Excerpta.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 789, 8 November 1894, Page 2

Excerpta.

Mr Andrew Lang’s Misconception. The ‘ Spectator ’ has been giving examples of childish misconceptions, mainly in sacred matter. 1 can add an example of my own. In a version of the Psalms occurs the lino ‘ And for His sheep He did us take.’ For long I believed this to be—- ‘ And for his sheep he doth a steak,’ as one had heard of ‘ doing a chop ' for a person in a hurry. It did not seem absurd, then, that beef stakes should be cooked for sheep. There is another tale of a little boy who, being taken to the seaside for the first time, asked, ‘ Where are the tinnamies.’ He had heard of ‘ the sea and all that in him is,’, and ‘ tinnamies ’ bad become concrete beings of some sort in his imagination. —Andrew Lang.

Only One Cannon Ball.

A shot weighing 250 pounds, from an eight inch gnn of Fott Valdivia, in Valparaiso Harbour, struck the cruiser Blanco Encalada above the armour belt, passed through the thin steel plate on the side, went through the captain’s cabin, took the pillow from under his head, dropped his head on the mattress with a thump, but without injuring a hair; passed through the open door into the messroom, where it struck the Hour and then glanced to the ceiling. Then it went through a wooden bulkhead one inch thick into a room 25 by 42 feet, where 40 men were sleeping in hammocks. It killed six of them outright and wounded six others, three of whom died, after which it passed through a steel bulkhead five inches thick, and ended its course by striking a battery outside, in which it made a dent nearly two inches deep. It was filled with sand. Had it released deadly gases no one knows what damage it might have done.

A 450-pound missle from a 10-inch gun in the same fort struck the same vessel on its 8-inch armour. It hit square on a bolt. The shell did not pierce the armour, but burst outside the vessel. It drove the bolt clear through, and in its flight the bolt struck an 8-inch gnn, completely disabling it. Such is the power of the smaller-sized guns.— The Century.

Negro Migration.

On the authority of United States Consul-General Collins it may be staled that the Transatlantic negroes are flocking to England in great numbers. The steamship companies confirm Mr Collins’ statements, and add that nearly all the wealthy ‘ coloured folks ’ are sending their sons to study law, medicine, or art in London. Has this influx of the dusty stepchildren of Uncle Sam anything to do with the treatment the negro receives even in the Northern States ? Of course he is in theory a free and privileged American citizen. But what respectable hotel will receive him as a guest ? and do the theatres admit him to stalls or boxes ? The Transatlantic liners care not carry negro first-class passengers; and the wealthy young Afro-Americans (as they style themselves) who come to England are invariably forced to travel in the steerage. In England their path is, comparatively, strewn with roses. Students do not refuse to mingle with them in the hospitals and colleges. They can occupy the best rooms in hotels and travel in first-class carriages. If this be so, it is no wonder that they are migrating from the prejudiced Republic to the free Monarchy.

Conceal niont of Sex.

The strange story recently told of Mons. L. Bernard, who was registered, baptised, habited, conveutually educated, and continuously treated as a girl until she come to man's estate, when she explained matters, and took unto himself a wife, has bad its parallel—if a converse can be called a parallel—over here. James Barry, M.D., Edinburgh, was au army surgeon. He serve! his lull time lor a pension, in all parts of the globe; he retired upon that pension ; and he duly died 1865, aged eighty years. He was of small stature ; had rather a high voice and an effeminate air; abhorred strong meat and drink, but was sudden and quick in quarrel, and fought a duel at the Cape. There were suspicious about—outside the Medical Board ; but these suspicions did not point to the truth. The truth was only found out by a postmortem, which the subject of it had expressly for biden, but upon which Science thought proper to insist. Then it was discovered that J. Barry, M. D., Inspector of Hospitals, was a woman, The late Alfred Swayene Taylor, who tells this story, knew her very well.— English paper.

How He Proposed.

She : Whatever Helen saw in Tom Jones to marry hitn I don’t see. He : Nor I. She (decisively) : The man I marry must be short. He : Les ? (Sotto voce.) I’m tall. She ; And fair. He : Indeed ? (Sotto voce.) l'iu dark. She : And rich. He; No doubt. (Sotto voce.) I’m poor.

She : And have not petty vices. He : You are quite right. (Sotto voce.) I’ve got ,om all.’ She : Nor large ones. He : Of course. (Sotto voce.) That lets me out. She : And have a title. He : Good gracious, Fairy ! She : And be must worship the very ground I stand on. He : Why, Fairy, I do that ; but— She : But what, George ? He : I see I have no show to—er—to aspire to

She .- Oh, George, this is so sudden ! But you may ask There, now, you’ve rumpled my hair all up, you horrid boy ! — Judge

Most of the estates in the Straits Settlements contain cocoa-nut trees. When cocoa-nut farming is carried on as a trade the nuts are collected by coolies, as the Chinese labourers are called; but in those cases where the trees are not numerous, apes are often trained to ‘ swarm ’ up the trunks and gather the nuts. As a rule, they are tied to a rattan to prevent them from escaping. It is said they show great judgment in choosing the nuts that are ready for use. The animals are very smart at this work.—From Tittle Folks Magazine.

There is one thing the hardware dealer has always on hand—nails.

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