WEEKLY WHISPERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 28 September 1907, Page 2

WEEKLY WHISPERS.

Jl there's a hole m a' your coals, 1 rede ye tent it j . A chiefs Among ye /akin notes. And, faith, he'll prent it. — Buriis. It is curious hew the main meanings of certain words dominate the preconceptions of many. The word "prevent," frequent!* yused in the Book of Common Prayer and the Bible in its meaning of to "guide," -to- "go. before," to "direct." .inpenred irt the prayer at the consecration of the colours on Dominion Day — and half the population thought the newspaper that ni-inted tb» w ? rt l iw natt mad" K "bloomer," Apart floiil tlie BOok of Common Prayer and tin* Bible, wherein the Word "pi-eVeiil ' in its primary meaning occurs often, the dictionary" elves the interpretation las "lo go Uefol-e," to pi'ecf de ; hence to go b;* fore as ii guide; to direct,. "-The cognate verb -is "--reverie," (root P'ae, before, ami v.-nne, to conic,' praevenirej. The opening of the prayer on Thursday was "Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings," (otherwise "guide") and in the llv-ok vi Common Prayer there also appears among various other uses of tho word ;— "Wo pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow ys" — ((/oi'n.ij both before and behind us). 11l English verse aiid prose appear th? jin,is -- ' . . . . • "Thl'ii liad I .come, preventing Sheba's Queen." ' — PplOß. "Perhaps forestalling night prevented them." . " i - .•■ — MiLTOR*. "Strawberries .' " . . prevent aud come early." — Bacon. * - * * * Turkeys and cranberry sauce, and fireworks in the evening, constitute the American method of ringing in Thanksgiving Day — thanks for the declaration and success of independence. Presently, in a generation or so, New Zealanders will lie having a special dish for Dominion Day;* but what shall it be? Poached eiout and jugged venison, seeing thai both seasons are close at the end of September? Or, ih view of the progr??s of the wool, rabbit, and poultry industries, soup. a. la bunny, chops a i'Aiiglaisc, curried chpok, and duck iri aspic-,, washed uojvli by A.Rale or Gorman's quinine champSgne iri view cf the epidemic prevailing at this season. As to the small boy, the occasion to let off fireworks is always seizabie; but lei us not add another guycollecting scheme to the fifth November nuisance. Then, when we have fed and feel at ease, and go out for a drive in our airships, we may remember with a smile how our fprelaiher colonists did not quite realise what a difference it made, say at. Colombo, when we were oniv "colonials." * * * * To the travelling Australasian wiih nerves and sensibilities, nothing is so exasperating as the ccol preparedness and tolerant acceptance on the part of the Britoi) of older settlements of, any thing in the way of eccentricity and solecism a "coloniial" may do. And all the time otic feels that the tolerant stranger is waiting for. a lift of the coat to fee whether the .strange creature travelling with him carries a tail. "How well you spe-tk English!" is yet a net uncommon remark by our British cousins, made with a barely suppressed astonishment, just as we feel when we hear the gamins in Paris talking French! There is ,a sense of l-omplete-ness about a Dominion which a colony 1 dees not convey. The untravelled Briton—l hate that word "Britisher" and don't use it— goes to a way back place in Canada and takes a well-managed hotel on the Waldorf-Astor scale as a matter of course and growls for hot water because he is in a "Dominion." ' H? conies to Wellington and is quite tolerantly patronising about the excel- ■ lence of a very second-rate caravanserai ' where there is no fire at 3 a.m. with - the themomcter at freezing point, becauso it is only in a colony ; you know, and you can't expect things 5 as if you were in London. * * # * ' Finally, what shall we call ourselves \ now wo belong to a Dominion? Cana- ' diaiis are content to be Canadians, but | the word is easy. New Zealander is . outlandish and double, to say nothing about bein.g meaningless. Why New ' Zealand? Simply because a Zealander ' thought the new land in conformation 1 reseiribled his owil, which prcbab'y it does not in any way whatever. Maorilander is better, yet it is still suggestive of remote and unpeopled wilds, like the numerous "lands" of Africa and the Arctic and Antarctic regions. "Dominies" is too scholastic; "Dominionits" is barbarous; "Dummy" is too suggestive of land swindles ; and "Dcmmy" is over familiar, like "Johnny." We shall have to bo content with , seme of the old terms after all. We'll ' drop into "Colonials," "Colonists," "Colony" eyery now and then, and . pull ourselves up for a few- years. But by and by we may fit into the place quite comfortably, and feel Iriiperial and comfortable all over. » ♦ * * A gathering of great doctors, under the presidency of the Lord Mayor, urged upon a fashionably-dressed assembly at the Mansion House, London. on Juno 26, the advisableness of a simplo diet for rich and poor. So far as the rich wero concerned (says the "Daily Mail" report), tho 214 existing different kinds of soup and the 530 ways of dressing a chicken were re- j ferred to with scorn, while in the case f of tho poor the unintentionally extravagant selection of the improper food 1 was exemplified by the fact that Tti was sometimes spent upon food the equivalent of which could bo purchased for 4d. At the end of tho hall were numbers of stalls with foods of great nutritive value. Wholemeal "bread dominated the exhibits. There seemed a hundred forms of it. It was present in rolls and loaves and biscuits; there was wholemean bread made with baking powder and yeast, wholemeal bread of light cream colour and dark brown. Everyone was full of its praises. * « * * In the two hours of speeches wholemeal bread was well to the fore, and the poorness of the white bread was frequently emphasised. The superiority of the wholemeal bread lies in the fact that, weight for weight, it is probably three times as nutritive as the white bread. Tho latter is popular, it was explained, because it is very white and comparatively sweet. Sir James Crichton-Browne, follewinga long introductory speech by the Lord Mayor, moved a resolution urging coordinated efforts in various directions. Among the proposals was one to establish a body of health visitors to work in conjunction with medical officers of health in spreading information on food. Sir James declared that among tho wage-earning classes there was far too large an expenditure on food. Ut tho millions of people on tho verge of starvation many were in that position becauso they did not make the best use of their resources. What was wanted was the education of poor people as to the really cheap food and the way ( to make cheap food dainty and palatable He spoke of hungry children. "Feeding is better than education, he cried. It was not merely useless, but mischievous to try to force education on the mind of an ill-nourished child. * * * * He deplored the disuse of oatmeal for children and adults. "A small plateful of porridge," he said, is equal in value to two slices from a 4lb loaf, each three-quarters of an inch thick." Affluent people would do well to adopt the similar treatment of viands. Tho habits of private life,'" he said, "seem to favour kickshaws. The treatment causes food to lose some of its natural attractiveness. "Patent sauces," he added, are now only second in importance to patent pills. Dr Pearce Gould referred to the "deplorable ignoranco of all classes en food questions." ilain and wholesome food is wanted;" he said. He urged tho education of children on the matter in the elementary of the schools of the country. Dr "Svkos spoke of the importance of the fcod of mothers ana young children. At a school for "mothers in St. Pancras they not onlj gave the poorest dinners, but alsoshowed how those dinners could be pioduc-

ed at a small cost at home. The resolution was carried by acclamation. * tt * 44 After the meeting one of the speakers gave a "Daily Afaii" representative a list of some of the foods which ai-e very nutritious, and afford the best value for money. Here they are : — Lentils, Dripping, Wholemeal Bread, Colonial Meat; Herrings, Treacle,', t-heese. Oatmeal. ;.-. ; U ■. Bacon is goed." he saitl, ','hut, (t H '•" "'J esi'ensivo." Eggs ite o had spallation from a money poirif of view, because you can get much : better value in oUier directions. For meat it is Impossible to improve on colonial imported flesh; it is excellent. Herrings are splendid food ; they are cheap and highly nutritious. White bread is a bad speculation for a working man. There Is far too miich of it eaten, ,* .* * * *•'•- ■! ' I'lie absurdly cycb'phaijtilj. tiil-5 'cl " yoUr Worship I '— a corruption of the -r'ipirri! appellation of " Worship" - •vliich is sti I apiliod to t!ie honorary mnsistraft-s in courts of p. tfy sessio", is dislast'-ful to at lea-it one suburban bench of just ces, judging by an incident tha? cCiuived at ihe South' Melbourne Court rßc-nllv.. The chairman (Jar F. ft Hartley. 3, P.) reproved a defefidgn* v, H"> had addtfcssed htftl bj* the dlgnitWd courtesy title. bf y ybpr Honpur:" Jipn't cJUl.rne J yq-jr Honour,'." lie. remarket}; '■ becausr* I ata not &niitled tb t^io Usdae? As a matler of. fact.'' added the chai^ man, speaking to the court generally, ! ! as far as I am concerned, I do ; not even oAre about Jbeing addressed. (*j- 'yojr Tfofshij*.''- t : think it-is .1 ridlcd!*-^^ servile form in a democratic' comftiimt-W Plain " Sir '■ i» good enough -for me." In this connection, tbe varying titlts' : bei st wed On magistrates iri suburban courts by persons unaccustom- d to tbo ways ,f the law are o:'ten amusing. " Ycur Honour "is frequently applied, probably from a mistaken impression that any poison who sits on a bench must necessarily be a judge. " Your Lordship " has not infri quently been received with complacency by the magistrates to whonv this aristocratic cognomen baa been givei, and "your Reverence" Js fl' t unktcUri. But. prSbab'ly tie. most augii-t thle over bgstowed on a Justice 1 of t'-e ptiri-e wa3 that lieiitd at A subur: Inn couit recently,- Whfjn a yotitbful d*<: fendrint tremblingly addrfessSd me' chn, r.aan of the bench a; " Your Male-;: ti !" * * * * • The '• Taranaki Uerald " says : —The miv Ilest pol'ceirrii in New ZeJllaiid; perhaps Ihe smallest Eufi-p'ean cqnt stablbintln world; was iri Neiv Ply: mouth-on Fiiday: The officer referred 1 1 is Mount d Constable Hickman, who is s'ati mcd at Opunake. _ Constable Ui-knnn rame out as a bugler ..to S'jin§ < f the if op« iri tlie early dhysj JM later joined the ranks id a more serious capacity: Ue took t very active part in the sup*..rcs3ion of tbe native disturbedces b -tween PaHhaka and Normanb^. No ono cou'd folate more interesting ante Jotes about Taranaki and its people than Constable Hickman. An M idea of l-.la size may be "dined, froni tho fpllqir-, ma, tld by himself: Some or tftfj whites were crossing tha Walngorijjqro Rivor near Haw'cra once, to get .awaj* from the Maori?; Capta.n James Livingstone, who is much over 6ft high, an-.l Constable Hickman crossed together, and the wat-r, though it was not muc'i over the taller man's knees, was nhn at iv to his smillor co opinion's j:o l-*i Ths little officer has bad rdifit knotty customers to deal with on thd coast, but has always cooie off victoi*iors. - i ***** It is as difficult to live up to a great name aa it is to carry the weight of „a^ past beroismj JParents proudly -attacji a celebrated. nania to their .offspring, | generally sug ;ejted by the current deed of a world's nqtoriety. Thus we have all the latest Maori babies in the Waneanui district called " William Webb." I It ; s coliceivible that not many of the children so called will ever win a world's championship any more than the numbers of Fr-d Archer Smiths in the world have become famous joskeys. Apropos to this*, Andrew Carnegie, aged 18, pleaded guilty id the Wellington Police Court to a charge of theft, lt is seldom that an infar.t named after a celebrity achieve-! the sime kind of notoriety as his namesake but certain it is that they do occasionally come before tbe public as examples cf moral iaisad venture. Fol* instance, Mart : n Lntber Was not long ago chai ct,.(3 with an offence befofe a Court, and William Ewart Gladstone -is not'unknown to the police. The judicious parent does not handicap his progenj- by attaching a name to him that miu'ht reasonably meritconlumely if the child sho"lJ ever go astray. And there are "rounds for believing that the mere weight of *u«h a reflected glory might have an unbalancing effect on tho bearer who bad not the qualifications of re= sistance his famous namesake might have possessed. * * * * 4 « " It is a fact that you pointed ont two dpad sheep running with the mob," was the somewhat mysterious query directed by a solicitor to a witness at the Wan» -aiiui Court tho other day. lt is need* loss to Fay that the witness answered In tho negative, but the ' learned gentlenian'reiterated the inquiry several times, until the question was ultimately ridiculed by the witness. **** * * • " Ouida's " real trouble serins to bo mental aberration increasing with agß; it is now reported that she persisls iv refusing offerings of money sent tc her by It-lian sympathisers, and tears lip banknotes received by post, and throws tho pieces into thn street. The "Trihnna " publishes a U tter from tbe Mayor of Massarosa, who attempted, wJthout success, to deliver to tho novelist-money offere 1 by one of its reader?. Tbe journal adds a warning to Italians not to show gonen-sii.v towards the " ungrateful foreignw." and concludes with tbe proverb, " Charity begins at homo." *** • • • Nam<*9 of places should be appropriate euphonious and dignified. Uiually they fttll short in one— sometimes in all — theso points. The inhab tanlß of a newly arisen town in Alabama have placed ou permanent record their affec. tation and admiration for President Roosevelt, says the " Central News," by christening the place Teddyvifle. Imagine giving a JNew Zealand town tbe same cam**, in honour of the King. * * * * * At a rec?nt Bethnal-green inquest, ibe coroner, examining a marriage certificate, dated 1858, which had been handed in, remarked that on the top was prinied, '• Wives submit yourselves into your husbands." They don't put that on now. MOFUSSILITE.