NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

i THE VICISSITUDES OF : LIFE. . London newspapers are discussing the ; vicissitudes of life as illustrated by the career of Mr. J. W. Cook. , Nineteen years ago .Mr. Cook, being a young man of 26, lost his employment in the railway coni trading business. ; He" was also declared a bankrupt. A few weeks ago Mr, Cook entered ,an official receiver's office and presented him with a cheque of £800 for the purpose of paying his old creditors 20s in .the £. -"No sudden" rise to fortune this," says a London correspondent," but a steady accumulation of savings, year by year, inspired by a fine respect for his good name. But we not only think well of Mr. Cook. We get in parts of his.lifea hint of the | vagaries of existence that go ; to make up the swirl of London. • He came 'here /with two sovereigns. They- were all but 'gone, when, urged to desperation, he bought some strawberries and cherries, hired a barrow, and went into the streets. : But once afoot, he and two similarly amateur companions. found themselves too : shamefaced to shout their . wares, - and, ; unique among' their kind, they pushed their fruit barrow in silence. ' They were saved ; 'by some' flower girls, ''who,' seeing v how matters were, came to their rescue, bought fruit themselves, and found them* customers. Then Mr. Cook had;, an answer"Wan application for work. He borrowed : a top bat and a frock.coat, which.were the only possessions of ' a submerged friend, who, indeed, subsequently died of starvation.' But the top hat and frock coat he affirms, secured him the position he f sought and thereafter things.were well -with him. But there.; in that drama in' little., are some of the humours,, 'the pathos,' and the tragedy all about a great dty, out .of sight and unheeded for the most part, but now and then coming to the surface for what we can make of them.", ■ , -.., * {"■' ; ; ; GOLDEN AGE IN SIGHT. ' Sib John Cockbusn prophesied the comnig of the golden age in a 5 lecture to-the Ethnological Society at the galleries of the ißoyal, Society of British Artists recently. "The golden age/is not all'a myth," he said, " because there really' have been ages of stability, solidarity, ' and comparative satisfaction in this world. Our'own time shows all'the signs of working np to such afperiod.?' He based his prophecy on the law of evolution. « A developing society;" he said, " starts, from simplicity and homogeneity, breaks; up'" into' varietv, and arrives at last at ia-brotherhbodPof manifold diversity. _I\believe .that ■we 'have passed .through the; stage- of variety, and are leaching the-solidarity",. corporate consciousness, .which is the mark of any golden ..age: .Undoubtedly .the final "stage of mterpo.ndence.is a, better thing than the original elemental stage, and to "reich ii destruction arid extremes ■ of individualism have: to be.; passed through. {There are already sighs all round us that 'we are already - through "them. "We' are al- ' ready -synthetic and preparing ; the ; golden age. For instance, the -entry of [ women into all spheres, of activity/ neces- ■ j sarily operates against destruction and sep- ' ! aration. ; They have' the 'building, -har- . mon.sing forces of human nature - strongly ' developed, and whenever a -synthetic" age ■ [ arrive* on : the scene women are to-be noted emerging into a general social influence. ~ This statements about women's in- : fluence," added. Sir, John. Cockbura,- "is ' not contradicted by.the: facts of inffitancy. PhysiologicaUy. there ; is "no doubt; that women do act constructively,' and militancy. .possibly,the last outbreak of .the spirit of; variation and dissolution; which is. being so widely'got rid' of." 'Another ' sign was that of, insurance. "Our risks are syndicated nowadays,' he said, .;*' so that if my house is being burned down at this moment some; of my audience here will quite possibly have to pay: Another form of insurance which points to .the same determination to' J be int«rdependeht-.'is", the idea which -the Oversea-Dominions are tak- I ing up that the risks of the Empire,' so""to ; speak,- ought'to be rorporateiy and pro- ' portionately borne, ; .arid? that defensive ' costs ought, to be shared. In .fact, wher- ' ever one looks-round,* whether -oner a p- ' proves or -disapproves; of each;;thing." the < synthetic - , characteristics of our. age be- - come manifest: TbW labour : unions, ■. cooperation and prbfit-sharirig,- ] joint-stock companies, ■ compulsory, -sariita- ; tion, protection, of children, .and interfer- - ence between children and ! pai€nts?vß-■' -