The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1898. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6362, 17 December 1898, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1898. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

<i» . Physiologists teach us that in the living body, as in the case of the steam engine, the quantity of force developed depends on the quantity of food profitably consumed (that is, digested, assimilated and oxidised). Where more food is consumed, more force is developed. And where more work, either brain or muscular, is to be done, more food must be consumed to supply the requisite force. Instead of which, Ernest Freeman, a young man, was the other day charged at West London with refractory conduct at the Kensington able-bodied workhouse in Notting Hill, and refusing to perform his taek — breaking 9cwt of stones. He said he could not break the quantity of stones on bread and water. The labour master said that the prisoner was punished for not working on. the day before. He had bread and water for dinner and supper. Mr Plowden : What did he have for breakfast? The Labour Master : Gruel. Mr Plowden : Rather a cheerful day. (Laughter.) No man can break 9cwt of stones on bread and water. But Ernest got seven days all the same, and is a Freeman in name only.

Addressing the Manchester Diocesan Conference, the Bishop of Manchester said attention had been called to startling discrepancies between the promises of some of the clergy and their practices. It was alleged that they used unauthorised public prayers not contained in the Book of Common Prayer. Inquiries he had made had resulted in 175 of the- clergy of his diocese sending him 474 forms of prayer. Of these, 389 ho approved without changing a word. In 61 cases he had been obliged to make a slight alteration, and of 13 he did not approve. The prayers which he had feU compelled to alter were mainly of two classes — those which implied veneration or blessing of external objects or those which were for the departed. He urged the clergy not to waste energy in trivial and unnecessary disputes, but to answer the call of thousands of the more thoughtful of their countrymen for guidance in the new point of view from which the Scriptures were to be regarded in the light of modern criticism and the bearing of Christianity upon the problems of to-day. And so say we.

Mr J. W. Logan, M.P., was one of the principal speakers at a largely-attended demonstration under the auspices of the Leicester and District Temperance Union, the Mayor (Alderman Wakerlev) presiding. The honourable member began by alluding to the fact that a year before he had alluded to the curious coincidence that the consumption of beer in the- Kingdom always increased most rapidly when the Conservatives were in power, and that the growth of the consumption was neither checked by trade depression nor promoted by prosperity. Deducting the women and others who did not consume beer, and .the steady people who did not drink to excess, the increased consumption by the minority was appalling. Last year the beer consumed represented an expenditure of over £104,000,000 sterling, or sufficient to emp i oy half a million additional workers at £2 »i week, besido3 providing pensions of 10s a week for every man and wormm in the Kingdom over sixty-five years of age. This stale .of things demanded the gravest consideration, as no nation could go on increasing its beer bill in proportion to its decrease of exports without disaster. In June last the paupers were greater than at the corresponding period of any year since 1874, and the proportion to population higher than in any of the pact ten years. He had confined himself fo b&r because it was consumed mainly by the weekly-wage class, whose interest in matters concerning their own welfare declined as beer consumption increased. He said nothing of the degradation, crime, poverty, and the sufferings of the women and children incidental to this state of things because tlwy were realised by everybody.

A funeral occasion in Wensleydale (says Gilbert' Ward in the "Church Gazette), is

one of some social importance, and. the bereaved family have to look to the commissariat. Indeed, I have heard the sentiment gravely expressed that " a funeral was better uian three weddings." Most of the good things take a liquid form. It is felt to be necessary, in order to enable the mourners to bear up against their woe. After two or three hours of continuous, but resigned soaking, each of the afflicted party has a sealedup package presented to him. It contains a very rich, large and toothsome bakement called "funeral cake." Then the afflicted ones .adjourn, in deep dejection — shaky with grief — to inter the departed among .the other lathers of the hamlet. These cakes, however, are destined to play a social part afterwards. Many a housewife has two or three of them stowed away — they will keep any length of time — and when she has a big Yorkshire tea on she brings them out, as they form an acknowledged delicacy. " Wilt cc hey some o' Jane Ivisoa's cake, Mrs MetcalfT' "Nay, but I'll nev a bit o' Willy Stoakdale's. They mak things gude thar." A CASUAL CROAK. I sits in the Casual Ward; Should anyone arsk me cause wy I works so uncommonly 'ard? " It's poverty makes me," sez I ! In course I'm a guilty of crime, ' Else in this place I shouldn't be, I'm 'ard up, which just is the sime As if I'd been prigging, d'ye see! I'm allowed a free use of the tank, And skilly no doubt is a meal; At night I "sleeps on a soft plank, That's better than nothing — a deal. I thinks as my oakum I picks, And looks on my fingers- as bleeds, I'm doing a sentence lor nix, For fault not my own, nor ill deeds. A " traveller honest tho' poor," • 'Taint my fault my life 'as bin marr'd'j i i I'm forced when I'm going " on tour," To call at the Casual Ward. You talk of " incentives to sin," Hare's a premium put upon vice! I thinks I 'ad better begin, And take to a prison for chice. "WE'RE PIRATES YET." (By P. J- MORONEY, in " Commonwealth.") God of our fathers — shining gold — For whom we've sunk all thoughts divine We've seized thee 'neath the northmen's cold, We've robbed thee 'neath the southmen's vine ; For you we rob, we cheat, we fret — We're pirates yet, we're pirates yet! j With us all love and honour dies, The feeling for our kind departs; For you we have no sacrifice Save plundered homes and broken hearts! For you we rob, we cheat, wo fret— We're pirates yet, we're pirates yet! On every sea, our fleets, away, Bring Bibles, rum, and hell's own fire! The Afrid, Afric', and Malay Are crushed beneath our ruthless tire! Red gold! bright gold! you're ours to get — We're pirates yet, we're pirates yet! If in thy sight we yet should lose The power with which we overawe The weaker man — they who refuse To bow to' thy supremest law — Oh! God! our souls on you are set — • We're British yet, we're British yet! Some foolish men call thee "accurst!" Such men are not our men, oh, Lord! In England thou art always first! 'Tis' thee our fleets and armies guard! Thy shining face we ever set Above all gods — we're pirates yet!