OUR MAMMOTH CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 95, 25 April 1891, Page 3 (Supplement)

OUR MAMMOTH CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

[By Ithuiujsl. ]

When admiring the quality and beauty of the blooms, and scanning the beaming Countenances of bhe growers of prize chrysanthemums ab our Show the other night, j fell into a gentle reverie. Its theme was those human foibles which are classed under the generic title of hobbies. It is nob per. haps generally knovrn whab an amount of patience and industry is necessary to produce one such monstrous bloom as those which were staged by tho hundred at the Choral Hall Exhibition. But'all forgotten amid your present triumph, oh ye crysanthemum growers, would be tho endless trouble and anxiety which this hobby has cost you for months past. Forgotten your ruthless sacrifice of a lino show of blossoms, your outrages upon the natural habit and beauty of tho plant, in ordor to nourish and develop into Brobdingnagian dimensions ono or two buds ; forgotten, the long, sleepless nights when you lay awake in an agony of apprehension lest it should rain, with umbrellas and waterproofs at hand, to rush out ab a moment's notice to protect those precious flowers ; or slept only to be troubled by dreams of cowa getting into tho garden, of hurricanes, of earthquakes, of volcanic eruptions; in short, of all the elements and forces of nature, united in tho single desire to destroy your poor littlo piants. Well, your efforts have given great pleasuro to the community, bo you havo nob laboured and suffered in vain.

Who among us is there that does nob ride some particular hobby? Most of us are possessed of one or tvvo, and some of a great many, which are temporary or permanent according to tho character of the individual. And ib cannot, I foar, bo urged in extenuabion of all theso " mammoth chrysanthemums" that they aro justified either by beauty or harmlessness, liko the floral monstrosities which were displayed in such profusion last week. Nob a few, alas, inflict infinite misery on the hapless beings whose misfortune it is to come within range of their influence. What, for instance, is worse than to be rudely rocalled from slumber aboub 4 a.m. by ear-splibfeing shrieks which agonise tho half-awakened senses with poignant fears that somebody is being murdered, but which come in reality from the lungs of come infatuated member of tho household who labours under tho insane delusion that ho or she can sing ? Upon the horrors of violin practice by persons who have no more ear for music than a frog, and merely take up the study as a " fnd," I forbear to dilate— they aro too terrible. Then who shall adequately pourtray tho power for mischief which is latent in the meek young man who dovotes his Sundays to local preaching, or tell the story of his midnight vigils, his parades for hours before the lookingglass practising tho " attitudes " which are to transfix with admiration the rustics whose privilege ib will bo to listen to him. Howboib, with tho exception of %omo little trial to tho nerves from a sermon voiced in tonee thab "scale tho heights above and the depths below," tho hearers are not severely afflicted, and havo tho remedy within easy grasp. If they are nob fastidious as to the duality of the spiritual food administered to them, why, nobody elße need feel aggrieved. There are hundreds of others which file like a nondescript army across my inward vision, bub time forbids description. Fernhunting, whon wind and weather are braved to get"good "specimens," that are abandoned to their fate after the transient enthusiasm has passed away ; stamp collecting, which nobody who has small boys in the family is likely to forget; the mania for cracked china and unnegotiable coins ; study, when perhaps the necessary brains are wanting ; writing, when ib is the only balenb Providence hae not endowed us with; acting Lady Bountiful, or aping upon limited means the extravagances of the rich—attempting to cut a figure in society, and in reality becoming a butb for the scoffer, and a cause of lamentation to the hoodwinked creditor.

Last, bub certainly nob least, is the religious hobby. This may take the shape of sectarian peculiarities, magnifying some obecure text until the underlying truth is distorted and the clearer light of an ennobling Christianity shut out ; or plunging the votary into emotional dissipation and pietietical hysterics. All these aro common "fads" which "have their little day and cease to be." Nature, however, is full of compensations, and 'tis well for humanity thab the prayer of the poet for a miraculous view of our own follies is not vouchsafed to us, because the ridiculous aspect of ourselves as we appear to the eyes of bhe world when riding " hammer and tongs " our pet hobby, might doter us from baking a special interest in anything, and thus a great deal of happiness would be lost to mankind, and the world would ba a wory much duller place bhan it is. For the good phase Of any hobby, however eccentric, is bhab ib affords unlimited pleasure to oneself. Indeed, ib often forms the one bright feature in live 3 thab would otherwise be dull and monotonous, the little bib of fancy work thab we gladly take up to relieve the monotony of those tiresome plain seams. One peculiarity of all of us when running after somo fad, is bhab we are blind to everything in ourselves thab unfits us for its pursuit. No power on earth will over make us "see ourselves as others see us." Therefore with hobbies as with habits, leb our chief aim be bo cultivate good ones. If all our " fads " be well-intentioned, and not exceed reasonable limits, then, being only " fada," our friends will have bhe consolation of seeing them all die a natural death, and we ourselves will be none the worse for having entertained them.