TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14110, 1 August 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

In an article on epitaphs Ananias and curious tombstone as a namos "Claudius Clear ,, in Name. the "British Weekly" irien-

tioned as one of his most interesting discoveries the following inscription in a Colchester churchyard :—'."Sacred to the momory of Ananias Chamberlain of this Parish, who died April 24th, 1834, aged 71 years." "Claudius Clear" thought he had heard of Sapphiras, but he had never known of a Christian child having''been , deliberately called Ananias. A request to his readers for information on the tpoint, elicited some interesting letters. An Edinburgh clergyman points out that in some calendars and tliaries January 25th is marked as the Day of St. Ananias. More than once on that clay he has preached, not on the Ananias who is best known, but on the Ananias of Acts ix 10-19, "to whom the Christian Church owes St. Paul." "Of the eight men in bible history who boro tho name, his at least has lifted the name above contumely, and made it possible for the old Puritans to give it as a Christian name in tho caso cited by 'Claudius Clear." Moreover, the moaning of the , name "Jehovah hath been gracious," would give it a deep significance to some people. « An Irish correspondent points out that there is a Rev. Ananias Cullesm in Kansas, and another correspondent forwards a newspaper cutting giving three examples of the uso of Ananias as a Christian name. - A third mentions that tho name Ananias occurs twico in the marriage register o£ Pilton, North Devon. Tho case is also cited of Mrs Sapphira Lightmaker, of Sussex, who died in 1704. No doubt the public will be as surprised as "Claudius Clear" at the number of thoso instances. It is a heavy handicap to give a boy the name Ananias and send him out into a world that is not conspicuous for close-study of the Bible and therefore knows only the notorious Ananias, but to some the name would be an indication that ho came of parents who knew their Bible.

As time goes on, more and Officers' more is expected of the Pay. British officer, and his cost

of living' increases, but no increase is made in his pay. Iho last general increase in his pay was mad© as far back as 1806, since when the oonditions of life in the Army have almost

entirely changed. Tho "Army and Navy Gazette" has a very interesting comparison between the pay of the British officers and that of their comrick'S abroad. In Great Britain the officer starts on £95 a year, aud rises to £11S and £].

as lieutenant, according -to length of service, £228 as captain, £252 a<. mnjor, £300 as sccond-in-<:ommand of .the regiment, and £135 as lieutenantcolonel. In the French Army the progress is from £98 to £118 and £144 as lieutenant, according to service; to £200 as captain, aud to £264 as lieut.colonel. In Germany the officer starts at £87, and rises to £340 as major. Unfortunately the figures for lieut.colonel are an obvious misprint. It lmi.st be borne in mind that the cxpensesof the British officer are much heavier than those abroad. His uniform kit is much more extensive, the garments are more expensive, and he has to live in a style quite different to that of the Continental officer. He spends much moro in sprtrt than his brother in arms, and ho does not enjoy the latter's concessions as regards travelling expenses. The rates of pay in tho United States aro princely, ranging from £349 on starting, to £748. It is estimated that, taking account of tho

difference in tho cost of living, the American rates of pay aro from two and a half to threo and a half times higher than the British. The Indian "Pioneer" sums up tho situation from the British officer's point of view in saying that "in no rank of the British Army does an officer get- a really living wage, unless he happens to be serving in India, and even in this country things are not *what they used to be, owing to tho huge rise in prices that has been the most marked feature of life in India during tho past quarter of a century." Even in tho Indian Army living on pay is possible only by tho strictest economy. The supply of candidates for tho Army is steadily falling off, and the danger of delay lies in the fact that boys intended for the Army begin working few it early, and if th© present condition ot things is net remedied, large numbers of boys will be diverted from the profession. The Government has admitted the need for reform, but it is too busy, and has not enough money, to tackle the question.

Perhaps it was by analogy Brevity with tho growth of miniain turo. oak-trees that the Verse. Japanese first cultivated

the art of miniature epics. The "hokku," a tiny verse of only three lines and seventeen syllables, is now practically tho only form of Japanese verse. So Professor Chamberlain, of Tokio, after treating the more ancient Odes and Lyric Dramas, comes down to an estimate of modern writers under tho title of "Basho and tho Japanese Poetical Epigram." Basho, born in 1644, was a Samurai who fled at sixteen from the world's grief to a Buddhist monastery, and found rest in poetry and mysticism. He found the "hokku" already flourishing, since Matsunaga Teitoku, who lived from 1571 to 1653, had been the first to lay down its laws and become its professed discipla. But tho spirit ;«f poetry had boon lost in puns, frivolity, futility and conceit, until Basho's oxample introduced tho serious note again. These succinct rhymes became for him the means of influencing his people. "Tho vory word, in his use, caino to stand for morality itself. And his rebuke of any follower rebellious against the* bonds of poverty, humility, or of long-suffering, was simply, 'This is not poetry,' a phase! analagous to the British, 'It's unsportsmanlike,' or 'Is it playing tho game?' " To be first an artist in life 5 and afterwards as rare an artist in words, was the Basho ideal; and tho secret of the "hokku" was "to charge a few words With some beauty of the world without, seen through the .mist of a mood within." Hero is one literal translation given by Professor Chamberlain:— "Burns my fire away; Ghosts alone my reverie share— Haunt tho darkening night." Or a Japanese Logan hears the cuckoo, and exclaims:-— "Cuckoo, for melancholy mo Oh I make still doeper loneliness!" Tho "Westminster Gazette" comments on this aa a good example to Western rhymers. "Indifferent English poets ignore economy and structure. They run to case and waste." A oourso of "hokkus" ig recommended as mental, discipline. But we observe that even the Japanese poef is still capable of writing too much. Of these "hokkus" thero exists an immense accumulation. Ono notorious offender is credited with producing 20,000 of them in ono day. And even the most conscientious of moderns is "still far from following the pattern set by ono of the "Five Stars" of Japanese literature, Toiehiteu, who was so fastidious an artist that he burned all but three of the poems which represented a whole lifo-timo'e industry.