"ON ǢSTHETICISM, OR DEAD CATS.”

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6837, 26 January 1883, Page 6

"ON ǢSTHETICISM, OR DEAD CATS.”

TO THE BDITOB. Sib, —The moralists tell ns that there always is a bitter in every onpt now the bitter in our river takes the shape of dead oats. Oats are not (in spite of the Egyptians) immortal, and necessarily mast die} bat I fail to see the necessity of burying (hem in the river. Is it because the Avon is » sacred stream that old cate are taken down to ite waters to die, os they say the pious Hindoos do with their old parents when they cany them to the brink of the Ganges P whatever may be the reason there they (the oats) ore, neatly sewn up in sacks. How, if they had been previously embalmed before they bad been tied up in sacks, no well regulated mind could have raised an objection. But the odour of dead cate is exceedingly high, and reaches unto the nostrils of those who go down to the waters in boats, and prompts to strong language and the enquiry for the man whose duty -it is to inter these oats. By the way, when the man is found he might os well, when he is about it, bury the few dead sheep and dogs which repose upon the banks of this placid stream. It is very pleasant on a summer’s evening to float down the river in a skiff, look at the moon, and quote poetry } bat the whiff of a dead pig (alas, pigs must be added to the list of the dead) drives the quotations from one’s memory, throws a cloud over the moon, and leaves one indifferent to the comets, planets or other heavenly bodies.

Yon, Sir, who can find everyone (in your advertisements) please discover a second Hercules to cleanse our polluted stream, and you will reosivo the blessing of him who either rows, bathes, or walks by the side of oar beautiful Avon.—l am, &0., CATALOGUE.