PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 5

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturdays Daily Times.)

The year 1908, now the yea T of Yesterday, and numbered irrevocably with the venrs that were before the Flood, is not to be lightly spoken against. Tennyeon, it seems to me, sets a bad precedent :— Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year ia dying in the night; BiDg out, wild bells, and let him die. As who should say, Good quittance. Which attitude towards an Old Year.m extremis is ungracious, not to say unorateful. The utmost that can be alleged against our own dear departed is that his departing was in evident illhumour,—with blustering winds and gloomy skies, his last days chequered only with gleams of summer, thence lapsing treacherously into rain and storm of the wintriest. As at the British Antipodes, so in Britain itself. The old folks at home have acclimatised the American blizzard, name and thing. J-" 8 British Isles are being scourged by a blizzard; hapless people without shelter are frozen to death ; the living roar of London is smothered and silenced beneatn a winding sheet of snow. Which things, compounded with a little imagination, may say to us thai the Dying Year was disgusted with the record we had made for him and the poor us© to which we had put the opportunities he brought us.

For truly it has been a year of futilities. Sir Joseph Ward, for example, has for achievement his Second Ballot and his Dairying Regulations. Fancy that! If there is anything else, I don t seem to remember it. Arbitration ? Well, there must have been something in the Arbitration Amendment Act, since it so greatly angered the labour unions; but only a labour unionist could say what that- something was. Pass, for Sir Joseph, and come next— in order of importance from a Dominion point of view— to Mr Asquith. Mr Asquith has to Tlis credit Old Age Pensions, but, alas, not the money wherewith to pay them. In other mattersEducation, Licensing, sops to the Irish Cerberus — Mr Asquith is a "failed 13. A., and with that baboo qualification may go to the constituencies. Look elsewhere, — Let Observation with extensive view Survey mankind from China to Peru.— It is everywhere the same. Austria makes a gTab, finds her fingers in a trap, and would be glad to know on what terms she is likely to get them out again. Bulgarian 'independence, like the Turkish Constitution— of which it may be reckoned a bye-product,— is a cake half-baked. Germany's 1908 profit and loss account consists of the Kaiser's speeches and interviews, especially his interviews. Ruminating these, Germany sits sulky, savage, and dangerous. Across the Atlantic the Americans have been occupied in their quadrennial civil war. the American War of Succession, a contest in which they expend millions of dollars and oacrifice all the -amenities of civilisation to decide, this year, between a Mr I alt and a Mr Bryan, tub-thumpers both. When facts such as these represent human progress for a year it is only fitting that the curtain should descend to groans and hisses.

One thing indeed, an event of this last week, a calamity unspeakable and unforgettable, will distinguish 1908 from all the years that went before it, and, let us .hope, from all that may come after, the destruction by earthquake of 200,000 human beings, as the present count is, dwellers on the shores of the Sicilian strt'it. From the time when first men went down, to the sea in ships this strait has been a busy sea passage, yet always of ill omen and always dreaded. It is" the place of Scylla and Charybdie. On one side is a dim sea cave wherein dwelleth Scyl!a, yelping horribly, — says Circe, forewarning Odysseus. A dreadful monster is she. nor would liny "!ook on her gladly, not if it were a god that met hex. Verily ehe imtk

twelve feet, all dangling down, and six n«cks exceeding lod£, and on «ach a hideous head, and therein three rows of teeth set thick and close, full of black death. Up to her middle is she sunk far down in the hollow*cave, but forth she holds her heads from the diead-ful gulf, and there she fishes, swooping round th& rock for dolphins- or sea-dogs, or whatsoever greater beast she may anywhere take. Thereby no sailors boast that t<hey have . fled scathless ever with their ship, for with each head she carries off a man, whom she hath snatched from out the dark-prowed ship. Sunken rocks in a narrow tideway, witha regurgitating cavern at the back of this is Scylla, when you have "evaporated the poetry. Giving Scylla a wide berth, the hapless mariner may fa)l a prey to Charybdis, who has a rival establishment just opposite, apparently a tide rip or maelstrom over -foul bottom : Beneath that other clift%migllty Charybdis sucks down bkek water/Nfor thrice a day she spouts it forth, and thrice a. day she sucks it down in terribl» wise. Never mayest thou be there when she sucks the water, for none might save thee then from thy bane, not even the Earthshaker '. The Earth-shaker is Poseidon, or Neptune, the sea-god, supposed to cause earthquakes by striking with his trident the shore or the sea-bottom, — a curious anticipation of the modern guess that earthquakes may represent steani explosions dv©- to sea, water that somehow has penetrated to our central fires. The appearance of the Earth-shaker in this Odyssey passage is of interest, also, because the place in question is the Strait of Messina, always an earthquake region. And for reason good. Two giant volcanoes may be said to look down upon it, Etna and Vesuvius, — ancient s devourers of cities, these; and two lesser, Stromboli and Vulcano. Why do human beings inhabit a region so plainly marked out for mischief, planting vineyards and villages on the very slopes of Vesuvius and Etna, and populous towns at their feet? We may go on to ask why San Francisco is being rebuilt, and why six-storey constructions affront the Fates in quakey Wellington. For the reason, I suppose, that the event is top uncertain to be dreaded. There is no logic about an earthquake ; nothing seems to lead up to it. To-day, tomorrow, a century hence, never ; — we take the risk. Add that hope springs eternal in the human breast and you explain how at this very time the survivors of Messina and Reggio may be wishing each other a Happy New Year.

The indestructibility of hope is doubtless the root and ground of all our New Year rejoicings. However dismal" our past there, is always the possibility of something good in th« future,— so we think. It follows that -the uncouth gambols with which we turn over the new leaf and welcome the New Year have even a sort of theological quality, are a touching testimony to our belief that the universe on the whole means well, and that everything is for the best. On this view there is justification for the midnight outbreak of the shrieking syren and the nerve^shaking cracker; for Tennyson s wild bells, and even for St. Matthews chimes. It is the fashion just now to quote Milton;— yet me quote him apropos: Haute thee, 'nymph, and bring witfe thee Jest and youthful Jollity, Quips and, -cranks and wanton wiles, Nods, and 'becks, and wreathed amnes, Such as hang on Hebe's cheek. And love to live in dimple sleek; Sport that wrinkled Care derides. And Laughter holding both his sides. " Sport that wrinkled Car* derides," —smooths the brow of wrinkled Cave, taking out the wrinkles. Responsible editors and dry-as-dust critics will not allow it, I am afraid, but that shall be my reading, all the same. lam aware that Latin " deridere " is to mock } oxlaugh at; on the other hand "rid© is French for "wrinkle," and -the French active verb " dericlev " means to unwrinkle and cheer up. Read in that sence the "derides" of the line above is a Gallicism quite in Milton's manner. Here let me add. as comment on the whole passage, that because he was a poet Milton could not be always a Puritan, and that when he was mest poetic precisely then was he least puritanical.

What ldncl of thing Puritanism really was the British people have well nigh forgotten. Take a passage from Macaulay illustrating the temper of the "precisians"— as he calls them— in relation to Christmas Day. From time immemorial 'Christmas had been the season of joy and domestic "Section, the season when families assembled, ■when children came home from school, when Quarrels were made up, when caTola were heard in every street, *(hen every house was decorated with evergreens, ami every table was loaded with good cheer. At that season all hearts not utterly destitute of kindness were enlarged and softened. At that season the poor -were admitted to partake largely of the. overflowings of the wealth of th© Tich, and the interval between landlord and tenant, master and servant, was less marked than through the rest of the year. "Where there is- much enjoyment," continues Macaulay, "there -will be .some excess; yet, on the whole, the .spirit in which the holiday was kept v as not unworthy of a Christian festival." But what was the view of the " precisians''? 1 They were m a position, politically, to express thenview with emphasis. The Long Parliament gave orders, in 1644, that the twenty-fifth of December should be strictly observed as a fast, and that all men should pass it in humbly bemoaning the great national em which they and their fathers had so often committed on that d!ay by romping under th» mistletoe, eating boar's head, and drinking a!e flavoured with roasted apples. This is a place for the hackneyed comment that comment L% needless. Certainly when you have described Puritanism just as it was, you have done all that is necessary. There is no need to "rub it in." Since 1644 and the Reign of the Saints the world has travelled far. And yet the mention of ale flavoured with roasted apples brings >\ ith ' it an un-

pleasaftt reminder of persons and parties amongst us who would an if they could. However, this is holiday time, and I observe the truce.

It is interesting to learn that the piin« ciples of Christian Science are being extended to the sphere of economics. 1 us« the terni Christian Science without prejudice, as the lawyers say — that is, reserving my right to afiftm as often as I find occasion that Christian Science is not science, and is not Christian. When a man "has a boil he is to think energetically that he has no boil. When he has a> toothache he is to think with all his might t/hat he has no toothache. This principle once grasped is capable of wide applica* tion. In America, the land of its birth^ it is being applied as a corrective to com< mercial depression. A man is in debt( he is to think that he is not in debt* Trade is bad; he is to think that trade i< good. This is "prosperity by the rhental healing process." •Industrial activity ia to- come " by the simple plan of lifting the country up by its bootstraps out of tha mire of depression." The man who tries it will find it " perfectly ea%y," as easy, I should say, as 'hoisting himself by his own waistband. The community in on« graml dead-lift effort is to "court prosperity by tltougKt-wave."

There are just as many people in th« country as before the depression cam*. There- is just as much money. There ar* just as many acres, mines, mills. Ther« are just as many to be fed and clothed. It's merely a matter of getting people t« think they need things, and that th«y have the mbney Accordingly the whole American natioff, making a mental long pull, strong pull, and pull altogether, on " a fixed date," is to think that it has the money, when " prosperity vnjil return simply because it could not stay away." This is Christian Science newly adapted ; and, Oh that I could believe! If only by thinking I could make my household bil"ls to be less, my income from Passing Notes to be more ! But here as elsewhere the want of wants is want of faith. C.rtrra

The urgent need for a bridge over Waitahuna River et Greenfield was impressed upon Mr J. Allen, M.P., by a deputation of settlers at the Waitahuna show ground: on Dec. 29. It was stated by one settler than he had his last year's crop still on hand 1 owing to inability to get it to market.^ Another settler, it was stated, had sold oaten chaff at 15s per ton for the samp reason, the market price in Dunedin a* time of sale being £4 10s. Mr Allen promised to bring the matter under the notice of the Government. It is announced that persons travelling b*» tween the North and South Islands will b« able in future to obtain at any of the principal railway stations north or south, and l also at the office of the Union Steam Ship Company in Wellington, "through" luggage labels showing the complete course ol their proposed railway and steamer journey. Thus,fc traveller from Christchurch to Auckland will be able to obtain at Christchurch luggage labels made out' as follows: — " Christchuroh to Lyttelt-onL. ship.3 hold to Wellington, train to Auckpbd." This will save him the inconvenience of re-labeliuig; hie belongings at ©very stopping place, bu* the department will not be responsible for" transport of the luggage between train and* steamer. This must be supervised and paid" for by the passenger himself. The department impresses on travellers the imperative necessity of having 'their luggage properly. addressed before it is presented for transport by either' rail or steairter. By far the greater part of the inconvenience now experienced is due, it is declared, to luggage being insufficiently addressed. The Railway Department has for the last' few years awarded prizes to maintenance gangs" for the best-kept lengths of permanent way. Some dissatisfaction having been expressed (says the New Zealand Herald), a ballot was recently taken among the men with a view to deciding whether . th« arrangement should be continued. The resuit showed that a majority were agains* it, «Jid the prizes, therefore, will not be offered in the future. The annual break-up of the Laudcx School was signalised by a picnic in the school grounds and by the presentation of the prizes. The weather was fine, and the proceedings very successful. Mr L. Cabot, chairman of the School Committee, presented the prizes with appropriate remarks, and the Rev. T. Knight also addressed theno present. Cheers were given for Miss Todd (the teaober), and for the chairman. Th« afternoon was pleasantly spent in sports, refreshments were liberally dispensed by tha ladies of the district, and all who participated greatly enjoyed themselves.

William Pellett, an old man of 68 years, dropped dead in the Fitzroy Court on Saturday, December 19 (says the Melbourne Argus) as he entered it to answer a; charge of vagrancy. Constable Dwyer had 6«'3n him at dusk on Friday evening sittings in Alma street. Ec told the constable thab he was homeless, and wanted to be locked! up. He was a gardener, and had children/ in New Zealand. He had been an inmateof the Benevolent Asylum two years ago,, and wanted badly to g<? there again. Conjs stable Uwyer took him to the watchhousej! 1 and charged him with vagrancy, and- or* visiting him on Saturday morning was, told) that the night's rest had made him" fee^ better. Constable M'Farlane gave him breakfast, •which cheered him up stil^ further. Then came the time for the) hearing of th« case. Constable Dwyei( helped the old man up the steps to tha court, aJid just as they entered Pellett fell back into his amis, dead. Dr Wheeler;< who was in court, after a brief examina< tion, found that the cause of death wa* heart failure.

The Thames Star reports that a few days £go a fair of horses attached to a waggon jtook fright at Aforrisomrille, and galloping down a. bill actually jumped a seven-wjrd fence, taking the vehicle with them. The idriver stuck to his seat, and escaped with $ few bumps -when th© waggon reached the s>tJbsf side of the fence.

A sad acoident is reported from Fox ton. The wife, of the postmaster tihere was conversing «ith her husband: in their garden, when she remarked that it was suddenly getting dark. It turned out that she had been stricken -with btymdnießs. Whether the loss of siglit is merely tejnporaa-y baa not ye* been tisowtamae^