Gleanings.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 736, 8 May 1894, Page 7

Gleanings.

§ Philadelphia has some long 1 streets. Second street, 16 miles ; Germantown and Ridge avenue, 10 miles; Broad street, 9f miles; Frankford avenue, 8 miles; Fifth street, miles; Market street, 5| miles.

Volcanoes are to be thanked for the gold supply of the world. They fetch up the yellow metal from the bowels of the earth, and it is found only in rocks which have been upheaved from beneath the crust of the planet.

In the next war the German Army will enter the field with over 1,250,000 of infantry, over 50,000 cavalry and more than 2,000 field guns, with hune reserves of all these arms almost immediately available. To the civilian mind the control over such a host, the difficulty of maintaining unity in the direction of its movements, of feeding it, and of keeping* it supplied with the necessaries of a campaign must be evident; to the soldier, who knows how much the working of the military machine depends on individuals, the difficulties appear to be almost insuperable.

‘ The toughest thing I ever sat down to eat,’ said the veteran sportsman, ‘ was an old hen at a farmhouse whilst 1 was grousing some years ago. They thought thev had cooked her, but, by gad, sir ! when they took the cover off, I'll be hanged if she wasn't eating the bread sauce.'

The largest edible fish in the world is the * jew fish ’ which abounds off the coasts of Florida and in tropical waters generally. Contrary to the usual fact, the jew fish improves in quality with its size. As it frequently rises to 500 lbs and over, one jew fish is capable of furnishing a satisfactory meal. The difficulty in regard to its capture is the delicate question which generally arises whether the fishing boat has caught the fish or the fish has caught the fishing boat. This has to be settled by a tug-of-war. The Scientific American shows by means of a photograph the comparative sizes of a particularly large fish, just caught, and its captor. The advantage is not on the side of the latter.

Mistress: Why don’t you finish dusting my room, Jane ?

Jane: Beg pardon, ma’am, but I was just decomposing. Mistress : You are what ? Jane: I said I was just returning to dust.

Signor Tosti had the good fortune soon after he came to England to become acquainted with the late Duchess of Cambridge, and he sang to her almost every day up to the date of her death. In an interview, in the Women at Home, were are told that the sufferings of the late Duchess were not to be relieved bv medicines, but music, which she loved, never failed to calm and sooth her. With the exception of ‘ Good-bye,’ which the late Duchess admired especially, she preferred those compositions of Signor Tosti written to Italian words, and strictly in Italian style, to others which are more English in their character. Time was when the Neapolitan * maestro’.was not so fortunate as to have royal and other illustrious pupils. The life at the Conservatoire was very hard, and he ran away to Ancona, where he gave music lessons for a fee of sd. an hour. ‘ This was the period of my career,’ Tosti says ‘ during which I chiefly lived on oranges and bread and cheese. But I must confess I never felt better in my life, although I watched and waited and persevered very ardently, in the hope that some day I might become other than a humble violinist striving and studying in the Vallo Theatre at Rome. I re-

member bow I used to sit in my obscure corner, unnoticed and unseen for, staring at the boxes which contained all the great personages in Rome, and wondering whether it would ever fall on my lot to speak with one of the most beautiful queens who ever graced a throne, Margherita of Savoy. My hopes and wishes were gratified later ; but those days of poverty were dreadful to endure. My early compositions were laughed at, and yet I was so poor that in desperation I competed for the 500 lire prize to be given by the Florentine Art Society, and sent in a song, which needless to say, was immediately rejected. This very song, ‘ Vorrei Mortre,' has since been one of my most conspicuous successes.’

Sixty one years elapsed between the Hon W. E. Gladstone's first public speech and his last. His ‘ maiden ’ was at three and twenty, his final effort at eighty four.

Certainly the best medicine Known is Sander and Sons’ Eucalypti Extract. Test its eminently powerful effects in coughs,colds, influenza ; the reliefisinstantaneous. In serious cases, and accidents of all kinds.be they wounds, burns, scaldings, bruises, sprains, it is the safest remedy—no swelling—no inflammation. Like surprising effects produced in croup, diphtheria, bronchitis. inflammation of the lungs, swellings, &c.; diarrhoea, dysentry, diseases of the kidneys and urinary organs. In use at hospitals and medical clinics all over the globe, patronised by His Majesty the King of Italy ; crowned with medal anddiplomt Interatnational Exhibition. Amsterdam Trust in this approved article and reject all others