Miscellaneous.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2053, 8 April 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Miscellaneous.

Some Day Yen’ll Wish for We.

Some day, my darling, when the rose has died That on yon pathway throws its petals sweet, When the sharp thorn is springing near your side And nettles pierce the mould beneath your feet, You’ll wish for me. Some day, my darling, when the crystal cop OE Beauty shattered lies, and spilled its wine’; Whempleasure’s urn denies one sup, And you drink of Disappointment’s brine, you’ll wish for me. Some day the wreath will wilt upon your head, You’ll grasp the bud and find a worm within. Some day, my darling, when your friends have fled, And strangers mock your frequent tears, ah I then You’ll wish for me. Some day, my darling, when Death's dews fall cold Upon your brow, you'll gladly let me come— What dreams present the shroud that must enfold Your limbs, and your sweet lips grow chill and dumb, You'll wish for me. YoaTl long for him whose bands were oft denied To pluck a rose lest they the bush pollute— Yet he would come, and stand a slave aside, To grasp a bramble and the thorn uproot, If you but wished for him. He’d kiss your feet the hidden briar had torn, And bathe the wounds with Pity's saddest tear, He’d close your eyes that ne’er till death bad worn For him one look of love, and at your bier He’d kneel and pray.

An Old Hand-Blue-veined and wrinkled, knuckly and brown, This good old hand is clasping mine ; I bend above it, and looking down, I study its aspect, line by line. This hand has clasped a thousand hands That long have known no answering thrill; Some have mouldered in foreign lauds— Some in the graveyard on the hill. Clasped a mother’s hand, in the day When it was little and soft and white— Mother, who kissed it and went away, To rest till the waking in God’s good light. Clasped a lover’s hand, years agone, Who sailed away and left her in tears; Undef Sahara’s torrid sun His bones have whitened years and years. Clasped the hand of a good man true, Who held it softly and fell asleep, And woke no more and never knew How long that impress this would keep. Clasped so many, so many I—so few That still respond to the living will. Or can answer this pressure so kind and truel So many, that lie unmoved and still 1 Clasped at. last this hand, my own ; And mine will moulder, too, in turn. Will any clasp it when I am gone f In vain 1 study this hand to learn.

Berlin’s Great Library— One of the sights of Berlin—a sight more known, perhaps, to strangers than to natives—is the Kriegsbibliolhck, which contains all known works printed during and since the war of IS7O and IH7I having direct relation to that campaign. The extensive collection of hooks and pamphlets is remarkably interesting. The works range from the portly volumes compiled by the general staff to two page descriptions of single battles and sieges. The war reports of foreign correspondents are of especial value, as they include versions coming from opposite camps. There are, moreover, maps ami plan? of all battle fields, with representations of marches ami seiges, also collections of debates in I,lie Reichstag, diplomatic documents, etc. Biographies of princes, generals and other prominent personages who figure in the history of the period and great bundles of poetry and musical compositions, arc also to bo found in tlie library, while photographic reproductions of paintings bearing upon the war are contained in numerous portfolios. Caricatures and humorous pictures form not the least interesting part of the collection. Additions arc continually being made to the Kriegsbibliothek in which, it need hardly lie added, the emperor takes an extreme interest.

What to Read.— When the best novels are furnished to the people, no doubt they will road them. All the sad trouble of feasting upon unwholesome literature comes froju the fact that people who control the leading of the young either do not or canned give the subject the attention it deserves. I'ossibly they are indifferent, or it may be that they are not by nature or education qualified lo direct the reading of those under them. The man who came up on a mental diet of dime novels will never recommend his boys to read Shakespeare, Homer or Macaulay. The woman who came to her estate reading the story of “ Charlotte Temple" is not likely to recommend the youthful members of her household to read Jane Austen, Cleorgc Eliot and Mrs. Drowning, (leneraliy speaking, the cure for the disease of low and trilling literature must begin with the beads of families. The prospect for an improvement in the «tone of reading ” improves each year. The lower orders of literature are becoming less attractive. A wholesome but not 100 rigid or impertinent supervisiem of the literature for the young by parents will give us better literature and better lives.

Men’s Corsets— Men do wear corsets. The reason for their doing so are, however, various. Some have had their spinal troubles in their earlier years, and have worn some sort of an appliance for the support of the back, and on growing up require a canvas and whalebone corset in place of the brace. Again, corsets ate worn by the men to hide some physical defect. They arc used also to advantage by men afflicted with obesity. Persona following out of-door occupations wear them as a protector against sudden changes of the weather. Corsets ot this class however, are made of sheepskin. To believe that the article is ever worn by mankind as a means of perfecting their forms, is a mistake. The contour of ft man's physique can not bo beautified by lacing. Besides this the discomfort ot breathing to a man who wears a corset for such a purpose would be such that he would gladly sacrifice his personal appearance to case.

PrisonLife-— lnsome Swiss prisons a good handicraft is taught to every {prisoner, and all who are well behaved arc, after a period, placed with a master of the trade which they have learned under the oversight of the police ami of a member ot a voluntary committee, who is called a patron. The prisoner thus "provisionally liberated" has to present himself every week to his patron, who receives the reports of his master and of the police. The patron sends an abstract of these reports to (lie governor of the prison, and in this way. if his conduct remains good, (be man’s liberty is gradually restored, and he regains his position in society, with the additional advantages of experience ot discipline and knowledge of a trade. A few customs similar to this lead the French observer to remark that ■* a Swiss canton is in sonic things a century in advance of the rest of the world,”