Varieties.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 387, 8 October 1903, Page 2

Varieties.

IDEAS OLD AND NEW. |Sj|!T is curious how some of the projects hm that create the greatest interest in Us the public mind have sprung to new life in each tucceeding generation, ardently welcomod as though never before suggested to mankind. What young enthusiast would believe, for instance, that the idea of tho Welsh mountains contributing to the vast Bupply of water needed by London is—not as old as the hills, quite—but as old as the oldest grandfather in the metropolis P Long ago the practicability of the idea was discussed, and it need not surprise ue, for a journalist of that period noted that the poor Londoners were being victimised —that was the hard word he used—by the water companies which then existed.

Another idea that has frequently recurred, and that probably will be an evergreen for scores of years to come, is the general utilisation of the peat bogs in the ttri.bh Iblos. Attention is always being directed to this subject when there ia a serious rise in the price of coal, It is contended that enormous reserves of cheap fuel !ia available and untouched in bog and fen and moor.

Fifty years ago a statement was actually made in Parliament of the,rosy prospects of a scheme for turning Central Ireland into 'a second California'; and several years earlier an enterpuaing company expended many thousands in peat works on Dartmoor. They succeeded in obtaining naphtha, ammonia, grease, etc, but as a commercial speculation the business was a failure.

Then, who would credit our forefathers with having agitated, though in a small way, for ocean penny postage ? They did so, however, even before the country was wholly convinced of the serviceability of the uniform charge newly made for inland letters.

A CHESS PRODIGY. Just five years ago Bernard Falk, the apothecary of Stanislau, a village in Galicia, became the father of a son. It was the father's wont to play chess daily at home with old friends, and as soon as the little boy, who had been christened, Dolo, could walk he used to sit on his father's knee watching the game, At four years of age little Dolo knew all the moves as well as his father, and one day he was allowed to play a* game unassisted. The child played and lost, but in such a manner as to show that his infant brain had already grasped the rudiments of the game. Day by day Dolo improved, beating not only his father and his friends, but also old veterans of the great games from far and near, until the 5-year-old child is acknowledged the chess champion of the neighbourhood.

He is big for his age, plump and rosy, looking just as other healthy and normal children. There is absolutely no external indication of this extraordinary brain development, which hj so often obtained at the expense of some physical disadvantage. The theory held by many great chess players that the master chess player is born, not made, would seem to have found triumphant and conclusive proof in thiß child.

' RIBBONS AND LACES.' There is a fascination about .lace which no woman, however asce ic, can possibly escape. Those readers who are fond of lace should pay a visit to South Kensington Museum, where they will see some wonderful specimens. The finest collection of laces in Europe belongs, it is said, to the Popo, the intrinsic valua of whose collection is close on .£200.000, apart altogether from the additional value it would have from its sentimental association with one of the most remarkable figures in the world. The members of the Yanderbilt family poseesß old lace which is worth rather more than half that sum, the lace of the Cjueen is said to be worth .£75,000, and the Princess of Wales's more than £50,000. while Mrs. Astor, the head of the great American family, outdoes Her Royal Highnees's collection in value by some £IO,OOO. Another notable collection must be that of the ex-Empress Eugenie, a good deal of which will probably come into our own royal family in the course of time, for I Bhould not bo surprised if Princesa Henry of Battonberg's daughter ultimately comes in for a good share of it.

DO GIRLS NEED CHAPERONS? From ' Etiquette for Every Day' wo gather the following remarks on chaperons —' The chaperon is gradually disappearing from society. The 'boy-and-girl' dances of the last few years have been a protost against the necessity of this till lately indispensable lady. Once upon a time a chaporon feminine was necessarily elderly, and frequontly stern. Her charges know that she was aware of them, and that under that gleaming eye they must not dare to flirt witjh detrimentals or to dance too often with younger sous or subalterns,' But all this has altered, for Nowadays a chapsron may be younger and prettier, and a much greater flirt than the lady sho chaperons. Or she may be after the pattern of Becky Sharp's ' sheep dog,' an animal paid to be deaf and dumb.' Yet it would seem that there are cases when evon the modem 'emancipated' girl might welcome the preset c a of .aehaperon. For instance, ' Many a girl who means no harm laugh 3 and chatters out of pure light-heartedneas to some man who misunderstands, and thinks she is flirting with him and trying to ' lead him on.' If he Bhould happen to bo an underbred person, he might follow up what he conaiders to be her lead, and she, in consequence might receive a violent shock at nis evident misinterpretation of her conduct— flighty' according to Litn, but only pure fun and Hgh sprits oax her part. In such a moment she would welcome even the most fussy of chaperons.'

A mechanic at Palermo having invented a revolver which he said could not poetibly go oil unless fired by one who knew the secret, exploded while showing it to some friends, killing him, on the opot>