INTERESTING CLEANINGS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 194, 7 September 1900, Page 4

INTERESTING CLEANINGS.

op Bearing Arms.—The jEumber of men capable o£ bearing arms is calcnlafedat one-fourth of the population, jiGreat Cal& of Venice.—The great cafi BtVenice—Floriana's, on the piazza of SI Mark-i-has never been closed, nignt or day, for one hundred and fifty years. &Bum>. Readers.—lt is said that no fewei than 200,000.-books for the blind are borrowed annually from the free-lending libraries to different parts of the old country, •j Appearance of a Man's Height.—lt is found by, calculation that at 328 yards a man has, the appearance of one-third his height£.at- 437 yards, one-fourth; and at 546, one-fifth.j|^ li£4,oda. for'a*Ladv's Tooth.—M. A. Eenoir, the founder of the French Museum, relates that during the transport of the remains of Abelard and Heloise to the Petit: Englishman offered him ioo.ooofr. for one of the teeth of Heloise. I J.Woodes Skewers.—The only manufactory 4 ofiwooden skewers in the world, it is supposed; exists at Toledo, Ohio, whence millions);pf them are shipped to England. They are.made by machinery from hickory I blocks. Between eighty and ninety thousand ' are turfoed out every day. •,..• v. ') Thimbles—Thjmbles lined with indiarubber are now employed, and are said not to fall off so easily as the ordinary unlined thimble. They areajsb warmer to theskin, and free from the'metallic " rust" which sometimes taftes the form of verdigris, a substance of a poisonous. nature. '*£?,■,*, r -,i*#e. A Quaint Law.—in 1541 the Corporation of Chester'orde'red, under the penalty of a fine''of 3s.'ld.f {hat no iuftnarried woman! should wear ivhite'or coloured caps, and that none but sick or aged women should wear a hat unless* riding or going abroad into the j ■'* | Effect 0/Arctic Darkness.—The Austrians who passed the winter under deck iD | the that ship was caught in a floe above Spitzbergen, hardly knew each other when the sun reappeared, foi owing to their imprisonment in darkness, they were all of the colour of white paper. The oldest vessel is the Vigilant, built at Baltimore in the year 1780, and, consequently, in years old. She is owned by Mr. S Peathany, of Santa Cruz, and is now doing good service as mail carrier between St. Thomas and Santa Cruz, in the West India Islands. In her day she was a coaster, a peaceable common carrier ol merchandise, a slaver, and a pirate, A Grave and Rose Garden.—One Edward Kose, a citizen of London, who died in 1653, bequeathed for the purchase ol a piece of land, wherewith to provide his grave jn Barnes churchyard, Surrey, with a constant succession of rose trees. He insured the fulfilment of his trust by devoting the surplus profits to the poor of the parish, and after the lapse of more lhan two centuries his grave is sfill a rose-garden.

A Newspaper without an Editor - In Madrid is a popular newspaper edited a. a very peculiar way. In fact, it has n<editor, but a dozen wide-a-whke reporter;., who scour the town for every kind of information. They come to the office and drop the manuscripts in a bag, where they stay. •*ntil the foreman wants copy, Everything is then throw n into the forms without regard to order or anything else, and the paper if read from end to end in spite of this fact. Not all the petty princes of India are rolling in wealth, for a certain Prince Moung Latt recently applied to the Civil Judge ai ?engalore for permission to pay into courl live rupees per mensem towads a judgment debt of 2SO rupees. The Prince explained that his Goverment allowance was not sufficient to enable him to maintain his wife and family, much less to meet his liabilities. This plea had no effect, for he was advised to reduce his expenditure and pay his debts in full. After bo much said about the splendour of Indian potentates, It rather" takes the gilt off the gingerbread" tofind oneof them in the position of a small tradesman in financial difficulties; Am'ngst living centenarians must be included tho venerable Admiral of the fleet, Sir Provo W, Parry Wallis, G.C.8.. who was born in 1)91. He enjoys the honour of being the oldest officer in the Royal Navy. His early years were passed during A period of unrest, for England was then fighting foi her very existence. Sir Provo will ever be remembered as a participator in the csptute of the Chesapeake, when he and his comrades upheld the honour of his country at a time when her fortunes were apparently) n the ebb. This celebrated engagement once more the power e>! the English navy on the high seas.- The gallant old Admiral is spending his declining years at Chichester. .-■& '.'p i fc..-£&--.:■■;''- >■•■ Unlike their French neighbours, the Germans are rapidly increasing in numbers. A census just completed elicits the fact that the population of the Empire is becoming very much larger. In Berlin alone it has. grown 20 per cent, since 1885—an increase of 259,0 m, the Vital population of the city now Uflng Haqhwg, too, shows an increase of ax per dtnV 'The most remarkable of tl, hovntcr, it the oity of Leipsic. According to Wk population, which has increased 83 per tent., it Is now the third city in Germany—Breslauy which had hitherto held that position, having iropped to fifth place. This multiplication of the Teutonic race fully explains their delire for colonial development. The Rev. W. Baxter, who so often prophesied the end of the world, is no sooner disposed of than we are threatened with another terror. He is called "Christus Sectmdus," and he is going to work miracles. He is, in fact, going to raise Dean Stanley from the dead—nothing more nor less. Whether, when a just man's life work is accomplished, it is' worth while bringing him back to this " vale of tears" we leave for others to decide. A London newspaper explains that the new Messiah reached his sublunary sphere some haif a century ago, and that he has been an athlete, an author, and a man of business. Unfortunately, the name of this individual is not given; but no doubt it will be divulged in due season, probably when he walks arm In arm with the saintly dean from West minster Abbey I