Miscellaneous Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1617, 25 January 1886, Page 4

Miscellaneous Items.

f Recently , . Mr Homo, of Glasgow, a brptiiei- of Mr J ; Home; of the Geological kuiyey, met two Cambridge , students travelling m Norway at aa inn' by ; ihe Tiurjo, welLjjJsnown to tourists for its splendid fishing. They arranged to have lunch together, and afterwards fislr on the lake. The innkeeper's boat being engaged, the three men. started -along the. shore m search of another and hired a flat-bottomed boat-close- -to a spot where the lake falls, into the Tinu River. They bad riot rowed far when they began to feel the auction of the waterfal I . Mr Home, a strong, well-grown man at. t empted to row the boat out of the suction, but finding it going with the c^rrpht,'. he jumped out; disappeared, over the fall, and yr<i*never Seenagain. Next moment, the boat with the other two occupants shot over the tall but Strange to say did not capsize, and keeping m the middle oi the stream it ' bore the two men safely to smoother water. Last year a fisherman perished m a similar manner/ \/Ba.y* Truth, how few lawu-tennis • plyayera know who originated the game, and where the first game was ' ' played. This excellent pastime has iiow; been m existence for ten years, and /it has probably" been a greater source of amusement .than anything .of the kind ever invented. The originator and inventor is a Major Walter, Wingfieldj, <bf Her Majesty's Body Guard, who m 1874: wrote a little liookV complied a set of rules, and 'coined the outlandish name Sphairistike. The first game ever played was m 1874 at ' Colonel Taylor iievland's house m Denbighshire. The first public - game ever i. played m America was at Prince's Ground m ihe' summer of 1875, the players being Major ' Wirigfie) dj Mr Clement Scott;, Captain Alfred Thompson, and Mr Albany Erakine. It was- open ly jeered at by the crowd oi' racket- and cricket celebrities, who did their utmost to ridicule the game m every way. But m less. ch#n one month two courts? were "tafcei£ 'tffc Prince's for evei^hoijg^pf the 'daj% and the racier players and cricketers had. to '^n^ati:''^'; ! ■■ :} : i)U '^ Mr Isaac Bnrncrat, a farmer living!. \ne&c >Chambersburgy: a V'srnfall village a few;! miles from here, had % most wonderful experience recently, narrowly escaping being kil led by ants. ' He was picking blackberries m a; wild patch of undergrowth m a dense wood, when suddenly he disturbed millions upon millions of 'large. black ants. They wetfe nnder a thin covering of earth which hje stepped on, and almost instantly they crawled up his trouser legs, and, when he tried to knock them or£ they showed tigfyt. Before he could get out of* the heavy growth of bush he was covered from head to foot with .the pestiferous insects. They bit him, and crawled m to ; his nose, ears, and mpu th. He yelled for help, but soon became blinded with the myriads of ants on his head and face, and before he reached the edge of the wopd fell helpless to the 'ground, utterly at the mercy of the insects, and was only saved from death by the timely arrival of a brother. The insects were com mon black ants of a very large size. Burncrat was bitten by thain all over the body, ■ ; but while very sore, it is thought, providing the bites are not poisonous, will recover. The case is without a precedent m this section of the country, and it is believed, had not aid arrived when it did, the ante .would have not only killed, but eaten their victim.— Dayton Dispatch.

The re-buiiding of Mountstuart, JjQrd Bute's plac« near Rothestiy — for palace it reallvia — has no * been completed, and, according to the World, is one of the most magnificent mansions m Great Britain. The house covnrs au aero, ami is m the mediaeval Gothic style of the thir- I teenth century. The walls, turrets, and halconies are built of stone, brought from a quarry m Kirdcudbrightshire. In the centre is an immense tower 120 ft. high, with a wi.ie balcony all round the top. The great \\&\\ is constructed entirely of alabaster and the rarest marbles, with columns and a gallery; and the grand staircase is also of marble brought from Sicily and Carrara. The drawing-rooms are pauelled. with waluut, and beautifully decorated, and so are the dining-rooms, the largest ofj which accommodates 80 guests. The ceilings and chimuey pifces of all these rooms are most artistic, and sol also are the windows, the work of which is r extremely elaborate. Thereare three immense libraries, and aibilliard-room, all with carved stone ! fireplaces of antique design. In one wing are Turkish and swimming baths, and there are lari»fi conservatqries, and a private ohaprl is now building- The whole houxe is heated by hot-water pipe*, " and lighted throughout by incandescent: lamps. Bitt -what makes whales come on shore when they feel ill? It looks like" suicide —and may be. ' That birds and beasts m the same way go aside from their comrades to suffer the extreme trinl of death is a pathetic fact which is well known. Soruerimes, no doubt, their friends desert them. They feel that- the companionship of an, enfeebled individual is a possible source of danger; or, perhaps, instinct teaches them thus to avoid the risk of infection. Or, again, it may bo that the sign of death is intolerable "to them, just as it has been and i* to many human tribes who leave their dying to pass away m solitude, aud will not remain to witness the infirmity of man Whatever the explanation, the fact remains : tjhat m the animal world, as a rule, creatures go away and die .Joy them - selves, andfpr the waterfojk commit what may bt?. called suiicide" by leaving their own element for one m which they cannot Jive. — London Telegraph: " v "