In The Smoke Room

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue V, 30 July 1898, Page 146

In The Smoke Room

Those who look for coincidences will i>e interested in knowing that the day before the burning of Spurgeon’s Tabernacle, during the Pastor’s College Conference, Mr Charles Spurgeon read the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, containing the phrase, ‘For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire,’ and concluding, ‘For our God is a consuming fire.’ His brother, Mr Thomas Spurgeon, entitled his presidential address, ‘No Strange Fire,’ while one of the questions that had been addressed to the conference in a circular had been, ‘ltoes the fire burn brightly on the altar?’ The Rev. John M’Neill, the missioner, who was due at the Tabernacle next week, used as his motto for his last Sunday’s lecture, ‘Turn and burn,’ a phrase borrowed from Baxter. But perhaps the most extraordinary coincidence of all is the apparent fulfilment of the prediction in Old Moore’s Almanack—‘About the middle of the month (April) the destruction of a famous building by fire may be expected. Insurances will cover the actual cost, but historical associations, alas! have no money equivalent.’—Daily Chronicle.

A French newspajjer has discovered that there was no such thing as a battle at Atbara, that the story of the fight was a mere invention. This journal, which is very widely read in France, remarks: —‘How very annoying English papers are, with their long glowing descriptions of the English soldiers’ victories over the Dervishes. Do they imagine that anyone believes them capable of killing 1,000 Dervishes and wounding four times as many? Nonsense. This is absolutely untrue. The story was simply got up in order to satisfy the amour pro](re.trff the nation,which could not get over the ignominious defeats inflicted on its army by a. handful of savage Afridis. It is easy enough to explain how such incredible hoaxes can be palmed on the British public. As no correspondents are allowed to accompany the Sirdar’s army, and the Dervishes have no wires of their own, John Bull can say anything he likes.’ The throne room of Spain is deseribed as a magnificent apartment of crimson and gold, with colossal mirrors and a chandelier of rock crystal that is considered the finest example of the kind in the world. Under the gorgeous canopy are two large chairs, handsomely carved and gilded, and upholstered in crimson brocade. Upon these the Queen Regent and the boy King sit upon occasions of ceremony. It isjiaid that the last person in England t o wear that curious fashion of head dress common in George IlT.’s time, a pigtail, was an old gentleman (a centenarian), who died but a few months ago in the East End of London. With his queer little queue of white hair, nattily tied behind with a knot of blue ribbon, his corded kneebreeches, and low buckle shoes, a large flowered waistcoat down to his hips,and plum-coloured open coat that showed the big frilled shirt and tight stock, the old man was a picturesque feature a mid squalid surrounings. He had been considered quite a dandy in his youth. He was very vain of his tail, and often prided himself, in his weak, quavering voice, of being ‘the only gentleman left that was dressed as a real gentleman should be.’ The making of cigarettes has always lieen an occupation suited to feminine fingers, and a greatmany women have achieved in private life much skill in the rolling of these articles for their husbands and brothers long before they began to think of making them for their own use. This suggested, some ten or twelve years ago, to a certain lady well-known in society, the possibility of turning her skill in this matter in a direction which would prove useful. She started cigarette making on a small scale, and secured the promise of patronage from a number of the West End clubs, as well as from certain co-operative societies, Iler cigarettes were well and carefully made. She began to get a ready markiit for them, and to employ the services of other women in making them. In the course of a very few years she was making an excellent income by her business, and other ladies all over

the country were fast following her example. Cigarette making is an excellent home money-making occupation, because it can be carried on with ease in any house, however small, and requires no capital for machinery, implements, etc. In Germany, the man who loses both his hands accidentally can claim the whole of his life insurance money, if he be insured, on the ground that he has lost the means of maintaining himself. A loss of the right hand reduces the claim to from 50 to 80 per cent, of the total.

Three years ago (says an American journal) we didn’t know what golf was in this country. In Scotland they have played it for 450 years. They are playing it this season with clubs made in America. A single Chicago firm has shipped to Scotland 10,000 golf sticks in a few months, and has orders for 15,000 more. Cricket—well, we have played cricket more or less for some years, but never with the true British zest. Nevertheless, the best cricket bats and balls are now made in the. United States and shipped to •the tight little island. The average Boer seems to be a painfully polite sort of person, if we may judge from an advertisement which appears in a recent issue of the ‘Krugersdorp Sentinel.’ It is placed under the heading of ‘Death—Smit,’ and runs thus: —‘On the 28th inst., Amy Jane Mary Smit, eldest daughter of Jane and William Smit, aged 1 day 2i hours. The bereaved and heartbroken parents beg to tender their hearty thanks to Dr. Jones for his unremitting attention during the illness of the deceased, and for the moderate brevity of his bill. Also to Mrs Williams for the loan of clean sheets, to Mr Wilson for running for the doctor, and to Mr Robinson for recommending mustard plaster.’ Such comprehensive gratitude is not often met with.

A German doctoir has started la theory that most drunkards can be cured by a very simple and pleasant course of treatment, namely, by eating apples at every meal. He says that apples, if eaten in large quantities, possess properties which entirely do away with the craving that all confirmed drunkards have for drink. Mr Cecil Rhodes, says ‘Cassell’s Saturday Journal,’ considers himself a very good charact erf-reader from facial expression, and has declared that he hardly ever varies his first opinion of a person. Not many months ago a friend of his presented a young man to him in the hope that the youth might find favour and so secure a good post of some kind or other. The youth was considerably gratified by Mr Rhodes’ reception of him, but the friend was not satisfied. ‘The chief never smiles like that at a face he fancies,’ was his comment. And it subsequently proved a true forecast. Unquestionably the army of ladies who smoke cigarettes is a rapidlyincreasing one, and we have been at some pains this month, says an English Exchange, to secure expert evidence on the matter—by which we mean testimony of manufacturers who have devoted special attention to the subject. They are unanimous on the general question, viz., in testifying to the rapidity with which the practice has spread, but there are differences of opinion on points of detail. Some believe that feminine cigarette smokers are seldom to be found outside the higher classes of society, while others consider that there is a goodly percentage of female workers who smoke.— ‘Tobacco.’

Baden-Baden, once the great gambling resort of Europe, since abolishing her gambling tables has rebounded to the other extreme and is offering ‘blue laws’ as an attraction to visitors, two of whom were recently stopped by the police from purchasing flowers on Sunday. ‘Personal observation has taught me.’ said a Cuban cigar dealer, ‘that not one person in a hundred knows how to smoko a cigar to enjoy it thoroughly. For instance, most men, after buying their cigars, stick them between their teeth and gnaw the ends off recklessly, thereby tearing and loosening the wrapper. Then they light their cigars and puff away as if their very lives depended upon finishing them in a hurry. Thus treated, the finest cigar will burn irregularly, and the smokers will, nine times out of ten. lay the blame on the cigar. The cigar may be to blame, but in most eases the fault lies in the wav it has been handled.