THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 4, 4 January 1873, Page 2

THE WEEK.

The Christmas ahd New Year's holj- A days ; nre;;over, and. 1 ' we have now fairly^, settled down to the work that 1873 has in* store for "us, but if the melting process to which we bave of late been subjected is to continue. much longer, the work will clearly have to be left undone, for there will be nothing of us left uo perform it; An article entitled " Something wrong with the Sun," recently appeared in the London Spectator, and was copied into mauy of tbe colonial papers, iu which it was attempted to be shown that the increased heat of which the whole world is complaining is caused by the fact that the sun has of late been gorging himself with magnesium, which after being digested in his capacious • maw. is being retailed to us in something of the form of a blast from a fiery furnace. A friend of mine of homoeopathic pro- . divides advises me that, acting upon, this information, he has taken to swallowing, in large quantities, magnesia in a granulated form, to counteract the effects of magnesium, and has reaßon to believe that "like cures- like " is.after all not a bad principle to act upou. lam not paid anything by the chemists for relating thi3 fact, so it may be looked upon as reliable, and may perhaps by some be thought worthy of imitation. Our Caledonian Society is to be congratulated upon tbe success of its gathering on Wednesday last. The gatekeeper's receipts show that considerably over 1700 persons paid entrance fees, and as there was no charge either for children or for members of the Society and their families, it may safely be set down tbat at least 3000 persons were on the ground. A Society that in a small place like Nelson can bring together so many persons may. certainly lay claim to being a highly popular institution. But successful as was tbe meeting, there yet is room for improvement in the programme of the sports. There _ was one great want felt on Wednesday. There was nothing to make people lough, and to sit or stand for seven.! hours in a burning sun without something that will excite a little merriment is too trying even for the best of tempers. The various events were most of them well contested, but they were all gone through with an amount of gravity and seriousness tbat imparted to the proceedings a solemnity which was somewhat out of place on such an occasion. I don't know that this is altogether to be wondered at, as, for my own part, I think" that the prospect of having to run, or the sensations I should experience after having performed a mile in five minutes, or a hundred yards in twelve seconds in such a temperature would not wreathe my face with smiles, or in any way add to the jollity of my appearance. The great element that was wanting was games for boys. Boys don't mind heat. They would just as soon jump at a treacled bun when their j eyes were blinded with perspiration as when they were shivering with the cold. No considerations of a magnesium-fed sun would interfere with their laughter and enjoyment when rolling on the ground in a helpless condition with their lower limbs clad in sacks, and their laughter would inevitably be shared in by the bystanders; So I say to the Caledonian Society, who I hope will consider my suggestions to be worthy of notice; introduce some fun into your proceedings ; the boy element is not wanting in Nelson, turn it to account and your gatherings will be more popular than ever. I only heard one joke perpetrated all day but that is worth repeating. During the time that some heat-defying individuals were vainly endeavoring to make a large green poplar log lie on the ground in front of them with the thick end of it pointing in their direction, a man clad in the uniform of a Scottish Volunteer corps came on to the field, and; at once became the cynosure, of all eyes. Two friends, one an Englishman and the other a Scotchman, were standing together, when the former expressed his surprise that the man of war carried no armsY " Airms !" was the ready reply, "D'ye no ken mon that they gae into battle wi' a caber ?" The wondering Englishman disappeared in a neighboring booth, and after a moment's speechlessness was heard to exclaim, as he mopped his. bead-adorned brow, <{ Brandy andsbda, quick ! " The caber was top much for him., The San Francisco mail service is looking up. I have so often had to remark that at, the time of my writing it was a week, a fortnight, ! or three ,Weeks,~as! the case might be, after its time, 'that' it is with no ■ ordinary ' pleasure .' T r now^iind myself in a position to state i tHiit ; th> olpnglooked0 Ipnglooked for Dacotah has arrived;^bnly four days after her due /date'.'' ;A mail service that^canYperlprm ■ .;• such 'atteat ia'^this is indeed worthy l^if 'Ye6mmendatipn/ t iand support ,Ifc is'; true^^t^Bfi^ha^^not ; brought the mail, but tbat' T: 'iß*-Ta:^m^tter/',df. *bufr4i^ upon having v the^ooats • cqmingt .bustling v iritb the coloDyrwi.hin i^^dk^off^ieir |

appointed time, it is unreasonable to expect that they should always .be bothered 'with.carrying a few bags of letters. The Postoffice officials will hereafter have to be-on ithejalert about mail time, for now that the > spell is once broken, it is quite possible that the- steamer may some day be signalled within eight and forty hours of the time at which sh6 is — not exactly ex-, pected, but due according to contract.