WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue III, 19 January 1895, Page 56

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

It is not what we earn, bat what we save, that makes as rich. It is aot what we read, but what we remember, that makes us learned.— Landon.

Gentleness in society is like the silent influence of light, which gives colour to all nature ; it is far more powerful than loudness or force, and far more fruitful. Smiles.

The drafts which true genius draws upon posterity, although they may not always be honoured as soon as they are due, are sure to be paid with compound interest in the end.— Cotton.

111-directed genius torments and harasses a community ; it again and again perils the position of the possessor; it is well if it do not eventually wreck his fortunes and blast his name — Sir W. W. Follett.

The mind is the man. If that be kept pure, a man signifies somewhat If not, I would fain see what difference there is between a man ami a beast, save that the man has the greater power for the larger mischief.— Oliver Cromwell. He who recklessly injures his health does not thus prove his unselfishness. He simply curtails his powers of doing good ; and he who injures his character by welcoming evil influences is thereby inflicting a still greater evil npon the community.

Carrying Gold at Sea.—On an ocean steamer the specie locker is a carefully constructed vault, and is situated in the stern immediately over the screw. 1c has the shape of a halt-oval, following the contour of the side of the vessel, and is generally about six feet in its extreme from top to bottom. Some vaults are fifteen to twenty feet in length, fore and aft. The interior is reached by a door or hatchway from the top, simply large enough to give convenient access. The door is of steel, and has a combination lock, which is known only to the purser. Over this hatch are also fastened three bars of steel, two and a-half inches thick, which swing at one end on hinges, and are locked and also bolted at the other. The locker is in the most suitable part of the ship, as it is away from the crew, and cannot be tampered with, as on three sides of it is the sea. The purser receives the gold, which is shipped in bags or in kegs, carefully examines the seals, then checks off the weights, and assumes the responsibility for it.

Phrases From Scott and Others —ln spite of Scott’s continued popularity, few people remember that from ‘ Old Mortality ’ we have • A sea of upturned faces,’ and Byron is never thanked for * Flesh and blood can’t bear it.’ Tne • most humorons and least exemplary of British parsons’ is known to have thought • They order things better in France ’ and • God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,’ but we seldom credit him with • I saw the iron enter into his sonl.’ Yet that keen*image of grief, so often on onr lips, may also be found in the * Sentimental Journey.’ Cowper is comparatively little read —the immortal • John Gilpin ’ always excepted—-therefore we may be forgiven if the source of ‘ Hand and Glove ’ or • Her dear five hundred friends ’ has slipped our memories. The same may be said of Rogers’s •To know her was to love her,’ Congreve’s * Married in haste and repent at leisure,’ Farquhar’s * Over the hills and far away,’ and Southey’s ■ March of intellect.’ Sir Philip Sidney, who was poet, philosopher, and, best of all, hero, should share a better fate. How many can tell that it was he who first said in English, • God helps those who help themselves.

Small Men and Women.—A photographer who has been very successful in representing children at their best, says they should not be dressed and crimped and curled with a view to effect. What is wanted is a natural picture. A carefully studied pose may be very • sweet,’ but it is pernicious from the artistic point of view. • Show the gentleman how pretty you can look,’ urges the fond mother. * Sit just as you did at home for papa.’ And the poor infant, willing enough to oblige, but desperately shy in showing off a monkey trick in an unaccustomed place, goes through his little performance with the air of a martyr, or with a hard, obstinate look creeping over the baby face. It is hopeless to obtain a satisfactory photograph under such circumstances, just as it is hopeless to make a likeness which suggests lite and vivacity when a child is of the stolid, expressionless kind. When such a child is ushered into the studio, sits exactly where it is told to sit, never moves a muscle, or shows a sign of sympathetic interest when attempts are made to play with it, the photographer’s heart sinks. He will get a good likeness; the features, the clothes, the attitude will be exactly reproduced, bnt there will be no life in the picture. It frequently happens that the children have been so much talked to abont the photographer that they regard him as they do the dentist who periodically pulls out teeth. Their dread of the ordeal to come is fatal to the production of a really good photograph.

The Seven Bibles of the World —The seven Bibles of the world are the Koran of the Mohammedan, the Tri Pitikes of the Buddhists, the Five Kings of the Chinese, the Three Vedas of the Hindus, the Zendavesta of the Persians, the Eidas of the Scandinavians, and the Scriptures of the Christian. The Koran is the most recent of all, dating from about the seventh century after Christ. It is a compound of quotation from both the Old and New Testaments, and from the Talmud. The Tri Pitikes contain sublime mmals and pure aspirations. Their author lived and died in the sixth century before Christ. The sacred writings of the Chinese are called the Five Kings, the word * kings ’ meaning web of cloth. From this it is presumed they were originally written on five rolls of cloth. They contain wise sayings on the duties of life, but they cannot be traced further back than the eleventh century before onr era. The Vedas are the most ancient books in the language of the Hindus, but they do not, according to lite commentators, antedate the twelfth century before the Christian era. The Zendavesta of the Persians, next to onr Bible, is reckoned among scholars as being the greatest and most learned of the sacred writings. Zoroaster, whose sayings it contains, lived and worked in the twelfth centnry before Christ. Moses lived and wrote the Pentatench fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ; therefore that portion of onr Bible is at least three hundred years older than the most ancient of other sacred writings. The Eddas, a semi-sacred work of the Scandinavians, was given to the world in the fourteenth century.