THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 42, 17 February 1877, Page 2

THE WEEK.

i > . ,-■"• -, I Brink we. have had just about fenotigh _■ cricket for one week. What db you jsay,> all f you noble army jat martyrs to, Hill's, Shaw's,^ and Emmett's bqwling, whi-: had jto go back to the ten^ without cracking youp duck's "eggs?;* I. must address you in general, for to give iyoiir names, would involve a iterrible,. loss of space. You have heard the crash' of S falling stumps, and.haVe seen the ball," which .ybu thought you had sent away so Safely, 5 unexpectedly find a resting place in. Em- f niett'a or Selby's hands, and ought to' bef satisfied that, good cricketers as yoution-^ sidered yourself; tb r be-*-and very fairly so— *• when playing with average playeisi-Zyoup really know nothing of the game when, aswas the case dqring three days of this week,'yjou saw it redriqed.tq a science. I think we. must be content with our recent experience,.aud when next the English representatives pay a visit' to the colony, suppose we-say-^ " Pass." Let ns hand them over to Welling-, ton or Auckland, and enjoy satisfaction: of Jaughing at the ignominious defeat of our neighbors without giving them an, opportunity of retaliating. -I know that some of -you are not quite convinced yet; that, lingefingdn your minds, is the idea that if the particular; ball which levelled your leg stump had -Hot . turned in quite as much as it did you would have made.-a .stand and got into double figures, or that if "point" had stood, in his;' legitimate position and not accommodated" himself to your play, you might have bothered the bowlers; bnt just get rid' of this notion as speedily as possible, and allow at once that you were as helpless against such cricketing as the Englandefs have shown you as I should be in running a race against a special train. Special trains, by the way, appear to be ih favor with the authorities just' now ifYwe may judge by the continuous appearance of them in the vicinity of the cricket, ground on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and the incessant screaming, of the engine, which,' was perpetually whistling for those passengers who never would take 'advantage of.theopportunity of starting from ; or r being -deposited at our out of the way railway, atatioriiStrangeirs who were oh the ground' were:, wqndering what that engine and everlastingly empty .carriage were doing, there, and, made friequertt; enquiries dn the subject/ until at last one of them received a replyV which ought to haye satisfied ; him,., '"What beit doing there did. you ask?" said John Yokel, "why can't yer see that it be wanting to start off after the ball when- Selby dd 6ne& get a fair hit at it." The enquirer appeared to be: unable tq^wallow the statement with- . . out a little bit.oJE. salt to give it a flavor,' 6ut~ probably, in common with many others, he thought that the "special" might just as well be there for that as for any other known purpose. He's an awfully selfish, not-al-together a bad fellow, is that friend of T mirie Mr Smith- Jones, and] always forms Lhis . opinion upon every subject .upon the basis of how it will affect himself personally. .For instance, he ha_ for the last four 'years been a consistent opponent df the public works scheme, and haa laughed at every railroad Y that has been constructed .under- it as an absurd waste of public money, so that I -was - greatly surprised on meeting him on the cricket ground on. Wednesday Yafternoonr tar hear hib expressing himself in loud term_ o| praise of the Nelson and Foxhill line. e S%r^ ing at him in a-tdhishthent I asked what had wrought such a complete .revolution in /his ideas, when he burst out into a perfect rhapsody—" Glorious institution, Sir, glorious! I recant every word that I have said against this'Usele-Hiseful lirie; f Haven't ybfip seen ' the cabbies' advertisement ■ that", they mean to carry ua between the . town and the ground for sixpence'?' Don't you know ihai' tbey always' hefore charged- the < texorbftaoit. sum of a shilling? Didn't you see it J ndtified ' that' the traitt'wquld convey peo^'from tfie 1 engine shed for sixpence? - Can't you :-*pufc* r two and two together and see that the rail*-* ; way bas reduced . the <cab fares?rx ;Glo_i6u3 institution, Sir, this Foxhill line ; fully justifies the erpeai-iture' of 5 evecy* penny that ; -___,i.'. beenlaid out upon it.'?_ -Just theu .Selby hifc*, the ball, for five, a black spot about the size of Venua when doing the transit business -- flew between us^acppmpani^d by ;s*.whi?;_-ngr _ sound, and my firiend audl)^ited_npßpos_|e\ directions,, and we, haye oqt since, had an;>pp*; portanity of renewing qurtconyeriiation; ' (^, g . " . : I like the philosophy of some of those .w_(o \ .'did battle with England's champions this week. Walking into town with one of them from the ground^ our conversation naturajly,. , turned upon the game, and this. _?ks the Way* '' my friend, who hailed from ; lhe cdihtry, pii6 r ; it; — " There's na'mfdtakei about' it-^we*' shall -•■ get an awfiil liqking, c for we're hot.a-pitdh' upon them, but ; F dbfi^t know that it's any**-''- «' thing to be ashamed of. It's their- 'lra-Mess'' ' and they're always at it, while we can only play once now and again. But they can't beat - us at everything. . Pdgive five bob to have, some of them 'in the stubbles and'goih idt. &.. day's ploughing against -em." That was &.. . comforting way. of looking- upon the matt qr, . He would' admit of no general superiority for if his opponents were better than he in some things he was- -perfectly satisfied .that they were infinitely inferior to him ih others, and so he co .soled- himself for "the beating. - which he knew was in store for himself and his mates: '-' : ' .-•. ;-: '1.. :'.'<-••';.< -••';. li-?' • • Either the Press Agency ol* the telegraph ! Y operators must have.heenperpetrating a joke at thefexpense .of 'the owners of; the yacht . Secret, for in some of the papers I see the following telegram:— "Nichol intends to ■ withdraw his claim to the prize a-seh.<j>n> fox; . ? the Secret, and will subst'tute an application " ) for the return pf the entrance fee and a declaration from the Committee that all debts («<*) be declared off." Many a nWU has found himself on his beam ehds.wh'e^^ A