Varieties.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 358, 19 March 1903, Page 7

Varieties.

■ • -. EVE OF ST. JOHN. afSJCUEIOUS and quaint beliefs still WCft prevail in some parts of the @k&*/ country in England concerning St. John's Eve; lassies still place their shoes, before retiring for the night, at right angles, forming a T, reciting the lines:— Homing this night my true love to see I place my shoes in the form of a T, under the idea that their future husband will be revealed to them in dreams. Formerly supper was placed on tho table with the belief that the future husband would enter by the open door. There is, too, a prevalent idea that especially fortunate are tho children born on St. John's Eve, the rhyme running : Under the stars on the Eve of St. John, Lucky the babe that those stars shine on. THE WOBD ' JOSS.' An authority on the Chinese language says that it is a mistake to suppose that 'Joss' is a Chinese word. He says: Chinamen only know 'Joss' when they come into contact with Europeans. A Chinese priest that I knew in Hankow told me that there was no such word in Chinrse, He explained that the word was a corruption of the Spanish word 'Dios,' and had come into use through the missionaries. Many early missionaries, he eaid, were Spanish priests, and their pronunciation of 'Dios' was speedily corrupted into 'joss' by native tongues and applied to the Chinese deities. It's only un the Chinese seaboard that the - ord is understood by Chinamen, In the interior, the priest told me, the Celestials had no knowledge of it.' PIGEON POSTOFFICES German military authority, inspired by the excellent results, obtained by the French during jthe Beige of Paris, have long devoted much attention to the care and development of the 'carrier* or homing pigeon. AH owners of homing pigeons are compelled by law to put their birds at the government's disposal in time of war. Military pigeon port stations are maintained at Straßßburg, Maynce, Cologne, Kiel and other fortresses. At Spandau a new one has just keen established, which is te be the headquarters »r general postoffice for the whole service. Each floor of

the large four-storey building* contains hundreds of dovecotes, and the southern front ifl enclosed by an enormous netting, ia which the birds may take air and exercsse.

There is also a photographic establishment, for mioro-photography ia impressed into the pigeon post service. A message or several pages is photographed on a bit of thin collodion film as big as a nickel, which is slipped into a quill and tied to a tail feather of the messenger.

A SIGNALMAN'S DUTIEB. There are few men who work harder, and incur a greater amount of responsibility, than the signalman of an important railway terminus. At the Canon Street Station, New York, for instance, ther-a are eight running roads, two sidings, and nine platforms, but in addition there are several cross-over roads, by which a train gets from one pair of rails to another. To manage these movements and to prevent collisions there are about half a dozen signalmen in the great signal box that spans the bridge. For eight hours a day these men work some 243 levers. Over 25,000 movements are made daily. Sometimes more than one .movement is required• for instance,. in,. one case as many as thirty-eight are necessary to make up a single 'combination' by which to signal a train into the station, while in another no fewer than seventyfive movements are made to get a train in and out of Cannon Street. WANTED TO GO BACK HOME. There is something fascinating about the Swede. His honour and eandour cannot fail to appeal to .those who study him and see' in him a lineal descendant of Hengist and Horsa. The breesy breath of the brine clings to him. 'His generie name is Ole. One of theße typical sons of the north came into New York Harbour recently on board a barque. As he passed Bedlow's Island be looked up at the Statue of Liberty. A heavy fog hung over the harbour, and Ole looked around at the pall which hung over everything. 'Unddot is Liperty undlightening de world I* He looked around dolefully. The fog was growing thicker and his mind seemed to revert to 'The Land of the Midnight Sun.' The bo'tswain's whistle sounded, and Ole took his place on the bow, but those who were near enough to hear and comprehend his patois caught a stage whisper to this effect: • Und dis is New York! Take me pack to the midnight sun.' HOOKS FOB BABIES. I» seems incredible that in the twentieth century women living in a civilised country should treat their infants in the manner in which they do in certain districts in France. When they are obliged to leave their infants aloae for an hour or so they never fail to place them ont of harm's way by hanging them either from the ceiling or from one of the walls of the room. They have a rope with a loop for this purpose, and all they have to do is to fasten the rope to the cradle, or clothes of the child and then place the loop over the hook, which is always fixed at a considerable distance from the ground. That infants in such a cramped position are not comfortable can readily be seen; indeed, it is said that many of these unfortuate little creatures are seriously injured through such treatment. Happily this barbarous custom is not so much in vogue now as it was some years ago. * OLD MOOBE.' Old Moore is early with his predictions for next year. Considering the nature of some of them, indeed of most of them, he need not have been in such a hurry to publish them (I am, of course, not speaking from the publisher's point of view). These are only a few things he promises (or threatens) for one thousand nine hundred and three:—ln January, a great and fatal fire in London. In February, turbulent scenes in the Hcuae of Commons. In March, flying machines are to be the surprise of the day. In April he says ' War in China,' and in May ' War in Spain.' In Jane, an aeronaut is to be killed. In July, the Government will be ridiculed throughout the land. In August people are to drop dead in the street. In September, more sudden deaths, collisions, ap.d earthquakes In October, probably a general election. In November, disasters day by day. In D cember, storms and cold weather. The only really safe prediction is the last; that might be fortold of almost any month in the year.