WEEKLY WHISPERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 124, 1 June 1901, Page 2

WEEKLY WHISPERS.

If there's a hole tn a' your coats, I rede ye, tent t' it. A chiefs amang ye takin' notes, And, faith, he'll prent it. — BfIBNS A northern non-com. returned from the war tells a rather good story illustrative of the straits to which the troops were more than once reduced in the way of a scarcity of wearing apparel generally. At Kroonstadt, when some of the men's clothing were in a very bad condition, boots were among the articles served out to replace their dilapidated predecessors. But these leather goods ran out, and not a few soldiers had got boots too small. One of the unlucky oneß was a Wellington man, who, however, was equal to the occaaion.-for he cut out the whole of the toe portion of the uppers, and was content to have his sock-covered toes exposed. But his hose soon became exhausted and then the bare toes were revealed, and they still retain marks of the knocking about they received. One day, while on duty, he was confronted by General Hutton, who, seeing the trooper's plight, there and then instructed that the man should be provided at once with proper footwear. Of course the officer said, "Yes, sir," but he could do no more. The boot supply had rnn out, and it was not for weeks and weeks after that " Dick's toes " — one of the jokes of the company — once more disappeared from sight. The poor old Noah's Ark and boneshaker, and menagerie, long known and laughed at as Nelson's trams, have at last ceased to make their half-hourly journeys —remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow. They repose, for the present at least, in their last resting place, the gasworks yard, the victims of progress and change. Alas ! for " nos mutamur" during the ' ' tempore, mutantur " — the process is often painful and sometimes saddening. It was almost a moxumf ul procession, that laat ride on the old busses by the Uity Council, wth the Towu Clerk solemnly collecting the final and mortuary pennies. Will there be a Phoonix to arise out of the ashes of the old vehicles, in an up-to-date and highly varnished service to astonish tbe visitor ? • » * A new way of showing appreciation of an actor was exhibited at the Wellington Opera House the other night during the performance of "lolanthe" At the conclusion of a popular number a bouquet of flowers was thrown to Mr E„ J. Hill, and later one was handed to Mr. T Wilford. The idea seemed rather to stagger the recipients, the bunch for Mr Wilford causing especial concern to Mr Halley, who was nearest it when he reached the stage. He eyed it with evident suspicion, and appeared considerably nonplssed as to whether it was an infernal machine or a tribute of merit.. Finally he carried it gingerly to the wings. A box of cigars was also thrown to Mr Wilford. • * # Here's a description of a novel kind of fancy ball :— The other night tho Marquis de Crequi-Lesdiguieres gave a unique aviary ball at her gloomy hotel in the Rue de Lille in Paris. The walls of the great ballroom which, from the reign of Henry the Fourth up to the days of fche Revolution, had only seen character dances and stiff minuets, were hidden by a trellis of thin gilded bars. Here and there creepers hung in festoons. Salad leaves, bits of sugar, biscuits, and all sorts of bird food were fixed between the bars of the great cage, lighted from the top by soft electric lamps shaded to produce a sort of moonlight effect. There hundreds of quaint creatures were playing at being birds, most of the men imitating the singing and chirping of the dickie-birds they represented. Paroquets had been chosen by many on account of their brilliant colours, which allowed a display of the most gorgeous ■ stuffs. Some had donned the wings of humming birds, while tall storks, rose? coloured ibises, and graceful cranos flitted fearlessly among fierce-lookine

V-- iinwr" " i ir ri -mm" " ' '"— ' ""** "" vtilfcnres and hawks,".tame* for this occa sioniotily. ?» away "* another gallery toy means of a* l ingenious mechanism, th< romantic roulades of a nightingale trUlec forth from time to time. Later on in th< night, after a champagne Bupper. it i said tiie birds became exceedingly noisy. • * * At the Melbourne celebrations.— Fool ing the cabman : He had just got honu at two in the morning, after a long drive " Stop a bit, cabman," he said ; " yot muat wait until I bring a hght ; Iv< dropped a sovereign somewhere in the bottom of your cab." The cabman drov< off furiously— but he didn't find the sovereign. A most remarkable affair haa occurred in San Francisco, hi which a living mar has been judicially declared to be dead and his savings have been distributed among the heirs of another man. One Carlo Solari was struck fey a car in July, 1890, and killed. Public Administrator Drinkhouse applied for letters of administration, and the case moved serenely through Judge Coffey's Court. The ram of ; 1,726,500 dole, was standing in the name of Carlo Solari in the books of the Hibeniia Bank. The Public Administrator took it, and kindly gave Carlo a fine funeral which cost 49810d01s The remainder of the money was divided anions the PubUo -Administrator and tne heirs. On February 14, 1901, Carlo Solari presented his bank book at the Hiberma Bank to draw two years accrued interest. He was told that he wa 8 dead; and bidden to go away ; that being dead, his money had been paid to his heirs. The' j live Catfo Solari insists that his money should not have been paid to anybody's heirs, least of allto another man's, until heis really dead. He insists that he xso not dead, and that, as Mark Twain says, the statements that he is dead are very greatly exaggerated. • • • Accommodating >'d man: Ho "I asked your father's consen I by telephone. She—" What was (his answer ?" He - "He said: 'I don't kuow who you are, but its all right."' # • * A writer's aspirations : They were looking through the library. "If you had the divine gift, what would you rather wnfep* asked the romantic young Woman. " Cheques," replied the Bordid young man. MOFFTJSSILITE.