BITS FROM BOOKS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 27, 2 April 1907, Page 8

BITS FROM BOOKS.

Too Realistic. —lt was during hli iarly provincial wanderings that Mr. Barrett nad an amusing experience while playing Triplet in "Masks and Faces," whicb afforded somewhat of an argument againsl absolute realism on the stage. In the it tic scene, in which good-natured Peg Woffington sends a pie for the delectation of the poor broken-down gentleman and his starving little ones, Mr. Barrett, knowing that the children who appeared with him were not too well accustomed to good solid meals, took care to provide a genuine beef-steak-pie each night which they consumed with unmistakable gusto, he, too, taking his share of the realistic meal. But one night, no sooner had Triplet inserted the knife in the crust of the pie than a malodorous savour assailed his nostrils, and compelled him to "make believe" that he was enjoying the welcome food. Not unnaturally, he thought that the children would not be so squeamish, and duly gave them their portions. But to his horror they remained upon the plates untouched, and the curling lip of disdain was the only indication which they gave of theii knowledge of its presence. The situation was critical. "Eat, you little beggars, eat!" said the actor, sotto voce. But it was no good. Nature asserted itself over art, and for once Mistress Woffington's bounty was unappreciated. The incident reminds one of the conceited young London star who, when touring in the provinces, arrogantly demanded a real chicken in one of his scenes, instead of a " prpperty" make-believe. The stage-manager, after bearing with his upstart ways as long as he could, quietly said at last: " All right. Mr. Dash, I'll remedy it to-morrow. You play the part of a man who is murdered, don't you ? " Yes," returned the star. "Very good," replied the manager, "I'll take care that the poison is real!"— Play en of the Period. By Arthur Goddard. (London: Dean and Son.) .-., A Balkan Winter.—Writing in the Antifacobin, Mr. Archibald Forbes relates the Allowing startling facts in connection with the last Russo-Turkish war:—Winter in Bulgaria had already set in when Plevna ell on ioth December, 1877. The Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian Commander-in-Chief, supported by Generals Gourko and Skobeleff, had resolved to press across the Balkans in the depth of winter in the face of every difficulty. To Gourko was assigned the task of crossing from Orkhanie to Sofia. The mountain paths at the best had a slope ■ of one in six, at the worst of one in three, with abrupt curves; and they were coated with half-frozen snow. Gun teams were useless; the ammunition was unloaded and carried by hand; 100 to 150 men hauled and pushed each-gun and limber. With patient zeal and good humour, the men toiled twelve hours a day, and slept on the snow without tent or blanket, subsisting on two-thirds of a ration of black hard biscuit and occasional, meat. They froze to death occasionally— Dandeville's column, for instance, was buried in a snow storm, losing 53 men dead, and nearly 1,000 permanently disabled by freezing; but those were casual incidents. The effort was a success; proving the fallacy of the belief of the Turkish generate that the Balkans in winter, except by tjie main road, which they commanded, we're totally impassable. Up on the Schipka Pass Radetski had a whole division horS de combat in December from the extreme cold"; on Christmas Day 6,000 men were incapacitated from frostbites. Nevertheless Radetski was able to cooperate with Scobeleff in the descent on Schipka and the capture ol Vessil Pasha's army of 36,000 men. The Russian columns had to abandon theii artillery, for the sjiow was from three to ten feet deep. Scobeleff was delayed, and lost many men by a tempest of blinding snow and a dense fog of particles of frozen mist; but his column rolled and wallowed down the mountain side through the snow wreaths in time to co-operate with Mirski in the hand to hand fighting which resulted in the surrender of the Turks. From the fall of Plevna to 31st January, 1878, the Russian armies marched over 400 miles, crossed the Balkans in a temperature of ic degrees below zero, fought three series oi battles resulting in the capture of a Turkish army of 40,000 and the dispersal of another over 50,000 strong, captured 213 guns, dictated the terms of an armistice; and all this had cost them about 20,000 men, oi whom not less than one-half succumbed to the rigours of a Balkan winter. , ,• ;<c The Akka Pigmies-—The Akka and TikiTiki are not often friendly, but are generally at open war with each other. They have a sJature which varies between 4ft. and ift. gia high, but most of them are no taller than ift, 6in. They speak a special dialect (not the same everywhere), a derivation of an original language, which has been altered by contact with other peoples. Their heads are covered with abundant woolly, reddish-brown hair, with single curls. The adult men have hair on their cheeks and chin. The names which they give themselves individually are curious and original, such as Otikogi, Niambando, and Apumodo, for males; and Mameri, Imma, and Tipekitana, for females. Most of them are completely naked. Amongst those who wear any covering, the men use a piece of bark roughly beaten out and flattened, fixed by a string passed round the waist. The women wear simply a couple ol leaves or so. The former use no ornaments, and the latter do not pierce their ears. When the men marry they purchase (or free) their wives from their fathers by payment of a certain number of arrows. Each family rules itself, and its cooking is done separately. In case of death, they bury the body in the very place where the death occurred, without ceremony of any sign for future remembrance. The shadow of death does not 0,-ppress their minds, and sorrow takes no hold of their hearts—a stoicism inherited from nature, and not learnt in any philosophical school. They have no medicines whatever, no sorcery and no superstitions— not even that of the evil eye. They do not knowhow to kindle a fire quickly, and, in order to get one readily at any moment, they keei the burning trunks of falling trees in suitable spots, and watch over their preservation like the Vestals of old. The Akka are very much appreciated as warriors, on account of their dexterity as archers, their nimbleness, and instinctive bravery. The chiefs of the tribes rival each other in securing them as subsidiaries, rewarding them for'their sen-ices by vu-esents of arrows or food. King Kanna assured me that during the war waged against his neighbour Azanga, his own Sandeh, who were so brave against the Mambettu and Mege people, fell back terrified at the approach of the little warriors. "Theii arrows," said he, "fly and wound before you* can see those who shoot them." In ambush they usually cover themselves with two large tdii leaves from the head downward, one 'in front and the other behind. Many of these pigmies are met with in the Mambettu country, among the Sandeh, at Azanga's court, andthat of Kin, chief of the MegeMaigo. The bow in their right hand, the quiver hanging from their left elbow, with head upright, and proud look, they step quickly, and lay down the result of the hunt. '1 hen they pay a visit of homage to the chief, saluting the minor authorities with a dignified air. and strictly limit the time of their stay to that necessary for the business to be done. —Ten Years inEquatoria. By MajorGaetanc Casati. (London : F. Warne and Co.) Cheerfulness i; an excellent wearing quality. It has been called the bright weather of the heart.—Sumucl Smiles

Many people fall ill of a disease simply through fear of it. The imagination has a powerful influence on the human body. One can easily imagine himself to be catching cold, and will really catch cold at the sight of an open window, when if he did not know the window was open, or was not afraid of its effects, he would escape the cold. Doctors understand this secret, but they do not impart it to their patients. Most invalids, real or supposed, would be angry if a physician were to say to them, "nothing ails you, you only think so." They prefer tc think themselves sick, and in time they really become so, for nature, though she struggles hard, cannot stand everything Too many drugs will finally destroy het healing power. These people who love tc have a lot of white pills in'bottles, and a little book, all kept in some handy place, sc that when a friend who has eaten too muct dinner says, " Oh, I am fearfully nervous!' they may run for the little book, look foi "nervousness," and administer so many pills of bryonia. When they have a head ache, instead of dieting or eating more moderately, they take several drops of some nice poison. They trust nothing to nature, but call in a doctor for every little ailment, when fresh air, exercise, and strict temperance in eating and drinking is all they need. FALLS IN THE BALLROOM. That omniscient being, the German Emperor, has lately been rebuking his officers for lack of dancing ability, thereby running counter to the ideas of his predecessor and model, Frederick the Great, who sneered at saltatory soldiers. The admonition is said, however, to have been produced by the fact that one or two gawkish dragoons were unlucky enough to have some heavy tumbles while dancing with illustrious princesses. Talking about falls in a ballroom, some good but old stories have been revived by these incidents. One is that at St. Petersburg, in the days of Nicholas, of Crimean notoriety, an officer brought a Grand Duchess to the floor with him, at which Her Imperial Highness called him furiously a "Clumsy Camel." The officer thought himself lost when the grim Czar approached him, seized him by the cuff and marched him deliberately out of the ballroom. Not a word was spoken as Nicholas and his captive strode through two empty chambers, but on their reaching a passage, the Czar pointed to a corner where stood a pan full of powdered chalk, and said, sternly : " Rub the soles of your boots into that." In another incident of the kind, the late Napoleon 111. scored by his ready and kindly wit in turning a ballroom accident into the means of paying a graceful compliment to a mortified officer. As this gentleman scrambledon his knees, the,Emperor gave him a helping hand, and remarked, with a smile; " Captain, this is the second time I have seen you fall. The first time was on the field of Majenta." TOUGHENING ONE'S SELF. How much usage will do in toughening the human body is well shown byjsome fact? about the natives of Siberia, as recorded by the author of Reindeer, Dogs and Snow-shoes "Cold," he says, "seemed to have nc effect upon them. Frequently, when wc could not expose our ears for two minute; without having them frozen, the natives would go for an hour at a time with theii hoods thrown back from their heads; and when it required constant watchfulness tc keep our noses from freezing, they did no! appear tonotice the temperature at all. " One morning in January, I stood in perfect amazement at their disregard of the low temperature. They worked for at least half-an-honr with bare hands, packing up the tent and utensils, handling the packages and lashing them together with icy seal thongs, without experiencing the least apparent inconvenience ; while I partly froze my fingers striking a light for my pipe with a flint and steel, the whole operation not taking more than three minutes. "The night before, happening to go out ol thetent after our men had retired, I passed their camp, which was near by. Their fire had burned to a pile of embers, barely affording me light enough to distinguish the sleepers. They were lying coiled up on small deer skins, with their bacKs to the embers, and their fur coats thrown loosely over their naked bodies. " The coat of one of them had slipped almost entirely off his body, leaving his back and shoulders exposed to a temperature oi eighteen degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, and though his hair was frosted, he snored as soundly as if in comfortable quarters." 1 CLOCK-WINDING SNAKES.

The people of Persia are very unwilling to have house-snakes destroyed. The creatures do no harm, and what is far more im portant, they are believed to be tenanted bj the spirit of the late master of the house. English travellers and residents in the country naturally entertain a very different opin ion, and sometimes find the superstitions of the natives a trial hard to bear. A friend of ours recounts his experiences: In my first house in Shiraz, an old and handsome one, I was continully annoyed bj a buzzing, as of the winding of clock-work This, I was told, proceeded from the snakes, but I never saw one, though the buzzing was to be heard in all parts of the house. One morning I was attracted by an unusual twittering of birds, and on looking out. saw some t'.uiy sparrows nnths top of a wall, all jumping about in an excited man. ner, screaming, chattering, and opening their beaks, as if enraged. At first I was at a loss to understand the cause of such a commotion, but presently ] saw a pale-yellow snake, advancing deliberately upon the birds, from the wooden window frame, out of which he hung. Thej appeared to be all of them quite fascinated and none attempted to fly away. The snaki did not take the nearest, but deliberate!) chose one more to his liking, and swallowed it Glad to be rid of my buzzing annoyances l gotmy gun, and notwithstanding the entreaties of servants, some of whom wept, as suring me that the reptile was inhabited bj the late master of the house, I gave him i dose of duck-shot.

He was a big snake, about four fast long I cut him open and extracted the sparrow After some ten minutes' exposure to the sun the bird got up, and in half-an-houi tlew away, apparently unhurt. Shortly afterwards, a servant of my land ord came and took away the snake's body ind all my own servants sulked and looked slack for a week. When I spoke to my ■andlord, however, an educated man, he aughed, and simply congratulated me, sayng that the clock-winding snake had anwyed him for years. I never heard the aoise again.

Charlie wanted to give Myra a present DUt he couldn't make up his mind what it should be; so the next day he called he frankly told her the difficulty under which he was labouring. "Want to make a present, Charlie!" Myra exclaimed, in well-disguised astonishment. "Why, Charlie, you forget your self." 3 Charles tnok the hint, and offered himself Dn the spot.

Icelakp contains neither prisons, police teen, nor watchmen.