HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1061, 30 June 1892, Page 11

HERE AND THERE.

In the Spectator, Mr C. Hunter Brown, of Nelson, N.Z., tells the following story of a cow’s jealousy of a dog :—A fow years ago 1 nad a quiet milch-cow, ‘ Rose,' which certainly was fond of Thomas, the man who milked her regularly, and she also showed an aversion to dogs even greater than is usual in her species. One night, for what reason I now forget, I had tied up a young collie-dog in the little cow-slied where she was accustomed to be milked. The following morning I had just begun to dress, when I heard the puppy barking in the cowshed. ‘Oh 1’ thought I, ‘ I forgot to tell Thomas about the puppy, and now the cow will get in first and gore it.’ The next minute I heard a roar of unmistakable fear and anguish—a human roar. I dashed down to the spot, and at the same moment arrived my son, pitchfork in hand. There lay Tliomaa on his face, in a dry gutter by the side of the road, with the cow butting angrily at him. We drove off the cow, and poor Thomas scuffled aoross the road, slipped through a wire fence, stood up, and drew breath. ‘ Why, Thomas,’ said I, * what is the matter with Rose ?’ ‘ Well, sir,’ said Thomas, ‘ I heard the pup bark and | untied him, and I was just coming out of the cow-house, with the pup in my arms, when Rose came round the corner. As soon as she see’d the pup in my arms she rushed at me without nio>e ado, knooked me down, and would have killed me if you hadn’t come up.’ Thomas bad, indeed, had a narrow escape; bis trousers were ripped up from end to end, and red marks all along his legs showed where Rose’s horns had grazed along them. ‘ Well,’ said I, ‘you’d better not milk her this morning, since she’s in such a fury.’ ‘Oh ! I’ll milk her right enough, sir, by and by; just give her a little time to settle down like. It’s only jealousy of that ’ere pup, sir. She couldn’t abide seeing me a-fondling of it.’ ‘ Well, as you like, said I ; ‘ only take care and mind what you're about..’ ‘ All right, sir.’ l’n about twenty minutes Thomas called me down to ate the milk. The cow had stood quiet enough to be milked. But the milk was deeply tinged with blood, and in half an hour a copious revl precipitate had settled to the bottom of the pail. Till then I had doubted the jealousy theory. After that I believed.

Mr 11. Ali-.vrigut, ex-momb.'r of the Mouse of Representatives for Lyttelton, has been seriously ill, ancl has left for Australia on a trip to recruit his health.

A touch of melancholy runs through those novels which deal with the last of anything, whether of Homan tribunes, Mohican Indians, Saxon kings, Goths, or English barons. The Bame kind of feeling will animate the passengers who travel to Penzance by the 10.15 a.ni. train from Paddington on Friday, May 20, for (remarks the Telegraph) that train will be the last of the broad gauge, and, when the cars have reached their destination the ‘easy travelling ’ system will be as dead as the dodo, ready to have its history written. From fine hour named till the following Sunday night about five thousand men will be employed by the Great Western Company converting those portions of their line beyond Exeter which still have the seven feet gauge to the national or narrow measurement of 4ft SJin. This operation will entail considerable dislocation of traffic on these distant sections of the system, but every arrangement has been made to complete the work in the most expeditious manner. An idea of its magnitude may be gained from the fact that about two hundred miles have to be dealt with. During its progress the Great Western will utilise the South-Western line between Exeter and Plymouth for mail and other traffic, and on Saturday a«d Sunday, May 21 and 22, a stoamer carrying first and second-class passengers will run between Plymouth and Falmouth for the conveyance of the Cornish, mails.

At Avoca (Vic ), the othor day, Ah Souy, a Chinaman, was fined for ploughing his land on a Sundav, and admonished not to offend again. ‘How him Chineeman know him Slundee ?’ queried the puzzled heathen. The Bench couldn’t tell him.

In his article on the late Mr Leyland’s collection of pictures, which appears in the'new number of the Art Journal, Mr Val Prinsep furnishes a description of Dante Rossetti's house in Cheyno Row, Chelsea. It was (he tells us) a curiosity. The painting room (which could hardly be called a studio; indeed, ho himself generally called it his ‘ painting room ’) was a sanctum unvisited by the housemaid. There were generally some strange birds or beasts about. The garden was a kind of menagerie, for tliore wombats, ravens, crows, owls, and all sorts of wild creatures had their homes. He once bought a small Brahmin bull, but, as he expressed it, ‘ the delightful little beast pursued me round, the garden till, by jingo 1 I had to take refugo behind a tree and shout for someone with a stick.’ The Brahmin bull was sent away that afternoon. ‘ I need not say,’ adds Mr Prinsep, ‘ that Rossetti- was a frequenter of the late Mr Jamrach’s shop.’

The Attorney-General of South Australia is caliod Homburg. Most lawyers would bo well named if they were called Homburg—with ‘u ’ instead of the ‘o ’ and the ‘r ’ left out. ■

How jealously guarded the lobby of the House of Commons is nowadays is told by a ‘ Lobbyist ’ in Chambers’ Journal:— ‘ To win the narrow way leading from the Central Hall to the Members’ Lobby a person would have to exert a strength at least equal to that of Sandow or Sampson. Half-a-dozen stalwart constables or other officials would be on bis track in a moment. He would be seized and ignominiously lugged back over the magic line. Even were he by much guile and by deep-laid plots to find his way through the swing door of the lobby, his presence would be instantly noticed, and he would be chivied off in a trice.* The lobby, of course, boasts a bar where liquor is to be obtained, as well as various nutritious edibles, and we read :— ‘ Mr Balfour hitnself was in past sessions a familiar figure almost every day at the bar. The Chief Secretary would glide out of the chamber after the storm and stress of question.time, and restore the inner man with a glass of wine and a biscuit, or a cup of the beverage * that cheers, but not inebriates.* In these, his biscuit and sherry moments, he liad a kind word and a welcome recognition for those of his colleagues who might desire a few moments’ chat with him.* Few Ministers or members of the Government, however, with the exception of the Whips, are habitues of the lobby. Nor do the ex-Ministers affect: the lobby greatly :—‘The writer can only re« collect having seen Mr Gladstone lobbying on one occasion during the present Parliament. Earl Spencer may be seen here occasionally; Sir William Harcourt a little more frequently, and from time to time Mr John Morley, Sir George Trevelyan, and Mr Bryce. Of Ministers, the figure of the Premier is the least familiar of all in the territory of the House of Commons. Perhaps he has seen enough of it in past.times. The stalwart forms of Mr Whitbread, Sir William Barttelot, and Sir Charles Milner, all well above six feet iu height, are familiar.here, as is the remarkable figure of Sir Richard Temple. The blind member for Ossory, led about by his little 6on, is rarely absent for a week to« gether.

Deeming’s case has been availed of to furnish names for sporting dogs. The Bulletin says: At Mouut Pleasant (S.A.) coursing meeting last week two of the dogs were naned ‘ Baron Swanßton ’ and ‘ Kate Rounsevell.’ They met, and the Baron, who was muoh the better on the ‘ kill,’ won easily.

The London correspondent of the Sheffield Telegraph gives an amusing account of how Irish members are made:—lt appears that Mr Timothy Healy was responsible for Mr Blane’s entrance into Parliament. Mr Healy had been sent down to preside at a convention in Armagh, where there was considerable wrangling over the merits of two rival candidates. After what Mr Healy describes as the worst quarter of an hour in his life, ho turned round to the ‘clerical dictators,’ and (T now follow Mr Healy’sown words) said to one, ‘ Have you any decant man among yourselves?’ ‘Do you see that man,’ says he ‘ down at the end of the hall with his coat off?* ‘ is it,’ said I, ‘ the man who was on a ladder putting up the decorations when I was coming in y ‘ 1 is,’ said he. ‘ What is his name 2* said I. ‘ Alexander Blane,’ says he. ‘ What is he ?’ said I. ‘A tailor,’ says he. ‘Devil I care, said I; l is he a decent man ?’ ‘He is a good Nationalist./ says the priest. " * Is h 0 the best you can do for us ?’ said I. ‘He is ’ says he. I turned round to Mr Biggar, who was sitting beside me, and said, ‘He is a decent local man, a tradesman; why should we not give the tradespeople a chance?’ ‘ Right,’ says Mr Biggar, and before Mr Blan'e knew about it he was a member of 'Parliament. Mr Healy here followed up this characteristic narrative by a statement that when Mr Parnell heard of the choice he exclaimed. ‘ Healy, who the devil is this tailor you have brought in among us ?’

The Southern Standard, published at Gore, has celebrated its fifth anniversary The Standard has greatly improved of late m literary matter, and is a well edited and most readable country paper. We wish it continued suocess.

T> n fc ,r ß , , f rllng x ton H ° USe ° a FHda J (80 the Pall Mall says) a merry, plump old damepassed an amusing criticism on the President’s picture ‘ the sea gave up the dead which were in it. ‘Horrible! boirible ! Those people have been in the sea thousands and shousands of years, and their limbs are rounder than mine !’ The following anecdote has probably seen service before; it is given by the Sunday Sun ‘ Whi.fc think you of the pictures V asked a lady of a foreign statesman at the private view of the Academy. ‘Madame/

replied~the gallant visitor, ‘ in the presence of this exhibition of English beauty I had forgotten them.’

Seated in the stalls at the Lyceum on Saturday night, witnessing the revival ot ‘Richelieu’ with keenest interest, was the original ‘ Frangoia,’ then a young man ol nine and-twenty, now one of the handsomest, halest of octogenarians. It was in 1839 that Henry Howe was chosen by Macready to play the part of the boy in Sir Bulwer Lytton’s clever though meretricious play, the play of which Thackeray (writing in Frasers Magazine) complained of its disagreeable bustle and petty complication of intrigue. Of the original cast, only Mis 3 Helen Fa licit (Lady Martin) and Mr Howe survive.—The World.

An English paper recounts the following curious story :—A cow belonging to Mr Levi Mogg, of Lydlicb, Dorset, was observed a few days ago to be in great agony, and eventually dashed its head against the walls of its shod, breaking its nock. On examination a live snake, two feet long, and six young ones, also two water newts (Triton Cristat.us) were found in its throat. The extraordinary circumstance has attracted great local interest. It is supposed that the animal swallowed the reptiles while drinking from, a tarn.

A wealthy squatter was standing next to a ■woman in a Sydney crowd, and he missed a £SO note out of his vest pocket, whereupon ho grabbed her, and handed her over to the police. The female searcher, at the watchhouse, found naught, wherefore the woman was sent away. A fortnight afterwards, in tears, she met the arresting constable, and told him she had stolen the not e, but wished to make restitution. He concurred with the proposal, that, while he looked the other way, she should slip it under the cuff of his great o oat. He would honourably promise not to take it out till he got to the watch house. This would get him the glory of having recovered the note, and lie would attain bis ambition, which was his ‘ promotion to the plain clothes.’ The transaction was duly accomplished, but on reaching the watchliouse he could not find any note. The woman had slipped it under his cuff on the first occasion, which accounted for the non-success of the female searcher, and had now taken it out.

We have received the first issue of a new paper, The Inglewood Recorder and Waitara Times, a bi-weekly published at Inglewood by Mr Beckett, late of the Carterton Observer and Marlborough Times. The Recorder, which claims to be independent in its polities, is well printed, and contains a quantity of useful and interesting reading matter. We wish the proprietor every suocess with his venture.

• • • * The Waipawa correspondent of the Hawke’s Bay Herald writes as follows: — Two persons who happened on Sunday to be near the dam, which was erected by the Rev. S, Williams to divert the Waipawa River, noticed a number of gulls dipping into the water in a shallow, which was followed by a commotion in the water. They made for the spot and found a targe. salmon trout, still alive, but with holes in its side, showing where it had been pecked by the birds. It measured 30in in length and weighed close on 181 b. Its captor was good enough to divide it, and a portion of it reached your own. It is a thousand pities that the gulls have developed such a dainty taste. Can we do nothing to check it ?

A Taranaki oonstabla has distinguished himself by sending in tlae following report In a Maori pah, near Hew Plymouth, there is a number of native women who are in rather poor circumstances, and the only male resident, living with them at present, is an old Maori, who is now serving a term of imprisonment for non-payment of Hie dog tax.’

Some two months ago a German soldier on sentry duty shot dead an unfortunate civilian on a very slight pretext. On May 10, says an English correspondent, the Emperor William was being entert ined at a banquet by the officers at the Casino,, and had drank freely. The burden of bis remarks was the duty of soldiers to the country and himself. Finally, he said abruptly to the sentry, ‘ Call in Luecke. I have something to say to him.’ Luecke is the sentry who killed a citizen before the barracks at the TJnrangelstrasso riots, six weeks before, for which service the Emperor promoted him to bo lance-corporal. He came in obedience to the call, and when he entered the Emperor, followed by the officers, rose to receive him. The soldier faced his sovereign, while the latter addressed him. ‘ Luecke,’ said he, ‘you are a splendid soldier. You maintained, as sentry of the I bird Regiment of Guards in Urangelstraase, the best traditions of my army, its discipline and honour. I hope every soldier will follow your example on similar occasions, and have the same clear understanding of his duties towards me, my army, and himself. Luecke, you are an honour to your regiment, and your merit shall not go unrewarded.’ A gla3B of wine was then ordered for liuecke, and the Emperor and all present drank his health. The Emperor also gave him his portrait and autograph. ‘ Towards mb, my army, &c., is characteristic of the Emperors self-con-ceit. The Socialists will give him a bitter awakening some day.

At a recent meeting of the English Protestant Churchman s Alliance, the Dean of Norwich admitted that his toleration stopped short at the ‘ new criticism. 1 He concluded an amusing speeoh by a good story of the ‘ n® w criticism ’ as it appears among the middle classes. A worthy timber merchant announced that he was relieved to find out he need not believe literally the various passages in the Bible which he had often proved to be impossible. Being pressed lo name one of these passages, he mentioned the ark; it was, lie understood, 450 feet long, 70 feet broad, and 45 feet high, and was filled with live animals. ‘He was convinced, therefore, that tho Israelites could hare not have carried it about with them for forty years,’

Some ingenious individual, with but slight regard for lhat Carlyle called ‘ the veracit.es, recently set a story afloat in Sydney that the Earl of Glasgow's brother was a barber. Upon which the Bulletin remarks: -Hon. A. J. Boyle, of Balmain (Sydney), brother of the Earl of Glasgow, explains that he is not a barber as has been asserted, and ha ® n ?J e * been in such a business in lus life. He is man of independent means living on his own property, and tho barber story rests on no founder 7 foundation than the fact that jns wife, who to his great grief latoly died, foi long while charitably allowed a poor foreignei the use of a shop at Balmain rent free. Mr Boyle shortly joins his brother, tho Goveruoi, in Maoriland,

A London correspondent writes I So mu oh has been heard of late of the success ol But one aud then another at the gaming “j Monaco that the darker side of this notorwu bell had almost been forgotten. Bntnewsto hand of a horrible suic.de tfc s”\ h “ more set people denouncing it in strong language. You may remember that on the top of Mr Wells’successes came that ot Air Rosenfeld, who was so speedily fortunate that the former was eclipsed in no time. Ho stood the winner at one tune of something like £30,000, but he had not tae strength of min to go home with his winnings, but continue ploying from morning till night, until his £30,000 soon vanished. The final result that he lost not only his winnings and lus original stakes as well, but liisenUrefortuno which amounted to £200,000. The. sad. sequel occurred at Pans. .His “®... brought the young man away in a state of mind, and were greatly alarmed for his safety, and watched him carefully. Rosenfeld, seeming cheerful, their watchfulness relaxed, and producing a P ls ° fellow secreted about him, the poor young fellow shot himself. The suicide caused a great sensation in certain circles, and much sympathy is expressed for his family. Heari g his death the suicide’s brother hurried to Paris and his grief was terrible to witness, fot a strong affection had existed between the two. This is but one of the many hundreds of deaths resulting from play at the gaming tables of Monte Carlo. It is time this nest of infamy was wiped from tho earth. Yet no less will it be patronised, and by Englishmen above all others, for it is well known that the greater part of its income comes from English purses.