THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 142, 17 June 1871, Page 2

THE WEEK.

| pi a iri During the past week the ratepayers under the Education Act have been called upon to elect their representatives in the respective Local Committees, and, as a rule, it has been found that those who by effluxion of time were called upon to retire had, during their term of office, so satisfactorily fulfilled their duties that they were elected lo their old posts. In some of the districts the question of religious education cropped up, and, I am sorry to see, was summarily dismissed with the determination that the Bible should not be introduced into our Government schools. To a certaiu extent I am with those who oppose such a proposition, but Ido not think it should rest here. Any attempt to introduce the religious element as a part of our educational system would, without doubt, prove a failure, and would have the effect of breaking up our schools, thus depriving the children of both secular and religious education, but there are many who think, and I confess to being one of them, that we are not doing our duty to the rising generation in permitting them to grow up in entire ignorant of Bible teachings.., Surely the reading of the Scriptures! might be introduced as a supplemental^ branch of education after the ordinal school hours, when the ministers of the various denominations, or such persons as they should approve of might impart scripture instruction to the children, whose parents would decide upon which 'daya they should attend. It is all very well to say that we will have no Bible in our

schools for ■...iea.r of the dissensions to. which, it might give rise, but I believe that ttfere 1 are' very many parents, who; while tjhey are indisposed to allow religious; in'structioii' to fornfar a part of the Stater teaching, have au uncomfortable feeling that they are not doing their duty by their children in allowing them to grow up in fcbe grossest ignorance of the first principles of the Christian religion, and yet who do not see their way to carrying ou/t their wishes without doing some violence to their own or their neighbors' feelings. I believe that no difficulty would be, found to exist, did the parents as a body first of all make up freu^minds as to the necessity of religion foraiinK^ part of their children's education, and tabu set to work to consider howjthis could be done so. as to give offence to nobody. Once let the piiuciple be admitted, and the means of carrying it into effect would not long be found wanting. Perhaps I am exceeding my bounds as a mere weekly journalist in commenting or offering any hints upon so debateable a subject, but I confess that I do uot care to ccc the children of British colonists growing\up in a state of heathenism without saying a word on the subject. They were born, and have beeh/broughfc up in NewZealand^ it is true, but for all that, they are not Muories, nor does it iv any way follow, because they are natives of a country that once was peopled only by heathens thtit they too should grow up in a similar state of irrelijrion. Englishmen did not come to New Zealand for the purpose of lowering themselves to the level of the race of men they found on their arrival, but rnther in the hope that by their example and that of their children they might elevate the savage in his habits and ideas. This is not to be done by allowing the rising generation to arrive at maturity in gutter destitution of any religious knowledge beyond what they can obtain by an occasional attendance at church. I fully believe that the time is not far off when the parents of children attending our Government schools will' fully recognise the justice, and admit the correctness, of what I now say, and I can but add — the sooner the better for all concerned. / Our town volunteers were inspected on Tuesday by Col. Harrington, who could nob conceal his annoyance and disgust at being unable to hold the parade in the open air and duriDg the day time. However, it was perhaps just as well that he could not, for, in the present transition state of the company, the men did not present a very soldierlike appearance, some of theni being in one uniform, some in another, some with half a uniform, and others with none at all. As the inspecting officer remarked, the volunteering spirit has quite died away in Nelson, and many people are of opinion that a portion of the money that under present circumstances is thoroughly wasted upon our very limited force would be far better laid out in providing one or more drill instructors for the pupils at the Government schools. Such an expenditure would be one with which none could find fault, but the same cannot be saiq of the existing state of things. '" J One of the members of the Provincial Council, Mr. O'Conor, has been addressing his constituents, and appears to have been so satisfied "with what he said that he has devoted seven columns of the Westport Timis, of which paper he is the proprietor, to a report of the words of wisdom which fell from his lips on the interesting occasion. ■ -. I am sorry to say that I have not yet perused the address with that amount of care and attention that should always be devoted to the utterances of a gentleman possessed of such distinguished attainments as Mr. O'Conor, but it is a treat\that I fancy will . keep very well. "~

His Excellency Sir George Bowen has been enjoying the sport of pheasant'shoot* at Waiuku, where those birds arß very numerous. The weather proved ■ very favorable, and Sir George and party succeeded in bagging 60 brace. These, we are told by the correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, the Governor " kindly distributed amongst the not too wealthy settlers of the district."- ,' ]. ' If Brigham Youug wore an additional weed ou his 1 hat every time he lost a wif)ef or a mother-in-law, it is estimated that^ne would have a hat twenty-seven feet high..

A drunken MAN sprawling on the ground in Paterson the other night anxiously wanted to know whether " anybody else had been struck by that earthquake." When a man dies, the people ask, " What property has he left behind him?" But the angels, as they bend over his grave, inquire, " What goods hast tbou sent before thee ? " — Mahomet. At a large New York dinner party the other evening the tablecloth was of heavy white silk, edged with point lace. Ail the other appointments were distinguished. \ A girl ten years old has been nrresWl in London for stealing babies. She made a practice, after getting the children, of stripping and abandoning them ; selling their clotheß '• to go to the theatre with." BiSjSIAE&s;. — It is stated in a Lombard telegram that Bismarck will receive n Parliamentary Grant of £150,000, and Moltke of £75,000, Prince Bismarck, it is also said, is disaatisfiea with his princeship. He desired to be " Duke of Lauenberg," and to have the revenues attached to the title. A Warning to Telegraphic Clerks. — We {Pall Mall Gazette) are informed : that a clerk in the postal telegraph department, who caused a false dispatch to be . sent to the Press Association as to the result of the boat race, in order to make "April fools" of ihe newspapers, has been suspended by Mr. Scudamore, pending the decision of the Postmaster-G-eneral respecting him. •During a dense fog a Mississippi steamer took a landing. A traveller, anxious to go ahead, came to the uperturbed manager of the wheel, and asked why the boat stopped. " Too much fog ; can't see the river." " But you can see the stars overhead." " Yes," replied the urbane pilot, " but till the biler busts we ain't going that way." Passenger went to bed satisfied. \ Jt A Good Case "for the Divorce Court. — A Boston clergyman who is fond of dogs bought a couple of pups of rare breed while on a visit to New York, and left them wi^th a^bgsfanc^jer to train. On returning home one \3ay be found his wife | abetted by her mother, about to quit his house and apply for a divorce, on the basis of the following telegram from the dog fancier, which had come from him a few hours before: — "The little darlings are doing well, and looking lovely. Send money for their board." Comicalities of the Census.— With the exception of the surname, for which is substituted the national prefix "Me," it is a correct copy of a census paper as filled up by one of the station hands : — William Me- — beam in Cotland, aged 206, preßterian; Louisa Me — aged 203, beam in London the 31 of next July; Louisa Me — born in New South Wales, aged 5 years hold on the 208 of next September; Alexander Me — born in N S Wales, aged 4 years hold on the 9 of next may. ■ Br way of Panama, there is news from Punta Arenas of a terrible tragedy near that place. The captain of the British ship Alexandrinaand ja boat's crew went ashore and came in conflict with the/ Indians, who murdered them ; the Indians then put off in canoes for the vessel, but those on board were alarmed by the yells of the natives, and made sail and saved themselves and ship. The body of the captain was found, with two wounds, and the legs cut off. There were no traces of his companions. An English war steamer is expected to go to the scene of the tragedy to chastise the Indians. A Successful Hit in Literature. — Nearly 200,000 copies of the little pamphlet entitled " The fight at Dame Europa's School," are stated to have be6n sold, the profit on them exceeding £1,700. The author was for some months unable to get a printer, and offered to sell the copyright for a guinea. The brochure was at last printed by a local printer at Salisbury, who gets one-third of the profit ; the London publisher who merely lent his name, gets another third, and the author the remainder. Mr. Pullen, a minor canon of Salisbury is the name of the author. A Scotch resident ia Paris, who had been very reluctant to desert his shop when the siege commenced, happily bethought himself that, in a country where no spurious flags or ensigns are allowed, the "Union Jack" would be respected. After locking up and taking an anxious leave 'of .bis property iv the gay city of his adoption, he caused to be hoisted over bhe j tenement the British standard. When tire gates of the heleagured city were par-\ tlally opened after the capitulation, he returned to find his whole property, ". goods and gear," entirely intact, while., other houses and shops in the locality had been thortiughly ransacked, even the, floors being torn up in the search for hidden treasure. A.n American, who had neglected to float the stripes and stars, had upwards, of £240 worth of silver plate and other valuables carried off. ■' .•

At Hanley, England, a young man was fined for kissing a married woman. — Exchange. [The woman's husband, generously paid the fine. He said he felt a profound nompnssion for the misguided yoath. He knew how it was himself.] Of pumpkins I never could make the use out. They say they're filling aU.he price — the price being anything you like, or nothing if you don't like; but still the pumpkin being, as you might say, nothing less than garden stuff run mad, is a kitchen puzzle. The cucumber is to be understood. You know the worst of it. When it's done growing it leaves off, as a deceut vegetable ought to do; but a pumpkin keeps on swelling and making rin'tt, and going into pips till its own mother, wouldn't know it. I believe if you were^ to plant a pumpkin-pip iv that little hade garden of yours, and then lock .up/your cottage, and leave your creditors- 'to weep for you for six months, and didn't let anybody in to watch it — I believe that if you then came back, you'd find that your pumpkin had spread itself over tlife whoie blessed place till the water-butt looked like a pimple by the side of it, nnd the coal-hole could be stowed away in one of its wrinkles. Such is the artfulness of pumpkins. Once give 'em a chance to grow, and they'll "swell wisibly," and go on wisibly swelling in spite of you. Human pumpkjns swell in the same way with pride, £f)d malice, and sometimes only with wind. — John Perrybingle. The correspondent of the Standard narrates the following frightful story : — "As I passed through one of the villages on my way home the next day, I saw a man in a very tattered uniform sitting helplessly and childishly outside a small cottage — his hands up to bis ears, as if listening eagerly to the firing that was going on, bis eyes painfully fixed in one direction and laughing gleefully. I spoke to him two or three times without the faintest success, and turned away. As I did so I encountered a Mobile, who drew me gently aside and whispered to me that the man was an idiot — or, as he 'called him, an innocent. He and his wife had but one sdfc, and both son and father went up to Lillelto drill together. Both returefl to see the mother, who loved her son more than, tenderly. But the son was called away to action, and iv a week a letter came from his captain to say he had fallen. The mother read the letter to the end and fell down dead, aad, utterly convulsed by the double affliction, the father lost his senses. He was very quiet and ; harmless, only he used to laugh at the sight of guns or the sound of fii|B£« But he scarcely spoke, and was vefap gentle to all. There' is scarcely a village I go^ through where every house, more or less, has not some story of painful interest born of the war, if one only thiuks about finding it out ; and more strange and painful things are happening day by day than those I ever came across." A Little Black Bible.— On the fly leaf of the bible used for swearinpfwitnesses at the old Supreme Court House, appears the inscription "Assistant Registrar of the Court, 1841. Ever since the establishment of a Court iv this country the same bible has served for the purpose to which it is now applied. For thirty years it has done duty. Giving the very moderate average for something lifia ten witnesses for every day in the year, we have 3000 per annum, or 90,000 for thirty years. Like the stone toe of St. Peter, the old book is visibly kissed away. " Where be the lips that have kissed thee ?" Witnesses, criminal and civil, prosecutors and .fluxes, plaintiffs and defendants, Christians of every nation, Jews with their hats on, policemen and smug attorneys. The fine lady who raises her veil in order that she may touch the little black book with her lips might be excused for shrinking at the idea of so promiscuous a 90,000 pairs of lips having been there before. How careful the lawyer or the policeman is to assure himself that it is a Bible and not an old playbook, which has been substituted, inadvertently or otherwise. He opens the book and kisses the first chapter of Habakkuk with impressive reverence. This gives double weight, of course, to the evidence of Policeman Xor Lawyer Flam. While theattorney believes that his own affirmation has the more weight from the j evidence of a tender conscience which he exhibits, h.e knows well the responsibility under which an immense part of the population sincerely -believe themselves to be placed by kissing the* bible. ; Even in Victorian courts we sometimes. see the thumb interposed be tweet the book aad the lip, aad this by hardened characters whom' no one would suppose to be influenced in the slightest degree by calling any. power to witness what they said. The anxiety of a lawyer to see that a witness on the other side kikes the book is sometimes,,.ludicrous. Itos hard, however, to distinguish the actual contact, and hence the impressivenees of the smack" with which ti'constable conies , dowo; on '.'the,.'Wok,~JlfoJboumeiAge. '" .. , ;i ,;.; ..;,