The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1906-06-22
SOLDIERS IN INDIA
FOND OF KNITTING
One of the Ways the "King's
Own" While Away Their
Spare Moments.
CAN'T STAND lDLENEss
Cut Off from All Sources of Enjoy
nent, They Arc Forced to Devise
Means to Amuse Them
selves.
From Tit-Pits,


Soldiers abroad Especially in India) cut
of from all the sources of enjoyment OBJ
tainable at home, are forced to devise
means Of passing their hours of idleness.
The elementary stage in hobbies is knit
| Ing socks. hardly the work in which one
would expect soldiers to engage, but a
hobby which is extremely popular. That
his Is so the following will show:
In recent issue of a service paper a
man of the Cheshire regiment threw out a
challenge to knit any man in southern
India for the championship and stake of
300 rupees (G20). Men often purchase new
socks from the regimental stores, simply
for the pleasure of pulling them to pieces
and rekn.tting them
From socks the natural transition is to
Berlin wool work. This mostly takes the
form Of waist belts and slippers. and men
with good eye for the tasteful blending
OF colors find 1T an extremely profitable
hobby, their productions finding a ready
sale among comrades.
A man or my acquaintance who evolved
a very pretty design in forget-me-nots was
inundated with orders for ladies' slippers
the majority Of which found their way
home to sweethearts and sisters, being in
many cases represented as the handiwork
of the sender
Another man was a veritable artist in
Berlin wool. and his reproduction of that
famous picture, 1.-THE Huguenots," besides
taxing the first prize at the Poona indus
trial exhibition. sold for $50
Hearth rugs. quilts and table covers also
occupy the time OF many men, being made
of pieces of military cloth of various col
ors. The number of pieces required for,
and the amount of sewing involved in, the
production of quilt or table cover of this
description Is simply surprising. These
mostly lind their way home as presents to
parents or relatives.
Fly dodgers are the men who devote
themselves to securing the country in pur-
suit Of the myraid varieties of fly and
beetle to be found in the tropics, thereby
becoming acquainted with the beauties of
nature and keeping themselves In good
health. Ely dodgers also go in for snakes
scorpions, ccntpedes lizards ETC., and
familiarity breeding contempt occasionally
a life is lost by careless handling of a
venomous snake. Successful fly dodgers
can always command money, either by
supplying dealers or setting up and selling
their own cases of flies, etc.
Parrots and minas afford never failing
source of occupation to those gifted with
sufficient patience to undertake the task
of teaching these birds to speak. A favor
lite method with bird trainers is to lower
the cage down well, and. seated on the
edge of the coping, to pour forth for a
Goupie Ol lOuTS nightly mOnOtOnOuS
repetition of Petty Polly" etc. Others
seek the seclusion Of a dark room for the
same purpose.
Various places lend themselves to par
ticular hobbies. In the Andaman Islands
mother of pearl is plentiful, and everybody
goes in either for polishing shells or MAX
Ing rings and bracelets from them.
Gibraltar has its staple hobby in rock
ornaments made from beautifully veined
stone which abounds, is easily worked and
takes high polish. This is a very profit
able hobby as brooches crosses, paper
weights. bible and prayer-book makers
and other knickknacks find a ready sale
among tourists.
In Burma, the land of teak, the carving
of deliberately decorated photo frames en-
ables many a man to while away hours
that would otherwise be dreary And at
Bhamo pleasure may be combined with
profit in fashioning ornaments of serpen-
tine.
In India soldiers recovering from serious
illness are usually sent to hill stations to
complete their cure, and can find plenty Of
wood to white into walking sticks. For
one of these sticks which the writer, has
an offer OF G2 los. was made. It's actual
value as a stick might be about one shill-
ing, but 1t il, covered with most elaborate
carvings of birds and flowers, and repre-
sents four months work