ON THINGS IN GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13048, 13 December 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

ON THINGS IN GENERAL

| ' AFTER THE BATTLE. 1 * Now the election is over, and we have settled down once moro to the ordinary 11 routine of life, one is inclined to ask . •'; whether the fuss and bother, turmoil and • ' excitement were really worth while. Many will ask what is the good of it all? " What is it all but a trouble of ants in the light of a million million suns?'' -It is true that S*' our; excitements, pleasures, and pains may :■'- not concern the million million suns very . • much, but lor us our joys and sorrows are very real, and bail government tends to increase sorrow and decrease joy. It is, however, a comfort to remember that whatever ~ ' Government is in power the sun will still Vise .;" and set; that the rain will continue to fall i oil the just, and the unjust; that seedtime i :; : and harvest will not cease and that people will buy and soil, marry and be given in j '•■'::/'■: marriage, be born and die. When Mr. ;V .Seddon declares that he and his Govern- *„.*,- ment are responsible for the prosperity of t 'he country sensible, people simply laugh. Of course bad government can hinder pros- ! •■:. parity to a certain extent, but good and j i 4 . bad times depend in the main on circum- j !: r stances over which neither Mr. Seddon nor j ''■■■'.'■■'■ anyone eke has much control. Still, we | •':••' , need not unduly belittle ourselves because :.J; we cannot "run" the universe. Indeed, i ..; we should right against the feeling that I .;■: man is so insignificant a being that nothing ' ... he can do or say matters. WHAT IS MAN? Some may toll us that man is only a speck ;'.-■-' in space, and a moment in time, and, ! 'therefore, that the sanest philosophy is "let us eat. and drink for to-morrow we j die." This, may sound all very well', but j there is a truer and nobler point of view. Bulk is. not everything, and we need not ' '.;"- allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by mere size. -Man is just as wonderful as the j > universe, and an ant is quite as marvellous j as a huge mount Spirit is higher than j matter. It has been well said that " the f spirituality of the soul is a fact: it is- a -.', positive - fact: it is a fact just as notorious v : : an the sunlight. _ Men are still inquiring, i . and will probably inquire while time shall last, what, matter is. But we do practically know what spirit is, for we have each one of us a sample of it in ourselves—that is to j say, in the. thinking, feeling, determining subject which we name ' self.' It is ..•'sheer vulgarity to think and act as though, .' - to use the words of a recent writer, "the standard of value in creation should be that of the yardstick, or of the scales. Life apparent in the poorest midge Is marvellous beyond dead Atlas' self. ; .''The numberless suns are unconscious, we may believe, of their own existence. Greater than they is the mind that can sweep the untrodden ocean of space, and gather them into its imagination." Such thoughts are good for us. "They remind us that our actions, public and private, matter ■a very great deal. There is moral law as well as physical law. and our family, muni- :'■, ■ cipal, political, and national activities most have, moral consequences of incalculable importance. Man's place in nature is not so insignificant as some people would have us believe.

■ • . COINCIDENCES. It was hardly to be expected that las .'.' . -Keek's elections could be allowed to pas without seme more or less striking coinci dence being recorded. One of these peculia occurrences is reported from Wellington It;.appears that on Wednesday last, whei tie possibility of : carrying no-license wo pot ant of all doubt, 46 votes were require to carry reduction. On Friday ,46 vote; . ■were opened, and at the conclusion. of thi ' counting 46 votes were still required t< elect reduction. These strange coincidence axe wry puzzling. Are they mere happen iags, or are they capable of a rational ex planation if we only knew Are thej among the unexplained mysteries of exist ei'ce which further knowledge may cleai up?- Whatever the answer to these ques tions may be the fact remains that some remarkable coincidences form part of the lit/ experience of almost every one of us. Th chances may be. a billion to one against/ j, certain thing happening, and yet it lnj pens. Things of this kind occur from tf to time for one man's benefit, and we him a lucky man; while in the cas/*' another. whenever : the unexpected hap- -, ' it-is to his injury, and we say he if 1 }" lucky. It is a poor explanation, in v ' fc , is no explanation at all: still, in tbP re- , , sent state of our knowledge, we caW> no further. It is a mystery, and so is*' ol '-'"" thing else, and life itself is one* the most mysterious mysteries of all. / AN ILLUSTRATION, The following story, taken fron/ Lon " don Standard, is a "good illusti/° °/ a " remarkable coincidence;" us we* e accus- . tomed to call these inexpJcahi happenings:— -was coming up to JJi'don by a ■ train due to arrive at a-o*arto' iasfc seven p.m. . I had an imports clnnir engage- - ment at half-past sevenp-m . I had been quite impossible for mob dress peforehand. and I did ,not sec h/ I could get into eveni.-ic clothes and /Vive to my friend's ;.; : - house 'between a-qu-t-er past seven and f' half-past seven. Sc having mr hags ill 111 the carriage, I detained to dress in the ';' - train, and? at half-ast six. rose from un- -;,];■■•■■'-''. scat with that inUlion. As I did so the - man opposite me here were four of us in a first-class smoW rose also, picked up a f bag from the s<£ beside him, and proceeded to the la-story in which I meant to make mv. change Ten minutes passed. The outlook"was beaming serious for me. I went to the cbr of the . lavatory, and, knocking, said'l beg your pardon, sir, but as I am a«ous to change my clothes before we arr£, might I ask you to hurry up.' ' The m-J opened the door, showing himself in HI crucial act of knotting a "white tie. E'e minutes later he was back . in the cariftf. in evening dress, and I was rushing throgh my change in the lavatory, Less than a* hour later my friend in Lonf don present/! me to this same man beside his own tab: as one who had come up from ::-\ the Midlan's that day to meet me at this dinner wife reference to a certain literary - matter. Ibad never even heard his name r ' before, ye/here we were side by side at dinner." / DOMESTIC ECONOMY. .The Wd/ington technical school authorities, according to a telegram published inMonde's Hkrald, are thinking about staging ifaises for cookery and domestic economy, and who will say that instruction in tfrse matters is not needed? The ques- " " ' tion pf cookery is attracting much attention [just, now" in England, and quite rerenti' a Mrs. Oilman advocated the. estabWi- lishment of expert food preparers, and tentiil kitchens and dining halls. These ' suggestions are responsible for the following little poem in the London Daily ;;ijiV Chronicle: —

Mast ingenious, Mrs. Oilman. Wilh a strange delight you fill man, • Kaiwing what, alas! his god is. Showing what will for his body S And his soul's content sutnce: Your sweet reasoning, bo convincing, Maijas the monitor within sing That in verv truth man enters Onlv through your cooking centres Gastronomic Paradise. I do longer shall feed but on . -Bnmt-itp beef and bleeding mutton, Parity of the earlier Stone Age, . Poultry that' is past its nonage, - Puddings that would bear a ton; •Wives who ujw, as all aver, sea ■'i , : Husbands at the plain cook s mercy, i;:.. 1 .--.Now shall see- the daintiest dishes Batisfv man's highest wishes, ' . "And in raptures life shall run. Bear despiser of convention, . f , ' "Tra* the great reform I mention. : •,' Ton. but mean for woman's guerdon, But to lighten all her burden, %i yii Bring her ease and new delights: But you know, the saying's -: famous— ~;,.,'• "Feed ua beasts and you can tame us Aad-'tda truth I am proclaiming— - J*9*t of us would welcome taming. Could we faro li*.' Sybarites. I<, V' i '- - ' JThb Gwuhsai / MSB®!®?.-;; •:■■ . I