CALAMO CURRENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8062, 1 October 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

CALAMO CURRENTS.

j IB* spirit of intolerance commonly bows to I tha spirit of the colony, but thAt still it breathes is shown sometimes from its breaking out in unexpected places. The Bishop of Wellington objects to a Druidical mono* ; _ en t because it is a pagan memorial. It is ' the same B P'" t thftt ma ' some people object to the crocs because it is a Popish emblem; *Bd the spirit that would object to Druidical Stones would exclude a Methodist or a Presbyterian from the parish If it only durst. It is the spirit of orthodoxy being my doxy,, and heterodoxy being >everybody she's doxy, aud therefore to be : reprobated, and if possible suppressed.

Bishop Had held objeots to the cromlech, because it is a pagan emblem, and yet it may be presumed that ha does not object to the funereal urn, which is similarly of pagan origin. In fact, the catacomb system apDears to be that which should commend itself to his Christian tastes, aud tombs cut in the rooks, instead of burial in the cold ground w ith 'unauthorised tombstones and things, ought to be imperative, in the obsequies conducted by Bishop Hadfield.

If one could only burrow into the dark reoesiei of a mind like his, it would be interesting to know the nature of his objection to the cromlech. He, no doubt, cherishes the old and now abandoned idea that this as a Druidioal altar; and it must be in the presumption that it would have a tendency to overthrow the Christian faith, and to set up groves of oak trees aud establish the worship of the gods at Wellington, if suah an emblem were put up. Bigotry is generally the expression of a fear that one's belief cannot stand on its own merits, and must therefore suppress intrusion; and Bishop Hmdfield's belief in the inherent vitality of Christianity must be so weak that it cannot stand the proximity of a pagan memorial.

But the Right Reverend gentleman should go further for to my certain knowledge Druidical practices are covertly encouraged by the young people under his pastoral care ; »nd that superstitious reverence for the mieletoe which was a cardinal part of the Druidical creed, survives, to his horror be it told, even unto this day ; and members of the church under his episcopal oversight, who profess belief in the thirty-nine articles, «nd demurely repeat the responses with an air of sweet simplicity, are nothing loth at Christmastide, though with seeming ooynesn, to join in what are clearly the vestiges o>t Diuidical rites unuer the mystic misletoei. It is very wicked on Bishop Hadfieid's showing, hut it is very nioq, and though it has been practised by our grandmothers and our grandfathers while they were young, as it is it this day, we have never yet heard ths.t kissing under the mialetoe led away any from the faith. • '

The cromlech whioh is the horror of the Bishop's pious soul, will have about equal potency In undermining the faith of the Christians of Wellington, and seeing the wearying monotony that unhappily characterises the monumental architecture of our public cemeteries, the Druids deserve our general thanks for introducing rn idea that is at least full of poetic beauty, in whatever Other aspect it may happen to present itself to sour fanaticism.

Expect storms approaching from the went,

' with squalls from the south and considerable atmospheric disturbance from the

north, with generally unsettled weather . everywhere, for some time. Warm night* « may be anticipated, with thunder and lightning and squally weather generally. This has been sent by Captain Edwin, 4 but the other weather prophets in Wellington who have been watching the electrical disturbances 'all over the colony, and drawing their conclusions as to the approach of a hurricane, of which the centre will be in Wellington. In

what direction it will first burst none of the

prophets seem to be able to tell, but there is unanimity of opinion thot there is a lot of dirty weather coming.

Can any one s»y what is the object or meaning of those signs and symbols that embellish the upper portion of an ordinary telegram ? No doubt, to the initiated, tbey have a significance, and a value it may be, bat documents of this nature come into t;he hands of all classes and condition* of man, and though the operators may know waafc every symbol means, to the ordinary intelligence of the average receiver it is a perfect and perplexing enigma. I have one before me now. It appears to hate on it "M.G.0." "1237 " A little lower do*vn, " 118 p.," on ouo side an "8," on the other a "6." ; What on earth it is all about I

oaimot form the faintest idea, and yet. chare are several.things I would like to know about * that telegram. Another oue has "AK 120/ 221p 8. 6." What does that mean? What I should like on a telegram is a distinct and intelligible statement of where it has come from, and at what f hour it was sent, and whether it was last night or this morning, J t is quite possible thai all this may be conveyed to tbo initiated in these dabs and scratches, but the Government's documents are as a rule io profusely and explicitly explanatory of their meaning that this appeal to the imagi- . nation seems unofficial wholly. No doubt telegraphists are very busy, as becometh the purveyors of lightning messages, but even absolute huriy is compatible with something more explanatory and intelligible than these undecipherable slashes and scrawls.

The case of the girl now struggling back to life at the Hospital, she may be tried for the murder of her child, is ooe that may {airly be cited as to the inequality of our ■ocial laws. It has been stated that in making the confession of the birth she has given the namtu>f the father of her child, but I have as yet seen no disclosure as to who he is. Why is this? Why this tenderness? It would be improper as it might be unjust, to mention a name if any doubt attached to the veracity of the chaise. But such doubt cannot exist all this time, while the public eye is turned to the victim of her folly and her frenzy, whose life is flickering at the Hospital, yet there is never a word of the man who must have abandoned her in her despair, and so directly led to the commission of the- crime. V' ;

No doubt he had no hand in the crime of the infant'* death, if crime there was, and very probably our lews cannot reach him in any way. • If ho had stolen the woman's watch or boots he would have been sent to prison for a long period ; he has been to her the lass of more than any property, a loss the poignancy and shame of which appear to have driven her to risk her very life at the hand of the law. Yat for man's share in that crime our laws fix no penalty. It is 'not a crime, it may be they have been equally in fault ; the one as guilty as the other. But she bears all the penalty, and legally and socially he goes scot free.

We scoff at the claim of women's right». We say they have their rights; that their interests are safe in our protection. It once was so with slaves, and we wonder at it now that anyone should ever have, believed their interests were amply conserved by those who legislated for them. And similarly future ages will wonder at us now ; and certain it is that when woman is enabled to bring to bear on legislation her sense of justice the inequalities that now exist will be levelled down.

Supposing that these two were equally guilty—and more than this can hardly be charged against the feebler of the two — how differently situated are they in the consequences. Her share of physical suffering the woman had, of course, to bear all to herself but all the greater reason why he should have to bear a share, and far the greater share, of the rest of the consequences, et > it would appear that he abandoned her to bear them all, and his cowardly shirking of the consequences has seemingly been the cause, not only of the misery, but the crime. And the law allows this. And we say it is fair. Pullex,