PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2069, 19 October 1893, Page 27

PASSING NOTES.

The Dunedin Salvationists have put forth a neat handbill showing a patent medicine bottle labelled "Our real cure-all— cheap, convenient, rapid, effective," and setting forth a long list of " internal diseases " for which the contents of the bottle are "the only specific," beginning with " temper and irritability," and ending with "lying and backsliding." " Directions : To be taken internally and applied externally. ' '< Caution : None genuine except having this seal." Then come "Testimonials" — eg. :

From P. B. Gordon, Esq., Solicitor.— l testify that I have tried the remedy, and have found it efficacious for the following disoascs, to which I have been subject, but am now entirely freed : Pride, Self-sufficiency, Evilspeaking, and Fear of Man.— Yours truly, P. B. Gordon, This is about as trustworthy as most patent medicine testimonials, I dare say, though P. B. Gordon's diagnosis of the disease he suffered from and the confidence he expresses in his perfect cure seem to savour somewhat of the very pride and stlf-suffi-ciency from which he professes himself " now entirely freed." But this is a detail, and I have no desire to be hypercritical. What strikes me most in this circular is the boldness of its authors in representing the Gospel pictorially as a quack medicine, and offering it neatly put up in bottles. Remembering the succees of Holloway's pills and ointjaeat, not to mention a hundred nostrums besidts, I am inclined to think that this idea will take. Anyhow it is preferable to gospel rowdyism in the public thoroughfares, the braying of cornets, and the beating of drums. The Salvationist gospel as a patent medicine is a new departure which possibly means a policy of peace and quietness, and on that supposition I wish ib success.

Few people, except, perhaps, the proprietors of Pears's soap or Mother Siegel's Syrup, have received more testimonials in their time than has Mr Fish. And few people need 'em more, Say his enemies sardonically. Which ia as it may be ; but the fact remains that the inevitable and annual presentation has just been accomplished, and with more than the accustomed eclat. The back parlour of a public house gave place to the civic council chamber in the Town Hall, and with happy audacity no less a personage than his Worship the Mayor was got to preside. He wriggled a little, it is true, did his Worship, and would fain have had it appear that he was there as mayor to thank a councillor for services r.ndertd to the corporation. Bat whatever the reason of his presence, the effect was the same — the glorification of Mr Fi-h as oor future member and our future mayor. Iv other points, too, the fucction was an improvement on its predecessors. The purse of sovereigas was omitted, and wisely co. Truth to tell, the "purse" had ceased to impress the public. Vox myself I never for a moment doubted its integrity, but, rightly or wrongly — wrongly, of course — a vague suspicion bad got abroad that the sovereigns were more or less mythical. When, however, 1000 people testify in v/riting to a man's viitues and exc-llenoicF, there you are, you know— the signatures speak for themselves, and can't be explained away us so many blank I O U's and unpresentable cheques.

Say what we may about this same Vibh testimonial, its significance cannot be gainsaid. C'ever engineering possibly had much to do with its success, but a success it was, and nothing succeeds Lke succesp. And there is more in it than clever engineering. There is public opinion, confounding the wisdom of the wise. For at the v?ry point of time which all the political qaidnur.C9 had prescribed for Mr Fish's extitction, he bobs up serenely with lOOOpledged adherents behind him and the mayoralty and an M H X.ship before him — both well within his reacb, too ! But the New Influence that was to purify politics and eliminate Fish 7 The unblushing Fish is coolly playing for it, and as likely as not will captureit. Semper mutahile, ,s'c. That touching matrimonial allusion of his means votes, as nobody knew better than he when he made it. " The ciiy of Dunedin," said Mr Fish, with a tear in his voice and the susceptible she-elector in his eye — the city of Dunedin held an almost similar position in his love and reverence as his wife herself held. He had been wedded, singularly enough, as long to the city in a representative capacity as he had been wedded to his wife. " Dear me," exclaimed Mrs C. as she read this out at the breakfast table — &be has lately taken to reading the paper aloud — " Dear me, how interesting. Why, I had no idea" "No, my love," said I, abstractedly. — " I merely meant to obierve," pursued she, " that jou may iay what you Jike about Mr Fisb, but he -cm set an example to some people in some things. There now, Mr C." Ai,d do you know, I shouldn't be surprised if sre were to plamp for him if she only learns how to doit.

I .'a high time Sir Robert had sown his wild oats and begun to settle down. And Dunectin is magnanimous enough to try and believe there is some prospeci. «of ifc. Aiter jilting Inangahua and irivolou&ly flirting with half the constituencies in the crlony, he has at last thrown the handkerchief to Wellington, and presumably intends to do the straight thing by her, poor creature, and make her his wedded wife in a representative capacity, as Mr Fish delicately puts it. For ourselves, we bear him no ill will. The past is dead, and we forgive, though we may not he able to forget. In bidding him farewell, a lorg farewell, no word of repining or reproach shall pass our lips. We wish him every happiness, and only hope that his new love may prove half as faithful as tho old, mv dear. It i* noteworthy rhar lie ir.'enti-i to furnish entirely cfiesh. Pa<iy gown-mem is to go ou', a«.d the RekrcrKlrirn to come in — in shorf, his now House n to be rpfiiiod from basement to gtirrtt. Quito S*- ute? quo nil thU. His mind is cnriouaiy roc. utive. '! he last naw book, tbe la c .t new i !ea,"t?kos complete possebsion of him, and if ty ill luck he chnuces to be neu- a paper or a. pi I'form at tho moment, out it ;ill comes, to the dismay of his frieuda and the delight ol his enemies. Happily the possession ia only momentary.

for he is gifted with the faculty of discarding ideas as fast as he receives them. Which makes him the kaleidoscopical phenomenon lie is. Mr o 'Conor is of course responsible for this latest infatuation, but as Mr O'0om»r will be tied by the leg on the West Coast for the next few months, it is probable that Sir Eobert may recover before the general dectioa?.

Dear Cms, — I was in a church the other Sunday where thu minister in tbe midst of his prayers diverged to aunounce an approaching weddiog. Fa-jfc, I assure you. No exaggeration. It was literally and aclually in the very middle cf his prayers. "Wbjit he did was of course to " publish tho banns of marriage." Why is this curious custom kepb up? Is there any point in it, — fees, for example ? In this country the State makes the marriage law, and though it provides for publicity, I don'b think it provides for "banns." In this ca«e the amount of publicity attained seemed to be scant. I should have been inclined to say that the object was concealment. The names were mumbled, and the only words that reached my ears were "bachelor," "spinster," "just cause or impediment," "third time of asking." The "banns ofrcmriage" seem to be what biologists call a survival. Tney illogically continue to exist, though their reason of being has long since passed away. I suppose they had a reason of being at one time. In Chailes Reade'o "Cloister and the H^anh,' there ia a rascal who gets his living by •' forbidding the bjnes." lie was to be squared beforthai d. A wtiole Iliad of woes b?iall the hero and heioirvj in c jnsequenca ot this v.llain'tj gratuitous intervention ; in f<rC*;, they never get l-g'iUy married at all. Bat this was in Hulauo, and in the fif;eenth centmy. Nowadays noboJy forbidi the I banes, and the worst that could happen if i anjbody did would be a &e«n3 in church. It seems a roun-'ibjut rut.: hod of getting married anyhow, and nobody need adopt ir. except oy way of luxury, as lorg as the registrar or Dr Suiart wiil marry you " ou sight." From a lecent book en harem life in Egypt, I leara that there is a first, second, andi.'nrd time of askii g in Mahometan marri.igts, bub that it belongs to the &tage of the proposal, or ba;hrothal : —

The bride is in an inner room, surrounded by her nearest relations and friends; the door is ajir, but a thick curtain is drawn before it. The gentlemen stop outside, and one of them asks. the important question, "N., wile thou have this man to be thy wedded husband?" There is a dead silence, for, willing or unwilling, it is not etiquette for the lady to be so easily won. After a pause the question is repeated, and again there is no response. Now 1 have been told that if there is no reply to the third time of as-kiDg, there is an end of the business, and the parties all go home again without any marriage taking place. I don't suppose this often occurs, bub there is a iong pause between the second arjd third times ot asking, to give time for the ladies to work on the bride, and induce her to pronounce the equivalent to "I will." At last it is said, and then the gentlemen go back to the selanilik, and the contract is signed. This sesras a good deal more sensible than the custom of the banns. After the high contracting parties and all their friends have settled and determined that the thing shall, &0., where is the propriety of asking the assent of people who bave nothing in the world to do wiih the matter 1

There is nothing like Christian charity, if only you get the real tling. H.-r; is a gem of purest ray serene which does not feem to have attracted the notice it deserves. It. is from a ldllcr in a Daaedin p.vper by Mr J IP. Perrin, editor o£ the Tablet: —

As to the combination against "r riestcraft " proposed by your correspondent, probably it will be found Satan cumot be divided against himself ; therefore Bible readers necessarily combine with athei&t3 aud infidels against the Catholic Church. By "Bible readers " we are to uudu-itand, I nuag : ne, the advocates of Bible reading in .schools. What view Mr Perrin's charity wuuld take of Bible reading in general may bs conjectured with more or le.ss plan ibility, oat is not tere in point. According to Protestant writers — who, of course, are not to be trusted — there nave bsen divines of Mr Perrin's church who denounced Bible ic.iding as a practice dangerous to the soul, aad probably Mr Perrin himself would recommend as preferable the perusal of the 'J ablet. la the passage quoted, however, be is rtferriig merely to people who want Bible readirg in school?, and of them he. says that tnty necessarily cotnbine with atheists at d infidels, because "Satan, cannot be divickd agaiut-t himst-lf." This deliverance may serve to illustrate the 3west reapoca^lenafs and flupera'oanrllng charity of Me P^rriu'b attitude on the education question. Not all Mv Periiu'is co-religioni3ts can have attaiced to this measure ci grace ; indeed, ono might slmost. venture to hope that be speak.s for hinastlC alone. To hope, I fcay, — for if such tentiaients became freneral this would be allege her too heavenly a p!ac2 for h me of v", and we should have to clear out.

Apropos, a correspondent; a; k^ mo whether 1 c;ui give him any information on the suLjec". oftbe "Breeches Bibis. ' My first impulse is to sr.ub him. Useful knowledge is not my forte ; Ido not undertake to fcupp^y ir, whether iv Hfs^er to qiio->ti.)n3 or otherwise. The "Breeches Bibls" forsooth! Why should I be thcu^ht an authority on the "Breeches BiWe " 1 Has it aoy thing to do with tv.e Bib!e iv school-.? A suspicion that this might p-.ssibly be the case, arid that au allusion wrp intended to borne method of impirMng ircripturjl insfcruor.ioti ly the argummlam a posteriori, has led me to look up ths subject. Tise " Bt-eeches Bib'e," I find, has been ou*. ot priM. for thiee centuries, ard oonTerjU^rtiy i-. not, likely to bccjmaa i c ioolbsok in N«w ZsaLinJ, though a-* a translation it sunn 1 , to 1 ; V 3 hi/i Jbe merit of vigour. la (L..-cdbing the aUem^fc uf Ad-itn i.rA Kve t:> cover their nakydocs it st-itos th t tb&y " ;:<;a ie thcwise'ves I rsich°£>" < f fig lojvt?. H-'i.oo tli<' jq^iiw?. Ha/ing dMn-t'-rrud talg fact, [ m-y •->'* w-11 pre-esc to my correspond-';. t, -Amp; with il v few cthor carioiii'ior-. of Bi'ile !it< i\iUui dn ; ~ up at, the 3am<; time :

The Buj Biblo, d.ilx lbbJ, owe;* ita bmihs to the fact that tho lißh vi rm; oi I'rjalui 9L its translated: "Sj thou Aalfc noi, node io bo afraid for nny bugges by night "' Thu original idea of this ugly wurd — a goblin or buook — is still to be traced in bogie, bugbear, bugaboo.

The Wicked Bible, 1631, so-called because the all-important "not" was omitted in the Seventh Commandment. The edition was suppressed, and Archbishop Laud fined the printer £500.

The Vinegar Bible, 1717, gives the parable of the Vineyard in St. Luke as the "parable of the Vinegar." The Placemakers' Bible has an error in Matthew v, 9— "Blessed arc the plactmakers." The Treacle Bible asks : "Is there no treacle in Gilead ? " The Douay version in tbe same passage has : "Is there no rosin ? " Finally, the Printers' Bible makes David complain — il Printers have persecuted me without a cause."' Sume modern scribes, sore from maltreatment by the intelligent compositer, would justify this error, holding that David spoke in the spirit of prophecy. Cms.

News is received by cable this week of the death of two noted Frenchmen— Marshall MacMahon, at the age of 85, and M. Gounod, at the age of 75.

Mr James Kennedy, who died on Friday last, is believed t<i have been the eldest soldier iv New Zealand. He enlisted in the Ist Royals on the 12th of June 1826 ; saw active service under King George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria ; took part in seven general engagements, and was discharged in 1848. He leaves a widow and five sons and two daughters to mourn their loss.

Iho Waikouaiti Dairy Factory is at present receiving 600 gal of milk a day.

Messrs A. Lorie and Co. inform us that they have just purchased a manufacturer's entire stock of men's shuts and clothing The shirts usually sold at 3s !)d they intend to clear at Is ll]d. Men's lloslyn tweed suits, Übually 455, are now 27s b'd, and all other lines, in propoition. No wonder they are doing the business.— fAu\T ]