MISCELLANEOUS

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 13 October 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS

A con'emporcry lias a new version of flip fable of the dog who saw his visage r< fleeted in the brook, which is more aps plieable to modem life 'than the original. <V dog, curving a stolen bee/steak in Lis mouth, comes to a limpid stream which reflects the surrounding objocls as plainly ai a min-or. Perceiving the reflected image of himself, he thinks of seizing the piece ef meat it holds which he sup» poses to -be real, 1 -ufc concludes that it would ba taore prudent first to derour his own piece. Tliph he looks again into the stream. The rcieoled dog fans nothing in ii-s teetli. and expresses the s;Uisfac!i>n of a confen'o I s'omach. ' H>i,' snys the dog' that fellow had the same idea I had V An! he runs away laughing. In its issue of tlia 11' h August,. London ' Punch pnys the following high com])!!* nient <o the Australian cricketers : — A u<traf : ;in lad-\ ye' re a leathering I"t, Your ti'jiin has no ' tail,' and seems proo! niiiiiiist rot j' Vo-ir l)u ! smen h capital average tnt ! Your how lers are comaionly well oa the spoi ! I Our cracks seem all catc'iin* it awfully hot, (Nine runs in two innings * the Champion ' got !) Yorkshire yon ' scumrLhed,' now donees ter you've * shot.' You hare licked us all round, and the pro>pect is not An ene uraging one lo the liriton or Slm;, And — drinkinjj vonr health— Air Punch would nak,'" What! . Can Cricket in England be goJn.' to pot ?' (Mr P. siahetb, and solacetli himself with a 'deep, deep, draught,' of IceJ .'.Ha' field.).. An sr ful dodge, which, s^ys the Post, would have dono credit to the ingenuity of a hpathen Chinee, whs a day or two! ago resorted to by a constable to quell n disturbance in a lock-up oe!l. A prisoner was confincl in one of th»se compact but phiifly furnished apartments, provided for the accommodation of those who c .love for fermented or spiiitu >m I q'Mr is. so overpd^ierins: that they are unable to r.'a'cu' their- ■■cdsto.inafjf-,. residence. The prisoner wore hobnailed boo!s, an'l miJe night hideous by applying the tops of those bcots Tignromsly to the door of the cell. Pjliceman K. feeling cil'ei u»oi^, under the circumstances, to preserve tie peace; went to the windoir, (halted familiarly with the noisy inmate, ard at length induced him to pass his * hobnails' through the aperture ' to have th"" mu\ brushed off them. 1 No so^nrr did the peace officer get them than he vxnl* ing rem irked— 'K;«;k away now. old boy, as much na you like, biifc don't hurt your toes !' The prisoner felt that in thus l>s ing his hots he h»d boen 'sold,' an>' letting out a big oath, he relapsed into silence. A c( rreapond'Tt sends the- following l^-ller (o the Wang-tr.ui Chronicle: — • Would it be culpable liomicide to slior.t a man who persistently pays the accordion williin liearinsiot bis fellow. cit'Z'n- ? A neiabbor "f mine b;i« one of those accursed instruments, " as I know to tny cost, for its abominable sounds are beard ■'evi'ry n : ght, ard make reading, <hinl»in^, ■cunvprsation. tnu^ic,- o'.ess, everyihing i npcsihle, Tlie bagpit es niv not erijojed by eye;-ybody, but tl»>ro is a chars<o|&, ;iboul their strains which makes thijjppffjl If fi -it ..bearable at a distance. But th*TffiS eor.li^n and instruments of V*t son never had n character, anl are utfe'ly' \ritliou; music- The}' set the brain on live, spoi! the temper, make Roioe s«enr. . Kn'l drive others to suicide.' He then risks wlieth'T he>an shoot him, and the eJiior replies: 'Yes. Shoot him by oil means.' An ingenion=» instrument termed a ' Sp^-li lube,' for indica*ii)g t!ie prespnee of infl minaiile giises in mines, was ex« "hibi'..eir! and f'Xpbrnecl at ibe m^stißg j^ (he Minc'ips'pr Geol"-if:-il Society, r® ; (ji'iitly by Df Ansjus Smith. The desijlfp of the instrjuini'iit is taken fiom the old ■ coinpi'tssio'r ? s^^ge b<effi for igniting tin<it»r, find tb^Wfetrument consists of a , ■. i^ru ill brass "ttrbo with ghiss let-in at the boifoni, wl-icb is closed up, and a piston . and ruii filfni: closely in the tulie. Th,air' to be tested is taken into the tube > citlier from the to'p^or by means of a stojw coik at the bottom, and tl^|)istou then i rapiiliy pressed down wit!^^ birrfe, the.

<■< :»i>rc-3!or. oi tie siir llii-.-» eilet'te S wiii) lito ;iid of spongy jjiatirum, causing tiif hisses to oxi.>lii.io inside tlio tube, the *<> ])!o«i.'n b. ma visible furou-rli the class iei ia ?.( tin' !»o;t'>ut, l")c iS<mtli s'aled tkas j tlii? presenco oc £jr*do«rn to 2\ por^3a{ j ccn'.l !..' detected jy this instrument ;and ns ti>e I'Xplosioa ivilhia the tuje was pel" * fecl'y h.rmies-, he though* ths >i«tCT Jk ""•■i" niialit ni.jrd a useful meansfac* t« ploriDg gase ""is mines. During the TfradlaugM d<liat% ]\fc j\± M. Sullivao esprcsserl iup. i^jngmt wDm«i ion that the esolution prot >se,l by'jMi Gladstone * would mark a turning pojnljf m the history of England, m it wdbidT jvgislpr on Ibn door of the Home ot. Common^ «!i C flood mark of infidelity and unbelief."