All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8, 27 February 1908, Page 38

All Sorts

In putting your best foot forward, be sure you don t o.erstep. yourself. It's about as hard to keep a good man down as to help a poor one up. Fashion is always a little ahead of those who try to keep, up with it. Learning is to the mind what dress is to the body, useful and ornamental., , Who was the first whistler ? The wind. Why was , Noah's ark lunlike Joan of Arc ? One was m a de of wood : the other was Maid of Orleans. The West Indies were so called by Columbus, he believing them to. be a portion of the Indies which he had reached' by sailing toward the west. 1 Bedlaim ' is a corruption of the word ' Bethlehem,' which was the name of a religious, house in London, converted into a house for lunatics. Why are sheep '.the most dissipated animals ? Because they gambol ail their lives, spend most of their time on the^tmrf, m a ny of them are blacklegs, and all are fleeced in the end.' The membership of the Ancfient Order of Hibernians in the United States- on December 1, 1906, was 127,263. The increase from that time to July 1, 1907, was. 6000, making the total membership 133,263. In 1850 Germany and France were equal in population ; now Germany' has 62,000,000 against France's . 39,000,000. The comparison is the worse for France, when it is remembered that France has more foreigners in It than any other Continental nation. The largest of the cat tribe now left in Europe, the lynx, is a thick set a ni'mial and mainly nocturnal. It is extremely active, and can leap great distances. It haunts forests, and is found across Northern Europe, including- the Alps. The flying fish is so called because it can. jump out of the water and carry itself, by means of the large wingrH' c fins, through the air to a distance of 500 fejt. These fins act as an aeroplane ; the fish cannot flap them. It is unable to steer itself except when the tail is dragging in the water. A little boy told his friend, another youngster, that his mother was accustomed to' give him a penny every morning so that he should take his medicine in peace and quietness. ' Well, wliat do you do with .it ?' inquired Ihe little friend. ' Mother puts it in a moneybox until there is a- 'shilling. ' ' And what then ?' ' Why, then mother buys another bottle of medicine with it.' Miss Lamb, sister of Charles, was fond or mity cheese, and on one occasion her brother was commissioned to procure a piece. When he had selected what he thought would do, the shopman said, ' Shall I pack it up, sir ?' ' N— no, I— th— thank y— you,' stammered Lamb ; ' if— if you— you'll g — give me a— a string I'll lead it h— 'home.' The value of the beaver's fur has caused its destruction almost to' extermination in many parts. At one time it was found in Engjland. The European bleaver now 1 a nts the Darauibe. If. the streams •it frequents get too low the beaver dams them with trees and mud to make tlie water sufficiently deep to be safe. Otherwise it would fall a parey to wolves and other animals. In the early days of the Hudson Bay Company the chief industry of the North-Western Canada Was .beaver catching. ' : Many young people have wondesed how .the gooseberry got its name, supposing, quite naturally, that the fruit had some connection with the goose. Gooseberries are calle-i in German johannis-berren— that is, the St. John's berries, because they rinen about -the . time of the feast of St. John. St. John is called in Holland, St. Jan, and the fruit is there called jansbeeren. The word was centuries ago corrupted into gansheeren, of which our AEnglish word gooseberries is ', a literal translation, gans, in German, signifying a goose. The bee teaches us the following lessons : (l') The bee teaches us to be industrious. No bee ever shirks- his work. (2) Bees teach us to- be fond of our- homes. No bee leases his home except for a time,- if he can help it. (3) They-. teach us to be- clean. Nothing can- be •cl:aner. than the -home of the bee. (4) They show much - •, sympathy" and kind feeling for ea.eh other j and "will "never lea^e a friend in trouble ' without trying to- -help frm. (5) They are very early risers. <6) They 'delight in fresh air. (7) They are -Very - peaceful and. "seldom quarrel or fight among themselves. • . - ,