PASSING NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12551, 3 January 1903, Page 4

PASSING NOTES

. Of all conceivable pretexts for slutting shop and keeping holiday New Year's Day seems the flimsiest. :WliathqppensonNew Year's Day? . Nothing happens or has ever happened. January the First is the anniversary of January the First; that is all. And what is' the peculiar distinction inherent in January the First that it alone of , all the days in-the year should be honoured by an anniversary? Merely this, that having counted 365 days since last January the First we cry "tally" and change the unit in the world's date. Not that January the First is the world's birthday (according to a forgotten chronologer the work of Creation was finished on August the 14th at 4 in the afternoon, exactly); nor, again, that the reckoning of • time originally took the form shown in modren almanacs, with January the First as tlie beginning of day*. The distinction as-' signed to this day. is purely arbitrary; any other day might have been New Year's Day; and there is nothing new in the new. year but the figure in its date* The poet who sings, The year is dying in the night; King out, wild bells, and let him die, is merely maundering; nothing dies, and nothing is born. If the season changed; • if the weather, improved; if salaries wero raised; if anything at all happened on New Year's Day to make ns younger, or stronger, or healthier or wealthier or wiser, the day would, have .a natural distinction; but, alas, it is not so. All things to-day are as they were yesterday, except that mankind keep' festival and .arc making' a confounded noise about it. "Ring out wild bells," forsooth!—our only bells are the_' : fire-alarm's," and in reinforcement of their;' hideous clangour we contrive, by 'exploding gunpowder in bombs and craJsKers, to produce the- most hateful • sounds that can torture.human cars. This, by way of welcome to'the "glad new year." It will be thought, .perhaps, that tie writer of this note takes a somewhat dyspeptic view. So he .does; but it isn't dyspepsia. Ho has a. quarrel with tlie New Year holiday because he gets no share in it. His point' of view is-that of the milch-enduring newspaper 'man—a. slave, of the lamp who must wake when, others sleep and work when others play. Tlie one poor privilege that cannot be denied him is license to grumble; " To no army in Europe is the discovery of the magazine rifle such a poser "—as to the German army. This is "Linesman," writing in Blackwood of the German army manoeuvres. '".Linesman," 1 be it noted,' is an'actual linesman, and in that character has made acquaintance, witl the. magazine rifle 'at both ends, in firing it and as a target. He served in one of Buller's in-, fantry regiments throughout the fighting from Colenso to the relief of ladysmifch. In all the German Emperor's conscript army, an eight-fold multiple of the host of Xerxes, there was no one who knew, or could know, about modern war, its methods and its weapons, as "Linesman" knew; in his account of what he saw and what he thought as a looker-on at the German army manoeuvres we listen to a trustworthy oracle! , The Germans still rely on the old.methods—attacks in mass, attacks which, whether, on front or flank, are ihtended to "get home," but which against the magazine rifle never would get home. When the Kaiser at the head of the massed- cavalry 20,000 strong, of the Red army annihilated the Blue army by a furious charge delivered on their flank, and the Blue army> waiting to be annihilated,' agonised in suspense because the Kaiser's attack failed ji,6i arrive, at programme-time, we have the elements-'of stage comedy. But when we learn that against serried regiments armed with magazine rifles the Kaiser's charge could never have "got home," another clement enters—the element of tragedy. According to " Linesman", the Germ.™; soldier, drilled to the accuracy of .it ■machine, accustomed to act in masses only, helplessly dependent upon his officers, not only lacks the practical training which'lndia and Africa have given to. the British soldier, but falls below him in' adaptability. Tho German private soldier, however- much ho may lcarri; before a war, will learn nothing in war.; is cast in a different mould to that of our-own ''Atkins, a most malleable, follow, who. in South Africa took to new conditions like.a duck to,water,'and improved upon innovations' to beat the innovators.-. What the Gorman has-learne'd ho-has learned with a thoroughness' of which lib'other human being is capable What he has not learned the fear of death itself, swift tutor though it be, will not induce him to ,practis'e. " The moral of. which is that tlie British soldier is the most capable man-at-arma extant. That j is. &, comfortable inference, but nothing surprising and nothing new. Our..vice, little.recognised by our neighbours though . .abundantly , exemplified during the Boer war, is—self-depreciation. : ; Oamaru, December 23, 1902. "Civis." statements on the prohibition question could very rarely be either refuted, but your assertion that '■' tho progressive demoralisation of tho publican' and the publichouse i 9 to-be ascribed mainly to the prohibitionist*"'is, I venture to say, so wildly incorrect that it ought to be easy o! refutation. If I am wrong, you ought to be in possession of facts that-would enable you to maintain your position. ' ' ' My knowledge of the colony extends over 32 years; circumstances have enabled me'to • become better', acquainted with it from Auckland to the Awarua than most men;' 12 vears' association with the ■Prohibitionist paper, and 1G years with ~.{ho r New Zealand' Alliance, of which I am now permitted to bo secretary, have brought'me 'into intercourse'with 'evenpart'of it; arid, with this knowledge, I challenge your'declaration that there has been any " progressive, demoralisation, of the publican and the publichouse."' On the contrary, if you will receive it, I will submitto you in '■due course 'the evidence of many hundreds of reputable witnesses that the nverago publioan of 30, of 20, and oven of 10 years since was more flagrantly and openly ' lawless than'is the publican of to-day. Names of places- and of witnesses Shall be submitted to you, with .certain safeguards, and in strict confidence. The facts you may. deal with as you please, ' -.\'.. ■ I will show-that .for at least 25 years the ptago Daily.Times,.; editorially sneering at the 'late' Sir William ,Fox as "a man of' ribald tongue, and decrying the work of such stalwarts as Messrs'J., WvJago, A. Saunders . ■ and Dr Roseby, whose voices then " cried in the wildernesii,"-has,strenuously 'urged that temperance workers' should abandon ' their Utopian project and join with ■ sensiblo moderates '.'in reforming a, corruptly-cori-duoted traffic. - - ' •- I will prove'beyond question that in Australia, where prohibition isa " far-off event"— notably, in Sydney,—siich shocking iramoraiitv ■ has been;,proyed ,to .exist in connection with ' hotels,,some', even' of supposed respectability, as; yqu, sir, have probably liot known of in this colony, though' a few instances of similar degradation 'ho-vo been known to a handful of the leaders of tho Prohibition party. Whenever you are. ready I will' be=in to supply you with- proofs that you have written m careless ignorance,-, and in so doing have slandered a body: of earnest, thoughtful, and whole-souled men • and women that it is an honour and a;.privilego for any man to be associated withl-I am, sir, yours obedieullv, >■ '.'.- . -Fruik.W. Ism, ..; Secretary of the N.Z. Alliance. .- Mr Isitt believes that the publican of to-day is less a sinner.tjian the publican "of 30,' of 20, or even of 10 years" back. Very gobd;' I hope he will'abide in that faith';'' it'ought to be a comfort to him. ,0n Mr Isitt's view the publican is rapidly improving ; give him-time', and he may yet become ft reputable' member of .human society. I had supposed the Isitt .view, which doubtless is the'-typical prohibitionist view, to be, something very different—namely, that the publican grew ever worse and worse, could not he reformed, must be abolished. On that supposition I explained his pro- ' gressive demoralisation by the prccariousness of his tenure, and by tlie cataract of abuse that.descended-upon him incessantly from pulpit and-platform!. Never a week, but ho- heard'himself' anathematised ns the enemy of-God and man, a social, plague' centre,, spreading around, him death '.and. destruction.:'!: Give' a'dog. a. bad.naine—and hang him'; jlc'.will, speedily, deserve the ropntatiori ;':yo'u' have saddled bini -with.: That was low I explained the "progressive .demoralisation" of the publichouse;; and I laid thelblame on the prohibitionists. But the v explanation, it appears, - was not wanted. The publichouse is not.being progressively demoralised; on the contrary, ■ it is being progressively elevated and Tiurified; by the evidence' of "many hundreds of respectable witnesses" Mr Isitt is .pre-' pared to "prove 'to ime that the publican ' is a better man to-day than at any time in the nast - Twill dis'uensewith the proof

and tie witnesses; on .such a question the word of Mr Isitt is itself sufficient. And I must, express my high gratification at receiving an assurance so satisfactory from a quarter so unexpected, Dear " Civis,"—The peripatetic German band just now in Dunedin plays Scotch airs—" To banks and braes," "Scots wha hae,"'"Auld lang syne," these and other gems I heard in Princes street on New Year's Eve. It was a pathetic attempt to humour local tastes or conciliate locnl prejudices—pathetic because manifestly laboured and against the grain. Tha simple, sensuous, passionate Scotch music, with its uncouth intorvals and G-note scale, is beyond attainment by any German band. As respects "Auld lang sync" however, the thought- occurred to mc-and an awful thought it was, for New year's Eve—that the Germans are not more out ot it than the Scotch themselves. I am not referring to tho tune,—tho tune is nothing, but to the words, and the words aro classical: We'll talc a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang sync, ■ A Scotch prohibitionist'may get over this by making tho " cup o' kindness " a cup o' tea; but the next verse sticks him up hopelessly: , And surely ye'll bo your pint stoupl' And surely I'll be mine! We'll tali a cup o' kindness yet, For'auld lang syne. Worse than all is the last verse: And there's a hand, my trusty fere! And gie's a hand o' thine I And we'll tak a right gude Willic-waught, For auld lang sync. . ' What kind of long drink a "Willie-waught" may ho I don't pretend to guoss. But, clearly, Burns will have to be ie-written.—l am, etc., The Sniper. This is a matter for the Burns Society, a meritorious institution the very existence of which appears to he threatened. It is impossible to convert Burns into a prohibitionist; nor is it possible, so far as.l can sec, to apply any form of Higher Criticism which would ennble lis to read or sing him in a prohibitionist sense. Dear ns his songs are to the Scottish heart,, the trail of the serpent is over them nil. For example—an example taken at hazard:. Go, fetch to me a pint o' wine, And fill it in a silver tassic; That I may drink' before I go,' A service to my bonnic lassie. The boat rocks at the pier o' Leilh; Fu' loud the wind blaw9 frae thcFerry; •The ship ridos by the Berwick-low, And I maun leave my bomiie Mary. There are many "Farewells" in lyric verse; Byron, Moore, Scott, Tennyson, all the poets in turn, have sung the "sweet sorrow" of parting;' with no one of them need Burns fear comparison. But what happens to this exquisite stanza if, eliminating " pint c' wine," we insert " cup o' tea" or some other base substitute?— Go, fetch to mc a ginger pop! Somehow the charm seems to have vanished. I conclude that Burns cannot be re-written, and that the national songs of Scotland, along with the Bible itself, will have to be. put on the prohibitionist Index Expurgatorius. Meanwhile a word of caution to my sniping friend above. Let him beware of commending in his community the consumption of " willie-waughte," whether at New Year's time or any other time, or ho will get to be known as, not " The Sniper," but The Swiper.

Apropos of Burns, what is the correct pronunciation of the poet's name? In tie Cornhill Magazine I find the following: At luncheon Miss A., the Scotch governess, asked me if I liked buns. I replied that I liked them if they were made with sultana raisins and not currants. She blushed and explained that Bhe meant the 'poet." Buns." This, it seems, the patriotic way of pronouncing "Burns." Or one patriotic way. For I recollect being, taken to hear a lecture in Edinburgh by a- Scotch ftiend who, when it was over, inveighed against the speaker's accent. "Why," 'said I, "I thought it was Scotch." "Scotch!" said he, "it was Fifeshire, man." Between . the extremes of " Buns" and " Bur-r-iis"' there is room for much diversit}!. The poet hims'elf makes his name rhyme with "turns": While terra firma, on her axis, Diurnal turns, • Count on a friend in faith an' practice, In Robert Burns. But this is not conclusive; for, first, in rhyming> Burns,: permits■ himself' a large liberty, as this same example slows— "axis" and "practice"!—and, next, we should, require to know tip Ayrshire■ prpmmciatiOn of "turns," which might be "tuns," or "tur-r-ns;"'or even "toorns." "A chapter of accidents," in the common use of the phrase, is a series of mishaps related in time but not necessarily by logical sequence as cause and effect. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune make ai target of some unhappy wight —the patriarch' Job, for* example; there is' a chapter of accidents; the accidents may have'a common cause—in Job's ease the Devil, who, I suspect, la-s generally a land in wlatever misclief may be going; and yet these accidents are separate and distinct, one doesn't produce tie ' otler. Here, however, is a better type of thing— a chapter of. accidents . logically hanging together as cause and effect from the trivial beginning to the astounding close. While playing at billiards one evening recently in his house, M. Reichart, a gentleman of means, residing in the Rue de la Pompe, Paris, hit a ball so hard that it hounded' from the table aud through an open window, falling through the glass roof of a drawing room in the next house and smashing a valuable Sevres vase. The crash so alarmed an Angora cat sleeping on the tabic close by that the. animal sprang up and knocked over a lamp, which set fire' to some tapestry and necessitated the calling out of the brigade, causing a great deal of damage by water. M. Eeichnit was engaged to tho niece of tlie invalid lady occuping the houso in which tho damage was caused. The commotion, however, had so' disastrous an effect on the old lady's nerves that she died shortly afterwards. On learning tha, indirect cauee of her aunt's death, the young lady refused to marry IF. Reichart, and tho heirs are' now sueing -him for damage done. Considered ns art,' this construction is beyond criticism; but as a narrative 'of facts it makes : large demands on faitl. However, there is no' compulsion; you may take it or leave it. And,' in cither case, avoid suposing that everything is to be believed that you read in Notes. , Cms.