Pot Pourri.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 426, 10 April 1880, Page 4

Pot Pourri.

DRESS. From little matters let us pass to less, And lightly touch upon the mysteries of dress; The outward forms the inner man reveal, We guess the pulp before we cut the peel; One single precept might the whole condense— Be sure your tailor is a man of sense ; But add a little care or decent pride, And always err upon the sober side. Wear seemly gloves, not black nor yet too light, And, least of all, the pair that once was white; Have a good hat; the secret of your looks Lies with the beaver in Canadian brooks; Virtue may flourish in an old cravat, But man and nature scorn the shocking hat; Be shy of breastpins ; plain, well ironed, white, With small pearl buttons —two of them in sight— Is always genuine, while your gems may pass, Though real diamonds, for ignoble glass. Dr. O. W. Holmes.

Late Additions to our English Vocabulary—(From recent Indian experience).—" A fanatic"—One who is ready to kill and be killed in defence of his country, like the Greeks at Thermopylae, and the Dutch at Leyden. " Scientific frontier."—A position in an intensly hostile country, where three armies may be shut up close together, each unable to help or communicate with each other. "An independent, united, and friendly country."— One invaded and occupied by three hostile armies which hold only the ground they stand on, which every man, woman, and child are leagued to destroy, and whose commanders are fain to hang every man who resists them, to burn their villages, and to turn their women and children out to starve.— Punch.

Animal Rubber.—An insect, which produces a species of India-rubber, has been recently discovered in the district of Yucatan, Central America, by an American explorer. It is called neen, and belongs to the Coccus family ; feeds on the mango tree, and swarms in these regions. It is of considerable size, yellowish brown in color, and emits a peculiar oily odour. The body of the insect contains a large proportion of grease, which is -highly prized by the natives for applying to the skin on account of its medicinal properties. When exposed to great heat the lighter oils of the grease volatilise, 'leaving a tough wax, which resembles shellac, and may be used for making varnish or lacquer. When burnt this wax, it is said, produces a thick semi-fluid mass, like a solution of India-rubber. A Highland Letter. —This is a verbatim copy of a letter of application received from the subscriber for a situation as porter on the Glasgow and South-Western Railway at Greenock :—" Octor 29, 1879, — Mr. Stasion Master a pe very expekt to got plaice yu pe have unta railwa a portoor all meen ma name pe donald Cambell an a pe 25 al pe got a charchacttar from my masthar Shorge Camren cripol Shorge wi ta wan i an a wan i pe got from ta Minstr uf yu give me to ta plase all pe kom ta day pefer tu more at wans wrote tu mi Sun sun i can pe kari herin paril twinty stares ip on her pak an doon min to wrote. —DoNAL Cambel."

Religeuses. —The St. Louis Republican of the 12fch December says :—Several religeuses of the order of the Sacred Heart left this city for New Zealand, where they will locate and establish a branch of their order. In the party were Mother Sullivan, who goes as superioress ; Mother Sherman, who goes as book-keeper and general manager ; Mother Mact, and several lay sisters. They were accompanied by Mother Boudreaux, superioress-general of this province, and Mother Bauduy Garesche. Both of these ladies will, after seeing the establishment organised, return to the city, arriving here some time next spring. The place proposed for the founding of the establishment is the city of Timaru, situated on the coast of the South Island. On the previous Wednesday the party was tendered a reception by the sisters and pupils of the Mary ville Convent previous to their departure for their new home. They were presented with an elegant gold ciborium by the scholars of the Convent, and were also the recipients of any quantity of beautiful flowers, besides vestments, chalices, rosaries, scapulars, pictures, and other articles necessary to assist them in the starting of their new house. The exercises were very interesting, opening with an address delivered by Miss Bessie Shannon. A play was also performed, and the singing class rendered with excellent taste and execution some selections from "Lohengrin." The parting between the sisters and their friend?, brothers and pupils, was very sad and affecting, and many a Godspeed has followed them on their long voyage.

The Kennedy Family.—Friends of these talented ladies and gentlemen who remember them as performers in this city a few years since will be glad to hear of their continued success. Mr. Kennedy, senior, having finished a very fortunate season at the Cape of Good Hope with several members of his family, was in November last performing the Indian tour. Messrs. James Kennedy, junior, and Robert Kennedy, were, with their sister Marjory, in residence at Milan studying singing. The former had performed a short engagement at Bressin, singing in Lucia in August, but had since devoted himself to study, and had perfected himself in eight operas. Mr. Robert Kennedy was engaged from January up to the end of Carnival time to sing in La Juive&t Placenza. He has a tenor voice of fine quality and training. Miss Kennedy's voice is developing into a high soprano, and the tuition of which she has now the advantage. At the conclusion of the Indian trip Mr. David Kennedy bids farewell to the boards, and leaves for Pietermaritzberg, where he is to be married, and becomes joint proprietor in a printing concern. The Indian company are expected in England in June, when the whole family, including the Milan students, combine for a six months tour

in America, followed by one of the same extent in the old country. Then, says the letter from which our news is taken, Hie ! for Australia, in June, 1881, unless Mr. Kennedy is tempted to take the colonies directly after India. When the talented family come to Hobart Town, we can assure them of a hearty welcome.— Tasmanian Paper.

Speech and Intellect.—A man who has by disease or injury, lost the faculty of talk-,, ing, is generally also unable to write ; and it is only in exceptional cases that one of these functions persists while the other is in abeyance. Cases of this latter kind show, however, that there are really two separate centres for the two faculties which are lying very close together, and therefore generally suffer at the same time. If the disease affecting them be still more extensive, the faculty of intelligence pantomime or gesticulation is likewiseabolshed. Persons who have entirely lost their language may still be able to play chess, backgammoD, and whist ; and they have been observed to cheat at cards with some ingenuity. They may also be sharp in business matters — facts tending to show that speech and intellect do not run in identical grooves. Petroleum a Cure por Consumption.—An American physician has discovered another use for petroleum ; it is a cure for consumption. Dr. M. M. Griffith asserts that he has obtained astonishing results by the ad minstration of crude petroleum in many cases of well-marked tuberculosis. He employs the semi-solid oil accumulating on the casing of the wells, and administers it in three to five-grain pills, compounded with some inert vegetable matter. He gives the pills from three to five times a day, one pill for a dose, and confesses that he is himself astonished at the effects produced.

Mr. Parnell.—The New Yorh Journal of Commerce, commenting on what it calls the meagre financial results of Mr. ParnelFs mission to the United States says, :—" We will tell Mr. Parnell the. reason of this. He is agitating in the wrong way. He is offending the quiet, conservative, thrifty, well-to-do Americans—the only ones who have any money laid up and to spare—by the revolutionary and communistic character of his programme. If he had come here only to ask for bread or for the means of buying it and feeding the starving Irish, the responses would have been most liberal, as they were in former days in such an emergency. In 1862 the New York Chamber of Commerce alone raised 150,000 dols. for the famishing Lancashire operatives. In 1846 the New York merchants sent shiploads of food to hungry Ireland. They would do it again if Mr. Parnell did not freeze the genial current of their souls and sour the milk of human kindness within them. The New York merchants and bankers do not question Mr. Parnell's sincerity and honesty in the least. But they have misgivings about the actual disposition of the funds which that gentleman solicits* Mr. Justice Stephen on Revolvers.—ln charging the grand jury at the Liverpool winter assizes on Saturday, Mr. Justice Stephen, in alluding to the case of a man named Fitzallan, who was charged with shooting another with a revolver, said that though many people did not seem to be aware of it, the mere fact of threatening a man with a revolver was an offence. It was a monstrous thing that people should be allowed, in a time of perfect peace, and in a civilised country, to carry deadly weapons, the slightest accident with which might cost their own lives and those of other persons.

An agent acting for the members of the New York Stock Exchange, has succeeded in putting an end to the operations of several swindling firms which did a large " putt and call" business. Their plan was very simpleThey advertised extensively, and sent out one million of circulars promising to invest small sums in stock operations which would certainly yield large profits. When they got money they kept it in all cases, informing their dupes that the speculation had been successful. So careful were their proceedings that they could not be convicted, and it was only by refusing them the use of the mails that, their game has been wound up. A young man: named Buckwalter was the organiser of several of these swindling firms. He did business under the titles of Lawrence and Co. ; Adams, Brown, and Co. ; Allan, Jordan and Co. Barnes, Garrison, and Co. His receipts from Lawrence and Co. amounted on the average to 28,000 dollars a month. He kept magnificent horses and a splendid residence. These comforts he does not lose by exposure, as he is ia possession of a large fortune. He had a short time since 300,000 dollars in .T7.S. four per cents, deposited with one safe company.

"Te Pounamau abroad," writing to the Canterbury Times from Paris, says :—The severity of this winter has told hardly on the poor, and there is great distress among them But charity has done much to aid them. At. the head of all the alms giving institution© of Paris—let the Fourth Estate mark this—stands that singular journal the Figaro — Figaro the puissant, who invites princes to banquets, and starts fetes on a gigantic scale for the benefit of distress in foreign countries, does not forget the poor of Paris. What a Mansion House fund is to London, is a subscription list opened by the Figaro here. In the first four days subscriptions poured in to the tune of over 100,000 francs, and now they amount to near 500,000. This is not distributed in indiscriminate and reckless charity,j but divided with great care amongst the poor in the various arrondissements of the city—half in bread onefourth in meat, and the rest in firing. Every morning appears a short account of what has been done, and the number of people relieved the day before. Cold being even more terrible to the needy than hunger, it was also proposei to establish public places where the indigent could warm themselves at braziers or open fires. This idea was improved upon and many chaufoirs, or free lodging-houses for the night, where the poor obtain beds, food, and warmth, were established through the energy of the jouraal named.