LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11062, 13 May 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

- i m , nave audience for a \voi3 or two. W' l)l3 u -Shaknprrt. A TK inKSMAN in the city, who deals in works of frt (wild horses will not draw T further in the way of "a free ad."), ,las Dl ,. e i ve d t'ie following singular epistle from the Sup*" 'iHtendent: of Social Purity of the V\'(iii!C-n s Christian Temperance Union: — ' t>ir Sir.-l'i'f-'in? your place of business wsterebv. I noticed « picture on exhibition hh 1 l ,avo t "' 011 '.ix-ro ore » hut had r ™1 lint it would have been removed ere r 1 refer to a print, of which I could not "li'l. i-pI.CO.Hn the right- , i l M ,.k earner of your window, and re- * ui i'"' l female figure (will, child); STfli""!- "ii»» around her cannot he Tihl e 1 -tiling- {)w ' ' I'urity' winkers feel enrd tliit"l'i<" l "* of that claw arc a FOUVOe 'f (lever I' l ">»' young people, however °' d'tii'ev inav lie regarded as works of art, ?„ the iiitere-'!#. then, of our social purity 1 k ami for the protection of our youth from evil suae"-! ions, we earned'}' request L you will kindly have the picture re„vo'l fooling Hiirc that you will agree Willi W - that "■.•-'-'on is bellei than cure in this, as in all evil. l„, eneraviii;.'. it may be necessary to explain for He- la ly's information, is one of Aurora, and the -child" with the. woman is Cupid, who is "Cooling the Win's of bore.' A high classical authority states that the goddess Aurora— the Morn-inij—-is " , •(■presented by the I"* 1 '" in i crimson-covered chariot, drawn by vliite horses, covcrcd by a veil, opening with her rosy lingers the gates of tlio East, pouring the dew on the earth, making the {lowers grow," and is not "the young person" the Social Purity Superintendent apparently suspects she is. l'be Social Parity Superintendent states she noticed the picture yesterday "in, back cornel of the window, which she bad seen there before." The lady paid the artist the compliment of going back to have a second look at his picture, even under the difficult circumstance of its being placed at the back of the window, another instance that some people rush in where gods and goddesses fear to tread. It i.i needless to'say that the lady's education in High Art must have been s;idlv neglected. The tradesman lias himself a home and wife, is not likely to corrupt the youth, and has females in his employment. The picture, he informs me, will remain in his window as usual. He Elates that anyono who has the slightest knowledge of the canons of Art would make no objection to it. Aurora is not nude, as is implied, and is a great deal better dressed than was our common mother, Eve, who did not care a fig (oi a figleuf for that matter) for Mrs. Grundy, and is certainly attired somewhat better than what has been described as the " full dress" of a Cingalese ladv, " a pair of garters and a hairpin.' If the Social Purity Superintendent intends to deal with works of art, then she has a big contract oil hand. First she must, sweep out of the Art Gallery "Joseph and I'otiphar," 'The Bather and the Satyr," and some other works which have passed under the argus eye of the City Fathers. Tbei. she must go to the Auckland Museum, and close up the statuary annexe, in which are a dozen filing's, according to her standard. worse than the print in the tradesman's window. In Madame de Steel's day, a lady complained of the immodesty of some of the classical statues in one of the Paris galleries, when the distinguished woman replied, "Tho immodesty is in the eve that looks. 1 erhtips, like Mrs. ' Wraggles, the Social Puritv Superintendent' has no objection to Bu.tuiuy. The London Punch, many years ago, thus immortalised Mrs. Wraggles, in her visit to the Art Exhibition. 'J he old ladv vino placed her umbrella aside, ami gazing through her spectacles at an Apollo Belviderc. thus critically pronounced her opinion on the work of art, "I ve seed Apollo Belvidere, and IVe seed Wraggles; but give me Wraggles!"

Some Years ago, in a famous case, the Chancellor. Lord Hatlicrley, as the limes said " dismissed Hell with costs. Judging from the Rev. Finlay Wilsons sermon at Onehunca last Sunday night, oil Hell, where it is. and how to reach it, lie appears to have reopened the case, and entered up judgment on his own account He states that" there ain't sich a place ; lie 11 be telling us next " there ain't sich a pusson as A lid Clootie, And if. a? it he truly said, the devil is dead that I want to know is who carries th© business oil. Reallv the authoritative manner in which the " skv pilots" lay down the law as to hell being a state, instead ot a place, is most amusing, were it. not saddening, owing o the issues involved. The future has been mercifully concealed from us by Infinite Wisdom, and mortal man (not even All. fin ay Wilson) may not penetrate within the veilpierce the mysteries of Life and Death o successfully scrutinise Into the maddenine riddle of the RootShell within shell—dream folded o\er dream. To hear the glib talk about the other world bv some people, of whom it m< h? said '' All they know is that they don t know," remirds us of the lines • And to hear them talk of a world heyant. You'd think that at the laste . fco i r i; VPS They'd been dead and lmned ia t their n , And had tliramped it from for below, And who's for above, and wlios or DBiow, They've as pat as if they could tell The name of every saint in liea\eu And ivery divil in hell.

A member of the Royal Clan Stuart clan, "Mvardach," write, to me m record to »h judgment of Mr. Hutchison, »S.i • • * recent licensing case at Onehimga For the defence it was shown, firstly, that Stuart was a lodger r.t, the Intel; ami second), that " e beer the police saw him s«.Ilo . ha.l been supplied to him before ten' .clock. Now, here is just the point wherehe S.M. steps in and a.ironls the whole c > fusing to swallow the statement. •' -i ' savs " this i.- putting too great a ■ one's credulity." My correspondent desires me to assure Mr. Hutchison, ttat . ■ a member of the Stuart clan, con , i hours in front of a pot ol beer without touch ing it (in this cold weather), but ' ' u wee drappie o' rale gude whisky, n *1,1 cutio, lad. hecli mon I don t think I put Mr. Hutchison's credulity very much the test !"

A good story was told me the other day which opens iip new possibiti les lying settlers as to how they can .get roads made to their sections. In a distric , shall he nameless, a settler WHS V J • owing to the access to his farm b 8 7 bad. He appeal, from Phillip u» l office, in his' district, to Phillip sober namelv, Crps.ir! He said he was a>- e ' Literal of the first water. He ™;««"/ to say that the member for his distoic w l , bloated Conservative the Pub Woiks find Lands office officials were ditto, and to could not get a proper road to hi P • What did tear do? .Ask if a duck can swim, or something easier. Cfesa g - ■ sprat to catch a mackerel, lend j:i,| v called for the needed work, and I am X informed that the settler's sons have secured the contract a? " co-ops."

The oilier day Inspector Strathein scooped in £400 of legacv to the Hospital and Uiaiitable Aid Board," by having in the years gone by looked after "'a widder," which he was well able to do. Another old identity, the widow of a well-known deceased Aucklana citizen, has applied to get into the L. ) Home, and offers her interest in som P perty and her old age pension. St. Jonn on the job !

At the bowlers' smoke concert last w ' under the auspices of the Auckland Bow 1 o Association, the chairman (Mr. J. har . I gave some -interesting particulars concei i g the game of bowls. He traced its bis 017 back to the middle of the fifteenth centu . and at that time none but the gentry < well-to-do were allowed to play, 21 !®. i statute was not repealed until as late _ - •1845! It was not till 1892 that the Scottish

Bowling Association was formed, a new cona2s°? and rules adopted, and a year later » link tournament introduced. In Austraa the game had caught on so much that the associations of New South Wales and Worm were established in 1880, or twelve ThoVew 7 hal i lO Scottisll institution, South r-l'i f Association dates in the S„, « fro »' ? 0 ' and the Northern fowling Association from 1891. Thirtv- ; »,n ag ,°," ye r t,eame nf fowls' Wis introduced here by Mr Thomas Macand Mr. Willi™ Aitken, the lit it l ie last survivor of the pioneer bowlers } '" ' the sixties" the citizens of , l ° j leU Wil y t0 the Domain m- mi tl/ V ' , n od 10 > ,eeroTO the fence. nnnd, l the willow trees, which then interl ted-tho view of the Auckland (Grafton) the „m f*• '™V V °" tleml what 011 earth I V old logics below were driving at> and ,i> they danced fandangos, when tliev heard uttered the cabalistic word, forTli7' e r ;fi ''"' (led hy tlle S t,ncra] public. Jh the most part as elderly, harmless, old ml iir lies, and nothing relative to their games ' ladings, year in and year out: ever ; I I'uued "i the columns of the public press, e whole thins was a mystery, a craze to y 1 a few old citizens, with "fair round .■ • ' V ' l ll g 0( "' capon lined," were prone ", J' ?»y earns when the press put its searchlight into the Domain gully and on In »ho grcei V of the Auckland (Grafton) Club, : 'else Y a, !! C , l '° Se l ° P"l )u,ari ty. and processed by leaps and bounds" till it culweek m the bowlers' gathering of Friday

rC!ul tlle stor ? of the rerait \, , eck of *' 10 steamer Stella, at- the Channel Islands, will see what a ami,in' o,nm™tary it is up,,,, the serious libels i,' ' ' "' e, ' e " ed upon the male sex at the ate session of the National Council of Women by a number of "Nature's Mistakes," as to the bondage' ot marriage, the tyranny and selfishness of husbands, and the'econo"'dependence of women. The published reports show that nothing nobler has been performed in the history of the navy since the loss of the Birkenhead, than occurred at the loss of the Stella. Over 50 men, it is said, stood quietly back on the deck, and helped to* fill the boats with women, and then died in order that women and children might live! One man passed his wife over into a boat with theii child, and in response to her appeal to come in (perhaps to the crowding out of some other man's wife and child), said. "No, darling live, and take care of our children.'' The bridegroom of a day, by force made his bride leave him, throwing her into the sea to save her, and declining her appeals to come with her, stopped at the post of duty, and died there. When the crucial hour came which tests men and tests women, there was no talk about "equal obligations and equal opportunities," 110 talk of " symbols of bondage," or even " economic independence," but the women, without considering the logic and consistency of such babblement, skipped into *he boats on the strength of being "only women," and left the men—well, left the men to die! If the women of the Stella were saturated with the dogmas and principles of the National Council of Women— by the way, would wreck the happiest home in Christendomthey would have blushed with shame rather than have monopolised the boats, and would have insisted that men, like women, should havo had an equal chance of escape. As. however, woman is not strong 011 logic, she pocketed her theories and her consistency, which were not worth saving— but saved her life! Some time ago an Atlantic linei went ashore 011 the North American coast, and hundreds of lives were lost. An American paper, in describing the scenes, stated. " It said much for the high average of domestic happiness, that when the married men found though they might escape, the women could not, the great majority of them remained on board, preferring to die with'their wives."

A correspondent, " Observedana." Pongakawa, Bay of Plenty, has been badly seized with the "divine afflatus in respect to a recent gathering of strong-minded women in this city. As he thinks that his last notes, like the dying swan's, are his sweetest, 1 let him sing his song:— THE WOMEN'S NATIONAL COUNCIL. Oh, sons of men, when will ye see, perceive, and understand. Obey my voice, said Mrs. D., the schemes we have in hand, , I fear yon understand too much, dear me Men look askance, they slightly touch, then Let'every "cur alert, each one who We wears a frock, a great expert, a ShepWe have employed a great expert, a bliepherd for the flock, . , ... A Shepherdess I ought to say, and she shall To guide 0 all'sale along the way, we will not She'i'a'but 1 o'iie, n i must admit, throughout our This°(loes 'not trouble us a bit, as more will Mea 11 wliHe 'we" search through Vale and Hi!., we mav vet find her consuls. Who all will work their own sweot will, we must have them in dozens. Our dear sweet William son shall bleat, m,en h vdc 0 es h BA through* street then we iifft'S SK» every fold, and we must have seat for we are bold, and Within that House, for we are bold, and Quite Uuewe i"ess brain than men, most Butw'e can fcrTrive a pen. and flourish Monday a'woman reasons not, it is not in ThonaV'shTiTiay boast of thought a lot, she flits from flower to flower. True Kent is not given her, it never was To rSnfhus. naught can concur to balance Men "say r we'at conclusions fly. but cannot The why and wherefore we ' slip by, as we Yet'they'admi^wo'always see, when they are Instinct a is d ou?s,' men all agree, they cannot alter tlmt! MERCUTIO.