All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 13, 1 April 1909, Page 518

All Sorts

The more sunshine there is in some men's lives the less hay they make. It takes a Persian rug weaver about twenty days to weave a square foot. A man's chances of sudden death are eight times as great as a woman's. It is possible to read by the light emitted by half a dozen Jamaican fireflies. Some of the largest ocean steamers can be converted into armed cruisers in thirty hours. The road to ruin is always kept in good order, and those who travel on it pay the expense. Someone remarks that there is no one on eartli so depressing as tlie thorough-going optimist. Europe loses 960,000 natives every year by emigration, while only 200,000 return in the same period. At the age of thirty, the female 'brain begins to lose weight, but that of the male not until the age of forty. Five miles and a half is the height of the loftiest mountain peak in the world, while the greatest known depth of the ocean is six miles. Our customs and habits are like the ruts in the roads; the wheels of life settle into them, and we jog along through the mire because it is too much trouble to get out of them. c Your wife used to sing and play a great deal. I havrt not heard her lately.' ' Since we have had children she has had no time.' 'Ah, children are such a blessing!' ' So he praised my singing, did he?' ' Yes; he said it was heavenly.' ' Did he really say that?' ' Well, not exactly ; but he probably meant that. He said it was unearthly.' ' Pa, is an abyss a sleepy hollow ?' ' No, child. Whatever put such an idea into your head ?' ' Well, pa, whenever you hoar of or read about an abyss, it is always yawning.' Harry was walking with another boy, when he was joined by a friend, a year or so older and inclined to manners. ' Introduce me, Harry,' tho newcomer whispered pompously. Harry twisted, reddened, and at last turned to his companion with: 'Jim, have you ever seen Gilbert Spencer ?' ' No,' the other boy answered. ' Well,' Harry blurted out, reddening still more,, and jerking one thumb over his shoulder toward the newcomer, ' that's him !' The United States Government are planning a gigantic extension of the internal waterways systems, to cost £100,000,000, during the next ten years, to be followed by an annual vote of £10,000,000 for an indefinite period. The scheme is considered necessary because the demands for transportation are increasing more quickly than tho railways. The Government propose to link up the East and the Middle West by a circular waterway route 5000 miles long, tapping a district with an area of 1,300,000 square miles. One feature of the present situation in China to which attention is given is the hoarded wealth lying unproductive in the Palace, and amounting to millions sterling. The bullion entrusted during the foreign military occupation of Pekin in 1900-1901, first to the protection of the American General ChafFet, and afterwards to the English General, Sir A. Gaselee, was estimated approximately at £9,000,000. Whatever was the amount of the hoard, it has sine« considerably increased. Under a more enlightened Regency there is hope that this treasure may become reproductive. It is questionable (says the Wide World Magazine) if any animal on earth could duplicate the swallowing feat that is to be seen daily (or as often as a tourist comes along) at the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Passadena, California. Oranges are one of their great dainties — the big ' navel ' oranges of California, measuring upwards of 3£in in diameter. One old patriarch named f Emperor William ' will catch the oranges one after" another, hill 10ft above the ground, until an even dozen may be seen at the time slowly bumping down along the expanse of neck., to be finally Ibst in the ruffle of feathers where neck and body join.