What Everybody Says.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1896, 30 January 1875, Page 3

What Everybody Says.

" In multitude of counsellors there is safety." —Old Proverb

Kobody pares a "tinker's curse"—generaliysconsidered a very worthless commodity—about anything except the Prize Firing^ and the Championships, and to write everybody says of this business would place the editor—the esteemed editor—and his friend the writer of these notes —the: " gatherer" of what everybody says, in a delicate position. In the first place the sayings of evtrybody; the speculations regarding the . Championships; _ the hopes and fears of local sympathisers; the theories ©f cosmopolitans; the interested " pronouncamentos " of the betting men; and the gossip of rank outsiders would just about fill the space allotted to reading matter in the Star. The editor would therefore be in a quandary. He would have to choose between offending a valued contributor by rejecting this week's contribution altogether and the wrath of a large section of the community whose sole interest is centred in " the shooting." A. compromise has to be—or rather has t een —.effected. "What everybydy says has to be "boiled down," so that not an inch of space devoted to the sjiopting is to be infringed upon by the sayings and doings of everybody; and those who don't like the arrangement will have to fight the matter out at some future time, for the fiat has gone forth. Being rather cosmopolitan in spirit, neither the editor nor the contributor to this column cares one lot who wins; both hope the best men will gain the honors; and hopes as how they will wear them with becoming modesty and resignation, because in the future some other best men will turn up, and the hero of the hour will some have to retire to his normal condition of insignificance. '* lie conquers twice who restrains himself in victory." ! There has been, some, talk—not very general-—of an injustice perpetrated by pitting Armed Constabulary men against Tolunteers and militiamen in this great shooting business. This feeling, which Has been definitely expressed, is not creditable. Everybody (here) would be sorry to think it originated locally, because it looks like envy. Emulation in a good cause is commendable; " competition is the soul of business" and the life of shooting-, a good stand-up fight with fists has b«en known to excite a national feeling; a friendly competition with, the rine should therefore conduce to a generous emulation, but it should not be allowed to descend to an unfriendly, illiberal, envious spirit. The A.C.'s are visitors, and if some of their number wrest the highest honors from the volunteers, they should be honored for doing so, and the petty spirit of jealousy which has (so 'tis said) cropped' up ought to be restrained, because the objects of it are doing wha« they do justly and rightly, and in all fairness, , V ■A sporting reader of what everybody says wants to know the meaning of an item in a recent* programme of sports. Everybody doesn't profess to be an authority in racing matters, but perhaps the handicapper (whose reputation is at stake) will kindly explain, for the benefit of the sporting and curious reader, and sporting readers who are not curious, what is intended by announcing a " Pony Sace{handicap) catch weights.'' If catch weights are.allowed, who is handicapped? Are thY ponies handicapped like pedestrians by distance ? If so, why not ? as stump.^orators say. The sporting reader who is curious thinks he detects the Land of a handicapper who, on one occasion started to handicap a " weight for age race:" These terms are unintelligible to. some persons, but the matter might be iet'at rest by contributions from persons au fait at racing matters, of whom " everybody " is not one. The theory or what you may call it,: respecting the transit of Venus and other abstruse calculations peculiar to the sect called astronomers were finally solved in a shoemaker's shop the other day, and it is .to be regretted the whole art and mystery cannot be given 'to the "world, but not having a shorthand reporter present, everybody j must be content to know that a genial son of the Emerald Isle and a follower of St.Crispin have mutually agreed on these <Snts. The former, discoursing in the v£n peculiar to those who know very little but think a great deal, was sapiently propounding certain, theories to the knight of the last, and he asserted that he could fully explain "eclipses" and " transits^' He drew his illustrations from objects of common use, such as farthing dips, their interception by intervening houses, and the difficulty of seeing such illuminations at a distance by means of " telescopes." He could write a boot, in fact. (It is to be hoped he won't trouble himself.) The shoemaker combatted the arguments of his friend for some time with succes ; but the friend was an old-fashioned astronomer, and he was prepared to prove; all he himself advanced—and disprove what everybody else asserted, by contending that the sun moved round tEe earth. Accordingly the Emerald Isle disputant instanced the sun- standing still at the command of Joshua, and when the nothing-hke-leather opponent mildly suggested that wind and other currents were regulated by the diurnal motion of. the earth round the sun, with ready answer the Irishman said, " How fast she must go when a gale of wind is blowing." The scientific world is perfectly welcome to this contribution to the science of astronomy. H the scientific world understands it, everybody don't. m The little ones had their annual treat yesterdayi and they turned out in numbers --in fact they came out strong on the oc J casion. Everybody regrets that" beastly weather," which put an effectual damper. at times on the enjoyment of the day. There is no public holiday in the year for

which fine weather could be wished more tHah the children's feast. If the sun shines out bright and clear, the pink little faces are dyed purple, and, the small people require the application of glycerine and violet powder to make their condition bearable for the nexfc few days <; but when it happens that their day *is partly fine and partly very wet, _the white dresses get denuded of si arch and the faces do not-e.scape.the burning ; sand mothers have cause to regretthe occurrdnce—especially when sickness is abroad. It seems almost a pity thatf ;the slittle mites should; be^ like everybody else, subject to the influences of climate while trying to make the most of amusements''provided for theni, ai it comes but price a yerir. !