Miscellaneous.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 28, 21 January 1875, Page 2

Miscellaneous.

Woe to the man .who has everything!™ brought to him;'' and Blessed are they |H who are born under adverse circum.jH stances and have ho chan'ce in life, and IB who, instead of -whining because thejH have no chance, develop an inward fl manhood, that giyes; them a chance, I — for there is that in man which fl dominates oifer chance, time and na-fl ttire. A man can make himselfM sovereign if he has but the purpose. M We should never go to bed with affl hope for rest, sleep, .and perfect repose « until " all is ready." The preliminaries M for retirement are all just as ; important I as are those for the day's duties. We I must not go to bed with an overloaded I stomach, in an anxious or troubled state M of. mind; with cold extremities, or with- M out anticipating and responding to the-ffl calls of nature in all respects. Standing ll before a fire is not the best way tQ-getfl warm for a night's sleep. We should 9 take such vigorous exercises as.^ill give .9 quick circulation to the blood, and not 9 depend oil artificial, but ori natural heat. H Attention to. all these things should be ffl followed by such devotional exercise asiß will bring all the feelings, emotions and W sentiments into accord with the Divine 8 will, subduing passion, removing hatred, I malice, jealousy, revenge, and openino-.H the portals of heaven to all who seej 1 rest, peace, and sweet repose. fl - The late Dr Norman Macteod was a i most facetious man, arid was noted for a his love of a good joke. The following B story is told in corroboration of the'l latter remark. Shortly after he had I returned from his first visit to Balmoral, H it happened that he was invited to a W dinner party inGlasg-ow. When the day 1 arrived, circumstances' in connection with his pastoral duties occurred to prevent his being present at the appointed hour. Accordingly, on reaching the house, dinner had been served but was 1 not very far advanced.. Having.apologised for his want of punctuality, the lady of the house said those at the table would wait a few minutes, and he would soon overtake them. While waiting, 1 the conversation turned on the Doctor's 1 visit to the Queen, and he was asked I several questions as to how Her Ma- '" jesty conducted herself at table, &q. • The Doctor told them he would satisfy them all with his answers, if, in the. meantime, they allowed him to proceed. Soup was first served, then fish, and the Doctor partook of both. When the coyer which contained the latter was ' being removed, the Doctor casting his eyes over the table, said, " it was just .. at this stage of the dinner the Queen said to me, "Noo,. Norman, I thinkye'll be the better of a dram." The 1 brandy, which was on the sideboard, 1 was speedily produced, and the< Doctor || partook of his dram, amid shouts of if laughter from all the guests. I England. — rOnce more we are in this 1 dear old fatherland — on this green gar- i den-island of the world ; and the fra- j grance of its shade embowered homes. | is again as fresh as the sentiment of i; sweetbriar, or anything that blooms | and breathes out of hedge or meadow. Land of the penny post? It seems • good to be here again, where all the -i birds sing and the hedges are full of' music, and the lark climbs the sunbeam with its warbling heart of joy," • and fields of the • greenest, green are threaded with the footwalks of a con- ; tury's wear, and stiles of kindly ingress. ''■■■ Wonderful island ! Fatherland of sixty f millions now, and, before a century and | a half shall deepen the wrinkles in the J brow of yonder church half hidden in 1 the trees, it shall be the fatherland of .] three hundred millions of Anglo-Saxons, 1 peopling the islands of all the oceans, |j and all the distant regions of the world.. | What a fulcrum-point this ' for '" that' l moral lever that shall lilt the race of 1 men to its true position in the scale of ;| bein ! — Elihu Biirritt. J A writer in the • Overland. Monthly'* § gives the following ; " This tradition, f| which I tell you," said Reis Hassen, I "is many centuries old. It states ..that 1 there was in Paradise a temple built up 1 of precious stones. Man dare riot utter its splendours. Deep in the midst; of: the plains of Eden it stood, . angelbuilt — a dazzling sanctuary Our first parents sang their vesper songs in the twilight shadows of its courts ; :.for i: there were pillared halls and cloisters ; of emerald and pearl, where fountains , sprang aloft in the silent noon, and long, luminous vistas where, hand in \ hand, those first two lovers walked, in sinless beauty. Then there were pin- : nacles and domes of sapphire, blazing , in the sunlight by day, and glittering in the starlight by night;. - .From court and terrace waters welled qii't, \ and the iris-crested cascades Tell -j down to cool shady; deils of asphodel* below, for thfl temple .was placed o far 1 within the privacies of that , valley of .i Eden, whence the four rivers "flowed J eastward. However, sad' to relate, .-{ tipon the day Adam fell this glorious j temple was shattered into a million of I fragments, and sown broadcast ovec'. the 4 earth. '• These^ fragments we npw.llight . upon, and gather, up with .cost.'and care, i and 'call them 1 rubies, Emeralds) 5 sa^i ,phire3 and diamonds* butj- are," ";j after all, only that primeval palace,^The splendours. and the diadems i" of | pnnces^theMUl^y; W r &j,ia .tue.heaysng, J and the spray thatspaVkles in' 'th^ il eii- V lj tanglements, of : . a- , maiden's -iiair ? , aije ; <| jilike but the costly dust °^ that tost " 4, — the- sa& remembrances .oL& *~ departed iSden." *, > -A /, O /U • ! \ . --..._ ' \ .... .Ca.Ai