FACTS AND FANCIES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 759, 5 September 1922, Page 6

FACTS AND FANCIES.

Origin of the Foot-Rule. ; The foot has been the most wide-ly-used measure of length, both in ancient and in modem times. It was derived, as the name suggests, from the length of the human foot, and is thus a natural unit, like the second; but, owing to the multiplicity of human feet and their varying dimensions, this unit has varied greatly in different ages, its length ranging all the way from the ancient Welsh foot of Sin. to the Piedmont foot of 20in. in modern times it has varied from the Spanish foot of less than llin. to the Venice foot of over 13in. almost every country using a foot of different length. ■■mm, _ £ A LONG WALK. Reggie was pleading very Hard cal afternoon to be allowed to go to towi with his mother. She told him hi would get too tired, and she wantei to be quick home. “Well,” he pee sisted, after a pause, “if I was i mamma and you my little boy, Pm sun I’d take you. I’ll walk all the way; and I won’t bother you a bit.” Vl® ther at last consented, and all wenl well till the return journey, when nearing home, Reggie began to lag be hind. “Come along,” said mother; “are you getting tired?” “No,” exclaimed the little fellow, “I don’t thinl I’m tired, but one of my boots is gon« Billy. It keeps kicking the other one, and won’t let me walk properly. 1 g’pose it wants you to carry it, eh, mamma ?” THE FIRST EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. Few places have been more fatal to ihips than were formerly the Eddy»tone Rocks. They lie out to sea about fourteen miles south-west of Plymouth, and are thus in the line of traffic up and down the English Channel. Madv a vessel, when nearly home, has been dashed to pieces on their jagged points after weathering safely the Atlantic gales; and only dead bodies and floating pieoes of mast and spar hare come ashore to tall the tale. An attempt was first made to build a lighthouse hers in 1696. Mr. •>Winstanley, a gentleman of Essex, set the design on foot. The first summer was wholly spent in making twelve holes m the rock, and fastening twelve irons oa them by which to hold the building ; and the second went in making i solid pillar on which to set it. Sometimes the sea swept over the rocks, burying them many feet below the waves, and once the builder and his workmen were overtaken by a storm, and left exposed; under imperfect shelter for eight days, during which no boat could get near them, and they fere reduced to their last crust. At length, after four* years’ patient lahpur, the building was finished. WinItanley felt sure it would stand; but m November, 1703, his hopes were disappointed, and he himself buried in tha ruin. He was superintending some repairs, when a storm came on. All sight it raged along the coast, and when the day broke the lighthouse had. disappeared—the builder and his men,, and every fragment of their work, had been swallowed up by the billows.

THE EDUCATED BABU* v The Babu, or native Indian, ia educated upon English lines, in the schools of India, and often obtains employment as a clerk, hotel booKVeeper, or waiter in various English establishments. Babu English is mainly based upon classic models such as Shakespeare or Milton, and their use'of ponderous quotations from these great tomes of English literature in place of ordinary conversation is often most humorous. A visitor at one of the big hote's at Calcutta asked the hotel Babu ,to call him at five o’clock in the morning, and, being a heavy sleeper, impressed upon the man the absolute necessity of being aroused in good time. The Babu evidently sought for a suitable phrase to meet the necessity, for, tc the visitor’s surprise, he was roused by the diligent servant in sonorous tones im these Miltonic lines: “Awake! arise! or be for ever damned!” Needless to say, the visitor at once jumped out of bed. MAXIMS IN DEALING WITH WOMEN. Never say to your wife, “Before J was married I used to do this am do that.” She will resent it. Before you were married is a long period ii: your life in which she takes no in terest, and she -would rather neve> hear it mentioned. If you set any value on your time, never attempt to prove that your wife is wrong in saying this or in thinking that. A clever man does net commit such a mistake in matrimony. He agrees or remains silent. Lunatic asylums are full of men who have tried to argue in matrimonial lifeIf your husband cannot afford tc give you expensive jewels. have enough delicacy never to mention the jewels of .Mrs. So-and-So before him. The most poignant suffering that man who loves his wife may perhaps have to endure is to feel that he can not afford to give her dresses ana jewellery as expensive as those of hei female acquaintances. Whenever you have an opportunity, give your husband a chance to appeal at his best. He will praise you lot it, and so will everybody. . A wire may speak admiringly of a man to her husband. He will probably join her- But for the lovHol all you hold most sacred in this world and the next, my dear man, neve; speak admiringly of a woman to you; wife, or you will be treated as a mon ster of cruelty. Her privileges art | not youis. Of course, you have yot.n n-'vn. Apropos of this, have you cvei | tried to hold up a woman of your ah : quaintancc as a model to your wife. Now, have you? No? ’Oh, do try just for fun ! If you want to foreset the result, remember the feelings yon entertained, when you.were a boy, fm the hoy that was constantly offered Lyou as a model U imitate. — O’Rell.