A Column for the Curious.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 27, 8 February 1844, Page 4

A Column for the Curious.

The Wind and the Leaves. —lt was small tyranny for a respectable wind to go wreaking its vengeance on such poor creatures as the fallen leaves; but this wind happening to come up with a great heap of them just after venting its humour on the instilt°d Dragon, din so disperse and scatter them that they fled away pell-mell, some here, some there, rolling over each other, whirling round and round upon their thin edges, taking frantic flights into the air, and playing all mannet-of extraordinary gambols in the extremity of their distress. Nor was this enough for its malicious fury ; for, not content with driving them abroad, it charged small pm ties ot them and bunted them into the wheelwright's saw-pit and below the planks and timbers in the yard ; and, scattering the sawsdnsl in the air, it looked for them underneath; and when it did meet with any. whew ! bow it drove them on and followed at their heels! The sacred leaves only flew the faster for all this, and a giddy chase it was; foi they got into unfrequented places where there was no outlet, and where their pursuer kept them eddying round and round at his pleasure; and they crept under the eaves of houses, and o'nng tightly to|the sides of hay-ricks, like bats, and tore in at open chamber windows, and cowered close to hedges; and, in short, went anywhere for safety. But the oddest teat they achiever) was to take advantage of the sudd* n opening of Mr. Pecksniffs ftoni-door, to da-U wildly into his passage, whither the wind following close upon them, and finding the back-door open, incontinently blew out the lighted candle held by ‘tiss Pecksniff', and slammed the front door against Mr. Pecksniff, who was at that moment entering, with such violence, that in the twinkling of an eye he lay on his back at the bottom of the step*. Being by this time weary of bneb trifling performances, the boisterous rover hurried away, rejoicing, roaring over moor and meadow, hill and flat, until it got Out to tea, where it met with other winds similarly disposed, and made a night of it. Curious Statistics. —At a recent meeting of the London Statistical Society, Piofessor Sill. - phellow read a very interesting paper on the “ Moral and Physical condition of-Omnibus Cads,” in the appendix of which there were some curious tables. It would appear from these that 09 cads and oneeighth out of 104 and 2-l6ths, pronounce the word “ city” as if it were spelled “ oty” without an “ i,’» which should seem to show that they were of Welsh extraction and have probably obtained the name of cad by descent from the Cadwallauders. The society has also prepared some curious statistical records from a recent survey. Iu a parish containing 1600 houses, there are no less than 700 ohildren iu arms, giving the enormous average of nearly half a baby to each house; aud in calculating the number of street doorsbells a still larger result is arrived at. Of 742 knockers, there are 520 out of the reach of a child, 89 want fresh painting, 32 are in tolerable repair, and the remaining 1 has been wrenched off since the society's last survey. Ont of 7 families occupying 9 moms, 4 bad paid their rent, 2 had some idea of doing so, and the remaining, I had made a point of always running away with the goods, in anticipation ot auy harsh proceeding on the part of the landlord. Among 14,000 children, 11,000 could sing Jim Crow, 2,916 could whistle it, while the remainder had heard it, and knew it when played, but could not execute a note of it. There were 224 blankets to U 6 beds; and giviog an average of three persons to each mattress, there will be 19-l6ths of a pillow to every fa'ber of a family of 12 children, leaving the mother the pillow-case. In 16 attics, 14 people were employed in washing, 8 were occupied in ironing, 3 had gone out to pawn trifling'articles, and 1 was frying sausages. The same curious deductions have been made from the spread of Art Unions; for it would seem that 762 rooms are ornamented with pictures, 640 of them containing portraits of popular performer*, 89 of them were decorated with tinfoil, acd 17 were entirely plain. In a collection of 300 spelling books, it was found that 3-4ths of themr were Mavor’s, that 1-I6tha were Dilworth’s, and the remainder miscellaneous. One leaf in 2 was dog’a-eared, 3 ia 8 were soiled, 10-Isth> in 22GsS34ths were tom, SOlOOths were without any covers. 0/ 250,000, there were 849.999 that regulaily purchased Panel)* and the remaining family regularly borrowed it. The celebrated Paganini has not yet been laid in consecrated ground, in consequence of the opposition of the Bishop of Nice. This prelate refutes the last prayers of the churoh to the celebrated violinist, and the inhabitants of Nice, proud of their talented townsman, have brought the affair beforo tbe Court of Rome. 500,000 franca are devoted to the expenses of this appeal. Meanwhile a house has been given up to the remains of Paginini, which repoae on a state bed. The body has been embalmed, so as to be in a state to await tbe issue of the appeal. There is a man living in Paris in the Tull possession of all his faculties, 135 years of age. It is stated that a lady living near Berlin, in Prussia, who has only attained the age of 103, has just contracted a fourth marriage with a youth of 70. But the cream of the joke is, that among the children which the bride brought to her new husband was a boy of 83 ! A nervons old Yankee, whoso life was made miserable by the clattering of two rival blacksmiths, prevailed on each of them to remove, by the offer of a liberal pecuniary compensation.—. When the money was paid down, he kindly inquired wbat neighbourhood they intended logo? “ Why, sir,” replied Jaok with a grin on his phiz, “ Tom Smith moves to my shop, and I move to his 1”

There are 11 millions of landholders in France, of whom one-half do not pay more than five francs per annum each in taxes, and the average size of the different estates is about I2J English acres. There is now living at St. Roniain d’Urfe, near Monlbrison, in trie Loire, a venerable dame, who on the 21th August, attained her 113th year. Sbr is in perfect health, can walk, and attend to bee household affairs, and has no other infirmity than a slight deafness. She is at the head of a uunierous family, descending to the filth generation.