Miscellaneous.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1027, 30 March 1894, Page 3

Miscellaneous.

«. In France there exists an order of merit that is very little known. Lt has been founded" by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the members or<>. dogs who have distinguished themselves by deeds of bravery. A tastefully designed ' collar of honor ' is awarded to the nominees of the order. Among the animals already decorated in this way, one of the most celebrated is Bacchus, a large boll-dog, whose speciality it is to stop 'runaway horsr.s by j -imping up and seizing them ..by the bridlp. Bacchns's master resides iv the Rue Biscorhet. It is calculated that the intelligent beast has already saved the lives of eight persons, if not more, in this way. Pataud, another bull-dog, received a collar in 1887, for saving his mistress from the attack of a footpad ; and , Turk, a splendid Newfoundland, has had a similar^ honor ..fnr.~K-a.ving 4Ur OO young children from drowning on different occasions. ' Poll, say " Uncle," ' said a gentleman to his parrot one day, on exhibiting his bird to a party of friends. It was his proud boast that the parrot would say anything he was told. But the bird refused. 'Poll, say Uncle!' shouted his owner, getting enraged. But still the bird was silent. At last the man became so enraged he seized the parrot fiercely by the head, pulled his neck nearly out, and flung him into an outhouse, saying : ' Say uncle, 3ou devil, say uncle !' Later in the day, feeling a little remorse for having treated his pet so harshly, he went to see how he fared, and if he had really killed him outright. Now, he had pitched the poor bird into an outhouse containing 12 prize Dorking hens. Judge of his surprise then when, on opening the door, he found 11 Dork- . ings dead on the floor and the parrot just wringing the neck of the twelfth one, find loudly exclaiming, ' Say uncle, you devil, say uncle !' Donald Mackay, the Prince of Wales's piper, who died the other day was a magnificent specimen of the genus 1 Hielandraan.' He went everywhere •with his royal master, and bore the reputation of. being the best performer on the pipes in the world, even the Queen's ministrel giving way to him when they met. The shrill whistle of Mackay's pipes awoke the royalties at Sandringham and Marlborongh House whenever the Prince was in residence. The piper fully believed in the salubrity of his music, and could with difficulty be kept from performing outside the Duke of York's door when he was down with typhoid. (Eh ! dear,' quoth he, { but 'tis'a,poo f y-- fXT ' ld ~" bh(:; laaaitrsae'"" f badi too.' He evidently thought his pipes would act as a restorative. Mackay was only 49, and had a grand constitution, but a trifling wound in his big toe broudht on blood poisoning, and ended him. , , From the Klerksdrop Mining Record : Two working men were discussing serious subjects. Said the younger, c i say Bill, what are Joint Stock Companies V ' Well, I'll explain it to yer. You and Jim and arf, a dozen others put up a penny each, and buys two ounces of baccy and a cla3 r . Then I calls myself the managing director, and I sits down and smokes that pipe and baccy. D'ye see V ' Yes, but where do we come in V ( Oh, you're the shareholders ! You looks on an spits !' There is one particular fault most parents have, and this is in giving children nicknames. It usually begins at home. They think it funny to nickname the baby , but they must reViember that the kitten will be a cat some day, and the nickname will cling to it through life. Again, some parents manufacture names. This might be clone all right occasionally, but census takers and school teachers run across many amusing illustrations of follies into which it sometimes runs. For instance, Dickens in one of his novels tells of a woman who made up a name for her child, calling it Morlena. Nothing' could be more ridiculous than this name, yet the mother must have thought the name very beautiful. A girl was once named Charlena because her father's name was Charles. It is well to avoid such names as Truth, Faith, Patience, Virtue, Sunshine, etc., as the bearers of these names may grow up to maturity exhibiting entirely the contrary to these names. — Fireside. People talk of liberty as if it meant the liberty of doing what a man likes. The only liberty that a man worthy the name of a man ought to ask for is to have ali restrictions, inward and outward—removed, to prevent his doing - what he ought. I call that man free who has his flesh in subjection to his spirit ; who fears doing wrong, but who fears neither man nor devil besides I think that man free who has learnfc that most blessed of all truths — that liberty consists in obedience to the power, and to the will, and to the law that his higher soul reverences and approves. He is not free because he does what he likes, for in his better moments his soul protests against the act, and rejects- the authority of ' the- / passion which commanded him, as a' usurping force and tyranny, .• He feels that in doing what he likes, lie J may be only a slave, to his^owti unhallowed passions. ■•But' : he;is'£rei;...wh.en :i bjß:j^oes _ what he ougkt, ; becaus|;^ter|ffkMp^pro- " . test in; his;soub:agai^^ . ; %- * — Freclerick y^^o^i^^ff^^^^-yf,^