THINGS AND THOUGHTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2686, 6 September 1905, Page 86

THINGS AND THOUGHTS.

Bs John Chbistie.

— Silence. —

■Silence, like the bosom of eternity, contains far more than has ever been ex- ! pressed by man in his words or works au. ways, ov even by (Jed Himself in His manifested universe. Surely those who becotim rightly acquainted with it must fina it full of thoughts as soothing as sleep, as exalting as love, and as incommunicable as the secret of the grave itself. Carlyle did well to make a. gospel of it, though he was not a very wortfiy disciple, and never truly its priest. A man who spends the greater part of his lifetime in writing or speaking about silence can hardly have time to become comprehensively acquainted with his subject — indeed, his practice belies and belittles Mb gospel, though per- ■ hap/3 the din hi? makes may, even mora than his formal arguments, lead 1 others to a. right apprehension and use of the faculty he praises so much and practises so little. What so likely to convince a man of the beauty and holiness of silence as the "damnable iteration" of another or others of his species? Yet, of course, we cannot fully know, for the true disciple of silence neeessarilv treats all questions on the subject with tihe divine dumbness and ineffable serenity of a full moon. — Unused Labour. — It shoiild by this time have become one of the first "duties of statesmanship to guard against a prevalence of unemployed labour. Tflie country and thpse who arc out of work suffer seriously from this cause, for there is, on tike one hand, the personal privation of the families of the: uaemployed, and, on the other, the unused labour which might be, and_ should be, engaged in adding to the nation's general wealth and productiveness. Surely the poitician who fails to see this, or who, seeing it, fails to avert the* privation and the loss, is no statesman. — LBke and Unlike. — Things the most unlike may yet in some respects be singularly like each other. For instance, a thorough fool and Eternal Providtenee; inasmuch as Providence is the same to-6*a.y, yesterday, and forever, and the foci Is always a fool. Do not be disturbed by a fool's inability to see this, or by his denial of the fact; but regard either or both as proof positive of the scientific certitude of the dictum— in so far as it conoerns him. —The Tribute of Envy.— Neglect or disparagement is the. tribute wMch envious and evil men pay to genius and its works. They affect to be indifferent to, or to despise, what is above th© level of their appreciation and utterly beyond their achievement. —His Sense of Humour. — "Yes," said Smith to Brown at the close of a' discussion that had taken a somewihafc personal turn; "yes, I frankly admit thafe you have a. mo-re remarkable sens© of j humour than' any other man of my acquaintance. I notice that you laugb heartily at what no other living creature thinks of laughing at — your own jokes." — Nothing If Not Critical. — ■ There are grumblers and grumblers. Unfortunately, tho -first- are as countless as an army of mosquitoes, and just as pestilent. Why Nature sihould produce them, or allow them to exist, is a thing that! passes the poor, puzzled, finite understanding of man. Yet they abound in every age and country. We have all heard of th» miserable xvretcfoes who worried the heairti and wearied the soul of one of the greatest/ figures in tihe story of the world, ami whose despicable discontent has been, commemorated in the saying : "There is nothing at all besides this manna before ouc eyes." And their lineal descendants today exceed in number tihe sands of tlia seashore. Wherever you may be, you can.not help hearing their sour-stomachedv superci'ious verbosity about this or tha.t~« the decadence of the race, the condition of trade, the evils of democracy, the unseasonableness of the weather, or the seasoning or want of seasoning in thisir 1 Foup. True, it is not so much what is said a.s the spirit in wihich it is said' that marks tihe true human mongrel — the soeiai malcontent whose growl is on tlie same emotional plane as the snarl of an incor- ! ligible cur. The other grumbler is a fellow of quite* another stamp. He is simply nothing if not critical ; critical, too, with a touch o£ extravagance or quaintneiss that savours of humour. Once upon a time there was a circumspective Scot who surely belonged to this entertaining brotherhood. Being a mortal ■foe died, and then, being a Scotsman, ha went to heaven. On arriving theri ths first person to greet him was his own: whilom, pastor, of whose flock he had ever been a loyal, but never an obsequious, member. Minister: "Weel, San die, richt glad am' Ito see you. Welcome! Welcome! Thia is. indeed, like a little mair cream to the parr-itch! Come and let us sidle up thia bonnie brae and hae a look roond. Yell no find onything to grumble at here, my lad." Sandie: "Dizma be ower sure, minister;' dinna be ower sure. I dinna see a cloud in a* the sky, nor do ye seem to ha'e sic .a tiling as a horizon in a' the blessed place !" __„_^^^.^ For "that tirecl feeling" try WOLFE'S SCHNAPPS— it dispels langous,"