Miscellaneous.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2092, 15 July 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Miscellaneous.

The Tide Will Turn if Yon Bide A Wee. The skipper stood on the windy pier, " 0, mate,” he said, “ set every sail; For love is sweet if true and dear, But bitter is love if love must fail." No hurry, skipper, to put to sea; The wind is foul and the water low; But the tide will turn if you wait a wee, And you'll get ‘ Yes ’ where you got ‘ No.’" The skipper turned again with a smile, And he found his love in a better mood ; For she had had time to think the while, “ I shall find ten worse for one as good.” So the tide had turned and he got “ Yea,” The sails were tilled and the wind was fair. Don't limit the pleasant words, I pray, They are for everyone everywhere. The tide will turn if you waft a wee, And good’s not lost if but deferred ; Supposing your plans have gone agley, Don’t flee away like a frightened bird. Say that you've asked a favor in vain, To morrow may be a better day ; The tide of fortune will turn again, And you'll get “ Yes " where you got " Nay."

The tide will turn if the thing you mind Is worth the waiting mid worth the cost; If you seek and seek until you find, Then your labor will never be lost. For waiting is often working, you see, And though the water may now be low, The tide will turn if you bide a wee, And you'll get “ Yes " where you got “ No.”

The World's Way. At Haroun’s court it chanced, upon a time, An Arab poet made this pleasant rhyme: “ The new moon is a horseshoe, wrought of God, Wherewith the Sultan’s stallion shall be shod.”

On hearing this his Highness smiled, and

The man a gold piece. Sing again, 0 slave I Above his lute the happy singer bent, And turned another graceful compliment. And, as before, the smiling Sultan gave The man a shekah. Sing again, 0 slave I Again the verse came, fluent as a rill That wanders, silver footed, down a hill. The Sultan listened, nodded as before, Still gave the gold, and still demanded more. The nimble fancy that had climbed so high, Grow weary with its climbing by and by ; Strange discords rose, the sense went quite

amiss ; The singer's rhymes refused to meet and kiss;

Invention flagged, the mute had got unstrung, And twice he sang the song already sung. The Sultan, furious, called a lute and said : “0 Musta, straightway whip me off his head I” Poets! not in Arabia alone

You get beheaded when your skill is gone,

Dangerous to Doubt.-Mr. J. D. Bothwiek, m his “ Three years in California,” gives a very amusing account of a sort of a trial of skill between two professional story teller's ; one a veteran of the Mexican War, the other an old hunter of the Sierras. The following will serve to show their quality:— “ The hunter had rather the best of it; his yarns were uncommonly tough and hard of digestion, but there were no historical facta on record to bring against him. He had it all his own way, for the only witnesses of his exploits were the grizzlies’ and he always managed to dispose of them very effectually hy finishing their career along with hisstory. He showed several scars on different parts of his gutta-percha person, which he received from the paws of the grizzlies, and he was not the sort of customer whoso veracity one would care to question.

“ ne rnau nearly got into a scrape by laughing at the most thrilling part of one of his best stories. After firing twice at a bear without effect, the bear, infuriated by the bullets planted in his body, was rushing upon him. He took to flight, and, loading as he ran, he turned and put a ball into the bear's left eye. The bear winked a good, but did not seem to mind it much ; he only increased his pace ; so the hunter, loadingagain, turned around and put a ball into his right eye, whereupon the bear, now winking considerably with both eyes, put his nose to the ground and began to run him down by scent. 11 At this critical moment a great stupidlooking lout, who had been sitting all night with his eyes and mouth wide open, taking in and swallowing everything that was said" had the temerity to laugh incredulously. The hnnter fired up in a moment, and said,— “ 4 W hat are you a-laafiin’ at ? D’ye mean to say that I lie ?’

44 • Oh,' said luc other, 4 if you say it was so I suppose it s all right; you ought to know best. But I wa’n’t a-laafiin' at you ; I waa a-iaafiin’at the bear.'

W hat do you know about bears ?' said the hunter contemptuously, 4 Did you ever kill a bear V

44 4 The poor fellow had never killed a bear, so the hunter snuffed him out with a look of contempt and pity, and went on triumphantly with his story, which ended with his getting up a tree, where he sat and peppered the bear, as he went smelling round the stump, until he at last fell, mortally wounded, with 1 don’t know how many bullets in bis body.

Drowning 3, Bonr- —ln Northern Europe it is regarded as a piece of good luck when sportsmen have the chance of a bear hunt in the depths of winter. On such occasions the northern Nimrods assemble in force and with great stir sally forth to slay the’great game- Sometimes, however, a bear hunt is conducted without ceremonies of anv kind; and the victim dies in the most ignoble way. Such was the case a few months ago, when a large bear was killed by a Finnish peasant, who had gone fishing with his little son on the Janisiarvi Lake in Finland. The bear had been doing much mischief in the district, and was on this quiet August morning taking a bath in the lake. The peasant had no sooner perceived this than he rowed toward the animal, caught it by the ear, and held it under water till it was drowned.

A Skilful Flatterer— Bob Van siyck called on a Madison avenue family, in which there are two old maiden sisters of about fifty years of age. Van Siyck is an old friend of the family and one of them being in a bantering mood said,— 11 Mr. Van Siyck, which of us do vou think is the oldest?" Van was in a dilemma. He did not like to hurt the feelings of either. He looked from one to the other, and asked.— “ You want roe to say which of vou two girls I think is the oldest " Just so.” . “ Neither of you looks older I ban the other. Each one of you girls looks younger than the other." Venomous Suakes - Much of the popular delusion concerning snakes is contradicted hy Itheem, of the Smithsonian Institute. The venomous honp-snako, which takes its tail in its mouth and rolls along like a hoop, and the blow-snake, the breath of which is deadly, exists only in the imagination. The idea that serpents sting with the tongue is erroneous. An impression prevails that the number of poisonous snakes is great, but in North America (here are hut three—the rattlesnake, the copp?rhe;vl ( ,r moccasin, and the coral. Snakes do no f tump; they reach suddenly forward —perhaps half the’ length of their bodies. In Australia the mo-l poisonous reptile is (he death adder, |