THROUGH OUR EXCHANGES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1812, 11 April 1888, Page 3

THROUGH OUR EXCHANGES.

A SINGULAR COINCIDENCE, There was rather a peculiar coincidence m connection with tho fire at the Opera Bouse and the visit of Miss Sherwin When the previous fire occurred m 1879, Mr Arthur Sherwin, brother of Misa fch rwin, arrived m this *city the day before the fire broke out, and the eatne fatality attended his visit this time. He arrived m town on Wednesday, the day before thi3 last fire. Another member of the Company, Mr Lemmorie, on his previous visit here, arrived on the day the Postoffioe was burnt down, and ho complains that on this present visit he was accorded a warmer reception than he wished by the fire at the Opera House. We trust the next visit of these gentlemen will not be a gnalised In such a disastrous manner. — ' ' Wellington Times." A SHARP SENTENCE. For onoe (says a late Michigan paper) justice la meted out to a soduoar Id oar courts. Under the new Slate law, raising the age of concent to fourteen years, Francis Herbert waa tried for seducing the thirteen -year-old daughter of his employer. Aa the Jlltle girl told of the seductive wiles of the fiendish man, there wub not a dry eye m the court-zoom ; and when the unanimous verdict oi guilty was pronounced by the jury aftar forty five Becorjda' deliberation the feelings of the audience were expressed by long applause. The Judge pronounced the merited sentence of imprisonment for life, and the next day the prison gates closed behind the wretch, who, but for this new law, wou'd to-day bo or.j oying his fall liberty and laying snares for hla next victim. MODEKN BUMBLEDOM. Here is one more example of the way m which modern Bumbledom deals with trempß. John Jones and his wife, a woman of four and-twer.ty, arrived at 6 p.m. at Bt Neots Workhouse In Bedfordshire, They had tramped from Huntingdon Workhouse, nine miles distant, and had been on the road nearly all day, whioh ia not larprlsing, considering that the woman had had a fit at Huntingdon* On arriving at St Neots, Jones asked that bis wife, who waa evidently ill, might nee a doctor ; but the answer was that Bhe could not do so- till the next day. Whether the dootor saw her next day does not appear, but that night the poor woman was left unattended save by her husband, and was In each a oonditioa that the man, In his own words, " pulled the bell all Dlght " for assistance. None came, and In the morning the woman was found huddled up on the floar dead.— (" Truth ")

A BUKIAL SCANDAL. An abominable outrage upon the dead w*b committed a week or two ago by tha Vicar of Bolvantor, In Cornwall. This arrogant priest took upon himself to exclude the body of a yonng woman from the pariah church, and refused to bury it with any other ritea than a mutilated Beivioe at the graveside for no other reason than that the deoeaaed girl, though respeotably connected and living decently with her relations at tho time of her death, had once been the victim of a young man, who appears to have been honestly dealroaa of repairing hla fault by marrying her. Taking it all round, I think that thia B.olventor v loat haa coutrived to combine m one aotion about bb many offeacas aB oould po to maka up one buriil acatidal. He hea violated the law of the land aud the rubrlcß of the Church ; he hao outraged every sentiment of humanity aud charity ; and he has flagrantly defied the teaching of tho Goapol respecting tha sin which this poor girl had committed — (Ibid ) A TOUCHING INCIDENT. A rather interesting story m connection with the Lynch family of Bellrlns^ra cornea from Qaeenßland. Not long Bince tho campanolofiiVß were porformlng at Toowombar. Amorg the audience waa an aged couple of at lsaa'. esventy yearß np'ece, who had walked some eight milea into tho township to boar the bulls, Inc'uded m tha varlom itema. on the~programme were the old familiar chimea, • Triple Bob M< jor Pea, which the lynches had announced ai a loading feature m the evoninf«'n entertainment. The programme went " merry as a marriage bell," and the old oonplo, who had taken especial pains to take a good front j eeatj evidently envyed the entertainment very much, until the ringers came foi> ward m front of thoir table to ' Ring the Changes, 1 when the audience was astonished to Bee the poor old man and his wife Btand op with mouth and ears wide open, trying t"> absorb every sound which came forth. The ringing coaaed, and the Lyochea were bowing their acknowledgments, when the old lady, with tears m her eyes, burst cut with : " Piay It again; oh Ido play it again. We may never as long as we live, hear them again. Oh 1 do play them ngain " ; the old man at the same time sputtering oat: "Wo have walked a long distance to hear them ; do oblige as." it is needless to say that the request wob courteously complied with, amidst the plaudits of the audience and the enthuaias'io approbation of the poor old couple. From information afterwards acquired, It was ascertain^ ttjat >hq old man had, been, many yeffra ago, a prlaa bell-ringer m Manohenter, and one of the most noted men m campanology m Great Britain, but for the laat thirty years he had resided m Queensland. Having heard that tho Lynch family was coming . to TobWomba, he and his wife trudged m eight miles to hear, as he said, foy the laat tima in 'this world, the "old familiar