EGGS AND OLIVES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2330, 27 October 1898, Page 53

EGGS AND OLIVES.

1889-91. Necdum oronis abacta P.uiperie3 epulis regum ; nam vilibus ovis Nigvisque e3t oleis hodie locus Hor. Sat. IT, S, /,i-6. TO THE REVEREND , OF T. " Eccentric," Reverend Sir? Our God we praise, We are eccentric ! You who count it; crime May gaily whirl unto the end of Time With the great mass of men, on smooth old ways, Round the old fixt point ; but, mark you, who obeys That fores centripetal 'a a slave — yea, tho* he climb To the outermost felloe, where the fastest chime The bells of Folly, whirl her flashing rays. We are no slaves of earth: to God alone We answer for cur life, and not to you ; And very carelessly we hear your tone Of ecorn. So be cur circle ever true To God, our centre. Laugh, good sir, or groaU Over our eccentricity anew I 1 n -MARSYASk

The Queen of Holland, who is visiting Switzerland, received by parcel post the other day a herring from one of her loyal subjects. 'A note explained that it was the first herring of the season's catch. Her Majesty promptlyhad it cooked and ate it. ' "How much did you give for that overcoat? " asked a prisoner in the Christchurch Magistrate's Court of the owner of the coat. •" As far as I can remember it was about £4 . 10s," answered the witness. " Well, that is ' 9, most extraordinary thing," said the prisoner, ;" for try my hardest I had the greatest difficulty in getting 5b lor it.""

During the six "and a-half years of the existence of the New South Wales Labour Bureau, 83,000 unemployed persons have been a?sisted and provided with work. There were eight bankruptcies in the colony during last week — namely, two saddlers, one hotelkeeper, a livery stable keeper, two shipbuilders, a butcher, and a storekeeper. An unconscious joke (says a Greytown paper) was made by a serious member of a borough council the other evening, when he remarked: — "Since I came to this council, four years ago, the confidence of the Dublio i>i it haa cauob. diminiahesl-. 1 '