PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 75

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

"A UNrqi'E ENGAGEMENT."

L.j{.t week I gave you an outline lesson in comparative history, and rinco then I liavo read a lending article or two on the buttic of Tsu-shinia. One gives an additional point or two worth remembering, and outlines the evolution of the modern, battleship. Trafalgar was fought with wooden walls, Tsu-shinui w ith walls 9in thick, or even more — tlis articles do not mention the armour, however. Fifty years ago the French created the first ironclad 'o rn-eel on more equal terms the land batteries of Sevastopol. Isn't it a coincidtnee that tho first and last (to date) us« of ;irmotired vessels was against th-a same nation, and with the same effect? Our own first "ironclad"— a word now obsolete— dates no further back than 1861, when thu Warrior wao launched on the Thames. The Confederate (southern) ironclad, tho Merrimac, which was a "'cut down wooden irigate hastily armoured with 8111 railway a-oii, .••howed that ironclads must bo met w ith ironclads" ; but her triumph was shorr-lived. for she came out the worse in an engagement with '"the strange little Monitor, shaped like :) cheeso box on ;* iaft,"' the pvogc-nitor nf the gigantic turret ships of later days. "The ciuei between v ho Kearsarge and the Alabama was another noteworthy incident in the naval lsisiory of the American Civil War. The vessels ire-re not evenly matched, for whereas the Ivearsarge was protected by thick layers of steel cable, thg Alabama wai 01 wood, and in the end, after a long fight, was sunk. The same war was distinguished by thcr use for the •first time of a submarine in warfare, and by the first successful use of tho torpedo. Tlia battle <.if Lissa, .in the Acforiatic, in 1866, betwe«a thy Austrian and Italian fleets, was mainly remarkable for the pusillanimity of the Italian Admiral. He had nine availabls ironclads against his opponent's seven ; but tho iatter rammed one of his ships, sank another, and broke- his line, and with that the Italian gavo up tho contest." The nearest approaches to battles uiader modern conditions — before Tsu-shim*, I mean, of course — were the naval engagements in the Chinese-Japanese srar (1894) and the battles of Santiago and Manila in tha Spanish-American wax (1898). Both 01 these naval wars were even more onesjded than the present, and as in each case the movements were not on a large scale tie lessons to be drawn from them were not many. At Manila, you may remember, the- battle was not unliko a picnic, for Admiral Dewey slopped the Ho'iiting for dinner, and resumed business after!

What the effects ox the present battle I will be upon naval armaments I do noti | profess to know ; but as we are said ti> hi putting down still larger battleships — ■ wasn't it '19,000 tons mentioned the other ; day? — and as tlie Japanese-are doing- the same, it is evident that floating fortresses : of high speed— our battleships now axe a.s fast as cruisers were a few years ago — armed with 12in guns, — "four-point-sevens" -and (iin are now out of date,. — and backed up by a mosQuito fleet of torps do-boats — and' possibly submarines and submersiblea — are to be prominent features in naya 1 p.ctions of the near future. NORWAY AND SWEDEN. A cable or two in this week's Witness draws attention to these two countiies. In 1814 the two countries elected- as their _King Marshal Bermtdotte, who was a son of a lawyer, and who had risen 4o bo one of Ni^oleon's most brilliant reijernls. Tho present King is a. grand-.-•on of the Marshal. The countries have been in unity more as 3n offensive and defensive alliance against outsiders rather than because the two peoples form one community ; but each has its own Parliament, each controls its own army, and each is independent of the other in most respects. For yearns there h.td b?en friction between the t^-<> countries, mainly ov»i* the consular service, which seems to bo controlled and' offered!' principally by iSn-«len. The Norwegians seem io~ think that they arc not getting fair play, and so have now decided to se.pa.iate. D Nansen, whose books I havo reviewed :< my Chats, a Norwegian, is emphatic that Sweden dossn't, deal equitably with Norway ; and Dr Sven Hedin, whose books on Central Asia I have also lcviewed, appears to think that Norway wants tco much., and says that if a separation takes place on account of the quarrel the Powers of Europo may dismember both countries, Paissift perh&ps taking Tromsoe, Great Britain Bergen, and (vcrmany taking Christiansand. I have said that Russia, once the war in tho Far East is ' over, may concentrate on Afghanistan and India,': she m\i ld also concentrate on Norway and Sweden, ilumgh *vith a disaffected' Finland there may bs more difficulty in concentrating on Scandinavia than in Centra] Asia.

Sweden has a. popuiatioa of about5,200,000, while Norway has enly about 2,300,000. The exports 'of Norway tot up about nearly £11,000,000, of which about £3.000,000 come from the- fisheries and about £4.000,000 from the forests, over £1,^00,000 being for timber pulp to make paper, apart from the paper made in Xorway. The exports of Sweden amount to nearly £22,000,000. of which the forest products again form a large proportion.

FRENCH AFFAIRS.

M. Delcasse 'Lias resigned, and I don't know what to say about it. He was 0j friend of our Empire, I think ; at anyrate the London (Graphic thinks so, for v/hsn, he threatened to resign five or six weeks ago the resignation was regarded as almost' as serious as tiie threatened resignation o£ Bismarck just before the Franco-Gei'man war, 26 years ago. Fortunately for us the crippling of Russia wiU break the back of any Franco-Rusbian alliance, in spite of the large sunount of French money simk in Russia. France cannot feel tpp/happv

just now. Indeed, all Europe is at six's and seven's, and what the outcome will be no one knows. But this is rather dry stuff for boys.

SOME SCRAPS. As a relief to dry history take the following : —

—Odds and Ends.—

Teacher: "Now, boys, I have an impression in my heiad. Can any of you tell me what an impression is?" Boy: "Yes, sir, I can. An impression is a dent in a soft siTot." "I have to go to bed every night at 6 o'clock," said Bobby to his teacher. "That's to keep you healthy," said the teacher, laughing. "Oh, no it isn't," Bobbie explained: "it's bo's mother ca;i mend my clothes."

"Miad," raaid the careful mother, as she provided youtih and innocence with a lead pencil, "that you don't scribble on the walls." "Oh, no, mammy," replied' the child, in a shocked; voice that spok© of previous experience, "it breaks the point."

An inspector, examining a class of boys in Scripture, asked, "Who is a pilgrim?" On© little chap said, "One who goes from on© place to another, eir." "Well," said the inspector, "I go from one place to another; am I a pilgrim?" "But, sir," said the boy, "a pilgrim is a good man,

At a school excursion Tommy was seated between some bigger boys who did not leava him too much space. "Tommy, I don't believe you have room enough," his teacher said to him. "Oh! yes, teacher, I've got plenty, thank you; but I'm all squeezed up in it!" answered' Tommy.

At an examination in an Elementary School the teacher was so pleased with his class that ha said they could ask him any question they liked. Some were asked and replied to. Seeing one little fellow in deep thought, the teacher asked him for a question. The boy answered, with a grave face : "P-please, sir, if you was in a soft mudheop tip to your neck, and I was to throw a brick at your bead, would you duck?" The answer is not recorded.

The Teacher: "There is one of my brightest boys sitting over there on that rock writings while his companions are wasting tlieir" time in idle play. No doubt he is writing his lesson out for to-morrow. Here, Jimmy, let me see what you are writing." Jimmy: "No'm; I don't want to." Teacher: "JK'h., see his modesty? Come, I want to read it. ' This is what she read: "Please exeu&e my son James from, echool tc-day, as he is needed at ho "

—This Queer Old World.—

It is queer how things go by contraries here, 'Tis always too cold or too hot; The prizes -we miss, you know, always appear To be better than those that we've got; It is always too wet, or too dusty and dry, And the land is too rough or too flat, There's nothing that's perfect beneath the blue sky,

But It's a pretty good world for all that. Some people are born but to dig in the soil, And sweat for the bread that they eat, While some never learn the hard meaning of toil, And live on the things that are sweet; A few are too rich, and a lot are too poor, And seme are too lean or too fat — Ah, the hardships are many that men must endure,

But It's a pretty good world for all that.

Tho man who must think envies them that

must be

Ever pounding and digging for men, And the man with the pick would be happy if he

Might play with the brush or the pen! All things go by contraries here upon earth ; Life is empty anfl sterile and flat; Man begins to complain on the day of his birth,

But It's a pretty good world for all that. — S. E. Kiseb.