AFTER TEA.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17078, 16 April 1927, Page 8

AFTER TEA.

AN OCCASIONAL YARN. vu WHAT MOTORISTS LEARN.,»* (By “Seeker.") Motoring papers contain frequent outcries against pettifogging prosecutions for insignificant breaches of the law. In England it has even been suggested that ambitious constables go out of their way to entrap victims, hoping thereby to win llicir stripes. The motor is doing much good in teaching the rich what the poor have long known —that the Law is “a hass” when it is conscientious and something far worse when it is not. Horse-racing and Superstition. Without any desire to rival the sporting editor, I crave permission to present a report of one of the most exciting horse-races of all. time. It occurred about 1600 years/ago. Saint Jerome tells the story in his life of Saint Hilarion.

It appears that a Christian named Italicus was accustomed to race horses against the pagan Duumvir of Gaza, and that this latter personage invariably gained the victory by means of magical rites which stimulated his own horses and paralysed those of his opponent. The Christian, in despair, iiad recourse to Saint Hilarion. The saint appears to have been at first somewhat startled at the application, and rather shrank from participating actively in horse-racing, but Italicus at last persuaded him that the cause was worthy of his intervention, and obtained a bowl of water, which Hilarion himself had consecrated, and which was therefore endowed with a peculiar virtue. At length the day of the races arrived. The chariots were placed side by side, and the spectators thronged the circus. As the signal for the start was given Italicus sprinkled his horses with holy water, immediately the chariot of the Christian ilew with a supernatural rapidity to the goal, while the horses of his adversary faltered and staggered, as if they had been struck by an invisiblte hand. The circus rang with wild cries of wonder, of joy, or of anger. Some called for the death oft the Christian magician, but many others abandoned paganism in consequence of the miracle. I reproduce th'e account as abridged in Lecky’s “History of the Rise of Rationalism in Europe”—a book which my friends avoid, imagining it to be .stfodgy 1 We would regard it as superstitious in these days to sprinkle holy water on a rank outsider in the hope of pulling off a big dividend. But con we afford to laugh at those early Christians? Do we not constantly meet folk who imagine they can "beat the books” and come out winners after paying the “tote” its 10 per cent, on every bet? For rank superstition it would be hard to beat the present age. But Mabel says that when she backs a horse she expects to lose, and she likes it! Fortunate girl! There is no limit to her happiness so long as she has anything to lose. White Collars and Culture. The daring assertion that the work of the Workers’ Education Association was of higher value to the community than that of the University -itself was made by Mr J. W. Shaw, M.A., ol Auckland, who gave the free lecture Under the auspices of the Association at Hamilton on Saturday night. The university colleges, he said, had become largely professional schools. More important than the education which qualified men and women to take a degree or to enter a more lucrative occupation was that which widened and enriched the minds and lives of the people. While people were being trained for the professions in the cloisters of the University, the Workers’ Education Association went out info the highways and byways and offered the great gift of culture to all. At the close of the lecture Mr F. A. dc. la Mare, a member of the Council of the University of New Zealand, remarked that lie could not wholly agree with Mr Shaw, but lie considered the University would not be fulfilling its function if it allowed its cultural work to lie overshadowed by the professional courses. This friendly tilling was interesting, but quite beside the point. It is onlj right that the young people at ihe University should he chiefly concerned with preparing Ihcmselvcs for their life’s work, while not neglecting the higher things that enable them to see life as a whole and to understand brother man and sister woman. Rather too many are wasting time, at the university colleges and high schools, learning a perfectly useless smattering of Latin and French which someone inflicts upon them as culture. A measure of wood-sawing or ploughing would give more culture to those who imagine that by qualifying for a while-collar job they are becoming quite supeiror people. The greatest fault to be found with the high schools and the university colleges alike is not that they have too little regard for culture, but that they tend to give a wrong notion of culture as something dissociated- from all toiling and soiling pursuits. The later life of Leo Tolstoy was one long protest against this idea of culture, and to-day that protest is echoed all over the world. But the false ideal still has a strong hold. Only slowly are high schools and universities changing their methods in accord with the spirit of a wider humanity. But Die beginnings of a change arc to be seen. The workshop and the farm are finding a place in the college. At the same time the Workers’ Educational Association is bringing the college within reach of those who toil in the workshop or on the farm.

From an Indian Poot.

India’s world-famed poet thus makes his protest against the false culture to which his countrymen arc specially addicted — . j .

“Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in ■ this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see that thy C.od is not before thee! “He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put oiT thy holy mantle, and even like him come down on the dusty soil. “Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever. “Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in the sweat of thy brow.” —Rabindranath Tagore in “Gitanjali” (Song Offerings).