PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10244, 29 December 1894, Page 2

PASSING NOTES.

(From the Ocago 'Witness.)

as a lesnvai «ew x ear's Day is pagan -rather than Christian, —pagan and Jewish. Not that wa shall observe ifc any the leas punciiliously'on that account. Oar zeal for holidays is a proverb, and ought, I suppose, to be counted to us for righteousness, since ,tare are not a lazy people. Indolence has Jaevor been a colonial vice. When we suspend toll and moil in favour of picnics and junketing we are expressing as well as wa know how our aspirations towards the Trna and the Beautifol, our yearning for better acquaintance with the spiritual and poetic possibilities of bnman life. And how's that for hjgh 1 Anyway it sounds wonderfully fino; nevertheless, I am not proud of it;. Quite the contrary! The philosophical explanation of common things is i3o"litt.le in my vela that I am half ashamed of hitting upon this profonnd view oE colonial holidays. Hang philosophy,—give us fine weather! eaysyoung Ofcago. Precisely; I Bm altogether of the same opinion. Apropos, I notice with regret that at this present time of vaitirg—wcich is Boxing Day—the weather ia not what it onght to be. To me personally, sitting snug amidst my books, rain on Boxing Day matters nothing; bnt I was not always thus. Time was when my only books were woman's looks, and when sunshine on a holiday counted for more with sne than the fate of Ministries or the progress of Nations. Ah, ces heaux jours de peiinessej Never mind; in sympathy I pionio with the picnickers still, and envy them thsir capacity to be disappointed. And •may they have batter lack on New Year's If we make many holidays I suppose we wan afford them. Our temptation just now ■is to pity ourselves as desperately ill-used. !Chis is bad form at the beginning of a new year. We are probably quite as rich as wa deserve to be, and a good deal richer than Baost other cammunities. the world over. Tho other day, turning over Pepys's " Diary " (excellent holiday reading, though over; 200 years old), I came upon a curious parallel to She present lament over low prices:— , January 1 (IG6B).—Dined with my Lord JJrewe, with whom was Mr Browne (Clerk of the Honsa of Lords) and Mr John Crowe."Here ' was mighty good discourse, as there is always ; Jmd amongst other things they did talk touch b? the present cheapness of come.even to> miracle; bo ag their farmers can pay no rent, bflt do fling up their lands; and would pay in Borue: but (which I did observe to my Lord, and be liked well of it) our gentry are grown go ignorant of everything of good husbandry that they know not howto bestow this come; I which, did they understand a little trade, they Would be able to joyne together and know what markets there are abroad, and feud it thither, i jmd thereby ease their tenants and bo able to Jay themselves. I don't think much of Pepys's ideas on the subject of exportation—fancy England exporting corn I—but the evil heproposed to ] remedy thus is precisely the evil over which j land owners iand land cultivators here and in I England are groanirg to-day. Observe that this jeremiad about low prices was at a New I'sar's dinner — January 1, IG6S. Verily lucre is nothing new under the sun. Under the same date Pepys seta down that fia went to ssa a play—the prop9r thing to do on New Year's Night,—and there observed, B3 we may observe to-day, that the low prices' oE produce had by no means lessened the ' demand for emnsemeats or the ability to pay for them. ' J Thence I after dinner to the Duke o£ York's ■ playhouse, and there saw " Sir Martin Mar-ail," ■which I have seen so often, and yet am mightily pleased with it, and think it mighty witty, and tae fullest of proper matter for wcrfch that ever was writ. Here a mighty company of citizens, I prentices and others; and it makes me observe, that when I began first to be able to bestow a I play on myself, I do not remember that I saw so many by half of the ordinary prentices and mean people in the pit at 2s 6u apiece aB now; 1 going for several years no higher than the | 12d, and then the 18d places, though I strained | bard to go in then when I did; so much the i vanity and prodigality of uho age is to bs ■ observed in this particular. ' This was on a New Year's Day 227 years ago. We write straighter'English now; wel discus's bimetallism j' wfif enjoy the inestimable boon of woman suffrage; but in other respects theliksnc3s betwean then and Slow Is complete to the point of absurdity. The "Ex-High School Girl" who.oince Mr alien's address, has been multiplying herself in the correspondence columns of the • newspapers, can hardly represent the principled of -the institution of which she is an " ex"; She wants to be a doctor, she wants to be a | clerk, she wants to sit in Parliament; she ! ■wants to wear men's clothes, she; does not want to be married.' On this last point— if yre may believe her sincere— she is quite right, and displays a wise foresight. Men like to look at ballet girls ia tights,. but, as a rule, they don't marry them. A knicker-bockered woman may be understood as notifying ■univenial mankind—" Please don't consider me from .the point of view p£ Bex." Wa accept the Intimation with thanks, and shall be guided jsy it. Men desire in women sweethearts End wives; doctors, lawyers, and members of Parliament they do not desire. And yet, for my own part, I have no wish to hinder a woman's becoming1 anything she pleases. Nor jhaß Mr Allen, I fancy, nor any other sensible man. La carrie re ouverte aux talents— (whether the talents be those of men or those Df women—we all subscribe to that maxim. We are quite sure' that> under the . freest tonditions possible only the odditieß and faigidities amongst women will become j mayors and members of Parliament. The 1 /'ox-High School girl" need not vex hsr soul. Jfc is a small grievance that she was not! taught at the High School itself to " ape the \ »nan "if nobody hinders her learning it now i fehst ehe has become an " ex." To. whish of our olty councillors the Tcilowfng Christmas ode is to be attributed the reader must guess for himself. A reign of peace came in with Mr Fish's second term, and lam not going to disturb it. The erstwhile troubled sea ot municipal politics "hath quite forgot to rave" (as Milton remarks) While birds of calm-sit brooding on ,tho charmed wave. 3!o say which of those brooding birds of calm has incubated this copy of verses might s>e to stir the envy of the rest and put everything in periL So mum is the word. Thus Mr Henry Smith Fish :" Ia the bright lexicon of youth there is no such word as 'faiL1 Youth waß always with us if we had hope. The stalk Snay grow old. but the bloom would be as fresh ana-charming as ever." Vide mayoral address. Oh, Henry, here's a health to you, I*'or though we daa't agree On public matters not a few, "S our grit I like to sac. All hail i the precept you profess, Let those who will assail; With courage to beget success, There's no such word as " faiL-1" Tis men like yon that make the pace, . That keep their " pecker " up, And banish failure as disgrace, Or drown it in a cup; Xhat tell the drones of feeble heart. And cravens, too, who rail, Ehat hope must ever wing the dart—■ There's no such word as " fail." Then, Henry, fill your glaS3 again, Nor let it water be; And let me pledge, and not in vain, Another health to thee. For though adown the hill we drive, In life's descending vale. The hopeful heart, still twenty-live, Knovfs no such word as " fail" I . FosHJity Council poetry this is not worse than one might expect it to be. A prohibitionist would object to fche last stanzas Then, Henry, fill your glass again, Nor let it water be— and might wish to amend it thus, perhaps— ——from the glass refrain, And rather make it tea; contending for a logical sequence ~dn-the aext— So may I-pledge—and not in vain— Stilltetter health to thee ! Btrtl am not a prohibitionist, and can give no countenance tojthe prohibitionist; tiakor|og of classical poetry. Pear Cms, —Midday prayer msetmgs may sometimes help business as well as piety, as tha following actual iaets show:—During tha ezercisss there came in coffc, dulcet, and ?nelodious sounds from a church official to hia neighbour the following: " It' A wishes the job of the church renovation, he must tsnder for it." The friend of A took due note, and A himself in tarn received the " tip." A tender was accordingly sent in. Now A had already given a price covering bare materials (all for tha good of the cause), but now determined to tender on business lines. He did so, and was the lowest; but judge bis surprise at getting tlic job at some £10 higher tbau his first offer. Will yon kindly (nothing ie beyond the wit; of *'Civis") point-a-morel,™! .am,-&o., Esoteric 2EOTIEI3!,

The moral would be easier if wo might suppose that "A's" adviser stood in with him at the higher price. Perhaps he did: There is nothing inconsistent, I imagine, between attendance at midday prayer meetings and an eye to the mala chance. It is only a nineteenth-century application of Cromwell's maxim—Trust in heaven and keep your powder dry. Lot, us hope that A and his friends will maintain their noontide devotions. Business men of their degree of sharpness must, need a prayer meeting about lunch time bacliy. Another story equally edifying, though intrinsically less credible, reaches me from a country township. A concert was held ia aid of the cemetery funds. Fancy a concert in aid of a cemetery I — but let that pass; the point is elsewhere. This cemetery concert took place some months ago; the amount netted was understood to be a sum in pounds sterling, " which sum," says my correspondent, " has never been beard of since, and can only bs accounted for by a set of false teeth in possession, I understand, of the treasurer," There must be como mistake here; or there i3 a good deal more that 13 false about that treasurer than.the teeth. For my [ own part I incline to tha merciful view. ■In a community that gats up a concert to provide itself with a cemetery the state of public taste must be deplorable, no donbt; but the state of public taste is not necessarily an index to the state of public morality. And, anyhow, where morality fails ns there is always the law. The concert money will yet turn up. As for tha incriminated and probably innocent treasurer, I should expect that after reading this Note he will certainly show his teeth. . Civis.