CRUMBS OF COMFORT FOR LITTLE

Otago Witness, Issue 1928, 2 November 1888, Page 32

CRUMBS OF COMFORT FOR LITTLE

MEN. It is a very remarkable but no less wellknown fact that a large proportion of the famous deeds done in this world is accomplished by men of diminutive stature. It would seem that Nature, in denying her sons physical greatness, compensates them by superior mental endowments. The following names, taken carelessly, and fro!h time to

time, from records of noble or memorable deeds of various kinds will be found sufficient to corroborate this statement. Peter the Hermit, the enthusiastic instigator of the Crusades in the eleventh century, who set out through Hungary with a crowd of 30,000 men, all captivated by his wonderful haraugues, to driye the Mahommedaus from Jerusalem, was a man of small and even ungainly appearance. And yet what enterprise evor congregated tqgether such hosts of chivalry, such high-born warriors, such renowned loaders, as the Crusades ?

John Wesley, the founder of Wesleyanism, was a small man. Pope, the most polished rhy raster of any age, was a tiny, deformed being, all twisted; and punished by constitutional illneas. Coming to men whom w<2 miglrt expect to be physically splendid, since their fame was derived from battles and warfare, we find that some of the greatest naval and military commanders have been small men,.

Robert Blake, the Commonwealth admiral, was so small that the Warden of Morton Collego, Oxford, refused him a Fellowship ou no better grounds than that he disliked men so unimposing in stature. He was not sft fiin in height,. Napoleon Bonaparte, the " little corpnra!,"as his soldiers affectionately called him, was very short* but somewhat; rotund in figure. General Gordon was a s;na!i mm. Tu-ning again to another class of men, we find that Brunei, the distinguished euginoer, the designer of the Great Eastern, and the director of (he Thames tunnel, was a small man of a nervous temperament. Theteiriblc Marat, that blood-thirsty wretch whose cry was for ever " murder 1 blood 1" who instigated many of those horrible crimes of tjbe French Revolution, was a hideous little man with a big head. Warren Hastings, the famous (Groyernp,rgeneral of India, -was also a little man,

i J Goldsmith was small, but heavy and thick - . set, not at all resembling one's ideal s poet. f Beethoven, the composer of the most delir cious music ever heard— that is to say, of the class — was a small man, but like Goldsmith, his build was sturdy. There is a popular notion that one cf the leading statesmen of to-day, Lord Randolph , Churchill, is a very little man. This has x largely grown through the caricatures, whicl ' always represent him as very diminutive. ' This idea is, however, a mistake, as though i not a very big man, Lord Randolph Churchill [ is net a very small one, and is above the \ average height. ' CURIOSITIES OFIUCTION SALES. ! I A gentleman who had a mania for buying , things because they were cheap has a gross [ of violins " knocked down "to him. Not L being musical, he stored them in the cellar, ( where they remained until his wife, thinking he had forgotten all about his purchase, despatched them secretly to a neighbouring i auction room. "My dear," said he, that same evening, . "I dropped into B's to-day, and bought another lot of violins which wore going at a few shillings more than the last lot I bought." The good lady said not a word, paid the auctioneer's commission with a sigh, and received once more the stock of fiddles which her husband had unwittingly repurchased. Economists of this kind are by no means rare in our auction rooms. A bargain is a : temptation that some people are unable to resist. Use or profit is with them secondary to cheapness. Hence the curious phenomenon that- may often be observed of the stock of plumbers, gasfitters, jewellers, and other trades, purchased by gentlemen and even ladies, who have no possible use for these articles, and have neither the means nor the wish to part with them at a profit. A glance at the advertisement columns of the London newspapers will give some idea of the extent and variety of sales by auction. In the days of Charles I these sales were regulated by charter, and the only proclamation of them w«as by the voice of the crier, who still lingers in a few villages. Another interesting custom which serves to show the limits set upon auctions is that known as " sale by candle." According to this rule no lot of goods could be completed for over a longer period than the time required for the burning of an inch of candle. How much business would be left undone if this custom still prevailed may be judged by a visit to one or two of the London auction marts. In a large room of dingy appearance and stuffy atmosphere is a strangely mixed assembly. Seated round a horseshoe table are men aud women, whose keen glance and rapid fingering of goods, no less than their rnsty black, bespeak the regular attendants at auctions. Behind them stand others of the same class — brokers, dealers in secondhand articles, and small shopkeepers. On the fringo of this business crowd hang a few well-dressed people, who have dropped in ont of curiosity, or with a desire to purchase something that has attracted their attention in the catalogue. In their immediate neighbourhood hover those übiquitous and obtrusive individuals called commission agents, the terror of unprotected ladies. They are, for the most part, Jews.. Several of them meet you at the door and hold out catalogues for your acceptance. In your innocence you take one and thank the donor, who to your surprise, follows and stations himself at your elbow. By and bye an article attracts you, and you bid. Other competitors enter the field, and among them is the gentleman at your side. Presently the goods are knocked down to him. To him ? Not at all. He has been bidding for you, and demands for his services one shilling in the pound. To take his catalogue is, according to the custom of his class, to accept his aid. As these brokers I are paid so much in the pound, it is to their interest to run up the price— an operation which they easily effect by giving the signal to another broker, who enters the competition without any intention of purchasing. Should you decline both the catalogue and his services and proceed to. examine the articles on view in the room, the broker will not lose sight of you. Directly you betray the slightest interest ho will pounce upon you with advice and information. If you are r\ot> to be cajoled, and bid yourself for an article upon which you have previously bestowed some attention, the broker may himself become a rival, and even a purchaser, in order. that he may afterwards sell you the goods at a profit. Another difficulty in the way of private purchasers is the "knock-out." Several brokers agree to bid for certain articles, and use every means of annoyance and trickery to prevent oufside competition. The goods knocked down to them are afterwards put up to private auction, and the difference between the public and private prices is divided among them. Formerly auctions were confined to books, pictures, and articles of vertu. Nowadays there is nothing under the sun that may not come under the hammer. Estates, houses, shares, reversions, horses, cattle, birds, plants, jewellery, household goods, and even wives are sold. Each class of goods — except wives — has its special house. Some of these houses have a universal reputation. Christie's is known to all dealers in books and pictnres ; and TattersalTs is familiar to all lovers of horses flesh as well as to those who delight in curious collections of humanity, for here may be seen on public days noblemen and costermongers, bishops aud blacklegs.

Many articles, and especially jewellery, are got up for sale, and purchasers, who are tempted by cheapness, very often find themselves in possession of sham and worthless wares. It also happens on rare occasions that a buyer secures unexpected value for his money. Not many weeks ago a lot of miscellaneous articles were knocked down to a secondhand dealer. Among them was an old stone filter, at the bottom of which were discovered bonds to the value of £12,000. Later still, at the sale of the goods of the wourjan whose murder in Pari3 by the man Pransini created great sensation, were several dresses. The rag gafcherer ? who bought ttism for.a fesr penpe, ripped qpfjna dress improver in order tq sell the horsehair,

when oufc rolled a bundle of bonds, valued at £1300, for which the officers of justice had in vain made most diligent search. Purchasers of secondhand clothing always make minute inspection, and are occasionally rewarded by the discovery of notes sewn into linings and other unlikely places by eccentric people. Another "find" that recently gained notoriety was made in an old ironbound chest, which formed part of a mixed lot sold by auction. The lid was so firmly secured that a carpenter had to be sent for. The box was broken open, and there, among many family documents of interest, lay a collection of silver plate of some antiquity, and valued at several hundred pounds.