LADIES’ PAGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 691, 29 May 1885, Page 4

LADIES’ PAGE.

*Having appointed a lady to conduct this 'page, we have to request that all communications upon domestic matters, dress, cuisine, &c. die., he addressed to Madame Elise, of the New Zealand Mail. HUMAN NATURE. How oft we rail at life, and call it dreary ; How oft we cry, “ Alas tbe world is weary—- “ Would that we might depart and be at rest !” Yet wayward are we all and hard to please, For when death’s angel conies to give us ease, Wo clasp the burden closer to our breast, Aad shrinking from the touch of that dark hand That fain would lead us to the silent land • Where weariness and wandering must cease ; Would rather struggle on beneath the load Along a painful but familiar road, Than sink into the grave’s deep dreamless peaco. For, Oh ! life may be hard, but it is life ! And we would sooner face the toil and strife Than blindly pass hence to an unknown fate ; And so, although we talk of heaven’s day, When well and strong, shnddering we turn away. When sickness brings us near to death’s dark gate. ' —Psyche. MY HERO. BV LILLIE E. BAKU. ' I. I have my hero ;—let me say • He wears no sword or uniform ; He never braved the leaden rain Amid the battle’s fiery storm. The world knows not bis face or name, He make no speech, he sings no songs, He stands not for some fancied “ right,” He champions not some fancied “ wrong.’’ 11. He has no rank, no store of gold, He rules no “ board ” or “ company He has no patronage to give, No sinecure, no salary. He is no dainty exquisite ' Foil fashion to adorn at will : No social ornament, no pet : And yet he is my hero still. 111. 4 This naan of perfect health and strength. Of kindly purpose, chaste and good. , Who wakes each morning with delight To do the thing he knows he should. Who, with frank eyes and honest lips, Greets very man, and woman, too ; Who scorns 3 lie, and hates a vice. And pays to every one their due. IV. Whose strong right arm and sweet, true heart, Firm will and clearly-fibred brain Is joyful in all hours of joy, Patient and grave in grief or pain. Who lends not body, will or mind To any wrong, thongh small it be ; Unknown he may be, yet he is A hero great enough for me. V. “ An average man,” you smiling say ; “ The world has thousands of such men.” I answer : “ That is rare, good news ; The world is full of heroes, then : Heroes for every grief and strait, In fire or flood no whit afraid : And it is of such ‘ average men ’ The leaders of tho world are mado.”

CANGES, A DISEASE OF THE WELL-TO-DO. We have then confessedly to face the fact that cancer is increasing in our midst at a rate which bids fair to become more and more serious with the advance of time. In an article entitled “An Inquiry into the Causes of the Increase of Cancer,’’ published in the British Medical Journal a year ago,, I drew attention to the observations which had been made upon the subject by the late Charles Moore, whose investigations into the pathology of cancer had brought under his notice the incontrovertible evidence of the increase of the disease. In the year 1865 he published a small book called the “ Antecedents of Cancer,” the contents of which chiefly consist in an attempt to explain in what manner the augmentation of cancer is influenced by the circumstances of life prevailing in this country. For instance, he held that the introduction of Corn laws, the discoveries of gold and sanitary improvements, whereby the well-being of the nation was conspicuously established, affected cancer indirectly by bringing into prominence the predisposing causes or its occurrence ; and good living, it is thought, which follows as a corollary of commercial prosperity, is intimately associated wdth the manifestation of cancer. Again, inasmuch as cancer is characteristic of the healthy, it may be expected to abound amid the conditions of health. The greater prevalence ef the disease among the rich than among the

poor can probably be explained in this manner. According to a French observer, the proportion of cancer in the wealthy classes is about 106 to 1,000, in the poor classes it is 72 to 1,000 ; or at the rate in the former case of 10 per cent, and in the latter of 7 per cent, Now, curious as it may seem, cancer is met with in the lower animals ; and it has been said to prevail more frequently among those which are flesh-eaters than those which are herb-eaters. It has been stated by the late Dr. Crisp, who had good opportunities of judging, that cancer is by no means an uncommon disease among the domesticated animals, while in wild animals and uncivilised man it is rare. —Popular Science Monthly for March. A LUCKLESS ROYAL LOVER. In his last book, “ Society of Vienna,” Count Paul Vasili gives a novel explanation of the remarkably retired life of King Louis of Bavaria. It appears that His Majesty has long been suffering from the effects of love, and here is what the cruel Count says of him : “ King Louis was wildly in love. With whom I will not say. One day as he was bringing to his lady, just as common, unregal lovers do, a magnificent bouquet, he happened by accident to pass unnoticed into her little salon, where he found himself alone. Immediately he began to arrange the flowers in a vase. Having finished this delicate operation, he started to leave, but just then saw his beloved one coming home in company with a young man. So he concealed himself behind a curtain in order to enjoy the surprise and delight, as he thought, of the young lady at the sight of the flowers brought to her by her royal admirer. Well, she came into the room, but not alone. Her cavalier was with her. “ Heavens !” she exclaimed, “ another bouquet from that fool of a King w horn 1 detest !” Then, turning to her friend, she invited him to kiss away the annoying impression. The invitation was vigorously accepted, and his concealed Majesty, although ' half-blinded with the tears in his eyes, managed to crawl out unobserved. Then he cursed the unfaithful one, and swore that he would never again love and never marry. He kept his oath ; and since that time, if the unfortunate sovereign has lived in solitude and has become the dreamer that he is known to be, it is because he has long been convinced that reveries can sometimes give as much happiness as realities, and that they are les3 liable to be deceptive.” A HAUNTED HOUSE IN DUBLIN. A remarkable case was heard on Saturday, February 21st, in Dublin. Mr Waldron, a solicitor’s clerk, sued his next-door neighbor, who is a mate in the merchant services, named Kiernan, to recover £SOO damages for injuries done to his house by, as he alleged, the defendant and his family. Kiernan denied the charges, and asserted that Waldron’s house was haunted, and that the acts complained of were done by spirits or some person in plaintiff ’s place. Evidence for the plaintiff was to the effect that every night from August to January his hall door was continually being knocked at, and his windows broken with stones which came from the direction of the defendant’s premises. Mrs Waldron swore that one night she saw one of the panes of glass in the window cut through with a diamond, and a white hand inserted through the hole so made in the glass. She caught up a bill-hook and aimed a blow at the hand, cutting one of the fingers completely off. The hand was then withdrawn, but on her examining the place she could find neither the finger nor any traces of blocd. On another occasion the servant, hearing mysterious knockings, fell down with fright, upsetting a pail of water over herself. Mr Waldron armed himself with a rifle and revolver and brought a detective into the house, while several policeman watched outside. They, however, could find nothing. Kiernan’a family, on being accused of causing the noises, denied it, suggested it was the work of ghosts, and advised the Waldrons to send for a Roman Catholic clergyman to rid the house of its terrors. A police constable swore that one evening he saw Waldron’s servant kick the door with her heels at about the time the rapping usually commenced. Chief Justice Morris said the affair suggested the performances of the Davenport brothers, or Maskelyne and Cooke. It was quite inexplicahle from the absence of motive, and remained shrouded in the mysterious uncertainty of the Man with the Iron Mask, the authorship of “ Junius’ Letters,” or “ Why Anderson Left Dycer’s.” The jury found for the defendant. —St. James’ Gazette. CUTTING GLASS WITH SCISSORS.

Many persons may not be aware that glass can be cut under water with greatest ease, to almost any shape by simply using a pair of shears or strong scissors. In order to insure success two points must be attended to —first and most important, the glass must be kept quite level in the water while the scissors are applied ; and, secondly, to avoid

risk, it 13 better fco begin the cutting by taking off small pieces at the corners and along the edges, and to reduce the shape gradually to that required, for if any attempt is made to cut. the glass to the shape as we would a piece of cardboard, it will be most likely to break just where it is not wanted. Some kinds of glaS3 cut much better than others ; the softer glass is the best for this purpose. The scissors need not depend on the state of the edge presented to the glass. When the operation goes on well, the glass breaks away from the scissors in small pieces in a straight line with the blades. This method of cutting glass has often been of service when a diamond has not been at hand, for cutting ovals and segments, and, though the.edges’are not as smooth as might be desired for some purposes, it will answer in many cases. The two hints given above, if strictly followed, will always insure success.

deink: in the time op the CRUSADES. The Crusaders were great topers, and to them is due the bringing of spirits. The Arabs had reinvented distilling, but the process is described by Galen and Zosimus, writing in the Second and Fifth centuries respectively. It is thought to have been known to the old Chaldees, and from them transmitted to the Scythians—Tarters, who, like the Koords nowadays, were always making inroads towards the Mediterranean. Alcohol is, of course, an Arabic word—probably the same as the Hebrew “ kaftl,” Chaldee “ colial,” meaning anything highly subtilized, whether in powder or spirit. In the former shape it is applied to the finely powdered antimony, the “kohl” with which Eastern women paint their eyelashes. With the article, “ all,” it is the spirit, or, as Lucifer, in Longfellow’s “ Golden Legend,” says : The elixir of perpetual youth, Called alcohol in the Arab speech.

This, by and by, became a formidable rival to the older liquors, of which Gireldus Cambrensis writes : “ Their constant habit of drinking has made the English famous among all nations. Both nature and custom make them drunkards. It is a strife between Ceres and Bacchus ; but in the beer which conquers and domineers over them, Ceres prevails.” Spii’its, however, were not made or much drank in England till the Sixteenth century. Even abroad for a long time brandy was only used as a medicine, the efforts of- chemists like Raymond Lully being devoted to rectifying what the Arabian Abuchasis had taught them how to produce in a hydrated form. How is it that whisky (uisgebaugh—water of life) got into use so much sooner in Scotland and Ireland ? It cannot be because mountains are unsuited to malt-making, for much of Ireland is plain, and the Welsh have never exchanged their ancestral cwrw (beer) such as it i 3, for spirits. Moreover, good ales are still brewed in Scotland and Ireland, notably at Drogheda, and the old song about King Arthur’s Court testifies that in early times : The Scot loved ale called blue-cap. I suppose the habit of spirit-drinking was learned abroad. Scots of the Dugald Dalgetty class brought over that and other bad customs, and they were a numerous class, and from them the colonists to Ulster were largely recruited. Scot-ale (in Low Latin, Seot-allum) had, by the way, in old records, a far different meaning ; it is, properly, a gathering where each paid his share, and thence comes to mean a public house. In King John’s reign the Council of St. Alban’s forbids* “ Viscounts, foresters, and others to hold Scot-ale 3 where they pleased.” A King’s officer would hold a Scot-ale within one of the Royal forests, out of the range, i.e., of the common law, and thither he would compel men to repair, just as a publican nowadays is sometimes able to prevent a man from getting work unless he deals with the “house of call,” where workmen assemble and wages are paid.—All the Year Round.

PRICES IN 1730. THE COST OF LIVING IN ENGLAND A HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO. Gervase Scrope, of Cockerington, who died in 1741, and his son and successor, Thomas Scrope, of Cockeringfcon and Coleby, Lincolnshire, left behind them some voluminous books of accounts, which enable us to form a tolerably comprehensive idea of the cost of living and of the value of labour and land about one hundred and fifty years ago. The MS., which have not been published, show that in 1730 a “ dark-colored cloth suit, trimmed with silver .buttons and loops,” and including two pairs of breeches, cost 17 guineas, the price of the cloth being 18 shillings a year. In 1732 the cloth for a scarlet roquelaure cost no less than 22 shillings a yard, and the charges for making up the cloak amounted to £5 16 shillings. All clothes, in fact, are very expensive. A perfectly plain light-colored suit for common use cost Mr Scrope £9 in 1729 ; and a bob wig cost £2 and a tie wig £5 in 1732. The Squire, under the circumstances, had to be economical. His own dress was a matter of importance, he being a leading man in the county ; but we find that in 1731 his son Tommy “had a pair of breeches made out of an old scarlet riding-coat of mine,” and that Mr Scrope only bought two pairs of boots a year in London. For these he paid from £2 to £3. His other boots he purchased more cheaply from a country cobbler. The prudent Squire had four sons—Gervase, Thomas, Frederick and Carr. In 1731 Gervase, then aged seventeen, went to complete bis education with one Mr Hoole at Haxey, where his board, washing, fire, candles, and tea for breakfast, cost only £3O a year; the sole extras being an entrance fee of two guineas and half, a crown a week as pocket money for the boy. Probably the fees would have been considerably lower haditnot been for the tea at breakfast, but it was of course absolutely necessary that a young fellow of condition should have “tay”, and Squire Scrope was not the man to stint his eldest son in the innocent enjoyment of so fashionable a luxury. In the course of 1732 Carr, who was but thirteen, and was destined for the navy, was sent “ to schoole to Mr Haledine’s, near Union Stairs, in Wapping, at £26 per annum for his board without washing, and a guinea a month for learning arithmetick and navigation and two guineas entrance.’’ This was another instance of generous conduct on the part of the Squire

for Carr had already been with his brother Fred at Mr Arnold’s, by whom they were boarded and liberally taught for £l2 a year each, and two guineas for each extra. The cheapness of the school charges was no doubt due in a great measure to the low price of meat. Even in 1754 a quarter of lamb cost only .1 shilling and 7 pence, a leg and a saddle of mutton 4 shillings and 7 pence, veal 3| pence a pound, round of beef 4£ pence, ribs of beef 3 pence, mutton 2f pence" and pork 3 pence ; and rabbits could be bought for from 6 pence to 1 shilling a pair. Lump sugar, on-the other hand, was 9 pence a pound, soap 6 pence, and coffee 6 shillings ; but “ good red port” was cheap, the price per dozeu bottles being only 17 shillings, and other wines could be purchased at proporI tionate prices, Nor were wages extravagant. In 1748 “ two days’ work done in the gardens at Coleby Hall” cost 1 shilling and 6 pence, though in the same year labourers were occasionally paid 1 shilling per Mowers earned 1 shilling and 10 pence a day, and plowers 4 shillings an acre ; and the head gardener, a man who exercised considerable authority, received but £IG a year. Maid servants"were paid, from £3 to £6 a year ; and a washerwoman could be hired for 6 pence and a charwoman for 4 pence a day. The price of coals at Lincoln, whence they were hauled by the Squire’s servants to Coleby, was 17 shillings a caldron in 1748 ; the window tax for Coleby Hall was £2 17 shillings, and a pane of glass for the window of the guest chamber cost 1 shilling. The accounts also throw some light upon the stable expenses at the time. In 1734 oats were but 11 shillings a quarter, and the Coleby blacksmith charged only 4 shillings for eight shoes for Mr Scrope’s two chaise horses. In the same year the village carpenter made a grindstone-frame and mended two wheel-barrows for the very moderate sum of 1 shilling and 6 pence. As for the value of land, a rich grazing farm of 27S acres let for £165, and 198 acres of good arable fields for L9O. —St. James Gazette.

THE MAN EDMUND YATES LIBELLEDLord • Lonsdale, the young nobleman libelled by Edmund Yates’ paper, says he would have been more gratified if the real author of the malicious gossip, Lady Stradbrooke, could have been sent to jail instead of Yates, who had no direct hand in the affair. Lady Stradbrooke, the "Lady Jenkins’’who gathered society tattle for the World, is a cousin of Lady Grace Faio, the young person with whom she reported Lord Lonsdale to have eloped; Her motive was sheer malice. It is said, however, that she has been punished more severely than she would be by imprisonment. Ever since it was discovered that she was the author of the objectionable paragraph she has been socially ostracised, and she received only seventeen shillings a week by her writings. The Earl, her husband, was then eightyeight years old, a Wellington veteran, and her first husband a Colonel of Hussars. ) Last year, when her son, Lord Dunwich, came of age, no one would go down to see her place in Suffolk. BIBLICAL BLUNDERERS. Every year a certain proportion of the, children of the London board schools enter into a competitive examination in Scriptural knowledge for the “ Peek Prizes,” which consist of handsomely-got-up Bibles and Testaments. They are “ paper-work ” examinations, and the following are a few of the many curious “hash” answers that have at various times been put in at them. “Abraham was the father of Lot, and ad tew wives, one was called Hismale and tother Haggar, he kept wun at home, and he turned tother into the desert, where she became a pillar of salt in the day time and a pillar of fire by night.” “Joseph wore a koat of many garments. He were chief butler to Faro and told is dreams. He married Potiffers dortor, and he led the Gypshans out of bondage to Kana in Gallillee, and there fell on his sword and died in sight of the promised land.” “Moses was an Egypshion. He lived in a hark made of bulrushes, and he kept a golden calf and worshipt brazen snakes, and he hot nothing but kwales and manner for forty years; He was kort by the air of his ed while riding under the bow of a tree and he was ki led by his son Absolon as he was hangin from the bow. His end was pease ” Of the numerous stories told in connection with diocesan inspection “ exams,” in public elementary schools, the two following are perhaps the best known and most worth quoting. At one of these exams, a boy asked to mention the occasion upon which it is recorded in Scripture that an animal spoke, made answer: “The whale when it swallowed Jonah.” The inspector who was somewhat of a humorist, maintained his gravity and asked : “What did the whale say ? ’ To which the boy promptly replied : “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Another inspector, finding a class hesitating over answering the question, “ With what weapon did Samson slay the Philistines ?” and wishing to prompt them, significantly tapped his own cheek, and asked: “ What is this?” and his action touching “ chords .of memory,” the whole class instantly answered : “ The jawbone of an ass.”