CHILDREN’S COLUMN.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XII, Issue 2374, 2 June 1906, Page 8

CHILDREN’S COLUMN.

THE MAORI CHIEF AND THE MAGICIAN.

There is a good story told of a magician who was a world-travelled player. His wanderings led him upon one occasion into New Zealand. It was arranged that he should give an exhibition of mind-reading before the king of the Maoris. After some parleying it was decided that the king himself should conceal the article which the magician was to discover. The mind-reader left the room, and after a time was brought back blindfolded, as is the custom in such performances. After some time the magician declared that the hidden article was in the king’s mouth. His Majesty shook his head savagely in the negative. The magician insisted upon his point, and demanded that the king’s mouth be opened wide. The king refused. The magician insisted, and the excitement became very great, until at last the dusky king opened his jaws. The article was not there! The next instant, however. the king was taken with a violent fit of coughing. He had tried to swallow the hidden article, a button, but could not. and was compelled to produce it. The Maoris were uproarious with mirth. They did not know which to admire the more —the wisdom of the magician or the heroism of the king. If your pet canary, or any other bird, were to he released in a room containing a cat, the latter could easily kill the former if it really tried to do so. This is not due to what is known I as fascination, a power often attri- | buted to cats and especially to snakes, but to the excessive nervousi ness of the bird itself. Tt gets fltis- ! tercel. Instead of staying quietly on | one perch until the cat laboriously i climbs near it and then quietly flying to another, thus tiring its antagonist. it dashes wildly about tbe room, beating itself against the windows, and exhausting itself in vain struggles. Sooner or later, in its mad frenzy, the bird dashes too near the waiting ! cat. which pounces upon it. and the little tragedy is over. You should he careful not to leave a cat alone in a room containing a pet bird, for even a cage is no protection to the bird unless the cat has been warned by repeated punishments not to interfere with it. If the cage is small, the cat climbs on top and lies down, leisurely reaching one fore-paw in alternately on either side until it can clutch tbe bird. If tbe cage is large, the cat flusters | the bird by dashing at it, first from j one side, then the other. The bird ; in turn, instead of remaining in the middle, out of reach, dashes from side | to side, beating against the wires, until, quite exhausted, it can be j seized and dragged out.

AT THE CLOSE OF THE BATTLE. rii the thick of the tight, when the opposing armies an- in the full flush of hand-to-hand e nnbat. the minds of those engaged have little time finally emotions of the ordinary kind. Every other feeling i- swallowed up by the frenzy of battle. But when at last the fight is decided, and the beaten troops turn tail, joy and sorrow, triumph and dismay all tell their story. So it was on tin- evening of the !'t!i June. I-]”. Tin - Old Guard” Napoleon’s last hope had hurled themselves again and again on the stubborn British square-, only to he beaten hack in shattered masses by a withering tire of musketry and cannon. Then came the retreat—a broken and confused host of men. (torses, baggage waggons, ami artillery pouring pell-mell along the miry roads pursued by the newly-arrived Prussians. And on the “stricken field,” Wellington and Blueher met and greeted each other amid the rousing cheers of their soldiers. Less joyous and inspiring was tbe close of the battle of Malplaquet on the 12th of September. 1709, when the French, fighting with their usual magnificent courage, sold 11 1 *.j r lives so dearly that the victorious troops under the Duke of Marlborough anil Prince Eugene were so worn out, and so terribly reduced in numbers that they actually suffered worse than the enemy they bad defeated. Panting and exhausted, their soldiers watched Hie foe retreat. without the strength to pursue them or even raise a cheer over their hard-won victory. Going back furl her in point of time we may recall the close of the battle of Naseby Field (14th June, 1645), which ended so disastrously lor Charles 1., mainly through tie* rashness of the gallant Prince Rupert. So hot and impatient was I lie Prince that lie engaged I lie stout well -disciplined troop- under Cromwell and Fairfax before the preparations of the Royalist army wore complete; and with (lie setting sun on Naseby Field went down the last hope of King f'hnrh ’ emr-e. Vainly the longhaired cavaliei. ought by furious charges to break tin* ranks of t.lie grim ‘ crop eared ' Puritan.-., and when, at the close of the battle, they fled, leaving 5000 prisoners,

Cromwell’s * invincible Ironsides ’ rode past their leader waving their swords, and oheexillg as only Englishmen can.