ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13226, 11 July 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

ORANGEMAN'S DAY.

To-morrow will bo July 12—Orangeman's Day. 'This is a rather delicate subject to handle, for this, column is no place for the discussion of sectarian 'differences. Still the- occasion, is worthy of a ; few passing thought*?, and may, 1 hope",; be referred to in such a way as to hurt no good man's feelings. ; Personally, : I confess '.:■I cannot greatly "enthuse" over the Battle of the Boyne, and I prefer to commemorate victories won by Englishmen,. Scotchmen, and Irishmen, fighting side- by side, against a foreign foe; but if any section of the community honestly believes that the 12th of July celebration has a gr,eat lesson to teach, by all "means, let such people have their commemoration, provided nothing is done calculated to provoke a breach of the \*flce.;' It is also just as well for those ■who may ■ think differently from the Orangemen, not to ,be too thin-skinned, for it is no use to hunt for trouble. Then we have the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, on March 17.,, Of course,.no one can object, to this,. for St. Patrick was a great and good man, to whom nil Irishmen owe a big debt of gratitude ; but in tome places —not in Auckland, of course—there is- a tendency to treat the St. Patrick's Day •I,- demonstration : as a. sort of counterblast to July 12. If these annual commemora'tions do nothing else, they at least- show ,that even in this twentieth century there are eome people who are in earnest: though it is also true that those who wear neither the yellow nor the green, may be equally earnest and. sincere,' it less demonstrative in their convictions. Fortunately it is possible for men to be in earnest* without" losing their temper, and it is owing to this fact that religious demonstrations in Auckland arc almost invariably carried out in a highly-respect-able, manner. I am confident that what I have written can hurt no man's feelings, otherwise I would not have mentioned j the subject; but these few thoughts will give no offence -.-■ '. _ ..••■.-.

To tho man in yellow.: ; Or to th& man in : screen. /'■" :Or the other fellow , "Who stands in between. / .:■;:'- LOSS and gain. • Every Aucklander must have been cheer- ' •; ed bv the hopeful tone of tho meeting of the Railways League held lost. ,week. It shows the value of consistent and persistent agitation, which' must be kept tip with unabated vigour till all our railway needs are supplied, and by that ■ time no doubt a » . sufficient number of other wants will have cropped up to keep the pot boiling. Though ■ railways are undoubtedly a necessity of modern civilisation and essential to comV'.'' mercial progress, .from a sentimental point , of view they arc a necessary evil., After all, speed isn't everything. Travelling in the old coaching days, was more interesting and varied, and v ten more exciting toe. Passengers on a train never come, in con- ; tact with the engine-drivers, who arc simply a part of the machinery; but the coachdriver of the good old type was; a very real personality, full of ideas of his own, and the man who secured the seat next to the driver considered himself a very lucky fellow. : Each horse, too, was a personality, 1 and had its own name and individuality, and ' while the journey lasted passengers, horws, and driver, formed one happy family, under the 'kindly .-'fill© of ,: the v man with' whip.. Then, again, how much more interesting and varied were the ups and downs of the coach road, than the dead fiat level of. the railway line. . It is .true , thatira,tiwne« ; ?no*s..hair .would almost stand , orienct as the "coach on "a ; steep down 'grade, with a bank on one side and a precipice on the other, would swing round some sharp turn on'the road. Indeed, it is. wonderful ' that serious' coach : accidents should have been so few. One could say much • more about the good. old coaching days, bub itris useless to/dwell upon these vain regrets. ,It seems to be-almost a law of nature that there is no gain without loss, . and what wo call progress .simply means that the- gains on the whole outweigh the losses. , ' •, ■ . ' TRAVELLING IN OLDEN TIMES. '" ...Host people seem to think that before the days of the railway no' one travelled any distance except, sailors arid a few very rich people. This, However, is ' a great ii mistake. In' the days of the Roman Empire all sorts of people travelled a great deal, and the Roman roads were a credit to the people who made them. In the Middle Ages, too, people got about Europe in a wonderful way without the help of rail•way or steamer,, "which we now regard as almost' necessities of life. Trains and ' steamers will no doubt bring a large num.- , ber of visitors to Christ-church, to see the coming Exhibition, but think of .the visitors ! : to Rome during the first three months of the year of the jubilee, 1300. Milman states that the roads in the remotest parts of Germany, Hungary, and Britain were crowded with pilgrims of all ages and both : rexes. A Savoyard above 100 years old *v/ determined to seethe tombs of the apostles J before he died. There were at times : 200,000 strangers' at Rome. During the year the city was visited by millions of | .pilgrims. At one time so vast was the j '-~ press both within and without the walls : ; . that, openings were broken for. ingress and I egress.: Many people were trampled' down ! ; and perished by . suffocation. Lodgings were; de*{ and forage scarce; but the ordi- ; / nary food of man—bread, meat, wine, and fishwere sold in ' great plenty, , and at moderate prices. History quite upsets the theory that travelling, and big" crowds are \ modern inventions. It may have taken people a little longer to go from one country to another, but they got there all the same. People were not afraid to use their legs in the Middle Ages. _ __ AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY. "All Aucklanders feel that they have a right to share with Professor A. P. W. /.Thomas the glory of'-'his interesting botanical . discovery, reported in last Friday's : Herald. He.is one of ourselves, and I always like think of a community as a r great big family. .If one member suffer!:-, all suffer, and if all share the suffering all have a right to participate in. the glory. The discovery may not make Professor Thomas one penny the richer; it has per- • haps no money value for the individual or , the nation, but it is none the less glorious for that. , As * a community, we quite rightly place a very high value"on technical and commercial education, but, intellectu- .•;.'.' ally, we would be poor indeed if in education we recognised no . value - but the money value. Apart from religion, nothing has perhaps done more to raise mankind above the lower animals than the stead- pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. j Of course, there arc some people to whom all this is foolishness, but from an intellectual point of view such people simply do not count. Philosophy doesn't pay, yet some of the greatest minds'.from.Plato . to Herbert Spencer, have/devoted their :;■ lives to. solving the problem of mind and matter,.which is really the problem of the universe, and though the solution is still far off, who will say that their labours have been wasted? Have Homer. Dante, and Shakespere lived in vain?. Science, it is true, has its utilitarian aspect, but the simple love of knowledge is the foundation of true scientific research. There is a deep /// underlying connection between the material and the spiritual, for do not beauty, art, wealth, scientific invention, and political success, when rightly. used, tend to the s- ' spiritual progress of mankind. All points to the fact . ■•,".■' v That a two-fold world . Must- go to a perfect cosmos Natural things "' „ And spiritual—who separates these two, .1 :. • In. art. in morals,' or in social drift. Tears ap the bonds of nature and bring? death. .Paints / futile pictures, 1 writes unreal verse. : .- ; Leads vulgar days, deals ignorantly with man. Is wrong, in short, at all points.