PASSING NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15856, 30 August 1913, Page 6

PASSING NOTES

■ '".Twill be all the same a'hundred years hence," the British stormers at San Sebastian mav have said when facing their grim'.tas'k, .August 5.1', 18.13, a hundred years ; ago to-morrow. If so, they said wrong.' -.But 'lor them and the like of them, but for the things they did ;ind suffered, we New Zealanders would have been neither where we are nor what we are—the British colonial empire had not been. Our egregious peacemongers, howling over the Defence Act, might have howled as French. conscripts. It is luck for them that their forbears _a : hundred years back were of other principles. But a howling peacemonger, we must suppose, knows nothing of history. For a Ripa l Island martyr tho world began with the labour movement, and if he had a grandfather lie never heard of him. Tell him of the men-who fought at San Sebastian, springing to the front in hundreds as volunteers for the storming party, contending with each other for t!he honour of scaling the imminent deadly breach, his comment—and it stamps him a degenerate —is, "The moro fools they!"

Off and on, the leaguer of San Sebastian lasted 60 days,—mostly off; for after a premature and' ineffectual assault- in July little was done till the place was stormed on August 31. Wellington, busy '•with the French in the Pyrencan passes, could spare only a day now and then for San Sebastian; and at one time, Marshal Soult's movements looking dangerous, General Graham in command put his seige tram on board ship and sent it into the offing. lii the grand attack of August the critical point was reached when the British, crowning the breach, found in front of them a yawning pit, from the other side of which, sheltered by a breastwork I or "curtain," the garrison shot them clown with ease and celerity. The assault 1 -must' have failed had not the British bat- | tones reopened, firing, just above the heads of their own men on the breach. It was neat shooting, and it did the I business. Remembering that of iate years utile story of San Sebastian has been told by popular writers, I select for quoting an eye-witness who has no literary graces but who tc-lk in his own wooden way what he actually saw. He was an officer of tho 16th Lancers, and as a cavalry man had nothing to do that day. but look on.

Tiio assault took place at 11 a.m. We all saw the forlorn hone (all in, 'as also its support. The men had a glass of wino each, which they drank to the olhcers' health and eiicee&s There was a considerable degree of esprit in the troops; the detachments from the Light and 4th Divisions saying they would show blw?m' the way up the breach as at Rodrigo and Badajos. The enemy ill the town were perfectly aware of what -was about to happen, and we heard their <lrum beat to arms. At 11 the troops moved from the trenches; the enemy opened a tremendous fire, the effect of which.we perceived from the number they left on the grdund they passed.. Two mines of the enemy were blown up; the troops ' were , not • very near them, and did not suffer a great deal. The firo on the breach was so great, being flanked by' tlio hornwork, on the left, and also, from ■ the castle, that our troops .contested for the . breach for about an, hour, without getting possession, exposed'"to a'most: destructive fire. The main curtain of the town was strongly occupied by the enemy, close up to-tho breach; -.they had breastworks of barrels filled with sand to cover them', from behind which they kepf up a most tremendous, fire. The troops that had gained the breach had a little cover, from its being Btcep and rough. This was a dreadful suspense; wc scarcely knew whether to wish for perseverance under such loss, or for the troops to retire and prevent any further destruction.' In these doubts, we saw our batteries open against the curtain of the place, which was so high above the hormvork that ..• the guns acted without a fear of in- • juring.our men. Some combustibles of tho enemy's were set fire to by one of our shells. It was a considerable explosion, land I eaw some of tho enemy leaping from the curtain into tho ditch. The moment was a fortunate one; tho . attack' was renewed and the _ breach carried. Our artillery, in its fire on the curtain, was most beautifully directed. Wc looked at tho point' we ..were firing ;on, and we saw.:shot after shot, strike in. the right place. Tho breach being carried, the >roops'<:de- . scended into the town, driving the enemy from all their breastworks, etc., -into . the. castle. Immediately after the attack I went to the breach, unci the only thing I Was struck with was wonder how in daylight it couid bo carried. He then gives the tale-of slaughter: "Officers—killed, 53; wounded, 150; missing, 7. Men-killed. 898; wounded, .2340; missing ; 332. Total British loss, 3780.' The French, loss we arc left to guess.at. At San Sebastian as/elsewhere Napoleon's soldiers fought as bravely as ours.. But ours was the better cause; and whether this world is or is not-Dr Pangloss's "best of all possible worlds," it is a world in which, usually, the better .cause has the better ending.

Of the 2500 wounded many would recover and return, to : . duty. Hospital arrangements were crude, field surgery, was swift and summary. At San Sebastian amputations went on in the open, at the foot of the breach or wherever the man was lying—the sooner the better, ,one shock'serving for both wound and'knife. Officers and men alike were.in training, hard as nails; broken. limbs set easily, flesh wounds healed, The story' of. the three brothers Napier, Charles, George, and William,.,each of whom came to distinction, illustrates what was possible'in Wellingtons armies if not exactly common. Always in the thick of things, the brothers accumulated an aggregate of wounds .past reckoning. There was an, army saying:'' "The Napiers are always.hit.''' Charles Napier, shot in the nose and jaw' at Busaco, his face still rode 90 miles in 22 hours to. rejoin the army, and, as William Napier .quaintly puts it, "hearing' the sound of the Light Division's, combats, inr front, he had hourly to a6k if his brothers were- living. Thus advancing, he met a litter of branches borne by soldiers and covered with a blanket. ' What wounded officer is that?' ' Captain Napier, of the 52nd—a broken limb.' Another litter followed. 'Who is that?' 'Captain Napier, .of the 43rd—mortally wounded.' (It was thought so then.) Charles Napier looked at them and pressed on to the fight in-front." George Napier, at Cindad Kodrigo, having had.his elbow and arm shattered by grape shot, had to undergo an operation, needless to say, without anmsthctics, lasting 20 minutes; ■after which, thanking the surgeon '.'for his kindness, having sworn at him like a trooper while ho was at it, to his great amusement," he yraceeded by him&elf to wander about the suburbs for an hour or more looking for quarters for the night. Like master, like man :— George Napier relates how, after ho had been wounded in the wrist in an action near Redinha, and had had to' go into temporary sick quarters, an Irish private of his regiment, John Dunn, walked some seven miles to see him, and inquire after his and his brother William's health, After answering his inquiries, George Napier asked what was the matter with Dunn's arm. "Och! nothing .St all to prevent,me coming to seo your honour and your honour's brother, lying there, Captain William, long life to him. I hope he's not' dead." Beintr pressed, ho said: "Why, shure, it's nothing—only .-mo a'rrum wan cut off a few hours a™o, below the elbow joint, and I couldn't como til! the anguish was over a bit!" These examples (from the United Service Magazine) go to .show that campaigning under Wellington was a healthy employment, despite of casualties.. .

Competitions musical, and elocutionary are of a venerable antiquity: there is nothing upstart about them. Tragedy as a form of ait began in competition ing 'for " the cheap prize of a goat," says Horace; hence the name,—" tragedy" ; from " tragos,'' *a he-goat. If a respectable "billy" could be had for prize purposes at the Dunedin' Competitions, the prize to be visibly carried off by the winner, we . might advertise' a popular evening and double the door money. Equally so if a couple of Virgilian "Tityrefus" were available to contend in, alternate couplets, beloved of the Muses (amanl alterna Cameme) for a. Taieri co\v. ,•_ We have departed from these classical -precedents. . Xoither Virgil nor Horace would lave tolerated competition ing in which the same thing was done over aivi over in

'damnable iteration. Under this modern development wo par our money to watch the struggle for the struggle's sake, to spot the winner,-and to pity the'hapless judge. The hapless .judge must subdue •his hapless ears to (19 reciters of the set piece, in maddening succession, must grade the points, must crown with a two-guinea priza the best ''rendition." Poor man! I could get as sure results by hearing the whole 19 in,'chorus and shaking up the names in a hat. " Rendition," by the way ;—why " rendition "? The _ word is neither English nor French. Lifctro (and I have just turned him up) knows it only as "un gros barbarisme,' used in pawnshops. Produce your pawn-ticket, pay up loan and ; interest, and your benevolent uncle will make " rendition " of the article pledged. The "Concise Oxford "—the big Oxford not having yet reached the letter R—has ''Rendition, n. (now raTe). Surrender of person or place." I. am aware that in application to musical performances the word is joirrnaleee,—and I am a journalist myself. But in the lofty art region of the Dunedin Competitions we look' for better things.

Swinging high in air from a hawser attached to the ; masthead, the first man to cross from the wreck of the Devon to the shore carried with ■ him two kittens. Tho' next brought the mother cat, But the father of the family, an edition of Kipling's " cat that walked by itself J' 1 declined the transit and, at last advices, in-\ tended to go down with the ship. In saving, first thing, all that consented to be saved, the mother cat'and her kittens, the men on .the Devon were payinghomage to the destinies and making a bid' for luck. There is record of a battle fleet steaming in line ahead when a leading ship swung out of the line with signal flying: "Cat, overboard." Instantly the whole procession came to a stop. There was nothing for it but to lower a boat and pick up the cat. Motives of humanity were supplemented by the superstition of the .sailors. Nothing would have gone right in the fleet had pussy been left to drown. Queer beliefs about the domestic cat arp due to the fact that its own ingrained queerness has never been domesticated out of it..--I note here Mr Alfred Russell Wallace's explanation of the cat's alleged ability to " find its way back from the most distant places though conveyed thither under cover." Is this a fact? ,1 doubt it. But what says the naturalist? A cat which is being conveyed to a distance blindfold will have its sense of smell in full exercise, and wijl by this means take note of the successive odours it encounters on. the way; these will leave on its mind a scries of images as distinct as thoss wc 6hou!d receive by the sense of sight. The recurrence of these odoure in their proper inverse order—every house, ditch, .field, end village having its oivi well-marked individuality would make it. easy for the animal to follow the identical route back, however many turnings and crossroads it may have followed.

This is to ' say, in effect, that a blindfolded cat can see with, its nose, and find its way home, by a smell-map carried in its head. Tho explanation far with me. I raise tho previous question : Does the thing really happen?

A country correspondent asks whether the Duned'in " Amenities Conservation, Society" still.exists; also canl give.him " some satirical verses on the subject that appeared in Parsing Notes."■■ The Amenities Society still exists, though mot under that name. If I don't mistake, it is now the Reserves Conservation Society. Anyhow, by whatever name invoked, it has done useful work. There was a disposition to poke fun at the word "Amenities," and to rhyme the profesfor's of that cult with the Hivites and the Hittites as the "Ametritites." I have looked'up the " satirical verses'' so called; such as they are/ litre they are:

When down has dropped the Sabbath sun, . And night-'brings sweet serenities; When chants the priest (his vespers done) The • ultimate " A-men "-ities;

Eeleaeed from church, the Belt we seek, To breathe its oxigonities— Phyllis and-' I. To press her cheek And lips the time just then it is. .Nor shall our wanderings,• near and far, '. Exhaust paternal lenities; Not though.we kiss 'neath moon and star Till nearer twelve than ten it is: -"What, wore we doing? • Why, papa, Conserving the Amenities!" "Phvllis and l," let ns hope, have since married and brought up.children. I never bet; but I am open to an offer at decent odds that the children they have brought up are not permitted exactly the license tafoi by their progenitors. Two . correspondents.:—The first, in silent protest- against my disparagement of Poet. Laureate Bridges sends me,.somespecimen poems, a round half-score. Well, 1 wish to be fair, but space with me is finite; I must needs select the-shortest because it is the shortest, and the shortest must speak for itself : - Teiolet, All women born' are so perverse No man. need boast their love possessing. If naught seem better, nothing's worse: ■ All women born are so perverse. From Adam's wife, that proved a curse, Though God had made her for a blessing, All w omen horn are so perverse. ■ No man need boaet their love possessing. The other correspondent, having a reprehensible habit of reading the Daily Times Amusement Column "on Sunday mornings after the cows are milked," found himself staggered last Sunday by the following sentences in an account of "Quo Vadis"; , Then a great festival is ordered at Noro's amphitheatre and the Christians are thrown to the lions, and sacrificed to make a Roman holiday. Seats may bo obtained at the Dresden. Nothing wrong. • The appeal of the amphitheatre, whether Nero's or Domitian's, is the same everywhere; Rome or Dunedin, it is all one. " Coliseum this day; new batch of Christians; ample siipply. The management regrets that on the last occasion the number was inadequate, one-lion getting no Christian. This will not occur again. Tickets'at all baths and barbers." The-picture film business is the one thing able to put back the hands of the clock and'turn us for the nonce into pagans and cannibals. Citis.