ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11822, 27 November 1901, Page 3

ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

/n HONEST POLITICIAN. /N HONEST POLITICIAN. J y ox.ii CAX> life is a sore trial to a man's bettf* nature, for if a man is to be a success«l •md popular politician he is almost compelled occasionally to do many things Wereof his conscience is afraid. The best /the men who have made the experiment J/dmit that politics is a perilous game to /one's best self, and.it will be generally admitted that few men have come out of the turmoil with cleaner hands than Captain Russell. Even his political opponents will admit this. What higher compliment could one man pay another than that which Mr. Meredith has paid to the gallant Captain, as stated in a telegram in yesterday's Herald ? Mr. Meredith said "he could not follow Captain Russell, although he considered him the most gentlemamy, honourable and upright man he had ever met, and on whose veracity he would stake his life." Character is the thing that really matters in the long run. It is better for Captain Russell to be known as an honourable, and truthful gentleman, though he is only one of a little band of Oppositionists, than to gain the whole colony and lose his _claim to "the high character Mr. Meredith has given him. It may be that Captain Russell is not a great leader of men, and he has not the knack of stirring up popular enthusiasm, nor of turning all things to account for the purposes of self-advertise-ment, yet he is respected by friends and opponents alike. If added to his personal characteristics he only knew how to make the multitude " enthuse" he would be a gem of a statesman. What we want is a combination of the best points of Captain Russell and Mr. Seddon in one man—

Boil them clown and take off the scum And a perfect Premier is the residuum. SOME GOOD PEOPLE OF OLDEN DAYS.

The week which lias passed since I last wrote contains at least three interesting anniversaries ox good people of olden times ; including the patroness of church music, the blacksmith's saint, and a rather "new" woman of the fourth century. Last Friday, November 22, was " St Cecilia's Day." This saint was a Roman lady of good family, who, in the third century of our era, shared with her husband and brother-in-law, both of whom .were converted through her instrumentality, the honours of martyrdom. St. Cecilia is generally regarded as the patroness of church music, and an ancient legen'd relates that an angel was so enraptured with her harmonious strains as to quit the abodes of bliss to visit her. Dryden alludes to this incident in his " Ode to St. Cecilia's Day."' Besides this ode by Dryden, Pope and Addison employed their talents in celebrating the praise of St. Cecilia. November 23 was St.- Clement's Day, the patron saint of blacksmiths. He was evidently a follower and a coadjutor of Paul, and Roman Catholic writers claim for him the distinction of having filled the Papal Chair. Some say that he was martyred ; some that he died a- natural death. Hatters have a tradition that while St. Clement was fleeing from his persecutors his feet became blistered, and, to afford him relief, he compelled to put wool between his sandals and the soles of his feet. On continuing his journey, the wool, by the perspiration, motion, and pressure of i the foot, assumed a uniformly compact sub- ; stance, which has since been denominated I felt." When he afterwards settled at I Rome, it is said that he improved the disI covery, and from this circumstance has been ! dated the origin of "felting." Hatters in I Ireland and other Catholic countries still | hold their festival on St. Clement's Day. Monday, the 25th, was St. Catherine's Day. St. Catherine appears to have been a lady of intellectual abilities. During the persecution, of the Emperor Maximums 11. in the fourth century.she is said to have displayed such cogency of argument and powers of eloquence as not only thoroughly to silence the heathen. philosophers of Alexandria, who were set up to oppose her, but likewise to convert them to the Christian faith. The enraged tyrant thereupon placed the saint in a machine composed of four wheels, connected together and armed with sharp spikes, so that as they revolved the victim might be torn in pieces. A miracle .frustrated the execution of this project, ; but scourging, and decapitation put an end to St. Catherine's devoted life. The legend proceeds to say that after her death her body was carried by angels over tho Red Sea"to the summit of Mount Sinai. I MR. CHOATE. The nice things which our American friends have been saying about us during the last few days are a kind of antidote to i the very nasty way in which a section of j the Germans have been endeavouring to take | away our national character. However, grown men may at times with, advantage I learn from the philosophy of childhood ! which teaches among other things that I Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me"—not even if they arc " made in Germany." The German agitators don't know us, therefore their animosity can be put down to ignorance; but Mr. Choate, the American Ambassador in London, does know us. and therefore his cordial expression of thanks for our national demonstration of friendship in connection with the death of President McKinley is all the more worthy of appreciation. Speaking of Mr. Choate, it is interesting to know that he is said to be the most successful lawyer in America. He once gave, what he considered was the reason for his success. " I have made it," he said, " my rule never to neglect a case, no matter how unimportant it may seem. A doctor owes it to the dignity of his profession to treat a cut finger successfully, uist as he would v, fractured skull. The" same thing is true of a lawyer, although, unfortunately, all attorneys do not appreciate the fact." On one occasion Judge van Brunt turned round i in bis chair and commenced talking to one of his associates while Mr. Choate was ; making his speech in defence of a case. Mr. Choate paused instantly and stood gazing at the Bench with his arms folded. Ihe sudden hush in Court roused the judge. I ooking round, he saw Mr. Choate facing him. "Your honour," said the Ambassador ' " I have just forty minutes in which to make my argument. I shall need every second of that time, and also the undivided attention of the Court." And you shall have it," replied the judge, recognising immediately the justice, of Mr. Choate s rebUke' ARE WE FEROCIOUS? It is almost amusing to find ourselves accused by outsiders of . conducting the present war ferociously, when we know that if a little more severity had been shown much suffering and losa of life would have been sparer". Many of us have urged that the Government should " be cruel in order to be kind," but they won't do it. We feed the Boer women and children as well, if not better than our own' people, and give them the advantage of the best medical skill. No war in the whole history of the world has ever been carried on more gently ; but some lives must be sacrificed if the war is not to degenerate into a picnic. They were a little more vigorous in warfare a century ago. " Eight Boers have been executed at the Cape of Good Hope for having excited the farmers and others at Grafl'e Reinet to revolt." Is this a Router's telegram, or a despatch from the war correspondent of a daily paper'.' Not at all. It is an extract from the Times of September 14, 1801. It would seem that our forefathers were wiser in their generation than their descendants. A little of the salutary severity revealed in that scrap of news, one hundred years old, would, if applied at- an earlier stage of the present war, have saved many i lives, both Dutch and British. But 'tis I never too late to mend, and to try a little i of the stern common sense of the Englishmen of 1801. THE CIVIC LIFE. Mr. Chamberlain is an illustrious example of the strenuous citizenof the man who not only feels an intense pride in his native ov adopted town, but is ready and willing to devote his tima and hie abilities, to the administration of its local affairs. What he has to say on municipal work is therefore entitled to a respectful hearing, and I quote with pleasure the following extract from r. speech which he made last month in Birmingham, and would take the liberty of specially commending it to my fellow citizens : —" I can remember," said Mi. Chambeilain," "the time perfectly well when it wa:> thought to be almost a discredit foi c man t-r- interest himself in the local lift of th l - place I in which be lived. Municipal work was I then condemned as if it were something

rather beneath the higher intellectual capacity. I am very glad fct think that that feeling has never had a great hold in Birmingham, and is, I believe, now almost extinct in the rest of the country. I hold, on the contrary, that, as it is not given to everyone to serve his country in what are called the councils of the nation —and perhaps it is a very good thing for the country that it ir —at least it is within the power, and it may be expected, of every one, however humble his position, that according to his ability and the opportunities which are offered to him, he should serve in some local capacity the people amongst whom he lives and the city which has given him refuge. I have sometimes been asked to say what is the characteristic of Birmingham, of the Birmingham of which all who have ever been its citizens, who have ever lived within its circumference, are so proud; and 1 have said that, in my opinion, its great distinction and its proudest boast is to be found in the intense feeling of local patriotism which animates every one of us. To that feeling I believe we owe all that has been done of good in the past, and to the continuance of that feeling we should ewe what good we may expect in the future. I hope that the younger generation will follow the example of their fathers, and that they will continue the work which to us has been so pleasurable. In doing so they will lose nothing, for, indeed, after all, a man cannot give all his time to money-making, and I cannot; think that lie can discover any better form of recreation than spending his time in the service of his people.' 1 CLEVER BLUNDERS. Stories of schoolboy blunders in wrestling with examination papers have been told so frequently in the past that the narrator is now apt to be regarded as a bore in seeking an audience for fresh samples of juvenile ignorance, says the Otago Daily Times. At the recent meeting of the Presbyterian Assembly, a rev. gentleman exploited a comparatively new field by relating soma of his experiences, as supervisor of Sunday-' school examinations. One child, in. describing Abraham's conversation with the Almighty, gave a new turn to the story by ascribing the following utterance to the Deity:—"As the stars .are in heaven, so will the number of your ancestors be!" Another briefly summed up the chief lesson to be learned from the Deluge as " Don't get drunk." To a third the "moral of the story of the Good Samaritan was, " Keep out of the way of thieves." There was a decided turn of originality about another, however, who commenced to outline the same parable as: —" A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves; the thieves sprang up and choked him!" WORK AND REST. An Australian Anglican divine throws a little new light on the Fourth Commandment, which seems to have some bearing on recent labour legislation, and the doings of our Conciliation Boards and Arbitration Court. Parsons have been insisting so strongly on the latter part of the Commandment that the first part has been almost entirely overlooked much so that it comes almost as a new revelation to be told by the Australian divine abovementioned that " the man who does not labour during the six days of the week Is as great a sinner as the Sabbath-breaker." " Six days shalt thou labour." He considers that the part enjoining rest on the Sabbath is naturally more popular and better known than the one ordering work on the six previous days. The General.