HOME GOSSIP.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 187, 25 November 1876, Page 3

HOME GOSSIP.

["Atlas," in the WVM.J Tbf most important work in the new tovwi rmnui P:ub has been finished, and some of them have already been armed with heavy guns. The Prussians will have a very hard not to crack next time. And they never fairly cracked that mach smaller one in 1371. Active steps have been taken to form a skating-rink in Christchurch, New 2ealuniL Wt»» knows what this may lead tot The historical Antipodean of Lord Macaulay may y*t sketch tlie ruins of the Westinmater Aquarian* on Plimpton's Patent Rollers. Monaco, has eatt\'ht the contagion from Constantinople;: there has been a revolution of the palace there. Prince Charles 111. has been deposed, and his son, Prince Albert,, elevated in his stead. The Paris journals fear that this change will brin; about grave complications in Europe. Heaven foveftni I The following appears in a recent number of the Northern Echo r—" To be let, the eatag* of fog on thirteen acres of old grass-land. €#uod supply ©t fresh water. Apply to > Linthorpe." I should think that Linthorpe would be an economical place to give a picnic; and that it ifoukl prove a very paradise for Vegetarians and Good Templars. The bloodhound who " discovered '* the Preston murder has had an Indian suranuvuf notoriety through an action brought » to the ownership of the animal. It ' transpired," as the reporters say (and a toy good word, too, though not approver >f by Mr. Lowe's 6«te» noirtut, the universes) that the dog earned £460 in eight fouka. Englishmen may well he proud of the W» ; it blunders leas than any other cuvuial, and when it does blunder it tokos the amende in the handsomest limner. Look at this paragraph : 'The Civil Service.—ln the Times of bitnrctay last Mr. R. Currie is mentioned * having been appointed to act asaasist--Bfc sub-deputv opium-agent at Fatehgurh. or this read Mr. W. J. F. Currie." _ In "8 present state of affairs in the East it is "Possible to say what fearful complica--OQa might have arisen had this raisrepre'tltation of the initials of the " assistant 'Meputy opium-agant at Fatehgurh" •ea persisted in. Tue protnj. t correction l 4e Times does equal honor to the head *& heart of the sub-editor. * imagine Lord Macaolay's oft quoted "felligeuti Jfew Zealander, in days to jj tty ( 3' nubting upon a loose sheet from \ • SeuL',; catalogue of choice dahlias. Is ■ not ;• •:v3unabte to suppose he will be* ■ v b r i;c futriea to refer to an exhibition And wuoien of the nineteenth cen■jjy. ■■• > ms*t indeed have been fearfully ■** w >>:v! iff ally made t For instance, he

orange, exquisitely striped, spotted with Mack. Perfect form and very constant. Height four feet.—Bishop of Durham: Orange. Large and constant. Large habit, j Lady Paxlon : Bed, white tip. Free habit.— Rev. J. B. M. Camm : Yellow, tlubed with red. Very «;%e and full. Three feet.—Fanny Sturt: Ked and white tip. Good form and constant." It is always so. First there comes the gigantic gooseberry ; then follows the shower of frogs ; next appears the twoheaded calf; then flits across oar vision Mr. Arthur Arnold; and finally arrives the discovery of a songstress who infinitely surpasses all those who have preceded her on the lyric stage. To Colonel Mapleson belongs the honor this autumn ; and he certainly deserves all honor, for the lady is said to possess " beauty of a kind that will take London by storm' 7 (how these warriors insist upon their military phrases, conquering dogs !) ; and also I hear that " she is a brunette, with large expressive eyes, while her hair, when loosed, trails the ground.*' It considerably diminished my ardour to witness the lady when I heard that she will not appear for at least two years. There is so much hypocrisy about nowadays that I conceive it to be a man's duty whenever he happens upon a case of real and genuine candour to proclaim it to the world, in order that others may be induced to follow the good example. Hence this story. During the Doncaster week a novice at racing found himself dining one night with a " prophet." Said the novice, "Uf course, sir, 1 am aware that, owing to the glorious uncertainty of racing, your * tips' cannot always be right; but if I were to follow them steadily throughout the wn»>le year, how do you think I would stand at the end of the season '?" The " prophet " hesitated not for a moment, but at once proclaimed, " You'd be broke, sir ; by Jove, you'd be broke !" That novice has made his own selection for that Cesarewitch.

"Patent safes" mast really in future be safe. A bank in California has possessed an " electric " one for some time. It could only be opened by the initiated. Otherwise it would "detonate." The cashier knew the safe, and all about its peculiarities—so dangerous to would-be burglars. As usual, on a Saturday afternoon recently he went to close it. Strange to say, it suddenly appears to have " detonated." At least such is the surmise ; for an awful explosion was heard ; and the ffgs of the gentleman disappeared through the window, shot into the street, when one of the b;ots gave an accidental parting kick to a passer-by. The San Francisco papers say that, not knowing the interesting event was going to take place, they had no reporter on the spot, and so can give the barest outline of the facts. A hint for Sir Wilfrid Lawson I There has just been passed a law in Vienna which compels all to have their beer-glasses gauged by the Government, and requires a line to be cut round them, below which the froth on settling must not subside. Let Sir Wilfrid, next Session, introduce a Bill with a similar purport, only modified to the etfect that the froth must subside beneath the line. For Viennese beer is light, and a man must either have a very weak head or an interminable amount of time and patience before he can grow intoxicated upon it, while as for our beer—well, let the police-reports; speak on that subject. Since his oSicc (including the doorplate and buttons) has been abolished, that other great advocate of temperance—the author of the '* Devil's Chain " —ha* had little to do. Let kirn be appointed inspector, with a free pass on all the railways, in order to sec whether the damsels at the stations are not infringing the regulations.

Sport in "Western India is scarcely on the decadence. Captain Eachalaz, of Bombay, took leave the other day for a short spell of shooting. He is said to hare killed in three weeks seven tigers, eight deer, two bison, one bear, five cheetahs, thirty-two rock pigeons, seventeen ha l»rds—besides sticking three pigs. Good for Captain Esehalaz! The Emperor of Brazil is a man of culture. Ho understands Russian, although he cannot speak it. The morning after his Imperial Majesty arrived in ►St. Petersburg (where he is sojourning at the moment) he asked for all the local dailies. There are fewer Jtdnatrs in the Muscovite capital, according to the Emperor, than in any other great city he has visited.

Before " Daniel Deronda" has ceased to be talked about—and I am afraid it will be less talked of than most of George Eliot's novels—one may remark on the funny fondness its author has for drowning her heroes and heroines. Romola goes out in a boat, and is not drowned almost by a miracle ; her husband Tito is half drownid. Maggie, in the '' Mill on th„* Floss," is quite drowned ; and now Grandcourt is sent out of the world in the same way.