MISCELLANEOUS

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 277, 26 June 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS

The cardinals hats will be distributed at Easter. Archbishop Manning and the Archbishop of Malines are mentioned as likely to be among the recipients.

In the . course of his Financial Statement, Mr. Jollie, Provincial Treasurer of Canterbury, made the following reference to the Waitaki bridge :—" I wish to call attention to the proposal to construct a bridge across the Waitaki, at the joint expense of the two Provinces of Canterbury and Otago. The Superintendent of Otago has advised his honor the Superintendent here that a similar appropriation has been sent down to the Provincial Legislature of Otago, now in session. The eng'neers belonging to the Provinces have met upon the-ground and decided all the preliminaries that can be settled without a further survey. They have fixed upon the locality,and have estimated that a sum of £15,000 will be required ■ as the total cost of the bridge. On • the Canterbury side, this bridge will be in the main line of a most important traffic, leading from the Waimate Gorge road—now in course of construction—through the country of Waihou, and thence to the cutting on the Waitaki, i which is fixed upon as the locality of the i bridge ; the river here being extremely i favorable for constructing a bridge. The site is about fifteen miles above the present ferry."—'Star.' An "Idler" sends the following letter '■ to the ' Hour ':—" I have just stumbled ■ upon a volume of ' Poems and Translations' of.various merit, which is dedicated in the following form:—'To the Right Honorable Sir Alexander Edmund Cockburn, Bart., Lord Chief Justice of England, &c, this volume is most respectfully inscribed by one who shares in the fervent admiration, honor, and regard which the whole Bar feel for the judge, the jurist, and the scholar.' One 'of the poems, I observe, is entitled ' The legend of Lewie.' Will it surprise your readers to learn that the author is Edward Vaughan Kenealy, L.L.D.?"

A good story lies embedded somewhere .in the rubbish of ' Hansard.' Hartley, the member' for 1 lull," was' one "night talking in'the House on the American question ; and, after a dreary speech, which had the effect of clearing the benches, called on the clerk at the table to read the Riot Act, as an illustration of one of his arguments. Edmund Burke, who was close at hand, and was impatiently waiting to speak himself, thereupon started up and cried, 'I The Riot Act, my dearest friend! Why, in Heaven's name, read the Riot Act ? Do you not see that the mob is already dispersed?" Let gentlemen who love to talk from platforms pay attention to this story, and see if they cannot find a moral in it.

Origin of Apprenticeships.—Apprenticeship is supposed to have had its origin in the twelfth century. In 1400, the practice of apprenticing boys to trades had become so ccmmon that complaints arose of a consequent want of agricultural laborers, and'in the reign of Henry IV, it was therefore enacted that no person, who had not land or rent to the value of 20s. a year, which was then a comparatively large sum, should be allowed to ■bind his son or daughter apprentice, and this law remained for some time in force. The sons of knights, esquires, and gentletlemen were, at a far later date, noticed by an old writer as flocking to London in order that they might be apprenticed. An Act passed in the 7th- year of Queers Elizabeth established seven years as ' the period of apprenticeship.—' Furniture Gazette.'

At a ploughing match recently held, says the ' Elgin Courant,' not quite a hundred miles from the banks of the Spey, a number of the fair sex were present, taking a-deep interest in their sweethearts, who»were the prominent actors in the exhibition. One ploughman had made very good work, which his lady love heard praised, and she herself having greatly admired it, exclaimed in the fullness of her. heart —" Weel deen, Jock. After the praise ye'ye gotten the day an' the gran' wark ye've deen, I'll stick out nae langer, but gie up my place, an' ye'll hae me at the term." John smiled upon his darling, and nodded consent.

Recently, in a Blue Island Avenue stage, in Chicago, two gentlemen persisted in smoking, much to the annoyance of several ladies Who were their fellow-pas-sengers. Another gentleman seized one of the offending cigars and threw it out of the window, which was the signal for a row, during whith the bereft smokev attempted to draw a revolver. . "But," says a local journal, " a live young woman present went him one better, for while he was fumbling for his pistol she presented and cocked a neat little revolver at his cranium, politely informing him that any further'demonstration on his part would lead to decided unpleasantenss. It was enough, and he and his fellow-bully very quietly releived the startled passengers of their presence." A curious document has just come to light, tending to prove that Freemasons and the Roman Catholic Church were not always at such open enmity as, one would believe from the fierce anathemas hurled against its members by the Sovereign Pontiff and his followers. It is a -list of the brethren composing the original Scotch Lodge of J, of Scotland, holding its warrants and constitution from the Orient of Paris, in 1778. Amongst the officers and members of. the Lodge, who belonged to all classes of society, may be seen that of the Abbe Bartolia, worshipful master, a Rosicrucian; Abbe Robinson, Rosicrucian; Abbe Durand' Prior of Entraignes: M aster *Dom Chabriet, Benedictine Friar attached to the Monastery of Ciuny, Rosicrucian ; and many others. It may also be remembered that his Holiness the Pope, and many of his cardinals, notably Ante—nelli, are not only Masons, but have worked their way up to the degree of Rosicrucians. .'■ Paris Correspondent.'