MIDNIGHT SKETCHES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 548, 18 October 1872, Page 3

MIDNIGHT SKETCHES.

. —o—- “ Seeing is believing,” says the proverb, he who sees may be, after all a looker-on from the out-side. The real enthusiast, who desires to get at the truth of things, prefers to plunge into the fray and experience its sensations in his own person. It is this sort of spirit which iihpels doctors to inoculate theirownbodies with loathsome diseas, s, or to sleep, of tbeir own free choice between two plague patients; it is this sort of spirit which caused a young gentleman, some twenty years ago, to disguise himself as a poor emigrant, and make a voyage to America, in order that he might understand the miseries undergone by the humbler class of passengers One feels less respect for the enthusiast in cases where the hardships are trivial and the resulting notoriety very great as in the case of the literary gentleman who solicited the aid of “Kind Old Daddy,” at the Lambeth casual ward, and became for a day the most notable personage in London And one feels more inclined tolaugh at than to respect the most recent enthusiast of this kidney. The other night a gentleman •came to Pow street Police Station and asked to be locked up. When the policeman refused to grant his request, he struck the official twice with his umbrella, and obtained his de-ire, which was to view the insides of the cells. The assault was of quite a nominal character, and the magistrate next day only lined him fifteen shillings, remarking lhat if be had made a proper application he might have seen the cells for nothing. The defendant replied that this course would not answer his purpose, that he wanted to undergo the treatment of a prisoner. The scene represented in our front page engraving depicts adventures of rather a differ, ut character. Three • gentlemen, who from their demeanour appear to belong to the “Jolly Dogs” order of society, are making a great deal of noise in the street, while the policeman is engaged in arresting a poor little vagrant who is sleeping on a door-step The result is that the wrong man—-a stu lious gentleman with a hook and umbrella—is taken up. is formally charged before the inspector, is locked up in a cell, and is next day fined ten shillings or seven days, the decision from the magisterial bench falling like a bomsbell en’the astonished prisoner. We do not say that such mistakes never happen; for we remember the case of a foreigner who was taken up as a pickpocket and rather roughly treated but we believe they happen very rarely, and we also believe that in the majority of those cases which are headed in the newspapers, “The Police and Public,” the persons represnitingthe Public art the most to Liams.— Graphic MISCELLANEOUS. What is an acrobat ? Literally, one who goes aloft. A sailor is an acrobat in the strictest'sense of the word. Whether as mountebanks or as sailors, acrobats go aloft to earn their bread. For if at purpose the nautical and spectacular acrobats alike risk their neck's; acrobats of either sort are liable to bo tumblers. The consistent prohibition of acrobats’ performances would be impracticable, the partial prevention of them absurd ; but these considerations do not lessen the wonder that the fools who pay to sec thorn enough to make them profitable, are so numerous.— Punch. The followin': account of a singular will made by a French monk is taken from the Paris correspondent's letter to the Spduey Herxld fi’hc writer says Another decease that has just occurred here is that of a Capuchin monk, well known in the Poverty .stricken Faubourg St. Jaqites, where be has, for years past, fed nearly a hundred poor people with alms collected in the wealthy contiguous Faubourg St. Germain. This monk has left, as his whole inheritance, bis breviary, frock, cord, a volume by M. Thiers, and a wallet. Among hisPapers was found the following singular will:—“ 1 bequeath—lst, to the Abbe Michaud, my breviary, because he docs not know how to use his own; 2nd, to M. Jules Fave, my frock, to hide his shame; 3rd, to M. Gambetta, my cord, which will one day prove useful round Lis neck; 4th, to M. Thiers, his own work, that he may read it again ; and sth, to France, my wallet, li-; cause she may shortly have occasion for one to collect alms.” Ike Detroit newspapers are lamenting the departure from that city of a boy name ! “Johnny ” who has long been to them is, fruitful source of paragraphs. Two ycais ago this boy shot himself, two months after he was choked vrith a fish-bone, he then set fire to a barn, and at a later date swallowed a t ip; be was next run over by an ice-cart; a week after he fell into the river and recently he was lest for three days It will be difficult to find a substitute for Johnny in his particular line, and the Detr it editors profess themselves inconsolable. Out in the Apache country the Indians Vm said to have become so peaceable that it is hard to tell a redskin from a white man the only difference being, that the white usually has ao scalp and the Apache has two or tbren. Father Nugent, a Catholic priest a*. Liver po 1, is followingin the footsteps of Father Mathew. He his induced between 7,C00 and 8.000 persons to take the pledge, nearly )30 ■ f them prisoners in the gaol. Some one speaking of a red no-e of an intemperate mm, said “it was a very expen. sivo painting.” The Mc'hiumc Age writes:—Victorious are disposed to grumble sometimes at the Vcrlmsity of the members of the Assembly, but it really seems as if there were cause lor congratulation on account of our representatives restraining their eloquence. Recently, in New Zealand, a motion of want of confidence in the Vogel Administration was tabled. In reply to this motion Mr Vogel made a speech of five hours duration, and Lis tq.you cut, Mr. FiUhorhert,

required Co less than seven hours and three quarters to disburden himself of all his grievances against the Ministry. For two speakers to occupy nearly two days of Parliament is an incident not often occurring in England, and happily never in Victoria What should we say if Mr. Francis was on his legs for five hours, and then Mr. Duffy followed him in a sp ech lasting for seven hours ? Members of the Assembly would be disposed to pass a self denying ordinance, and one of the standing orders of the House would be that no member should occupy more than a given time. Looked upon in the light of New Zealand lengthy oratory, our Senators are brief in their utterances, and whatever their other defects may bo, we may comfort ourselves with the thought that the day is far distant when one speech will take five hours in delivery, and the following one require as much again. A Gladstone or. a Disraeli might make this tolerable, but a Vogel or a Fitshorhert could never render listening anything but a weary task. The Figaro toils as a marvellous story of love; rival) y, and revenge the revenge being of the most novel kind. Orlando Farneriid a V. netian scientific professor, fell violently in love with the daughter of a baker iii the neighbourhood, but 'he young lady had previously vested her affections in a tailor named Geimaro’ Carreliuo. Now on this account Farnerhu hated Carrelino with a deadly hatred, which was'increased by the fact that he owed his r a\ored rival a good long'bill for' more than a year’s clothes. But he disguised his rage, and wrote to the tailor, sa\ iug that he knew money would be wanted for the marriage, and that if he and his intended bride would pay a friendly call the next day 'he account should be paid. The young couple called and were politely received by the Piofessor in his studio. The conversation was cleverly turned to the subject of electricity, and its many wonders Fanieriui eloquently discoursed, offering to give them a slight shock from his machine. He placed them hand in hand, and put one pole of the battery between the fair fingers of the young lady, giving the other to the tailor. Then he turned the machine at its full streng'h. A half stiffed cry broke from the two lovers, who fell and twisted convulsively in their agony, executing the most terrible contortions, overturning tire furniture, and bruising their limbs in their desperate efforts to escape. Orlando Fame!ini looked on, and laughed with vengeful glee. In about five minutes there remained only a frightful entanglement of two corpses. Then Farnerini turned off the current, and went io tell the police all about the matter. Figaro thinks that men of science will find it difficult to got clothes on credit in future, Probablv, also, yott"g men wishing to marry will take care that they don’t cross the passion of a professor. Holloway’s Pills.—Weak Stomachs.-—" The Wisest cannot enumerate one tithe of the distressing symptoms arising from enfeebled digestion, all of which may lie readily dispelled by these admirable Pills. They remove all unpleasant tastes from the mouth, as also flatulency, and constipation. Holloway’s Pit’s rouse the stomach, liver, and every other organ to that healthy tone to digestion which ful y enables the stomach to convert all food and drink to the nourishment of the b dy. Hence these Pills are the surest atrengtbeners and the safest restoratives in nervousness, wasting, and chronic debility. Holloway’s Pills are infallabla remedies for impaired appetite, eructations, and a multitude of other disagreeable symptoms, which render mi a rable the lives of thousands. Their virtues are known by all classes.