All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8, 25 February 1909, Page 318

All Sorts

On a clear day any moving object can be discerned across the South African ,veldt at a distance of 25 miles with the naked eye. 'What do you call the man who drives an automobile?' • We !Ki? Udgm f J y the way in whi <* he takes possession of the road, I should, say an autocrat.' «.- Tho « sands ° f dog and goat farms are .scattered over the northern districts of Mongolia and Manchuria On each farm from ten to several hundred animals are 'reared of^hei/'skins " ltimately kiUed for *t« sake During an argument, one of the speakers, losing control of himself, bawled out -at his rival, 'Sir, you are I think, the biggest ass I have ever had the misfortune to set eyes upon ! ' < Order, order ! ' said -the gentleman in the chair gravely; 'you seem to forget that I am in the room.

A. young man went on one occasion to call at a country rarmhouse to make inquiries after his sweetheart, who had charge of the dairy. Her master opened the door, and lover asked him timidly: 'How is the milkmaid?' How is the milk made?' the farmer angrily asked as he slammed the door in the stranger's face. 'Our milk isn't made, it's got from the cow.' The solemnity of the meeting was somewhat disturbed' when the eloquent young lecturer pictured in glowingwords the selfishness of men who spent their evenings at! < ml- i h ° use > leaving their wives in loneliness at home. Ihmk, my hearers,' said he, 'of a poor, neglected wife, all alone m the great dreary house, rocking the cradle of ncr sleeping babe with one foot and wiping away her tears with the other ! ' The Washington correspondent of the London Daiht Express says: When the fleet of sixteen American battleships returns from its round-the-world cruise next spring it will have cost the Government £10,000,000 for its sixteen months' voyage. The coal bill alone will total £5,550,000 - maintenance charges of the battleships will aggregate £3,500,000; and it will cost another £1,000,000 for the maintenance of the auxiliary vessels in the fleet. The Daily Mail's Genoa- correspondent wires: In aid of the victims of the earthquake a- remarkable concert took place m Genoa on January 1. For the first time for fifty years Paganim's favorite violin, which he left to the town, was allowed to be taken from the Municipal Museum. The honor of performing on the famous, instrument fell to the ! - Polish violinist, M. Bronislav Hubermann, who was presented by the Town Council with a gold medal struck for the occasion. ' Now, Jamie,' said a school teacher, 'if there were only one pie for dessert, and there were five of you children and papa and mamma to divide it among, how large a piece would you get ? ' ' One-sixth,' replied Jamie promptly. ' But there would be seven people there, Jamie. Don't you know how many times seven goes into one ? ' ' Yes'm. And I know my mother. She'd say she wasn't hungry for pie that, day.J'd get one-sixth.' Several London, industries Save been seriously affected by the destructive earthquake. Consumers have been mainly dependent on Messina for the supply of essence of lemon and" the raw material from which citric acid is made. The trade in these products, as well as in the other industries of the district, such as sulphur, olives, and sumach - (which is largely used for dyeing purposes), has of late been in a very depressed condition. During 1907 Messina exported 984 tons of concentrated lemon juice, 4737 tons <f citrate of lime, and 702 tons of essence of lemon and orange. Further, the export of olive oil amounted to over- 1000 tons, but of late the citrus industry has< been -passing through such a period of slackness that the Government has been obliged to intervene in, order to allay the distress. The Singer building, now in course -of construction in Broadway, New York, has already exceeded the height of the Washington Monument, which rises 555 feet above the ground. When complete, this building will consist of forty-seven storeys, and will reach a height of 612 feet, thus overtopping every other occupied structure in the world. The foundation is in solid rock, 90 feet below tho level of the street. There will be eighteen lifts, which will run from the floor to the highest storey in one minute. The rooms and corridors will be illuminated at niglt by 15,000 incandescent lights, and fifteen miles' of pipe' will be laid down for the supply of steam and water. On the pinnacle will be an immense copper lantern with a .powerful searchlight, visible . sixty miles out to sea,