OUR THOUGHTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2454, 27 March 1901, Page 57

OUR THOUGHTS.

Our thoughts are spirits that we find Have formed themselves within the mind, And, in return- for lodgment giyen^ Will dTag'us down or lift to Heaven. So if our hearts think evil things, Then, borne down on their leaden wings, We shall be hurled through endless space, Par, far from God and Heavenly grace. Then let us love each holy thought. ' For such, the good have truly taught, Will guide and help us on that road - Which leads to Paradise and God. On their bright pinions we can rise To those fair realms beyond the skies, Where angels in a joyful thTong Unite in Avorship, praise, and song. March, 1901. Southlander.

— The oldest body of soldiers now existing in the armies of the civilised world is well known by name at all event? to most people, who may be surprised to learn that the proud distinction of being able to claim that honour belongs to the "Yeomen of the Guard." They are men with a history, and an interesting one in every sense, these sturdy veterans whom one sees on duty at Buckingham Palace or St. James's whenever Royalty holds a drawing room or a levee, or when some State ball or concert takes place. Most of them have seen stirring times and deeds on the scene of .battle, about which they could tell many tales, for no retired soldiers can be admitted into the privileged ranks of the "Yeomen of the Guard" at all unless they "have held commissioned, warrant, or sergeant's rank in the army, and have also been decorated for service in the field." The private* get £50 annually, besides their pension money for former services. The "messengers" and similar ranks get £75 a year, and the lowest officer gets £100. — The population statistics of last year in France, according to M. Bertillon, the wellknown French statist, show the country to be in the same position as a man dying under the influence of chloroform. It is painless, but still it is death. The figures from which this gloomy prognostication is drawn prove -tnat the births for the year were 10,000 fewer than the average for the preceding decade. The excess of births over deaths was no more than 31.394, although the number of marriages was the largest recorded gjnee 1876. The rate of increase of the French population has been eteadily diminishing for some time, and will apparently soon have disappeared altogether. The population of the country does not now I exceed 38,000,000, whereas that of Germany, which is rapidly growing, has now reached 51^000,000.