Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 2 September 1909, Page 7

Current Topics

To Correspondents For several weeks from this date the editor will ; be absent, chiefly in connection with the approaching CatholicCongress in Sydney. " Correspondents . are reminded " that, all matter intended for publication should be. addressed to ' ' The Editor,' and not by name .to ' Rev. Dr. Cleary.' All' letters so addressed by name will be treated as private communications and will be forwarded by earliest outgoingmails to his temporary address in Sydney. Cow Cheques The Otago Daily Times (Dunedin) published, in -its issue of last Monday, a list of some three-figure cheques that were gained in a brief space by sundry fortunate suppliers of milk to some of our butter factories. The figures furnish an object lesson as to the value of her royal highness the cow. They furthermore serve to give a point * to the inscription which one of the greatest and wealthiest dairymen in Wisconsin (United States) some years ago placed over his barn door : ' Treat a cow as df she were a lady.' The Swiss mountaineers treat her almost as a member of the family; and their placid little, kine have . done for the Alpine republic what the golden ore has done for the Switzerland of the South. Lodge v. Court of Justice An incident occurred in mid-July at Montreal (Canada) which gives a point to Dr. Johnson's saying : ' Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.' It also furnishes a fresh evidence of the manner in which darklantern organisations may, on occasion, be used to thwart the course of justice. A Royal Commission held, during the July dog-days, an investigation in Montreal with , a view (says the Antigonish Casket) to ascertain the truth or falsehood of charges made against the honesty of some transactions in which the city was interested. Among the witnesses was one Pierre Leclerc. While in. the witness-box Pierre refused to answer a question put to --him, and made this statement in explanation : 'We belong ' to the same society, Simoneau and I, and I promised ' on the Gospel that I would never say anything that could do him any harm, or p\vb him into trouble.' Forthwith he was com--pelled by Justice Cannon to tell what ' society ' he meant. After much hesitation, Mr. Leclerc mentioned lodge 45 of Coeurs Unis [United Hearts}, and emphatically affirmed that this lodge is not connected with the Grand Orient, but with the ' English Freemasons.' The same day, at the afternoon session of the court, in explaining some expenditures, Mr. Leclerc stated that he had made a small •payment•to Mr. Simoneau. The reason for this payment, he declared, could not be told, as his -relations with Simoneau were all carried on under the strict oath of a secret society. Brother Leclerc evidently regarded his obligations to the craft as more binding than his obligations to the State. Those « Manifestations ' The slump in spiritistic stock continues in Wellington. The Bailey ' manifestations ' began there at twenty-five shillings per head for the curious or the credulous. The fee rapidly dropped to five shillings; and the 'show' will, perhaps, fizzle out at ' front,, seats one shilling, back seats, sixpence.' Thus far, we have not seen the pretence of test and conditions ; not one of the ' manifestations ' has passed (if- it has even reached) the level of third-rate public-house conjuring; and pressing questioners are moved to scorn by the evasiveness, the childish folly, and the vapid ' flummery ' of the alleged ' spirits ' that, with ungrammatical lips, are alleged to ' control ' the ungrammatical ' meejum.' Dr. Johnson used to speak in so orotund and grandiloquent a way that Goldsmith once said to him : 'If you were to make little -fishes talk, they would talk like whales.' The professional medium reverses the process. He professes to ' produce ' the spirits of the mighty, dead — and he makes the first Napoleon forget • French, makes Alexander the Great ramble" in Cockney, and the whole company of the, immortals' talk the brainless and insufferable twaddle of "the seancechamber. . Did they but know, it would hurt their disembodied spirits more than it racked the soul of a great English .advocate to speak down to the level of the average jury. Yet this is the sort of thing that people are asked to accept as a new revelation of light _and grace to a darkened world. , It was a witty Frenchman who advised

. the, intending founder of a new" creed to try the experiment of being crucified and rising again on the third day. A - good many besides spiritists. ' require such - a Casimir Delavigne spoke in haste when he declared that ■ ' Les sots depuis Adam sont en majorite ' -r-which, being interpreted, meanetli that, ever since Adam's time; " foolish people have been in a majority in the world. ■ There lire. a good many of them, nevertheless. And their, weathercock "heads are the first to be swayed and tossed about by every wind of new doctrine and passing fad and theory. ♦ Early-day ' and Other Prices Reminiscence is the ambrosia- of age. ' When Time, „ who steals our years away, Shall steal our pleasures too, The mem'ry of the past will stay " And half our joys renew: 3 ' Memories of "Canterbury's early days have been coming _in clusters out of the past to speakers at last week's golden . jubilee of the- Christchurch Chamber of- .Commerce. One - of the speakers (Mr. . Hargreaves) has been dropping into interesting reminiscences of prices in ' the early days.' Flour (now about" £10 per ton) was, for instance, sold by - him at Lyttelton in "1863 at a wholesale price of £24 per ton; sugar (now from 2£d to- 2£d per -lb) changed hands at £52 and more per ton ; and 'he did' not remember in the old days tea at less" than 2s 6d ' per lb wholesale by the chest. . . To-day . tea of equal .quality could 'be * bought at less than half the. price.' And so .on. All of - which moves the speaker to wonder at the present-day ' complaint against the high cost of living.' *" ' - * But dearness and cheapness are relative terms. Lytteltonian purchasers of Canterbury's early days had -little /cause to complain by comparison with .the thousands that tramped to the diggings after gold- had 'broken out' at (say) Ballarat and* Mount Alexander, and Victoria had become at a bound a new Aladdin's land, the Transylvania of the modern world.. Even as late, as 1853 oaten ' hay ' changed hands in Ballarat at '£60 per ton; cartage from Geelong (some 50 miles) ran into £80\per ton; and in the following two years flour cost £6 10s per bag, potatoes 4fd per lb, eggs 6s per dozen, horse-shoeing 24s per set. In 1852 cartage from Melbourne to Castlemaine (77 miles) cost £100 to" £120 per ton, oats were purchased at £3 per bushel, hotej. charges ranged from 50s to 140s per day, a horse at livery cost 15s a day (105s a week); and even in Melbourne imported Wellington boots . (then in almost universal use) were quoted at ,50s to 60s per pair — if made to order the fee ran from 75s to. 90s. ' And it must be remembered,' says Withers in- his History of Ballarat, 'that .these prices were paid for the roughest and rudest accommodation and service, while the quality of the "goods could never' in those days be very closely — or, at least,, profitably — scrutinised.' i.# • Victorian goldfield prices- -were, indeed, siege and .famine rates by comparison with those that prevailed in ' the early days ' in any part of New Zealand. People fared still worse in quite recent days within the beleaguered lines of Ladysmith and Mafeking and Kimberley during the South African war. Kimberley seems to have fared the best of the three. Yet eggs sold there at 24s a dozen, fowls at 25s to over .30s each, potatoes and tomatoes at 3s 6d per pound, grapes at 3s 6d to -5s a pound, while milk, butter, cheese, or ham could be procured only on the production of a medical certificate that the bearer was an invalid. -Short rations of horse-soup, horse-steak, some bread, and crushed mealies and water constituted the daily bill of fare. Parisian stomachs were better prepared for the chances of the sieges .of 1870-1871. For they had already acquired a taste for the- tender and nutritious an 3 (as we can personally testify) by -no means unpalatable flesh of that eminently clean feeder, the horse. As famine settled down upon the doomed city, the pinch of hunger made them less and less squeamish as to" their food. In November, 1870, there was a. .brisk demand, at high prices, for the flesh of mules and donkeys. The liguis and and -elephants and rhinoceroses and dromedaries and eagles and polecats and the other fowls and beasts in the Jardin d'Acclimatation were butchered, divided, cooked with pepper .and salt in portions true, and devoured with the relish that a nipping hunger gives to ■ unaccustomed and unsavory meats. Dogs, cats, rats, and mice- were .bought at high prices and eagerly gnawed to the last bone. An English war correspondent describes the flesh of the rat — from personal experience — as ' white and very delicate,

like young rabbit, but with more flavor.' No Maori gourmet could well speak with more enthusiasm regarding the flesh of our small, plump, native rat, that is so fast vanishing before the onset of his big brown brother-rodent from over-sea. * ■ Another correspondent who was within the iron-bound city of Paris during the siege speaks in terms" of high commendation of the harmless, necessary cat as a table delicacy. The cunning ingenuity of the French cooks succeeded in cleverly disguising the taste and appearance of the flesh^ of cats, dogs, and rodents. It was, moreover, a point o£ i domestic honor during the siege that no awkward questions, should be put to cook or • housekeeper. With thi3 diplomatic understanding things went as well as might be expected over the scantily supplied board — although many must have been forcibly - struck with the' extraordinary number and variety of unaccustomed meats that went by the name of lapin (rabbit). By December, however, such re- " serve was found unnecessary. For hunger was too keen and pressing. An animal 'frankly described as ' a rat, fat from the sewers,' then cost is 3d; mice, 3d each; geese, £3 3s each; turkeys, £4 each; chickens, £1 each; dogs, £3 to £10 — the price varying, not according to breed, but according to size and condition ; and a small head of unromantic cabbage sdid at 3s 4d. • Chemists did vastly more in Paris than in Ladysmith or Mafoking or Kimberley to extract nutriment, from such unpromising materials as unpleasant looking greases and cocoanut oil. They likewise worked their spells over great piles of horns, hooves, and bones, until this rubbish of. the . slaughter-house 'surrendered from its myriad pores a product called ' osseine,' which made a juicy and wholesome -soup and kept soul and body together in many a famine-stricken home. At the close f the siege there was not in all Paris so much as a fat - man or a woman with a supplementary chin. A* siege is about the surest anti-fat. ''■"<■.--' A Famine, Story - „ Grosse Island— -thirty miles below Quebec — is now, gay with the foliage of early autumn, -that plays' with the ripples of the great St. Lawrence River. _, On a green knoll above the lordly river there now rises the tall column of a Celtic cross, forty and six feet in height. It marks the " scene of one of the saddest tragedies of our day — the great grave-pits near which the souls of some twelve thousand poor Irish emigrants were rent asunder , from' their, bodies by the terrible famine fever. That Avas in Black' Forty-seven. They, in turn, were but a minute" fragment of the great slaughter of plague-smitten western Celts whose bones lie in nameless graves along the banks of the St. Lawrence. 'Death . Grinned horrible, a ghastly smile,'at the Gargantuan feast thai; was set,, before him by the artificially created Irish famine, with its 1,009,000' victims (according to Mulhall), and the terrible aftermath of slaughter, „in the ' coffin-ships ' on - the Atlantic, and in . the quarantine stations along Canada's great river. Five-and-twenty Irish and' French-Canadian priests caught the infection through -their magnificent self-immola-tion for the sufferers on Grosse Island alone. Some four hundred out of the six hundred orphans that survived were adopted by pious French-Canadians. Two hundred still remained in a « building specially set apart for them. Maguire, in the fourth edition of his Irish in America (pp. 139-142) tells how they were provided for, and the story — so opportune at the present moment — has a depth of pathotic human interest which makes it worth the reading at any time. Briefly told, the story runneth thus: Father Baillargeon was then a parish priest, in Quebec. He had received into his house three or^four of the little Irish orphans, among them a_ beautiful boy of about two years old. The others were soon adopted by the - great-hearted French Canadian peasants [habitans], 'but the little fellow, who was the cure's special pet, remained with him for nearly two years. From creeping up and down stairs, and toddling about in every direction) he soon began to grow strong and bold and noisy, as a fine healthy child would be; but though his fond protector rejoiced in. the health and beauty of the boy, he found him rather unsuited to the quiet gravity of a priest's house, and a decided obstacle to study and meditation.' At this juncture a country parish priest visited Father Baillargeon, who enlisted his interest in finding homes for the two hundred Irish orphans. ' Come, 1 said he, ' I will show you a sample of them, and you can tell your people what they are like.' Saying this, M. Baillargeon led his visitor up stairs, and into the room where, in a little cot, the orphan' child was lying in rosy sleep. As the light fell upon the features of the. beautiful

boy, who was reposing in all the unrivalled grace^ of infancy, the country cure was greatly touched: he had never, he said, seen a ' lovelier little angel ' in his life. ' Well,' said M. Baillargeon, ' I have 200 more as handsome. Take him with you, show him to your people, and tell them to come for the others.' That very night the boat in which he was to reach his parish was to start; and the cure wrapped the infant carefully in the blanket in which he lay, and, without disturbing his slumber, bore him off to the boat, a valued prize. ~ ■ * ■ - ' The next Sunday,' says our historian, ' a strange sight was witnessed in the parish church of which the cure was the pastor. The- priest -was seen -issuing from the sacristy, folding _in his arms a boy of -singular beauty, ' whose little hands were tightly clasped, half in terror, half in excitement, round the neck of his bearer. Every eye was turned towards this strange spectacle, and the most intense curiosity was felt by the congregation, in a greater degree by the women, especially those who were mothers, to learn what it meant. It was soon explained by their pastor, who said*: "Look at this little boy! Poor infant!',* (Here the cure embraced" him). "Look at his noble forehead, his bright eye 3, his curling hair, his mouth like a cherub's! Oh, what a beautiful boy!" (Another embrace, the half -terrified child clinging closer to the priest's v breast, his tears dropping fast upon the surplice). "Look, my dear friends,- at this beautiful- child, who has been sent by ,6od to our care. There are 200 as beautiful children as' this poor forlorn infant. They .were starved out of their o.wn country by bad laws, and their fathers and their "poor mothers now lie in the great grave at Grosse Isle. Poor mothers! they could not remain with their little ones.- You will be mothers, to them. The father died, and. the mother died; but before she died the pious mother — the Irish Catholic mother — left them to the good God, and the good God now gives them to you. Mothers, you will not refuse the gift of the good God!" (The kindly people responded to this appeal with tears and gestures of passionate assent.) "Go quickly to Quebec; there you will find these orphan children — these .gifts offered to -you by the good God — go quickly — go tomorrow — lose nos a moment — take them and carry them -to your homes, and they will- bring a blessing on you and your families. I say, go to-morrow without fail, or others may be before you. Yes, dear friends, they will be a blessing to you as they grow- up, a strong, healthy race — fine women, and fine men, like this beautiful boy. Poor child, you will be sure .to find a second mother in this congregation." (Another embrace, the little fellow's tears flowing more abundantly ;, every eye in the church glistening tvith responsive sympathy.)' This was the cure's sermon, and it may be ,doubted if Bossuet or Fenelon ever produced a like effect. Next day there was to be seen a long procession of waggons moving towards Quebec; and on the evening of that day there was not one of the 200 Irish orphans that had not been brought to a Canadian home, .there to be nurtured with tenderness and love, as~the gift of the JBoji Dieu [the Good God]. Possibly, in some instances that tenderness and love were not requited in after life, _but in most instances the Irish orphan brought a blessing to the hearth' of its adopted parents. The boy whose beauty and whose tears so powerfully assisted the simple oratory of the good cure is now- one of the ablest lawyers in Quebec — but a French-Canadian in every respect save in birth and blood.'