CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 67

CORRESPONDENCE.

I " have several communications to make a note of this week. The first is from one who has always interested himself in this column, and "the first part of his letter refers to a regrettable incident. If boys, before .-insulting- their seniors, would only ask themselves the question, How should I like my father or mother treated so? •older folk would have less cause to grieve at their thoughtlessness. The second letter is on the "Eel Question," and some other correspondents can, perhaps, give the result of their observations; and at the same time, some might help a " Country Schooltoy." The poetry oil "Anemones" is by a. long-standing contributor to : the Witness. that comes the first section on an article on spiders taken from the " Education Gazette and Teachers' Aid," and promised last week. Then come some extracts from an Amedican educational journal on "Mother," and a piece entitled " Smiles," by J. W. Foley, wlio has made himself known by his pieces dn school life. . When referring to letters from correspondents, I forgot to ask that all letters be written in ink, and on one side of the paper only. Ink or lead pencil writing is trying to the eyes" of the operators, and it is for their sakes, not my own. that I must debar writing that I have to transcribe : — To "Magister." — September 24. — An incident todk 1 place in" South' Dunedin last Friday about 3 p.m. that wag very near being an .adaidemV and ■ a serious one at that. The schools had just been dismissed for the day. The boys from one -of* the •schools, met a short and .stout "eldearly.- man; got around '] him". Suddenly the- boys ran away ; a little, then stooped , down and 'lifted some ' mud and gravel and" threw at the little iZTan. He ran after tli em, picked np a -stone, and threw it at them. One of the boys in running; awey tripped and fell on Borne hard, rough, road ■ anetal, and was unable to- "get up. I vis Tinder the impression ho hod -broken his leg, so -ran overi to him),'' -picked \ him up, and carried, him over to the side walk, and sat him by the fence/ where he was able to stand up. His -face , was coverad with, black mud, and it- is surprising the mud didn't get into Ins eyes and Wind him. I took his cap and -wiped hisu face, and left him to his school mates, "who attended to him cJid took him home. One of the boys told me that they always like to have fuii with the short, stout man for no reason except that he runs after them and. throws stones at them. I must say the man was in an awful temper, for he. looked very cross when I spoke to him. In the Witness of September 13, in " Multum in Parvo " tliexe is a pax stating that granite "is the only common rock which shows no traces of either animal or vegetable life. 1 "beg leave to differ with the writer, for in the Lawrence Cemetery there is a grey granite pillar or headstone with several distinct traces of fern leaves. Sutton, September 23, 1905. -'"Magister," Conductor of Our Public Schools Column. — Dear Sir, — I have just besn reading the notes in your column of the 20th, in which Mr Robert Tapper, of Clifden, says his brother found some young eels m a tin of sand in the Waiau River. Now, it struck roe that he may have made the same mistake as I did some time ago. I had often heard it-eaid thwt eels did not spawn in freshw ater streams, and I thought it absurd, as I had seen dozens of young -fish .which I was' sure were -young eels, and nearly 100 miles from 'the sea, but I found on closer examination Ihey Trere" not eels, but what we called bloodsuckers. Tfoey ranged from 2in to 3in in 'length, .and were so like eels that it was hard to distinguish them. I was telling people that I cculd get young" ■aal-s for them "by tha dozen, but I now know better. I have ■watched very closely, but have never found any very small eels in the s?jn>e stream), although it is teeming with large ones. — Yours truly, Alex. Campbell. ]