Among the Books

Horowhenua Chronicle, 21 January 1914, Page 4

Among the Books

-f Lady Starbotfcle had a neighbour liamed Hill, wlio dropped his li s. She called bini the nutI lade imaginaire because he idways said he was 'ill and he wasn't." "A British sailor standing' on the Acropolis said to fcllowtar, 'Bill, this must have been blooming line when it. was new/ ' "At a ball, a man, as a valse began, impudently addressed a young lady: 'Lily oi' the Valley, will you dance with me?' 'Thank you/ she said, 'I toil not, neither do I spin." -—"The Measure of Our Thoughts, ' by .Reginald Lucas. Obviously, Kipling and the man-in-the-street, who began to become a specially designated quantity at about this tiiuc, were at cross purposes. There was ;;u austerity about his demand which did not appeal to what he called "a poor little street-bred people." Perhaps his song was a little foreign; and the masses were hardly prepared for his -fierce Old Testament. faith in a God of Battles and of Hosts. The people had his confident faith in their 'race. The Jews in Egypt were not more confident, that they were the chosen people. But our democracy did not want to prove their title: they were quite content to let others prove it for them or to take it on faith. Kipling narrowed down the Imperial idea lo ancient tribal proportions," plus the modern ideal of efficiency in organisation:— "Keep ye the Law —be swift in all obedience — Clear the land of evil, drive 'he road and bridge the ford Make ye sure to each lus own; That he reap where he hath sown; By the peace among Our peoples, let men know we serve the Lord!" "The Eighteen-Nmefies," by Kolbrook Jackson. A certain Irish nobleman was on his deathbed. The priest came to him. The holy man was anxious to get a general confession from him. The nobleman declared he had nothing to confess. "Look back on your past lii'e, my lord. Is there nothing to regret ?" "Nothing," he replied. "I never denied myself a pleasure. —"Bohemian Days in Fleet Street." By A. Journalist. Education without instinct :s like windows without a house. The ladder, of civilisation is a rum thing; the top and the bottom are iaoarer to each other than the midldle is to either. It is alwa;ys better to be Very than to be I.lather. Who could be more generous than the ma.u who'd split his last shilling with yon? Well, tinman who wouldn't split it. —"Cake." By Boliun Lynch. On one occasion a member who demanded Lord North s impeachment and execution, protested against the Minister's slumber. North asked why he should be deiiied the solace allowed to every criminal on t lie eve of execution, adding as an afterthought that the speaker avAio had seni him to sleep had least right lo complain. Once when hall asleep he caught Burke uttering a false quantity in . ;t, quotation. He muttered a correction and slept again. "Even how," cried a speaker, "when voices of warning and protestation a.re raised against, him, the noble lord .s asleep." North Avas beard to murmur: "I wish to lio?aven 1 was." -"Lord North." B.v Reginald Luear.