HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1194, 18 January 1895, Page 10

HERE AND THERE.

CLIPPINGS, CONDENSATIONS AND

COMMENTS.

Roger Tichborne graduated at the Jesuits' college at Stonyhurst and

tichbokine's ,k SPELLING."

W t* U *_/ UV-LAV XX WX, O U C*.^IIU served two years in the Dragoon Guards; Yet in

1866 the Claimant wrote to Lady Tichborne] his, “dear mother,” a letter containing this :—“ Ido not wicsh any person to know me in this Country When I take my proper prosttrion and title. Having therefore made up my mind to return and face the Sea once more, I must request you to send the Means of doing so, and paying a fue outstanding debts, I would return by the overland Mail. The passage money and other expences would bo over two Hundred pound, for I propose Sailing from Victoria, not this Colainly. And to Sail from Melbourne in my own name. Now to annable me to do this, my dear Mother, you must send me ” Again : —“ If to late i will send this to England has the English mail does not close for two hours after the Mail for France. I have enclosed a photograph of my self that you may see how greatly I have improve. Hoping, my dear mama, to see alive once more. But lam afraid not, has I can not get sueficine Money to come home with. Goody bye, my Dear Mama, and may the Blessed Maria have mercy on your soul. —I Remain, your Affectionate Son, Roger Charles Tichborne.”

A correspondent of the Bulletin writes: — “The Australian Institute

AMATEUR JOURNALISTS.

of Journalists in Melbourne, were it only game, would subieet the literary Civil

□ UUJCUU VXIU XlU&l.Clji.J villi servant to something lingering 1 and humorous with boiling oil in it. It is the man who holds a comparatively fat and comfortable billet in ' the service' who looks up local editors with offers to do this or that special work —sporting, &c.—mainly for honour and glory; payment no consideration, don't you know. As payment is a very great consideration with most proprietors, he usually gets the work, and is satisfied with a little cash, and whatever kudos is dex-ivable from his position as So-and-so of the Blunderer, or the Weekly Wail, and the poor. reporter- turns bootblack or goes village-settling. When the democracy sees the equity of, one-man-cne-billet, newspapers will not enjoy the advantages of this State-subsidy."

It is not a matter for surprise (says the € Sydney Morning Herald)

AN ABSURD ,uw.

that enquiries have been made into the circumstances

of the prosecution of four carriers under the Act of Charles 11. for travelling between Nelligen Braidwood on Sunday. If there are sensitive consciences which are touched and offended because men are working on Sunday, there are other consciences which must be touched, and sentiments of human liberty which must be offended, by the fact that men whose only offence is travelling on a remote country road on a Sunday have been prosecuted and dealt with as offenders. There may, in the words of Hamlet, be “ much offence ” in the circumstance of a man travelling along a bush road on a Sunday, but the question arises, To whom is the offence given ?

"What the exact circumstances were which brought about the famous

ANOTHEB ACCOUNT OB" BALACLAVA.

charge of the Light Brigade afc Balaclava can never be known, because the officer who delivered the misinter-

preted order was shot immediately afterwards. The conjectural writing- on the question is endless. In a volume published by Messrs Bentley, Lieutenant - Colonel Colin Frederick Campbell gives his views: " I have enquired a good deal about the mistake of our light cavalry on that day, and -have come to the conclusion that Captain Nolan really was to blame for it, which at first I had great doubts of. There is a good deal of truth in what the Times says about the feeling prevalent in the army that the cavalry had been very backward, during the campaign. Lord Lucan was called Lord Look-on, and many other jokes of the same kind were flying about concerning them, but it is nonsense to say that this was the cause of the fatal charge. There is no doubt that Nolan hated Lord Lucan, and that after he had delivered a wrong order, when questioned about it, he said in a most taunting manner, ' The enemy is before you, my lord, and you are ordered to advance, that's all.'; and then placed hiinself alongside the leading squadron." According to Sir Evelyn Wood's account in the Fortnightly Review, what Nolan said was, " There, my lord, is the enemy, and there are your guns'; meaning, not the Russian batteries, but the guns which the Russians had captured, and which Lord Raglan wanted to prevent the Russians from carrying off. Campbell

makes no allusion to the circumstance in Sir Evelyn Wood’s account, that Captain Nolan, when he saw the Light Brigade starting on i's awful charge, galloped across its iron t and pointed with his sword in the other direction.

Some reminiscences of General Nicholson,

AN INCIDENT OV THE INDIAN MUTINY.

the hero of the fighting that r took place in the Punjab, are related by Mr R. G. "\\ ilberforce, who publishes an " Unrecorded Chapter of

the Mutiny. Mr Wilberforce, who served under Nicholson, relates how the General had on one occasion to make short work with the cooks of the regiment. " One night we were all waiting for our dinner, and none appeared. Messengers were sent to the cooking tent, but only brought back word that dinner was coming, till, about half an hour after the appointed time, Nicholson, who always dined with us, came on the scene, with ' I am sorry, gentlemen, to have kept you waiting for your dinner, but I have been

hanging your cooks !’ We soon learnt the story. One of tli9 cook boys, whose conscience revolted at wholesale murder, went to Nicholson and told him the soup was poisoned with aconite. Nicholson kept the boy safe until just before dinner was to be served, when he sent for and arrested the cooks. The soup was brought in with the cooks. Nicholson told one of the cooks to Gat some; the cook protested on the ground of caste. Nicholson knew that a Mussulman had no caste, and peremptorily ordered the cook to swallow some, telling him at the same time that he (Nicholson) knew it was poisoned. Of course cook denied this. Nicholson then had a small monkey brought in, and some of the soup poured down its throat. In a few minutes the truth of the cook boy’s story was seen —the little monkey was dying of poison. Sentence of death was at once passed, and a few minutes afterwards our regimental cooks were ornamenting a neighbouring tree.” General Nicholson was mortally wounded at the siege of Delhi, and died soon after the city was captured.

A new version of how the news of the

THE NEWS OJ WATERLOO.

victory at Waterloo was F brought to London appears in the Belgian News. In .Trmo ISIfS. f/hfi Tirmr?rm

Stock Exchange waited in suspense for the first tidings of the great battle that was about to affect all future history The firm of the G-oldsmidts sent their agent to to field of Waterloo, where he got frightened and fled to Brussels, which, was in a panic to a late hour on June 18. He despatched a courier to his piincipals saying that all was, or would be undoubtedly, lost. The Groldsmidts sold stock to an enormous amount. Messrs Rothschild told their agent to keep away from the field of battle and from the army, to send ii" courier, but when ho had assured himself of tidings, the truth of which were past doubt in his own mind, he was to come back himself and give his reasons for crediting the account. The agent was not to go to Brussels, which would probably be the headquarters of undue exultation or of panic, and so prove an untrustvi orthy source. He was told to ' go to Ghent. G-hent was on the ioad to England, and here was stopping Louis XVIII., who no doubt would be sure to hear the first trustworthy intelligence. Rothschild's agent kept an eye on Louis '• XVIII. with the keenness of a man whose bread and butter depended on his success of obtaining the necessary information. Louis, who liked so much to play the King, had for the benefit of the worthy Gantois consented to breakfast in public, as he had once been wont to do at times in Paris. The Royals ate their meal, while the public, marched along a sort of corridor, watched them devouring their fillets aux pomtnes. Well, our worthy Englishman of course attended this breakfast. His Majesty had not got much further than the second course when the clatter of horses' hoofs was heard in the courtyard below, and a courier covered with dust and dirt, for he had ridden hard, handed the King a large packet, containing a few curt words from the Duke of Wellington. The paper was immediately read aloud, to the delight of the worthy Londoner. Then the King staggered to his legs, and bestowed on the toil-stained messenger, not a guerdon, but a kiss on both cheeks! The agent put on his hat, rushed to Ostend, hired a fishingboat, and got to London before packet, post or courier.

Hebe is one of the kind of things Sir Wm.

witchcraft

McGregor has to deal with in New Guinea:—“A tribe

in new guinea,

at Baiio, on the Fergusson, believed themselves to be af-

flicted by the machinations of a witch, and the community rose against her. She said to the chief, ‘ You take and drown me and all the people will be satisfied.’ Ho took the old woman by the hand and led her to the beach, put her in a canoe, tied a stone to her feet and another to her neck, pushed out to deep water, and threw her overboard. The chief, on being tried for murder, defended himself by saying he drowned her because she was killing people by witchcraft. The peculiar circumstances of the case were considered to justify clemency.”

A strange discovery was made in the De Beers Mine, at Kimherlfiv.

A STRANGE DISCOVERY.

iJCOIO -LU.HIU, ihV JXllUUL'lltljr, South Africa, recently. Two diamonds were found em-

bedded in a piece of wellpreserved wood, found at a depth of 700 ft. On splitting the block, which was fully lOin thick, a cavity was disclosed to viow in which reposed a living specimen of a tree frog. The local scientific people compute the age of the tree at 180 years, during 150 of which froggy had been entombed. The jumping creature did not, however, long survive the shock of gazing upon a busy world, after so long a seclusion, but soon expired. Figuratively speaking, it lives—in a phial of spirit—at the Kimberley Museum. At different times curious articles have been found in exploitation for diamonds, but the most interesting discoveries lately are the skeletons of a remarkably tall race of men, primitive mining tools, &c., which have been recovered from old diamond mines in the Free State. Everything seems to show that these mines were extensively worked, but by what race the natives of the region have not even a tradition.

London society (says an "English paper, fcho News of th.a Wnvhl. ) in

AN OUIDA-LIKE STOUT.

tuo ux aws oj trie vv orlo,j is much interested in an incident reported from Bucks,

in which the Farl of Orkney, who a few years ago married Connie Gilchrist, was the principal figure. The Earl was walking out recently with the Countess’s pet dog, and met some roughs who had a bull terrier, which they set on the C< untess’s pet. The Earl called upon them to desist, which they insultingly refused to do, whereupon he went for the biggest of them in pugilistic fashion. A

ring was formed, and there was a hot fight to a finish. The Earl camo off victor, leaving his ojiponent in a battered and helpless condition. The Earl came out of the encounter almost unmarked. He was heartily congratulated the next morning at the meet of the hounds on his triumph.

Yesterday (says the London Standard), at the Bloomsbury County

THE WABRIOI AND HIS TEETH.

r Court, the case of Browning' v. Jarrow, an action brought by the plaintiff, a retired army captain, against the

; defendent, a dentist, was heard. Plaintiff 1 said that he ordered a full set of false teeth from the defendant, for which he was to be charged 30s. He paid .£1 on account. His Honor : Had you lost all your teeth ? Plaintiff: Yes.,* I went to the defendant to have the teeth fitted, and the man put me to frightful torture, lacerating the jaws badly. When the full set was delivered | two teeth were found to be missing, the set would not fit, and instead of the back teeth clashing properly the rubber of the gums met (laughter).—His Honor : Did you not miss the two teeth when you were having the set fitted ? Plaintiff : Well, I am a novice and not a dentist; and, again, I was so badly tortured. —His Honor: But a man is not a novice who loses all his teeth (laughter). Plaintiff: I lost them in Her, Majesty's service while fighting in India.—His Honor : If I give my judgment for the return of your <£l, how about the teeth; they may be worth something to the defendant? Plaintiff: I'll give them to anyone who will take them (holding the teeth in his hand, amid loud laughter).--His Honor : Very well. Judgment for £l, but return the teeth to the defendant.

Cabinet secrets rarely leak out—at least,

CABINET SECRERS.

not nowadays and Sir Wemyss Reid, in the December number of Cassell's

Magazine, gives one interesting instance of how fortune seems to follow the attempt t& guard the inner proceedings of that body from the public gaze:—“When the Home Rule Bill of 1893 was being prepared by the Cabinet, and when the most intense curiosity prevailed everywhere as to its character, a member of a certain famous club went up to a table in the club library to write a letter. He noticed that some printed documents had been left on the table by the gentleman who last sat there, and be was about to push them carelessly 6n one side .when his eye caught certain words. Among the documents was the secret draft copy of the Home Rule Bill as printed for the use of the Cabinet only ! One can imagine the sensation that would have been created if that draft copy had fallen into unscrupulous or even into merely hostile hands. But the gentleman who made the discovery was himself the private secretary of a Cabinet Minister. He knew his duty, and instantly enclosing to awful document in an envelope he sealed it up and carried it to Downing street.”

The vagaries of examiners are a. neverfailing- subject for the

THREE MEN AND A POEM.

humorous after they have left school and college. Before that time the pathetic

side of the subject seems the more prominent. One of the few very funny stories of this kind is the following:—" When I reperuse the little story ' How Jones Grot the Verse Medal/ 1 cannot resist the conviction that the original of that fortunate voting person was Tennyson. I heard the tale while I was an undergi - aduate, and wrote the story before years had brought the sense of reverence; and it must be confessed that ' Timbuctoo' is a poem that does not itself preclude levity. The examiners for the year (as I heard the tale) were three—the Vice-Chancellor, who had a great reputation but a violent temper, and did not write very well; a classical professor, who knew no poetry that was not in a dead language; and a mathematical professor. It vias agreed that each should signify by the lettsrs 'g' and 'b * (for ' good * and ' bad') what he thoug-ht of the poems, and the Vice had the manuscripts first. When the mathematical professor got them he found ' Timbuctoo' scored all over with 'g's/ and though he could not understand why, nor indeed the poem itself, did not think it worth while, as ho afterwards said (though the fact was he was afraid), to ask the Vice his reasons, so he wrote 'g' on the poem also. The classical professor thought it rather funny that both his predecessors should admire so unintelligible a production ; but, as he said, 'he did not care one iota about the matter/ and so wrote 'g' on it also; and as no other poena had three ' g's/ the prize was unanimously awarded to the author of 'Timbuctoo.' After all was over, the three examiners happened to meet one day, and the Vice, in his absolute fashion, fell to abusing the other two for admiring the poem. They replied, very naturally and with some indignation, that they should never have dreamt of admiring it if he himself had not scored it over with ' g's.' ' " Q-'s!"' he said. ' They were " q's," for queries, for I could not understand two consecutive lines of it.' "

A woman who spoke of Gto-eeth's " Faust" was highly indignant when

he spelt it " g-u-g."

the man with whom she was talking 1 spoke immediately afterwards of Groetho.

It was very impolite, she thought, to correct a lady in that fashion. She would have onjoyod a conversation with the man of whom the following story is told. Ho was staying at a London hotel, and wont to a clerk in the office for a sheet of paper, saying that he wished to write a lettor. Half an hour later he again entered the office. He had finished the letter. Would the clerk please read it, and tee if it was all correct ? The clerk danced at it, and said, "I see you spell jug f g-u-g.' That isn't right." " I know it," was the reply ; " but, you see, I'm writing to the old man, and he always spells it that way. If I put the other ' g * to it, ho would think I was putting on airs, He's a hit tender-hearted,

and I don’t want to hurt his feelings.” And so the letter went off with only one “ g” at the end of “ gug.”