RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 249, 17 October 1908, Page 14

RANDOM SHOTS

?..a,.< ivrlle .-i neishbnnr's name to lash; Kuiiii- write—vain thought -fur neouful cash. S'ju-i wrlle I" pltmsr ibe country cla«b And nils.- a din. For mc. ,iv aim I never fash— I write fur fun.

I ..fo-iTvi" thai the Anglican Synod has l>'"'i! -peaking very incisively about sji;n:n ili.-ni. (if course, when you begin , ' tii u-.' thai particular word a great deal ili'prii.j.- upon -what you mean by it.; Ail'! I Mipposi" that there may be various f"Hv.s of the spiritualistic cult which lead i> perdition, or to the lunatic a-yhini. a.-i sev.-nil Synodical gentlemen, ' reverend and otherwise have assured; their hearers this week. But I should! 'ike quite humbly and respectfully to say that when you denounce Spiritualism - meaning im-reby, 1 presume, the de-: pinr.iMi' "«nfi'." ,v which the spook;' lit" littl" Jimmy appears to his agonised n>l.l ;ivw. or the voice nf Aunt Eliza' a-Miivs hpr surviving friends tlmt siie ! i> much better off now—you are liable to !■•■ ir.tiTpri't'-l as including a kit of in- ; anil useful and harmless inves- 1 tiguMciii* in your sentence of condemua-' tiou. Take my own ea.-i'— l read the '•Annals of IVydiic Science,' , a journal run liy .i lot nf French and F.nglish scientists, who takr an interest in '■things ...villi." For my own opinion U th.it then- are large numbers of : phenomena in this world which nobody: can vi-i understand or explain by any j known .md recognised law; so ! read the said "Annals" vvery month with very! considerable edification. Of course, the' "sejtnor." with "Katy King"' in the:. cabinet and "Bright Eyes" Hoatins: in the I air. ami the wraith of dear little Jane un.l.T I'm- table, is not in my line. But when you pass public resolutions against this sort of thing, it is just as well to remember that, it is unwise and intolerant, and therefore i venture to think un-( -hristian.to condemn even sober end srrioos and scientific researches into the 'iivstcrious underside of life, of whh-b. r u far, we know remarkably little. II always has surprised mc how anxious lots of quod people are to limit tlj<_- area of their beliefs. So many of them start- with a certain allowance of creed or doctrine to their credit, and they appear to take the most careful precautions throughout life to prevent this equipment from growing inconveniently large. Now, it doesn't seem to mc that this is the right way to look ac things. Personally, 1 would like to b'iieve everything I can believe; because, after ail. one doesn't need to believe anything but the truth, and 1 should think the more truth the better. Yet you constantly come across all sorts of d".-<'rving and praise-worthy and intelligent people, from scientists to clergymen, who seem to resent most indignantly the i.i.-;i that they could ever possibly number among their lieliefs anything not already inrluded in them. Ask. a zoolop>l "i- a biologist of the good old er;i-ty kind if he is prepared to consider seriously lelepathy or automatic wvitinß <>r the divining rod. He will allium always display grave scientific dis-pli-a-sure at your frivolity and levity. ; Y.-t. 1 believe, ihat little things of this fort, just because they are at present inexplicable, ought to be the most inter- ' Cstin-r matters in the world to scientists. >nd as clergymen are naturally more anxious about truth than anything else, why not io clergymen too'; Talking shout the divining rod, I must not forge! that our chief local expert—if 1 may j-n-i-.ume so to call him—at this art is a cVrgyman. But I could easily produce clergymen who would candidly declare tn»t if the power of finding water by means of a divining rod exists, it must i.c the work of the Evil One: and I t-nuM own more easily find you scientists of real ability in their own line who ■would assure you that it is quite impossible that such a power could exist at all. Now. I wonder how much of the ' indignation displayed at the Synod on thf mention of Spiritualism was due ' to genuine dislike of superstition, and I ■how much due to the nervous anxiety I that so many good people display lest they should be called upon to make any I ■addition, to their already carefully labelled and codified beliefs. ■Really T don't know what edncation in colonies is coming to! The latest shock I have received in this respect «omes from Linton. in Victoria. The Sorticußural Society there, being apparently desirous of encouraging the much-negh-cu-d art of composition, has struck the ingtnions notion of offering , prizes for love-letters written by children in the local State schools. And so, in futurp. the parents of Linton may expect ■dear little Johnnie to sit up late at night labouring over romantic epistles to Jemima Ann. who lives over the way, and goe* down the road to school with ln'm in the morning. Now. I protest against this—nnt because I expect my feeble, voice to reach as far as Linton, Victoria, but because 1 am so mortally terrified lest we should catch the infection here. You see. our InspectorGeneral is such an enterprising and progressive man. and he is so anxious not to leave anything out of the syllabus that anybody else has ever thought of putting in; and poor dear Mr Fowlds— ■well,, of course, >'ie can't very well Stand up against the rushing eloquence of the fluent and polysyllabic Hogben. And. just for a moment consider the Jeonsequenee.s 5f the Inspeetop-Oeneral really fame to the conclusion that such PNpcrimcnts in composition would be a useful adjunct to that deplorable publication. "The School Journal."' Certainly they might render it more entertaining. Rut is jt fair to encourage this eort of thing in the youns? My own e.\]i..ri"n.r of colonial children certainly ■=orr of thing j ot , soon a.- it i>. And t":i'!- mc to believe that they start this then you have to consider that loveletters are notoriously the most difficult ting of epistles to indite. Just fancy Veing asked to write them under the ! inspection of your school teacher! And <2oes the teacher propose to train the young idea to i , . -1 successfully with tha; most complex oj all epistolary prob- ! tem=. the art of "ma!.ing it sufficiently] amorous to please the lady without ! making , it sufficiently decisive to con- ! since the jury." You see. T don't j see that education is any good unless j it i- thorough-going , , and to carry this i sort of thing very far would certainly lead to developments that I don't care to contemplate.