BY THE WAY.

Evening Star, Issue 14226, 27 November 1909, Page 9

BY THE WAY.

H J chance to talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father.—‘ Henry VIII.’

The weather of late has been very human. «o,t° say. being changeable and tarnished with faults. Since the beginning of the cricket season onr climate has deteriorated. 1 have spoken kindly of it when almost everybody else condemned it with random ■words. To complain of the weather is to ]nuv the fool. Climate is above criticism, and there’s ap end out. It is deaf to the prayers of righteous men. We must be content with tho multitude of compensations. When there is rain there is no dust. Let us dream of belter days. If Yuletide and the time of harvest he perfect, think little ol ii passing shower. The time for lamentation is net yet. Wealth is growing in tile green fields, and we are better .served than many places whore weather and worse work spre havoc among the affairs of men. I saw in an Auckland newspaper that the blowing up of ;l powder bulk was a niightv mere serious affair than a spell of shifty weather. A wordy reporter used about three yards of gcod paper to describe the explosion and recount many a terrible incident. Iho worst was a remarkable happening. and allows what some New Zealanders have to suffer. Thus: ’’A workman engaged on the erection of a house at tat. llrliers had his hat blown off. and another had to make a second attempt to light Ins pipe. MTiat think ye of that, my fortunate 1 fiends.' Two matches to light a pipe, and a hut Mown off. What a lucky Workman not to have had his shirt blown off. Mow like Auckland! Heaven knows what her rqiortcrs would write if anything serious really happened. What with escaping explosions, eaitlupiakcs, Hondo, strikes, murder, and rusted crops. Otago, I think, is singularly favoicd. What would a Scotch community do it things happened that made nrcc.vsary a. second attempt to light our pipes. No Wenger we are rich. * ***** *

1 lio civilised human species. I sometimes think, is composed of two widely different races—the.-p win travel and those who see the travellers go and return. There is ;i rare charm in travelling, and not a little pleasure in the contemplation of going on a journey. Ail those who must linger in a nook of the wide earth dream of \ho time when they, 100, shall lake the road to unt i.-ioured c.iann.s. It is odd how much pleasure one gets from seeing a friend off on a journey. Ido not mean to say that it is pleasant to be rid of a fiieml, although, to be sure that is a delight apart on ctcasions. 1 here is pleasure in the thought Unit a iricnd goes out to see the things and scenes that tug at the iieait.s of the moot settled m life. That, perhaps, is why there 13 . il of emotion at the departure oi a liner, and even of what vou call an express train. In truth, the Wandertlnrsl attacks the steadiest of souk, and draws a man from home to drink of the pleasures- of a distant fountain. And vet 1 1 a* ol is a. tease. All the world over folk and semes are much the same. Often tV> lairrst pleasure lies at homo. -‘Though wo travel the world over to find (ho beautiful, ue must carry it with us, or wc find it not. So of pleasure. Yet the call ox the tar country i« ;t wonderful thing. It is a kind of music, ami a kind of mockery, ooniewhore far Irom lionif wc fancy there I.' a. wider freedom, a more tuneful son". And we long to go. It i s a [l a snare. If wo cannot go there seems a .-nlaec in waving a farewell to hopeful wanderers. .Mama of the far quest Alter the divine I Striving ever ’for some goal I‘ast the blunder-god's control 1 Dreaming of potential veins When no day shall dawn in fears! I hats the .Mania of my sou!, W nnder-lnide of mmol * ***** * Tile real soldier, who is always ready to spring at the throat of an invader, is not what you would call a fat man, like an innkeeper of a country not menaced with Prohibition. The genuine military man (locs not carry the burden of the oyerlcd. He is lean, active, hard as the hills. [ saw a volunteer on the march not long ago, and learnt something of the cause of the blight on voluntary soldiering in our pcaceml land. It was obvious that to him marching was hard workmore of a kind of punishment Ilian u patri- ( ° tlc preparation. He was too fat. The day was hot—ono of our typical clavs and sweat rilled his dust-grimed face as though he had been smacked with a bunch of wet ferns. To the cool pedestrian idling t>n a bank *jrecM with Jiving grass tJiis fat soldier was not an inspiration— not a public example of the benefits of military training. Tim march past of a company ot military men. bo they paid or merely patriotic, should be a passing show of fitness. I have seen a regiment of kilted H'ghlandera step past John Knox’s house in Old Hamburgh with such a gay sprightlincss and uniformity of action That rickety, bottle-shouldered loafers ahonl the Heart of .Midlothian and bv the buttresses of fft. (tiles Church instinctively Hepped out ot their undeveloped eeives. j,s it were, and, for a moment, dwelt in (he of strong men. 'The rhythmical Hnde of a soldier is the sten 0 f vonth And youth is loan. To the man who ne-ds not wage war against his own fat Age is tardy in coming. If In- anv cham n (so it should he) a battalion of volunteers were to inarch easily through this fair land of self-burdened young men, and ho a ivujg sign ot lb" true henelits of diViptnary _ military training, the clamor for conscription (~-dl j, |, v ;l Illj!( j fil . n . im „ if c O,l -. like) would ilot he u call r,f contcnmt against the majority of .Now Zealanders. Me are all true patriots at heart, really, but the expre-ssioii of the patriotism js fell of fault. Above all tilings, let the soldier keep his girth within reasonable compass, ■fighters are never fat. * ’ * * * * * *

Compulsory military training must come if for no other one! than It, induce tin* ftmli o! \ming Xnw Zealand. Even heard less youths in these abundant da vs ape the lor in of ancient aldcrnrou-those jolly-laced J-.ngiisit merchants om> gomct.n.es sees m pictures of Merry England hetore the era 01 cut-throat compelition. n he days when heer was a true .stimulant. and roast tr-et a national staff. X - u - Zealand is, perhaps, the only country tvher-m one can see hard workers almost perspire in stoop,.,g. “I i R a sign of rare prospenty and a statutorial measure of labor, and lor that alone this common stoutness. this concentration of an excess of good living. i )e p avd , m eri. Lmi, tin ns a mills spirit, against work (tar dens hecoui" tiie nurwiw. of woods, and home life i« no more tnau an easv snei) between the measured periods of what'we are pleased to call work. | know what I. write. Even my girth Ims been a target tor my friends. And the thine grows in spite of the host intentions. You resolve to eat sparingly, to vise at dawn ami delve your garden, to step over the hills at eve, to begin some open-air sport' so that your annoying round ness might be dissolved And the scent of a joint mi the spit kills your honest intention. Time passes, sweet savors work havoc in the mind, thing,; are neglected, the girth increases. A man begins to review life ironi an easy chair, and feels too fat to go out and tilt against cleansing winds and plumping rain. So there is need of compulsion. Leanness is health, long youth constant lit ness, better life. Let the bugles sound, my merry masters I Even bowling is ; ,ot an antidote to corpulence. With some genial men. to be sure, it is an aid to magnificent girth. ******* I I'' \ M.P-. ex-Minifiter of Laboi, has hioken out again. He-appears 4 ri 6 111 - :l " reat oiond at Wcllinot°n the other night, playing with word’s as a conjurer ph.ys will, curds. -He went on to <)eljver hi* opinion on hU former colleagues, ?avs the * Star e * special correspondent, “m terms which, even to those who have noticed the trend of his speeches ;n Parliament, were startling, if not painful, for their lack of taste (and possibly too libellous for publication). He deHcrihecl a miniature menagerie, whose proprietor called it a happy ‘"'family.” I W f" vcls ’fy tiie latest ebullition AlasterUm

Of all tho M.P.s I have met, Condemned to flounder in a fog, A martyr grips my fancy yet— I moan that wise man 3dr Hogg. Since he was pushed from high estate His tongue has loosened bit by biL And when he speaks tho Sword of Hate Stabs erstwhile comrades ns they sit Within that House where every man Is pledged to honor like a king, And if Wrath drives, as drive it can, Each tongue must strive to curb its sting. Without the House the same rule holds, Be man a martyr or a fool; And ho who storms or merely scolds Forgets the teaching of his school. But Mr Hogg, who is no fool, Makes of his comrades bird and beast, And holds them up to ridicule — Which is not. wise, to say the least, lie places them within a cage, And makes Sir Joseph as Old Dan, Who did the lions’ rage assuage, Because he was a chosen man. But Mr Hogg forgot to say What was the man cast from the lair, Within the State Menagerie ■ Mas Mr Hogg the dancing bear? * x- x * * * *

Fashion demands a stiff price from its votaries. Where ,:s the man who has not cursed the inventor of stiff collars anil the makers of squeaking boots? And the wisest doctors, who of course have a wide and profitable practice, are not afraid to speak to women about the deadly effectsof fashionable corsets. Of that branch of fashion, however, [ know very little, only enough perhaps to believe Unit a woman is dearer to the hand without them. I see that a London doctor has discovore-d a common cause, of coughs and colds. The habit of turning up the trousers to protect them from the wet is dangerous. It causes coughs and colds to men. The tnrned-np edges become soaked through, and then act as wet bandages around tho ankles. The theory seems sound, and is worth putting into practice. Better have wet feet than a cold in the head—a trouble that is rather common among men in Dunedin just now. ’t he Indies, fortunately, arc not so susceptible. Of course they are not so fashionaide or, men! Have you ever noticed bow a. lady can keep rain off her precious fincrv with a toy of an umbrella, whereas a man with a tent-like gingham gets quite wet. Thai, perhaps, is to be expected of a race that wear their buttons at their backs. And yet men fancy themselves the superior race !

V.'ite desertion appears to be on the increase. I wonder why. Arc I lie men alone to blame? That is the question. Meet of the deserters. 1 fancy, believe that the girls they leave behind them are not their wives. This, heeau.se a deserter has not gone 'through the form of marriage. It is a pity thafc the influences of free and compulsory education, cheap boohs, _ free public libraries, and the knowledge of preachers have not educated men to an understanding that a marriage ceremony is the least of matrimony, and not matrimony. In a world of gentlemen, if such is possible under the. sun. a report such as that issued by tho Benevolent Trustees the other day would never he published. It is amazing to know that educated men run from their obligations, as it appears some of them do. They escape lightly because the civilised world is blighted with a mock modesty, a sham sentiment. One must not talk" too plainly of such a delicate subject, you know. That is a very proper thing. There is no call for too much talk, plain or obscure. Corrective action is needed. Men who desert women who need marriage should be laid by the heels without any display of sentiment at all. The hish for the scamp should bo one of tho first laws of a civilised country. The safeguarding of virtue is of more moment to a nation than an award of the Arbitration Court. Women are born of a trusting nature, so that men may have a chance to prove themselves gentlemen. I hope that some of the enthusiasm of the Prohibitionists and the preachers will bo used in helping the Benevolent Trustees to have enacted laws that shall compel men to face their obligations. One ruined girl is a sorrier sight than twenty drunken men. The pity of it ail is that more fuss is made of the more foolish spectacle. Momus.