All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 6, 6 February 1908, Page 38

All Sorts

Many a man with a big head. has small ideas. Many' a man -has a small excuse for feeling big. It isn't until some men are. bankrupt that they try to mend their ways. ' - A woman can hurl defiance more effectively than she can throw a stone. 1 Your bump of destructiveness," said the phrenologist, 'is large. 'Are you a soldier'? ' 'No .was the reply, ' I ami a chauffeur.' •Queer thing about that tall. man over there. All his intimate friends callhim " Short." ' ' Ah, just for a joke, I suppose ? ' 'No, because that's his name.' Doctors in Sweden never send their bills to their . patients, the amount of their remuneration beingi left entirely to the generosity of the latter. The "Scottish deer forests occupy 557,544 acres, of which the average rental value is less than sixteen pence an acre. , .. , „ Mrs. Newwed— Are these eggs as 'fresh as the ones I got from you last week ? The Grocer— Oh, yes'm. Some of the , same lot, ma'am. I've been, keeping, 'em for you. Little Willie : ' Say, pa, why do they always have a, bland'age over the eyes of Justice ? ' Pa : ' Probably"- because the lawyers have talked the poor woman blind, my son.' The English Postmaster-General has adopted a new taritt for the post olhce telephone exchanges outside of London, hoping to discourage the number of frivolous calls, especially those sent m on what is called the Flat Kate, a great favorite with idle women. Two young men were having a heated argument over a problem which needed a great -deal of mental calculation,.- ' I tell you,-' said one, ' that you t are entirely wrong.' ' "But lam not,' said the other. ' Didn't "l go to school, stupid ? ' almost roared his opponent. • *es,' was the calm reply, ' and you came back stupid.' That ended it. One of the pressing questions of the constitutional crisis in Persia is lhat of the &hah's civil list, which has been fixed at £100,000. But besides this his Majesty has vast domains stocked with cattle, and -he is about to supplement his parliamentary pittance' by selling 500 to 600 horse*, 800 mulesf and 1500 camels. A French official financier is to be entrusted with the organising of the fiscal system generally. The teapher was enideav o-rjng to explain the meaning of ' egoism ' to the class. ' Who is it,' he said, ' who expects -never to .be neglected, who expects the best of everything, imagines that., he is the centre of everything, who never thinks nor does any tiling for anybody else but expects everything done for him ? ' - ' Please, teacher,' said a small boy, one of a large family, ' the baby.' The ' Peking Gazette ' has been suspended. It was the second oldest paper in the w/irld. Started so long ago "as 911, it was then a monthly. In 1&61 it became a weekly, at the beginning of last century a daily, and latterly— as 1 ' latterly ' goes in China — it;haa published .three editions in twenty-four hours. . There is, however; another newspaper published in Peking, the .' Tsin-g-pao,' which is about 200 years older than the ' Peking Gazette.' Most people are familiar with use of the name ' St. Stephen's,' as applied to the Houses of Parliament, or, mlore str,ictly, to the House of Commons ; b)ut not all, - perhaps, know how it oame about. To trace, the - matter historically, St. Stephen's Cfiapel was built by King Stephen as a part of the old Palace of Westminster, rebuilt by Edwards 11. and 111., and finally destroyed by fire in 1834. In the reign of tf Edward I. the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey was the meeting place of the Commons, and remained so until they were removed to the Chapel of St. Stephen, granted for their use by Edward. VI. in 1547. France insists on iher -two years' military servica from every citizen, no matter how. much inconivenience it may. cause him. A member of the Chamber of Deputies was recently unseated on the ground thai) he had not complied with the obligations of military law. It seems that when he was called to the colors he was a Protestant theological student, and he benefited by the two years' remission of service ~ accorded -to all such persons, but on leaving' the army, he abandoned his theological - studies, and when the validity of his election Was , challenged he was unaible to produce a de- .- gree or to show that he had become a clergyman, and so he goes hack to the v army again* . ■ [•• . -