HE GOT IT

New Zealand Tablet, 11 August 1910, Page 1290

HE GOT IT

A few years ago a manufacturer hired a boy. For months there was nothing noticeable about the boy except that he never took his eyes off the machine he was running. A few months ago the manufacturer looked up from his- work to see the boy standing beside the desk. What do you want?' he asked. - ' Want me pay raised.' ' What are you getting ?' ' Three dollars.' ' Well how much do you think you are worth?' ' Five dollars.' You think so, do you ' Yessir, an' I've been 't'inkin' so for free weeks, but I've been so blamed busy I ain't had time to speak to you about it.' The boy got the increase in wages. HOW HE LEARNED . The manner in which Guzman Blanco learned English when President of Venezuela affords an excellent illustration of the value of persistent application. One evening he summoned Dr. Ernst, of the University faculty, to the palace. It was 10 o'clock before he was at leisure. Then he bustled into the library to see Dr. Ernst. ' Doctor,' he said, ' I want you to teach me English.' 'Very well,' was the reply; 'when shall we begin?' Now.' .'' But I brought no text-books with me,' said the doctor. ' I will get a primer to-morrow, and then we can take it up. The best way is to begin like a child, at the beginning.' The President opened a drawer of his desk and took out a well-thumbed primer, the property of his little daughter. . ' I have been through this by myself,' he said, ' and understand it. Ask me about it and see.' The professor took the book and put the dictator through such an examination as he would have given to a child. ' Very good,' he said an hour later. ' To-morrow we will take "the next higher book and have another lesson.' ' But I prefer, if you are not weary, to go on tonight,' was the reply. 'I have some English books here,' and going to the shelf he took down a Life of John C. Calhoun. The two men, sitting side by side, commenced with the first line, the professor pronouncing and explaining word by word, sentence by sentence, and the dictator repeating everything after him until each point was impressed on his mind. They kept at work until 2 o'clock in the morning, when Guzman Blanco yawned and looked at his watch. ' I was up at 5 o'clock this morning,' he said, ' and have been working hard all day. I think we had better stop here.' 'When shall I come again?' asked the doctor. ' At 10 o'clock to-morrow night,' was the reply. And for several months the two men, both of them mature and famous, sat down in the library at 10 o'clock every night and read the Life of Calhoun, often keeping up the lesson until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. When the bulky volume was finished the general could not only read, but speak English very well. FAMILY FUN ' Tricks with Soap and Bubbles. —Have your solution ready, and your clay pipe, also a wire ring with a handle to it; you can make this yourself with a pair of pliers and a piece of thick wire. The ring must be just large enough to slip over the bowl of the pipe. Take the ring in the left hand and the bowl in the right, holding the bowl downward. Blow the bubble through the ring, which hold just under the bowl, and the bubble will hang from the ring. Now dip your pipe in the solution again, and blow a second bubble into the first, also through the ring, and you will have a double bubble. The third bubble is blown through the pipe in the usual way, holding the bowl downward, and resting it on a flat surface. Now blow through the. stem and raise the pipe, and you will have a hat with a broad, flat brim like a Quaker's. Here, also, is a fourth novelty in bubble-blowing. _ Take a ring as described before, and cover it with a piece of felt or flannel, and you will be able to play ball with your bubble, using the' covered ring as a bat. Mix a few drops of glycerine with your soapy water, and your bubbles will be the most lovely colors when blown, and also stronger. A good game to play with soap bubbles is to fasten a hoop of some kind, such as a croquet arch, on the table, which must have a cloth on. If you stick the feet each in a block of wood it will stand. Now take sides, and play two at a time." Each player blows his bubble at the end of the table facing the arch, and tries to send it down to the other end, through the arch, without breaking. Every time one goes through counts a point, and ten wins the game.