FROM THE ENGLISH PAPERS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 13

FROM THE ENGLISH PAPERS.

-■ ■■••'■ ■-.'.' ,% A KILD WINTEE. Commenting upon the'singularly mild leiater-experienced so far in the Mother 'Country this'year, .the. "Spectator"6ayst ■■"Three .'weeks . and' more' of' west winds have brought;.with, them a strong and ■untimely, growth .of. plants' and flowers, . aad,* for the naturalist, an unusual, list .of ,birds: in. ;'.almost full spring 'song. Thrushes, of course, and missel-thrushes, you would expeot in. any January storm «r ! gun; the song of Tobins and. the quiot trills 'of hedge-sparrows : belong to all trnnny. winter days.: But it is a rare year in which you. hear' the great-tit' .ringing ;his spring, mating-song: day after day and week, after . week in' Decetn- . boT and'-January, .arid/it is uncommon -to-hear day: after, day,'too,: u, a woodpigeon: cooing as he. coos in April; more . uncommon still gee against the January, eky the.rising;and falling curves of ftlie-mating'flight of'that ( lusty bird.

MAKING. YOUR WILL. The "Outlook" discourses pleasantly Spon the melancholy art of making wills! ©mar- ■ ,

■fThere .is: nraoh-that is ead in- this business of will-making,: inuch that may account*' for the gravity of /demeanour:, so ■characteristic -of the solicitor : whose'lines have been oast, , not in courts,- but. in the silent places of his chambers.'.- But it is not all sadnees: humour obtrudes itself, <e does tragedy,: An elderly, woman of Jbnmble birth .who'.: had become rich beyond ■;• the. .'dxeama. ;o£,. avarioe—she' had . been left a ■ legacy' 'of 'nine hundred pounds—wanted to. make her will" beeause eh© understood that it wae the ■correct, thing for i lady of fortune' to ■do.': Asked Tiow ; ehe/wanted to dispose sof her .fortune, she replied that she had 510- intention of :doing .anything of "the land. The' solicitor spent half an honr in explaining That a will was for, and •* length the client smiled, and.said. that ehe . would-' leave everything to herself. The solicitor explained again, and threw out the. •helpful, suggestion' ..that she might lite her; husband: to succeed her Jsfter her death.': Thie;roused the good Jady. : I£. he': got tb: know that I had ■idone that,' she cried, Td be. dead '. within ■•:-weeki',;.':.:;■-.,,.; ;:;,:/; ■..-:..?,.;... ■ ■.;;.:":

NEGLECTED STUDY OS MANKIND.

...There is an article in the .current number of'the "Nation": on "Onr 'Educated' Classes," the 'tone' of which; may be' sur-' mifigd 'from the quotation mar Its in which the middle.word of the headline is placed.' The.', writer'; Bays:':' ■■■'■ .-,-■ :. '.■'..:■...

; '"£he mass of lads whol have passed through yur great ;,publie schools and universities v or: professional colleges have ■never, had .their intelligence and their sympathies; etirred by : any .'.serious -endeavour to ■:, teach: the ; moving '■ drama of history/to educate their passion; for jus- ; tice-and ; liberty: by.' the intelligent interpretation of the growth of those social mebtubons whioh surround and influence their hves. Such slight strains of history or of philosophy as thev acquiTe are commonly sterilised by' antiquity. The noblest and most ■ nourishing of, all food fcnrEnglish. yoiith, that literature which u the. greatest' contribution of England to humanity, is;deliberately■'and of set from their intellectual table, or, worse" etffl, ,is served- up in dressed_ dishes of academic philology. Ims WMted conspiracy-against true ednf?™v has, been ; frequently ' denounced, but the vested intellectual .interests which tteeros have hitherto kept the founts &°!!L!l 8^!L 1 £ e !: ature sealed the minds of English youth." .

' TBS TELESCOPE.

Every .month'.-.brings - the birthday' of rano notable discovery. ■ > The' "Edin- ?£&■: Eeview" reminds us ' that: January, .1910, - brings ■ the t tercentenary' of th,e discorery of the- telescope:— - : ;, ",-{ : "''"' 1 ' 1 :' ;■' i •"h JP.^t'y,' ol^ '. account' of the; principle of telescope; was given by Eoger ;Bacon,, v but. theie . i 3 -to show or suggest, that he '.ever made an .instrument. It is fully from the. account of '■:'%?JV*** a gentle"^P. 0 * Orfordshire,.-..made a' telescope, ..which- Bmused his friends,, as a piece parlonr magic. And in the beginning of the , 6 =rm t ?«ntli'; century, three Dutchmen, probably .independently, ■".. hit' ,: U pon the combination, of two, lenses that brooi-ht Wethin- h ; eteeple /parently, ;nearer.. .Nothing is more probable than that sev- ! eral or many; persons"turned their /optic ffi rt 7 te ft ? BVr tofore:Galileo had ieard .the. report oi v the -invention; but .■jothmg is more .certain.than that we atrightly .the :real diV , teles c°Pe's; power, and :that :;::.-■'.: :-the;;elections.,;. > : ;. ' iJSt "^ v ! ' ? caa ' ™th : ,keen ,inteeet Ifc Garnn's survey : of. the electoral -.fight in;the "Observer,'.', in w hich tnese paesages occurred: .', .. : . .

eeneral-eleotion,'one great probability now ..emerges. ' For 'the" reasons fully explained elsewhere no stable faOTemmeiit can-be formed in subjection to tne Ins! vote for Mr.' Asqutth's purff 663, ', f^ v™, are > • "fuerefore,- faced by the jplain; likelihood.'of another general ejection, within six \ months or' less. From this assumption,; and' .it: : is one upon whioh everyjjraoticar politician will act, iouows, a etrict consequence. l .Unionists teahsnig that the.next'struggle may at least equal, the - present in., 'fierceness greatness, and ganger, must begin to prepare for it without; the loss ofa day the experience of ; the last few: months, and KpeciaUy of •: the last 'week,., has -taught M some invaluable electioneering lessons. W« shall fight next time at a far. greater advantage, if, we are as eoukdly; guided 'in , o . n n > as by-Mr. Balfour we .led,, and by-Mr. Chamberlain still : sagaciously inspired. Wβ must,aim at nothing but further and complete victory. We must thiniof nobut further and victory. . We: must / think ■ nothing. bu.tr how to The mottoiof our action must be-r-At Once.' What: is the probable effect upon, the institutions-and the in.tereste that: have been: at. hazard, upon .the. causes. that .have been at 'stake? It w easy to reply to the former question: It ui not impossible to attempt au answer to the ktter. Thanks to. the magnificent rauy, of the^countjes , for, patriotism :and Empire, for all that the past has bequeathed to us, for all.that caa keep us a great people among the nations of the earththanks, ui a. word, to the stern stand of teal iingland for her own—the policy of tmshateable resistance, ■ upon which the Wry life and dominion of thisco'untry dohas -ijon the first earnest of its _ triumph. ..■■-. ' .- . • .-. ': ■