All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 27, Issue 21, 27 May 1909, Page 838

All Sorts

The first iron wire was drawn at Ntffembrg in 1351. The cost of growing an acre of wheat in England is, on an average, £8 10s. ' You are charged with larceny. Are you guilty or not guilty ? ' ' Not guilty, judge. I thought I was, but I've been talkin' to my lawyer, an' he's convinced me that I ain't.' At Blair Castle, in Perthshire, the Duke of Athol lives in most regal state, being the only individual in Great Britain who is allowed to maintain an army, and keeping 300 men, kilted, armed, and regularly drilled, who are ready for war at any moment. In one of the great houses in the West End of London there was a dinner and reception. After a while the maid was called and the mistress said : ' Serve the dinner j there is no one else to come, except a relative of little importance.' Five minuts afterwards the maid announced in a loud tone : ' The relative of little importance ! ' ' Captain,' remarked the nuisance on shipboard who always asks foolish questions, ' what is the object in throwing the anchor overboard? ' ' Young man,' replied the old salt, 'do you understand the theory of seismic disturbances ? Well, we throw the anchor overboard to keep the ocean from slipping away in the fog. See ? '" Nowhere in the world has the dog such unrestricted right of the way as in Alaska. In winter, when the more than 600,000 square miles of territory are sealed up in solid ice, dogs are almost the sole means of getting from place to place — in fact they seem necessary to life itself. The aristocrats of arctic dog life are the mail teams in the service of the United States Government. They are today a superior breed to the dogs employed some half dozen years ago before great gold discoveries demanded increasd "mail service. Commercial travellers will appreciate this story, which is told of one of their number. He had been summoned as a witness in a case at court, his employers having sued a delinquent customer, and the lawyer for the defence was cross-examining him. ' You travel for Jobson and Co., do you?' asked the attorney. 'Yes, sir.' 'How long have you been doing it?' 'About ten years.' 'Been travelling all that time, have you?' 'Well, no, sir,' said the witness, making a hasty mental calculation, ' not actually travelling. I have put in about four years of that time waiting at railway stations and junctions for trains.' According to all accounts, the Cameron Highlanders' militia are a fine body of men physically. Not long ago four of them occupied the last crowded seat in a full compartment on a Scottish railway. Just as the train was moving off a diminutive little clergyman jumped into the compartment and tried to edge himself in between two -f.f the Highalnders. 'Not finding it very comfortable, he turned to the one on his right and said : ' Sit up, please. Yon know that according to Act of Parliament the seat holds five.' The Highlander looked at him for a moment and then replied : ' That may be a-richt for your kind, sir, but shairly yer canna blame for no| bein' constructed according to Act of Parliament.' It will come as news to most persons that there exists in Germany a monument to Napoleon I. This curiosity is to be found eleven miles from Alzeny, in the GrandDuchy of Hesse. The monument is situated near the Volholz hunting lodge, at. the summit of a wooded hill, and the spot is known as Napoleon's Garden. It is a dwarfed pyramid of three sides, rather more than 3ft in height. Upon it stands the inscription in Latin, French, and German, showing that it commemorates the marriage of Napoleon I. to Marie Louise, Grand Duchess of Austria, on April 1, 1810. The monument is practically unknown to tourists, and fe"w writers seem aware of its existence. Tradition ascribes its erection at Alzeny to the townsfolk in 1810. Then, after three years, when the Napoleonic star began to wane, the people transported it from the town into the wood near Vorholz. Then it was removed to the museum at Mayence, but later, by order of the Grand Duke Louis 11., it was erected on the spot where it is to be seen to-day.

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