MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 359, 23 May 1884, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

b ♦ . f His Papa's Religion. J So, my little boy, you would like to join \ our Sunday school, would you?' said 1 the • superintendent, kindly. " Yes sir," replied the little boy. «• What ia your name, did ' you say?" "Johnnie Simpson." "Oh ; yes, you are the son of Mr Simpson. Let 1 me see ;is your father a Presbyterian or a • Episcopalian ? n « No, sir, he isn't either. L He's a newspaper man, ; Divorce Statistics. : A French statistician has just compiled • some very curious tables relating to the com : ; parative number of divorces and judicial separations in different countries. By these it appears that a bad prominence is attained by Denmark, Switzerland, and the United States, whereas a good mark must be given to Scotland, Russia, Finland, and Italy. In the latter countries the proportion is only from one to five in every thousand marriages, whereas in the former it amounts to from 11 to 28. In the English Divorce Court we see at least as many petitions presented by men as by women, but on the Continent the balance must be very one-sided, r "\ when the general statistics come to be «n. -il.ysed, it is found that nine successful l>< tnions are preferred by wives against one pi'olerred by the husband. Conjugal catastrophes of this kind are more common in Protestant than in Koman Catholic countries, as may be eas-ily supposed, considering that the Koman Church entirely prohibit them. Anecdote of the American Speaker. The American speaker was lately travelling on the New York and Long Branch Railway, when the conductor of the train asked for his ticket. The great official showed a pass to prove his identity, as members of the Legislature are entitled to travel free ; but the conductor declined to accept the pass, as it had not one of the endorsements it should have had upon it. The fare was demanded and refused. Jt was only 30 cents : but, an principle the Speaker declined to pay ; whereupon the conductor said, "Either you will pay or I will put you off.' ' " You will have to do it in sections then," The Speaker humorously replied ; " for I don't believe you can put me off all at once." The conductor became ■ menacing in his manner, and the admirers I of Parliamentary institutions present had every reason to anticipate a smart fight be- I tween the Speaker and a railway porter. ! but the latter suddenly (.relented (the Speaker is a very powerful man, it appears), gave the presiding genius of the House of Assembly a pass, exclaming, however, that it was for the last time, and that if he tried riding in the train again without paying his fare or showing a duly endorsed ticket he | would be thrown off. The story is said to i have created much amusement around the i Capitol. A cure for Drunkenness. j There is a prescription in, use in JEngland for the cure of drunkenness, by which thousands are said to have been enabled t® recover themselves. The recipe came into notoriety by the efforts of the commander of a steamship. He had fallen into such habitual drunkenness that his most earnest efforts to reclaim himself became unavailing, at last he sought the advice of an eminent physician, jjwhich lie followed faith" fully for several months, and at the end of that time he had lost all desire for liquor, ' although he had been for many years' led captive by a most debasing appetite. The recipe, which he afterwards published, and by which so many other drunkards have been assisted to reform, is as follows :—Sulphate of iron, 20 grains j magnesia, 40 grains; peppermint, 44 drachms ; spirits of nutmeg, 4 drachms. Dose, one teaspoonful twice a day. How Teachers are Paid. Emile de Layelcye has in a recent work given the salaries of the teachers in America and Europe. In the United States the salaries are at . New York, LI 44 ; Massachussets, Ll6O ; California, L 18 4; Ohio, L 92 ; Michigan, Ll4o.sThe aveiage monthly pay for teachers — In Connecticut, Ll2 ; Mississipi, LlO ; Nevada, L 25 ; New Hampshire, L 7 ; Pennsylvania, L 8; West Virginia, L 7 ; - Colorado, LI 7 ; Maine, L 6 ; Louisinia, LI3 ; Kansas, L 8; Maryland, ij9 ; Wisconsin, L 8 10s ; lowa, LB. In England the average salary of a teacher holding certificates is LI 00. in Wales aboutjL7B. Non-certificated teachers have an income from L4B to L 62. In Scotland the teachers at the Presbyterian schools receive an average payment of L 69 ; female teachers holding certificates receive about L 62. In Denmark the ordinary payment varies from LB6 to L 135. In Jutland their' salary is smaller, being about L 45. In the whole country only 6 per cent of the teachers receive less than this. At Berlin the smallest teachers' salary in 1864 amounted to L 63. After the alteration ,of : January 1, 1864, the salaries are fixed as follows : — After three years' of service, L6B >10s ; after six years, L 75 ; after nine years, L9O ; after 14 years, L 99 10s ; after 24 years, LIJ2. In Alsace-Lorraine the payment has fox several years been from L4B to L6O. j ! How the Raindrops Fall. ' The minute particles of which clouds are composed move downward in consequence 1 of the attraction of gravity ; but by reason . of the resistance which the air offeTS to their descent, they are. only moving very slowly, says Professor Osborne Reynolds. Since, however, the resistance offered to the passage of large drops is much smaller in proportion.to their weight than, that offered to small drops, it follows that the large drops will' descend faster than the smaller ones, and will overtake them, coming in collusion with any which are in th-a direct line of their descent. When two drops collide they will j unite to form a larger drop, which will J descend with increased velocity* sweeping I up all smaller drops in its path, and thus increasing in size until it emerges from the cloud. Since many clouds ate several miles in thickness, it is easy to see that a particle descending from the upper part of the cloud may become a raindrop of considerable size before it emerges from the cloud. In their passa s e from the cloud to the earth the larger raindrops will overtake the small ones in a precisely similar way. It is, of course, well known that large clouds may exist without any rain falling from them. In some cases rain is actually formed, but evaporates | and is again converted into vapor before it | can reach the ground ; in many cases the ' non-formation of rain is due to the fact that under certain unknown atmospheric or other conditions the particles forming the clouds do not unite when they collide. As an agent of geological change, rain is of the greatest importance. It plays a large part in the disintiegation of rocks and the formation of soils, washes the smaller particles into streams and rivers, and is, in fact, one of the most important of the various denuding agents. Indeed, since rain is the ultimate source of all our brooks, rivers, etc., it may be said to be the principal agent of geological change on the earth's surface. The amount of the rainfall varies very considerably in different countries, and in different parts of the same country, depending on geographical position, the conformation of the surface of the ground, the proximity of the large lakes and the sea, etc. The heaviest annual fall of rain occurs in the zone of calms, over the equatorial region of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and on the west coasts of the British Isles, India, Norway, North and South America and New Zealand. In all these latter districts the west wind blows over a large tract of ocean and becomes heavily charged with moisture, which it deposits when forced upward by the action of the mountains on the coasts. The dryest districts in the world are the desert regions of Africa and Asia. : Mark Twain and his horse. . Mark says — " I have a horse by the najme of Jericho. He is a mare. I have seen -remarkable horses before, but none so remarkable as this. I wanted a horse that would

shy, and this fills the bill. I had an ides that shying indicated spirit. If it is correci I have got the most spirited horse on earth, He shys at everything he comes across with the utmost partiality. He appears to have a mortal dread of telegraph poles especially ; and it is fortunate that these are on both sides of the road, because, as it is now, I never fall off twice in succession on the same side. If I fell on the same side always it would get monotonous after a while. The creature has shied to-day at everything except a haystack! he walked up to that with an intrepidity and recklessness that was astounding. And it would fill anyone with admiration to see how he preserved his self-possession in the presence of a barley stack. This dare devil bravery will be the death of the horse some day. He is not particularly fast, but he will do all the work I want. He has only one fault ; his tail has been chopped off, or else he has sat down on it too hard some time or other, and has to tight the flies with his heels. This is all very well ; but when he tries to kich a fly off the top of his head with his hind foot, it is too much of a variety. He is going to get himself into trouble that way some day. He reaches around and bites my segs, too. Ido not care particularly about that, but I don't like to see a horse too sociable. Preaching to a Congregation of Two. The county congregations of fifty years aSo were largely made up of the best people ,in Geogia, and compared favorably with congregations of the present day. Some, of course, were uncouth in manner, but hearty injhospitality. The smallest congregation I addressed during the first years of my ministry consisted of six persons — three {men and three woman. One March day afterward I rode ten miles through a drenching rain to Platrock Chapel, in Putnam County only to find two persons there — a man and a boy. I was wet to the skin and benumbed. After waiting a few minutes and no additions coming, I said, " We might as well leave here, as there will be n© congregation." The man quietly responded : "Through five miles of pelting rain I have come to hear preaching. I saw at once my duty and replied : "You are right. You are entitled to it." For one hour I addressed my little congregation, and was never listened to with more attention. — [Bishop Pierce. A Sight Mistake. A young lady went to an intelligence office the other day, and, as there was no girl in at the the time, sat down to wait for one. She is a Jefferson avenue belle and leads the gay procession in society circles ; she is also a good daughter and model housekeeper, takiag all the care of a large establishment off her mother's ageing shoulders. As she sat and waited in the intelligence office a gentleman whom she knew came in to get a girl ; she had met him at a . social reception a few nights previous, he in full evening dress, she in a costume of pink silk, and Spanish lace, with roses in her hair. He had whispered sweet words of admiration to her, and she had blushed beneath his too ardent gaze. It was only a rehearsal of that foolish old play " Love's Young Dream," but it had left pleasant memories with both, She could not help showing she was glad, to meet him again, and half rose. But he passed her to speak to the woman at the desk, who supplied "help," to domestic Macedonia. " My brother's family are in need of a girl Mrs can* you send one np there to-day?" •■■• " No, sur," said the woman stolidly, "that ain't one in now." "Why won't this one do?" asked the gentlemen curtly, turning upon the young lady, who in her plain walking dress , and veiled turban sat trembling with apprehension. "La, now, she ain'fc no girl," said the mistress of the intelligence, but the customer paid no attention to her. " See here, Miss or Mrs what's your name," he asked abruptly, "can you do general housework, wash, iron and cook? If you can and are worth your salt, you can get a place — d'ye hear." The girl shrunk hastily from his extended hand and he asked : " Are you a German or a Swede. Because ifjyou can't speakEnglisb. we don't want you. What's the matter with you 1 Ain't deaf and dumb, are you ?" By this time the indignant girl had collected her wits, and, rising from her chair, she walked out, leaving him staring after her. -•••■" " She will meet and she will miss him, There will be one vacant stare." But he will never know what fate did for him in the intelligence office. . An Extraordinary Hotel. ~ , American hotels are one of the institutions of the country, so unique" are they. in. every respect ; but one that is to be erected on Coney Island will surely bear the palm for • eccentricity. The external appearance of this gigantic edifice is to present' the outlines of an elephant with saddle bags (save the i mark) and a howdah. It> will -be 122 I . feet high to the top of the dome,' with a total length 150 feet. The circumference of the body is to be 168 feet, and the legs will be 40 feet long by 60 feet in circumference. The entrance «tnd exit will be in the hind feet and the forelegs, and a gigantic trough, out of which the elephant is supposed to be feeding, will be occupied as bazaars, ihe main hall will be in the body of the elephant, and will measure 80 feet in length by 32 feet in breadth, and there will be large saloons in the stomach and head, the former locality j being appropriately selected as' the site of the grand saloon, where public dinners will be eaten. The eyes will be 4ft in diameter, and the rooms in which they are placed will be fitted up with optical appliances to obtain views of Sandy Hook and objects in the distance— the. *' elephant" looking towards the ' Atlantic. Architects have long been looking out for a new style. Here they have it with a vengeance, and its very novelty will render the "elephant" hotel famous. There will, of course, be rooms in the trunk, rooms in the tail, and rooms in the ears, and all thess will let for a time at fancy prices—even the tusks will no doubt find plenty of customers. The Colossus of Rhodes will be fairly eclipsed by the Elephant of Coney Island , but the new style of architecture once started, there is no telling where it will stop.