All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, 22 November 1906, Page 38

All Sorts

,- • -;; — — — :♦ , . -v-- •*.-•. -• Canterbury Farmer : ' Hi } boy ! You "can't catch fish . here without a permit. ' " Boy • 'Well, I'm getting on- well enough with a worm ! ' ■' " - * : The most remarkable railway in the world.- is the Oroyo, in' Peru. It runs from- tallao to the goldfields of Cerro de Rasco. From Gallao ,it ascends the - narrow valley of the Rimac, rising nearly "5000 feet in the fiFst -JiQ^ miles. . Thence it goes -through the intricate gorges 3 ~of the Sierras till it tunnels -the Andes at- an alti- ' tude of 15,645 feet, the -highest point in the world where a piston rod is moved by steam. The wonder is increased by remembering that this elevation -4s reached in 78 miles. . - x ;" Why do we. always shake hands with- the right hand ? Because, in the days when people were not as peaceable as they now are, every man carried a sword or dagger to defend himself. This - sword was worn on'his left side, where the right hand could quickly grasp" it for use in time of peril: When a irian ' wished to show that he was friendly, he extended, liis, right- hand, which would ~be clasped by the" other's 'right "hand, if --he, too, meant peace. Thus each would be- sure that the,- other would not draw his sword.- \? "During the rebellion' whioh occurred in Ireland in 1798, -~or.it may. be in- 1803, Kilkenny, was } garrisoned by a troop of Hessian- soldiers, who amused themselves in barracks by tying two cats together by their tails and throwing •' them across a clothes line to fight. The -officer, hearing of the cruel, practice, resolved to stop it. As he entered, the room one of the troopers, seizing a sword, cut Che tails in two as the animals hung across the line. I -he two cats escaped - "minus their tails through the open s window, and when the officer inquired the meaning of- the two bleeding tails being left in the room he was coolly told that two" cats had been fighting and had devoured each other, all but . the - tails ; hence the. saying, ' Like the Kilkenny cats. ' Among the Arabs there is a curious legend to account for the ostrich's residence in the desert." 'On a certain day appointed,' so the story runs, ' all created beings, met together to decide upon their respective order * and precedence. All went . smoothly until the ostrich, pleading its inability to fly, disowned the birds and- claimed to : take a'ank with the mammals. - These, however, would have nothing to say to a creature clothed not with fur but, "with feathers, while the ■birds,, when the .ostrich went -dejectedly . back, repudiated it as a traitor to its race. But the ostrich was equal to " the occasion, and > declared that being neither mamimal <nor bird it must be an angel. At this all the other animals indignantly rushed upon the ostrich and drove it before them into the desert, where it had lived in solitude ever since, with no one io contra--diet it. ' What do you mean, sir,' said an infuriated man in the crowd at the Chrislchurch Cattle Show, 'by sticking your umbrella in my eye ? ' 1 Oh, no,' replied the cheerful offender, ' you're mistaken, I assure you.'-, i •-- 'Mistaken ! ' he roared. "Do yoii mean 'to say ■ that I don't know when my eye is hurt ? Why, hang it, sir, 'I - saw >you do it. ._ How the diclcens can Ibe " mistaken ? ' ' I assure you that you are, nevertheless,' was the easy rejoinder. « You may know when your eye is hurt, . but you-, dotft-know my umbrella. This is one I borrowed.' , ' • ' When a year old the plumage of the: ostrich is • usually large" • and fine enough to begin , plucking, which is one of the most difficult and dangerous operations of ostrich-culture. A"~few-of them", are driven Into a ;; small corral, when one by one they are pushed into" an '-'- angular enclosure, and a long, narrow bag placed,, over ■ the head, with a 'hole at /the end to breathe through. The one man holds the bird, while the .operator skilfuHy clips and pulls- -at the feathers ripe. Blinded the bird becomes very- tame", bfiti cafe is exercised by the men to avoid the kicks that necessarily are included by the creature in .this performance:— When - ai. feather root is hurt, injury is done that can never , "be remedied, for when a socket is pulled out, a feather ■ can never grow again. The' short feathers are pulled - out without any apparent pain to. the creature,- as they axe ripe* and would, fall off in the course of nature \i not* -extracted by the skilled operator. The 'heavy wing- feathers are cut off with heavy scissors,' "the i" -stumps being left in the skin. These stumps are ripe' for extraction about three months after a plucking takes place.