WAYSIDE MUSINGS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 749, 25 August 1876, Page 2

WAYSIDE MUSINGS.

—o— The celebrated jumping frog of Talaveras County has found a rival in a certain jumpmg pig of Clyde County ; and the manner in which I obtained an introduction to this latest novelty was in the following singular mannerl was walking through a certain paddock, with the owner, when suddenly a couple of cows and a calf came charging towards us at full speed. My heart began to quake with fear—for I have an innate dread of infuriated cattle - and I meditated flight, when I was relieved from so ignominous a proceeding by perceiving that the beasts were not regarding myself or my companion, but were in full chase of a pig ; and it certainly was about one of the most ludicrous sights ever behold to see those boasts tearing round the paddock in all directions, while piggy, not at all alarmed, having full confidence in his own superior powers of speed and agility, especially in sharply turning, kept just sufficiently distant to “ keep the pot a Idling.” “ By Jove !” my friend observed, “ he has got out again and the meaning of these words, after interpretation, were simply that no wall hitherto erected had proved sufficiently high to ensure the imprisonment of this porcine “Jack Sheppard.” The walls of the present gaol are over five feet in height, and built in such a manner as to defy, to all appearances, any attempt at escape, unless by a clean jump, and this evidently had been accomplished. My friend intends putting “Jack ” into training, and will employ a professional jockey for this purpose, any quantity of whom are always in store at Cox’s Corner, ready and willing for this sort of game ; and you will find, on the day appointed at the forthcoming Spring Meeting, our grunting friend entered for the hurdle race, where, 1 feel assured, he will make ns good a show as most of his kindred brethren that usually appear on the Clyde Race Course ; affording, at all events, more real sport and merriment than the usual funereal gatherings that have marked with a black stone former assemblages. It is by no means uninteresting to observe the obstinate persistency which marks the career of some of our fellow beings, who

will, year after year, pursue the same undeviating course, though all the while such course is attended with unvarying lose and failure, so much so that surprise is felt by the most unthinking at the wilful blunders of the person most interested. The case of the Clyde coal pit is one exactly in accord with this idea. Year after year, for the Inst five or six, have the workings been conducted in the same exact manner with the usual result—failure and stoppage of the works. Winter after winter, when coal is most needed, it is not to be had for love or money; and thus'n valuable property—valuable not alone to the proprietor himself, but to tho whole community—is rendered unavailable and useless, simply because of the fact that the lesson experience has so persistently endeavored to inculcate in the mind of the proprietor is just as persistently defied and disobeyed. And now, again, when winter is leaving us, and summer gives notice of her approach, operations are being resumed, while tho people to whom the property would have been a blessing have been obliged either to shiver through the late winter—an exceptionally long and severe one—or send at a loss to distant places for an article of an inferior quality, while, during all this time, a much superior lies at our very doors. It is a generally accepted theory that a man can do what he likes with his own. and theoretically it sounds very fine, but practically it will not work on all occasions, this being one of them. Fire and water are two of the essentials of life, as without them none of us could exist; and here we find one of those necessaries of sustenance a valuable mineral, the property of the Crown and therefore belonging to the people—being monopolised by one individual, to whom it cannot be of advantage to himself and certainly of no benefit to others. Surely, the lease issued by the Crown must have been burdened with the usual conditions. If so, whose business is it to see that these conditions are carried out ? for certainly after years of violation it is time that some steps should be taken to prevent a .continuance of this deprivation, and render the lignite—for what it was intended by a gracious Providence—a boon to mankind generally, and this neighborhood particularly. Art fond of pigeon pie ? and thou sayest yes. 1 adjure thee to rbandon the unholy passion, for there’s danger in the dish ; for should any one, for miles around, have the temerity to slay one of these birds he will rue the day he was so tempted ; for, are they not claimed by an owner who deems himself the possessor of all the pigeons between here and Cromwell, whether wild or domesticated; at least, so it would appear by the action lately taken to punish an individual for having the brazen effrontery to show a predilection for this sort of food ; and, in his attempt to augment his frugal fare in shooting at a wild pigeon wounded a tamo one in the ankle joint, causing much pain and suffering to the poor dear bird. The counsel for the defence asked the complainant if his birds were “ear-marked,” and upon an answer in the negative, lucidly pointed out the difficulty in discerning the pigeon claimed by the complainant and any other of the numerous flocks that enjoyed life between Clyde and Cromwell. Ihe magistrate stupidly dismissed tho case instead of giving the reprobate twelve months’ screw in Clyde Gaol. Another straw to the intolerable burden of grievances that has well nigh broken the back of the British public by official bungling. When a man deliberately abandons himself to drink for a course of years, temporizing measures, no matter how kindly meant, are altogether useless and unavailing, as in point of fact the victim is really unconscious of his own existence, and irresponsible for his actions. What more deplorable spectacle can be found than an unfortunate fel-low-creature thus situated ? So mused I, on beholding one thus afflicted, as he stood in the dock of the Police Court recently. Once in a good position in life, and every prospect of a fair continuance ; sober, contented, and happy. A cloud arose— 1 know not why, or wherefore, but the fact remains unaltered—“he took to drink,” as the brutal expression is, and the drink took him ; as a necessary consequence, with the usual unhappy sequence of degradation and misery. To fine such a man, therefore, is to do him an injury, no matter how well-meant the intention—and sure am I that the motive was a just and pure one, but the best intentions do not always bear the fruit of wisdom—and incarceration in gaol for a lengthened period would have been merciful to tho individual, and relieved society of a nuisance that each day had become more glaring and painfully intolerable. Momus.