GENERAL EXTRACTS.

Bush Advocate, Volume XI, Issue 866, 2 December 1893, Page 5

GENERAL EXTRACTS.

The Berlin correspondent of the •■• " Daily Telegraph" ssnds news of a great • novelty in German journalism — a Hew daily Berlin journal, to be published ins French, and to bear the title of "Lo Petit Journal de Berlin." Its politics aredescribed as German- National, and itsobject is to provide instruction for foreigners unacquainted with the Germanlanguage, and to enable Germans them- • selves to perfect themselves in French.

A member of the Australian Eleven — name unknown, but guessable — suppliesin one of the morning journals a viaw from the inside of the performanceaof the team, and the account i&' marked by a melancholy and de^ pressing frankness. The' bewling, it 13 confessed " was weak, though at times admirable." The team has shown " a lack of spirit in losing matches which should have been decided in their" favor ; " and " the in-and-out performances of the team" detracted icon siderably from the public interest frelb in their matches. The fielding "as a whole was rather below the standard of other teams;" there was "an absence of any greatness of diversity amongst the bowlers." il'Leod has " never realised expectations, his bowling" being very ineffective." George Giffen'sbatting was " a disappointment " ; and Blackham, "though still good, is now' behind some of the stumpers of the present? time." As for Conineham, "he started ' well, but was afterwards continually left out, though he certainly mighthave been tried more." On the whole, concludes this doleful historian, whowas also an actor in the history he relates, '"I don't think it would be wise in theface of the moderate success attained by the present team to bring one or think of organising one for the next four or fiver years." All this proves that the members of the Australian Eleven itself agree on the whole with their sharpest critics as to the character of their own performances.

The death of Ford Madox Brown, tltedistinguished English artist, is ■ certainly worth more than the casual notice given 1 to it by the morning journals. He was not one of the fashionable painters of the age, and never courted the sort of popularity which is so cheaply attained by doing the portraits of fat: aldermen, showy women and rich no--bodies, who can afford to pay their thon~ sands of guineas for the privilege of being immortalised in 1 oils. But he was for all that one of England's truly greatest contemporary artists. He breathed the atmosphere of the great masters of Florence and Rome, Mediaeval and scriptural subjects were his great delight, and when he did paint anything modern he purified his subjects of all vulgarity and meanness, and made them beautiful for the edification of all succeeding ages. His great picture, W»rk, now in the Manchester Art Gallery, represented the navvy digging, the blacksmith forging, the mason building, and so on ; but there was no commonness his treatment of such commonplace themes. The Town Hall, Manchester, coptains some of his most excellent work, in fresCo,illußtratingthehistoryofthecity. He rarely exhibited at the Royal Academy, and never sought academic honors. Eather did he prefer free exhibitions where he got nothing for placing his pictures on view, but was able thereby, he thought, to improve the tasta of the people. Artists everywhere will recognise that a master has gone to his grave by the death of Ford Madox Brown.

A new order of things has come about in Siam, and the young men are getting a great and unusual share in thegovernment of the country. From the king" downwards there is scarcely a single' minister who is above the age of 40, an& many are much younger.

A swimming feat has been accomplished by Professor Ted Heaton. Heatondived from a stage at the new pier, Brighton (England) at nine minutes' past 2 o'clock, and in the face of a stronghead wind commenced his swim to NewBrighton. The tide at that time was scarcely at the flood, and Heaton wascarried up the river by the strong current. He struck out boldly for the Cheshireshore, however, and after a sturdy struggle succedeed in getting close in shorea little higher ud the river than Seacome.. Here he was in much calmer water, and' began to make steady headway in thodirection of the river mouth, and after

splendid exhibition of strong swimming,, he finally-reached tliel\ ewßrighton Pierat 3.15, thus completing the journey in the capital time of 1 hour Grain. Heaton. (says a London paper) was quite f resb on landing, and aftera short rest he gave an exhibition of fancy swimming. It is Heaton's intention to make an attempt at crossing the English Channel shortly.

In Canada there is a religions census, , and the results lately published with regard to places of worship are interesting^ Nobody who knows anything of theDominion will bo surprised (says a London . paper) to find that tho Church of England • is in a small minority. Of atotal ofrather more than 10,000 places of worship, 32". per cent belong to the Methodists, 17 per cent to the Presbyterians, 17 per cent, to the Roman Catho- • lien, 16 per cent, to the Church of England, 12 per cent, to tlie Baptists, and 6 per cent, to all others. But the Church seams to be rapidly recovering loßfc ground. During the past 10 years the - new churches erected have been — Churck . of England, 415; Presbyterians, 411; Baptist. 324 ; Muthodist, 322 ; and' Iloman Catholic, 299.