ON THINGS IN GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11564, 30 January 1901, Page 3

ON THINGS IN GENERAL

■''■■.■ t> —' i ■ - A NATION'S GRIEF. A dozen' years ago no one could have imagined that the Empire would have been • go' deeply moved by the death or the Queen, or of any other monarch ; and it is perhaps not too much to say that most men then believed that the days of monarchy were numbered, though many hoped against hope that the old ordei would remain. The "cut the painter " party was in those days very strong in the colonies. But now all that is changed. ■ For the last week all have , been endeavouring to seize every opportunity of showing their respect for the dead Queen. There has been something like a friendly rivalry in the matter. This has been as conspicuous in the smallest matters as in the great affairs of State— some of the matters have been so small that the bringing in oi .the Empire's grief would have been humorous it the occasion had not been so pathetic, and the intention so good. With an unselfishness that was really splendid, business and pleasure were set aside without hesitation by all sortsi and conditions of men. The Wellington Racing Club was the exception which proved the rule, and • the result could hardly have been very gratifying to the club. There was-only a handful present, and the report of the meeting tells us that " perhaps nevei in the history of racing in Wellington was a day racin" conducted under more disagreeable circumstances." Rain, gale, and had were the order of the day. In Auckland we rose to the occasion. The Takapune Jockey Club postponed their meeting—an exhibition of loyalty that certainly did not cost nothing. 'They shall have thgir reward ; at any rate, they deserve it, though they certainly did not take the step with the hope of reward beiore their eyes. THE CHURCH'S TRIBUTE TO QUEEft VICTORIA. ' The parsons cannot complain of being ignored by the daily press after the columns . and columns of sermons which appeared in the Herald on Monday and Tuesday. The addresses were certainly interesting and invariably loyal, though, as was inevitable, they were a little monotonous in the sameness of their praises of the great " Mother, wife, and Queen." Personally, I was thankful to Dr. Egan for giving us a little variation in the way of a discussion of prayers for the dead. I would not dare to attempt to go into the merits of the question in this column, but would point out that the Anglican Church is more in sympathy with Dr. Egan on this point than he seems to think. Quite recently the Archbishop of Canter- . bury, when taken to task by the Protestant party in the Church for authorising the use of a lorm of prayer containing a petition for •those.who had fallen during the wai, replied that prayers for the dead are not unlawful in the Church of England.. Except , in the indirect form of the petitions in the communion ■ office and burial service, they are not authorised for use in the public services, but neither are special prayers for missions. Many Anglican books of devotion give prayers for the dead for private use, and a well-known Auckland clergyman told me that he made use of such prayers. The Rev. T. H. Sprott, of St. Paul'? proCathedral, Wellington, and formerly of Auckland, who is noted for his broad and philosophic views, openly defended the use of prayers for the dead in his church a few months ago, though he admitted that owing to the differences of opinion at present existing on the, subject, the time is not yet ripe for their reintroduction into the public services of the Anglican Church. An English Church paper not long ago very . plainly hinted that memorial services without prayers for the dead were practically meaningless. It will be seen that I have carefully refrained front either commending or condemning the practice, but have merely stated a few facts for the encouragement,. or information, of Dr. Egan. I must say that the New Zealand Roman Catholics have been second to none in their expressions of loyal sympathy, and have done all that the rules of their' Church allow under the circumstances, the Queen not being a Roman Catholiu In Nelson, Dean Mahoney went go far as to declare that the Queen "was now in Heaven, where they all hoped to be." I don't know what any Anglican or Protestant could say more than this. •- THE BROKEN CABLE. I suppose it as a? well that the cable should ■ break occasionally, just to enable as tc properly appreciate the blessings which we enjoy. We are so much in the habit of taking the most wonderful contrivances as a matter of course, that it is only by an occasional object lesson, such as isolating us from the rest of the world, that we can be made to feel how terrible it would be to go back to the days before Victoria was Queen. The telegraph and the cable have annihilated distance, and made the world very small. With oui daily batch of cablegrams the distance between Auckland and London appears very small. A few thousand leagues is nothing, but the moment cable communication is interrupted every one of the many thousand miles which separate us from our kin in the Homeland has to be taken into fcccount.. i THE SHRINKING EARTH. The above thoughts remind us of the j story of " The Shrinking Earth : A Twentieth Century Vision," as recently told in an American paper by Edward J. Wheeler. The j preparation of the earth for man and his j coming are thus related : — And then a stransre tiling came to view | That set the wise to thinking: | As man in skill and wisdom grew. \ The earth kept shrinking, shrinking. The steamships throbbing o'er the deep, The cables creeping under. . (Contracted till the seas that keep The continents asunder. . A hundred miles became a* ten Where iron ,steeds went rushing. And myriads, soon, of angry men - For ampler room were pushing. They dropped the hammer and the spade, They seized the sword and sabre, And every nation stood arrayed For wa. against its neighbour. In response to the cry of man for an jj answer to the riddle presented by this 1 " shrinking of the earth," the angelic choir | reappears : 1 Peace upon Earth! But not the peace 1 Of sullen isolation. I] Not yet the shrinking Earth may cease g Nation to draw to nation \\ Yet not for wa. lint.li God designed '• The narrowing seas, but rather ft For brotherhood of all mankind g In one all-loving Father. !., ■ For this the Earth must smaller.grow, 1 To this is Man progressing, v $ And some day all shall see and know g The beatific nlessinfe. 3 Even with the words aiose a crash | Of nations -n collision, g And cannon-roar and sr.bre-clash ~! Destroyed the heavenly vision. 8 But o'er the tumult, of the fray 1 The anarels kept on singing. I And still their song, " Some day. some day, a In human hearts kept ringing. g "YER ROYAL IGHNESS." I Many good stories are told about on. new | Duke 'of Cornwall, for whom, on Sunday, | we prayed for as Prince of Wales' by mis- | take. He has earned the reputation of being | a jolly good follow—" jolly" in the best | sense of the word. He was full of fun when g a boy, and had the knack of seeing the funny | side'of things; but now that he has risen | to the high and mighty position of direct B heir to the Throne, Ik will, no doubt, have | to wear a more grave and serious mien. | Here is a capital story of the Duke : —Upon | one occasion His Royal Highness was M indulging in a strictly incognito ride on an | omnibus, when the driver, having consider- 1 able difficulty with one of his horses, apos- | trophiseu it sharply, with, "Come up, yer | Royal 'Ighness ! Come up, will yer ?" § "Why do you call him 'Royal Highness'?" | asked the Duke. " Well.' sir," said the | driver, "that 'orse is so 'orfcy and iazy and § ■.. good-for-nothing, I calls 'im 'is Royal Tgh-1 . ness, see ?" The Duke concludes the story | with, " I thanked him, and asked no more questions." " 1 .v The General,. ■ |