TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8793, 14 May 1894, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

One of the most remark - The able articles -which have Future State appeared recently ia one of giving an accouut of an inAniraals. terview witb Canon Wilbsrforce, in which that well-known churchman announced hia firm belief in the existence of a future state for animals. He quoted Sfc. Paul and John Wesley in support of hia conviction, and fully agreed with the remark of Bishop Butler that " every argument by which we maintain the immortality of man is of equal validity to maintain the immortality of the * lower animals,'". " I do not believe," said the Canon, " that death ends their individuality any more than it ends mine." In answer to the question whether the veil of silence which exists between man and the lower animals did not argue an essential distinction between them and man, ha replied that it was clear that in the Eden state mental communication was "open between man and the other animals, not by vocal articulation and aural hearing, but by feelings and thoughts and intuitions there was direct communication between them. Probably it was by the same kind of process through which animals now communicate with each other. When man iell from the perfect state, in which fall he to a certain extent belie sred the animals shared, this mode of communication was lost, a veil of silence came between man and the animals, and in consequence an altered relationship ensued. Canon Wilberforce said he argued that if the lower animals shared in the "fall" they will naturally share in the scheme of redemption.

"To,those,..who love the lower animals there a great, consolation in the thought that this life upon earth is not to be the end-all of their being. When we consider the mysterious anguish which abounds in the animal world, when, for example, we contemplate the life of the average London omnibus horse, ifc is consoling to believe that tteee patient, much-enduring, pre-eminently useful fellow-creatures, of ours will enjoy a compensation equivalent to the wrongs they have endured foe our sakes on this earth. I believe they shared with us the Eden state in the dim and distant past; I know they share with us the educative agony of the puzzle of this painful earth; and who shall dare to deny them that they ehall also share the rest of the future, when all the perplexity of this world is over 1 I have heard Charles Kingsley say that Chriefc lived and died and survived as much for the minutest insect sucked into the jaws of a whale as for the most intelligent of human beings. In St. Peter's vision you will remember the sheet filled with living animals is let down from heaven, and it is also specially recorded that it was taken up again into heaven. This in itself is a speaking fact."

As might be expected from bis holding these views, Canon Wilberforce Is a, tremendously strong opponent of vivisection, in fact one gains the impression that his hatred of the vivisectionista '. has contributed materially towards his belief in the future state of the animals upon which they experiment. And this impression i 3 strengthened by the Canon's closing words: — " When people bring forward the argument, if it is worth being called an argument, that a lower animal has no immortal spirit—that this life ends all— it makes the work of anti-vivisecfcors ten times more necessary. If it be true that the phenomenon called death really closes the individuality of those creatures, then for God's sake and for their own sake let them hare their poor little life here free from these unnecessary tortures."

It seems now to be an Frenchmen established custom for a as team of French footballers Footballers, to pay a visit to England during the season and try their strength against English clubs. Duxing last wintar a fifteen from the Racing dub dv France, aa institution which goes in for all kinds of athletic eports, crossed the channel and from the remarks made by two of the members to an interviewer we learn something of the quality of French football. These two gentlemen, Gabriel and Marcel Andreoli, though Frenchmen, chiefly reside in London and play regularly for the Lennox Football Club, which is said to have an apparently perpetual first claim on the Surrey Cup. They are also members of the Ratting Club de France, and in that capacity assisted their fellow country men in their matches. Speaking of the match against Oxford they said the heavy state of the ground was greatly against the French team, as iti Paria a damp football ground is almost unknown. Then the Frenchmen took the game much 1e33 seriously than the Englishmen. They completely lacked combination, and morever snowed a fatal disposition to stand still and talk while the ball was in play; a fault, it may be mentioned, from which local players are not by any means free. All the Andreoli thought was necessary to produce good football in France was good coaching, but they admitted that thie Was a somewhat serious want, as it wasalmos t impossible to obtain.

" They have excellent material to work upon. Their three-quarters are good, individually. As a rule, they are considerably faster than English three-quarters. They run and tackle well, but they know nothing whatever about drop-kicking. At Oxford one of the three-quarters got a pass, punted it over the cross-bar, and then— claimed a goal! At half-back they do not shine. Aud their forwards work hard and consistently, though they know nothing whatever of the science of forward play. When, during the course of the game we managed to give them a few hints on heeling out, wheeling the scrums, and stopping rushes, they were quite astpnished at the result of their own efforts. Falling on the ball was quite unheard of among them, and their method of stopping a rush was to try and make a flying kick."

At present French Clubs are suffering from a lack of heavy players, occasioned by the fact that all the men from about twenty-one to twenty-four are too busily engaged in their military service to have any time for football, and as the game has only been established about four years in France those who are now leaving the army have had no previous experience of the game. The players therefore are all young and comparatively light. This, however, is a defect which time will remove, and if the game continues to make as much progress as it has done during the last year or two the New Zealand Rugby Union's team to visit England may, if they can arrange a match in Paris, find their woik cut out for them to beat the Frenchmen. If they do so they will have to sacrifice whatever acruples they may possess on the question of playing on Sunday, which is there the great day for play. A good many of our Madame readers have probably Tussaud's seen Madame Tussaud'a Wax-works, exhibition of wax-works, a good many more hope to do ho some day, " when their ship comes home," and there are very few, we imagine, l who have not at least heard about this modern representative of Mrs Jarley, of immortal memory. The exhibition. has lately received a good advertisement at the hands of Mr Monson, of Ardlamont fame, who unsuccessfully endeavoured to restrain Madame Tusaaud from exhibiting a wax* work representation of him- The only result of his legal proceedings has been to draw an unusual amount of attention to his counterfeit presentment, which now occupies the rather suggestive position of a place just outside the room called the Chamber of Horrors, containing the figures of noted criminals. Thismaybeby design or accident; it certainly looks as if Madame Tussaud's manager had his own ideas in spite of the verdict of "Not proven" recorded by the jury as to Monson's share in the Ardlamont tragedy, and had determined that if he could not place that gentleman actually among the criminals he should be as near them as possible. In this connection an incident in connection with Mrs Maybrick was told by a member of the Tuasaud family:—, " When Mrs" May brick's friends thought we intended to place her effigy in the * Chamber of Horrors ° we were offered £1000 not to do so j but upon hearing she was to be placed outside that apartment nothing further was heard of the matter. * J ohu Strange Winter,' I remember wrote , us on behalf of some of the relatives of Mrs Montagu, asking us not to place her with the criminals.". The Chamber of Horrors is said to owe its existence to a Cambridge Don, who once pointed oat to Madame Tusaaud the impropriety of the arrangement which then existed of placing the effigies of criminals alongside those of illustrious personages. They were accordingly removed to a separate room, which Punch dubbed by the titl9 it haa borne ever since. There are, we learn, over 500 figures in the exhibition, the contents of which are worth more than a quarter ot a million sterling, Each of these figures has to be cleaned and recoloured every six weeks, and wholly renewed every seven years. The are in some cases very costly, the most expensive being one made for the figure of the Empress Eugenic when in the zenith of her career, which cost £650, while.the Court dresses in the Royal groups cost; over £100 each. Some curious incidents of heroworship were told by Mr Tnssaud. People, he-said, often asked to be allowed to lay flowers before certain figures, and for years a lady at regular intervals placed wreaths of violets by the late Emperor Napoleon 111. Occasionally; the admiration felt for certain persons figured in the exhibition can only be expressed by gifts of jewellery, aa in the case of the figure of Mr MLshael Davitt which was once presented with a handsome diamond ring. The generous admirer was not, however, destined to long enjoy the sight of his hero thus adorned, for another admirer—a relic hunter, it is to be presumed —came along shortly after ana removed the ring, finger and all J ;