FROM THE MAGAZINES

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 31, 5 February 1910, Page 14

FROM THE MAGAZINES

THE QUESTIONER. I called the boy to my knee one day, And I said: "You're just past four; Will you laugh in ttoat same UghtJiearted way . When you've turned, say, thirty more?" Then I thought of a pnst I'd fain erase, More clouded skies than blue — And I anxiously peered in his upturned face , , For It seemed to say: "Did you?" I touched my lips to his tiny own And I said to the boy: "Heigh, ho! Those lips are as 6.weet as the hay, new mown: ■Will you keep them always so?" Theo back from those yenrs came a rak* ieh sons — With a ribbald Jest or two— And I gazed at the child who knew no wrong. And I thought be asked: "Did you?" I looked in hie eyes, big, brown end clear, And I crieD: "Oh, boy of mine! Will you keep them true In the after year? Will you leave no heart to pine?" Then out of the past came another's eyes— Sad eyes of tear-6Umme<J blue — Did he know they were not- his mother's eyes? Foi he answered mc: "Did you?" —Carl Werner, in "Scribner'e Magazine." KITCHENER'S CAUTION. Mr. G. W. Smalley, in the "Pall Mall Magazine" for January, tells about spending a week-end with Lord Kitchener a& Mr. Kalli'e beautiful- place in Sussex, aX the time when lie was brooding over his Gordon College scheme for Khartoum. He wanted £100,000, and he doubted whether he should get it. In vain his friends urged him to make his appeal. "No," said Lord Kitchener; "nothing less lhan £100,000 will be of any use. It is a large sum. I should not like to fail, and if they gave mc only part of the amount to have to return it." He was told that hie name would be enough. It was the psychological moment , . Delay would only injure his chances. Mr. Smalley goes on to say that Lord Glenesk offered Lord Kitchener £1000 across the dinner-table, and other sums were offered there and then, ,and the support of two powerful newspapers was promised. Still he hesitated, and still He repeated, "I should not like to fail." At liist one of toe company said, "Well, Lord Kitchener, if you had doubted about your campaign 2.3 you do about this you wdvl-d never have got to Khartoum." His face hardened, and his rej)ly was characteristic of the man— '"Perhaps not; but then I could depend on myself, and now I have to depend on the British public." But he did ask for the money, and got all, and more than all, he wanted with bo difficulty whatever. BREAKING Tlffi FAST IN RAMAZAN. While Ramazan is pro>bably the sole month of the Mohammedan calendar known to the inlidel world, the infidel world has never been very sure whether to spell its last syllable witJi a z or with a d. Let the infidel world accordingly know -that either is right in its own domain. The Arabs say Ramadan, the Persians and Turks say -Kamazan. They all observe throughout the month a species of fast that has no precise counterpart in the west. So long as the sun is in the sky food or dTink of any kind may not pass the true believer's lips. He is not even allowed the sweet solace o-f a -cigarette. But from the firing of the sunset <run until it is light enough to distinguish a. black hair from a white he i»ay feast to surfeiting. Watedvmen will patrol the streets with drums to warn him that his moments of grace are numbered nnd cannon once more announce their end.

Nothing is more characteristic of late afternoons in Ramnzan than the preparations for the evening meal ■which preoccupy all moslems, particularly those who work witli their hands. As the euri nears the horizon fires are lighted, tables are spread, bread is broken, water ie poured out, cigarebtes are rolled, and hands are lifted halfway to the mouth, in expectation of the signal that gives liberty to eat. This breaking of the daytime fast Is tallied iftar and is an institution in itself. To be invited to iftar is a particular mark' of friendship. So peculiarly is Ramazan a time for picking out those to whom it is desired to show this honour that, during the late regime In Constantinople, when circulation at night and everything tending to draw people together was fonbidden, th« month was one of comparative liberty. The Pa.lace even set the examples of hospitality on a regal ecale. During the four wegks df the month every higher dignitartf* of State and municipality, every officer of army and navy stationed in the capital, and representative eib least of every soldier , and sailor in the garrison', dined at Yildiz and received a present in gold.—H. G. Dwight in the October "Scritraer." PRINOE TTO AS AN INCENDIARY. . Mr. J. H. Longford, in the "National Review," recalls an episode "which may be described as : the first irruption of the late Prince Ito (then in ihis twentieth year) inito puJblic life. It was at "the time when Japanese resentment of foreigners and concession* to tiheim had reached its most intense pitch. "Armed attacks by bands of Conservative fanatics had •been twice made on tihe British Legation at Tokio, with the object of destroying the Legation and murdering the inmates. After the second attack all the Treaity representatives demanded that a site should be assigned for their residences, the situation of wOiich should render it easy of defence. The site tihosen by them was Gotenyama, "the hill of the palace," a table-land of slight elevation but extensive surface on the western suburbs of Yedo, overlooking Shinagawa Bay, a place not only of great natural and cultivated 'beauty, but of strong strategic capabilities. Historical associations and present conditions combined to render this spot specially dear to all Japanese hearts. . . . Trampling in their ignorance and autocracy over every sentiment of Japanese tradition and pulblic right, the Treaty representatives extorted tihe concession of this site from the weak ministers of the Shogun. The people were excluded from th«ir historic pleasure-grounds; the cherry-trees and firs which had beautified these grounds for centuries were ruthlessly swept away, and the erection of the Legation buildings proceeded with. That for the British Legation was completed when a final appeal was made by the Government for the rendition of the site. The appeal was in vain, but the buildings were rever occupied. A number of samurai invaded the place, set fire to the buildings at several points simultaneously, an-d the whole were burnt to the ground. The incendiaries were -well known, though their names were never published. One of them was the young Ito. • . . . In after-life, when everything was changed and Ito "was high in official authority, he sometimes spoke 6i this incident, if not with pride, certainly without a particle of ehame in (his awn share in it."