PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7075, 18 October 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

PASSING NOTES.

(From Otago Witness.)

We may perhaps connect the sudden zaal of our representatives for Sabbath observance with their painful experiences during their laat Sunday excursion in the Hinomoa. A stormy wind arose, which tossed tho festive legislators to and fro like drunken ineu, aud at the height of the gale it must have soemed to Ihem by no means impossible that there would soon have to be another general election. Wheu at last they got to terra tirma, tho moral impressions of the trip were deepeued by a furious sermon telegraphed from Auckland, in which tbe Rev. Mr Reid denounced them as Sabbath-breakors, whose rank offence would call down the judgment of heaven upon tho land. Immediately after this the repentant excursionists resolved, by 18 to 17, that any person who takes his pastime on Sunday in any public place ahall bo liable to a penalty not exceeding £10. Apparently, thon, 4hore will be no more Sunday excursions in the Hinemoa. It ia curious tiiat thia now legislation enforciug Sabbath observance on Sundays ehould be introduced by a Freethinker nnd a Jew —one of whom believes in no Sabbath at all, whilst tho othor believes that the Sabbalh falls on Saturday. But this is one of the ways in wbich a patriotic Minister must sacrifice himself for the public good, lt is a sort oi bowing down iv the houso of Riinmon which both Jews *nd Freethinkers will know how to forgive-.

Apropos of Sabbath Observance legislation, Bishop Nevill quotes in a sermon reported this week the enactments ot the famous " blue code "of Connecticut. The Pilgrim leathers decreed that " no one shall run on the Sabbath Day, or walk in his garden or elsewhere, except reverently to and from the meeting," and tbey illustrated the former part of this precept by fining heavily an Episcopalian clergyman " on pretenne that he had broken the Sabbath by walking home too fast from Mb own church. "It was made criminal for a mother to kias her baba on the Sabbath " —much more must it have been criminal for the young Pilgrims and Pilgrimesses to kiss au.d get kissed on the road home from meeting. jSo doubt they did it, though, and found the illegal indulgence all the eweeter for tho very reasott that it was forbidden fruit. Amongst other prohibited delights wore the "* keeping of Christmas, the making of minceIpfes, or playing any instrument of music except the drum, the trumpet, and the jews-harp.'rf Mince pies were disallowed aa popish mysteries intended to represent the manger in which Christ was laid; drums and trumpets wero permitted, probably, as bfing Scriptural iristru ments, and the jews-harp as the lineal descendant of " David's harp of solemn sound." Tho sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, &c, would have enjoyed, moat likely, a similar favour, but for the fact that no specimen of thoso sacred instruments Was known to exist in Connecticut, To understand New England legislation, it is necessary to remember that the colony was email, isolated, patriarchal in its organisation, and that public morals were regarded strictly from the kirk-aession point of view. That point of view was excusable in fugitives from religious persecution, but, with all deference to such eminent authorities m theology and morals aa Messrs Stout and Vogel, I submit that it is not excusable in the Parliament of New Zealand. Kirk-session law, enforced by the civil magistrate, is two centuries too late.

They have a rabbit plague iv Victoria, even as we, and are equally at their wits' end to discover an effective remedy. In these circumstances the Bishop of Melbourne announces that " the other day he received a letter from a gentleman asking bim to appoint a prayer that •God would strike all rabbits with sterility.'" The Bishop intimated in repl that he didn't sea it. In effect, the prayer ho was requested to supply would amount to this —" O Lord, we have been careless and negligent, and the rabbits bave become a pestilence ; we intend Btill to be careless and negligent; O Lord, kill them for us." Ho (the Bishop) thought this immoral, and did not believe that " God would interfere with rabbits, or alter the course of Nature to save us from the consequences of our own misconduct." I shall not venture to discuss the theology of the question, but I may observe that the truly original and remarkable prayer requested of the Bishop hardly went far enough. Why pray that rabbits should be merely " stricken with sterility V Why not ask that they Bhould be killed, skinned, and their pelts—which are a marketable commodity —packed in bales for export ? There are no dsgrees in miracles, and one supernatural intervention must be just cs possible—or as impossible—as another. The Bishop's correspondent was too modest. It is a pity, no doubt, that bishops can't see their way to settling the rabbit question by some short and easy method of tbis sort. If rabbits could be stricken with sterility, or if even we could get some abatement of their prodigious and inde osnt fecundity, the boon would be incalculable. It would be- money in the pockets of all of us. But the principle itself would bo of greater value than thia particular application of it. By its aid we should be able to keep down snakes and mosquitoes, docks and thistles, tbe kea that haa developed a taste for living sheep's kidney, and the wicked who have children at their own desire—all these would have to follow tha rabbits. We should get them "stricken with sterility," and thus secure their painless extinction.

Does the Bishop of Melbourne read Zola? The question is prompted by the following suggestive passage in hiß recent address to the Church of England Assembly :—

Have any of you been driven by the sense of duty to read one or more of the terribly realistic sketches of tho most famous of modern French story-tellere ? If you have, perhaps you bave thrown them down, after reading a dozen pa^es, in impatient disgust. Ido not wonder if it were so. Sometimes, however, one is not permitted to yield to tbe first righteous instinct. And knowing, as I do, that one at laast of those stories is the simple exhibition of facta in Parisian life, laboriously collected, and thoroughly reliable, I overcame my disgust and read to the end. That book is the real record of French decadence. Ido not wish to make too much of it. I know that there are pure populations in French villages, and I would fain hope that the future of a noble race is not to be determined by the life of its cities. But should that hope bo vain, then I feel that I know the end of the French nation as certainly as I had seen it arrive—in bloodshed, poverty, and shame.

The book the Bishop refers to is doubtless that photograph of a Parisian dunghill called •* l'Aasommoir," or poßsibly the reference may be even to " Nana " —a book that is much the same, only more so. I read the Assommoir some time ago,—not from motives so pure » 3 the Bishop's, I fear—and lately I followed it up with Nana. These perilous experiments seem to lie within the calling of a literary man, but it is a new light tbat Zola has a constituency of biahopa. Trollopo's Arch, deacon Grantley locks his study door when engaged with bis French novel, and enjoys the reputation throughout the household of being deeply immersed in next Sunday's sermon. But tbe naughtiness of Paul de Kock and Balzac — who were probably the authors affected by the good archdeacon —was purity tself in comparison with the frank " naturalsm" of Zola. I feel easier about my own dips into this unclean literature now I know that the Bishop of Melbourne has been there too. Moreover, I agree with him as to the ominous significance of theße unspeakable portraitures. If the French ara aa Zola paints them, the end of all things French is at hand— in bloodshed, poverty, and siiame.

Germany, like England, in free, so far as I know, from the exaggerated moral taint indicated in the Zola novels, but she is suffering in another way. She is reaping the fruit of her philosophy. Germany has more suicides in proportion to her population than any other country in Europe. When life becomes not worth living, philosophy says Don't live it, but try your fortune in another world, if there be another world. Now this is precisely what the Germanß seem to be doing. Their wars, their large armaments even when they have no wars, nnd their Biamarckian borne policy, have made life for Germans a very hard business, and as public thought has for a century been imbued with what is called philosophy, and as the people have pretty well given up going to church, they make no bones of giving their troubles the slip when those begin to grow intolerable. Last year 2004 of these philosophical beings took their leave of tbe sun in Saxony aloue, some of tbem no doubt in quest of fresh woods and pastures new, though a good many, I sußpect, had no expectations. Such a large proportion of philosophical exits cannot, however, be regarded with entire satisfaction by the Emperor—that father, or rather grandfather, of his people—or even tbe truculent Prince Bismarck. It is at any rate no great compliment to their government. I hope the philosophical era will not begin in New Zealand for some time yet. We could not afford to lose 400 men and women every yoar through mere weariness of life-unless, indeed, the fancy for slipping the cable were confined to tho mashers, a class of perfectionists wbo eoem rather out of placo in

& young country. But the pity ia that the tight-trousered gentry have too comfortable an opinion of themselves to resort to such an extreme measure. Even with the prospect of an increase in the masher breed, I should doprecato tho introduction of tho trnnscedental philosophy into A'ew Zoaland—if it means an epidemic of suicides whenever timeß aro dull.

I read in the political correspondence of one of tho papers the other day that a certain Southern M.L.C. had "been gazetted out of the ruu of intoxicating liquorß at Bellamy's, by order of tho House Committee." Not being of the female persuasion I have not the least curiosity to know who this Southern M.L.C. ia. I have no doubt he ia a most respectable gentleman. But X might be pardoned for wishing to know what is meant by being gazetted out of tho run of intoxicating liquors at Bellamy's. Doea it uiean that the M.L.C. in queation haa joined the Blue Ribbonites, and that the gazetting is a kind of announcement of that fact '! Or does it moan that he had been availing himself too frooly of " tho run of the liquor " to attend properly to his Parliamentary duties ? The welfare of the country would in such a caso demand what amongst common unparliamentary peoplo ia called a prohibition order. Bellamy's liquor, I am told, is particularly good, aud I am not sure that 1 should not be tempted myself to tako a littlo drop too much if I had the ruu of it. I rather think a bottle uf Bellamy Burgundy occasionally would add to the agreeableness of life in a very perceptible degree I Bhould not objoct at any rate to try— Btrictly, of course, in the interests of Bcience. But I am, alas ! not an M.L.C. If the senator who is gazetted out is henceforth to be excluded from Bellamy's, he has my sympathy. To be condemned to consume hotel liquor for the remainder of the session must be something akin to expulsion from Paradise. My hope, however, is that the Councillor is a philosopher (I don't mean a German philosopher), and that he takes the gazetting out aa a proof of the indiapenaableness of his legislative services.

A correspondent sendß me the following: —

"Dear Civis,-There is a good yarn told of Dick fceddon, the irrepressible member for Kumara, whicb, if I could tell it in the quaint language of my informant, would be worthy of circulation as a 'Note' of value. It relates to a period of Dick's hißtory dating back some 12 years ago, when Dick kept a Btore on the Waimea, iv Westland, at some little distance from which my informant and his mate had 6 claim ( the latter waa a New England Yankee, a big brawny chap of six feet three, and possessed, as most of his countrymen are, of a large fund of dry humour. They dealt at .Dick's store, as also did an adjoining claimholder, a Canadian, also stalwart of build. The West Coast miners were not at that time oi too frugal habit", and our Canadian, living not wisely but too well, when his claim was done owed Seddon a considerable 'tucker' account, whicb he was unable to pay. He made a moonlight flitting, and Dick, also a man of thews and sinews, followed him up, and as he. could not get his money he took it out by administering to the Canadian a sound thrashing. My friend's Yankee mate when he heard of this did not say much, but apparently thought a good deal, and when the storekeeper's man made his weekly delivery of ' tucker,' he said —' I say mate, next time you come bring along your bill, and brin&us no more tucker.' When asked for hia reason—' Well, I don't much like a man who does business in the style your boss does. I don't like a man who comes with his bill in one band and his shirt in the other. I am going to deal with the Dutchman, now, and if I can't pay him I shan't be obliged to take any of his "Bass." Yer Bee, I can lick him. Mebbe I could lick Dick if I tried, but I know I can lick tbe Dutchman.'"

lt is easy to understand why the Sick and Burial Association, a branch of which has been started at South Dunedin, has found it necessary to prefix the word " rational" to their title. Information ia thereby conveyed which would not otherwise be graßped by the general public. For a " friendly " society their meetings so far have been characterised by a piquancy which causes us to regret that all societies and all meetings cannot be friendly afcer this fashion.. As regards the second meeting there appears to havo been something more than piquancy about the proceedings. I know nothing about tbe iniquities or the virtues of Mr A. E. Reade, but ho appears to be possessed of a csrtain desperate valour, fpr ho tonk tho field with a small force only. He may have hoped to win by stratagem, or he may have trustod solely in the righteousness of his cause. At all events, hia availablo following consisted of a couple of ladies, and this reserve he was compelled to call up early in the engagement. It must have been a ticklish moment for Mr Fulton—who acted as the Bolingbroke of the scene—when the female force hove in Bight to effect a diversion in Mr Reade's favour. One member of the reinforcement fainted in the arms of an enemy, and the other apostrophised Mr Fulton as a brute. That gentleman, however, maintained an undaunted front, saying in effect:

" 'Ti-i net Ihe trialof a w.man'a war, The hitter clamour of tw._. eager tontuea, Can arbitrate thia cause be.-ixt ua twain." Whereupon Mr Reade, who had commenced the battle with such civil phraßes as " Pardon me," unmasked his heavier battery as follows: " You wretch ! you villain ! you coward ! If I die for it I will make you anßwer for this." Such a remark from the lips of a gentleman against whom it seems to be alleged tbat he baa made unauthorised appearances in the pulpit sounds like a very sufficient refutation of tbat charge at all events. Mr Reade appears then to have quitted the field, after administering the following fillip to the chairman : " You keep quiet. You like £1 for every 7s 6d you lay out." This can scarcely have failed to score one for Mr Reade. The bullet, however wide it is fired, generally finds its billet, but iv this instance it does not kill. I myself have been afflicted with the infirmity mentioned for yeara, and have left off now being even ashamed of it.

A correspondent moralises the first stage of the row as thus:—

It is no easy task to extract a moral from a squabble on tbe Flat, but witb due determination and persistency it may be done. By hard squeezing a good deal of moral essence may be obtained from the most unpromising materials. Firstly, then, the affair conveys a warning to the peaceable: Do not promote or attend public meetings — even of rational associations —held in such a dangerously exhilarating atmosphere as that of the Flat. On tbe Flat, and the Flat only, we have been treated to the spectacle of a borough council "rushing" its Mayor, and driving that functionary to tbe platform, where, with the minute-book hugged to his manly bosom, he resisted a siege until succour arrived. On the Flat only we have beard a responsible M.H.R. address the " free and independent" (after election) as "curs." There have boen various otber indications that the air of the locality is politically unhealthy,— possibly owing tbe proximity of the Cargill road ditch. Secondly, there is a warning conveyed to ladies to eschew public appearances at meetings of all societies, be tbey never so friendly. A woman's public speaking is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not well done, but you are surprised to find it done at all. This is said witb the profoundest reverence to the sex. Thirdly, Mr Reade's experiences convey a lesson to every man, never, nnder any circumstances to attempt to clear his character. "Le jeu ne raut pas la chandclle."

The continuation of the Rational Sick and Burial comedy, as given in this day's (Wednesday^) Times, is of such unprecedented excellence that the performers should be encouraged by all means to "keep it up." The public thirsts for more. The report reads like an omitted chapter of the " Pickwick Papers"; indeed I queation whether any chapter in "Pickwick" contains one-half as much genuine fun. Mr Fulton's tragic fervours—his appeals to the " God of his sires," his protestations that he "would refuse the key of Heaven if it were offered to bim to go in with such a man " as Reade, and bis mysteriouß demonstration of friendship towards the Chairman, who had threatened to drill a hole into Reade tbat it would take a week to mend; —Mr Fulton (to the Chairman, extending his hand): "Put it there, if it weighs a ton !" —all this goes to show that though a community of shopkeepers we bave a good deal of dramatic talent, or else tbat the stilted talk usually assigned to stage heroes is not so wide of nature after all. What we are all burning to.know is the unspeakable secret which seems to be compounded of tbe parentage, the matrimonial adventures, and the pulpit performances of "Reade, otherwise Bennett"—the Becret the knowledge of which has driven Mr Fulton into theae amazing dithyrambics. We are burning to know, although it seems possible that tho knowledge may drive reason from its seat. When this maddening secret is ours, as in the end it must be, shall we all experience the trans ports of Mr Fulton? Oivis.

—During tho paat season cock-fighting, though contrary to law in Ireland, haa been carried on exteneively. In one case tbe managers of tbo entorpriEo fought their mains, though pursued by the police for over 30 milea. In another the fight came oil at sea on board a chartered steamer.

—Bricks mado of cork now constitute one of the new German industries. The usual size is lOin. x Ifm. x 2£in. They are prepared from email corks, refuse, and cemont, and have not only b_:en used for certain building purposes, on account of their lightness and isolation properties, but are also employed aa a covering lor boilera, in preventing the radiation of heat.