MISCELLANEOUS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 213, 29 February 1872, Page 7

MISCELLANEOUS.

There is nothing so bendficially educating: to a young loan as tlie companionship of his sisters. They laugh him out of those little awkwardnesses of .manner which might otherwise become habitual. They refine him in all matters of taste and politeness. They nip at the little buds of. puppyism, which under other circumstances might flaunt their flowering before less partial eyes, " When brothers refuse to accompany their sisters, in order to dance attendance upon other ladies, let them remember who made them presentable and agreeable to "the other young ladies." It is better to be laughed at at home than abroad, young man. — Exchange.

The ants in Panama are not merely mining 'engineers, they built tubular bridges. A corresponding member of the Glasgow Natural History Society, who has lately been in that country, describes the curious covered ways constructed by these ingenius insects. In tracing one of these covered ways, he found it led over a pretty wide fracture in the rocks, and was carried across in the air. in the form of a tubular bridge of half an in<Jh in diameter, which was the scene of busy traffic. There Was nearly a foot of unsupported tube frpm one edge of the cliff to the other. Fancy tne Meriai Bridge being only the result of transmitted instincts after all. "

At the examination of the boys in the city of Borne who applied for admission to the recently opened lyceum, most of the applicants, although they had studied for years at the old Papal schools', were found to be almost incredibly ignorant. A tall lad of 18 was asked what geography was. He did not know it. " What is Sardinia ?" " A river." " The Adriatic ?" "A mountain." "Milan?" "An ocean." Another was questioned about the history of Italy. He was utterly ignorant, and when the examining professor expressed some surprise at? his Jack of knowledge, he replied haughtily, "You must bear in mind, sir, that I am a Eoman, and not an Italian ! "

A correspondent of a New York paper relates a touching instance of insect gratitude as follows : — " I found a cockroach struggling in a bowl of water. I took half a peanut shell for a boat ; I put him into it, gave him two wooden toothpicks for oars and left him. The next momiug I visited him, and he had put a piece of white cotton thread on one of the toothpicks, and set the toothpick up on end as a signal of distress. He had a hair on the other toothpick, and there that cock roach sat • a-fishing. The cockroach, exhausted, had fallen asleep. The sight melted me to tears. I never had to chew leather to get a soul. I was born with one. . I .took that cockroach out, gave him a spoonful of gruel, and left. That animal never forgot that act of kindness, and now my house is full of cockroaches."

Not the least extraordinary feature of the " International " movement is, that it is being furthered in China by a cognate organisation calling itself, in the flowery language of the East, " The Fraternal society of Heaven and Earth." That country, which has been for centuries .a synonym for isolation and immobility, has shown itself to be capable of nursing the most revolutionary projects.' The most rabid of French communists could not have indited a more socialistic programme than that which has been put forth by the " Tinte-buy " of China. It commences thus : — " The Fraternal Society of Heaven and Earth firmly declares that it believes itself called upon by the Supreme Being to do away with the deplorable contrast which at present exists between- wealth and poverty. The mighty of this world are born and die- like their brethren, the oppressed and the poor. The Supreme Being has not decreed that millions of men should be condemned to be the slaves of a few. . . . Whence come the riches of the powerful? Solely from the toil and the sweat of the. multitude. The benignant li^ht of the Bun and the joys of the world — all these are common property^ which must be no longer confined to tjjie enjoyment of a few, but must be taken away from them, so that the disinherited may receive their share."

A Kansas " billiard saloon " uses a home-made table — a large goods box, orf which was laid a waggon load of sandstone, covered with eight yardsof blue j san. . For pockets they use old boots, about No. 10 ; for cues, broken boe-bandles; boiled eggs for balls; and to count this lovely game they use dried apples on a clothes-line. At this season, when diarrhoea is very prevalent, a simple remedy, which our informant states he has used for years in his own family, and given with success to many diggers on the West Coast goldfields, is worth knowing. It is cochineal reduced to an impalpable powder, and given in a liquid, such as a little tea, without milk, but sweetened with sugar. The dose for an adult is as much as will lie lightly heaped upon a shilling administered once a day for three days. ' It relieves the distressing pain in a short time after being taken, and- as it does not cause the discbarge to cease too suddeuly, danger from ' inflamation is avoided. Our informant says that he has given it to infants in arms in small doses, and has never known ie to fail, two, or at most three doses being sufficient even for severe cases.