THE COMMON ROUND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18857, 9 May 1923, Page 2

THE COMMON ROUND.

By Wayfarer. “Balmy breezes ’of the bright May month I” Mention was made last week of the,traditional May Day revels and the " storied association of the month with the characteristic sights and sounds' of Spring. As one shivers in Dunedin the thought occurs that the southern lands are very slow in creating a literary or poetic atmosphere in contormity with the different qualities of antipodean seasons. A New Zealand versifier of a past generation, envisaging, the destined leadjustment of climatic sentiment, predicted of the children of this country— They will speak, -without sound or sense of strangeness, ' ■ Of leafy December and wintry June. Is it not a fact, however, that most bookish people here, even though they may not have passed any portion of their lives at the other end of the world, .think largely of tlie seasons in terms of the northern calendar? They read or, remember some poem about the halcyon delights of May, unci are disposed to grouse' peevishly at the meteorological rigours of May in Dunedin. It is -, the same, conversely, at. Chiislmastide. At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in- May’s new-fangled mirth.

Great singers and writers will come along some day and rectify our seasonal associations.

The cable, conveyer of so many tragedies, brings the mournful tidings that Mr John D. Rockefeller “has no more than 300,000,000 dollars left.” This is the sort of catastrophic circumstance that shakes the truly sympathetic soul to its depths. “Sunt lacrimae r'erum, ot mentem mortalia tangunt,” as Virgil has it. (The erudite essayists of the Dunedin Classical Association prefer “Vergil”; and the printer, by the "way of chastening, gives them “acrimae” for "lacromae”). It seems that Mr Rocker feller’s approximation to poverty'is due to his improvident liberality; he has given away a billion dollars. Another illustration of the sound financial adage that charity should begin at home. The impoverished magnate would be well-advised to buy an annuity with that poor remainder of 300,000,000 dollars, and relentlessly ' toturn a deaf ear to the voice of the sub-scription-hunter.

Let not the parenthetic insertion in the last paragraph be taken’ as a. sign of disrespect towards the scholars and students; of the Dunedin Classical Association. -On .(he contrary, good luck to them, in their sage effort to promote the cause of the hum,aner learning in a community which, broadly speaking, ha? an impolite distaste: for such studios! One may sincerely express this good will and still hold (with Tennyson and many a, scholarly Latinist) that the use of the form “Vergil” contravenes the traditional genius of English literature. By the way. no one has celebrated the praises of the great Roman “landscape-lover, lord of language,” more worthily than Tennyson. “All the charm of the Muses often flowering in a lonely word” is an observation as applicable to the English as to the Latin .singer.

Then that seest Universal Nature moved by Universal Mind; Thog majestic in Thy sadness at the doubtful doom of human kind; Now thy Forum roars no longer, fallen every purple Crosar’a dome— Though thine ocean-roll of rhythm sound for ever of Imperial, Borne— . . I salute thee, Mantovano, I that loved thee since my day began,. Wielder • of the stateliest , measure ■ ever moulded by tho lips of man.

The psychology of the informal voter might be the subject of an interestingarticle. Christchurch, for want of a better pastime, has been playing with the mysteries of Proportional Representation at its last local elections; and “P. R.” (to use the devotees' pet abbreviation) lends itself readilv to the development of informal muddling. Amusing stories of women, voters’ misadventures with proportional representation arc circulating. One of the latest has to do with the careful explanation -’given by a Hospital Board candidate ),t6 an alclerlv woman voter of Scottish birth-

and upbringing. She was given full and, as the: candidate thought, clear instmd-

tions as to the manner in which the voter should indicate his. or her, preferences for the different candidates. After

polling clay the Scotswoman told the can, clidatc that she had carried out instructions to, the letter in : the following amazin.? manner:—“l saw the name Archer at the top of the voting paper, and knowing that ho was a parson, and as I disapprove of parsons neglecting their sermons for work on local bodies,_l only, gave him one vote! Then I saw the name of another parson--the Rev. Clyde Carr—and I only pave him two votes. Bnl when I saw Mrs Herbert’s name T said to myself: ‘She’s a- good, useful member of the board,’ and I gave her 'eight votes!”

it is not quite clear why the circumstance of Scottish birth and uppringing should be regarded as relevant to the story. Tlie diversion of “P. R.” has not yet reached Dunedin, except as a mere academic entertainment,;, but we. heed not despair. All tilings come round to those who will but wait. .

Many people will strongly disapprove of the mixing up ot Empire Day with the Ring’s Birthday. These fusions or coalitions of what should bo distinct festivals violate ‘‘the sanctity of the exact date.” Moreover, in the instance under notice the disturbing arrangement involves a slight to the memory ol an, illustrious Imperial heroine. Empire Day was fixed for May 24 on account of that day being the birthday of Queen Victoria, under whose star the modern conception of British . Imperialism took shape. It is in large measure a Queen Victoria Memorial Day, and any attempt to meddle with this special significance is : an outrage upoii ' historic, propriety.

“ With my herbarium, rny vibratory, and my semi-cuoumgyrutory, 1 am in clover; and you may imagine with what scorn • X think of the House of Commons, which, comfortable club as it is said to be, could otter me none of these comforts, or, more perfectly speaking, these necessaries of life.” So wrote John Stuart Mill in hia declining days trom his cottage at Avignon. Why, you may inquire, are the words quoted? Perhaps you may also-be mildly inquisitive concerning the nature- of a "vibratory” and a " semi-circumgyratory.” Well, it is just half a century (May 8, 1873) since the famous utilitarian philosopher died, and semi-centenary celebrations are quite fashionable. A semi-circumgyratory is another matter. ” Helen lias carried out her long-cherished scheme* of a ‘ vibratory ’ for me, and has made a. pleasant covered walk, some 30ft long, where, I can vibrate in cold or rainy weather. The terrace, you must know, as it goes round two sides of the house, has got itself dubbed the ’ semicircumgyratory.'” Mill, being a philosopher, and not being a Scotsman, joked wi’ difficulty. Carlyle, being a Scotsman, and not being a philosopher, called him “the most unending fool in Christendom.” No doubt, a good deal of Mill’s writing is more or less obsolete, but his, mark is still on the thought of the world. Viscount Motley remains a faithful disciple, and some valuable pages in the “Recollections” cast an agreeable light upon a personality not superficially attractive.

From a notice of a new book entitled “ On the- Green ” : And, if you do not know already, it will enable you to answer the question: Why was Ananias like a good golfer?

Price of the book, six shillings. One can relish the unveraoioiis atmosphere of tho conundrum, if not the exact phraseology of tho answer, without going to, all that expense.

The theatrical and kindred professions in London are grumbling at the growth of wireless broadcasting, but it may be surmised that tho nmrmors will be of little avail. Listen to the purring of tlie armchair sybarite:— On Saturday, seated at my ease before a comfortable fire, I board and enjoyed the opera at Covent Garden as well as

if I hud. been in , the theatre. Knowing the operas that were rendered, little was lost, for it was possible in the mind’s eye to visualise the scene and the action orchestrated by the music of Verdi and Puccini. Above all. the golden voice of Melba, in .“full-throated ease,”, came soaring like a bird over the surge of har-mony-mystic and wonderful. The thrill of it was irresistible. And all this marvel made, possible by the ethcrio vibrations acting on a couple of wires bung out in the back garden, like a clothes line I

Urbi et-Orbi was the old Roman boast. Now it is fulfilled in a' way that Caesar never knew. It must, one would imagine, bo a stimulating thought to a great artist’ that beyond the immediate audience are , countless listeners, unseeing and unseen, but hanging not less spellbound' on the singer’s voice. i The. emotions of the artist, great or small, ..will not lack a financial association.