TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11501, 6 February 1903, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

An interesting article in A PJimaee the London "Globe" and its Origtin. traoes the history of some of the everyday modles of salu/tation among English-speak-ing .people of to-day. Probably a very small proportion of the millions who say "How do you do" #0 one-another everyday of th«r lives could cay whence this commonest of salutations ntad its origin, or when & began to come into daily use. Nine times out of ten it is a meaningless j formula, expressing recognition -ratter then any atftive interest, in the affairs of the person to whom it is addrewed. When first introduced into England, however, it seems to hare been made the occasion of a great ebow of formality and ceremony. "Haw do you ds>," which ja a direct translation of the medieval French form of greeting, Comment Jβ faitee-voue?" apparently came into common use in England toward t(he end of the seventeenth century. Those were the, daye of the grand manner, and the salutation amongst "the quality," as the upper classes were called, used <U> be accompanied by the roost profound bows and courtesies. With the introduction of tide ceremonious ealut*-

tkin the odd and at one-time universal form of greeting—that of kissing—seems to hare gone out of fadhion. "Englishmen, says 4)he "Globe" writer, "are sometime* inclined to regard with rather a superior air the more effusive methods of ealutaibn, especially beVcreen men, common on the Continent; but for centuries England wee the land of kisses, ••hen a man greeted a woman, whether it was for the first or the hundredth time, he kfesed her." Erasmus tree very much impressed with the

custom-K-hen he visited England in 1497, as the reference to English ladies in his lettew show. "If you go to any place," ha wrote, "you are reoerml with a kiss by all; If you depart on a journey you are dismissed "with «. Idas; you return, kisses are exchanged. Tiey come to visit you, • kiss the first thing; they leave you, you idea, them all around. Do they meet you anywhere, lasses in abundance." Not that the learned Dutchman objected to the custom—far from it. Once try it, he told hi«friend, and'"on my honour you would wish nob to reside here for ten years only, but for life!" Bat by the eighteenth century so intonate • mode at gxaetiqg haxi come to tse considered "bed tana," just a* the ehakewwiw !3RMi£flk»imrL tot _b*_

com* hopelessly plebeian at the present day. "xiow <te you do?' seems likely to stand the test of time better than some of the earlier salutation*. It may have tost •cone of its old-time dignity, bat except in such oorruptkme "Haw d'ye do?" and the unspeakable "How de do?" or "How dot"

it remains ma free from vulgarity as when first introduced.

The trials of summer camper* With are amusingly illustrated by Wai worth the "diary of a SuperintenBoys. dent," who reports to the St: John* College Mission on his experience in the Boye* Camp, held last year in a farm-house at Water Stratford, near Buckingham. The spot was ideal; four miles from a town, three from a station, and half a mile from the nearest neighbour. "Large grass fields all round it, and a gentle stream, choked with bul-

rushes, for the boys to bathe in, a quarter of a mile away." But the boya arrived in a downpour of rain. " Pity the farm is co far from the station." Long before waggons arrived to take them over, the train had left a howling Wai worth mob upon the platform, yelling lor their dinner. Only "Uncle Remus" and other stories helped the staff to keep peace until the farm and the dinner were reached by halt-past four; and the last entry for that day stands, _ " Pandemonium till all cafe in fed, when order was restored by the aid of the apple tree in the garden." Next morning the fire refused to burn, owing to dump sticks. "Something to bo said for civilisation after all." Breakfast at ten the ungrateful urchins seemed to think late, and Walworth appetites caused grief again when the camp disposed of an altogether unforeseen amount of bread, and had to wait on one occasion till 7.30 for what should have been five o*clock tea. A boiled beef dinner •without pudding to follow was a severe infliction. "Nothing but a hft'porth of cat's meat and three green potatoes," eaid these critical guests. (sne country luxury, however, went misunderstood. Bread and honey was offered as a treat, and the boys would hardly eat it —thought it was treacle. On the next afternoon, says the chronicle, "Gave the boys bread and

treacle, which they ate with gusto, thinking it wae honey. At a staff meeting held afterwards, it was unanimously decided to eat the honey ourselves, and not wast* more of it, on tlie boys." Bathing caused much enjoyment, -and sorno distress and frenzied appeals* to " Muvver." A piano was invaluable, especially in assisting the efforts of the miaeioner, "whose popularity earned the title of Dan Leno 11. And the fortnight passed with no accident except to the spoons, which were broken over a presentation jain tart before the campers took to pocket knives—Walworth boys being happily distributed at loot amongst the crowd of anxious mothers,

"who seized on the varioue fragments ot our party and carried: them off —paroele, apples, frogs, flowers, bulrushes and oil."

. After a considerable British Ports amount of talk' and to negotiation, the BritArgentine Stock, ish Board of Agricul-

- ture Jiave agreed to re-open the porta of Great Britain to live etcck from the Argentine and Uruguay, imported for the purpose of slaughter. The ports were closed some two years ago because of an outbreak of foot and mouth diteaje in the Argentine, come of the animals shipped from there being effected , . Shortly afUr this notion vaa taken the Argentine porta were closed to British stock, the ostensible reaeon being that outbreaks of foot and mouth disease had taken place in England, but there ia no doubt that there <was sogie retaliation in this counter prohibition, it

vras probably hoped that by preventing British breeders from taking advantage of the profitable market in the Argentine for pedigree cattle and sheep these breeders would assist in the agitation for the re-opening of the British port*. The British stock breeders have brought considerable pressure to bear on the Board of Agriculture, but they were met with great firmness on the part of the Right Hon. R. W. Hanbury, President ( of the Board, who was not satisfied even with official assurj ances that the Argentine was free from foot and mouth <Jieeaee, but insisted upon very stringent regulations being passed by the Argentine Government to prevent the j shipment of diseased stock, not only from that country, but from neighbouring States through Argentine ports. The re-opening of the British porta will no doubt :be followed by similar action being taken by the Argentine Government, and the main qve&tioA for us is what effect the resumption of the live stock trade between the two countries will have upon our frozen meat trade. We do not anticipate it will alter matters very much; An outlet will be afforded no doubt for a number of sheep frexn .the Argentine that are too heavy for freezing, but this is a class of meat that will n*t interfere to any extent, if at all, with our frozen meat, and the live cattle cent to England will represent so much less beef sent in a chilled state. To thd pedigree cattle and sheep breeders in the United Kingdom the re-opening of the j Argentine ports will be an important mat-1 ter, for the country requires their stock, and prices will probably boom in England and Scotland at the bull and ram tales during the coming beaion. Probably we shall aleo be able to send a few rams from

this colony si as their breeding and constitution render them more suitable for the Argentine than British-bred stock. The Argentine authorities will no doubt take letter care than formerly to keep their country free from disease, as Mr Hanbury pointed out a short time ago that if the ports had to be closed again it would be a much more difficult matter to get them re-opened.