NOTIONS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1588, 6 September 1873, Page 2

NOTIONS.

' Writing ■ one's - self down* •an : ass ■ is ; generally deemed the. acme v , ; of. things' undesirable* but thatr there/ is spine- > thing worse, ; a recent apology/ published, not a hundred miles from 'Greymoulhi,, affords ample proof. To ..write one's | self down— well, an Ananias— is surely more humiliating than aught that could spring from an asinine signature. Tp'J have to tell the truth is not always pleasant; but, in the end, it is lik c honesty, the best policy. By the way, the libelled company was a little, too gentle with the perverfcer of the truth in- ''question. He should have been compelled to affix his profession to the advertisement. Salts and senna are Bitter, and there be pills that have the property f of making j themselves very disagreeable to the human ; palate. . Gall is not sweet, 1 and; -the waters of Marah were nauseous'to the' progress of Jacob wandering in, the thirsty Arabian 1 desert } bu it \ tl\e. • dish ,o,f ! . pie , swallowed by an illustrious denizen of a town bearing the name of a great demo-

cratic statesman of England must have been bitterer than an amalgamation of all these. . : v • ' Cigars were very generally smoked by gentlemen at one time. Few of the cream^ of the, cream eschewed smoking then. But from the conducTol ' tfie^most "^ "respectable" members of rthat highly respectable Council in" whidh one Captain ;Fraser-;is— well, ~a captain--.at-.leae.tr=rit~.^-, would appear that i the "wee^'^Tal^be^ 6^ come a weed indeed^ and ' io?be a symbol pf vulgarity. The smell of tobacco stinks----iin the nostrils of this .eminent legislator, and to sit in the. same; chamber with a tobacconist — faugh^k^th^ r ;^ery notion almost turns his highly-respectable I stomach. ;To ,• ordinary mortals it seems to be i justjas decent'tp i yerid tobaccO/in ita / many, pleasant forms, as, to. sell sheep or " cattle. -:Butf;these ,'* hpnorabies '' are up c l above the common leyel, and perhaps it is' :i ' not fair io judge "theirr by the same code .fas the : -vast: 'body- -of ■; r citizens ],whp vha^e. never sat among the gods of .that upper!', ;.. ■sphere*! . ;.-;. ,-,., •. , „ „ .., ■ Education is evidently "a bete ntiir ainoirg' ! ' ' the ''good •fplK'bf AucklaM^ -Theydoii't ? mind being taxed to 'feed the 'body; ° tßu^" '■' to nourish the mind they /will not, unless forced -to ,do rso :by. the law,'pay a ( %tiv'er ! ■in the ; way of taxi.;; ■ : .' j - t / summonses were issued, for a,.sirigie. Pplic4' ;^ /Court, sitting at. Auckland recently to de-^'" ' faulters; in^tiie, ; mattelc [ot the^6catibii ! rate; ■■■■■ Among'. the^e were: severafgientle- ;; men of high .standing • in jthe.ei^gMened,;;, society of the city. These fetlows maiii- ' ■festly go on the principle that if a little .knowledge be a dangerous thing, . as by a great English ppety mu,ch\of ; r ? .that .article ,must be terrible, as an agent of danger.' ' "Where' "lgtfprahce is bliss, 'tis folly to 'be 1 wise." f; - And the legal enactment which endeavors to disturb the blissful ignorance of the Aucklanders can't be regarded as ..being ranything but, an inr. terme'ddler. " Why' don't 6xxv' legislatdrs; let things, which are satisfactory to'the; '•' eiijpyers of >them,- a10ne.,,-. Why compel^ men to give;;theJT ; ch^d^en ( inßtructibh.l fPJßople can surely | do as' they like with s? itheir own in any free country. -"- '■■ lit is the custom with a certain set of would-b^crftica tp ; shjger at the thirst 'for superior educatibnwhibh is rapidly taking hold of the, middle, classes.. .And, as an Qtagp rpaper remarks, ah' illiteralie cook is the ideal of womanly perfection among such.: These chap 8 cry .put, against Vthe,. piano as an instrument productive '<& manifold evils to the girls of. /the, present^ .day. Better teach them domestic duties — r-how to cook a; dinner, ;to, make up a dress, to button shirts, and dam stockings, than to moon away their youth in strumming upon pianofortes, say they. Shakespeare' had r sueh 1 curmudfijeoiis in his mind's eye when he wrote-^"The man that has' : n6 music -in? him is fit for treasons, iStratagems, spoila.", Aye^ao : tie is William, arid for worse things than | atiy of these.. K ,W ; hat;preyents,a woman* from being a good cook and housekeeper 'being able, to_put,buttons on in the most faultless way, and [being at the same tinVe ; able to delight her husband withthe'airs of our great : composers. 1 havfe Known all these qualifications combined in a wife, and she a_ person of no extraordinary . talents. An educated workman iis' more skilful and valuable than a humaa brute who tbils i and moils like, a 1 htfrse'or ari J dxV T Ajnd so with 'the' other sex;"' ' !;LV >• "•:;■: i i .'i "' 1 ' ■■'. '\ ■■; ' •; j, I There' are men 'in . high : places' in' New ;• ! ;Zealand-whoare perfect brutes; in regard Wi to gallantry. The present Maypress-pf.,; Auck land has increased; the population of t^e Colpny by four times three! She' lias t^vice added a unit of humanity to ! the'-i New Zealand sum., total .whilst her husband .has been occupying the honorable and onerous position of Chief Magistrate, of the city of Auckland. Yet the churlish Council haj not on either aiispicibu's occasion presented her with that silver .cradle which is the undoubted right of every lady who increases and- mul tiplies '. during! -\ theterm ; of her spouse's mayoralty.- And! there :; were ;i some- - members, miscalled' r " honorable," who a few days ago r in; the ;-- House 5 of Representatives carped; at the public's havinghadtb buy the' cradles mi J which, the infantine cherub 3 brought? into ■; the world 'by 'Lady Bo wen's agency used tp be"f ocked to the realms of " and sneered at the' Colony's" Having had to defray the expense of archery for the' late Governor's i wife. What; next? in<r the name of decency, )whatan the world| ijext.^ .,, W.hy,, forsooth,. shpuld r the,wifXpL r . Her most ' excellent Majesty^B^icegeVe t H?^ ■have been asked •'* to 'ibfear the cost of maternity * like,, any vulgar, .woman who chooses to multiply the images of herself a|nd husband-? ,; Archery, is anancientjand r|espectable science, which: wpn r unfadjing fi : laurels ior England on Buchlfietdsljaa£ Crecy ! and /Agincourt. ;< How monstrouaT then to stickle over the payment of a iewL paltry -pounds ' that i thel • good^natviredy 1 Governor's wife Baight.play a mimic game it it;! ■' ■''" But the' age 'of. chivalry is gone./ That /of . sbphists, : economists^ and calc'u-^. lators' hais' snecfeeded,", : "and; ! ' ! for'alter^ slightly; ( tbe .lariguage. of ; the im'mortat^ ' Edmund, /the adoratipil ,'.'of 'the sex is' ex- ! tinguishedfcr.eyer.....V : :'.".'; i .,..1*..1.',,...'/^'\,, j< , j There has been a 1 wondrous gathering _ pt the vendors pf the cup which cheers and flfoesjnebriaie— some times— at, Mel^\ bourne. .'. Eight hundred publickn's^ toany" " of whom ''Were^isinners, m'et there^^^eg, they congregated, thither from! easti&iidO west, and south arid north/ bent on doing something awful — fully determined, on murdering that 1 innocent : .whiclh calls James Joseph Casey papaj andwKb'Sie paternal parent; has ctoiateiied^ it "TM :: Permissive ' Bill" Mr : J. j;' Cl^littfe- [\ game would be no play to the bonifaces if " he maniaged tpscpre a win. > / Wea^ltnow^;" on the v.authority, of . the schoQlboy fafilelL anent the boy and the frogs,, that what ia; » sport to ' some- is ■ death; !tdrothers.i ? Thehotelkeepersy believing that the bill whidh ( amused arid popularued.' its pawoulcl lie death to niariy of them, have tesol^ed'to; ' choke it ift its' infancy. l! TheVeare : soiiie cute files among the liquor sellers^ i^iand^ 1 tlie scheme concocted by such.a monster assemblage of ■tfiem^fighiin^ r 'for bread and butter, must be something worthy of ■ being ? chronicled when' it be ' fiothur Jjfjii? to divulge^ it; ' The' experiences of thlse . . 800 men cori'densedihtd'a'pbcketfV'oluine^ would be worth reading. Whats'tories of ! " lambing down," what historiespf cheque-^ melting the rnral chaps could ,r;elate,! iTh'ej publicans f of rtiknifegtly^aeii ? f of a pi^abtiical turn,' and ! i^.tfceVv maxiitf "^?he goos l^ip those ry^ioj Kelp:; th^nisely^,?;; : Y,,'/i^y : ,o-. DI©QKNB3 •