HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1926-01-28, Page 6Stories About NV ell -Known People
Alt irleh Bull.
Amongst the many geed stories told
by that •clever Irishwoman, Miss Kath
twine Tynan, one of the best coixernS
an old Gouneznara farmer, who, upon
awakening suddenly one night, saw at
the foot of dile bed what he tools to be
a ghost.
Reaching for his gun, he trrempUY
perforated the apparition with a bul-
let. To his surprise, the following
morning he discovered that he bed
made a target of hie own shirt.
He was relating hie experience toes
felons', who asked him:
'Whet did you do when you dis-
covered what it was?"
Quite eea'iously the old chap replied:
"Oh, well, I just dratted my lucky
stare I wasu't inside it"
A New Game.
The well-known authoress, Miss
Elinor Glyn, tells a story of the cham-
pion girl swanker. -
The young lady in question was en-
gaged in conversation with a man,
and was doing her level best to im-
press him with her love of games a.nd
her alleged proficiency in. them.
"Do you golf?" he asked.
"I love it," she oried. "I play at
least thirty-six holes a week."
"How about tennis?"
"I won the women's championship
in Our club."
So far, so good. But here the man
suddenly switched off on to h.:nature,
and this was the swwankers undo.e-g.
"Do you like Kipling?" he asked.
"Oh, yee, indeed. Why, only yEetes-
day I kipp1ed for over an hour," she
answered without hesitation.
' Broke News Gently,
James Sanger, the ,son and succese-
or of Lord George Sanger, hes a w,ou-
derful budget of stories relating to the
show -folk amongst 'whom We life has
been spent,
One that he is fond of telling eon-
oerns the proprietor re a travelling
menagerie who bad struck a petals of
bad luck, having lost a mimber of
valuable animals.
Therefore, it was with (enamel writ-
ten large upon his face that one of
the Beepers undertook the task of
breaking the news of- yet another
death. He began thus:
"Mr. Smith, you remember that
laughing hyena in cage uiue?„
"Remember the laughing hyena?"
demanded the owner angrily. "What
the dent* are you driving at?"
"Only this, Mr. Smith. He ain't got
notion' to laugh et this moaning!"
Tickled Into Health!
According to Sir Brooe Bruce -Porter,
it is silly to keep windows shut to pro-
tect children from draughts. He thinks
youngsters awe usually overclothed. It
le wrong to stop all noise, merely be-
cause a child has gone to sleep, for
he says kiddies should be prepared.
for the rough and tumble of later life.
Milk, he expiainsy is a food, r:ot a
drink. It is a perfect medium for
germs and should only be bought in
sealed bottles. But he would never
refuse a child a drink of water.
He does not believe in forcing left-
handed. youngsters to use their hands;
but it is a good thing to tickle babies,
says Sir )3ruce, for it makes them
laugh and thus breaths in plenty of
fresh air.
Patriotism.
There Is more than one sort of war-
fare, and there are battlefields beyond
the range of bursting shells and the
smell of speeder. The zero hour may
be a signal to the courage in one's
own heart, away from any firing line
where the barrage of artillery is
beard. Many are the eras* soldiers
who never carried a rifle or pulled a
lanyard. Some of the great victories
in everyday human conta,cte manifest -
been those of men vele in civil life and
in everyday humanoonteets manifest
ei3 the spLelit of the happy warrior,
wanting and working for peace, cour-
ageous to resist a wrong but most of
all concerned for the oonstruotive ac-
complishment that has its legible re-
cord in• the welfare of society.
Patriotism for those outiside the
military calling has much more to do
than bo wave a flag and swing 9. song
The Bargain.
The stable door was open wide:
I heard voieee, looked inelde.
Six candle -yellow birds were set
In a cage of silver net,
Shaking wing, preening feather,
Whistling loudly all together.
Two most ancient withered fairies
Bartered ring against canaries,
Haggled with a courteous cunning—
Hinting, boasting, teasing, punning
In a half -remembered tone.
"Too low an offer!" "Times are bad."
"Too low!" By far the best you have
had."
"Raise it." Then what a song was
sung:
"Dicky is a pretty lad!
Dicky is a pretty lad!"
But diamonds twinkled with light flung
By twelve impatient golden wings,
The younger merchant took the rings,
Closed his bargain with a sigh,
and stand up when the national an- And sadly wished his flock "Good by."
them is performed. Ifs duty is great- Good by, good by, in fairy speech
er even then to minister to wounded
men or to supply the creature com-
forts to the rank and -file embattled.
e'atri,otism works as hard for the up -
building of one's country in the days
of peace as for any military victory.
It calla for a union of thought and feel-
ing and inspired effort in business • and
in commerce and for the emphasis of
those v. hies which Lay broad and deep
foundations for the enduring national
prosperity in stabilized oonditions of
industry. It pays heed to each day's
work and is not looking for melodra-
matic chances to win celebrity in some
dietan,t region or some spectacular and
unusual event. There are linemen re-
pairing wires in bitter weather, rivet
e$s astride the girders of tall build-
ings, "sand -hogs" in "ice caissons of
bridge foundations, truck drivers haul-
Mg loads: in the dark hours., engineers
in the locomotive -robs, firemen h. the
stokeholda, who are better citizens of
the world and servants of the rage,
hence truer patriots, than some whose
names are written large in history as
the world conquerors•.
o-
Hit Michael Angelo's Nose.
Michael Angelo Buonaroti, ' to give
him hie full name, was not only a good
artist, hut he always admitted the
fact.
During Michael's time there was
other artist in Florence, Pietro Torre
gene by name. •Pietro was. similar to
Angelo. He had a vary good opinion
of his work. As a matter of fact, he
was pretty near as good a sculptor as
Michael; at any- rate he was a better
pugilist.
One day these two artists Orad a de-
cidedly warm dispute about their com-
parative proficiency, and Michael start-
ed something, as the modern saying She
describes the beginning of a fracas.
Pietro finally succeeded in emashing
a good right Ito Michael's nose, draw-
ing considerable blood and breaking
the bridge of the nose. This pugilistic
skill left Michael Angelo with a twist-
ed nose that was in front of him from
that day until his death.
•Pietaro went to England, where he
lett in Westminster Abbey a most
beautiful piece of marble, the tomb of
Henry VII. Then he went to Spain
and mut out a wonderful marble Vir-
gin.
The ceatomer who had ordered the
statue refused to pay the high price Ansi now, in the city, she sits by the
demanded, soy Pietro smashed it with lire,
a hammer. For this ae.t Pietro was Restlessly plucking and pleating hon
condemned to bo burned at the stake, seams;
bidt he avoided a public execution by Sick for the house and the hillside and
byre,.
Her fingers re.dreaminsg her dreams.
—Elizabeth ' S. Fleming.
Sea -Whigs,
gigs,
An Italian liner is-. to beectritppe-ct
with eeai lanes for j aeeengecs hi a
hurry to reach the shore. Taking the
collected and studied in an effort le :sea from the sea voyage seems to be
determine the origin of thea Ainerrleee the littini to in the way of reducing
1a�aiiau. the discomforts r4 ocean travel,
With a sugar -peck for each
Unsuspecting bright canary.
"Fare you well."
A sudden airy
Gust of midnight slammed the door.
Out went the lights: I heard no.more.
—Robert Graves.
Toes and Evolution.
The horse is ane -toed;; the cattle
and deer, two—toed; the pig, four -toed;
and the elephant, five -toed. This con-
dition is explained by the theory of
evolution, declaring that all ungulates
originally had five digits to each limb,
but in some cases one or more has
been lost because they were not of
advantage to the species.
The ancestors of the horse known
by fossil remains exhibit four com-
plete toes, and the meet ancient mam-
mals, living several millions -of years
ago, all had five toes on each limb.
Rudiments of these lost digits are
present in the horse, deer and cow.
The digits are numbered from the in-
side outward, i.e., from the thumb to-
ward the little finger.
The horse walks oil the end of the
third digit, so that the wrist and
ankle, often wrongly called the knee,
are more than a foot above the
ground, while the real knee is close up
to the body. '
The Worker.
The old woman's fingers can; never be
still;
She picks and she smooths and she
pleats at her gown;
In the little stone house on the side
of the hill
She worked from sun -u p till sun-
down.
scrubbed and she baked and she
knitted and sewed,
And fed all the hens and looked af-
ter the cow,
And out on the hiaside she harrowed
and hoed,
And led the old horse at the plough.
Wherever she workers was a glimpse
of the sea,
And otten she quaked at the voice of
the storm,
And longed for the somrrrsr and sound
of the bee
nn days that Were drowsy and warm,.
HAD OCEAN LINER ALL TO HIMSELF
The only passenger on an ocean liner ,and with all its service at his dis
poral, William Thomas Stewart, 455 Parkside Drive, Toronto, who arrived
home recently after docking at Boston, stated that -never before had he a.p-
preoiated seamen so much. Mr. Steward's name comprised, the whole sail-
ing list of the Leyland line Donenian, w'vich Left Liverpool Jan. let, and has
acoommodation far 260 passengers. He had at his service some twenty
stewards and on Min was bestowed the attentions of captain and offioens
generally divided among -at leant several score. "It wasn'.t just the best
trip in the world," the traveler said, "There were no other passengers to pat
M the time witb, but I never became so well acquainted with the workings
on any ship nor with its crew in all my experience. I was on the bridge with
the captain and down in the hold with the engieers•. I think I know some-
thing about every joa on the boat. But it has its advantages•, one certainly
did not lack attention and did not have to wait for service. Mr. Stewart
ascribes the light traffic to the very rough weather and to the fact that the
boat was four days late in sailing. He spent swore four months in England
on a business. trip. The •'photograph shows Mr. Stewart and his twin daugh-
ters greeting him on hie arrival in Toronto.
Morning.
Darkness turns to tinted gray,
Night's dim hordes of phantoms fly;
Swirling down the eastern way
Gold and purple flush the sky.
Soon each tiny creature_ wakes,
Shaking with its songs the dew,
And a sudden sunrise breaks
That bejewels earth anew.
going on a hunger strike arid eeth,ving
himself 10 death, his demise .being a
'. fees days before the auto da fe of 1522,
the ,public burning in which be was to
have been roasted;
.:w a
Thousands of Sculls.
Ten thousand ,skulls were recently
Then I drink the air as wine,
Tien I rise above earth's strife,
Morning's ecstasy is mine,
And the pinnacle of life!
—George Lawrence Andrews in "Suc-
cess"
•
Some Real Old People.
The little Italian town of Velleiacium
became famous in the year 76 A.D.,
when it was supposed, to have some
remarkable specimens. of long longe-
vity.
In that year there were living in the
village six persons each 110 years old,
four persons 120 years old and two
perseue 130 years old. All' these vener-
able beings had been born in the town
and had lived there all their lives.
In England in 1483 a man named
Parr was married at the age of 120
amsi died aged 152. Harvey, the die -
WINTER ONFIDENCE
Winter, of all se'aesnis, seeaks 'nos't
definitely to the . r,'ice-c•opeelousneee
which goes back into ,the past "and
week]. stretch forward: Into tee future,
I cannot explain why it stipule be, but
the naked boughs,' passive . and de -
nutlet', are more significant than the
luxuriance of leavers and flowers. . .
It is' their shape and •eharaoter, the
,store of potential power which is in-
dicative. They glee to winter en aut-
tare confidence, enduiieg throughout
storm end cold•
The day bee been one of miet and
hoar -frost, This 'morning the twigs
of the blackthorn hedges were. covered
with a white fur of crystals. To the
glance of the# eye travelling over them,
they appeared of a' milky azure; but
seen separately, white and black con-
trasted in steep outline. The grasses
too, britl'e end crunching under foot,
stood each clothed in its delicate gauze
of ido. I came on my walk to a little
hollow in the rolling uplands. A path
led steeply down beside a cleared sop -
pies. I peened a thiols -suet hedge, and
found myself looking up at the soft
undulation of • a naiced arable. The
contours rase delicately and gently up
to the white sky 'of mist. The field
was of wheat -stubble, yellow like am-
ber. The foles and turns of the con-
tours showed here and there a faintly
darker tint. Upon one side was a
hazel copse with Oak trees.. The mul
titude sof twigs was lake and mauve,
and, at the tips, faded palely into the
pale sky. There was no sunlight, only
a pearly whiteness, impenetrable and
all -enfolding. The air was still, un -
enlivened by insects.. Up a small,
tongue -shaped: declivity, a spur from
the wood thrust out into the field,- fol-
lowing
ollowi