FROM THE MAGAZINES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 101, 27 April 1912, Page 15

FROM THE MAGAZINES.

GUARDED. Once, long ago, a. little one of mine Would take my hand and look into my face, .As if she magically might divine My tempted heart, my imminent disgrace; And 'by that hand-clasp and that wistful loak Would lead mc safe into the bettor way, Her faith so perfect that I could not brook The thought of aught to ivaken her dismay. That little one has vanished; o'er her head Blow summer blooms, and on her stone you read The simple story of the life she led, Joyous in semblance, innocent in deed. But even yet, across the dim of years — How many!—comes in the old pleading guiee. To keep mc clean from all that soils and sears. The Christ-like candor of tho3C early eyes.

—Richard Burton, in Harper's Magazine.

CATS AND CHINAMEN.

The only one of the lower animals; Vancouver' Chinese do not eat is cat. It seems that -it is not, as you might think, because the cat is a somewhat unpalatable animal. It is the character of the cat that is objected to. The whole cat tribe is scorned by the hungriest Chinaman. Buoy (ion, the meat-seller, answered thus: "Yo assa mc vay rnennee queshuns 'bout meat 'in dissa shop, lika I dis, lika dat. I showa. yo. 1 tay yo. No eat M-it. Dissa cat jusaa semma lika tiger.' Ami old Buey, with a gesture expressive of extreme ennui, turned away to serve a. customer who immediately started to bargain in chromatic Cantonese, haggling about the. price of a fat, puppy. Buey sells a special species of pups, bred and fattened by liimselt, and he does a good "business. It was noon in Chinatown, and the street was tilled with savoury vapours from Chinese cookipot*. As a setting for these culinary smells the atmosphere was heavy with the fluent odours of incense, jo.s-> sticks, opium, and wood smoke.—From the 15.C. ""Saturday Sunset.' , YATI IRJ NG DERVISHES. The ■ whirling" of the Da'rweeshr* {Dervishes.) of Damascus is vividly described by T. C. Fowle in the "Curnhill Magazine. - The "ball" opened very slowly (he writes), the darweeshes walking staidly rouml in a circle, counter-clockwise. In t'ne meantime music ha<l begun to play slowly, the instruments consisting of a drum, a fiddle, and a pair of cymbals. The music now stopped, the darweeshes stood still in their positions, and the sheikh stepped forward, and uttered a short prayer of exhortation. Again the music began, this time to a faster beat. The darweeshes again be£un their slaw profession round, but as each reached the sheikh, who now stood I still at his prayer mat, a change oeI curred.

The sheikh bent forward and kissed the cap of each darweesh, which was in-I dined for his salute, and no sooner was I th.is done tluui, as if moved by soint> Midden and invirii-ble machinery, tile d.irweesh himself spun away, "whirling giddily around. MOMENTUM INCREASING. At first 'his arms -would be crossed on Jvis breast, his hands clasping his shoulders; but as his momentum increased, as though shot out by centrifugal force, his arms woukl extend themselves, until they were at right angles, to his body. | The next diirweesh would go through the same slow, dignified approach, the same salutation from the sheikh, the. same sudden rotation; and the next, and j die next., until the whole company of | [hem, to the number of a.bout, fifteen, were whirling below mc like so many gigantic while tops. l-'rorn where I was. looking down, their, whirling skirts vented m* , seeing their ! feet, so that they seemed to be moved by some invisible power ruther than by their own volition. This illusion was helped by the fa- , : that they accomplished their whirling , with great dexterity and smoothness, there being m> up-ami movement visible—that if-, for the most part —a few (novices perhaps) being not so {smooth in their turnings as the rest. There was an old man •whom I watched I with special miration: there was 710 doubt about his being facile princepr. among his companions. The way he .-.lowed down, lien the music ceaeed. ill the manner of a "dying' , top. ending with a twirl of his skirts around him, was the last word (1 should say) in the art of whirling. I DIFFERENT METHODS. i While whirling, the da rwep«>lies diil not ; all adopt the same method of holding I their arms, nor, indeed, did any one ut J them keep to tite same method the whole way throiKili. Some held their arms at right, angles to their bodies, others placed them un their hips, others crossed them on (heir breasts. One whom I no) iced particularly rested his head and long i-aj« along his right. arm. Jield at an angle of about 4."i degrees up from his shoulder, hi- left arm being at right anjries from :ii- l>ody. During the whirling :, little old Imam walked in and out among the darweeuhc-s, exercising a considerable amount of ingenuity in avoiding their --.winging arms. After about ton minutes the music yeaned. the darweeshes (".eased spinning, coming to a standstill with their hands on their shoulders, their arms crossed before them; and the sheikh, coming out into -the centre of the circle (he had notas yet taken part in their whirling), bowed gravely to them. 'I lie dar«eeshes returned his salutation. an.l too-k rest fur a short while.

Again the music commenced, again the darweeshes whirled in the same manner, and after almost the same space ot time stopped, when once more the sheikh bowed and was bowed to.

The third and last liout. of whirling was lemarkable for the fa-.-t that, the sheikh took part in it himself—thai is. in a modified manner. He did not dives', himself of his -blue cloak, nor did he twirl on both feet, nor did he extend his anno fan-wise.

His movements were more dignified, as befitting his exalted rank. He merely twirled slowly on one foot, holding the lappet of his cloak with hi- right hand, aird letting bis left hang loosely by his side. ' '

This la-; whirling must have -lasted fully fifteen minutes, and concluded athe two others had done, with low bowon the part of the sheikh and darweeshes to ea.-ii other. The Jina-1 act was that by which tile darweeshes kissed each other's hands, running up and down the semicircle of their companions 'by-^uras.