RANDOM THOUGHTS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 203, 23 February 1877, Page 13

RANDOM THOUGHTS.

A few months ago, I was sitting on a coach in Melbourne, previous to its starting for the country. As I had come early to secure the boxseat, I had plenty of leisure to study the people as they passed W"«d iro ; and an admirable vantage ground for anyone who takes a pleasure in studying the human physiognomy, and watching the manners, dresses, and habits of the crowd, is the box seat of a coach drawn up alongside the pavement. You can observe without, in many cases, being observed. You are placed high above the heads of the passing multitude, but not so high as to be beyond reach of seeing and noting the marked peculiarities of its members. A first loor window is generally too high, besides from this position you can Jiave only a passing view, unless you choose to stick your head out. of the window, a thing which no properly constituted person would, of course think of doing. But on the coach it is different. There, no one, whose eye you may chance to catch, can look back an expression ot what business have you to be staring at me ;it is very rude of you. jSow, who is there who Las ever been caught gazing with curiosity out of a wmdow^but has not felt rather taken aback, as if he fcacl been detected in the commission of some crime ? Have you never noticed the demonstrative efforts made by such people to catch sight of some person or thing in the distance ?— efforts which plainly say, Don t be alarmed, Mr. Passer-by" (these remarks, I wish to I if r e\l PPy Onl J tO the male Bex : bow the members of the other ■ j i i creatlon behave under such circumstances, or whether indeed, they are ever actuated by curiosity to look out of windows, I con t pretend to give an opinion— certainly, I never find them studyng character from the box seat of a coach), "I assure you, upon my ™ « ' °°- fc Bt , ar v!v g , at you " I believe ifc i 9 t0 «*" deling that we owe the origin of blinds. It is all nonsense to say that they are used to prevent people from staring into houses. That they are not Sn 8 w1 V r CCd h7h 7 the faCt tbat .l° U wiU 6ee fcLem on "Ps^irs wiSo^s wira h?a l M°? le £T QOt P °- SBiblj look - * allade > of course, to the Zf^ i ' t h ft BUbtle cont / l ™ nce b 7b 7 which the pedestrian is place J completely at the mercy of his housed brother. And it cannot be von t I h6J ShU i ° Ut , the Ti6W ° f y° ur °PP° Bite ne; g fl *>or, because you must remember they extend generally » few feet only up the window, leaving three-fourths for your neighbor's gaze. In fact they are just sufficiently high, so as to u llow themquisitive watcher to carry JJrJ'iSrriST? Pr n tlCe WhilSt S6at t • at Liß ca ' c'e ' a " d in caee "V^i ZLI l ,1 - g ?°? d °°T T ' . permit him in a momenfc fco ™se h » lioal beyond their hmits and obtain a clearer view. You generally see these abominable inventions in the houses of medical men. Did any 6 KITK l T- ° f dd ° C!OrS Wh ° lired °' > P° site *o each other without them? By this means one member of the faulty can always keep count of another's patients. It is very flittering to the patient to be thus locked after, but ceriainly not always very pleasant I Em ° nCe g /? lng tO a denfcißt *° have a *> otL d^-n. Unfortunately for me there was another of the same profession dire -My opposite- a new com, r, as well as I remember, on the scene-and mv SnlX?r 8 £ ° "Wj in lookin S af ter the patients of hi you^ rival that he screwed his forceps into the wrong tooth, which he had half-drawn before he found out his mistake. I may have a prejudice zK tbat m'teefc"alm ' teefc " al^ 8 a?J * £ one person, observe .11 his or her motions and S,e m™ bu in«° hTT °T, ', he 7 ° U^ h Wh ° Should be intent o» W« employer's business, but who will hang about to look at the coach and the £, as scon a 9 hl3 c a , Ting tttken in eve thi else, reaches yours Tl' in many cases immediately move off in a half guilty fashion On th» occasion I allude to the street was crowded, for it was briirh and sunny weather and the busiest time of the day, and there werf tIZ? immmm itaTable f^ ""^ 6tabl^ Lelp ' Untll dri » k had ?™Sed him incapable of any exertion whatever. He would tell this story and thus publish his disgrace and that of his family, to anyone^who he

never been there, because there was no ■ brandy there ; because if he liad gone there he would hare been compelled to observe some degree o£ cleanliness. If the saying" ''.put a beggar on horseback and h? iwiH. ride to the d 1" be true, it is no leas true that the. educated man when he gives way to evil courses, and falls down to degradation and poverty, very often becomes the meanest of beggars. • . '.• . . To what b&se uses we may return, Horatio, • • is as true of the living as of the dead. In these new colonies, examples similar to the above are, sad to say, not uncommon. The ranks of the old shepherds were often recruited- from them, and the gold fields also knew not afen of them. It was my' duty once, at the request of a closu fricid, to ferret out the hiding pla^o of one of these lost sheep, and the search brought me in contact with some choice specimens of humanity. The only information given to me was tint he was living in some very low publichouse in Melbourne. This did not aid me much in bucq a city as the capital of Victoria, and I was compelled to visit some strange habitations and see some curious character 3 before E ran my quarry _to earth. A friendly detective at last intimated to me that, there "was a man bearing the name of the one* l was -in search of, living in a publichouse in the very worst part of Little Burke street. " Thither I repaired at about 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning, found the place closed, but managed to effect an entrance by a side do.or, .left .unlocked, for the convenience of a thirsty neighborhood. I soon found mjself in the bar, and immediately enquired from a. decent enough looking man who was behind it, whether a " Mr.- Charles "lived there. "Yes," replied a hoarse voice from behind me, "I am Charley ." I turned and beheld what the thick clouds of" Tobacco smoke had prevented me from observing before: a row of men and women sitting on a form ranged along a black greasy wall," a\id," good heavens ! such men and women as they were. Drunken, filthy, • horrible, indeed, to look upon. With some difficulty £ induced " Charles -" te come outside, as I wished to speak to him privately. He objected at first in a feeble sort of manner, and his companions protested',- wifcb. 'many expletives, that I should say what I had to say there and then. Tne barman, however, cirae to my assistance, and in a few words directed — — to accompany me. Hs quietly obeyeJ, arid we walked into the yard attached to the hotel. As soon as ho was under the light, and I was enabled to scrutinise hi 3 features more closely, I was struck with •heir great beauty, though now spoiled by dissipation and suffering. He w.is v>ry thin and pale and nervous, and his large, dark?, ami luminous ?yes shone with a strange light from under finely peucilled eyebrows. I bad been told he had been a handsome man, but was not prep lie 1 for such striking fi-a'ures as now, after years of evil courses, presented them elves. He had set ut in life with every advantnge a man could desire ; but one accomplishment which he possessed in an eminent degree proved his ruin. He had displayed earlr a great love for music, and it had been judiciously cultivated. He was eagerly sought for by society. No company was complete without him. Late hours developed a taste for driuking ; and he sank gradually but surely from being the '• spoiled darling" of society to the position I found him in, viz., the -player of dance mu«ic for thieves and prosticutes in one of the worst parts of Little Burke street. After some conversation he softened somewhat, and talked a little about himself. He told me the landlady was- very kind to -him. I asked to see her, and found that, notwithstanding the position 6he occupied, she had a genuine feeling of pity for the poor musicun. I learned that evory -penny he got went in drink,- and- us I had- some money to spend on him in the best way I thought pos-ible, it was arranged wilh the landlady that I sh juld send him in some clothes. I was warned, however, not to send in a large quantity or he wouid pawn some of them. I saw him after thU'at intervals for a few months. His reserve and nervousness vanished when -with me, and he related many of his pa*t experiences; and how bitterly the poor fellow lamenteH his mis-spent life. One day I received a" message from the landlady that she wished to see me.- • I- went down, and she told me how the night befo c, "Charles " was at his post, as usual playing the'piano; how-, -when all the dance s had gone home, she was going round, as was her woi.t, putting out the lights and fastening the windows and doors ; how she obseived " Charles " sitting at the piano with his "head bent forward, nnd his -hands at rest on the key bjard, that she paid no a' tent ion, as it was ofien a custom of his to sit in that manner whilst the lights were being -put -out, but remaining longer than usual she called out to him to go to b-d. He 'made no response, so she, thinking he had fallen -asleep, went up and shook him. by the shouiikr, and found to her horror that she was trying to awaken a corpse. The dancers had gone to th ir homes, and fie poor musician had gone to his last home. - The landlady told me of ibis sad ending with genuine sorrow. She was an old woman with, I remember, exceedingly white hair, and - seemed to have had quite a motherly feeling for the " poor gentleman "as she called him. .Nothing would satisfy her until I consented to see him in his offiu ; to see how beautiful he looked, and how nicely she had laid him out.- His funeral took pace the next day, and the mourners consisted of the landlady, her son, and myself, and I believe that old woman, whose way of life was anything but reputable, offered up a sincere prayer for the repose of the soul of the " poor gentleman." X.ST Z.

In the chapel of the magnificent Convent of Trim, county of Meatb, there has just been erected, over the high altar, a, stained glass window, the munificent gift of Miss Gorey, of Trimleston lac central picture is the Assumption of the Blessed Vir»in on crimson and amber clouds, an.d surrounded and upborne by a°troupe of venerating angels. The figure.on the left is that of St. Joseph with the Divine Child in his arms, and on the right is St. Patrick, in bishop s robes, and with the mitre on his brow. This massive window, with its richness of colors so varied, and yet so harmoniously blended, is a great addition to the chapel, and mellows what might otherwise be deemed the cold effect of the marble" altar erected some time ago. It is pleasant to record the charity of the Jady. who has thus contributed to the outward splendor of religion twd helped to make the new chapel of the good Sisters worthy of their splendid convent. - *