FROM THE MAGAZINES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 183, 1 August 1908, Page 14

FROM THE MAGAZINES.

A GOOD STORY OF RANK AND FILE COMRADESHIP. My grandfather, -writes Colonel Alsager Pollock, in "The Regiment," sorely wounded, was the only surviving officer of his company of the 43rd Light Infantry when Badajoz had been stormed; his servant carried him on his back from the breach into camp, after pulling him from under a heap of dead and wounded. Presently there arrived Private Howard, usually a troublesome fellow and addicted to drink —bringing a pair of chickens and a bottle of brandy for his wounded officer. We all know what an orgie tok place in Badajoz after its capture; yet this soldier, whom his officer had frequently punished, up to the full limit of his power for various irregularities, sought and found delicacies for that officer in place of taking part in the general devilry that was going on in the town. Officers and men aro divided by rank, but they can be comrades for all that, and in any good regiment they are so; where the comradeship is absent, either the officers or the men must be poor stuff. THE GREAT FAMILY OF THE "SMITHS." To someone perhaps a Talbot, a MontmDrency, or a Brabazon—who had spoken about "common names." Froude, the historian, once reported, "Those are the names of greatest honour. ■ Take away the achievements of the Smiths and the Browns, and'"V'hat a different thing English history would be." As for the mighty clan of the Smiths, a gap indeed would there be in our annals if they had never lived—and a still more terrific gap would' be created in society if all bearing that name suddenly vanished into the Ewigkeit. We may take their present number in England and America as well over a million. When Lord Strathcona, then Sir Donald Smith, was standing for Parliament in Canada, a partisan brought down the house by his reply to an opposition taunt, "Who is Smith? What is Smith? Why is Smith?" "Always," he said, "pin your faith to a Smith wherever you find him. There are no frills on a Smith. If you want boldness and pluck, vote for Cnptain John Smith; if you want a master of logic, vote for Adam Smith; if you want wit equalling the wit of archangels, vote for Sydney Smith; and if you want ability and patriotism, vote for Donald Smith."—From the "Strand Magazine." THE PASSION FOR JEWELS. The love of precious stones and rare metals is a quality in human nature round -which historians, poets, amd novelists have woven romances since the faraway times when the world was young. Yet to-day the love is just as strong as it was when the Queen of Sheba went to Solomon with "gold in abundance and precious stones," and so attempted to dazzle the eyes of the very wise monarch as "she communed with him of all that was in h-er heart." Moreover, the story has been much the same through all ages, and women have always tried to dazzle the eyes of men with bejewelled beauty, none of them believing in the power of it unadorned. One knows how Cleopatra hung herself with chains of gold to ensnare Aeitony; one remembers how a necklace played a great part in the story of Buckingham and Anne of Austria; and any modern writer of fiction will tell us that woman without exception would "barter her soul for diamond hoops." The poet, too, sings with passion that she has "'drawn drops *-- blood from his faithful heart" in her longing for rubies and pearls; and the kindly satirical Thackeray declares that men encourage her in it all, so that if nose rings (we presume he meant jewelled ones) came into fashion, a lover would soon learn to lift the little hoops to reach the rosy lips beneabh. Furthermore, do we not see for ourselves how general is the love of glittering ornaments in all classes? The little work girl covers her cheap blouse with bits of coloured glass, her toil-hardened hands with rings of no value, and her wrists with jingling bangles, just as her ladyship wears the family heirlooms of emeralds or pearls or whatever they may be; an!both of them fee! their hearts swell with pride as they gaze at their reflection in their respective mirrors. SonTe women—those generally who have missed finding the philosopher's stone—develop an extraordinary passion for beautiful jewels, the possessing and wearing of which seems to act as a narcotic upon other desires. And yet again, such things are the emMem of royalty, so that everyone, unless he claims to be some peculiar kind of Socialist, looks with interest and a certain reverence on the jewelled crowns "which have been worn by the Kings and Queons of his country for generations.— "Pall Mall Magazine*." * A COSTLY WATCH. As an institution and a firm, Weatherby's is much too digniSed •a. thing to joke about, and there are probably fewer I tales toSd concerning it than of any other jof a •corr-esponding character. One of the most famous stories of any Weatherby concerns the occasional loss and recovery by Mr. James of an old watch which was by way ttf being a family heirloom. Its place of disappearance was the racecourse. The first time that the relic was missing wus at Egham, and Mr. Weatherby was giteatly perturbed. With a woful countenance he related the fact to a friend, Mr. George Hodgman, who volunteered to Siscuss the nurtter with a detective and see what could be done, being instructed that Mr. Weatherby would pay *:1O and ask no questions if the watch were returned to him, this being much above its intrinsic value. When the detecti?re was consulted he made a survey friam the top of a stool and said, emphatically, there was no prig about. Upon being further informed that the watch was lost in the neighbourhood of the judge's box an hour previously, the detective, gloomily 'shook* his head, declared tiaat Boss Tver's party would 'have worked that locality, and that by that time the watch would be on it 3 way to Bristol. However, for the sake of both Wethcrby and Hodgman, he promised to sec what could still bo done. Wonderful to say, in a few days the watch was re- | tunned to its owner! He declared then I that he would never take it with him on Ito a racecourse again. But only a little ! while after this, in response to an inJ quiry as to how the watch was going on, h« confessed: "I forgot to tell you; it I went again. I foTgot to leave it at home, and it went. However, I've got it back,' though it cost mc another tanner!" About a year afterwards it disappeared in the same way for the third and last time The thieves had apparently begun to reckon 6n a safe annual income from the Weatherby family watch. "Unthinkingly I put it on again," was the erstwhile owner's explanation, "and it wentbut, mark my word, it's gone for good this time! The beggars can keet) it!"— From "Fry's Magazine."