TIT BITS.

Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 80, 1 October 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

TIT BITS.

Next only to the man who achieves the greatest and most blessed deeds is he who, perhaps himself wholly incapable of such high work, is yet the first to help and encourage the genius of others. We often do more good by our sympathy than by our labours, and render to the world a more lasting service by absence of jealously and recognition of merit than we could ever render by the straining efforts of personal ambition. —Canon Farrar. Charity should never be brought down to the level of amusement. It should be looked upon as a duty, and as a sacred one that is given to us all, poor or rich, to be done to the best of our ability and means. No work is mechanical only; every kind of work, even tho simplest and most menial, requires thoughtful attention, and if this bo withheld the achievement is not at its best. But if the heart be in tho work, and if the brain be competent and the hands are deft and painstaking, there is definite value in the service rendered, for which every wise man will be willing to pay. Those who are quite satisfied, sit still and do nothing; those who are not quite satisfied, are the sole benefactors of the world. —W. S. Landor. As water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it, so a wise man adapts himself to circumstances. —Chinese Proverb. —Davis's " China." Conflict, which rouses up the best and highest powers in some characters, in others not only jars the whole being, but paralyses the faculties. — Mrs. Jameson. The man who dreams himself so great, And his importance of such weight, Will learn in school of tribulation, The folly of his expectation. —Cowper. No man knows any one, except himsolf, whom he judges fit to be set free from the coercion of laws, or to be abandoned entirely to his own choice. If only a few of the needless follies were removed from human life, human nature would rehouud with joy. There would be so much time gained for the world. By " needless follies" are meant —foolish repetitions in public prayer; foolish forms of recreation, such as heavy dinners, late evening parties without amusement ; after-dinner speeches, speeches in Parliament and to constituents, long sermons, errors in dress; starch, moral, metaphysical, and physical; and all the tediousness which proceeds from conventionality. Time is precious, but its value is unknown to us ; we shall only obtain this knowledge when we can no longer profit by it. Wit is brushwood, wisdom is timber. The first makes the brightest flame, but the latter the most lasting heat. He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one should never remember it. We are always complaining our days are few, and acting as there would be no end of them. —Addison. He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night. —Franklin. Life is measured by the rapidty of change, the succession of influences that modify the being. — George Eliot. For one man who can stand pros- j perity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity. —Carlyle. It has been said that what causes the majority of women to be bo little touched by friendship is that it is insipid when they have once tasted love. I find the great thing in this world is not so much whore we stand as in what direction we are moving. —Oliver W. Holmes. Take heed that thou seek not riches basely, nor attain them by evil means. —Sir Walter Kaleigh. " Most women have no character at all," said Pope, and meant it for satire. Shakespeare, who knew men and women much better, saw that it in fact was the perfection of women to be characterless. Everyone wishes a Desdemona or an Ophelia for a wife —creatures, who, although they may not always understand you, do always feel for you, and feel with you. A common trouble with us all is that we fail in our business because we think little of it. No man truly succeeds in any calling who has a poor opinion of it. No man has a good opinion about his business who uses it only to make money out of it. No man can have the best conception of his business who does not esteem it for its usefulness. Aud the higher we go —if " higher " and " lower " are proper terms to use in considering the different honourable and useful walks of life—the more clearly will it appear that he who only esteems his business for the living or money that is in it must, if judged by any high standard, be a failure. Man for the most part, is equally unhappy, when subjected, without redress, to the passions of another, or left without control to the dominion of his own. This every man, however unwilling he may be to own it of himself, will very readily acknowledge of his neighbour.

An individual who called hia first daughter Kate, when his wife surprised him with another girl, promptly called it Duplicate. The young lady who always wanted her sweetheart close at hand, explains it on tho ground that 'twas only a nigh dear of her own.

THE CZAE AND HIS COSSACKS. ' The recent brilliant reception of the Eussian Emperor, on his way to South Eussia, by the Cossack tribes through whose districts he travelled in turn, gives additional interest to the following extract from a recently published work on Eussia, quoted by the Euesiche Eundshau.— The Cossack is accustomed from the earliest days of his childhood to a zealous fulfilment of military duties, the authorities being obliged to keep up and practise the old Cossack war ploys such as riding, swimming, shooting, running, fighting, &c. On holidays every hetman and his officials are obliged to gather the young Cossacks and the boys together in a certain place, and to accustom them to these games instead of other play. As soon as the boys grow up they are entored into the ' Stanitza-book ' as future Cossacks, although they need not serve till they are soventeen years old, when their duty begins at the station. Every boy, of whatever rank his parents may be, has to discharge these duties. When the youths are nineteen years old they become Cossacks, and their oath of allegiance is taken. During the twentieth year they prepare for military service. The sons of nobles sometimes enter a regiment or official post as simple Cossacks at the age of fifteen ; but this is only done in exceptional cases. By this system the State has an a-vmy which would in many respects not be replaced by rogular regiments, and which is maintained not by the State, but by the Cossacks themselves. If Cossacks enter actual service in war time their regiments are far more rapidly formed than those of the regular army. After the order has come for the formation of a certain number of regiments to do duty outside the Cossack district at a place mentioned in the order, a number of officers and a general assemble to see that every regiment arrives. A commander is then given to each regiment, who has been chosen by lot in the presence of the hetman and other authorities. The Cossack army is divided into regiments of one hundred men, each with an officer at the head. Every regiment is provided with a regimental flag, account books and sufficient money to last to the frontier of the Don district. Three days only are required for the formation and equipment of a regiment.