INTERESTING EXTRACTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1443, 29 December 1886, Page 2

INTERESTING EXTRACTS.

THE ENFANT TERRIBLE. Bride’s little brother to bridegroom—- “ Did it hart you much when she did it?’’ Bridegroom —“ What hurt me 1” Bride’s LB—“The hook. Did it go in your lip ?” Bridegroom—“ I don't know what you meat, Johnnie” Side’s mother— Leave the room this instant, Johnnie !” Bride’s L.B—“What for? I only wanted to know if it hurt him. Ton said Sis had fished for him for a long time, but she hooked hi m at last, and I wanted to know i' ” Bride’s L.B. is catciad ont of his chair and harried from the room, and tha bridegroom becomes meditative. HOMCE OP ATH Y IN T HE UNITED STATES. It is stated that, in the United States, there are more than 10,000 homca .pathii: practitioners, and that there are fourteen colleges for educating students in homosapathy. Toe homoeopaths set forth their views in 143 societies and twenty, j nrnais, and give their valuable services t > tha public at fifty-one hospitals and forty-eight dispensaries Our usually wei! infm med contemporary, tha New York Medial Record, appears to accept these figures as at least approximately correct, though at the same time it expresses the belief that Americans are outgrowing their curious love fir this wornout theory.—British Medical Journal. PRINCELY MUNIFICE 'CS. The following is from a Home society papar :—Queer BtorGa ,;ra current as to the pteents the Duke of Edinburgh gave, in »c ordance with Eastern custom, on leaving Constantinople. To the Saltan ha off-red, as a pies sing novelty, a cheap edition of the Queen’s “ Life in th* HighIsn is to the Gnmd Yiz er be presented a shilling wooden pipe with an unscrewab’e bowl. Among the various high officials he divided • n alumianm pencil case, a Waterbary watch, a Lalf-gainea sewing machine, a caka of Peats’ soap, a button-hnok, a picbe'-comb, a bottle of chiua cement, an old volume of the Sunday a> Home, a box of sardines, a pot of Jam, and a bundle of qudl toothpicks ; and, to show that he wasn’t proud, when he bad got on board ship be totted up h s expenses on his shirt-cuff, and found that he had vot out < f Constantinople for £1 17a 6d, whereupon, in a fit of sudden generosity, be went back on shore again and spent the odd half-crown.

A ROMANCE OF TEE TELEGRAPH. ■ i A book has just been published in ' London, entitled, “ Australian Pictures, 1 I Drawn with Pen and pencil. By Howard ' | Wil ou.'hby, of the Melbourne Argus.' The following story is told; —it the Barrow Creek station a p*rtv of the 1 employes ware surprised iu 1875 by the bleaks, when they had left the bnildtng to indulge in a bathe. They had to ran for their lives through a volley of spears t > regain the shelter of their loop-holed home. Mr Stapleton and a line repairer were mortally wounded, and two others were very badly hart. Mr Stapleton was found 'o be sinking rapidly. The news was flashed to Adelaide. la one room of the city stood the doctor and Mrs Stapleton, listening to the "click, click” of the messages ; a thousand miles away in the desert, in a h nely but beleagored by the blacks, lay the dying man, with an instrument brought to bia bedside. He received the doctor’s message that bis cise was hopeless. He hesrd his wife’s adieus, and be telegraphed an eten al farewell. It is easy to believe that the affecting spectacle moved those around the group in Adelaide to tsars. CAST GLASS RAILS AND SLEEPERS Frederick Siemens, of Dresden, lias succeeded in cashing glass in the same way as metal is cast, and obtaining an article corresponding to cast metal. This cast glass is hard, not dearer in production than cast iron, and has the advantage of transparency, so that atl flaws can be detected before it is applied to practical use. It will be much less exposed to Injury from atmospheric influences than iron. The process of production is not d fficult, the chief feature being rapid cooling. The hardness and resisting power cf this cast glass are so great (hat experiments I are being just now carried oat at the Siemens glass foundry at Dresden with rhe purpose of ascertaining whether the material could be employed for rails on railways. A sample of glass sleepers recently tested at the Anderson Foundry Com piny (Limited), Ql-sgow, resisted a falling weight of 3£ ewe, f iling upon the sleeper so - in sand ballast, commencing at 6in and rising by succeeding increments of 6m up to 9ft 6in—the maximum elevation to which the iest ram could be elevated —without eff ct, until the blow had been repeated for the sixth time. Cast iron sLepera are expected to withstand a similar fe-t up to 7ft only. The cost of glass sleeper 9 will be considerably leas than that of either cast iron or steel, while the material is practically imperishable as regards climatic changes and ill; fjueaces, or iho ravages cf - f shtch ip sects a» the white ant.