HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1163, 15 June 1894, Page 13

HERE AND THERE.

CLIPPINGS, CONDENSATIONS AND COMMENTS,

A. J. Wilson, of Investors' Rcvicxv, on Jabcr. Spencer Balfour : Miserable Balfour, such is destiny! Almost we find it in our heart to pity him, he was, after all, such a common kind ofsinner. Therein lies his misfortune. Could ho have but shaken himself clear of the Liberator group and its unctuous connections a few years earlier, he might to-day have been a Minister of State, concocting a radical budget," who knows, and doing it "with much acceptance," as the dissentingdiaconal phrase would run. Too lato he entered the City »nd joined the "eminently respectable' there; too late he won his parliamentary triumph, too late came the offer of the baronetcy. Forlorn Jaboz I Whon ho thinks of these things ho must at times regret his modesty in refusing that baronetcy. It might have saved him to-day. So many human frogs would have been silenced by tho sheen of a title who now render the gloaming of an Empire's day gruesomo with their monotonous croakings of revenge, revenge." By the way the great Jabez hasn't been extradited yet. His "palm.ointment" to the Argentine officials is reaping its reward.

An important New York functionary, the Commissioner of Health for the great American city, has an article on the " mischief of early marriages'" in the February issue of the North American Review. He says : If the mother be not fully developed, and her character not fully formed at the time of the birth of her child, tho latter will m all probability nover bo capable of full development. It will bo a weakling, morally and physically. It has long been a recognised fact, even among tfhe people at large, that the children of older parents are wiser and better than those of youthful parents. As the majority of girls cease to grow after they are seventeen, it is from this age on that this storing up of the reserve strength which will enable them to undergo tho physical strain of motherhood takes place. Consequently, it is apparent that whon a girl is married before tho reserve has boon gathered, she is called on to meet the physical strain without the necessary force. ; . . She is sacrificed that her child may be born.

He sa\ s that investigation showed that " the healthiest offspring was born of mothers betwen twenty and thirty united to husbands between thirty and forty/'

A sensational article, on what the author (Mr John Paul Bocock) calls " the Domination by Irish Bosses of many of the chief cities of the United States," appears in the April nnmbcr of the New York Forum. From extracts published in the Pall Mall Gazette on March 24th, it seems that among the cities led captive by Irishmen and their sons are New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Boston, Chicago, Buffalo, Albany, Troy, Pittsburg, St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, New Orleans, and San Francisco, or, in other words, the principal commercial centres of the continent. " Ignorant, conscienceless, vulgar, self-assertive, plug-ugly/' are some of the choice epithets which Mr Bocock hurls at official American Irishman generally. The Daily Chronicle points out that if the native American is really as impatient of Irish domination as the article woald lead us to believe, he has a remedy close to his hand, for he outnumbers the Irishman by nine to one.

Was Hamlet mad? A London paper says : A Frenoh doctor—M. Charnel—thinks the melancholy Dane had a little touch of cerebral obliquity. He is of opinion that Shakespeare intended to represent Hamlet as a roan with a diseased brain, who adds to what may be called his unconscious eccentricities others of which he is well aware, and which are designed to give the impression that he is mad, Cases of this kind have been observed in asylums and prisons where it is sometimes impossible to say whether a man is shamming or not.

Mrs Lynn Linton, the well-known novelist and essayist on social subjects (she wrote the famous " Girt of the Period " articles in the Saturday Review over 20 year.* ago), has a slashing article in the March number of the New Review. The Westminster Gazette says: — Everybody knows that this distinguised lady has an almost fanatical aversion to the so-called female emancipation movement. Her contribution to the New Review is in her most characteristic vein: clever, scornful, passionately vehement. Its nature may be gathered from her opening declaration: '°Many reasons make the admission of women into the region of active politics a national danger and a national disgrace. "Wo have on the register already, she proceeds, " a crowd of unfit electors. Why add anothor and yet larger crowd still move unfit ? What good will it do us to pile the Pelion of weak and silly womanhood on the Ossa of rough and ignorant manhood ? If Mrs Lynn Linton could only spend a year in New Zealand, it is possible, if not probable (for she is very bigoted), that she might modify her pessimism on the subject of woman franchise. It must be admitted that many of its female advocates at Home belong most unmistakably to the "Shrieking Sisterhood." Some good Hibernian bulls, from The Million: — About seventy years ago the grand jury of the county of Tipperary passed the folcourthouse shall be built. 2* That the* materials of the'old courthouse be used ia building the new courtboiue*

3. That the old court-house shall not be taken down till tho now court-houso is finished.

Hero is a bull or rather a mixed metaphor which appeared in a leading articlo in tho Morning Pott in 1812, "We congratulate ourselves most on having torn off Cobbctt's mask and revealed his cloven foot. It was high time that tho hydra-head of faction Bhould bo soundly rapped over the knuckles."

Is there anything in the voice that reveals character ? An American gentleman, Dr Cjckc, M.D., thinks so, and contributes his theories on the subject to the American magazine, The Areiia. He says. The Scottish voice is whining, sad, and at tho same time stern. The predominating qualities in the Irish tones aro warmth, great emotional intensity, and, among the lower classes especially, a certain tone of fawning treachory, while among tho better classes the voices show great strength of purpose, a warm kindliness, and a musical tone of

refinement I have never observed in any other nationality. The voices of the people of England vary much in different sections of tho country. The Cocknoy's voice is usually flat and expressionless ; the peculiar

harsh, brazen note of tho Lancashire man has in it absolutely no expression of anything but vulgarity, 'ihere are three prominent types or voice among cultivated Englishmen —the exceedingly courteous, but cold quiet one, of which Mr Joseph Chamberlain is typical r" the kindly but egotistical voice, usually found among the hotter class of merchants and business men ; and the cold affected, solf-assertivo tone, of which Oscar Wilde is a representative Tho voices of tho French people, particularly of the women, improssono first with their strength and loudness, and in the ca3o of the women with lack of softness, beauty, and tenderness. The voices of Spanish men aro mostly cold and passionloss ; of Spanish maidens, exquisitely beautiful; of the older women, chiefly proud. Tho national voice of Italy is at onco musical, pleading, pathetic and childlike. The voices of tho German people although harsh, are usually kindly. One finds among the better class of the Viennese the most musical, and above all, tho most cultivated voices of any of the nations of Middlo or Northorn Europe. The voices of tho Chinese vary in musical pitch loss than those of any other nation I havo studied ; one can get no idea of their real emotional lives from their voices, though they use more inflexions and intonations than any other people.

Bill Nyo, the American humourist, thus discourses concerning his experiences in the English hunting field: —

" Some time ago I was given a hunter and very hospitably asked to join in a fox hunt. One very sweet thing about an Englishman is the fact that ho gives tho American credit for being a porfect devil to ride and a sure shot, ready and willing to put out a mosquito's eyo at fifty yards with a revolver, and let the spectators select which eyo at that. I was fool enough to try it, for I had taken a goblet of shandygaff and was reckless, especially when, I heard that wo were after an aniseed bag, that would not turn when troddon upon. The hunter was one formerly owned by Lord Tomnoddy ; well bred, except that he held his mutilated tail rather too high, I thought. Well, I took him from tho groom, a High Church young man, with a complexion like tho heart of a rose, and, leading tho hunter away to a fence, got aboard of him. Yon havo heard about the rider and the steed seeming almost like one, so utterly woro thoy en rapport with each other. Well, almost anybody oould toll by looking closely where the horse began and whore I loft off. That's ono thing I like about myself—l cannot deceive anyone. 4 Look,' 1 said, ' ladies and gentlemen, and you will notice that there is no deception hero. Tho streak of scenery is where I leave off and the horso begins.' Then thoy all laughod merrily, for they are as kind that way and as gently bred as possible; and lots of things I did that day were accepted as humour of a high order, when it was, a 3 a matter of fact, only tho evidence that I had gnawed off more than I could chew. Did you ever see a self-made man who did not think he could ride or a horse as easily as he could on an annual season ticket. I never did. P.S.—I was not in at the death of the aniseed bag."

Hard lines on the Coast. This is the way a Westport News writer wails in a recent

issue: — "There is no gainsaying the stern fact times are bad all round. Even the noble army of commercial travellers have a drooping, mildewed appearance, as though they were orphans planted in a decaying and generally unsatisfactory world. The big and gorgeous watch ohain may bo still concealod somewhere about the C.T.'s person, but it is not in evidence. His ' slap-bang, here-we-are-again-stylo ' style has vanished. The fascinating barmaid lingers lonely, whether her name is Loo or not. There is no disputing it. The tail of the C.T. is down. The damp fog of depression envelops him in its cheerless folds. Ho is mute and inglorious. We hear no more of the ' risque ' story or the scandalous tit-bit. The iron has entered the C.T.'s soul. The days of big ordors have departed, and the dishonored bill era has come."

The heart of the O'Regan should be cheered by the following extract from the American correspondence of the Dunedin Star . "The Government of Prince Edward Island have decided to adopt Henry George's single tax theory on land, the licensing of banks, insurance companies and commercial travellers, and the reduction of all official salaries, beginning with that of the Premier. Economy is wealth.

It recently transpired that the Prince of Wales is the owner of some London "slum" property, and the knowledge of the fact has occasioned some very plain speaking. Thus a London paper : "Alderman tho Rev. Fleming Williams lectured on Thursday night in Stoke, Newington, on the progressivo work of the L.C.C. Alluding to the work of the Housing Committee, of which he is the chairman, he said the medical officer of the Council had just reported that there were at the present time seventeen pestiferous areas in Loudon, which ought to be cleared without delay, but it would cost ,#2,000,000 to clear them,

and tho Council had not tho money. They wore, however, elaborating a scheme, which, if successful, would overcome the money difficulty. Tho owner of ono of thoso slums, which was a disgrace to this city, was the Princo of Wales. The Council had told the Princothat they would not bear tho cost of clearing this area. They had stated clearly that thoy considered it was the duty of anyone who had permitted a slum to grow up, and had reaped enormous gain from it, to clear away that slum. But tho Prince of Wales had not consented to clear this ono, and so Salutation area in Lamboth remained rotting in disease, filth and crime, and tho rent devivod from it was spent in baccarat and otherwise by the future King of England. Pleasant reading for H;R.H., is it not ? Rosa Bonheur, tho famous French painter of animals, has just been promoted from the Chevalier to that of Officer of the Legion of Honour, and she is the only Woman on whom that distinction has ever been conferred. Eosa Bonheur, as is wellknown, adopts male attiro when in her studio. Apropos to this the following story has gone the rounds of the French press : "One fine morning in 1852 a little man, with straight features, a wide and square forehead, and a thick crop of hair, was standing in front of a gate, his hands tucking up a blue cotton blouso so as to put them comfortably in the pockets of his velveteen trowsers. Suddenly a carriage, having on the box two men in green and gold liveries, turned the corner, and the lovely head of a lady appeared at the door. Tho little peasant looked very much astonished, and oven frightened when tho chasseur jumped down, camo straight to him, and askod rudely, ' Is your mistress at home, my boy r' In a wink the peasant disappeared, showing to tho puzzled valet tho most dainty foot shod in glace shoes. The little peasant was Mdlle. Rosa Bonheur herself, who was enjoying the beauty of the morning before the gate of her house at By, near Fontainebleau, and had, to her dismay, recognised in the beautiful lady, Eugenie, the Empress. The carriage entered the yard, the Empress, her Lady of Honour, and a gentleman were shown into the studio of tho great artist, who, five minutes later reappeared, her genial face very much flushed and her tiny body clad this time in the garments of her sex, consisting simply of a short black dress, white collar and cuffs, a little twist having been given to her hair so as not to appear too masculine. Eugenie stopped forward, and kindly putting ono of her Imperial hands round the waist of tho delighted artist, with the other she attached on her breast the Cross of tho Legion of Honour, and then gave her a sonorous kiss. Rosa Bonheur, who is now 72 years old, likes to tells this story, and never forgots to say: 'This, my friends, has boon tho proudest recollection of my life!'"

Some notes about the wonderful auroras soon in the Northern Hemisphere :

Tho transactions of tho Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto for 1893 contain an interesting calculation of tho height of an aurora. On July 15th of that year an arch of auroral light spanned the nky from east to west at Toronto, its width being sto 7 degrees. After lasting several minutes it broke up at the zonith and vanished. Tho arch was also seen at Bala, 110 miles north of Toronto. At Toronto it appeared to cross tho constollation Lyra, and at Bala the constellation Aquila. From thoso observations the height of the bow is estimated at IGO miles, and its breadth 15 miles. If the arch maintained an equal height above the earth its ends were 1150 miles away, so that tho spectacle consisted of a luminous arch 2300 miles in span. Another aurora was observed in the United Kingdom on March 30, at Haselmoro, whore it was seen by the Hon Rollo Russel. It showed as a bluish-white glow in the north-west, about 10.15 to 10.30, when a rod streamer shot towards the zenith. Mr C. E. Stromeyer, of Glasgow, also saw luminous white rays converging from all parts of the horizon to a common centre from 10 to 11 p.m. At first the centre was occupied by luminous clouds of a streaky nature, which sometimes took the form of spirals, and waves of light were seen passing along the rays towards the centre. Earth currents were observed in the telegraph wires, and peculiar sounds of "twangs" heard on telephone wires.

Pleasanton, Kansas, rejoices like Onehunga in petticoat government and a lady mayor. Says tho San Francisco Chronicle :

Tins energetic lady's first step was to dismiss all the police and fill their posts with zealous Prohibitionists, who immediately closed all the liquor shops and gambling resorts. Every restaurant must be shut by 10 p.m., and no girl or boy under 16 may be out of doors after nine o'clock. Further, the Lady Mayor proposes to dismiss all the members of the Municipal Council if they will not give in to her views on public morality and general economy.

Mark Twain, the celebrated American humourist, whoso real name is Samuel Langhono Clemens, recently gave a lecture at the English Embassy, Paris, in favour of Anglo-Parisian charities. Hero is a pen portrait of the scene:— " Everybody seemed pleasant, and Samuel Langhorne, alias Mark Twain, with his enormous head, made still bigger by his abundant and long white hair spread on his shoulders, smiled contentedly under his hoary yellowish-grey moustache at his audience, when his arrival was saluted by the clapping of hundreds of the most aristocratic white-gloved hands. He read in a very characteristic—and some would say affected—manner, in a sort of sleepy rhythm, with hesitations and stops evidently pre-arranged. His gestures recalled those of Dickens to the minds of many gentlemen who had heard the favourite novelist in his lectures in America, and nothing was more ludicrous than this sort of calm, grandfatherly elocution and the too ridiculous buffooneries which he was serving to his admirers. The school of tho Rue Violet for English and American children will have to thank old and jolly Mark Twain for a big bag of gold, representing for them new comforts and encouragements.

I The lato Marquis of Ailesbury was (reputed to have been one of tho foulest-

mouthed men in England, but the vice was hereditary—his father was just as bad. Modem Society continues :-=-

That the son of tho Duffer should have habitually used the most disgusting of foul language is, of course, but natural, almost indeed, inevitable ; and, at all events, in tho eternal fitness of things \ tho Duffer's speech was anything but refined, and a certai 1 remark made by him at White's Club relative to an infirmity from which his father suffered has always been considered to —as Bill would say —" take the cake " for obscenity. Tho Death of the Duffer was worthy of his life and characteristic of tho man. Hearing that ho was soriously ill in Corsica, a friend, who happened to bo at Nice, went to Ajaecio to see him. On entering the bedroom ho saw a large brass crucifix lying on the bed by tho side of the dying man. " Why, Duffer, old man," ho exclaimed, pointing to the omblem of Christianity, " what tho deuce does that mean r" " Savernako's " father made a feeble clutch at tho crucifix, .and then, grinning in a ghastly way at his friend, gasped out almost wiih his last breath tho awful explanation, " Hedging ! by Jove! Hedging!!" Thus did this '"English nobleman" take his departure The now Marquis of Ailesbury, who now comes into what he termed the " white elephant " of Savernake, is a younger brother of the late Marquis' father. He Is over 50 years of age, and sat as Conservative member for tho Chippenham Division of Wilts in the last Parliament. Tho estates have been much reduced in extent by the sale of the Jervaulx property in Yorkshire to Lord Masham for .£310,000.

The following editorial note, taken from the column of a Shanghai newspaper of a recent date, compares favourably, we think, for point and candour, with the average Western frontier sheet of the Arizona kicker type : We wish it to be understood that all subscriptions are payable in advance, and wo expect to be paid when the shroff calls, and wo do not want him to bo told to " call again next year," because he won't. It has happened that our collector has been rudely driven away. The Editor does not want any " sass." He conducts the paper without pay, and expects to bo treated with ordinary consideration. We aro sorry to have to make these remarks, but wo have cause for our complaint. If anybody can furnish a better 2dol. paper, in China, we will throw up the sponge.

A pen portrait of the princess Maud of Waits, from the Borsen Courier, the Berlin " society paper " :

"In her own family circle sho is called nothing but 'Harry,' on account of her rosoluto and somewhat bumptious manner.

Sho loves everything connected with sport, is a dashing rider, owns a splendid pack of hounds, and can take her place with tho best and boldest English shots. At tho same time, she is an excellent cook, and tho kitchen garden is under her special protection." In fact, the Princess is a mixture of tho English amazon and tho German hausfrau.

What will the English publio school boys say to this ?: According to the headmaster of Harrow, fighting among schoolboys has died out. There has not been one organised fight since wo went to Harrow. Boys don't fight, becauso they don't want to fight. Aether proof of humanity is found in the fact that the small boys aro happy, so much so that they delight in being at school. In fact, one of the most curious features of school life now is that boys are terribly afraid of having to leave.

A change indeed has come over the sclioolastic scene if the above be true.

The head of the Salvation Army—General Booth—completed a few weeks ago the 50th year of his connection with religious work. The event was celebrated by great gatherings at Queen's Hall, Langham Place, Crystal Palace, &c. Wm. Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was born at Nottingham, 1829. Ho entered the Methodist New Connection Ministry in 1856, but resigned in 1861, and in 1865 established the Christian Mission in East London, which was tho germ of tho Salvation Army. Its influence, with the aid of his eldest son and eldest daughter, has extended to most foreign countries, and to all the British Colonies. In November, 1890, ho published his book, "In Darkest England, and the Way Out."

The very popular idea among foolish people—especially the editors of Conservative papers—is that the life of a labour leader—agitator is the Conservative term —is full of pleasant laziness. Mr Ben Tillett, addressing tho Poplar Labour Electoral League recently, took occasion to combat this idea. He said :

If a Labour leader rose to eminence many of his own class seemed to bo jealous, and all sorts of remarks were made. The classes against which tho workers had to fight acted very differently and far more wisely. When Lord Salisbury became Prime Minister his fellow Peers did not display petty jealously and snoor at him because at one time they went to school with him. (Laughter.) The aristocrats, tho landowners, and the middle class worked together in order to defend their own interests, even if they did not lovo ono another; and if the workers wished to improve their condition and secure their just rights, they, too, would have to learn to act mono wisely.

There is so much talk about " New Australia" at present that a few notes on Paraguay, the land where this " New Australia" has been established, may be acceptable. The Buenos Ayres Standard says :

11 The Paraguayans are a dusky, swarthylooking people, with keen, glittering, dark oyes and lank black hair. Their features are not of the coarsest mould, but do not attract or please. Indeed, in a certain cast of ugliness they strangely resemble one another. They are, however, strongly built and appear healthy, notwithstanding tho almost wght-huo monotony of the skin

and total lack of colour contrast. Tho teeth aro white and regular, and agreeably qualify tho widoness of tho mouth. In tho tout-ensemble there is great affinity to tho puro Guarani Indian of the Chace, for tho few rudimonts or preliminary degrees of civilisation possessed to-day by the Paraguayan "mestizos" remove them but littlo in superiority from their wilder brethren." Hero is a picture, by the same writer, of the women of Paraguay:— The native women aro commonly dressed in white muslin or calico, and wear the Oriental-looking sheet or " sabana," coupled cornerwise, as a shawl over their shoulder* or heads, but sometimes in truer Indian or Arab style the sheet is worn foldless and square behind and in front, and again with one side or top corner gathered up by tho hand and thrown across tho breast and shoulders. They do not troublo in tho matter of shoes and stockings ; their dubty feet and ankles aro quite innocent of all covering, and consequently thoir tread is light, airy, and almost noiseless as they glide about with a firm, dignified motion, heads oroct and backs quito straight. This haughty, rather disdainful manner of walking is, however, quite familiar and natural to them, and results from the custom of carrying large water-jugs, baskets, bundles, or indeed almost anything on their heads, in balancing which they haTO acquired perfect ease and grace that in no wise impede speed. I have seen a girl running quickly with tho ordinary but claasio shaped water-vase (" cantaro ") beautifully poised on her head—one hand resting on hor hip, the other hanging down —a very type of easy manner and correct proportion.

A most remarkable prosecution took place recently at Blackburn, Lancashire, says the Liverpool Post. An extraordinary prosecution took plaoe at Blackburn. Three young fellows belonging to Bolton, Wigan, and Blackburn were summoned oy tho Board of Guardians, under an old statute of Georgo 111., for having neglected their own hoalth and thrown themselves upon the rates for treatment. It was stated to be the first case of the kind in that part of the country, and the Bench said they would, therefore, lot the dofondants off with a mitigated penalty of fourteen days' hard labour.

Strong pressure is again being used to induce the French authorities in Algiers and Tunis to put a stop to the pilgrimages annually made to the Prophet's Tomb in Mecca by the Moslem inhabitants of North Africa. It is pointed out, says the London Telegraph,

"That the pilgrims bring tho cholera back with them and thus spread it over Algiers, whence it roaches France and Europe. The newspapers and tho Chambers of Commerce in the colonies mentioned are taking the matter up energetically, especially as it has been discovered that the bodies of pilgrims who have died during the return voyage aro burnod by tho stokers of tho steamers. This is done because it is forbidden to throw dead bodies into tho sea ; and, for tho purpose of onforoing the order, special vessels watch tho pilgrimsteamers on their voyages back to Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco. This ingenious—if ghastly—manner 6f eluding tho law has given rise to much indignation.

Mr John Burns, M.P., on the Employers' Liability Bill:

Speaking at a big meeting in London lost week Mr Burns declared that the greatest measure that had come up was tho Employers' Liability Bill. That must bo passed. In four hospitals—West Ham, Poplar, London, and tho Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Road—last year there were 82,000 industrial accidents of more or less severity, and among shunters on railways one out of 27 was injured and one out of 120 killed every year: while in mines 1000 men wore killed annually and 4000 seriously injured. It is saia that tho agitation for the Employers' Liability Bill was got up by trade unionists and friendly societies, but at a conference last week, where two million men and JE18,000,000 of funds were represented, there was only one delegate who voted for contracting out. (Cheers.)

New Zealand Opposition papers, which have recently written a vast amount of rubbish re " contracting out," please note!