Excerpta.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 739, 18 May 1894, Page 2

Excerpta.

§ Live for Something. Live for something ; be not idle, Look about thee for employ ; Sit not down to useless dreaming, Labour is the sweetest joy. Folded bands are ever weary, Selfish hearts are never gay ; Life for thee hath many duties— Active be, then, while you may Life is onward—heed it In each varied dress, Yonr own act can speed it On to happiness. His bright pinion o’er you Time waves not in vain, If hope chants before you Her prophetic strain. Life is onward—never Look upon the past, It would hold you ever In its fetters fast. Ne’er forbode new sorrow. Bear that of to-day ; Thou shalt see the morrow Chase the clouds away. Life is onward—treasure Its eternal part, Give it without measure All thy strength of heart. Life is onward—prize it, Sunlit or in storm ; Oh, do not despise it In its humblest form 1

Relieved at Last.

Sentinels have accomplished wonders of faithfulness and endurance, but the service of a sentinel on the island of Ritgen, as reported by himself, is a unique example of patience. A detachment of the French General Davoust’s army was stationed on the little island of Riigon. An order to leave it immediately was received, and the soldiers embarked and sailed away with the greatest haste. One man was forgotten.

He was on sentinel duty. Back and forth be marched for hours after it was time for some one to relieve him. Finally he lost patience and returned to headquarters and found the post deserted. His company had departed in obedience to imperative orders. ‘I am lost, ruined, disgraced,’he lamented; ‘I shall be sent for and shot as a deserter !’ His distress touched the heart of a good fellow who witnessed it, and he took him home with him, cheered him up, and adopted him into his family. As time passed, and no summons came from France, the soldier took heart and became a good citizen of Riigon. He endeared himself to his adopted family, and married the daughter of his protector. Five years after the departure of the French soldiers, a sail was sighted from the island, and is was soon discovered that the men on board the approaching ship wore French uniforms. ‘ They have come for me !’ cried the ex-sentinel.

A happy thought struck him. He ran home, hurried into his old uniform, seized his arms, and by the time the French were ready to disembark he was solemnly marching back and forth on the shore.

‘ Who goes there ?’ he demanded, in a voice of thunder, as the soldiers were about to land.

‘ Who goes there yourself? replied the astonished Frenchman. ‘ Who are you, any way ?’ ‘ A sentinel.’ ‘ How long have you been on duty ?’ ‘ Five years.’

As might be expected, such a model ot patience and perseverance was relieved from duty until his case could be inquired into, and when the matter was reported to General Davoust, he laughed heartily, and saying that the fellow must need rest, gave him his discharge. ******

Courtesy to Pupils.

If courtesy to parents is a duty, it is not less a duty to pupils. Everybody knows how Luther’s schoolmaster, the

famous Trebonius, used to take off his bat when he entered his schoolroom. ‘ I uncover my head,’ he would say, ‘to honour the consuls, chancellors, doctors, masters who shall proceed from this school.’ Dr Arnold won his way to the hearts of Rugby boys by the simple respect which he showed in accepting their word as true. A master’s success has sometimes been imperilled by so slight a matter as the mistake ot not returning boys’ salutes in the street. For courtesy begets courtesy ; it is a passport of popularity. The way in which things are done is often more important than the things themselves. One special point of personal courtesy is punctuality. To keep a class waiting is to be rude and to seem to be unjust. For a sense of speculation arises when a master is apt to be late; if he is generally four minutes late, the boys will count the chance of his being - one minute later, and the result will be disappointment, disaster, and then dislike.— The Contemporary Review.

****** Presence of Mind.

(The Rev Clericus has been waiting half an hour to speak to his wife, who is having a call from Mrs Longwind. Hearing the front door close, he supposes the visitor is gone.) The Rev Clericus (calling from his study) : ‘ Well, is that old bore gone at last?' Mrs Clericus (from the drawing room where Mrs Longwind still sits) : ‘ Oh, yes, dear, she went an hour ago ; but our dear Mrs Longwind is here—l know you will want to come in and see her.’

Stood on Formality.

She was the servant girl, but there burned in her heart a love no less intense than the flame which warms the soul of the petted daughter of the millionaire.

Verily she was struck on the grocery man who sat besides her in the kitchen. The little clock on the mantel struck the hour of 9.

The grocery man got gay. ‘ Mary—’ Fearing lest she lost a portion of his discourse he leaned forward until his lips were very close to her ear. ‘ May I kiss you ?’ ‘John—’ She averted her eyes. * You ought not to ask me.’ With a celerity born of desperation he seized his hat and shot into the darkness of the backyard and the night’s Plutonian shore.

The girl rose, petulantly kicked the cat down the cellar, and wondered why men were not able to see through a ladder.

A South Australian paper is responsible for saying that on the road up to Coolgardie from Perth are to be found hundreds of empty bottles, which once held Warner's Safe Cure and Clement’s Tonic, proving what high estimation these two patent medicines are held in. This (says the Wellington Herald) is quite different to the state of affairs which obtained in olden times upon the Victorian goldfields, because then the ‘ dead marines ’ met with by the way-side were empty brandy and whisky bottles. And yet this sudden change for the better has not been brought about by Prohibitionists, because there is no such • element ’ on Coolgardie goldfields.

I Certainly the best medicine known is Sandeh and Sons’ Eucalypti Extract Test its eminently powerful effects in coughs,colds, influenza ; the reliefisinstantaneous. In serious cases, and accidents of all kinds, be they wounds, burns, scaldings bruises, sprains, it is the safest remedy—no swelling—no inflammation. Like surprising effects produced in croup, diphtheria, bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs, swellings, S c.; diarrhoea, dysentry, diseases of the kidneys and urinary organs. In use at hospitals aud medical clinics all over the globe, patronised by His Majesty the King of Italy ; crowned with medal anddiplomt Interatnational Exhibition. Amsterdam Trust in this approved article and reject all ethers.