ENJOYS LIFE IN WAVES

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 422, 26 May 1904, Page 8

ENJOYS LIFE IN WAVES

Hew Ile'Rrlo, fee tfeeo* 9-wlmtm*», le tilled. Fri sad l.<i-*-vr*d - , ' WfalU Afloat. By way of preliminary to his swim icrofiK the channel, Holbein essayed "pcently to lower the record created :.v :1! fnted Capt. Webb for the swim etwccH Dover and Ramsgate, a distunes of SO miles if a direct course ••utiM be followed, but probably not c«e than fire and twenty allowing fur the deviation caused by contrary titles and currents. The swimmer failed by some four miles, the bad weather and the racing tide against him making any attempt to reach Ramsgate futile. He refused, however, to leave the water until he had swam back to Deal, and •o completed the exact distance between the ooaeta of England and France. Had the conditions remained favorable there is no doubt > that he would have beaten' the existing time of B*4 hours by over S% hours. Profiting by the experience gained last year, when his plucky attempt to swim the channel came so near accomplishment, Mr. Holbein is well rubbed with oil before entering the water, and, to obviate injury, to his eyes from the salt, wesrs a mask of American sticking plaster, with glass goggles. His physique and power of oaderaaee are little short of woxderreJ, end hie only fear ie the arising of a eeddea storm. For sustenance he roUce mainly on liquid he#f essmiso, varied by an occasional sandweak, supplied to bfm by hfe eon. panleno in the accompanying boat. COUNT MCOKM COBBLI*. C $M naaflelan ffcMeassßsi mceievnsans ■ts Matte*, the WesftT aac ■ n Ml Weasnejew From the pleasures of a gilded youth to a cobbler's bench is the romentie career of Count Edward fltedios, a member of one of the noblest families of Austria. The somewhat unusual morel of the tale is the feet' that in the face of a fresh while from fickle fortune he prefers to remain a cobbler. The affair eame about in this way: The young count, having dissipated his wealth, was wandering through a forest in Hungary when he came upon a cobbler, to whom he, confessed hie poverty. The man" of - him a home and a trade, and the count accepting, waa taken • to hie home and taught to make and Wend

shoes. One day e> man of law, who had been looking for him a long time, arrived, snd toM him that by the successive and rapid deaths of all his male relatives he had become heir of the immense fortune of the Stadtos and member of the house of peers of Austria. This sudden prosperity coming after eo many misfortunes did not turn the head of the noble cobbler, who, according to rumor, or? dered himself a simple hut to be built in the forest, and now, having renounced the vanities of the world, he lives he this hut, making and Mending his own shoes.

DEATH VALLEY NITER.

—sieif pasoowosiss of Doaeeste to That ttesjptem Casta* leash ei ■. n^. : IVeeyoeeeea. Wscovefiee of vast deposite of niter *» Death vallsy have started a rush to that desolats region. Dozens of expeditions fitted out by capitalists end hundreds of miners are leaving. Daggett, Borate, Rand&burg and Mojave for Death valley. Already there are more than 400 men waiting at Bellarat for information as to which portion of the terrible desert is best to rush to, says a late report. The nitrate deposite ere reported by the discoverers as being of fUeh extent ss to rival if not surpase those of Chili. Gofer their veal range k not known, but many square miles have been exemined by th* prospectors. There are millions of dollars' worth of the mueh-eongbt material in sight. Those who hare so far made claims to the niter beds are poor men. "Borax King" Smith, Lord Humphreys snd Millionaire Singleton are the capitalists who have taken the keenest interest in the fields, but they heve ss yet made no claims. Nearly 100 men mre being sent into Death valley by "Borax King" Smith, Lord Humphreys snd The expense attached to their opera* tioai will approximate 1250,000. TJaJeaUr PnaUAefl. A friend of mine returning to eamp after a day's shooting, says a writer in Navy and Army, suddenly came in sight of a big she bear with two cubs following in cringle file, proceeding along a ridge, the forms of the three being sharply silhouetted ngnipvt the sky. It waa a very long shot,.but he determined to try it, so drew a bead on the old she bear and fired. The result was curious. The procession stopped, the she bear scratched herself hastily, then turned around, and. regarding the cub immediately behind with grave disapproval, boxed its ears soundly, and then went trundling on along the ridge, evidently under the impression that her frolicsome offspring had been up to some unusually objectionable tricks. A Stoateal Rote. Music is declared by a Smart Set: Writer to be at once the "glory ausft the scandal of the universe." \%ft, certain, says the Chicago Tribune^,that a great deal of glorious music & seen* lalously sung. *• Jsrsn'i Chmp Walt, The cheapest postal service in the world is that of Japan, where frir two sen—about seven-tenths of a pennr letters ere .conveyed all over the em. plre.