Interesting Items.
Over 10,000,000 eggs now arrive in New York city weekly. One recent Canada train had thirty-one cars, with 200,000 eggs in each. The chief supply to the New York market comes from Canada and Michigan.
United States' Flour Exports.—The United States now manufacture yearly 70,000,000 barrels of flour, and of this one-seventh part is exported. The great bulk of this flour is sent from eight Atlantic ports to Europe.
Among the "fowls of the air" are three, the eagle, swan, and raven, which live to the age of one hundred years or more. The paroquet and heron attain the goodly age of sixty years. The sparrow-hawk, duck, and pelican may live to be forty, while the peacock and linnet reach the quarter century, and the canary twenty-four years.
A Sagacious Dog.—Just recently a dog, of the black and tan terrier species, entered the Bolton Infirmary unobserved, and forced itself upon the attention of the house-surgeon, who found one of the animal's legs broken. With the aid of nurses he set the limb, the dog meanwhile licking the surgeon's hand. It refused to leave the institution, and was installed as an in-patient. How the dog got into the infirmary is unknown.
We understand that the hall which, for the last nearly sixty years, has been appropriated in Glasgow to caricaturing religion, and where mockery of the Sabbath, recitations, comic songs, dancing, and all sorts of diabolical devices to entrap weak souls, were revelled in, where many Sabbaths Mrs. Besant and Mr. Bradlaugh gave vent to their mockery and blasphemy of God, is henceforth to be used for the worship of the Almighty.
Origin of the Word "News."—The word "news" is not, as many may imagine, derived from the adjective "new." In former years (between 1595 and 1730) it was a prevalent practice to put over the periodical publications of the day the initial letters of the cardinal points of the compass, thus—N E W S, implying that those papers contained intelligence from the four quarters of the globe, and from this practice is derived the term of "newspaper."
A telegram states that the body of Alexander the Great has been found among the sarcophagi lately unearthed at Saida, in Syria. It is stated that the body can be positively identified by its inscription, and other particulars. Alexander is known to have died at Babylon, and on his death-bed he is stated to have told his sons to convey his body to Alexandria, the city he had founded at the mouth of the Nile. Although the monarch did not live thirty-three years, or reign thirteen, he did more than all before or since his time.
Amongst the most curious of recorded wills is that of a Mr. Thomas Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, who, dying in 1810, bequeathed a penny to every child that should be present at his funeral. Another provision of the will ordered a shilling to be given to every poor woman in Wath, whilst to his own daughter he only bequeathed the pittance of four guineas per annum. An old woman had for eleven years attended him. To her he bequeathed the munificent sum of one guinea only, for, as he expressed it, "tucking him up in bed." A further whimsy of the selfish humourist was a bequest of forty dozen penny buns to be thrown from the church tower at noon on Christmas Day for ever.
One day, a gentleman's attention was attracted by an unusual commotion in his stable, where two carriage horses were kept. Looking in, he saw that one of the animals had got out of its loose box, and was helping itself to a bucket of mash which the coachman had left at the door. The other horse was neighing loudly, evidently demanding a share in the feast. What was the gentleman's surprise to see the first horse fill its mouth with the mash, and then push its nose through the bars of the loose box, for its imprisoned companion to take the relish from its mouth. This was repeated several times. The horse which was thus fed had often been seen to push over some of his hay into his companion's rack, when that was emptied first.
A Submerged Forest.—During the late violent storms in the Channel, the sea washed through a high and hard sand-bank near St. Malo, nearly four metres thick, laying bare a portion of an ancient forest which was already passing into the condition of coal. This forest at the beginning of our era covered an extensive tract of the coast; but with the sinking of the land it became submerged and covered up by the drifting sand. Mont Saint Michel once stood in the middle of it. The forest had quite disappeared by the middle of the tenth century. Occasionally, at very low tides after storms, remains of it are disclosed, just as at present. It is believed that, some centuries ago, the highest tides rose about twelve metres above the level of the lowest ebb. Now the high-water level is 15.5 metres above the lowest.
Preaching at Kensington the other week, Cardinal Manning said that there are labouring in London no less than 350 Roman Catholic priests and 1,000 nuns.
A Snake that Understood English.—It is related that some Americans recently going through the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, stopped to look at a big rattlesnake in a cage. It lay motionless, apparently asleep, but when two of the party who lingered behind began to speak in English, it moved, lifted its head, and gave every sign of interest. They told their companions that the snake understood English. The whole party then returned to the cage. The snake was apparently asleep again. They conversed in French, but the snake made no movement. Then the ladies began to speak in English. The snake started, lifted its head, and showed the same alertness as before at the sounds. The rattlesnake proved, on inquiry, to have come from Virginia.
The South African Gold Fields.—The Natal Mercury says:—"The gold exports for January, 1888, from Natal were £31,447, and from the Cape £26,115, making a total of £57,562. This is a capital opening for the first month of the year, and if continued in the same ratio, will mean the handsome total for the year of £690,744. Glowing reports continue to come in from the Waterfall, at the Kantoor. A number of buildings are going up. Last week a seven-ounce nugget was brought into Barberton. Two Portuguese are said to be making, on an average, four ounces per day, say £100 per week, and their ground is described as a regular 'bank.' Of course they and a few others are exceptionally lucky ones; but all are said to be making a good living."
St. Patrick's Day in New York.—The following "open letter" has been addressed to the Mayor of New York:—"69, Wall Street, New York, March 19th, 1888.—My dear Sir,—While coming from Washington yesterday on the limited express, my eye caught the telegram printed in a Washington paper announcing your order forbidding the display of the Irish flag from the City Hall on St. Patrick's Day. I could not repress an audible and emphatic 'Amen,' quite to the surprise of the ladies and gentlemen in the car. For many years I, in company with thousands of Americans and adopted citizens from England, France, and Germany, have been outraged and scandalized by this annual insult to our intelligence, our pride of country, our religious belief. In the minds of many others besides the writer, that banner represents in a large degree the worst elements in our body politic—ignorance, vice, bigotry, and crime. It is displayed on the 17th of March in nearly every rum shop, gambling hell, and thieves' den in New York. It was borne in the ranks of the murderous mob that held possession of the city in the July riots of '63. But, aside from this, no legal or other right exists for the display of that flag or any other, except the ones you indicate, from the City Hall of the great metropolis of a land whose people are by a large majority consistent Protestants, on a day set apart to honour the memory of a fabulous Roman Catholic saint. Furthermore, this is literally a rum-sellers' and a rum-drinkers' procession. The wholesale rum-seller rides on horseback, the retail rum-seller rides in a carriage, the drinkers walk, until many of them, overcome by rum, fall in the gutter, are gathered up by the police, cared for in the station houses and the penitentiary, cleaned, and clothed, and fed at the expense of the long-suffering taxpayer. I respect the honest, right-living Irishman or woman, Catholic or Protestant, and would not deny them a single right to which I, a native-born American citizen, am entitled; but I enter my indignant protest against the steadily increasing attacks upon our most valued institutions by this largely foreign-born and most turbulent portion of our population. It is high time to call a halt and compel obedience to decency and law. You will certainly receive the heartfelt thanks and unanimous support of every lover of our city, our country, our institutions, our laws.—I am, my dear sir, very respectfully yours, George Shepard Page. To his Honour A. S. Hewitt, Mayor of the City of New York." [We say, All due honour to the noble Mayor of New York, for such a common-sense decision.—Ed.]
Keeping Warm.—It may not be generally known that, when exposed to severe cold, a feeling of warmth is readily created by repeatedly filling the lungs to their utmost extent in the following manner. Throw the shoulders well back, and hold the head well up. Inflate the lungs slowly, the air entering entirely through the nose. When the lungs are completely filled, hold the breath for ten seconds or longer, and then expire it quickly through the mouth. After repeating this exercise while one is chilly, a feeling of warmth will be felt over the entire body, and even in the feet and hands. It is important to practise this exercise many times each day, and especially when in the open air. If the habit ever becomes universal, then consumption and many other diseases will rarely, if ever, be heard of. Not only while practising the breathing exercise must the clothing be loose over the chest, but beginners will do well to remember, in having their clothing fitted, to allow for the permanent expansion of one, two, and even three inches, which will eventually follow.
"SHE NOW FELT THAT SHE HAD LOST HER WAY." (See page 122.)