OUR LETTER BOX

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 910, 6 June 1896, Page 24

OUR LETTER BOX

Molue Darling (Danevirke).— Your notes are racily written, and we Bhall always be glad to hear from yon. But it is best to avoid jeux d'esprit upon people's names. Initials. will suffice. Patrick Moran (Kaihu).— What are the circumstances you refer to? We have no recollection of having had a previous communication from you, and we have not the faintest idea what you are writing about. D. B. L. (Patea).— Try a few lessons in polite letter-writing. They will do yon a lot of good. Even a little of the suaeltcr in motfo helps a person far more easily through the world than a plentiful use of fume and bluster.

Caucasian (Blenheim).— The other man is right. There is a black knight. Sir Samuel Lewis, of Sierra Leone, recently knighted, is the first negro on whom such an honor has been conferred. He is a Wesleyan circuit steward.

John K. Hoxtablf, (Otahuhu).— You have apparently a grievance against the constable in question, but we should require to know both sides of the case before dealing with it. We must decline to publish an <.'.>■ parte statement. Matrimontt.— Why should you feel aggrieved if your husband objects to your opening his letters. Be trustful. A letter is meant only for the person who receives it. It is generally a direct breach of confidence to even show it to anyone else. EYE-WiTNESs(Waihi).— The occurrence isaltogethetftoo trivial to notice. Your better plan would have been to have written to the local paper asking it to make the necessary corrections. Anyhow, your letter is far too personal and viudictive.and we cannot allow the Observer to be made the means for one man to vent his spleen upon another. Peace (Palmerston). — Look up • Hazell's Cyclopedia ' for the fignres. Still, they won't give you so strongan impression of Europe's military strength as the mere fact that if the armies of Europe should march at an eight-mile gait, five abreast, 15 inches apart, it would require nine and one-half days for them to pass a given point. Pallida Mors (Wellington).— Oh, that's nothing. There was- an undertakers' picnic at Sydney the other day, and they did not choose a cemetery, either, for their festivities. Neither were the hearses pressed into service for their conveyance there and back. You'll find there is a good deal of touch-and-go jocularity about even undertakers. Perfume (Carterton).— Your friend's advice was good all the same. The use of scents on the person is considered bad taste. In Paris, however,' womenhave begun to use hypodermic injections of scent, in order to impart a lasting fragrance to the skin. But such a practice must be hurtful to the system, and ought to be discouraged.

Osculator.— Your verse is rather droll, but it needs the chiropodist —the feet are in very bad case. We have come across something on the same subject which has a more sprightly gait. Here it is : No pen can paint the raptures the God-fearins spirit feels b When a coy and bashful maiden seeks for safety in her heels, And the Deacon, hard upon her, runs her down with filial spring, And then mugs her all the harder for breaking from the ring.