-law had been with them for three long weeks. ' To-morrow,' said his wife, ' will be mamma's birthday. I wish I could think of something appropriate to give her.' ' Why not give her a railway-ticket home ? ' suggested the husband. • Sir Edward Elgar, the great Catholic composer, has predicted the end of the piano, to the great joy of those who live in flats and in rows of houses with thin partitions, and to the consternation of the innumerable army of piano teachers, piano makers, and piano touters. Speaking at -Birmingham in, connection with the formation of a new musical society as part of the University establishment there, Sir Edward remarked that ' some day, he had no doubt, pianos would be looked upon as curiosities, for mechanical players were being multiplied in such vast numbers that the human piano-player would disappear.' ~ . * Dr. Lefebvre, of Jtlic University of Louvain,, and Dr. Allevi, of Italy, have just published some - terrible truths about the progress of alcoholism 'in the Continent of Europe. France especially" has a very disturbing record. In 1851, - with a population of. nearly thirty-six millions, it consumed 620,000 hectolitres (a hectolitre is a hundred litres, and a litre is something less than a quart) ; to-day, with . a population of thirty-nine millions,^ it consumes ten times ;that quantity. In Germany the married working man .spends between 14 and 20 per cent, of his wages on beer and spirituous drinks. * -"**.. ' According to a Consular report, as ncuch • care is -.taken in the training of canaries in -the Hartz Mountains, in Germany, as in the case of -a prima ." donna. The young birds, learning by imitation for the most part, sometimes "acquire bad singing methods, and much time is devotee! to breaking tEem of their" evil habits. /The art of the breeder -lies in his beings able to .- discover the slumbering talent in the bird-, at an early. age and developing it to its highest point of perfection in its particular line. Some birds sKgw an especial talent for trilling, while others are remarkable for the beautjr and variety of their song. They are divided into classes and kept in separate rooms, those having harsh and sharp voices being placed • in 'covered •cages, where, instead of singing themselves, . they are forced to listen to other good singers, through which: their faults are often overconre. The annual trade in these canaries is worth about £48,000.