All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Issue 3, 6 August 1908, Page 38

All Sorts

A squirrel comes down a tree head first and a cat tail first. We start' life hunting for fame and we settle down to looking for a living.

The habit of snuff taking is once more becoming popular in Paris in spite of the. dangers which medical men attribute to it. Fish, flies, and- caterpillas may be frozen solid and still retain life. - This man,' said the keeper, softly, ' imagines he has millions.' 'Isn't that nice ?.' "answered the • visitor* 'Whenever he needs money airhe has to do is to draw on his imagination. The larger kind of West Indian firefly gives a light so brilHant_that by it printed matter may. be read at a distance of two or three inches. ', .N. N

The frigate bird can float in mid-air, and go to sleep without the risk of falling. Its character is not very high.,. It-follows-fish-eating birds that have ppicker.upd r .up a meal from the water, and compels them to part withjt. - ' • ' - The teredo, or shipworm— which, in the days when vessels .were made of timber, was responsible for more, disasters than any other cause— is now' threatening the Canadian' timber trade. - What is reported to" be the largest apple tree in the. United States is in the garden of Charles Waterhouse, at Southington, Conn. It yielded 50 bushels of' apples last season. ' . Little -Tommy appeared 'the other day with, a truise on his brow and another on his chin~_ 'You told me, mamma/ said Tommy, • to count one hundred when I was angry and tempted to fight.- Well, I did it; btit it's no use. See what BJlly' Jones did when. I was counting the hundred?' i -. "- =v

'Now, if I understand correctly, the first principle of ■Socialism is to divide with your brother man. •"" 'Then you 3pn't understand it correctly. The, "first principle of Socialism Is 1 to make -your brother man divide with you.'

Late one afternoon a newly-made doctor dashed into the room of his legal friend, exclaiming : ' Great luck, old man S Congratulate me! Got a patient at last! I'm on my way to see him now!' Whereupon the legal light-to-be slappedhis friend on. the back, saying: 'Delighted, old chap!' Then, after a slight pause, -he added, with a sly" grin : 'Say, let me go with you! Perhaps he hasn't made his will 1 ' :~;: ~; India's tiger bird, so called because he is the one thing ~ti»e royal beast fears, is no larger than the sparrow. Yet "so- ibid and combative is he that if the great cat is surprised ,tiy a sufficient- number- -of the little creatures far from the protecting shelter of the jungle, it will go hard with- him. When alone the bird will not attack. -Supported by a flock of friends, however, often numbering several thousands, he will seek out his hereditary foe and give him battle. Th e> total number of all - known - varieties', of ' postage stamps issued by all the governments of the world iip to the present time is 20,496, of which 6153 are apportioned to the British Empire and 14,343 to the rest of the world. " Europe has issued 436i,- Asia 3856, Africa 4469, America 4688, the ■ West- Indies 1637, and Oceanica 1485. These figures eolnprise o.nly standard varieties of postage stamps, "and 'do not include post cards," letter cards, stamped envelopes or wrappers. An international ocean yacht race on a. historic course, from Palos, Spain, to the Canary Islands, over which " Columbus sailed on the first stage of .his voyage to the New, World, has been arranged by the yachtsmen of Spain. ~fT was planned to" send the contestants away on " August 3, the 416 th anniversary of the sailing of Columbus,' arid* to; have the start ,a ; s near the point as possible from which Jhe '* Santa „ Maria,' '^Pinta '- and ,' Nina" weighed anchor. The. finish will be at .Santa- Cruz, on the island of Teneriffe, a distance of about- six ' hundred milas, which Columbus ' covered in six days.' ' .--•;-