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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 126, 28 May 1872, Page 4

Not all the little waifs of humanity left alone in the world join the larrikin order. On Friday afternoon, says the Age_-.& horsey looking,: elf, hardly more than three feet high, and nine years of age, called upon Mr. Cleland, at the Albion, and marched up t© him in tbe midst of a party of gentlemen with tbe remark : — " Please sir, could you give me a job?" Mr. Cleland looked down with a smile, which reassured the lad, who glanced up sideways, and turning his hat round and round in his hand, ..said — " Please, sir, I was told to go to you sir." The little man had lost his father and mother long ago, but was staying for the time with his aunt in Collingwood. He had been to India, assisting to take charge of horses on the voyage. While in India he rode the great race of the year, the prize, according to his own description, being " a big gold cup, full of sovereigns." He came in second, and was the only lad there who could be got to ride at five stone. Assuredly he must be one of the veriest mites that rode iv the race. Coming back from India with his master for the time he was wrecked, in. the Rangoon, and managed not tb be overlooked in the scramble. Mr. Cleland kindly took an interest in the lad and promised to try and find an opening for hira at Waldock's, Dan Robinson's, or some other training stable. The little fellow may yet turn out a rival to the Masters Wilson arid Day.

An absent-minded gentleman, on retiring at night, put his dog to bed, and kicked himself down stairs. He did not discover his mistake until be began to yelp and the dog tried to snore. "Probably the first instance of a gir) being killed in gold-mining," the Ballarat Courier remarks, "occurred at Clydesdale last Monday. 'Mary Crow, aged 13, who with her sister had assisted their father for some years in digging, Was filling the bucket at the bottom of a 40ft. hole, when a lump of cement fell and struck her dead." The Victorian Woollen and Cloth Manufacturing Company, G-eelong, have added another branch to their operations in the manufacture of shawls. There are on view at the office of the company, two ample Bhawls of the shepherd s plaid pattern which are considered by the trade equal in quality and finish to those made in England, and can be produced as cheaply. The London, Liverpool, and Globe Insurance Company has the credit of having paid for losses at the Chicago fire the largest amount ever yet paid by a single insurance company, being no less than £600,000. A number of American companies were made bankrupt by that gigantic conflagration, but the English companies, though their funds were enormously, taxed, satisfied every claim made. A Pleasant Creek Paper remarks that a singular featnre in connection with the burning of quartz is now observable in the engine-house of the North Cross Reef Company, where the machinery had been lately erected. AU tbe bright steel parts have changed in color to a beautiful bronze, caused by the fumes of the sulphur carried from the kilns. The bronze appearance now observable looks as though i it had been effected by the hands of a skilful workman, before leaving the manu- ' factory. i The Dunolly Express says : — " It is rather. unusual for a jibbing horse to prove a means of much profit to its owner, but such it appears was the case a few days ago at Murphy's Flat, where one of these obstinate brutes (with a load of wheat for the mill) refused to pull, and commenced kicking up the soil as he stood, when a bright shining speck of gold made its appearance near the horse's feet. A little further search was thereupon made, and a nugget of l|oz turned up. With this result the owner was sufficiently satisfied to register a prospecting claim at Nuggety Point, and once mbre ply the pick and shovel as a digger. We are informed that he was rewarded for his last week's work with soz of gold from the claim, and has .plenty .of ground still to work." A Firm in Adelaide, which employs a number of young men, has established a •° blasphemy fund." The practice of swearing has been much indulged in, and by general consent, fines have been enforced; upon every member of the establishment who used a profane or objectionable expression. The money ac- j cumulated in this manner is expended in some useful or pieasureabl'e way— such as furnishing the funds for some annual entertainment. The establishment of a "blasphemy fund" (says .the Melbourne Herald) is not a new. idea, indeed, it would appear to date from the earlier periods of "Christianity. St. Chrysostom; —it is recorded — was so vexed with the; blasphemous language indulged in by the; citizens of Antioch, that he delivered aj series of homilies on the sin, and recommended self-inflicted fines to those who; transgress against the commandment, the; money so forfeited to be expended in; buying provisions for the poor. This occurred about the year 387 A.D. To this; we may only add the saying of Solomon,, "there is nothing new under the sun." M____M____a___— ■-'-'■' • ■•