PAYER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2410, 10 May 1900, Page 62

PAYER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

o -— THE CRIMSON THREAD OF KINSHIP. How fast we are hurrying along. And what strides v» r e are making towards consolidation. Sentiment counts for something after all : and we are showing Little Englanders and foreigners most emphatii cally that blood is thicker than water. : First comes __ the South African contest, which brought the young lions together ; j then the Indian famine loosened our pursestrings ; and now comes the disastrous fire at Ottawa, giving us another opportunity to demonstrate that our sentiment is shown jin a very practical manner. Politically, we J see the rapid federalising of Austialia, and I in the near future there will, no doubt, be I a Fedeial " South Africa. Canada is a j Federal Dominion ; and shall we live to see Great Britain under >Lhrec Parliaments — an English, a Scotch, and an Irish? Four federal groups, and a number of isolated units to be again brought under the gx - eat Britannic Parliament. When will the world &cc the like again? But I wanted to draw attention to-day ] rather to the official than to the individual I assistance given in the three instances mentioned. Our Parliament — and Parliaments in other colonies too — has voted : moneys, io assist the mother country, and now we are probably going to vote money to assist the inhabitants of Ottawa, and may pos&ibly by another vote recognise the existence of the Indian famine. So we now emphatically feel tbafc we are members of a family, each participating in the ! joys and sorrows of the other. This is as !it should be. Stirring times are at haj>d, j and filial and brother acts will be required.

OTTAWA.

The Canadian Dominion shows what can i be pccomplished when the spirit of com- I promise is invoked. After the American War of Independence, Ontario was settled by Loyalists who gave up their homes in some of the American States to maintain their allegiance to the British flag. Hence ! the inlen&e English appearance of On- j tario compared with the French aspect of^ the neighbouring province of Quebec. But* Ottawa is on the border line, and is a combination of French and English. It owes its importance to the jealousy of Mon- j treal, Quebec, and Toronto. Each of these ! wished to be the Federal capital ; so each prevented the other from occupying the | coveted position^ bj giving the honour to

an outside city which wasn't a rival of any of them. Being situated on the boiling waters of -the Ottawa, and in the heart of a great forest region, it is .the centre of a. great lumbering trade, an industry which unfortunately has for the moment been the unmaking of the city^ But its most curious industry perhaps is the manufacture of timber pulp, which is used so largely now in the production of printingpaper. During the past few years machines printing from the web have come greatly into use ; indeed any j>aper of importance now prints from stereos cast from lines of type (linotype), on rolls of paper miles long. The need of having a. cheap paper combined with the necessity" of using up the sawdust and waste timber to prevent the fouling of the rivers led to quite a revolution in paper manufacture.

"RICHARD CARVEL."

Do any of you wont a really good novel describing life in the- American colonies and in London about the time of the American War of Independence? I read one some time ago, " Hugh Wyne," which g"ave a cax>ital account of the struggle as seen by the colonists ;m; m the book, hoAvever, didn't seem fco catch " on. But " Richard Carvel has : partly, no doubt, because its author, Winston Churchill, is often assumed to be Winston Churchill, the famous war correspondent in South Africa, whereas they aro two quite unrelated men. The descriptions of the aristocracy in" the Old World and in the New ; the land and slave owners living in patriarchal ease and exercising a power as despotic as any patriarch of old ; the gentlewomen versed in. cooking and simples, the macaronis — the then time masher, Aviih their rich dressings and writing forced conceits on a lady's eyebrows or her fan — these and a hundred little touches giving light and shade and local colour are all charmingly dealt with, in the leisurely way people lived in those days.

Here is a description of a macaroni. There was l)r Courtney, " arrayed in peachcoloured coat and waistcoat," with black* satin breeches and white silk stockings, and pinchbeck buckles asparkle on his shots, stroking his ruffles and greeting the company." Another time he "had on a green coat laced with fine Mechlin. Another dandy wore a coat of pink cut-vel-vet, tail coats of silk, heavily broidered with flowers, and satin waistcoats with. light lace. Gold-headed canes were always oi course a necessary adjunct. A man so got up and .scented with cinnamon or attar" of ro&?s must have been a "poem." Who said men were not vain creatures ! They have better sense now, of course. B;v the bye, mention Is -made of a curious and new idea — an umbrella. At first they ware very rare, and were hired by the hour.

Though the War of Independence is not kself described there are many historical bits in the book. IL is interesting to read of the Patriots' and the Nou-Imporlalion Associations. All taxed things were, as you may imagine, rigidly tabooed, and the man got a rough handling who was found wi'lh taxed goods in his possession. Spinning wheels, which had fallen into disuse, were again set going. The wool was spun and woven, and the flax was made into linen in the primitive manner, rather than, a yard of English cloth shoiild be imported. '".If it scratch your back," said a fair patriot, " you must grin and bear and console yourself with your virtue." But perhaps the most interesting chapters are those containing vignettes of Fox, Lord North, the King, the Duke of Cumberland, and other men prominent in the politics that lost us the United States. And incidentally, we get a good insight into the_ social history of the time. Here's Fox ? " ±i.is face was chrk, forbidding, even harsh — -antil he smiled. His eyebrow's were heavy and shaggy, and his features of a round, almost Jewish mould. He put me in mind cf the Stuarts, and I was soon to learn that he was descended from them." Again : '' Pen and paper, brush and canvas, are wholly inadequate to describe the charm of the man, when he desired to pease ; his conversation and the expression of his face must have moved a temperament of stone itself. None ever had mere devoted friends, or more ardent admirers. They saw his faults, which he laid barebafore them, but they settled his debts again and again, vast sums which he losfc at Newmarket and at Brooks's." Gambling seems to have been very prevalent, and no buck spared his father's purse. Lord Holland (Fox's father) paid oufc £100,000, and even then did not quite free Fox from the debt - incurred in high, play. Lord Carlyle was, for some time, paying £1500 a year on the sum he had loaned him, and deprived himself of a London season in consequence.

A Scotchman makes his appearance in. the bcok, adding variety and interest to ths narrative. But some of his lingo is beyond my ken. Here's a scrap to give you an idea : " John Paul wasna feart a pickle, but gaed to the mast, whyles I &tannt chitteriug i' my claes, fearfu' for his. life. He teuk the horn from Mungo, priet a soup o' the crowdie, an' wi' thafc he seiz't haut o' the man by baith shouthers ere the blastie raught for's knife. My aith upo't, sir, the lave o' the batch cowerfc frae his e'e for a' the warld like thumpit tykes." Is it ancient or modern Scotch? I'm not a Scot, so can't say.

1 am sure that any of my readers who want a book to read leisurely, and who, at the same time want to do a little more than kill time, cannot go far wrong by adding " Richard Carvel " to the bookshelf.