MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 354, 15 October 1898, Page 5 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

" We live in an age of adulteration. If ever there was a century remarkable for its adulteration it is tlv's nineteenth cencury with all its boasting. It is a dishonest leutury. and you can hardly get anything that is genuine," said Archbishop Redwood, preaching on Sunday at St. Patrick's Church, South Dunedin.

A labourer went into bis garden at Kirby Muxloe, near Leicester on August 7th. and plucked a gooseberry, which he began to eat. A wusp which had penetrated inside the skin of the fruit stung him at the root of the tongue. He went into his cotage and medical aid was summoned, but dea'h ensued in five minutes.

One of the characters in the " Gay Parisienne," scored a decided hit in Wellington the other evening, The heroine was expressing a hope that she would be welcome at a fete it was intended to hold. "On aye, lassie," said Mr Stephens, who is a" Scotchman in the piece, " Ye jest cam and we'll gie ye a Hielan welcome to Bushy Park." The house roared and after half an lvjur had elapsed the hit was the talk of the House of Representatives.

A young man by the name of Mooney enlisted in the army. After he had been in India about five months he received a pathetic letter from his parents, which said that if he did not send them some money they would be forced to go to the workhouse. The young man sat down and answered the letter as follows: "Dear father aud mother, — Try<to keep out of the workhouse for six years and seven mouths, until I come home, and then the three of us will go in together !" A remarkable case of mental telegraphy is reported by the Rev. VV. A. Langsford, president of the South Australian Wesleyan Conference. He says that he heard that the Rev. J. Y Simpson was indisposed, and he sat down to write him a letter of sympathy. All of a sudden something arrested his hand, and he was unable to write. The impression at the same time flashed through his mind that Air Simpson had died at the very time that he had received the strange impression.

The pigeon "' Gordon," belonging to Mr Ramsbottom, of Blackburn, was foun.i in his loft on 11th August, having taken seven weeks to fly 630 miles from Bordeaux. The majority of the other birds liberated on June 28 by the National Flying Club are still missing. " G-ordon " has flown '2UO miles further than any bird which has yet arrived. " Gordon," which holds the Rennes to Blackburn record, having done that journey in a day, was jumped from Bournemouth to Bordeaux, a distance of over 400 miles.

General Lord Wolseley had some shirts made at a fashionable hosier's, and the cutter the other day met the General with a friend. The General remembered the face, but could not place him, as the cutter greeted him with : " Good morning, my lord.'' —The General stopped, shook hands, and the cutter perceiving that his lordship's mind needed refreshing, said quietly ; ', Made your shirts." —"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the General quickly, and turning to the gentleman with whom he was walking, he said'. "Colonel, allow me to introduce my friend, Major Schurz " The Attorney-General, after hearing the petitioner. Mr Jamss Thome Rowe, aud Mr G. R. Askwith as counsel for the Crown, has reported that her Majesty should he advised to determine the'abeyance of the Barony of de Morley in the petitioner's favour. The first baron was a celebrated admiral, victor at Sluys; a successor was standard bearer to Richard 111. at Bosworth Field ; and the precedency of the title was found in tne ieign of Philip and Mary to be between Lords Dacre of the Border and Rochford. Mr Rowe claims to be the direct descendant in the female line of the tenth baron, who died in the reign of Elizabeth, and kiusman of the 14th baron since whose death in 16SG the title has been in abeyance.

An American correspondent states that there is a very simple and yet most effective remedy for diphtheria which has been used for many years past with great success by the negroes in the swamps of Louisiana. It is nothing but the juice of the pineapple, which the patient should be forced to swallow. This fluid is of so pungent and corrosive a nature that it cuts out the diptheria mucus, and causes it to disappear. Not only pickaninnies, but also large numbers of white children, have been cured by the use of this simple yet effective remedy, The corrosive nature of the juice is shown by the fact tiiat if a person in good health happens to take the juice of a pineapple before the latter is ripe, the mucus membrauce of the throat is apt to become sore.

The Foudroyant, Nelson's flagship, was wrecked at Blackpool 14 months ago, and a company was formed to manufacture various articles from the copper and oak of the hulk. All that remained of the wreck was the keel. It weighed several tons, and was embedded in the sands. In order to raise the keel dynamite was used, and the repeated explosions yesterday attracted large crowds of\isitorsto the sands near the North Pier. After one of the explosions it was discovered that a piece of oak weighing a hundredweight, and containing a large copper bole, had been thrown 50ft. into the air. The mass struck a woman named Gates, of 105, Stocktonstreet, Moss-side, Manchester, killing her instantly. Her little son was witli her when the accident occurred. Both had come to Blackpool for the day.

Said a gentleman who some years ago, as a volunteer in the semce of another country, had seen not a little fighting. People not used to and terribly dreading war otten wonder how men can have the courage to face the bullets and the screaming shells of an enemy. With death staring you in the face it does seem, at first blush, that retreat is the most, natural course. But if you have ever been in action you will know that at a certain point a—l wont say courago—but a recklessuess comes to you that makes you almost forget that flight is pos*iblo. All of a sudden a surge of fierceness sweeps over you and your companions iu arms, fear of hurt you despise, the peace able instincts that have all your life governed you vanish completely, and you find that a demon has risen within you

and ursuped your entire- being. There is an intoxication of fighitng, as of alcohol.

MM. Dex and Dibos, the French aeronauts, who recently submitted their scheme for exploring the Dark Continent by means of a balloon to the French Academy and the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, which bodies are stated to have approved of the plans, have now, in conjunction with M. Hourst, the African traveller, invoked the aid of the Paris Municipality in support of the great undertaking. They do not profess to he able—and in this they are in accord with workers in the same direction—to construct a completely dirigible balloon ; but they believe iu the practicability of

their scheme, assuming the air currents of tropical Africa are fairly regular, at least at certain seasons. The ballon they intend to construct is to be 92ft. in diameter, with a capacity of 406,134 cubic feet. It is to be made of silk, and rendered gas proof by an eight-fold coat of varcish, so much so that, according to a calculation based upon experiments made at the Mendon Aeronautical Institute of the French army, only a very small quantity of gas will be lost per day. The car will be in two storeys, connected by a rope ladder, the upper storey providing living and sleeping accommodation for six travellers, the lower being reserved for the apparatus used in manceuring the ballon. Another smaller car, anchored to the ballon, is to serve as a means of communication with terra firiM, and to be lowered when the ballon has been anchored. The sum of 15,000 f. for whi h the Paris Municipality has been asked is intended for preliminary trials, as the cost of the actual journey through Africa, it is hoped, will be defrayed by rioh members of the committee for French Africa.