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Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 84, 14 November 1872, Page 3

(h'u Skkmoxs "Too long," savs someone; "too long by half." "Too dull," says another. " Ought to be as lively as an art icle in a magazine, or a leader in a .newspaper, and are not." And flk' press, reflecting, savs the (Ji'icef, the general feeling, takes up its pirable against us, and sermonizes the senuonizers, giving advice which is presumably wholesome,', because it is unquestionably unpalatable. jN\>w, "there is reason in roasting eggs," they say; and surely (here ought, to be reason and reasonable limits in roasting parsons. P>uL this popular diversion is so much in vogue jtisl. now, that it will have ils turn as oilier diversions have. .However, let us see what may be .-aid on the other side . . . As to the length of our sermons. We grant that it is a. most serious fault to he wearisorfte. for where wearisomeness begins edification ends, and an overloug sermon is sure to be wearisome. Yet let our readers consider that a certain length of tune is requisite lor the clear and orderly and full statement, of any subject of importance, and that different subjects cannot al\\a_\s he handled in exactly the same space of time. If one of you were writing a business-letter, in which it was necessary that correct' information and distinct, impressions should be conveyed, you would not like to be told that you must be confined to one side of a sheet oI note-paper. \ou know thai the result would be obscurity and eonlusion. Compression is a i_ r ood thirg in its way, but tor a popular discourse" a certain amount of diil'uscness is absolutely necessary. Von might take, thev tell us, the whole substance of your dinner in a simri'e pill; but I question if your digestion would be the heller for it.; and certainly your condor! would no! be consulted I hereby. We say, then, give us time : not too much, but enough. You want, it yourselves when you compose a business letter, when you make a speech in committee or in a vestry hall. Give us time--a fair amount of if to say what we have to say in. l<et us feel that we have li.'om enough to turn oitrselves round in, without being haunted by the uncomfortable persuasion that we are jealous! v watched, and shall be blamed, if after we have consumed our scanty allowance of niinuk's, we should, like Olliver Twist, occasionally "ask for more.''

I'rolVssor Tyndall thus gives his experience of a shock of electricity by which he was rendered insensil lo :— Some time ago 1 happened to stand in the presence of ;i numerous audience with a battery of lo large Leyden jars charged beside inc. Through some awkwardness o-i jny part, 1 ttmched a wire leading from a battery, and the discharge went through my body. Lite was absolutely blotted out for a very short interval, without a trace of pain. Li a second or so, consciousness returned ; 1 saw myself in the presence of the audience and apparatus, and lij the help of these cxterii.il appearances- inuneuiately concluded that 1 had received the battery discharges. The intellectual consciousness of mv position was restored with exceeding rapidity , but not so the optical consciousness. To prevent the audience from being alarmed, I observed that it had often been my desire to receive accidentally such a shock, and that my wish had at length been fullilled. But while making this remark, the appearance •which my body presented to myself was that of a number of separate pieces. The anus, for example, were detached from the body, and seemed suspended in the air. In fact, thought and "the power of reasoning appeared to be complete long before the optic nerve was brought to healthy action. But what I wish chietly to remark upon here is the absolute painlessness of the shock ; and there cannot Lc a doubt that to a person struck dead by lightning, the passage from life to death occurs without consciousness. It is an instant stoppage of sensation. A most sensational Corsiean revenge came before the tribunals. A young and beautiful lady finding her husband unfaithful shot him through the heart. The story of her wrongs so wrought upon the feelings of the jury that she was unanimously acquitted, and the people of Ajaceio rang the church bells' and fired salvos of artillery. The narrative of ihc proceedings, including speeches of counsel and other details, occupied several columns ot the Fiijaro. A faitsiul translation was made for the English Standard, and it appeared at less length in several other papers. It now turus out that the whole trial was a hoax concocted for the lormer journal, ai ;in illustration of the tcucliing oi 21. Dumiu.

j SlcVvs AM) TOKKXS.—Of. llii! signs and tokens of dealh there is no end. The crowing of a hen is a .-lire forerunner, Isj ii< also llii: squeaking of :i mouse behind a bedstead. Jl a ! e.iw breaks into your garden, there will be a deatii in the i liimilv within six month.-*; if u pigeon enters a house, a j chiid\v;il infallibly die. When a death takes place all the j doors and wu.dows should be uulasteucd, as in many parts j I of the country it i- thought that the first pains of purgatory ! sire'initiated by the soul squeezing through the clo-ed doors. j We have something like this imSiVifi'a- ".Journey from this j World to the .Next." where the spirit.*, conversing on their I way to the throne of " .Micros," relate to each oilier how | thev had !<> wait till an open door or window in the house in j ; w.iich the death had t.i'.en place, enabled fh'em to get live j from it. Every one knows the Celtic superstition of the : '• fi.-1.c1i," or appearance of one's double, being an immediate | forerunner of a violent death. There arc' very few of the ; peasantry, or indocif-of the better elesses who (lo riot believe

r tirmly in the '• liausliee," or that its wail will not bring ; death or misfortune to the hou.se near which it is heard. There is ari-old belief that no one can die on a bed containing game feathers ; and anothe.i, that has some amount of truth in il, that death must take place at (he turn of the lido ..Shake p"'are common.ex'ates this in Madame Quickley's account, of .halntal'i" s death, "a" parted even ju.-t between twelve and one, even at turning o' the tide." JJiekons, too. in '• David Coppcrlield," makes old J'arlue's spirit go out with Ihc ride. Those arc some of Ihn most, comiiiiili beliefs and superstitions which are to he found in England. To turn now to a more distant and less enlightened country: the observances among the Chinese are the more extraordi-

■ narv from there being carried out, under the .-auction of l'ej ligion. ,\o C'hinnian will open a shop, mappy a wile, without j lir.it ''chin chinning Joss," as lie is termed, and casting lots lo see if the "gods" are propitious or otherwise. The . method of carrying this out is as follows : each temple ill China has belonging tb it about a hundred stanzas of poetry : pelating lo a variety of subjects > each stanza is numbered ' ami printed ou a separate piece at paper; in addition to J this, Ihei-e ape a quantity of lots made of bamboo slips about. I eight, inches long, and eoppesponding to the number of ; stanzas, a ltd referring to them by number. The individual j who wishes to make application Lo the "god" presents liiiu- | self hefoi-e his image oil his knees, and aftep pepfopmiiig the , " ro-too," by- toKehirw the gpound with his head nine limes, ! states'his" inline and- residence, the object of his inquiries, [ and, whether 011 his own oranofehcp's account, he then takes ! a bamboo lube containing the lots,- niid shakes it gentlv beI'opc the idol until! a slip falls to the ground. lie then*rises fpom his kuess and jiicks up this .slip, and places it so that the "god" can see-the number of the lot wpitten 011 il,; he then lakes two pieces of wood, each having a .round and 6 Hal. ,sid( r called a " k-ipou.! ?" afler jjassing these througli liie incense, lie tosses them inlo the air before the idol, if they fall so that both round sides tire uppermost, the answer is negative and everything is impropitious ; it' they fall with one round ami one tlat side up, tlm answer i.-j iu the affirmative, and the man may go 011 his way rejoicing. When a Chinaman dies, and his berenved relatives wish to eonimunieate with him, a medium is employed.. These mediums are females, and are of two classes'. One of them processes to'obtain and transmit the news required, by means of a very diminutive image made of the wood of the willow tree. The image is first exposed to the dew for forty-nine nights, when after the performance of certain Ceremonies it is believed fa) have the power of speaking. The image is laid upon the stomach of the woman to whom it belongs, and she by means of it pretends to be the medium of communication between the dead ami the living. She sometimes sends the image into the world of .spirits to find the person about whom intelligence is sought ; it then changes into an elf op sprite, and ostensibly departs' 011' its errand. The spirit of the person enters the i'm'age', iiml gives the information sought aftef by the surviving relatives. The' woman is supposed liot to utter a v, o'rtl, the message seeming to proceed from the imag'e. The questions are addressed to the incdi'um', the replies appear to come from her stoiifach'; there is probably a kind of ventriloquism employed, and the fact that voice appears to proceed from the stoma'clr TuidtnfbfcetUy assists the delusion ; any way, there fti'e scotcs aiVtl stiot'es of these mediums i'mplieitly believed in, and' widows who desire to communicate with their deceased husbands,- or puopl t e who desire any information about a future state, invariably resort to tli'eip aiti. — Itdtjntrbi,. The Calcutta, JZuiffixkmftit stafes that at a recent, meeting ol Iht' .Asia,l ie Society of I'eiififal a paper was read I'tv Hiitiu Klijendralala .Mill pa 011 lite use of beef in Ancient India. JI e surprised the audience by stilling that, according lo old Sanskrit works' fhe Ifimloos we're a beef-eal iug anil becr-effink-ing race. In the opinion of the lcctupei' beef-eating was common among the JJi'alunius until the lii'st ccnturv he lb it Christ, and " was sel aside only to hike the wind out of the snils of the lSiuldhists by making fhe' riles of llindooism (p ! tife as humane as ol the other." The oldest, authoritv, pro- . hibiling I he use ol heel dots not ttalo the seVeuih' Century of our era. According to (he ISomha/j (jazc/h l , some of (lie coolies who return Irom the West Indies ami Mauritius bring good round sums of money back with them. One'returned lately with -Rid sovereigns in hard coin. Another, who had gout!

to the West Indies eight, or nine years stjjjo, lately sailed thence wil-k his family lor England, and finally look sceondelass psvssages lbr tlunn all to India ii'i one of the L\ irrid O. Company's steamers. On landing in his own country he was slill the happy owner of NOO sovereigns. The views of the Emperor Napoleon oil the coming meeting of Emperors are given to the World by a- correspondent, of the Dailif Tehyrtiji/i, who had, lie says, Ihe honor of an interview with his Majesty at Brighton on Sunday. It was agreed by all present (the writer does not say-how the company was made up) that there /.v a meaning in the Imperial liieeting -that the Emperors are not actuated siihply bv motives of private friendship. Germany and Austria.mav very well be willing to be on good terms with Russia" so long lis she consents not in any way to intcrferc'with their wishes. The moment, however, that Kussia feels strong enough to recall this consent, Germany and Austria will not have the means of purchasing it of her — "Permit me to ask, Sire," said one of the party, " whether your Ma jesty thinks Prince Bismark may have been anxious that the three. Jiuiperors should meet for the express purpose of isolating Prance and crippling her as much as possible ?" "It is impossible for nie to know," replied the Emperor, what the precise object of their Imperial Majesties may be. If you suspect that the position of Eram-e may form an important matter to be taken into consideration by the Conference, it is well you should consider what is the actual condition of that country at this moment—whether thd're' isanything in the conduct of the Government which might form a. pretext for Germany to take any such precautions as those you imagine." " Sire," observed an English gentleman, "to Germany it must appear almost a certainty that France will never submit to the misfortunes which be lel her—that, she is straining every nerve to revenge the insults to which she has been subject—and consequently that the peace professions of AL Thiers nurst be valued accordingly." " Words are nothing when they are contradicted by acts," returned his Majesty, with marked emphasis. "When I was at the head of the army, M. Thiers was furious if I proposed to spend an extra l'rane upon it. Yet M. Thiers, who declared against the slightest additional outlay then, has increased the cost of (lie army by 100,000,000f.; besides which he has spent Jil'ly or sixty millions of francs witho'iitany authority whatever. M. Thiers protests that he is all for peace, (hat Erauee has 110 intention of going to war, that his one object now is to develop the trade and commerce' of the country. A cry well. These are liis words. What do we see ? All his acts shew that he lias a design af going to war in two or three years- So mu"h for his professions of pence. And how hoes he propose to develop the resources of the country and extend its trade ? By a system, of protection." " Av ill your Majesty allow me to inquire whether you regard the approaching Conference as daugerous to the peace oi Europe?" said one of the part} - . " As I have observed," was the reply, " I have 110 special means of knowing what is the nrecise object which their Imperial Majesties may contemi lute, but I do not think t! d .meeting can be regarded as dangerous to the pease of Europe."