A SCOTCH MINISTER ON DANCING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 132, 4 June 1878, Page 4

A SCOTCH MINISTER ON DANCING.

At a f Free Gardeners' meeting, held* in the Waverley Hall recently, the, Rev, Alexander W r ebster, of St David's, Edinburgh, "was present and deliVereJ an address. He said lie, was one : of> those who had a great respect for the intelligent, honest working man. He made it a principe to lift his hat to the servant as well as the mielress, especially if she was young nnd good looking. (Laughter.) He hoped there was nothing heretical in the remark. (Renewed laughter.) It Was not that he hapless respect for women.ndvancodi in years, but is musl.be eonfesspd thlat the element of youth, especially in women, "w.as very attractive. When one saw a fine woman who was about the age of forty, one could hardly help wishing be could do as when he went to the batik with a £40 note — change the article into two twenties, (Great laughter.) They had met that evening for social recreation, and this wsb highly commendable. Dancing, which was to form part of the evening's entertainment, was right- and good provided alWBys it was kept within proper bounds. (Applause) He was not one of those who considered dancing & damning Bin and it was all nonsense to say that people must of necessary be going to the devil if they indulged in that pastime. (Applause.) He had danced himself at her Majesty's gathering at Deeside, but he was now too heavy for that exercise— (laughter)- — and besides, members of Presbytery were expected never to lift their feet too high or top quickly, but , to move fthrogh the world with becoming gravity end solemnity. (Laughter.) He wjSs.not sure but it woujd be a useful thing for members of Presbytery to indulge in wh&t was

termed the light fantastio toe. (Loud laughter.) Some nf them who had large stipends, and consequently heavy corporation?, might not ba able to exhibit all the beauties of motion — [laughter] — but it might be a much better exercise for them than snarling at each other as they sometimes did in Presbytery meetings. It might also be able to make them preach more humanly, and develop in ministers that brotherly love which they preached about so much, but which all, both priest and people, found so difficult to practise. [Applause.] Lit them imagine their respected friends George Gilfillan arid Dr Peddie or their more modest friends Mr Macaulay and Professor Robertson Smith or Fergus Ferguson and his antagonists all dancing to the strain of some Presbytery flute or fi Idle. [Great laughter.] He thought that thß perspiration produced by such recreation would purge some of them of their bad humor and moke them of a more tolerable state of mind. [Laughter.] As one remedy for our Scottish bigotry he would suggest more innocent recreation both for the clergy and the people. [Hear, hear.] Let them remember that what they bad the ministers muat have also. Ho would set the Presbyteries to dance occasionally. [Laugter.] He did not mean in a .literal . sense exactly, bnt he would set them to dauce either literally or nietaphorically, and their differerices would very soon be danced out of them.

The Claimant Delusion.-^ 'There is good reason to believe," the utvslral I tasian writes, "that the Tiehboroe clail jmant delusion will only perish with tfie j death of the generation which containa i the believers in that sfupenddqs impos:ture. Any expectations that they iwouldeverbe convinced by evidence j must long ago haye been given vp 1 , i Those who remained unconvinced by the crosE-examination of the claimant by Sir John Coleridge and the evidence adduced at the criminal trial, would not. jalter tbeir opibibb though this untortui. jnate Tichboriie stiqii Id come back from | the grave to denounce and testify 1 agaicat his per'aonator. Atteraptg have j been made of late; to get u|>. a case at! : Sydrrejr on the basis of ihe assertion j that, the real Arthur Orion has Wen i discovered in the person of a lunWt.ic ■ named Cresswell iii; the TarrainetW jAßjlum, and the other .day Mr Eckj ford, brought' the ease before the Asaem- | bly by an application for the release of Cresswell. This gave Mr Fitzpatrick, on behalf of tte Government, the opportunity of pricking tho bladder, nnd he pricked it. soundly Wd deeply! He showed that the statutory declarations were a 'parcel of moonshine,' made up of irrelevant statements and hearsay. , As to the tangible facts of the case, he showed that whereas Arthur Qttoa bad letterß tattoed on his arms, Cresswell had no tattoo marks, Orton had bia i eara prerced twice, Crbaswell,B . ears were not piercerf. * Cresswell did not recognise any of the Tichborne^prtraita shown to him, nor did he know Mrs Jury, hie reputed sister. A Mrs Hey, of Waverley, waited him, and recognised him as Creaswell; he reoognia.d her, and a portrait of his aieter, a Mrs Gbugh." He had previously said that he had two Bisters at home, abd one was married io aioian named ''Sough. Further parti- . cula FA PJ ■ -$ft * &vl fr -wei;e .given, an*yh'is'.lalest*ot\fne jsariei of impostures and deiusions which have grown out of the grVat Tiobborne case was irrevocably demolished. Of course, where the credulity eiists in such ample measure, some other will soon be found to take its pi&ce."

,An old gentleman wishing to be at 'his' ease on horseback, took his horse 0 to a riding master to be tanght to amble. Two or three trials were made upon r the animal -tvith '^ut partial success. « Come, sir, you cail thiaah amble ?" said the dwner. . , "No, sir," replied the equestrian ; "I call it a preamble."

When, Doctors differ, who shall decide? has often been asked, without a satisfactory , solution of the question; but. that difficulty is nofc removed; for unquestionably "Ghollah's Gbeat Indian Cures"., are the most certain and unfailing medecines f6r the I" thousand ills that flesh in heir to" that have yet been 'discovered. The testimonials giv.en from old and respected Colonists will • convince the most sceptical of the truth of the assertion. They can be had of all Chemists, as also these iuraluable medicines. Testimonial^ .— Lyttelton, Sept. 7, 1877. Deab Sib,— Having suffered for upwards of two years from chronic, rheumatism^ I was induced to try your Indian Mixture, and after taking it for, a, wepk n :qr two the disorder disappeared$ I Bd^a?i£6| since troubled me— a period of -Bine "months having now elapsed Bince ; =taking the medicine, vl have no hesitation in believing tHat the" cure was ™ected by your medicine.— Yours truly, F. H. Melville Walkeb.