Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 10, 29 June 1888, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

W» give in another place the leading articles on the TMH BEPTILB Papal decree published by the three principal PBBBB. national organs, namely United Ireland, the Nation, and the Weekly Freeman, Our readers will be thus able to see for themselves what wan the impression producod in Ireland by the document referred to. At the time these articles were written, however, the Papal utterance had not been promulgated by the Irish bishops and had therefore come to the knowledge of the country in no authoritative manner and merely as a piece of news. The authoritative view taken of it by the hierarc ly we have yet to learn— for we have only received as yet the imperfect and uncertain information sent by cable to this Colony, and more fully, but still more or less doubtfully, to the Australian Press. We accept in advance the decision of the Irish bishops, and anything we ourselves have to say on the subject before that reaches us, we say with all due reservations, and so that it may be t.ken for what it ia worth. The anti-Irish Press, however, has not been concerned about waiting to hear the decision of the theologians principally interested and capable of making the right interpretation.— lt has given the benefit of its light in a very determined manner and pronounced as to all the bearings of the decree with the utmost co .fi lenc-s. We may take the London Times as our first example. The Times is as avthorituive on tho r».att< ras if he were not only an iniiaiaie adviser of (he Pope's but a sharer as well in his Holiness s infallibility. He swears that the decree is to be accepted in its very letter aad that no one but a bad Catholic ein refnse to receive it as an infallible condemnation of the methods of the League. It is moreover some at hat sun^sstive to find t iat the Times does not look upon the authority of the Pope as only a thing to inf uence Catholics. He seems to acknowledge that it is of importance to the non-Catholic world also and, as his anti-Catholic principles ar« notorious, the admission made by him is notable •' Amonp Gladstonians," he says, " the Pope's assertion of the moral law will produce an equally unpleasant impression. They cannot escape from the fact that, on abroad question of ethics, the Pope, appealing to the universal conscience, condemns tho practices which they first tolerated and then learned to defend." An appeal by tlie Popa, on questions of ethics, to the universal conscience, is, therefore, according to the \Timm, of high importance, and such as men who acknowledge no allegiance to the Pope cannot neglect without incurring une»sines> of mind. And surely this acknowledgment from the leading Protestant and anti-Papal organ of England is remarkable. Is there, indeed, some lurking suspicion in even extreme Protestant and anti-Papal quarters that the claims of the Pope are not altogether without grounds The Times approves completely of Mgr. Persico's investigations and is ready to back up that prelate as the most prudent, the most penetrating, and the most exemplary of all ecclesiastics. Mgr. Persico could not by any means have made a mistake— and, if such an impossibility could have occurred, the Archbiahop of Dublin at Rome must necessarily have set it right, The writer in the Times, in fact, might have been the traditional little bird that knows all about everything, for had he been hopping around the Pope's council chamber in such a character, he could not be more fully and accurately informed than he is. And the Tinea, again, who acknowledges the right of the Pope to consideration when he appeals on ethical points to the universal conscience, is also jealous as to the dignity of the Pope. He is quite overcome at its being hinted thatany quidproqm has been offered to his Holiness. But, unfortunately for his argument, he shows the clovan foot first, and then spoils his conclusions altogether by a contradictory slip. Having savagely condemned the suggestion that the Pope had been offered some equivalent by the Salisbury Government, as implicating his Holiness in crime and infamy, he continues thus :— " He (the Pope) at least, must be well aware of the necessary limitations of English action towards himself. In the first place, it would be quite impossible for this coun'ry to lend its sane ion to any movement for the restoration of the temporal power. In the second, it is equally impossible for this country to take any step whatever in respect of the Pope that does not command the full assent and approval of the Italian Government," It seems, after all. that it is

rather the interests and prejudices of United Italy that are to b« considered than the dignity of the Pope, The nature of the Pope'i dignity in bhort, as the Times values it, is made evident in the following passage :— " From these two conditions there is no escaping, and if while they are observed aud the Protestant feeling of this country is respected, there is any gratification which an English Goverme&t can offer the Pope, we may at least feel certain that it can involve no onerous liabilities." The Salisbury Government, in a word, would shrink from offending the dignity of tb* Pope by offering him any equivalent that would me«t with the disapprobation of the Italian Government, but, if Holiness would accept anything not liable to such an objection, they would do -heir best to place it at his disposal. Under the circumstances, it is evident that the Pope may utter the old cry, " Defend me from my friends." If the sting of the article is not in its Uil, meanwhile, we, at least, find there the explanation & the deep inteiest taken by the writer in the morality of the League's methods, and the true reason why he ieioicea in the belief that the Pope has pronounced an infallible condemnation of those methods. Like all the party he represents, he is perfectly indifferent to th« morality of the matter, except in so far as it beats on its political aspects, and, like thens. also, he only condemns the rapacity sanctioned by murder, of which he accuses the League, in order to sup. port tbu rapacity sanctioned by murder which really exists and which is a very accurate definition of landlordism and the system of Government by which it has always been maintained. His conclusion is this :— " While the mortal blows dealt at the League by strong administration ure this followed up by the Poped vigorous attack upon its moral pcsition, Unionists are iv.mmded ia another quarter that their struggle is not by auv means at an end. The Mid Lanark election cannot be regarded as possessing any particular diagnostic value. It is not the sort of constituency to which we should turn for a fair average opinion about Home Rule Still wo bay« to take note of the fact thnt the Gladstcnian candidate lias been returned with a slightly increased majority, aDd that the labour candidate polled in addition some Bix hundred votes. It is probable not that these could in any case hava been secured for the Gladstonian ; still, the position of the Unionist cause cannot be said to be improving in that particular constituency." Unless the power of the Papacy therefore, can be made use of to crush the movement, Home Rule must be victorious, Ia it any wonder that the Times does all that inepressible hatred and contempt will admit of to uphold the Papal decree as an infallible utterance f

Wb have given the ideas of the principal organ of lbsskb the Tories as to the Papal decree. Bat, since it is BBrriLES. impossible for us to go regularly through the whole

lot of Tory organs according to their various degrees, we shall conteDt ourselves with one other example taken from an opposite extreme, that is the Whitehall Rtvien, which appears to us to be about the lowest and most scurrilous organ of the party. Its editor is a Mr. Keith Angus, who informs the world in a cotice published in the middle of his paper, that be alone ia accountable for all that appears in its columns, and a pretty accountability it is. We conclude Mr. Keith Amgus is a brother or ntrtr relative of that Father George Angus, who, on desertiug the ministry of the Presbyterian Kirk for the priesthood of the O»tholio Church, was apparently unable to free himself from the stock calumnies against the Cnurch, entertained by him in his Evangelical days, and still continues to believe that the Church limite the decalogue to nine commandments, and that one of her axioms is, " The end justifies the means." Father Angus, at least, cuts out the commandment forbidding false witness, and practically proves that he thinks •very thing lawful whose end is the vilification of his Irish fellow* Catholics. If Mr. Keith Angus, is not the brother or near relative of Father George, he deserves to be so. And, as Father George merits the place of gallows chaplain to the anti-Irish Government, Mr. Kuith in like manner merits that of gallowa undertaker. We can fancy tho zest with which he would cut down the body of the executed patriot and dispose of it in the most ignominious way possible. Hli whole paper teems with allusions to the hangman, in which functionary he evidently takes a great delight. Mr. K«itk Angus thea tells us that Mgr. Peraico together with Bishops O'Dwyer and Healy are to be thanked for Ihe deoree. He tells ub respgeV

fully to the Pope, that theso two bishops forced his Holine-s's hand and obliged him lo act. He tells us that no one need care whether the Irish obey or disobey the nlict of (he Pope. And we can have little doubt that there a-jtu-dly is a section of Catholics, or •o-called Catholics, in Knghnd who are sunk by th-ir wicked hatred of Ireland to such adepihof religious dtgraiation, that it would seem to them a reiief were the Irish people to apostatise and be known no longer by the name of Catholic, which they themselves continue to bew and to disgrace. For, a< to the Cathjlie wanting his religion's RT-at characteristics of charity and humility, wbal: sh^.ll be said of him. Bait that has lost its Bavour is the comparison male of old, ami n woald seem to hold good to tue present day. Sivourless salt is, indeed, worthless rnbbish. A good deal more to a like effect are we told by Mr. Keith Angus— all of it revealing the man who holds that the Commandments are nine only and want that forbidding falsewitness, and who maintains stoutly that the end justifies the means, The following paragraph, however, which has been cent us especially marked, with two blue lines and a dog -ear— and any London editorial pappy who has lost a iug can have it returned on application — we <ra>te vertatim. It will inform our readers as to what are the rvports and opinions current in Tory quarters of the lowest and most scurrilous class : -" The ?xtreme Radical Preps iigain says that it is rumoured that Archbishop Walsh moy be bupeiseded ia thu Sec of Dublin by Cardinal Moran, of .Sydney. It is an open secret that Dr. Walsh's proclivities have not given unmixed satisfaction to the Tat i can. Placed at Dublin, it was hoped that a position of responsibility and high dignity woald tone down ebullitions of patriotism. This hope has not been fulfilled. Ir. Walsh so far forgot himself as once to remind the ' men of Tipperary '—a coumty famous for murder and outrage— that • desperate men ' would blow up all England were Home Rale not conceded. Four 'desperate men 1 were caught in the attempt, but are now in penal servitude in consequence. Then . when Mgr. Walsh patronised the Plan of Campaign, the more educated and intelligent of his flock did not conceal their disgus', and social relatii ns between the sheep and the shepherd becamp highly strained. Before Dr. Walsh came to Dublin, Cardinal, then Archbishop, Moran was summoned to Rome from Sydney, with a ▼iew, as was reported, of succeeding Cardinal McCabe at Dublin. At this the National papers were furious, and roundly abused Dr. Moran. In the end, however, the patriots got their way, and Archbishop Moran got the red hat and returned to Sydney. Perhaps tho Star rumonr may be true, and with Cardinal Moran at Dublin, aud Mgr. Persico as envoy extraordinary aDd general overseer in Ireland until further notice, the Pope may have less trouble in guiding his somewhat turbulent Irish spiritual subjects. So may it be."— We fancy, however, that, by this time, Cardinal Moran's pronouncement a. Sydney has somewhat damped the ardour of Toiy advocatts in his favour and disconcerted all their plans.

There is yet another class of journalists who have friends box also pronounced on the Papal decree, and whose NOT position is likewise deserving of notice, that is those sympathisers, who sympathise with the Irish cause, but have little or no rym; athy with the Catholic Church. The opinions of these writerß we would receive with some degree of caution, because they must be looked upon as men with whom we can only partially agree, and whose guidance in a matter of this kind we should not be justified in following. The Pall Mall Gazette, fo r example, speaks of the Pope as an " Emergency man "—a title against which we most protest as disrespectful and improper in every way. It goes on to Bay tbst the decree has come at the moment of direst emergency for the Unionists, and will do much to recover them from the effects of Lord Eandolph Churchill's condemnation of them. The Gazette speaks of the Papacy as being possibly an unlimited power •« good as a great democratic institutun, and regrets the decree as a blunder made in this direction. The sen me.it says, will fail in Ireland since it is based on a mistaken view of facts ami because the reasons ■tared are known to be fallacious :-" Meanwhile," concludes the Writer, "be it observed, the Pope <'oe-> roi denounce the National League or Nationalist aspirations. It is easy to see, therefore, what the atli ude of the Irish people will be. The Plan of Campaign i s not, of court-e, a matter of faith, and what they will say is this :— 1 On the essenti»l matters, and on these about which he could not be misinform^, the holy Father is still with his faithful people. Bnton certain matters of detail, the due understanding of which depends on accurate knowledge of the immediate facts, designing persons have instilled falsehoods into the ears of his Holiness and his Envoy. We respect and venera'e tho Holy Father as much as ever. In matters of religion we are as loyal as ever. But as for accepting advice based on Wnionist falsehoods it wonld be wrong to the Holy Father himself to do any such thing.' The Irish people will not follow the Popes wrong advice ; they will only regret that be haR been misinformed. "— Truth maintains that the Pope was fully inform, d. but thinks that if big Holiness has got any substantial advantage p, rxenange for tl-e decree he has made a good bargain, because the decree ia mere waste paper! The Plan of Campaign, be says, has nearly done its work, and the Btable

door has not been shut until the stud was stolen. He gives tb» following illnstration of th« spirit in which the Tories have accepted the decree :- " He has joined us ; he has become a Liberal- Unionist," said a Unionist tome. « Who? ' I a?kcd. 'The Pope,' he replied ; and he exalted greatly. And yet this man is (if he has any religion) a Protestant, and, under ordinary circumstances, would have been the first to 4ei ounce any interference on the part of the Pope in the relations b .tween the Catholic subjects of this realm and its Government." Tne writer hopes that Irish Catholics, es do the Catholics of other oonntries, will hold firmly by the distinction between allegiance to the Pope in things spiritual and allegiance to their country in things temporal. • In the former," he adds, " let them, by all means, be obei.ient to the Pope ; in the latter, let them make it clear to him that they, and they only, must be the judges of their actions. At what p int Irish tenants have a right lo combine to resist exactions, which are rendering it impossible for them to live in decency, is not a question of faith that can be decided at Rome ; nor can it be decided there how far they are bound to go, in self-defence, in declining to hold intercourse with traitors to the cause of justice. Thii must be a question of degree, and for the Pope to endeavour to lay down the precise point, ia much r,s though he were to take upon himself to prescribe f o a general the military manoeuvres which he deemed necessary in order to win a battle 1 " Truth's conclusion is tins :— " There can be no doubt that the Pope's decision is the result of an intrigue. The Duki? of Norfolk was sent to Home to congratulate the Pope on his Jubilee. He used the fact of rA% official position to urge on bis Holiness active interference on behulf of Balfourism in Ireland. There were times when the Tory party would never have dreamt of humbly imploring the Pope to come to their ai<i in their dealings with a portion of the subjects of the realm, and in their endeavours to secure themselves in offic \ Awtres temps, autrctt ineeurs. So anxious are the Tories to defeat the pol;cy of Mr. Gladstone, and to hinder him from eTer being again Prime Minister, that they would not only goto Rome for allies, but to the nether world, if they thought that their appeal to the Prince of Darkness would convert Satan (if he be not already one) into a Liberal-Uniouist."

It is not only iv a back-yard in Knnis that the mork bbate noble British soldiers have of late been winning fellows. fresh laurels. A. gnllant attack has been made by a party of the Inniskilling dragoons, one of them the aide-'le-camp to the Governor of the colony, at Natal on an editor who had in some mannor or other displeased them. The offending journalist w«s the editor of the Times of Natal, published at. Pieter. maiitzburg, and the gallant soldiers were C iptains Yardly, (the aide-de-camp) Rimington, and ,Grey, Jand Lieutenant Herbert. They proceeded in a body to the cdi or's residence for the amiable purpose of tarring and feathering him, and finding him not disposed for the process, and aided by his wife and daughter in resisting it, a row was the result. One of the ladies, or women rather, for, of course, gallant officers of a crack regiment would not recognise as ladies people in so unfashionable a line of life, wa-i doubled up by a blow in the chest, and Ike other fainted — just as if she had been of the same human nature of the female sort that frequents Mayfair and the bucket of tar was spattered all over the place. But probably editors in Natal, like peasants ia Ireland, and tha lower orders generally, are looked upon by the "swell "of the period as Hottentots, just as Lord Salisbury considers them, and as the DPtural sport or victims of the superior being as it suits him. It may not, perhaps, meantime, be a very deplorable event if the British araiy falls far short in numbers of those of other countries. The soldier of the day appears to be a very scurvy follow. The scandal of the Kerry executions is aggravated scandalous by the particulars published as to the attempt made tactics. to suborn tho unfortunate man Daniel Moriarty as an informer. It appears that at ten o'clock on the night before hiß conviction he was visited in his cell by the Uovernor of the gaol, the Crowa Solicitor, and the District-In&pecter, who, on holding out to him the temptation of saving his life, got him to make a false acknowledgement of guilt and to implicate three other men * The result, however, evidently was that the officials saw the impobsi" bility of employing the man as they desired, and, therefore, abandoned their intention and left him to his fate. Moriarty afterwards made a written declaration that a fake statement had been made by him under the fear of death. There can be little doubt that both he and his fellow prisoner were innocent of the crime for which they were hanged, — that is the murder of Fitzmaurice at Lixnaw. But executions of this kind have never been uncommon in Ireland. In this case also the strongest probability exists that the murder was comMittted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Castle, or of some contingent or other of its myrmidons.

Mb. Stead, of tbe Pall Mall Gazette has had an pjsace with A interview with General Boulauger, in which the vengeance. General professed himself above all things a man of peace. " ' But/ he said, 'my ideas as to peace are these — namely, that peace to be permanent must be honourable.

It must not be a peace which has been imposed in the pride of conquest, and tbat has to be submitted to because the throat of the vanquished is under the heel of the conqueror.' " This reply naturally did not satisfy Mr. Stead as to the pacific prospec s. " I feared," he ■ays, " tbat this was only another way of saying that France would take the first good opportunity that offered t) wrest back ber ced^-d provinces, and I said co. He replied with 'he stereotjped formula : 1 We shall not provoke a war, but we must be pr< pared against an attack.' " But as, when a war occurs, tach belligerent is the party who has been the party attacked, there is not much reassurance to be derived from this. And we may, on the whole, conclude that so far at least as General Boulaoger is concerned, an opportunity is all that is wanted.

Mb. Dillon, speaking at Herbertstown on April THIS FLAN 26, made a vigorous defence of the Plan of CamBKFGKDAD. paign. He said tbat, in the autumn of 1886, it became plain that one of two courses only lay open to the Irish people, either to pay the rack-rents, wih the alternative of turning out quiet ly at the word of the evictor, or to recall the experience of 1879, and see whether another instalment of justice might not be won as was that of 1881. The Plan of Campaign was> therefore, adopted, with the result that a reduction in judicial rents was gained, and the land courts were opened to the leaseholders. The Plan of Campaign bad done more, the speaker claimed, to break down the power of the faastle garrison, and to advance the cause of nationality than almost anything else. As to the objections tbat were made against it, Mr. Dillon continued, it was not true that contracts had been entered into freely between landlord and tenant. The whole grounds and justification of the national movement from the beginning had been that the Irish tenant was not free in making a contract with the landlord. It was absurd to Fay, in speaking of such contracts, that it was immoral to break contracts freely made. No such contracts existed in Ireland. Nor was it true that the land courts were open to all who wanted reductions. They were not impartial court?, but were controlled by the Executive Government, were largely composed of landlords and agrnts, aDd were mere creatures of the Irish Government and thd Land Commission, were, moreover, appointed by the Lord Lieutenant, himself a rackrenter. And even such as the courts were, they had not been open to the Irish tenants previous to the Plan of Campaign, for they had been shut to the judicial leaseholders w.io formed a gre-it maj irity of the tenants. Finally, it was not true that the contributions under the Plan of Campaign bad been taken by force and intimidation. The speaker himself bad taken a great proportion of the contributions, and had superintended numberless cases ia which contributions were taken, and he did not know of one case in which intimidation had been employed, nor would he have tolerated it. He had again and again warned the tenants not to meddle with the Plan unless they were determined to go through with it, for he would never consent to their giving in when they had once made the adventure. The object of the Plan, in short, was to make it difficult for any ooe who had once emba-ked in it to betray his fellows, beoaase in 1881 great harm had been do ie by ixi'jn wbo had been tue loudest at setting out, and who af erward9 turned back and left the others in the lnrch. But never on any single occasion, either privately or publicly, were unwilling p ople persuaded, much less forced, to enter into the mitter. Mr. Dill n's defence of the Plan had all the clearness and candour of truth, plain and unvarnished.

How easy it is in certain circumstances to earn in undeserved certain quarters a reputation for all that you do praise. not possess. Mr. W. H. Smith, for example, speaking of Mr. Balfour at a meeting of the Primrose League on April 18, delivered himself as follows :—": — " Sir H. SelwinIbbetson has referred to the services of a great statesman, although he is a young man— l refer to Mr. Balfour. I have been in Parliament for the last twenty years— during that time, indeed, I hays scarcely lived anywhere else — and I can safely say tbat I have never known nerve and decision so admirably united with judgment and with courage ; I have never known those qualities so conspicuously guided and directed by discretion and by tact." We may admit the decision, and the discretion and tact, so far as they are concerned with the party to which Mr. Balfour belongs. Towards its members and their peculiar ideas and prejudices, no doubt he is all decision and discretion and tact. But where do the nerve and courage come in 7 Mr. Balfour is a society gentleman, who has to deal with a people not distinguished ia aociety, and whom, therefore, be regards as an unspeakable canaille. His motto is Began exclamation — "A peasant atand-up thus!'' We may admit, indeed, that towards the canaille al-o he is vrry decided. But as for the nerve and courage, he wie'ds a force handled by him with all the ease and safe'y with which, for instance, a little child a few years since moved the tremendous apparatus by which the famoub rocks of Hell's Gate, in New York harbour, were removed. He baa but to apeak a word, wherever h« may be, and all the forces

of the Irish garrison are put in motion. As to the reproaches he incori, what of them f They do not come from society, wbich, on th« oontrary, applauds him. We are continua<ly told, and we have so doubt truly told, that Mr. Bulfour does not care a stra^ about what the Irish peoplo say of him. Like his uncle, Lord Salisbury, he look-* upon them as Hoilcntois, and as such, also, do both aucle uad nephew no doubt regard the English and nil otber lower orders, although they daw not say so. How, i herefore, a man deserve* a reputation for ne ve and courage, because he fulfils with ease, and without any risk whatever, a task for wbich he gains ihe applause of all the world for whom he feels the slightest respect, it is not so easy to explain.

Verily the Irish peop'e 'ire a stiangwly and inexA. fool's phcably discontented lot. They have amongst the arocmbnt. rest set that estimable Belgian gentleman, who officiates this year as Lord Mayor of Londoo, wondering at their discontent. Here is how the sage, well-fed do d 'übt, as Londun aldermen are reported as a rule to be — expresses himnelf about them. The occasion, of his utterauce was that of a banquet recently given to L >rd H irtington " 1 asked myself," he said, (amid the walnuts aud the wine). " Why I— a naturalised British subject — in common with thuu3ands of aiens of different nationalities and creeds, can be happy under the wise rule and laws of this country, and enjoy the high-minded, generous hospitality of the nation. I ask why a fraction of this Empire cannot do so." Mr de Keyser has been taken in, and well-fed, and advanced to civic honours, and why, therefore, cannot the Irish people be content ? The connection is evident, and let us never forget that mango ie derived from Jeremiah King. But for the most part Tory arguments are equally perspicuous and convincing,

It appears that the Primrose Leagne is on its last on the legs for want of funds. — The lords and ladies, the D .OLINB. fashionable gents and -\Bpiring dames, and flunkeydom in all its ramifications, by whom it has been srgauised, do not go tbe length, it would appear, of devoting their purses to it* maintenance Tbe c msequence is that, although various shifts have been resorted to for its support, and some of those shifts of no very dignified kind, funds are well nigh exhausted and the organisation is reduced to extremes. A large sum of money, however, seems to be spent on decorating the statue ot the League's patron saint on the anniversary of his death wih primroses. The extravagance of tbe display made in this way and the grotesque nature of the adornments excite general ridicule, and it is complained besides that the primrose runs a chance of being rooted completely out of the native flora of the country. The mistake that associated the memory of Lord Beaconsfield with Ibis plant was certainly most absurd, although as it probably affords means to some poor people of gaining a few pence now and then by tbe sale of the flower, it is not without a more satisfactory side. Tbe latest degradation oE a flower, meantime, to form a party emblem is that of the red pink which has been adopted as tbe badge of General Boul anger's followers. But it is said, tbat this is only a revival in another connection, and one significant of imitation, aa this fl was, during the Bt, Helena epoch, worn disanctivrly by tbe Bonapartists. Their acknowledged and permanent flower is, nevertheless, the violet. It is, however, a debasement of the violei's associate bloom, the primrose, to assign it to mark tbe memory of Lord Beaconefield. Neither of the Bonaparte chiefs had sunk to bo low a level as his.

Another and a more appropriate and much more bbttbr USKB. charming use for flowers, that that of adorning the statues of deceased statesmen, recalling memorie* hardly worth recalling, or distinguishing various political parties, has been found in the requirements of the newest fashions. Our ladies are now on the very point of assuming the form of walking posies, and all our fashionable promenades will moving bowers. Floral sunshades, floial boas, f10r,.l bonnets, floral hatß, all composed of real flowers, are the order of the female day. Floral designs, too, which the flower bedecked dames and damsels are to carry about in their hinds, and to play all sorts of engaging and beguiling tricks with, are spoken of and dtscribed. In faci every fashionable household should at once set up its hives of bees, so that the attire of the ladies of he family may be as fully utilised as possible. It is evident that something must be done to make the expense a little lighter, for flowers are but perishable wear, and will need perpetual renewing. Not even the most flinty-hearted husband or father could expect his wife or •laughter to appear as a faded bouquet. That would be most inappropriate to youth, and when the premiere jennesse had passed away it would be still more objectionable from its very appropriateness.