Yarietie's.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 405, 11 February 1904, Page 2

Yarietie's.

EARLY AND LONGEVITY. aRKNEMIES &f early rising will be UflrLp delighted to hear tbe opinion of a jKhK German doctor, who has been collecting information about the habits of long-lived peraoos, and finds that the majority of long-livers indulged in late hours. At least eight oat of ten persons over eighty never went to bed till well into the small hoars, and did not get up again till late in the day. Indeed, he considers that getting up early tends to exhaust physical power and to shorten life, while the so-called invigorating early hours are, he thinks, apt to produce lassitude, and are positively dangerous to some constitutions.

THE DISAPPEARING COIN. On one occcasion, while examining the mechanism of the monster revolving lamp belonging to a lighthouse, a gentleman, wishing to see how many seconds [would elapse in completing a revolution, took a half-crown piece from his pocket and placed it on the revolving framework. Watch in hand, he waited for the coin to come round again, but no half-crown appeared. The seconds lengthened into minutes—still no half-crown. ' Strange!' he exclaimed. ' What can be the meaning of it ?' 'ln order to ascertain the cause of the strange phenomenon, he walked round to the other side of the lamp, and in doing so encountered one of the lighthouse men, who touched his hat and said, 'Thank you, air,' in an undertone, The man, seeing the cfcin coming towards him, had pocketed it, thinking it was meant for a tipOTHER TIMES, OTHER MANNERS Daring the last five end-twenty years an immense change has taken place in the wearing of jewellery. Yeais ago, no gentlewoman wore diai monds in the morning, and high-born English people were quite shocked at the way American women in foreign hotels wore jewellery by daylight. Aristocratic Englishmen would shiver at the idea of their wives and daughters wearing the family jewels by daylight, and they despised the 'vulgar ostentation' of their Transatlantic cousins, who apparently lost no opportunity of wearing their ornaments.

All that is now ancieut history. Women nowadajs wear what they please in the way of jewels and when they please. They do not even despise shams, and many a woman now wears gems vhich, if genuine, would be really worth a king's ransom. Some twenty years ago rings were little worn, and a ring given as a wedding present was sufficiently unusual to excite comment, Now sets of rings are quite ordinary, and the stones are large and prominent. Formerly gloves were worn tightly fitting, bow they must be loose to be worn at all. This looseness ia all right for the Angara, but the palm is left baggy, and fair Americans fill up this little superfluous space with little handkerchiefs, which are tncked in, leaving the coloured or lace-trimmed border and corners hanging out. The fashion cannot be called pretty, but it has its advantages now that ladies' pockets are generally conspicuous by their absence.

The rage for jewellery has been so great for some time that one naturally expects Dame Fashion soon to get wearied of it. Already there are sigas that she is becoming so, and not only is the bead chain almost extinct, but in some quarters rings seem going out of favour. Among many smart women ringless fingers are the order of the day, no exception being made even ia favour of the wedding ring, which, like its more ornate, fellows, is allowed to rest ia my lady's jewel-case till required for her adornment in the evening.

A CLOCK MANIAC. Abont ten years ago a man named Menager died In New York, who. was known as the clock miser. The details of his life were told in fcba daily papers, bat were so unusual and significant as to bear repetition now. Menager was as a young man the junior partner in a manufacturing firm. He threw into his work such energy and intelligence that a career opened before him both useful and successful. It was necessary that he should be punctual each morning at his office, and for this reason he bought a Swiss clock and placed it opposite his bed, Doubting its correctness, he bought another ef German make, and concerned himself to keep the two running exactly together. He grew interested in their mechanism, studied their points of difference, and began to buy from time to time other clocks.

He had ceased now to care for clocks for their real use, and valued them as cariosities and articles of property. The whim giew upon him as years passed. He was learned in the history and in all the peculiarities of the different timepieces that he possessed. His accumulation increased until he had specimens from al- - every clockmaking nation. So keen was his zeal in this pursuit that he grew indifferent to every other object in life, dropped his friends, and at last lived in a large, dingy house, with only an o'd servant and the ticking multitude of clocks, that seemed unceasingly to strike the funeral knell of his wasted years. Interest in manor woman he had none, but spent his time among his treasures, winding them and talking to them as if they were live creatures. In his house at his death were found over 400 c'ocks, which were sent to auction, the proceeds going to the State, as he had no legal heirs. STANDARDIZATION. This is a very useful and common thing, unnoticed because of its commonness. Few people perhaps notice that all omnibus wheels are painted yellow, so that any wheel may be worn with any'bus colour. Every circus ring in the world is of precisely the same diameter, whatever the size of the auditorium, so that the rider knows the angle at which he must lean in San Francisco is the angle of safety in I St. Petersburg. Even the ladder is; ' standardized.' Every hodman in England knows what he has to step when toiling up the builder's ladder, though he may not know it is 7in. The sailor who runs up the ratlines has 12in. as a step, and that makes a run possible. And the firemen's ladder is crossed with exact equivalence to the ratlines, for firemen are generally sailors. hajr-pin"proposals, Women's rights are well established in the Candahar district, judging from the customs of the Waziris, a tribe in the neighbourhood of the Pishin Valley. The fair sex are not only exempt from all kinds of labour, but it is their duty to make offers of marriage. Thus the Waziri lady sends a hair-pin to the chosen one, requesting that with it he will pin a handkerchief to his cap. if her affection is returned, the request is fulfilled an? as the gentleman fastens the love token he publishes the lady's name, and is obliged to marry her forthwith. . ■■■■}