Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 1323, 7 April 1877, Page 14

Flotsam and Fetsam.

I! ' o' _r ,-I 1 1 ii -.& quid nevUti recttot Uti* r.A ; / '. . CUmdidiuimikrii^ti nm, hU uteremeefm. i X "Mt yflU,'knp^ I 'ianyfcMngfi'l)e 1 4er i:; ami r;tlies«r ;tlies« temankpof. mine, r kindly {tell >me; .if .noCusß theae withtihe.'' -' ! - : - <■■ -- ; r ;\;

, , jiisiaU^yery nice, 'to. admire ,tke pluck of .xMr^O/Hara^thfe chief engineer :of the City of Sydney,'in 'coming f rdrii San JFranciscQ ito , AucklanclJ under". sailj/andi' with 'P n M '??? TO^ 1111 11, 1 ..Ver^'likely fie; did the right i thing, ,j and/X',K6uld^notl ; t Uke to detract from his merits for oue motaent ; V#Jfc& W '$<>*$?$ .coirio-endatfoidrfor c passengers.wH6. came albngfin jier too. '■ Supposing 'the- other arrangVnienJs had t hurst up, on the Ypyagey^Jigre woflldjthe Oitpbf i Sydney^haye -been-by-this time 1 'Pr&babjy, hussibjj.' JT shoulji| I lil£e; i tp know whether!it'>was'.wise',.to allow.her.to bring fher, r pa?sgrigefs !l in \siicby a'; cripplfea !cbnditiQni'.and get a vYictoriaCross'for.their daring ? t < '■•> rAflyantage^was taken, in; jioratf quarters .to niakejthe : opening of Jthe ■Lawrence line ah; oppbitunftyjfof the; discussiorf'bf the old question'of squatter ws<«,fre'eHolder. The VVaipahi line should have been made, that jl beKeyg ,4s; the- universal "opinion I 'of all unprejudiced' people, t mean i the; line ;frpin ! Waipahi tb 'Tapanufc' ;No,one'*ho , look's/aty the" , question' without ' Lawrence i spectacles <'ooren r e can doubt .thatt'the other was the flight ,way T of tapping tn6 commerce of D tne Interior,. of the country. The Lawrence line .was' '.a 1 political' line'^iAnd -nothing more orZless. J._JNot '-bhe'J'oLihe very worst kinds perhaps,vbecause I feel sure that it will pay its 'way; J but "'still a line made under, pplitical pressure, because the Lawrence people are a smart people. I have rib doubt ihat. both,, lines ought, to have been, made,-; but >the .T^patnu Jline should have been made first.- . • f ?

I, amsprry; thajb ;the,,hum'ahity of the followers of the riew,creed has not proved strong enough to take them down to the Quarantine ground.^ c.There is not 'much of the zealot about any of themj' after fall. When .people begin to make terms, ' then you may, suppose' 'that the breach is not likely to be stormed -by a very reckles3 forlorn hope. , .Still, I; rejoice, to think that the star of Mr-Charles Bright ia not likely to be put out too soon. We could have better spared a better man. Judging by facts, the medicos have come to toe .frqntbetifeFth^ Burnß, hasventured down to tHe island

I

to put the Mongolian through the cow pox. .1 clip ihe.following from a Home jour- 1 rial. It is too good to be lost : — What a charming person to "sit under," M gobd people are wont to phrase it, must be' the Rev. J. K. Applebee ! Before sailing for America, he preached a farewell sermon last Sunday to his congregation at Bolton, and most assuredly hia discourse was more sincere than civil, Mr Applebee addressed his hearers as "Ladies and gentlemen," and said he did so advisedly. If he had addressed them as " Dear Friends," or even as "Friends," as "Dearly beloved brethren," or even as "Brethren," he would have used •words which would not have been correctly expressive of the emotion ha felt. He was a friend and a brother to everybody connected with that church, but that was a very different thing from saying that everybody connected with the church was a friend, and a brother to him. He was a friend and a brother to the veriest worm .thai; crawled' ; yet-when the worm misinterpreted the meaning of its worming life, and made his higher life uncomfortably, then, without any remorsef ulness, he proceeded ' to" do execution on him. This was what he was about tc do, but as people ought to be polite even to /worms, he addressed them, all present, Iwo'nna included, as "Ladies and gentlemen." On the whole, he had come to the conclusion that Bolton -was a most unpleaBanfc place to live in. There was nothing lovely either about it or its inhabitants. Its people -were as cold and cloudy — as'i muggy '.and as unsympathetic — as' coarse and as boisterous, as its own skie3 were cold and cloudy, muggy aud unsympathetic, coarse and boisterous. . Some of his congregation,' he feared, were past praying for ; anyhow, he had taught them the wholesome lesson that if prayers were to do them any good they must be their cwn prayers, and not those of a spiritual doctor, called in on aa emergency to pray officially.' ~ Did they think he was going to leave his fireside, forsake the company of Homer, Shakespeare,, and , Milton, and all other worthies of hisatbric time, to listen to their imbecile tittle* tattle, and to nip the dishes of dirty scandal they were so fond of . brewing ? If he did not speak the truth when he said he would go from their midst with honesty unimpaired and hoaour untainted, might his' right hand lose iti cunning, might his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth ; and if there be a hell, might the light of his soul go ont in the blackest smoke' of it. Whatever may be thought of the Rev. "Mr Applebee's courtesy, there -will, at all events, be no second, opinion about hia candour. For the sake of his personal safety,' it may be hoped that he will find in America- a congregation as patient as that which' has' 'been edified by his graqous ministrations at Bolton. "-_ <■ ', ■ '- r I cannot help thinking that if I. had been a Boss or a Robertson, I would have washed my dirty, liren in private — not in public^ -Having gone through the disagreeables of a public trial, and having had family troubles rudely and roughly exposed, it is not much use advertising that so and so has acted honourably, or the reverse, throughout. People will entertain their own . opiuions-^-everypne.hf a then! over so celebrated a case, quite independent of any advertising that may go on. -- '— — _ ■ . .- Ceustaceak.