Sketcher.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2047, 25 March 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sketcher.

flic Lion llmiter's Pet.

'I or .-out Is odd of (ierard, the great lion-l.un-ir, Liar lie captured a whelp in the

of .label-Mezours, Algiers, n lined it •' Hubnt," and brought it up as hr would bring up a dog from puppyhood. Atur some time. Ins huge pet becoming to., dangerous to go at large, * Icrat'd made a jin sent of the animal to his friend tin- Hue d Aumalo, and Hubert travelled i" Faiis in a big cage, bemoaning his s. natation from his old master. The next year Herald himself visited I’uris on leave of absence from tile army, and Went at once to the .lardni dcs I’lantes to see bis exiled favorite. He describes the interview as follows : Hubert was lying down, half asleep, regarding at inteivals with half shut eyes the jieisoiis who wore passing and repass-in-g before him. All of a sudden he raised los head, bis tail moved, his eyes dilated, a nervous motion 'contracted the muscles . I Lis lace. He had soon the uniform of i I.r Spahis, but had not yet recognised his n mud. 1 drew nearer and nearer, and no longer able to restrain my emotion I' oi. trued my hand out to him through the

Without ceasing his earnest gaze he aj'j Lid his nose to my hand and drew in knowledge with a long breath. At each iiiial nion his attitude became more noble ins look more satisfied and affectionate. I nder the uniform that had been so dear to him be began to recognize the friend of his heart.

1 felt that it only needed a single word to dissipate all doubt. " Hubert !” I said, as 1 laid my hand on him “my old soldier !” Not another word. With a furious bound and a note of welcome he sprang against the iron bars, that bent and trembled with the blow. My friends fled in terror, calling on me to do the same. Noble animal ! You made the world tremble even in your ecstacies of pleasure. Hubert was standing with his cheek against the grating, attempting to break down the obstacle that separated us, magnificent to behold as he shook the walls of the building with his roars of Joy and anger. His enormous tongue licked the hand that 1 abandoned to his caresses, while with his paws ho gently tried to draw mo to him. If anyone tried to come near ho fell into frenzies of rage, and when the visitors fell back to a distance he became calm and caiessing as before handling me with his huge jiaws, rubbing against the bars, and licking my hand, while every gesture and moan and look told of his joy and his love.

When I turned tb leave him he shook the gallery with his heart-rending roars ; and it was not till I had gone back to him twenty times, and tried to make him undeistand that I would come again, that 1 succeeded in quitting the place. After that I came to see my friend daily, sometimes spending several hours with him in his cage. But after a while I noticed that he became sad and dispirited, and when the keepers alluded to his furious agitation and excitement every time 1 left him, and attributed his wornout and changed appearance to this cause, I t ink their advice and made ray visits as seldom as possible. One day, some four months from the time of my first meeting with him in Paris, I entered the garden, and one of the keepers came forward, saluting, and said: “Don’t come any more, sir. Hubert is dead.”

English Irish and Scotch* Looking nt the population of the three kingdoms, it may easily be perceived that there is considerable difference among (hem as to temperament. The Irish are gay, ardent; the Scotch are comparatively cool, steady, and cautious; the English are perhaps, a fair average between the two. Wc remember that it was not inelegantly observed by a friend that an Englishman thinks and speaks ; a Scotchman thinks twice before he speaks; and an Irishman speaks before he thinks. A lady present added, “A Scotchman thinks with his head, an Irishman with his heart.” This allusion to impulse operating more rapidly than deliberation is akin to Miss Edgeworth’s remark that an Irishman may err with his head, never with his heart; one truth, however, being that he obeys his heart, not always waiting tor the dictates of his head. Some years ago there was a caricature very graphically portraying these grades of ditlcivncein the ardor of the three nations. An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotchman were represented as looking through a confectioner's window at a beautiful young woman who was serving in the slurp. “Oh!” exclaims Mr. Patrick, “ do let us be spending a half crown with the dear crayture, that we may look at her convaniently and have a bit of a chat with her.’ You extravagant dog,” said Jlr. John. “I’m sure one-half the money would do unite as well. But let us jo in by ail means ; she is a charming gdrl. “ All ! wait a wee I” interposed Mr. Andtcw, “ diaua ye ken it’ll serve aur purpose equally weel to ask the bonnie lassie to jive us twa sixpense for a shilling. and inquire where’s Mr. Thompson’s boose, and sic like ? We're no hungry, and may as well save the siller. °

A Horse story— An interesting story i- living t.ild of an old English gentleman, wh“ f«>r many yearn rode a blind horse, l ii'iujh sightless, tbe steed, which had probably b.cn a good fencer once, had learnt to in.up whenever he received a hint that he wav desired to do so. One day, after a run with the hounds, some hunting men were talking in the bar of a hotel about big jumps, and the owner of the blind horse stoutly maintained that that animal would jump • •vera -ingle obstacle which none of their hunters would leap. He was ready to back Iris words with money, and as the result of the conversation, he made four bets of £23 each on the subject. Very soon the four sportsmen repented of risking their money so rashly. The owner of the blind horse put down a straw in the street, and this conatituted the obstacle.” He rode up to it, and tbe blind steed, responding to his call, “ rose at the rasper,” clearing it at a bound four feet in the air, and covering twelve feet of ground at least. None of the other four homes would rise at a straw, and the owner of the blind home was £IOO the richer.

When Ireland was Scotia- Scotia now means Scotland, but it once meant Ireland. 1 reland was known to the Greeks as Juvconai about two centuries before the birth of Christ, ('war calls it Hibcrner. as does Ptolemy in the map be has given of the island. It is said that the Phocnic'ans first gave Ireland the name of Hibernia, meaning thereby “ utmost, or last habitation,” for beyond that land’ westward, the Phrenioians never extended then- voyages. Toward the decline of the Uomau empire the country began to be called Scotia, a name retained by the monastic writers (ill fbe eleventh century, when (be nan; • sooioi having passed to modern Scot, land, lb,; an-i-nt mini- of Hibernia be.-,„ be again used.