THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13844, 2 September 1908, Page 9

THINGS IN GENERAL.

A SLEEPY HOUSE. A sxraxgkjr to New Zealand, had lie been present in tho House of Representatives during the early hours of Saturday morning, would doubtless have been greatly puzzled on being informed that tho subject that was . then being discussed by about half-a-dozen speakers, in the presence of one-quarter ot the total members of tho House, was'the important question of tho defences of the Dominion. The total vote of the Department; amounting to £214,470, was "put through in slightly over two hours by 44 a House that averaged a bare quorum of 20 members. A groat many of tho members were half asleep. In such manner does Parliament, the fountain-head of authority and power in tho Dominion, transact its busij. ness and carry out the principles of 44 Government of the people, by the people, «nd for the people !"-Xews Item. "Mishter Speaker" fence -» WaS saying ' tho question of de- " Mishter Speaker '' - "The question of defence, I sav, is one •of the most, important that can possibly House;" - attention ° tllis honourable inj shter Speaker, there's someone talkILn - a ! Sle ? for these—er— ... -beastly interruptions!" : v ..^'. hen one comes to consider— t Mishter Speaker—" : it -To consider the great Armageddon that i lit \k? f T! - V C(lictwl will sooner or r- L fo «ght out m the Pacific" Mishter Speaker, I imist-cr—ask you L-° ri, m \ rom tliese sil,v interruptions. Ihe honourable member got up and walked uncertainly in his sleep to the i .table,, -where the- Prime Minister sat, and! thumped the table with his fist. Ihe Prune Minister awoke with a start, and rubbed his eyes—then grabbej hold of the honourable member and feebly exclaimed, 44 A burglar in my room! help! "Gentlemen," said the Speakei% "have done. I lease proceed with the business of the country!" "Help!" said the Prime Minister, dreamily— " Where are the police? Call nut the volunteers With which he released his hold of the honourable burglar, and turned over on his side. ~ loud snores were heard on all sides, as A storm that gathers in the forest. Mishter Speaker, are honourable members to be allowed to snore in this House and—prevent other honourable members from sleeping? I say it's a disgrace that m a country like this—"' (Enter the 'Honourable Mr. Fowlds Minister for Public Health, on tiptoe! ecrcnabulistically. He waves his arm like l. fairy* wand, and the snores grow louder.) "Sleep, pretty creature, sleep," says the Minister, softly. "Sleep is the first essential of health. I would not wake one hair of their precious heads." A bell rings. Honourable members start suddenly and rub their eves. One thinks it- is the morning boll, and walks about strangely, looking for a bath-towel. Another thinks it's, the breakfast bell, and murmurs, Steak and eggs." Another . thinks it .is the firebell, and asks what's burning. Great confusion prevails. ..." Someonein his sleep—lias moved something, and the Speaker is putting the motion—"the ayes on the right and the noes on the left." Honourable members' follow one another like sheep, and say, "Aye" in a mechanics,l sort of way—then fall off to sleep again. And every how and again a man gets up ! fend walks in his sleep, and says something •—and the rest say aye between snores. Snores of the people, by the people, for the people. THE TELEPHONE HEROINE. If ever there was. anybody who deserved to have a monument erected to her memory it is Mrs. Sarah Rook, the, telephone operator of Fcisom, New Mexico. When the big•• cloud-burst occurred, and this woman, sitting in the - telephone .exchange, , heard . no approach of the; great wall of water which engulphed so many human beings, she got her telephone to work and warned four "hundred subscribers, enabling them to save themselves and their families. Yet rhe was in the very track of the oncoming wall of water, Bft high, which swept through the township, carrying everything before.it. The bodies of over 20 miners were afterwards recovered, though the fate of _ scores remained uncertain, but through this act of bravery on the part of a- woman probably a thousand souls were saved. And she herself went out to meet her MUker. Tho bureau was wrecked, and'the heroic , woman's mutilated body was foqnd 12 ' miles distant, with the telephone receiver still fixed to her head. It is only when' .some great calamity like that at 'Folsom. . occurs that we find out what heroes and heroines there are in the world.' But tliere, are few acts of heroism, on the part of - man or woman, which surpass that of this telephone operator in New. Mexico, who stood to her post to the list, and met her death iike a soldier. •Like a soldier she stood to her post till fU' death, The lives of others to save ; ; ; 'And the peoplo were warned till she failed • of breath < And sank in a watery grave. ''Are you there? . . . Are you there?" The warning flew O'er the wire? of tho telephone. X There were lives to be saved — the woman knew The waters would claim her own! Bhe stood to her post, not counting the cost, As captains stand fast by their ships;. The end she foresaw, and she knew she was '"•'■.t -'i- : lost, • !: But the message still sped from her lips: ; "Hello! . . . Are you there?" . . ..She will V ' the line The message went out to the, town Bat, thought of herself there was never a ■' sign— < .•:••• • : And the on-rushing waters came down! Did any, I wonder, who -passed in their . flight, : * Look up at the little bureau? Did anyone pause as they made for the : . height " : With their eyes on the water below? ,He ; lio! .. . Are you there?" .. . She will ring no more On earth, for they found her dead; :< And "they knew that she gave up her life for them, for .. The receiver was still on her head. LESSONS OF THE FIGHT. There has been a great, to-do in tome quarters," said His Nibs, concern- . ing the prize fight between Mr. Burns and Mr. Squires in Sydney. The publication ol the details has shocked many of the good people who don't believe m anything but election fights—and when elections are on will fight tooth an' nail, an even hit the other fellow below the belt. ■ Fighting's fighting, say I, an' it doesri matter whether it's with your fists or with your tongue— 1 so long as a man fights nutlet 'im fight to his heart's content. .Now, there's lessons to be learnt from this fight in Sydney, an' there's morals in it, an there's good sermons to be preached from v ,it. No doubt most o' the sermons are 'on the one tack. No doubt the fight is mostly condemned as a disgraceful exhibition an' a relic of barbarism. But there s other ways o'. lookin' at it. Of course, if Mr. Burns had set out to kill Mr. .Salines it would 'ave been a brutal thing) to do, an' if Mr. Squires had entered tHe arena with the intention of murderin' his fellow man it would 'ave shown a • poor sort of conception of his duty as a citizen an as a Christian. What seems to have escaped the notice of a good many people is the fine spirit in which these two. gladiators entered into the contest. We are always talkin' of the golden rule, an' the parsons are always admonishing us to practise it— but how" many of us do? No, we have*to " go to a prize fight to learn our duty. It is a well-known fact that- both Mr. Burns and Mr. Squires like hard hitting, ihey are so hard themselves, they have got their muscles so like iron that hard hits don't hurt 'em. An' all through the fight they practised the golden rule, to do unto others as they would be done by. Mostly we are in the habit of twistin' the rule 'nto 'Do unto others as they do unto you.' If a man throws a stone at us, we throw one back at him. ;If a man calls us a liar, :we call him" a bigger one. That's riot ; Christian fighting, and only leads to peopl« 111 'v',:;-: p; ;v. v './; -■ ■■; ■ '

beiu' bad friends." But- to know that Air. Burns and Mr. Squires are the best of friends, an' that's because they fight fair an' take 110 mean advantages. They don't hit below* the belt, and they don't hit ii man when he's down. They fight on altruistic principles.- If Mr. ;■ Squires gets; a hard hit on the cheek, he graciously turns the other, cheek to be hit, an' if MY. Bums gets one on the right side of 'im he hops round like lightning an' presents the other side. There are those who say they are. simply follow in' out .uicl teach in', thatone blow on the right side of a man an' one on the left side are less than two blows on the same side of 'im, but I don't-hold with 'em. - There's higher motives. ' To my mind this big fight was a great lesson in patience an' perseverance. Neither man. lost his temper; both fought on cheerfully and doggedly till tired mture : was exhausted in Mr. Squires, an' if nature had. held out they'd be fighting yet. I think that incident at the end of the fight, wuen Mr. Burns spoke, to his wife through the telephone, and said, "la that you, Jewel? . . . This is T;thmy. ... It's all right,' is one of the finest examples of humility ,in the hour of victory on record. 'No? glorying in his opponent's downfall no chuckling over the thing; no bombast. And then, when the fight was.over, we learn that Mr. Squires. and Mr. Burns travelled in the same train compartment to Melbourne, chatting gaily about their little encounter. 4 That was a terrific clout you gave me on the neck, Tommy,' said Mr. Squires, ' in the 12th round,' says he. ' Well, I erne's I had to do something to stop you, Bill.' said Mr. Burns. And they laughed an' chatted away, the beet frieirds in the world." : i His Nibs filled his pipe and began to smoke. "Yes," he added, "the truly gloat know how to behave to an honourable opponent in the hour of victory, and the man who can take a licking with good, grace is a fit subject for « sermon." TUB Gf.xkr.vl.