SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8309, 6 May 1905, Page 4

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

EXTRACTS EROM EVERYWHERE. .- 4

» NO MORE " LENT."

Carnival was duly kept .the other day in St Petersburg. But there is to be no more "Lent" in Paris. — ■ . "Dagonet," in "Referee." THE "MONKEY'S" CHANGE. One incomparable victory the war has given us is Japan's metamorphosis in Russia's eyes from a " contemptible monkey" to a "respected enemy."— "Asahi," Osaka. ORIENTAL METHODS. An aged Korean Councillor of State, who is a strong reformer, Mr Choi Ikyen, has been sitting outside the Palace gate for five days, and proposes to sit there until needed reforms are carried out. — " Herald," Shanghai. V PARLOUS. The sexes just now take up towards each other an attitude of mutual distrust : we women don't trust men further than we can see them, nor they us. It is all very bad and very -ad, and no one knows who is to blame. — "Black and White." N SCRIBES AND DOCTORS. It is a curious fact that great writers, speaking generally f have. been no lovers of the medical profession. This is doubtless the reason why doctors for the most part cut so' sorry a figure in literature. Scribes of all sorts take a special •* pleasure in girding at them.— -" British Medical Journal." " WEARIN' 0' TH' GREEN." Green shades are to take a prominent place in the fashionable clothing for men this year. An examination of the new patterns of flannel reveals the fact that green stripes are amongst the newest; in tweeds, green mixtures are alike in evidence— designs of a soft, ; subdued tone, that are decidedly artis- ( tic— "Tailor and Cutter." LONDON GIRLS AS BRIDES. The London girl seems in less hurry to' marry than her provincial sister, for the good reason that she/has plenty of amusements, as often as not a clvb t of her and as much freedom as her married friends. She certainly seems to marry later, and naturally expects much more than those who have lived more quietly. — " Lady's Pictorial." A CROCODILE IN J.UCK. A crocodile, five feet in length from tip to tail, was caught in the upper reaches of the Singapore River some weeks ago. The superstitious coolies declared the saurian to be the " God of the river," and, after painting some Chinese characters on its back with white paint, 'they put it back 'into the river to the accompaniment of much cracker-firing. — "Post," Hong Kong. I RED HAIR. Red hair is either loved or 'loathed.. Artists, from Titan express a preference for painting it ; but, then, artists are uncertain guides as to ! human beauty. They have been known before now to admire cream-cheese complexions, blouwy hair, and clothes which look as if they had been made in a machine for chopping turnips and put on with a rake.— Lady Helen Forbes, in " the Queen." CAMERA LICENSE. Is it. not time that the liberty of the snapshooter — which has, long ago degenerated- into license — should be controlled? Why should I, when I take my \valks abroad with my friends, be converted into a gratuitous model for the amateur photographer? Why -should he make pictures of me with a broad grin on my countenance .or a bad hat on my head ? — J. Ashby-Steiry, in "The Graphic.'? MR W. S: GILBERT'S REPLY. Mr W. S. Gilbert was lately requested by an Australian amateur composer to furnish the libretto of an opera on the old Savoy lines. His score, the amateur remarked, was perfectly certain to be satisfactory, for "he was a born musician, though he had been educated as a chemist." Mr Gilbert, in answering to express his regret at not being able to comply, said he I " should have preferred a born cheniist who had been educated as a musician." — "Sporting and Dramatic News." MORALS AND COMPLEXIONS. Tell the average woman that a maximum of mutton means a minimum of morals, and she will probably laugh at you and go on eating mutton (if she likes it). But assure her' that a charming complexion will result from vegetarianism, and the butcher may justifiably feel forebodings of coming disaster. — "The Gentlewoman." NEW POSTAL IDEA. The Transvaal Post Office should give facilities for the telegraphing of letters to Cape Town to catch the outgoing mail to England at the last moment, charging a fee of Is over and above the ordinary telegraph— fee, fof the work of redirecting messages and despatching them as . letters. — " Leader,?' Johannesburg. . EXPLAINING A MYSTERY. The purchase of foreign fox cubs from importers of wild animals is attended with serious dangers. Wolves, jackals and suchlike creatures are easily mistaken, in the cub stage, .for foxes, and now and then have been sold in England as veritable children of Brer Fox. This is the true explanation of those sensational outbreaks of sheep-worrying during the past few years. — " Sporting and : Dramatic News." • SMARTER SHOPS. Interior fittings of jshops have tended to become more anq more elaborate,, and what would have been considered extravagant for a -jewellery display twenty years since is now hardly goodenough for an vp r to-date firm of shoe distributors. Possibly the taste for luxurious fittings is in danger of being carried too far-; hut the average purchaser expects to find some attempt at sniart surrroundings. — "Shoe and Leather Record.'-