PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5247, 18 February 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

PASSING NOTES.

•OsUiiif! •[■"■ -;. *--T» 'i ' •;. li'lllVl ilifflillO VI fft We.-ahell SnLAw«M« fe 7eJ;ftksi% V-fp& *. Bnd;-I':'ofie)*i(my.liCtmd«leamktQi m iy l v;fa;mij3g: ; i)e HindJ^'The're lis^uoWev^uhdowbte'dly^a'i & 6ttf(iln>ymigut JiavA-ibtea-j3y^.eßi-/jti¥iiSnY4s'^ ftp o^Wi'kif&la'tiilaigVs ela-thififthsme-;with;mueh th ccnipwl3(snii*ithi"rEMflai'iOth«>rVat-. Milton puts hIbls!ieve'i3B:dt'lb§ pi&nYo tens :— "' ' 'Xiiii in fee lowest deep, flower deep |V| ■'v: ■Stiir'thrcatsns to devour rile, opening wide, "' 6"' To which the hell I sailer seems a heaven. j£. But if we cjuld oi.ly get rid of this dppreten- by ' sion of Eomovjh3ug worse to come, and thank our "c stars that (.ur lot is rot -ivorse than it ie, Hf< V ■would bo tolerable. In New Zealand the lot ar of the farmer, tbasks to the small birds, A citnngc&bio weather, low prices, and genersi w iuujscmsiosuy, m ft y ncn bo a happy ose, bui i farmeis in Australia Eesni to be a precioue '<a deal v/orae «ff. Take this from arccontnum •-! be* of tho Leader fcr instance :— k< While the O'Loghien Government fire proposing to P. tempt the unwary to select the little land'left ivon , our frontiers, those who have already invested their uall in selection are being ruined every week. Num- -it bers of hard-working Sonffi fide cultivators have been r placed in the hands of the money-lenders by the bad Seasons. Scores are ready to give up their selections at auiWhe fruit of their labour to tho first purchaser who ql •jvill return them thesavings they have spent In a vain l Attempt to Jive upon tho soil. From tho Loddon and m the Avoca districts'right round the Wiramera we hear Q atorie3 of selectors who have to drive their cattle from ten to twenty miles to water, and that often brackish '*' and impure, and whose crop 3 have been wholly lost tc because o! the aridity of the last two or three months, ,-j, Similar teßlivnocy oomes from Nsw South f, Wales, With a thermometer up to 175 deg. in the bud, grass all burnt up, and stock dying ; r In hundreds for want of water, lifa is not an j c earthly paradiae there, In Euglanrl and Scot # land for several years past soddeu harvest a . fields, and in many cases ruin to it c fanners, t i has baea the ordsr of the day. New Zealand can hardly be said ever to experience a"' Jotal failure of crops, and I suppose what aaa happened this year is that in two cases N put of Jhrea the crops are fair oma .. fad ia some exceptional ca?es the farmtre will hf>ve a veyy good yield. If it is drj in oa'e place, it ia moist in another. Things t ought to bo better, but then they xhighi; be s proas worse. We haya not yet come to w $he state of civilisation in which those who tr have plsmitul'crops will divide with those who . h&ya light ones—that is a refinement which the t, progress of enlightenment ia still to bring about. Js'.»t if somo unfortunates lose their year's labour others will do very well, and tho in equality of their lots will 'give scope for the ' philosophy I baye bsen preaching. Philosophy, ~ "adversity's swept milk," is au easisr * thing with full pockets than with enipiy once, but than the man with the empty pockois needs it mca!v Ie ia certaiuly a comfort for a j, man to think that if hs has a bad harvest this year thera are good harvests yet to come, r arid in thia happy clime more good ones than t bad can be aafsly counted on, A bit of information supplied by Mi Dentou p in c-te cf hi 3 ?cicnce Jecture3 has aot attracted a the nolica that it deserves. Ooluur dif- • ftrencsß in the human race, sajs Jur D., are j due to the different kinds of earth out of which t, Hen are made. "Whence came the dark, the " yellow, the white, the brown peopla who live fi on the faca of the globe?" The common gi notion is that they all were originally of one w tint, and that the existing variety of com- ai plejcions ia due to the iLflctencesof climate. %\ Not bo, Bays Mr D. "He saw the same dif- n ferencca of colour in the earth from v.'hich man a had corns. Along the ages men had brought n with them differences of colour of tho a jnatersal from which they had Btarted." This f, account of the matter, if I don't mistake, will a be new to anthropologists, and its simplicity is h equal to Hb originality. Moreover, it 13 hard f to deny a certain jirimafacie reasonableness iv ( J&j: Denton'a theory. Men are made from r day, and we find in this human pottery well- { marked diSerences of quality and colour. Some r specimens are fine, some coarse; some are rod, s Botna white, some yelloW, somq brown, some t black. What more natural than the suppo- f eition that thesa differences represent original differenceii in the clay itself ? The Chinaman is yellow— erfjo, he sprang from a region rich in I ochre. The " Yellow Sea," which waehea the t Chinese coast, affords corroborative evidence, i The Arab ia a fine brick red,—colour no doubt s of the sands in his nativa desert. " IJsd Sea" c alao close at hand. Similarly the great "Red t Eiver" of" North America indicatea the pre- c vailicg tint of the soil which has yielded tho \ Jted Indian. The Negro may be referred to f the rich black ooze of swamps in Equatorial ; Africa—the "Dark Continent" as Stanley I has aptly called it. On the other band, pale faces like ournelvts belong to the chalk forma- < fcions (compare Albion, Lat; albus, white), find i the limestone regions of Northern Europe. Being ] formed of finer clay than other races, we aro, j of course, the very porcelain of humanity. I j invito Mr Danton to work his theory out, and j give us fuller information. .. j Similes may be more forcible than refined. A preacher of whom I onco heard, descanting on the blessings of the G-ospal, declared that it w&3 like a found of leef: " for," said he, "you ' may cut, and cut, and como again." I perceive my friend Mr Denfcon, in defending tho idea ' that religion is s».n outgrowth of the human ' boul, used a bjld illustration of a similar char . neter, for he went on to remark :'■ Some people paid that Ihs priests invented religion in order to make saooey ovit of the people. They might Its well tell'him tntt butchers invented hunger ' in order .to make money by telling beqf.f The argument is sound enough, but the comparison \ between religion and beef, and priests and jatcherr, is certainly grotesque. ,No doubt the . ecthrer intended it so to bs.' The human soul, \ J^e'tHe u'uman body, according to Mr Denton'a j i d'ea, has certain needs, and as there is a demand for the material to supply these nceis, one j man supplies you with beef and another with ' Bible. Whether the appetite increases with . that which it doth feed on may be an>bpen question, but the great point is that both apDetitea do exist. They may not always exist, mpy come to a time when we can do without either beef or Bibla. There are those who tell us wa should eat nothing but vegetables, and there are those who would have U3 derive bur religious culture from Lyceum Guides, bu! for the,present Mr Dentoa is satisfied that re ligion of some kind is necessary, aa he believes t beef ia necessary, Ths unfortunate part of the c mattes ia that what ia ona man's meat is 1 another man's poison', hence the demand for \ yarielies of diet; ■■■•■. : The Melbourne Age reports a decidedly < novel and curiou3 development of the | . ilutual Assurance principle. A Victorian \ Carriage Insurance Company (L'mited) has \ formed, with the design, to quote ihe i prospeptGH, " of encouraging mairiages by < sifor.dins to Pcor people oppcrtunilies and ' inducements for joining in the bonda of wed- ' Jock with gain to themselyeti, and without fear j cf succumbing, to thoEe pecuniary difficultie i which btand in the way of would-be benedi3tsl of iimitod jneana." The offices of jhe company are at No. 5 Eastern Arcade, and wsre, when A reporter from the Age offico called, "in charge of. a p'.eaaant-looking gentleman with a daik beerd, who, fn tho absenco of the manager, expressed himself prepared to rSord all infonaation." The Age thus surematises - the Oompany'd plan of operations : — According to the document which is before us, the number of members 13 to be limited to 1000. A subscription fee of 10s, as already stated, will be required from each of these, and upon the occasion of any rtiGmber'B marriago a call of 53 will be made upon each unmarried member, in order to meet the pay-mo-.tof £200 accruing, due to tho particular member who has had the temerity to enter tho matrimonial State. A cerliiicstp of marriage is to be forwarded to the manager cf the company within seven days after tho c«rembny; and within CO days after proof of the tame tho married member will receivo his £200. A member after his marriage is relieved from all further liability, but until he is married he 13 required to pay a call of 53 on the occasion 0! every marriage of his fello* members. So the .game goes on, with the additional inducement, in order, wo suspect, to attract non-marrying subjects, that members of s>is years' standing, au<J unmarried, will receive £100 on application to the manager at hia olS.ce. Supposing the scheme not a oi6ra attempt to obtain money under false pretences (which the Age IkuoceriUy considers an open question) and supposing it gels itself launched, the first item in the Company's ledger will stand thus : 1000 Subscriptions at 10s = £500, —*bich sum will of Course goto Iho pleasant looking gentleman with daik beard at No. 5, Eastern Arcade, aa empfnaatkn for preliuai nary expenses. Nsxt, when the fits!; mairwge bonoa is to be paid : COB calls afss = £'2io 153 M Snrplas — for the geuil^mau wi'.h the dark bsard — £19 153. Tha surplus wiil decrease by 5r with each successive marriage till the 200-h, when the account will stand thus — 800 calls at 63. = £200 0a Cd —exactly tiho sum to be pair]. At which cri-i? in the affairs of ths.Comp&ry the dirk-bsarded gentleman, having rated in -between two and throe thousand pounds, wiil consiJer it ex psdient to Bhave asd clear for parts un known. The scheme will hardly get Ihi.i length, however. Toe Babfcribens— 40 of whom oh alreitJy enr>llel, szy* th 6 Age— will bo ohiifly meiiibsrs of tie iaors con

n}lifig.oM-x.- 1 o:Tk!y l j V7iil Lbs t dor.6!.icb,i:womev whoßeimarriageihop^j.'-ate 46'vSr!kfe(I>- 2w)ij)I<itlHnk to-ia'dni^the^'b^^gniSD^^fdAyf'oT^Otf;, J^^^ffioieg^^^^^n^l^Jpai.'; tykji)sli&faw&&3ihe ,'jiviiileman'jrKith th, i!eaTd, J wiU:to:iiiquu-i-d!jforain:.».va)u, sorl No. 5 liaßietßiArcadei:wai-bfit(tc(>!et; The "Victors;--I*j-*.r«|age'Jnßnrsn^a'lGonipany (Limited)" is >■. fingptSrl^traiiSiiareas fraud, but it bases itself ftf'.'.Ail&iHM deep insight into human cafmre— that is, feminine human nature.

Tho New Zsalaud Wealeyaa for this moath hia the following :—

Ono of the examiners in Church history reports having given the question, " What was the nature of the Pragmatic Sanction V and having received the comprehensive reply, "Tho Lord known." The examiner does n'A dispute the statement of the examinee, but fancioi the youiiu gent'eman will know butter next time.

Was it the candidate's pioly that it-spired the answer "The Lord knows"—cr hia Srjnpisty ? As lie appears to be a theological stuJent-, ou< would hr:ps the formsr. Or was ho hinting hat probably the exauniier bim,-eU did n. I know the answer to Lia question ? Certiuuly •.here ara a score or two of Pragmatic SMiclisissl known to history, and the iVjoou3 Austrian Pj-agmaiio, which the examiner most likely bsd in view, was only one in a long strict Hating from Justinian, a thousand years earlier. [ am not so sure tha';I'Tho Lord knots''i^ aot lha only trua and proper answer to & question bo vagua as " Wha.t was the Pr&g malic Sanction ?" I notice that the Inspector j General has not iavoEred tho public this yearj

.vith any entertaimeg extracts frcm pupilteachers' examination papers. Has ha aban doned his vac victis policy ? Failing srippließ from that source, I give a collection of cpeci mans reported from a scholarship cornpethioi' in the London Board Schools, The examiner, in giving them to the public, remarked that there wa3 always a good reason for a wrong answer, end invited the cutious to pv-zzle out the reasons for the following :—

The climate of England determines to be rather unhealthy on account of its having 00 many smells and 3tinks, such as Tanners, and many othera.

The Old World naturally was Europe, and, now the New World is Europe, A-ia, &c.

Buenos is in Germany; Ajm is in France,

The history papers contain Btalsuienta of a slili more startling churacter: —

Milton wrote a sensible poem, called " Canterbury Tales."

Henry II got drinking intoxicating liquors until he was commonly called drunk.

Magna Charta was so that people should not worship the pla c where Mo=Cd died. Jlagna Charta was ordered by the king to be beheaded. He fled to Italy, but was eiptured aud executed.

Free trade means not connected with any other establishment and charging- no discount.

Oae boy described Hearj II aa doing penanc-. for hia share in Beckat'a deatb by walking barefoot, and recalvia;; ".waeks with a batch.' I'ise " good reason " for most of these cuiiou* answers h eurely tbat the poor little examincee really didn't know auy better. Their memory was crammed with names and facts which they had never learned to sort ini;o their connecr tiuns. Tue blundorf, it you consider well, art rather the shame of tho teachers than of the taught.

"It is absolutely untrue," says an English paper, " tha', under tolerably fair conditions, a woman is (if wernay repsati the crude phrase)

"played out' when she has seen forty-fire. If all goes welJ, or even not very ill, a woman takes a new departure ot about fifty." The "n6W departure" which a woman takes at fifty, cr thereabouts, is, I should have said, grandmotherhood, but that is not what the writer inean3. "It is the mistake of giddy adolescence, or Band-blind conceit," he con tinuea, " to suppose that a woman of fifty cannot be exquisitely beautiful, cannot command a man throughout the whole range of hie nature ; cannot take up all the gladness of life, and beautifully radiate it again, for him ano for others." Well it ia a common mistake, at any rate. That a woman may be " exquisitely beautiful" at fifty is a proposition hard to re fute, beauty being purely a question of taste. Clearly, however, the beauty that has best ripening for half a century is not the beauty that men hanker after. As a reverend gen'.le man recently remaiked at a tea-meeting, ir> stead of one woman of 50 they would prefer two of 25. There have been, it is true, pheno mc-nal esses of longrlived charms: —

Some never grow. Ugly ; witneS3 Ninon do Lsuclos.

inon bad lovera at 90, but then the point is >at she didn't look 90. In the competition for ale admiiation, a woman of* 50 who looks her ;o would ordinarily be reckoned altogether out ilherunning. Yet it-is precisely then, it seem?, L&fc eha may take a "new departure" and line out aa " exquisitely beautiful!" Rahel, ife of Varnhagen yon Bnse, is quoted as an Efttople. Kahel at 43 mtimed a man twelve ears her junior, and made herself tenderly) cloved by him. She waa never beautiful, Bhe ■as always ill, yet she was ad.red by all male features as the Queen of Berlin Society. "At fly, she wrote tuat she felt in moa'c particuirs just as she did at fourteen or fifteen ; tbat ac had, on the whole, the same opinions and lolinationg as at, thirty, only that the back round of her life was richer with gathered ex erience and W6ll connected thought" I wuld like to know whether this is a common )it of case. Do all women of fifty retain the pinions and inclinations of thirty ? I fancy ot. If they did, men would be more willing 3 find them beautiful. Women superannuate bemaelvesby thinking juvenility essential to ttraclivoneaa. They write themselves down played out" juat at the time whan Nature, y releasing them from the pains" and perih f maternity, invites them to grow handsomer nd brighter, more intelligent, and more agreeble companions for men than over. My fair sadsrs "will' take a iibte of this. They can't lwajs remain bo pretty that men. won't mind ieir' being fools. Life isn't done when that iage is over. Beauty—even physical beauty— 1 chidly of the mind; which fact if they perend, and remember that handsome is that thinks, they nead never fear the snsus-paper. They may reach and pass their alf-century in company with brightnes?, ia iliigence, and good-temper, and aDy good dry will tell them that these, after all, are le beet gifts iv hn basket. Civis.