CALAMO CURRENTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9307, 9 March 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

CALAMO CURRENTE.

a cemedeOT company is about as luguhtious an enterprise as any that I know of. Ibis entirely legitimate, of course, and that | n tho chapter of events thero should be applicants and occupants is in the order of things- Still it is the sort of thing over which one does not liko to enthuse, and to pish its promoters success seems brutal. (Jnder such oppressive circumstances, he is B brave man that launches such an enterprise, and it requires marked force of character to rise above its gruesome environments, find expatiate in glowing cloqnence over tho prospects of a projected cemetery. Times are dull in Auckland, find have been for some time, and long and earnestly have we been longing for a boom, nnd thero would bo something of a fitness in things if after such a period of commercial sadness, we could start with a boom in graves. Indeed the temper of the public is of such a sombre cast in relation to land speculations that anything in that line of an exhilarating kind seoms to grate on the public tasto ; and I have noticed that at a gorgeous picture in Queen-street of an island for sale, tin island so lovely that I had not thought there was anything so fair anywhere outside of paradise—to say nothing of the upper waters of the Wai tenia to—people turn away with a sigh, and feel that a corner of heaven like that is not for man in this valo of tears. But a graveyard ! Ib exactly comes in touch with the pathos of tho hour, and though I still admire the courage of the daring man who proposes to invoke enthusiasm on so "grave" a subject, wo should not be in the least surprised if the melancholy proposition in land speculation catches on to the public mind. In its incipient stage, of course, it is but natural that its attractions should bo only outlined. The promoter says that this cemetery that is to be, will have "a cheerful and beautiful outlook." That, perhaps, is as far as we should go in a preliminary statement;. It would never do to shock tho tender sensibilities by detailing all the advantages of this cheerfulness and beauty in the outlook, to the departed. By and bye when the speculation has advanced, and the shareholders or intending investors will have been worked up a little so as to appreciate the cheerfulness that may invest a graveyard, promising, as this one does, dividends of seven hunched per cent., ifc will be advisable to invoke the limner's art, and I would advise a pretty picture of the corpses, each one sitting on the corner of his own tombstone, on a beautiful summer's evening, looking away wistfully at tho charms of the landscape of Cox's Creek. Such a cheerful and beautiful scene, with little cherubs soaring round and perching on the branches, and with the departed prettily draped in their shrouds posing each one under his own yew and willow tree without anyone to make them afraid, would have a powerful influence in stimulating speculation in a melancholy way ; for looking on that sweet and cheerful outlook, a man would say, "Yes, there I could repose me after life's fitful fever past, where writs run not and the bailiff never bums : there the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at. test."

But the most cheerful and beautiful outlook of all is in that "a very largo profit may be confidently looked for from the company's operations/ , for what with " extra first-class sites" and " first first-class sites," end "second first-class sites," seemingly all corner lots, every acre will partition into nearly three hundred first and second-class residential sites, there being no third-class people in this aristocratic "graveyard ; so that not only will there be nice select society, but a magnificent return in dividends ; and every shareholder will be handsomely fitted with a second first, a first first, or an extra first-class allotment for his own private sepulture and that of the members of his family, according to their rank in life and death and the number of their shares. A more cheerful outlook than this one could hardly hope for in the melancholy circumstances. Land speculation has heretofore been the grave of many fond hopes arid delightful anticipations ; and there is a fitness in things that out of. this gravt-yard should be resurrected brighter and mere glorious hopes. For, if graves begin to boom, who can tell whereunto it may grow ? What one man can do, other men may do too. This has ever been the principle that has guided enterprise in Auckland ; and it is the belief in it that is at the bottom of every boom. Well, if this little graveyard lot of less than two score acres start the boom, there are thousands, and tens and hundreds of thousands of acres that may be converted into graveyards, and if rightly directed, this boom in graves may be the making of New Zealand.

Another wrong to woman ! Every man ■with a spirit of manliness in his bosom will feel a thrill of Indignation when he sees, as we do, by telegram, that an enterprising voting lady from New Zealand has been nipped in her ambitions to become a soidier. It appears that Miss Muir, the (laughter of a New Zealand squatter, dressed herself in male attire, and attempted to enlist as a soldier, but the imposture—as it is called —was discovered, and she was placed under arrest! For what.? I should like to know ; for wishing to fight for her country, to defend our hearths and homes against the Queen's triemies, and to do it in the only way she could, in man's attire ? That is a queer sort of otience. There is nob a taunt more commonly levelled against woman when flit; seeks to emancipate herself from the thraldom of conventionalism than that =he is incapable of performing the imies which avouUl devolve on her as a freeman. Nothing is more cornwon than the saying against her that if she is admitted to equality with man she must be prepared to perform all the duties, as well as enjoying all the privileges of manhood; and the commonest illustration given is that she cannot bear arms ; although it is about as sensible as the charge against a man that ho cannot bear babies. As a rule, nobody wants her to bear arms, ]Qst as nobody would ever think of expecting a man "to execute the crucial and Bnpreme act of maternity, nor would regard "?s inability to do so as a disability debarring him from the enjoyment of his civil rights. But when a woman chivalrously dons the habiliments of man, and Hants to fight the Queen's enemies, they won't let her, I declare it to be an outrage this, on woman's rights, and never again tetany man say that woman cannot accept the duties and responsibilities, as well as the privileges of manhood. Here we find a noble-mint Ted New Zealand girl, who should te the pride of her country, as she is the honour of her sex, demeaning herself by fuming the outward adornments of the inferior sex, taking the counterfeit presentwent of a man, not even eschewing his nether integuments, which are eonventioTially regarded as unmentionables; and a " that"jealous, unreasonable men might permit her to do her duty to her Queen and country, and let her like a eoldier fall. Koble woman !

Miss Aekermann says that in Alaska the *omen have plurality of husbands. How 'ce. It is the westernmost point of tho American Continent, and everyone knows that the torch of liberty has been travelling Westward. ' It follows that it ought to be tne most advanced post in the onward arch of civilisation, and that is how they ™- Clearly woman's lights have attained Maturity there, and it does seem a remarkable thing that the fair lecturer should have "led to deprive her Alaskan sister of her privileges. She succeeded in persuading "er (lisciplo that it was improper to keep a dumber of husbands, though she failed to wow it from Scripture, which, not for the jjfsb time, has disappointed people who " av e sought to twist ib into supPorting their own- conventional beliefs. •'■here is not a word in the Bible j'pjnst a woman having as many lawful sbands as she is able to support, any "tore than there is nob a word in the Bible B Bwnst any man who is not a bishop having & thousand wives if he is pleased to underj?.*!r the control of such a number. Tho 'We does not place on humanity one-half »e restraints which are imposed by people *io profess to take the Bible as their ride, .'* &m ii tfaeic cli&gcin wh§ii to©y find

that the Great Book refuses to follow them in their law-making. Our fair lecturer, by mere coaxing and persuasion apparently-— but not by Scriptural proof, persuaded this simple-minded Alaskan woman to effect a transformation in her domestic arrangements, and to dispense with two of her husbands. Ib is a significant fact though that sho stuck to the young one. It was hard on the two old buffers, but sho was probably tired of thorn, and made her conscience—as many another with a whiter skin has done before—her excuse for doing a cruel thing. Had Miss Ackormann "10 sympathy for these poor discarded husbands left unprotected in this way ? Sho says herself that sho could find no Scriptural authority for what she taught, and yet she did not refrain from imposing on this poor woman the arbitrary ruling of her own mere conventionalism. I would ask Miss Ackermann what right she had to do anything of the sort? And I would ask by what authority does our civilisation superciliously assume the right to condemn domestic usages which are not contrary to the laws of Nature or of God. Pollex.