Chair Slaking 100 Years Ago.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 5 June 1914, Page 8

Chair Slaking 100 Years Ago.

Quite frequently in occupying a very old chair it will sway from side to side very easily, but still the parts will not separate. This is due to the construction, which is quite ingenious. The wood in shrinking grips tightly on the rounds. The uprights or legs marked A are of

green wood. The rounds and curved back connections marked B are thoroughly seasoned. You can readily see that when the green wood becomes seasoned it will shrink very tightly on the seasoned pieces, so much so that they very seldom come apart, although there is no glue used.

The oldest member of the French Legion of Honor is a bugler named Rolland, living at Lacalm, Aveyron, France. Rolland was decorated with the Legion of Honor on August 21, 184G, for his heroic conduct in Africa during the skirmish of Sidi Brahim. In the course of that fight the bugler conducted himself like a hero. The French soldiers had exhausted their ammunition, and with his last shot he fired his ramrod, which he had- placed in the barrel of his musket, at the advancing Arabs. He stood his ground, and was run down by the Arab horsemen, who took him, wounded and a prisoner, to their leader, the Emir Abd-el-Ka-dor. The Emir was squatting on a rich carpet undep an olive tree. On seeing the prisoner with his bugle, he pointed to the small cluster of French troops that were opposing the Arabs, and he asked him if he knew the tune that the Christians blew to order a cessation of the combat. The bugler said it as the "Retraite." "Then take your bugle," said the Emir, "and blow the retreat." Rolland pretended to obey, but, instead of the retreat he blew the charge with all his might, and the Aral) camp was carried. Considering the age of this hero, who is now 94, it has been proposed to promote him from the rank of Knight to that of Officer of the Legion of Honor.