THE GATHERER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 134, 8 June 1907, Page 6

THE GATHERER.

HAPPY BIRDS

Tho birds of the forest are to be congratulated. They are hard at work at their annual house-building, without feat- of labour unions or walking dogates.—-Newsletter, San Francisco. TRAMPING TO EMPIRE. Tlio Englishman's house may be his castle, but he has a fondness for long walks which has resulted in a Colony 'liovo and there until the British Empire has been made. — Canadian Courier, Toronto^ HOME, .SWEET HOME. The chief reason for leaving home is iV.it one may the better enjoy coming back to it. " Home is the place we have ko studiously, suited to our own "lu^ds that it fits us like an outer envelops. In no other house do we feel .so absolutely ourselves. —Truth.THE LIQUOR HABIT. Although the time has long gone, by when to drink to excess stamped the gentleman, and to refiise to drink marked a churlish disposition or even worse-, there is still too close a mental ' connection between wine and conviviality, between business dealings and thinking.—British Medical Journal. PARK FOR THE GUILELESS. Mr John D. Rockefeller has presented his beautiful summer home, Forest Hill, as a pVblie park, with an endowment of £400,000 to the town of Cleveland. He makes the stipulation that- no tobacco or liquor shall be sold therein, and that dancing shall always bs- forbidden. The estate consists of 600/ acres, ■ beautifully laid out, with a large mansion. . ' WATCHED BY THE WORLD. It rests entirely with the Boers now to show that the welfai-e of their country is dearer to them than the- supremacy -of their race, that they accept . their share in the British Empire? "net grudging-or of necessity," but with a real determination to make a success of it. They make1 their new fjlnrt with the sympathy of every class in the colony and the eyes of the world upon their efforts.—Star, Johannesburg. LONDON'S ACID ENEMY. "It is estimated that the amountof sulphuric acid which falls on London buildings in a year is 500,000 v tens," said Professor A. H. Church in the course of a lecture at the Royal Institution. "This sulphuric acid is the chief /meniv London's buildings have to fear. flHHHHHß||^^^nt by coal and gas, and frescoes and stone, of insrusthe cornices which hare acid impre fo on the. Portland and then dripping on the JB^Rrnice." SWATFEST GOLF. What is swatfest golf?\ The game originated in Chicago, where many mysteries come from, and is played as follows: Players start out from the j first tee in pairs, and all wait at the . first green till the last couple have hobcl out. The player who has the Ipvgesfc number of strokes for the hole drops out. This is repeated at each hob, the player staying in the longest winning. It reminds us of the ten Kills nigger boys.—Golfing. v While riding across the bridge to Stratford," says Mr H. Crawford, of Cardiff, N.Z., "my horse slipped, coining down on my leg and bruising jfc very badly. As soon as I got home 1 bathed the limb in very hof water, and then had Chamberlain's Pain Halm thoroughly rubbed in. Have always been a believer in this liniment, and am more so now, for in two df».ys' time the soreness had nearly disappeared, and within a week I was at fit as ever." For sale by J. Benningj Blenheim, and W. Syms, Picton, , '... ... . / ■:•.-./-_•• :.-.,<■ ■'■■" RATES BYiNiTALMENTS v :. : ;.o, ' l^rsle-y District.'Council, 'Lefeds^:has ''. ■■ cjb-viied W allow < r«%P*yers. v ;-;&>-- - paty.; thftir "fates by weekly instalments 6F not less,than Is. By this innovation the Council hope ie get rid almost entirely of- arrears. Th-a first instalment will be payable ■ftovon days after the service of demand jiotes, and the last at the time for closing, the rate book. COMMERCIAL CORRUPTION. It is not to be denied that our commovcial ethics need bracing up. The I secrat commission, the direct bribe, ilia many-headed monster, "treating," tho masked present, all these form an" obstacle in the path of honest aud diroct business. They may seem harmJess little practices enough carried out on a small scale; but in the bulk they represent a formidable element which lias a perceptible, effect on business generally.—Drapers' Record. CO OPERATORS AND THE TAXES. The Co-operative Wholesale Society h?.v&, during the past financial year, pri'l £564,000 in sugar duties on a total tif.de of £2,306,400; £359,500 in tobacco duties-on a* total trade of £589,----003; tea, £346,500—£956,200; dried fruit. £36,800—£335,000; coffee, £15,----200—£94,000; cocoa, £10,500—£280,----600; sugar in tinned fruit, £1,500 — £5*2,200; total for the seven specified --~.. articles, £1,334,000 in duties on trade .amounting to £4,614,000. . A MARK TWAIN GEM. Admirers of Mark Twain believe h© has never written anything more effective than the little verse he had cv.'j in the modest block of marble which marks the resting place of his svifoin Woodlawn Cemetery:— Warm summer sun, Shine kindly here, Warm southern wind, Blow softly here. Green sod above, Lie light, lie light. Good night, dear heart, Good night, good night. TR ATviPING.. TOURS FOR HEALTH. 1 wonder more English people don't mska walking'tours. We are supposed to h?> the most energetic and open-air people in the world. But'we are not lip.lf such walkers as the Germans. I nut sure that if five-sixths of the people. whom, doctors send to "take the Wftevs" in summer or autumn were t'.'ld to walk instead, carrying their luggage on their backs, it would do! th:-in far more good.—Rambler, in the AVo'Aiy Dispatch. Ma. "TIM" HEALY AND THE UNION JACK. Asked by an interviewer on his r"etnvi from'the United States: "Howdid you find America?" Mr T. Healy, M.l*., said: "What I say about

America when I am there is: 'I don't like your money-making, your frivolities don't interest- me, and j-our liberty I don't appreciate.' To tell you the truth, the first time when I was glad to see the Union Jack was when our steamer entered a Canadian port, having left America behind. It is true I did not quite relish the little man with the big sword that came on board immediately we cast anchor. But this I will admit: there is an air of freedom under the Union Jack which it is impossible to find in moneymaking America."