"SPINDRIFT."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12936, 16 October 1907, Page 7

"SPINDRIFT."

(SPECIALLY WBITTK.- FOE " THE TBESS.")

The inner workings of tho feminine >nind are demonstrated never co luminously as when a woman sets herself the task of catching a tram at a wayside stopping place. She arrivea in ample time and always nearly succeeds in rapturing the car preceding the one she has fixed her hopes upon. She looks with dexterous Angers, at her back hair to ascertain if the ornamental comb is still abiding at tho poet of duty, and explores tho interior of a bag to a6suro that purso and handkerchief form part of the expedition. A car is buzzing faintly somewhere below tho rim of the horizon, and she. steps oft on tlie roadway to investigate. it is coming, thank goodness!

And so a retreat to tho footpath is beaten. A groen smudge in tlio distance beans turther evidence to tho fact that tho car is still corning, (thank goodness \) and it is now time to stand out in the road. Tlio buzzing grows louder and the verdant smudge takiu detinite shape. 'J ho woman edges up towards tho line—nearer and nearer as the car approaches. It swoops down with a sougliing groan. Has tho motor man eeon herr . Will ho novor etopr . Her presence is detected (thank goodness!) and tho green flash becomes an inert green daub vSho is in time! Who clambere in; the dexterous fingers peep at the comb again, and explore tho inner recesses or' tho bay, caressing haiidkercliiet and purso; and—alls well that ends well.

Two venerable citizens may be detected from "afar on the street corner engaged in earnest converse. A. is carving savugo parallel lines in tho unoffending other with vigorous right and unswerving loft. U. is considering the effect of tho diagram with painful puckered concentration. He grasps its purport eventually but combats its soundness and proposes drastic amendment. An underhand swfpp introduces his suggestion and tho flight of an imaginary missile is minutely traced by both. The trajectory occasions fiercest disputation, and as tho hours slip by an amicable agreement becomes more a n<l more hopolees. Footwork and log-play nro imported into the controversy, and finally, with prodigal dotting of impalpable is, crossing of metaphorical t's, and shaking of fusts; a reluctant parting is eifected. They aro bowlers playing that last head over again.

Tho heroic part sustained l>y woman in the battle of married life, if appreciated at all, is hut feebly apprehended. In tho morning man forth to lal)our # but while standing upon tho order of his going, the milkman has come with a crash, and taken his departure with a. rattling rush. Tho breadwinner now has gone to se© about his winnings. The postman surges along on tho crest of a whistling fantasia, plauta a muddy but determined foot upon the recently scoured verandah and tweaks the door bell imperiously. 31eantime, the butcher's boy, lean, but inextinguishably vivacioua, hns roused the watchdog's peppery ire, and is pounding (with tulf-weight pounds) upon the scullery exit. A neighbour's fowl drops in to see what the garden is producing and must bo sent empty away. The vegetable man etrolls round limply to ascertain whether the green goods he loft on Friday are all consumed. And if not, why not?

A child taps with timid insistency upon the front door, selling bent tickets for a tea meeting or soliciting selt-denial funds. It is now lunch time. The fewtival is bisected through tho agency of a garrulous, cocksuro person peddling picture frames. Later the coalman presente-rris-credenflale , then a fashionably dressed damsel mostly silks and scent and smirks enquires tho whereabouts of an impossiblo somebody in the came street • tho postman whistles in and flickers out for a sreond time of asking- mi enlarged photo specialist enlarges! upon his wares, and must bo wilted ere he JeavH; the belated baker, with his dear breed; the children scrimbling home from school, and finally the lord and master necking tho solace of for getfulnese of tho fact that he has had a tiring day. The woman has been merely pottering about at home, tidying up. J

The privilego of representing tho common people in Parliament cannot entail tho pitiful self-sacrifice described recently by Jtr George Laureneon in pleading that the legislative iaboarer was worthy of moro than his present lure. Ktther that or there are unsuspected heroes lurking in parts ot the .Dominion. The proverbially tender heart of the Premier has been harrowed by an ad misericordiam appeal on behalf of those South Island members whose seats are about to be carefully packed for removal to the all-devouring North-. It is suggested that the country would sustain no serious hurt if the present South Island quota were retained, and the North Island given three brand-new seats. Tho agitation, be it noted, has not originated with the trio of members sought to be legislatively obliterated, but chiefly with the political practitioners in adjoining electorates, who, maybe, perceive the possibility of their erstwhilo neighbours receiving a call to shepherd the flocks earmarked as their own. It is a question, after all, whether members left by the Boundaries Commission without visible means of support should bo carried along on the broad bowed back of the, Constitution. .Sir Joseph Ward will bo well-advised if he "no." Tho supply of law-making capacity has already outstripped tho demand, and it is time that the common foot of tho common people wero put down.