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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 134, 10 June 1869, Page 2

The Missionary. — The following sketch of the modern missionary is from the pen of a writer in the Saturday Review: — " The ideal of a missionary is very noble, and this ideal has been often and fully realised in the annals of the propagation of tbe Christian faith. A missionary advances into the howling wilderness with his life in his hand; goods he has none, or such as he has, he cheerfully submits to their spoiling for his Master's sake. ' He bears the cross, and with the cross its burdens. He asis not an eye for an eye, and certainly not, as this Inland Mission did, hard cash for an eye, but turns the lefc cheek to him who smites the right. He does not demand an indemnity for his ravished coat, but cheerfully surrenders his cloak also. To the simplicity of the dove he adds the prudence of the serpent, and when persecuted in one city, he scarcely asks the assistance of an ironclad and Armstrong guns to reinstate him. Such were the Bonifaces, the Xaviers, and even the Swartzes of history. Such was the martyr spirit of missionaries who converted Europe, and who in other days planted the Gospel in this very China, and in further Japan. We have changed all this; and while we are told by the Duke of Somerset that missions should follow trade, the China Inland Mission has anticipated the maxim and conducted missions on a sensible practical tradiug system. The missionary of the period preaches the Gospel wheu backed by treaty provisions. He is spreading that kingdom which is not of this world, only it happens to be stoutly represented by consuls, diplomatics, and the British fleet. He fights the servants and emissaries of Satan from the strong entrenched camp of. a war-steamer, and the evangelists of the gospel of peace are reinforced under persecution by an armed party of marines. ; This might be all very well, for modern manners require a change from primitive methods, were it not that the details of missions," sucli as they are, are not only complexJTbut Very expensive.".

Education is the cheap defence of nations. — Bur ke. Samuel Taylor Coleridge says : — An hour of solitude in sincere and earnest prayer, or the conflict with and conquest over a sinful passion or subtle bosom sin, will teach us more, if thought will more effectually awaken the faculty and form the habit of reflection, than a year's study in the schools without them. According- to the London Spectator, a treasure of priceless value has beeu found amongst tbe stores of the Indiau House. Oriental scholars all over the world will feel their blood quicken at the news that the library of Timour, collected iv the course of his conquest, has been discovered. Among other treasures are documents of extraordinary value connected with the biography of Mahomed. The discovery of this chest may probably cause ia large part of Eastern history to be rewritten. Paper Coffiss. — To the various paper productions of this paper age — paper collars, paper shirts, and even paper waistcoats, bonnets, and hats — must now be added paper coffins. M. Szerelmey, -their inventor, indeed, the patentee of these coffins, seems to have a belief in the ■universal adaptability of paper to all the meeds of civilised life. He undertakes to coat ships with it, and make them impervious to shot ; he employs it in the manufacture or construction of rocket cases, powder canisters, railway carriages, drain pipes, and party walls. He claims that it is at once lighter, stronger, harder, and -cheaper than any other material hitherto in use for these purposes, nofc excepting iron and steel and stone. His object in introducing ifc in the manufacture cf coffins is to obtain what so many people rather absurdly consider a desideratum — a perfectly air-tight, waterproof, and dampdefying shell, which nothing from without •can penetrate, and nothing from within can escape. The Zopissa paper coffin, iv which these conditions are said to -be fulfilled, is a solid-looking structure, very much resembling, in build and thickness, the ancient mummy cases preserved in the British Museum. Eight Children at a Birth — .On the "2nd August, last year, Mrs Timothy Bradlee, of Turnbull County, Ohio, gave »birth to eight childreu — three boys and five girls. They are all living, and all healthy, but are quite small. Mr Bradlee's family is increasing fast. He was married to Eunice Mowbry, wbo weighed 1731bs on •the day of her marriage. She has given birth to two pair of twins, and now to eight more, making twelve children in six years. It seems slrauge, but nevertheless is true, Mrs. Bradlee was a twin of three, her father and mother being both twins. Mrs Bradlee has named hei' boys after noted and distinguished men ; one after the Hon. J..8. Giddings, who gave her a splendid gold medal ; one after the hon, Elijah Campbell, who gave her a deed of 50 acres of laud, and the other after James Johnson, who gave her a cow. American Advertisement. — The following characteristic advertisement appears in a New , York paper: — " If the p-arty v?ho took a fancy to my overcoat was influenced by the inclemency of the weather, ali right ; but if by commercial consideration, I am ready to negotiate for its _*eturu. — John Brougham, No. 385, West Fourfceen-street." A certain French mayor had to make out a passport for a certain duchess. The duchess wasl'wealthy ; the mayor was in her service. The duchess was something of a coquette j the mayor was anxious to gratify her humor. But the duchess was one-eyed, and the mayor had a difficulty in making out her passport. How was he to describe her eyes? He entered them in lhe schedule as follows: — " Eyes dark, soft, full of expression — one of them being absent." Nervous Gentleman : " Now be careful how you drive, Cabby ; and go slowly over the stones, for I hate to be shaken. And, mind you, pull up at the right house; and look out for those dreadful railway vans." Cabby: "Never fear, sir, I'll do my best. And which 'orsepital would you wish to be took tb, sir, in case of an accident?" . .. *» A Purse." — < Don't blame people who accumulate money, for the possession of wealth will win more respect than any amount of talent. The most brilliant wit the greatest goodness — all fall below the car of that great Juggernaut, "cash," "Mbney makes the man," not manners, oow-adays.— Polly Plum,