The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 18 September 1913, Page 61

The Family Circle

LITTLE THINGS A crumb will feed a tiny bird, A thought prevent an angry word, K seed : brings forth full many a flower, A drop of rain foretells a shower. ; A straw the wild wind's course reveals, A kind word oft an old grudge heals, A beacon-light saves many a life, K slight will often kindle strife. A humble hand may alms bestow, A godly life make heaven below, A little child confounds the wise, A lark sings nearest to the skies. A sunbeam makes the earth rejoice, A flower will teach, without a voice, A brave man's arm will right the wrong, A simple prayer will make us strong.

AN ADVENTURE WITH A LION Sometimes man hunts the lion, and sometimes the lion hunts man. With few exceptions, the result of either hunt is death for hunted or hunter. The following adventure, related by a traveller who had the temerity to travel through a half- country on a bicycle, appears to be one of the exceptions: On a mellow moonlight evening a cyclist was riding along a lonely road in the northern part of Mashonaland. As he rode, enjoying the sombre, beauty of the African evening, he suddenly became conscious of a ~" soft, stealthy, heavy tread on the road behind him. It seemed like the jog-trot of some heavy, "cushionfooted animal following him. Turning round, he was scared very badly to find himself looking into the glaring eyes of a large lion. The puzzled animal acted very strangely, now uiising his head, now lowering it, and all the time sniffing the air in a most perplexed manner. Here was a surprise for the lion. He could rot make out what kind of animal it was that could roll, walk, and sit still all at the same time; an animal with a red eye on each side and a brighter one in front. He hesitated to pounce upon such an outlandish being • —a being whose blood smelled so oily. Surely no cyclist, since the Romans . invented wheels, ever ' scorched with more honesty and single- •*..' mindedness of purpose. But although he pedalled and pedalled, although he perspired and panted, his effort to yet away did not seem to place any more territory between him an J the lion, for that animal, like Mark Twain's coyote, kept up his annoyingly calm jog-trot and never seemed to tire. The poor rider was finally so exhausted from terror and exertion that he decided to have the matter over with right away. Suddenly slowing down, he jumped from His wheel and, facing abruptly about, thrust the brilliant headlight full into the face of the lion. This was too much for the beast. It was this fright that broke the lion's nerve, for at this fresh evidence of mystery on the part of the strange rideranimal, who broke himself into halves and then cast his big eye in any direction he pleased, the monarch of the forest turned tail, and with a wild rush retreated in a very lfyena-like manner into the jungle, I* evidently thanking his stars for his miraculous escape v from that awful being. Thereupon the bicyclist, with new strength returning and devoutly blessing his acetylene lamp, proceeded on his way to civilisation. SOME WELL-KNOWN QUESTIONS ANSWERED Why Hoes the owl come out at night? Why does the moth fly around the candle ? Why must we always BR--*

develop photographs in a red light ? Why does wood rot away ? Why do vtelegraph lines hum? The owl comes out only at night because the food on which the owl feeds is to : ; be found during those hours. Mice and ; other small creatures Care active during the night, and the owl, with its peculiar noiseless flight, due to its soft plumage,";comes out and devours them". ' ■-■'.': :y^' : -'._/. IT:.-:..Y~ ; .. . The moth flies around the candle - because the moth loves light and turns towards it; a baby would "do the same thing if it were allowed. People follow 'the- same instinct when they seek the sunny side of the street, and flowers when they turn" toward the light. There are other creatures which just naturally seek darkness as the foolish moth does'the candle. Why have we to develop photographs in a red light? We know that white light is really a mixture of light of all sorts of colors— yellow, green, blue, and so on. Some of these lights of various colors have one kind of power and some another. Now the kind of light that has the power of causing chemical changes, which is the light we photograph by, is mainly violet light. We can see in a way by red light, but red light has practically no influence on photographic plates. We may say that photographic plates cannot see red light, and so we can use red light to develop them by without fearing that the photograph of our faces or the walls of the room will be printed on the plates. It seems there are kinds of wood that will not rot away even though they are kept in water. The ancient city of Venice is actually built on wooden piles buried in the shallow sea, and these have lasted for many centuries already. This wood does not rot because the things that make wood rot cannot attack it. Sometimes wood is soaked with creosote, and the particular property of creosote which makes it so valuable is that it is poisonous to microbes. Wood will not rot if it is charged with something that kills microbes, or if _ it is made of stuff so hard and tough that even microbes cannot digest it; or if, as in the case of Venice, it is good wood, and also protected from microbes by being kept in salt water. Why do the telegraph lines hum? - ••'.., Anything that is stretched is apt to be thrown into vibration by the force of the air blowing against it. If it vibrates so fast as to produce the air waves that our ears can hear, then that is what we call sound. This is what happens to the telegraph wires when they hum; and if we put our hand on the telegraph pole we shall feel that the wires vibrate strongly enough to set the whole pole trembling too. But when the air is quite still the telegraph wires do not hum. HAD TO FOLLOW One day a young Maori from the back country dropped in at a country livery stable and said he needed a job. He looked promising, so he was set at work greasing the axles of a buggy. In a remarkably short space of time he reported the task finished. • Look here,' said his new boss, 'do you mean to say you've greased all four of them wheels already ' Well,' rejoined the new man, ' I've greased the two front ones.' ' And why haven't you greased the two hind ones?' 'Well,' said the new man again, 'so long's the two front ones goes all Tight,, the two hind ones will have to follow.' - PROVING THAT SORROWS ARE RELATIVE A good lady, who always has an eye and ear for childish troubles, stopped one day on her 1 way to a luncheon, because she saw a stout little boy who was standing near the kerb and crying loudly. She undertook to comfort the distressed youngster. She bent down, patted the tow-colored head, gazed into the tear-stained face, and made as if to wipe away the traces of grief. ' Why, what is the matter, my dear child V asked she, solicitously.

- ' M-my b-brother's got a holiday, andl haven't,' ho roared. . . \ -,.„;.-■.■ V What a shame!' said the woman. 'Then,you don't go to the same school?' ' - . . ' No,' came from i the little boy, in a fresh, burst - of sorrow, ' I—l don't go to school an-anywhere yet HAROLD'S FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL - / Master Harold had returned after his first day at a kindergarten school. : , 'Well, Harold,' said a friend of his mother's, who was calling, how do you like school I suppose you are the youngest there?' 'Oh, no!' said Harold, indignantly, drawing himself to his full height, and throwing out his chest. ' Oh, no!' some of our chaps come in perambulators.' THE REASON Social Agitator: ' Isn't it a shame the way these Chinamen . work in this shop? Fifteen hours a day, And wages almost nothing!' Companion: ' Why do you trade here ? Social Agitator Oh, they sell things so much ■cheaper. NOTICEABLE IN WET WEATHER Village Orator (seconding a proposition for the Tepair of the reading-room roof) : ' I think you'll all agree that the roof does leak very bad. Especially is this noticeable in wet weather.' HAMLET'S MENTAL CONDITION Beerbohm Tree adds a [new light on the old question of the sanity of Hamlet. ' One morning, whilst staying at a little country ' }>lace,' he said, ' I met a young friend of mine, and asked him what he had been doing with himself the .night before. ' I went,' my young friend replied, 'to. hear "Readings from Hamlet." ' Ah,' said I, did you? Now, tell me, what are your views? Do you think Hamlet was really mad?' ' Mad? of course he was. Why, there wasn't more than thirty shillings in the house!' POWER OF SUGGESTION The man was hale and hearty at 10 a.m. At 10.15 someone handed him a patent-medicine almanac. The man glanced at it, and became interested. He lead it through from cover to cover. At 10.35 he was suffering from Bright's disease, malaria, dyspepsia, insomnia, lumbago, blood-poisoning, sciatica, and rheumatism. TRADE SECRETS 'What is the secret of success?' asked the magazine. V..'. 'Do write,' said the pen. - . r . 'Be progressive,' said the euchre pack. Be exact and on time,' said the clock. ' Be careful not to break your word,' said the type- ' writer. ' Don't be afraid to strike when you find your match,' said the lamp. v ' Push and pull,' said the door. v Stand firm and unyielding,' said the flagstaff. 'Don't change• with every wind that blows,' said the weather vane. - ■■?■■- 'Never become dull and rusty,' said the hoe. ' Climb steadily up,' said the hill. ' Keep bright and don't mind the clouds,' said the auri. - -- 'Cultivate a calm exterior, but be ready for emergencies,' said the innocent flower ;■' even I always carry a pistil.' ■' . . ' ' ■ , ,

FAMILY FUN

TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS. (Special to the N.Z. Tablet by Mahatma.) An . Easy Match Trick .—Break a match in the middle— wooden one is best for this experiment. Do not quite sever the two halves. Place the match over the mouth, of a moderate sized bottle, and upon the match place a half-penny. The trick is to drop the halfpenny into the bottle without touching either the halfpenny, the coin, or the bottle. Nobody who does not know the trick can do it, yet it is very simple. When everyone has given up allow two or. three drops of water to fall on the match at the point where it was broken. The wood at,once begins to swell, the two ends of the match to spread apart, and in a short time the coin will fall.

To Boil Water in a Paper Cup.—This is quite easy to do if the following instructions are carried out: Cut a disc about 6 inches in diameter, out of a sheet of strong paper. Next take a piece of wire, and make at one end thereof a ring about 3 inches in diameter, wrapping the other end spirally round a candle, , and keeping it in place by sticking a pin into the candle just below the lower end. By pressing the disc of paper into the hollow of the hand it is given a bowl shape. In placing this bowl in the wire ring, care must be taken to let its rim project about an inch above the support, as this makes it possible to pour into the paper bowl so much water 'that the latter is slightly above the wire, this being absolutely necessary to the success, of the experiment. It is also necessary that the flam© of the candle almost reaches, or even slightly touches the bottom of the bowl. In a few seconds after lighting the candle the water will begin to boil, the paper remaining intact because the water absorbs the entire heat of the flame.

Thought Reading Made Easy.— The performer has a reel of thin florists’ wire, one end of which he holds in his left hand against his forehead, while his assistant asks a member of the company to write a short question, requiring an answer, on a piece of paper, and afterwards to make the other end of the wire into a loop, and pass it over his head across his ears. The performer then takes another piece of paper, and, after much apparent thought, writes a suitable answer to the question, even to giving the result of a calculation in figures. The wire, although apparently transmitting the thoughts, in reality has nothing to do with the trick. It is merely used to heighten the effect. The solution lies in the fact that the paper, handed to the gentleman to write on, is on a small piece of glass which has previously been rubbed over lightly with soap. This is done on one side only. This, when written on will leave a faint impression on the glass which would not be noticed without being actually looked for. When the assistant returns the glass the question may be plainly read, especially if the sheet be held on the slant. • C-

The Restored Tape.—This is a simple trick toper form, but it has a very fine effect. The performer shows a piece of black tape above six feet in length. A member of the company cuts this into three equal pieces. These two-feet lengths are then knotted together, and the ends of the tape thus knotted are tied to two chairs. A handkerchief is now placed over each knot. Upon removing these, the knots are found to have disappeared. The trick is worked this way: The conjuror has under the* front part of his waistcoat, or in a pocket a duplicate piece of tape, six feet in length. This has two knots made from small pieces of tape . pinned on to it at equal distances. When, in carrying ju out the trick, the performer has obtained possession s of the, original tape with the genuine knots tied in it, he dexterously exchanges it for the piece with the false knots. It is this piece of tape which he ties to the chairs. As he places the handkerchiefs over the knots j he quickly releases the knots by pulling out the dolls' I pins. When the handkerchiefs are lifted the small J pieces are removed under their cover. The knots have? thus ,to all 'appearances disappeared. No better trickf could be wished for. .-'■••■;■ ..."'-'