The Curiosity Shop

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3510, 15 April 1905, Page 4

The Curiosity Shop

: .A BBJEF HISTORY OF TOBACCO. First Cultivni s J I:i /:■ ■.• .i- -h an OrnamcwLs: 1 -Tho nanio tobacco is thought by some to i-jiavo been taken from Tobacco, a province of Yucatan, by others from Tobago, an Island in the Caribbean sen, and by still •tethers from Tobasco, in tlio gulf of Florida. The plant;, although it is asserted that : tho Chinese have used it from earliest times, was not introduced into Europe until after tho discovery of America by Columbus. Ho first found it in use on the island of San Domingo in tho West Indies. The Indian, among all the tribes from Poru to upper Canada, smoked it in pipes. ' Tho seed of tho plant was first introduced in Europe by GonzuloHernandez cle I Oviedo, who took it to .Spain and cultivated it for ornamental purposes, but its narcotic qualities were shortly afterward discovered, and the practice of smoking it soon became general, and its manufacture Into snuff followed in course of time. It was introduced in Italy and Franco in 1560 and was brought into the latter country by Jean Nicot, tiio French embassador to For- ■ tugal, in whoso honor it received its botanical name, uicotiaua, whence tho name nicotine. . , _ , , Tho plant was introduced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh. It was along in tho seventeenth century before it was inown to bo used in A sin, but tho oriental nations at tho present time are probably the greatest smokers in tho world, according to Thorne. Leprosy J« tho Middle Ages. In the midd lo agcs-loprosy extended over the whole of Europe. Nearly every city in England, Franco and Germany had its hospital for such cases, and Italy suffered terribly from tho disease. Tho maximum was reached in 1500, -when there were 19,000 leper houses in Europe. Tho patients wore excommunicated by papal'“bulls.” They were cut off us “unclean” from intercourse of all sorts, and only in this way was tho plague gradually suppressed. It disappeared as an epidemic in Europe lu the sixteenth century. A writer in tho Now York Times vays: It is still found everywhere in the orient, particularly among tho fellahs of Egypt and India, in China and Japan, in all 1 ho coast lands of Africa, on Madagascar, Mauritius, St. Helena and Madeira, in Mexico and Central and South America. Sia-h sufferers are found in Europe at present, as, for example, in Norway, where there were 1,600 lepers in 1880 out of a population of 1,850,000, though this was ai; . rouse from 13,280 in 1864. They are also found on tho Greek islands of Samos and Crete and to a less degree in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and tho Russian provinces, and single cases are also occasionally found in middle Europe. Nature Not Always tho Best Planter. Although nob generally recognized in botanical and horticultural works, Meehan’s Monthly says it is simply a fact that naturo docs not always place plants in tho localities best suited to their development. Swamp trees, for instance —trees which grow parWy in waiter —grow a great deal better, more vigorously and every way apparently mere happily when they can find themselves in dry ground, for specimens of maples, willows, sweet gums and other supposed swamp trees are always found in comparatively dry ground. What is known os tho Bermuda lily is another case in point. This is a native of Japan, really Lilium longillorum, but nowhere does it grow in such luxuriance as in tho islands of Bermuda, where it was accidentally introduced or escaped from cultivation a great many years ago. So great is its luxuriance that it has been recognized as a distinct variety from tho Japan plant and is known in cultivation as Lilium harrisii, having been first made known to cultivators about 10 years ago. Many other illustrations might he given to show that nature does nob always arrange that plants should naturally bo found in places the best suited to their growth. Is Finlay Lucky or Unlucky? There are persons who believe that death and disaster stalk abroad on Friday, and who have any number of facts at hand to prove their posit ion. Well, hero is an array of data gathered by an exchange from which almost anything pro and con may bo proved: Lee surrendered on Friday, Moscow was burned on Friday, Washington was bom on Friday, Shakespeare waa born on Friday, America was discovered on Friday, Richmond was evacuated on Friday, the Bastillo was destroyed on Friday, tho Mayflower was landed on Friday, Queen Victoria was married on Friday, King Charles I was beheaded on Friday, Fort Sumter was bombarded on Friday, Napoleon Bonaparte was bom on Friday, Julius Caisar was assassinated on Friday, the battle of Marengo was fought on Friday, the battle of Waterloo was fought on Friday, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on Friday, tho battle of New Orleans was fought on Friday, the battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Friday, the Declaration of Independence was signed on Friday. Song Birds at Table. The wealthy gormands of Romo cherished a strong partiality for song birds. Both Horace and Martial refer with approval to roast thrush, and Ovid recommends' crown of thrushes” as a lover’s present to his mistress. Thrushes’ breasts wore one of tho ingredients of tho celebrated Apician dish (‘‘Patina apiciana”), which also included mushrooms, sow’s uddor, fish and chickens, rivaling tho heterogeneous contents of a gypsy’s ‘‘pot au feu.” Horace relates that tho sons of Acrius, to stimulate their appetite for dinner, lunched on “nightingales of monstrous price,” and Varro toils us of tho aviary Of Lucnllus, which was also a “sallo a manger,” so that tho epicure gratified his ears and Ms palate simultaneously, feasting upon tho delicate warblers whoso congeners, unconscious of their coming doom, were discoursing meanwhile tho most exquisite music. Fragrant Flowers. Of tho 4,200 kinds of flowers growing ia Europe only -120 are odoriferous. Less than one-fifth of tho white kinds, which number 1,194, are fragrant, 77 of the 951 yellow kinds, 84 of tho 823 red kinds, 81 of tho 694 blue kinds, 13 of tho 80S violet blue kinds rmd 28 of the 840 kinds with combined colors. | Koyal Longevity. Oldest of European sovereigns is th« pope, now in his eighty-fourth year. The sing of Denmark is 75; Queen Victoria, 74. There are Half a dozen or more other sovereigns who are over 70 and nearly a IOHA who aro betv.vc: !"• 70.

yjmbiMn’s TStiS tabled

■ Got It Mixe’d. Ho had boon riding on tho rear platform o£ a Grand River avenue car for a mile or more and seemed to bo studying tho conductor’s face all tho time. At length he plucked tip tho courage to say: “I don’t know nothin ’bout ’lectric cars, and so am goin to ask. What docs it mean when the boys say, ‘Shoot that hat!’ ’ “I never heard of it in connection With an electric car,” replied the c-.uff “Haven’t, eh? Did yon tuw’oi & car talkiu through tho top of its hat? “Never.” ■ . “Don’t they ever toll a lectric car to ihecso the racket?” “Goodlands.no!” “Are there any flies on a ’lectric car? persisted the questioner. 11 There may be, but I doubt it. I guess you’ve got things pretty badly mixed up.” “Yes, mebbe I hev, ” replied the stranger with a long drawn sigh, “and I guess the best way will bo to catch a conductor off duty and git on to his shape and give him a powwow. Much obliged for your kindness. I’ll cork my ear and dry up. ’ ’-—Detroit Free Press. Accommodating.

, Miss Redbud—Just think! Mr. Sandstone wants to make a philopena with me, to bo paid for with kisses. Castleton (eagerly)—Why don’t you? Miss Redbud—Would you? Castleton— Certainly. ITI hold the stakes. —Brooklyn Life. No Sinister Motive. ! “Is this Mr. Heddlneers?” “Yes, sir.” j “My name is Plunkett. lam acquainted with a friend of yours In Philadelphia 1 —Jacobson, in tho commission business. ; Ho told mo”— 1 “Jacobson?” ‘ 1 Yes: he told me to toll you he was well. Sent his regards.” , . “Did you s&y Jacobson? What s his ursfe name?” , “Henry W. I don’t know what tho W. stands for. Perhaps you do. He said ha ■ was an old friend of yours.” j ‘ 1 Oli, yes; I think I remember him now 4 ! ■ Been some years since I’vo seen him. One is apt to forget, you know. Is there anything I can do for yon, Mr.—Mr.”— , “Plunkett, sir—Plunkett. Your name, , I think, is Hoddincers?” “Yes, sir. Is there”— 1 “No, sir; there isu’t anything you can do for me, air. Heddinecrs. I can attend to kicking myself for calling. When I told 1 Jacobson the other day I was coming out this way, ho made mo promise to hunt ’ you up and shake hands with you. Said you would be glad to see me. I told him It was entirely out of my line to go around bothering folks in this way, but ho would j not listen to any objection. That’s why I lam hero. I didn’t come to stay. I’m not hunting for a job. I don’t want to borrow any money or sponge on you for a lunch. I No, thanks, I don’t care about sitting down. I came hero to oblige Jacobson. I’ve given you his message, and I’ll not occupy another minute of your valuable time. Go to thunder, sir! Good afternoon!” —Chicago Tribune.

j An Objection. “Yes,” said Mrs. Hunniraune, “she seemed like a very good natural and capable servant. But I couldn’t keep her.” “Was the work too hard for her?” "No; she said the place was just to her liking in most respects. There was only one objection.” “What was that?” “My clothes wouldn’t fit her.”—WashIngton Star. Corrected. Mr. Emerson Hub (reading newspaper) —The cashier made no bones of taking the Whole sum. ! Mrs. Hub—How vulgarly put! Mr. Hub-How would you express It, my dear? 1 Mrs. Hub—The cashier made no study 1 In osteology of appropriating the financial assets.—Minneapolis Journal, Too Much. ! Customer—These nails I bought here yesterday are in a terrible condition. Half of them are rusty. Salesman (indignantly)—Well, what If they are? You don’t suppose we can manicure every pound we send out, do you?— Boston Post. I Taking the Lessor Evil. I Moberly—You look pretty happy for a man who’s on Ms way to the dentist to have two teeth extracted. Hansom (with great joy)—You see, if I didn’t go to the dentist's, I’d have to stay at home to my wife’s B o’clock tea.—Chicago Record. | He Got It. Mrs. Magun—l came across one of your old letters today, George, whore you said that you would rather be in endless torment with mo than bo in bliss by yourself. , Mr. Magun—Well, my dear, I got my i wish.—London Tit-Bits. An Inference. “ You have saved my daughter, at the 1 risk of your own life, from a watery grave, young man. May I infer from this that : you have the means to establish a household of your own?”—Eliegende Blatter. I Partial Intimacy. ( Caller —Are you intimate with Mrs. j Firstfloor? ; Mrs. Thirdfloor —Well—er—our servant girls hang our clothes on the same roof.— New York Weekly. Ammunition. “Now, Charles, lot us make a list of vour debts. ” “One moment, dear uncle, till I have filled up your Inkstand. ”—Fliegende Blatter. Uncomfortable. She—Am I your owny own? Ho —Er—am—yes, of course. I wish you wouldn't say owny. It sounds too much like only.—Washington Star.

) Ctatirfalft TaMefc