TIT-BITS.

Evening Post, Volume XLIV, Issue 44, 20 August 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

TIT-BITS.

Richter gives it as an excellent antidote against moral depression to call up in our darkest moments the memory of our brightest ; so, in the dusty struggle and often tainted atmosphere of daily business, ' it is well to carry about with us a high ideal of human conduct, fervidly and powerfully expressed. — John Stuart Blackie. The world must be often tried and thoroughly known before we can pretend to judge of the motives of those around us.— Cooper. Modern poets differ from the Elizabethan in this — each of the moderns, like an Elector of Hanover, governs his petty State, and knows how many straws are swept daily from the causeways in all his dominions,' and has a .continual itching that all the housewives should have their coppers well scoured. The ancients were Emperors of vast provinces ; they , had 1 only heard of the remote ones, and scarcely cared to visit them. Think not that you are the only one who has to endure, and who dreads the hardships of life. Ease and comfort are the natural desires of the human heart, and there are thorns, real or imaginary, in everyone's pathway. But sitting down and brooding will never bring power to overcome them. Bather be up and doing, thankful for the blessings still remaining. An honourable name or a good reputation is an excellent protection against wrong doing — we fear to compromise it more through vanity than virtue. As we grow in years and experience, we become more tolerant, for it is rare to see a fault we have not ourselves committed. In cases where nature intends that insects shall feed on flowers at night, the flowers they select are all of a white colour. We every day and every hour say things of another that we might more properly say of ourselves, could we but apply our observation to our own concerns as well as extend it to others. — Montaigne. All who suffer are full of hatred ; all who live drag a remorse ; the dead alone have broken their chains. — Victor Hugo. ' Wo should never grumble at those things we could have prevented, nor at those things we could not have prevented. The most delicate, the most sensible of all pleasures, consist in promoting the pleasures of others. If you would know one of the minor secrets of happiness, it is this -^-cultivate cheap pleasures. Though we cannot create favourable circumstances, we can, at least, refuse to join the envious throng that bark at the heels of their more fortunate fellows. One should choose for a wife only such a woman as he would choose for a friend were she a man. To a woman of delicate feeling the most persuasive declaration of love is the embarrassment of an intellectual man. The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humour, aud the fourth wit. The feet have more to do with beauty than we may perhaps imagine. On them depends much of our grace in standing and in walking, and grace is an attribute of beauty which none should neglect. If, therefore, we are careless of position when walking and standing, we run the risk of being ungraceful in our walk and standing positions, and we may acquire habits difficult to correct. Possession is the touchstone of love ; true love finds new ardour, frivolous love extinguishes itself in it. A woman is never displeased if we please several other women, provided she is preferred — it is so many more triumphs for her. Gold is either the fortune or the ruin of mankind, according to its use. Coquetry is a net laid by the vanity of woman to ensnare that of man. Society depends upon women. The nations who confine them are unsociable. A woman can be held by no stronger tie than the knowledge that she is loved. Make no more vows to perform this or that; it shows no great strength, and makes thee ride behind thyself. Fine eyes are to the face what eloquence is to speech. Vanity is the only intellectual enjoyment of many people. " IBSEN'S WOOING. A pretty anecdote is told by a Vienna correspondent of Henrik Ibsen's wooing of his wife. The dramatist who has since become so famous was then director of the theatre at Bergen, Norway, and though he had written " Catilina," '' Gildet paa Solhaug," and " Fru Inger til Oesteraad;" his fame was not such as to assure - his success. When he fell in love with the beautiful daughter of Pastor Thoresen, how to make known the faot to her troubled him for weeks. At last he resolved to write to her. Ho would come and fetch his answer the same afternoon at 5. Did the lady accept him, she would be "at home;" otherwise not. At o o'clock he presented himself, and the maid asked him to go into the best room. He was very hopeful, and glad to have time to collect himself before he met the lady. But when he had waited half an hour awful doubts began to assail him. After an hour had passed he imagined the letter had not reached the young lady. Some fatal mistake was making a fool of him. Still he waited on. After two hours ho began to be ashamed of himself. She would learn that he had sat two hours in that deserted house, and would laugh at him. At last he jumped up in a rage and ran to the door. He was opening it when a loud peel of laughter arrested him. He turned and saw the fair head of hie adored emerge from under the sofa. Her mouth was laughing, but her eyes were filled with tears. "Oh, you dear, good fellow, to wait all this while !" she said. <c I wanted to see how many minutes a lover's patience lastß. How hard the floor is ! Now held me to get out, and then we will talk." In less than a week the marriage was arranged. The Pope, in bis youth, among his native Appennines, was a great walker and climber, and during thirty years that he was Archbishop of Perugia he continued the habit of his early days. At Rome, before he became Pope, the slender grey figure of Monsignore Pecci was to be seen every day, no matter what the weather might be, pacing the roads with measured but vigorous Btep, in spite of bis sixty-eight years. After his elevation to the Chair of St. Peter ho chafed against the bars of the prison which Papal policy has thought fit to inflict upon him, and the Vatican, with its furlongs of galleries and apartments, and its vast gardens, was all too small for him. Since the day ho was elected Pope Leo XIII has not crossed the threshold of the Vatican.

A CHANCfi INTERVIEW WITH THE GERMAN EMPEROR. ? The following is an account sent us (eayß the PaU Mall Gazette) by a correspondent, of a rf>al, but, as will be seen, a chance, " interview " with the German Emperor: — I was walking the other day in the " Griinewald " at Charlottenburgwhen it suddenly began to rain. The small pine trees afforded poor shelter, and I had already reconciled myself to getting wet through wbeu I noticed a small shed. I entered and lighted a pipe. Suddenly I heard hasty steps, and a minute later a young man entered in the greenish-grey uniform of the German foresters. He did not seem agreeably surprised at seeing me, but bowed politely, and sat down not far off. Presently he took a pipe, and searched his pockets in vain for a match. I offered him mine, and he, lighting his pipe, said in fluent English, without the slightest trace of foreign accent : — " Oh, you are English ?" " Aud co are you," I replied. " Oh, no !" he laughed, and seemed amused. " Well, it is wonderful how the Germanß acquire languages !" I exclaimed. " There is Buch a difference between our schools and yours." '• Yes, there is. You mean to say we don't learn anything and you learn everything. But I prefer our schools, nevertheless." •'May I ask why?" " Because we educate the character in our public schools, and you don't. Two iittle nephews of mine are in a German school, a • Gymnasium,' as you call it. Poor little beggars ; they are kept like slaves." " Oh, not quite," he remonstrated. " Well, it's not far off. The object of the German schools seem to be to keep the boys in dependence, while we try to make them independent." The young forester kept silence. After a while he said : " There is going to be a change." Did he mean a change in the weather? I looked up to the sky and said: "Yes, I hope the sun is coming out." He smiled. ''I hope so, too. But I just thought of a change in our school system." " You mean on account of that young man the Emperor?" " Yes; on account of that young man the Emperor." He put a singular stress on these words. "Well, he tries to do his best," said I. "He is a plucky young fellow, and I take great interest in his doings. " A good many people do, but they only do it to criticise him." " That does not matter. Certainly he has' 'his faults. Some writer says that every child is born with two horns, and he must wear them off before he becomes reasonable." " And has he still his horns ?" "To a certain extent. In spite of that he is a wonderful man. Don't you think so ?" ' "I do not know." " Just imagine what; he ha's done. When he came to the throne he was a devoted follower of Bismarck, until he saw that Bismarck was nothing but an old tyrant. And then he sent him home, and tried to introduce reforms — reforms in every branch of public life. He introduced reforms in the schools, in the army, in social legislation — " " And therefore they call him unsteady!" "So he is. He wants to do too much all at once. He thinks he knows everything better than anyone else — " " Oh, no, he does not think so !" " At least people say — " " I'm afraid people say a good deal. I think the Emperor would be glad if they left him alone." " But that is only possible if he resigns." " Resigns ?" asked the young man, asif the vory idea horrified him. " Every statesman is naturally subject to criticism. And he must get used to that, too. I should advise the Emperor to read English papers as much as possible." "Why?" "In them he would hear a good deal of untruth about himself, but also a good deal of truth." " Quite so. He reads them." "They say he got wild the other day over Punch." The young fellow laughed. "You mean that thing about Struwwelpeter? I should say the Emperor can stand things like that !" "If he can't at present he will by-and-bye. I have no doubt he will turn out a great man — he has a sense of duty to God and man ; he has energy, and if he only acquires a little modesty, he is sure to succeed. That is to say — " The young man looked at me attentively :" Well ?" "—lf" — If his health does not prevent him!" My companion suddenly rose. "Thank you," he said, "for your kind opinion. With God's help I will do the best for my people. I am the German Emperor myself." He took my hand and gave it a hearty shake. "If you happen to speak to your countrymen about me, tell them I like their straightforwardness. Leben Sic wohl." He put his gun on his back, and walked off. When I recovered my astonishment I saw him walking on the road, upright as a pine tree. That was the Geiman Emperor ! That simple, unaffected fellow ! God bless him ! And no one shall in future talk badly of him in my presence. THE OLD "DIE-HARDS." At the crisis in the Battle of Albuera Major-General the Hon. Lowry Cole lod the Fusilier Brigade, consisting of the 7th. and 23rd. Regiments, up the heights, and, driving off the Lancers, recovered five guns and one standard. '• Such a gallant line," says Napier, " arising amid the smoke, and rapidly separating itself from the confused and broken multitude, startled the enemy's heavy masses, which were increasing and pressing forward as to an assured victory ; they wavered, hesitated, and then vomited forth a storm of fire, while tho fearful dis charge of the grape from all their artillery whistled through the British ranks. " Myers was killed, Cole and Colonels Ellis, Blakeney, and Hawktshawe fell wdunded ; and the Fusilier Battalions, struck by the iron tempest, reeled and staggered like sinking ships. "Suddenly and sternly recovering, they closed on their terrible enemies, and then was seen with what a majesty the British soldier fights! " In vain did Soult, by voice and gesture, animate his Frenchmen ; in vain did the hardiest veterans, extricating themselves from the crowded columns, sacrifice their lives to gain time for the mass to open on such a fair field ; in vain did the mass bear itself up, and, fiercely striving, fire indiscriminately on friends and foes, while the horsemen, hovering on the flanks, threatened, to charge the advancing line. "Nothing could, stop our astoning infantry.

" No sudden burst of undisciplined valour, no nervous enthusiasm, weakened the stability of their order ; their flashing eyes were bent on tho dark columns in front, their measured tread shook the ground, their dreadful volleys swept awnj' the hoad of every formation ; thu-ir deafening shouts overpowered the dissonant ories that broke from all parts of tho tumultuous crmvd, a« foot by foi>i. :irul with a hornd carnage, it \vm driven by tho incesstiut vigour of the attack to the furthest edge of tho hill. '• T'i vain did the French re&ervea, joiuing with the struggling multitude, cmdeavour to sustain tho fighf. " Their efforts ouly increased tinirremediable confusion, and ihmighty mass, like a loosened clill', wont headlong down the ascent. " The rain flowed after in streams discoloured with blood, and lifted n hundred unwoundod men, tho remnant of six thousand unconquorablo British soldiers, stood triumphant on the fatal hill. " Yet so terrible were iho casualties in every regiment that \\ o may state as an example that when tho Royal Welsh Fusiliers camo out of aotion Captain Stainforth'a company was commanded by a corporal aamed Thomas Robinson. i " When Colonel Inglis foil, as his 57th men Bwept ovor him, he waved his cap, and cried after them, ' Woll done, my lads ; you'll die hard, ar any rate.' " — British Battles on Land and Sea.