RECREATIONS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 139, 27 October 1871, Page 6

RECREATIONS.

NO. Hi. —A CITAPTETt OF BLVNDEItS AND MISTAKES. (Continued from our last.) BLUNDEBS FROM IGNORANCE. Blunders are always more absurd when accompanied by an affectation of superior knowledge, or when made in matters which even one is expected to be familiar with. A Canadian paper stated not lonj; since that the Mayor of Brantford, while reading to the Council a morion written out by one of his colleagues, broke out into an uncontrollable guffaw when he found " Canal " spelt The Councillor demanded an explanation. The May»»r explained that the word should be spelt Can awl! A story is told of two American politicians —one from Kansas, the other from Louisiana—that, meeting on a Mississippi steamer, they got into a dispute as to which had" got the best religious education. The Louisiana man brought the tnitrer to a test by betting ten dollars that the other could not re [eat the Lord's Prayer.

" Done !" said the Kansas man ; and after a squirt to afford a mom*. ntV reflection, he b»gan in a slow and steady voice—

" Now I lay me down to sleep, I pruy the "

"Yes, yea ; stop, I see you have it," said the other ; " you needn't go on," and handed over the stakes.

A somewhat similar story is told of a Glasgow merchant, whom we shall call Mr. L, and who once occupied a prominent position in the Town Council. He had «»one one Sabbath to hear a candidate in one of the city churches, of which the J own Council holds the presentation. Next day he was speaking with high commendation of the sermon, when some one happened to ask " What was the text?"

Mr. L., whose knowledge of Scripture was rather hazy, and who had probably been dozing the greater part of the time, was taken a little aback.

"The text?" he *aid, 'the text. What was it again ? It began with 'Now—' 'now i«—' 'now is the—' aye, that's it! ' now's the day and now's the hour.' "

Curious stories are told of the blunders made by Oxford undergraduates in the Scripture examination, which, as a matter of form, they have to pass before taking their degree.

It is told of one that when asked who was the first King of Israel, he was so fortunate as to stumble upon the name of " Saul." lie saw that he had hit the mark, and, wishing to show

the examinera how intimate Ins knowledge of Scripture was, he added eonfidentially '• Saul—also called Paul." Another was called upon to mention " the two instances recorded in beripture of the lower animals speaking." The undergraduate thought fur a moment and replied •' Balaam's ass."

" That is one. What is the other ?"

Undergraduate paused in earnest thought. At last a gleam ol reeollcetion lit up his face as he replied—- " The whale ! The whale said unto Jonah, ' Almost though pcrsuadest me to be a Christian.' "

Mr. Don, author of a book on University Life in Cambridge, is resi onbible for the following cases: —One candidate for a degree stated the substance of Paul's sermon at Athens to be, crying out for the spv.ee of two hours, "Great is Piana of the Ep'esians." Another was asked to give the parable of the good Samaritan. He did so with tolerable accuracy till be came to the place where the Samaritan says to the innkeeper " When 1 come again, I will repay thee." Hen? the unlucky examinee added, "This he said knowing that he should see his i'ace no more."

Another gentleiw.n, whose acquaintance with Scripture seems to have been of an even more remarkable kind, when called upon to trace the connection between the Old and New Testament, referred to the ciicuihstnnce that Peter, with his sword, cut off the ear of the prophet Malachi.

The case, however, which showed the rarest combination of good memory with an inferior sense of traditional order was that of an examinee who was called upon to give an account of the death of Jezebel. lie evidently felt sure of his ground, for he prefaced his account by a remark about the importance of adhering as closely as possible to Scripture language, lie then proceeded as follows

" *nd as he passed through the gate of the t-ii v, there looked out upon him two persons appointed for the purpose. And he said unto them, ' Throw her down.' So they threw her down. And he said, 4 /o it a second time.' And they did it a second time. And he said, 'Doit a third time.' And they did it a third time ; and they did it unto seven times; yea unto seventy limes seven, last of all the woman died also. And they took up of the frus. incuts that were left, seven baskets full."

Oxlord undergraduates seem not to be worse than other folk. Jn the General Assembly, during a discussion as to the hotter training of students,. Mr. Douglas said the Assembly would know the necessity there was for more stringency if Miey eould see some of the papers handed in by medical students in the preliminary examination they are required to pass in literature and mathematics. A question, for instance, was put as to themeaning of the word " hypothesis.'" One candidate answered that it wa» " a machine for raising water." Another said it was " something that happened to a man after death." In answer to the requirement, "Give pome account of Galileo and Copernicus," one student answered that Galileo was a man who had committed five murders; another, that Galileo and Copernicus were two classical heroes who had fallen together in some battle. A third student said that Copernicus was " a compound of two metals."