MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 341, 21 July 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Dobson says his friends seem determined to give him the title of Dr. His butcher, baker, and all the rest do bo, but they put the Dr after his name, instead of before it. When Louis XI. was sick, in order to relieve tlfe sadness of Ins mind, a nobleman thought of teaching a pig to dance, and bringing it before him. It was not long before the pig could hop about very well to the sound of a bagpipe. They then dressed it with coat, pantaloons, necktie, sword, &c, in short all that the court gentlemen of the time were accustomed to wear, and introduced it into the presence of the king. The animal bowed, danced, and followed all orders in the most artistic manner, until, getting tired, it became so awkward that the king 1 oared with laughter, to the delight of his courtiers. Mr A. J. M undella, one of the members for Sheffield, is a colonist at heart. The other day ho presided at a meeting of the Sheffield Trades Council on behalf of the agricultural labourers, and, speaking of emigration, he said, they could not blame, they ought rather to honor, the men who left their miserable hovels, who left want and privation, who shook the dust off their feet and sought a home in New Zealand or Australia, where 7a or 83 a day awaited them 5 where there were no harsh land laws — no privileged classes — where every man could hope to, and did become his own master on his own farm. Ho urged that the whole question should be submitted to arbitration, and so long as the dispute lasted he hoped the trades of tho town would help the men. It is pleasant to find a man of Mr Mundella' 3 calibro approving a course which cannot fail of building up " another England " as a panacea for tho " evils which encompass labour " on this side ; and perhaps no man is more entitled to speak with authority upon this subject than he, as all must admit who have read his admirable lectures on arbitration, education, and capital and labour. In the State of North Carolina, terriGc volcanic earthquakes have recently occurred in the A lleghany mountains. The whole mountain was shaken ; the cattle rushed madlj away. The simple people believed that the end of the world was at hand ; they gathered together in terror, and sent for the neighboring preachers to come and pray for them Day after day the mountain groined and the ground shook, and for "sixteen days and nights the peoplo continued in almost incessant prayer." During this time the people lived in common; no attention was given to labor or property ; the horses and cattle were turned out in tho forest ; and the whole of the people believed that they had but a few days more to live. Tho top of the mountaiu still continues to bo agitated. The Queen has at present twenty-four grandchildren. The Princess Koyal has eight children, the Princess Alice six, and the Princess Helena four. Tho Prince of Wales has six children. The greatest run of luck on record is that of a Baltimore cigar dealer, who within the last thr^o months has inherited a tortune, drawn a big lottery prize, found §7000 buried in the cellar of his house, and lost his mother-in-law. ' And have you no other sons ? ' asked a curious lady of a bronzed old sea captain. ' Oh, yes, madam. I hud one who lived in tho South Sea Iblands ior nearly a dozen years.' ' Keally ! Was he bred there, and what was his taste — the sen or land?' 'No, madam, ho wasn't bred, ho was meat — leastways the niggers ate him ; and as for his traste — the chief said he tasted of torbaccer.' Tho lady walked to another part of the ship, and the captain smiled and took a fresh quid of terbaccer himself. Two lawyers have entered into a solemn compact not to drink intoxicating drinks except when duck shooting, for a year, under forfeit of £100. One of them keeps a duck in iui back yard, and shoots at it every time he is thirsty. His opponent, has just bought a duck, too.