TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 9830, 19 October 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

[From Oub Special Correspondent.]

London, August 30. THE DANGERS OF EDUCATION.

" The New Child," a School Board product, is rapidly becoming a more interesting study than the New Woman, for the latter is comparatively harmles except as a cyclist, whereas the New Child is a danger to the community, as you will see by reading on. A lady applied to a magistrate the other day for some advice. She wanted his assistance in preventing the School Board from developing the alarming precocity of her five-year-old son. This infant phenomenon could actually read the advertisements on tramcara and omnibuses (!), and his mother naturally feared for his future. The magistrate could not see his way to help the mother ; but a glance through the Police Court reports of the date of her application shows what advertisement— reading at five develops into. In one case two boys, aged eleven and twelve respectively, were brought before the magistrate charged with trespass and damage to fruit trees. The case against them was clear, but when the worthy stipendiary fixed the price of the damage at 20s each the senior defendant remonstrated. "How," said he, " can you make the damage 20s? We only broke one bough—a little one—and the fruit ou it wasn't worth two bob." Flabbergasted, the magistrate was trapped into an explanation. " The bough you broke will not grow for several years,' said he, " and I take iuto account the loss of fruit in ensuing years." The senior defendant made a rapid mental calculation, and remarked that even then 20s was excessive. Finally the magistrate reduced the fine to liis and 12s (id respectively. In another case a youth of fourteen got fourteen days for stealing .'id worth of damsons from an M.P.s garden ! It was not his first essay in crime. At Clerkenwell a couple of boys were birched for " burglariously entering " the premises of a local sweetmeat vendor and stealing therefrom several pounds of jujubes. These juvenile burglars were lacking some months of eight and nine years respectively. At sixteen the advertisement reader develops into a Regent street pickpocket, and an utterly irreverent person into the bargain. One sixteen-year-old, caught redhanded recently, told Mr Newton that the sentence of "two calendar months" upon himself and his three companions was most unfair. •" It is our first offence, and we ought to be dealt with under the First Offenders Act," said he warmly. The magistrate might have seen the force of the argument had not Edward Butler and his companions given false names and addresses when charged. Butler gave the name of John Morley, one of his comrades iu crime described himself to the police as Henry of that ilk, and a third made base use of the respected name of Balfour. Had he prefixed "Jabez" no one would have complained, but he chose " Arthur." Under these circumstances two months was an inadequate sentence. One has no doubt that all these juvenile lawbreakers could read advertisements as five-year-olds. Their mothers were probably proud of the fact, but the lady who applied to Mr Hopkins for advice had a keener eye to the future. A TKIOn-H OK KKD TAPE. Argentine paper money has long enjoyed the reputation of beinsr the dirtiest in the world—not even excepting the Hungarian paper currency. In counting a pile of which recently an unfortunate bank clerk licked so many microbes off his forefinger that he contracted several virulent diseases and died in one hour. It is, therefore, something of a relief to learn that the Caja De Conversion is uow engaged ;in the laudable process of exchanging new notes for old. The Caja, it is true, is doing the job in its own inimitable fashion, which is to make as many bites at a cherry as possible, aud will only give new notes for old in the exact value, number, and proportion in which the latter are paid in. " Thus," to use the picturesque language of theß.A. 'Standard,' "it happens that a retail grocer who takes to the Caja a wheelbarrow load full of dirty five and ten-cent notes and asks in exchange one TiOOdol note is sent about his business. The clerks grin, the porters grin, and the poor huxter is compelled to receive a pyramid of new five and ten-cent notes, which takes him a whole day to count." This is certainly rough ou the grocer, but he has the satisfaction of knowing that the Caja clerks have also to count the dirty ones. And this, as the Hungarian bank clerk proved, is a much more dangerous occupation. They in turn will have the satisfaction of suffering in the cause of cleanliness, whilst the "huxter'' is simply sacrificed at the shrine of red tape. THE SEA riEHPKNT. Once again, in accordance with a tradition which no journalist desires to see broken, the sea serpent is with us. This time he comes from the Scilly Isles (appropriately enough), or rather the story does, and he is not so much a sea serpent a3 a huge fish with several suspicious shark-like characteristics and some necessary variations from that type. The "monster" hae been caught, however, and minutely described, so the usual jokes on the subject cannot be perpetrated on this occasion. The description of the monster tallies closely with that of the large ground sharks which infest the Gulf of Floiida, and the theory advanced that it is one of these which has wandered across with the Gulf Stream is probably correct. Certainly the Scilly tish is no serpent iu the accepted sense of the word, but it is a sufficiently unusual marine creature to supply the needs of the season, without, however, prejudicing the chances of later arrivals of a more ophidian character. It is the common opinion that all sea serpents are the outcome of imagination, but in spite of the gibes of the many I think it argues no unintelligent credulity to believe that some of the sea serpent legends have a substantial basis of fact. We have not yet mastered all the wonders of the •deep, and it is well that mockers should be reminded that Pliny's perfectly accurate description of the giraffe was a favorite subject for contemptuous hilarity until the present century was reached. Recent African discoveries have confirmed in a surprising manner the truth of similarly dorjded statements of Homer and Herodotus, s,nd the memory of the outbursts of incredulity which Du Chaillus's first account of the corilla provoked can hardly yet have faded out of public memory. An examination of the evidence relating to the appearances of the sea serpent since 1847 should give the mocker pause. One of the most famous and bestauthenticated appearances of the monster is that recorded to have been observed by the officers and crew of H.M.S. Du-dalus, in 1848. The account of this marine monster first appeared iu 'The Times' but subsequently, in answer to official questionings, Capuiu M'.Quhae sent in an official report. The substance of this document is that on the tith August, in latitude 24deg -Urnin S., and longitude Meg 22min E., something very unusual was .seea by Midshipman Sarturis rapidly appi/oaebing the ship from before the beam. Sarturis immediately reported to the officer •of the watch, with whom the captain aud Mr Barrett, the master, were pacing the nuarter deck. On their attention being drawn to the object, "it was discovered to be an enormous serpent, with head aud shoulders kept about 4ft constantly above the surface of the sea, and as nearijr as we could approximate by comparing it with the length of what our inaintopsail would show in the water, there was at the very leastCOft of the animal a Jleur dtau, no portion of which was, in our perception, used in propelling it through the water, either by vertifical or horizontal motion. "It passed rapidly," says CaptainM'Quhae, «' but so close under our lee quarter that had it been a man of my acquaintance I should have easily recognised his features with the naked eye. . . . The diameter of the serpent was about 15in behind the head, which was, without doubt, that of a snake, and it was never, during the twenty minutes that it continued in sight of our classes, onae below the surface of the water. This monsters color was dark brown, with •yellowish white about the throat. It had no fins,but somethinglike the maneof ahorse, or rather a bunch of seaweed, washed about 3U back. In addition to Captain M'Quhae and the officers mentioned thio serpentine apparition was seen by the quarto*-piaster, the boatswain's mate, and the man »t the wheel Thi? evidence is surely

" good enough to go on with." Soon after tho Dcedalus encounter the American brig Daphne sighted a Bimilar monster (probably the same one) 20deg further south. In 1877 Captain Nelson, of the American ship Sacramento, sighted a strange sea monster in latitude 31deg 59min N., and longitude 37deg W. The man at the wheel had the better view of this serpent, however, for Captain Nelson did not arrive on deck till it had proceeded some distance on its way. The helmsman's description of the monster, of which he estimated some 40ft lay in view on the surface of the water, was that of a serpent with a head similar to a crocodile. Another well-authenticated sea serpent is that seen by l)r Biccard, of Cape Town, and seven others from Green Point Lighthouse in 1857. This monster disappeared after beiug fired at twice, but the elector and his son had it in view for some considerable time. They estimated its leugth at •200 ft. In April, 1879, Major H. W. Senior, of the Bengal Staff Corps, supplied the ' Graphic' with a description and a sketch of a marine monster seen from the City of Baltimore in latitude l'ideg 28min N., longitude 43deg 52min E. The major first saw the creature about three-quarters of a mile distant "darting rapidly out of the water and splashing in again with a noise distinctly audible.'' The serpent came within 500 yards of the vessel before finally disappearing, but its rapid motions rendered minute observation through glasses impossible. It rose out of the water to a height of _2oft or SOft, openiDg its jaws as it erected itself, and closing them again as it lowered its head for a dive. The body was not visible. The head of this monster is described by Major Senior as " not unlike pictures of the dragon I have seen, with a bulldog appearance of the forehead and eyebrow.'' The major's statement was attested by Dr Hall, the ship's surgeon, and Miss Greenfield, a passenger, both of whom saw the creature.

Then we have the extraordinary account of a battle between a sea serpent and three whales, sworn to by Captaiu Drevar of the barque Pauline and his officers and crew before Mr Rallies, stipendiary magistrate at Dale Street Police Court, Liverpool. On the Bth July, 1875, whilst the Pauline was off Cape Roque, Brazil, the captain and crew saw three large sperm whales, one of them being gripped round the body by what appeared to be a large sea serpent. The head aud tail portions of the encircling monster appeared to have a length of about 30ft beyond the double coil round its victim, and the girth of the serpent was about Bft or Oft. After whirling the whale round several times, the serpent dragged its victim out of sight. Five days after the monster again appeared in sight of the Pauline—"a short distance to leeward"— and showed COft of its length above the waters. As there was no inducement to Captain Drevar aud his crew to " fashion a noble lie," it is hard to believe that their story had not a solid basis of fact. Again, in June, 1577, the officers and crew of the royal yacht Osborne testify to having seen a huge marine monster off the coast of Sicily, and Captain Cringle, of the Umfuli, saw a prodigious sea serpent between Cape Bojador aud Cape Blanco on the> 4th December, 1893. The entry in his log relating to this appearance says: "Calm and smooth sea." "530: Sighted and passed about 500 yds from ship a mouster fish of the serpent shape about 80ft long, with slimy skin and short fins at about 20tt apart on back, and in circumference about the dimension of a full-sized whale. 1 distinctly saw the fish's mouth open and shut with my glasses. The jaw appeared to me about 7ft long, with large teeth. In shape it was just like a conger." Captain Cringle and his crew had this monster in full sight for over half an hour, and the sea was calm as a mill pond, so deception &r. to the nature of the apparition was out of the question. There were passengers, too, on board the Umfuli, and they all saw the monster. If sceptics are not satisfied with the evidence here put forth let. them get the 'Strand Magazine' for August, where they will fiud fuller particulars, and many more cases recorded. I.ITKKAKY NOTES. I am ashamed to confess that till I read the fact in that estimable periodical the ' Young Man' I was wholly unaware that Mr Baring Gould, the novelist, and the author of the popular hymn 'Onward, Christian soldiers,' were one and the same person. Mr Gould says the famous sacred lyric was written thirty years ago for a Whit Monday school feast iu 'Yorkshire. The youngsters of two villages were to meet and do a march together, and Mr Gould, then "a pale young curate," thought it would improve matters if they sung a song at the same time. So he resolved to sit up that evening and write something himself. ' Onward, Christian soldiei'3,' was the result. " It was," says Mr Gould, "written in great haste, and I'm afraid some of the rhymes are faulty." Later iu the same interview Mr Gould accidentally lets out how it happens his novels are so unequal in merit. He makes a point when he commences a new story of writing a chapter a day. Often he does not succeed, and may sit for hours only filling a sheet or two. But in that case he forces himself to do twice his average modicum on the morrow. A worse system or one more likely to result in poor work I don't think I've often read of. Mr Gould confesses he seldom takes much interest in his characters. His hobbies are historic study and antiquarian research. He always puts off as long as possible the evil day for beginning a new novel. Sir John Lubbock's selected " One Hundred Best Books," which Messrs Routledge have been publishing at brief intervals during the last four years, are now complete, and can be purchased in a uniform set, price £lO 12s. The prices of individual works vary from 153 (' Humboldt's Travels,' in three obese volumes) to Is 6d, but the largest number average 3s 6d. There can be no question that the selection is an excellent one, and forms an admirable groundwork for a village library or mechanics' institute. Gilbert Parker's ' When Valmond came to Pontiac' has run through three editions and is growing in popularity daily. Mr Fletcher, of the ' New Age,' says : " It is, so far, the one work of genius which the fiction of 1895 has produced." The phrase "magenta sins," which Mrs Caffyn use 3 several times in ' A Comedy of Spasm 3,' ha 3 caught the fancy of several decadent scribes, and threatens to become common. I hope not, because it is after all only a poor plagiarism on the Hebrewseer who—as a friendly reviewer remarks—knew nothing of aniline djes, and quite unworthy of "lota." The new Badminton, which deals with ' Sea Fishing' as a sport in various parts of the world, contains little of interest to Australasians, but a forthcoming revised edition of 'Cycling, 5 brought up to date by Licy Hillier, should be acceptable, especi- ■ ally as Lord Onslow contributes a chapter. The venerable Dr Martineau will contribute a memoir of his late colleague John Hamilton Thorn to a volume of sermons by the latter entitled ' A Spiritual Faith,' which Longmans are bringing out this autumn. Mr Thorn's sermons are very learned and philosophical, and far above the heads of most of us, but they have always had a public of their own, and [sold well both in England and America. The ability displayed by the puzzle editors of the ' Golden Penny' in inventing new competitions requiring indubitable skill is yielding that journal a rich harvest, as the hu<»e piles on the bookstalls show. Their leading principles are " all replies on post cards " (an enormous saviDg of clerical labor and time) and "one prize of one guinea only" for each competition. Andrew Lang's Christmas book will be the ' Red True Story Book,' a sequel to the blue volume of the same name, which had such a great success in 1892. Nearly all the most popular living writers of romance will supply embroidered verities. Amongst theautumn publicationsof Messrs Methveu wijl be an edition of Burns, edited by W. E. Henley; 'Chapters from the Romance of Australian Life,' by Mary Gaunt; ' A Flash of Summer,' by Mrs W. K. Clifford ; ' Noemi,' by Baring Gould ; 'The King of Andaman,' by Maclaren Cabban; and • An Electric Spark,' by Fenn. SWIMMING. It is by way of being a pleasant task to chronicle a defeat of "Jacky" Tyers, even though that defeat was not brought about bv man. For I am heartily sick of the successes of this "amateur" champion/'' who trots about the oountry year in and year out picking up pots every other day, so to speak,

His reverse in the Long-distance Championship on Saturday preserves to the A.S.A. one championship trophy. The rest have been won by Tyers outright, and having won this long-distance pot two years in succession the champion had only to swim the distance from the mouth of the Weir ■to Barmston Ford, some five miles and three-quarters, to make it also "his very own." The opposition counted for little, being confined to W. Green, of Liverpool, and Coulthard, the local champion of Sunderland. The weather at the start was beautifully fine, but there was a good deal of "fresh" in the river, which made the water rather colder than was desirable. The champion went off with the lead of Green, and Coulthard was quickly left astern. He wisely retired at 500 yards. At Sunderland bridge Tyers was streets ahead of the Liverpudlian, and a little further on wanted to "chuck it." His friends encouraged him to persevere, and he dragged slowly along for another half-mile, when Green gave up. Tyers was rapidly becoming numbed, and, after being in the water Hi 27min, was helped into the referee's boat. He had covered a little over three miles.