All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, 24 March 1910, Page 478

All Sorts

; ™„+! Are you in pain, my little man ? ' asked the kind old gentleman. 'No,' answered the boy,; the pain's in me.' For hundreds of years the people of Saxony have used stoves made of fire brick, covered with glazed tiles, which nfeXs^nrour 117 W L h °™ «*« «* made^\Sorh d / £??&?. *Tg*2£3&'. » ,™ Last month I got work for two member?of my family" but neither of them would take it.' . **uuijr, out . In ten y ear the cost of bread all over Europe has increased by an average of 28 per cent. In Sweden" the increase has been 84 per cent. Of this higher cost, 21 per cent, has happened since 1905. ' saved aPtain,iS there n ° Way in Which the ship may be «i,«„i^ on l at a 1 s [5 . we , are going to the bottom, but I should not worry about the ship, sir, if I were you-she is fully insured. You'd better find a life belt:' Well, Jock,' said the laird of a certain estate, < you X g ™ mg - V p7 b Why don,t y° u stand straighten like me, man ? Eh, man,' said Jock, ye see that field o' corn ower there. Weel, ye'll notice 'that the full heids hang doon, an' the empty yins stan' stracht up.' " 'Where do you get your papers, little boy?' I buy 'em from Jimmy Wilson.' . 'And who is Jimmy Wilson?' ' He's a newsboy—he buys 'em at the newspaper office.' How much do you pay him for them Two cents.' 'How much do you sell them for ' Two cents.' ' But you don't make anything at that * ' Nope.' ' Then why do you sell them ?' 'Oh, .just to get to holler.' .- •i h V^ al ? o ? tree N °, r ' candle tree,' is found'on the island of Malabar and the South Sea Islands. The fruit is heart-shaped, and about as large as a walnut. The seeds of the fruit when boiled produce a tallow. This is used by the natives both as food and for candles. The ' life tree ' grows in Jamaica It gets its name from the fact that if the leaves are broken from the plant they nevertheless continue to grow Nothing will destroy their life except fire. A tree in the province of Goa, Malabar Coast, Western India, is called the 'sorrowful tree.' It is so called because it weeps every morning. It flourishes only in the dark. At sunset no flowers are visible, but as soon as darkness alls the whole tree becomes a bower of bloom. With the rising sun the flowers dry up or drop off, and a copious shower falls from the branches. A tree of Madagascar is known as the ' traveller's tree,' because it often proves such a boon to the thirsty traveller. It will grow in the driest soil of an arid region, and no matter how the leafstalk & q " art water flows freel y ° U Puncturing T , he H° species of elephant, viz., Asiatic and African, greatly differ in form and habits. The African elephant is the taller sometimes standing 12ft., while the average height of the Indian is 9ft. The Asiatic elephant is highest at the back, the African at the shoulder. The head of the former is much squarer, while its eye is relatively smaller Both sexes of. the African elephant carry large tusks, but in the female Asiatic they are almost invisible. he ears of the African elephant are much larger, and when standing out (while excited or charging) measure 10ft across from ear to ear The finger-like appendages at the extremity of the trunk or proboscis of the African elephant are of equal length, acting as finger and thumb, whereas in the Asiatic species one is much, longer than the ?u i- j V ie r Asiatic elephant also possesses four nails on the hind loot, the African only having three The elephant is vegetarian ;in diet, the Indian species subsisting on grass, leaves, fruit, and bark of certain trees, while the African does not eat grass, but mainly chews up thick roots and branches of trees for the sake of the sap and bark, rejecting the pulp. Consequently its molar teeth are larger and stronger than those of its relative Again the African, when sleeping, invariably does so in a standing position, which is contrary to the habit of the Asiatic which often lies down in the shades of the forest. The tusks of the African elephant are much longer,■: than those of the Asiatic, the average being about 6ft. in length 18in cir-' cumferenoe, and weighing about 100 or more pounds the pair. Tusks 4ft. in length and weighing about 60 pounds the? pair, is a good average for the Asiatic. But much larger tusks of both animals are met with;