CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 148, 22 June 1880, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

: ;To TOT-Emion op* the " Evening Maii,." , - lettierNrc you waswrittjen ... ' "witiuiliehope^of bbtairiing'-more caution in • v keeping 1 dangerous cattle under safer guard, and thus preventing harm happening- cither > to myself};drrany6ne else from this source. -However, I have offended some self -dignified animal -6fi creation— most likely a bullkeeper ; if not,_the bullying phraseology of ■'-;,. letter sigped. *'. Veritas ", justifies me in calling. -.the writer a thoroughbred bully. He aeems determined to do harm in some way, and particularly, anxious -to gore all the colpnialvsehoolmasterswith his horn of vindictive janimosity.; I, individually, don't exactly cost our country £272,000 per annum. ;So listen- all : ye Colonial Dominies and tremble, f6r " Veritas " has a grudge against .you,'as"weil as against me, and has blurted "out badly from, his tin trumpet that if is high time we should give place to better men. In noticing this vapid and spleenful effusion signed " Veritas," I ought to keep these objects, in view, namely : — Consign the vindictive'coward of a writer to the dark chambers of my memory, as I should only degrade^ nnyjprofession by heeding such a shallow-brained individual. Publicly refute, forthe idnbrof ~tdj name, the, writer's base and f alse^implicationsj .;and analyse the subject matter of this- peculiarly jumbled-up epistle of his. * "'" -.. If " Veritas " was worth a considerationfrom 7 me;iwotdd take the trouble to explain what?, duty toalls T me * to : Richmond once a week/iandcalsoJOffei 'to takehiin to persons, bothi4n»^Stokeoand'j Richmond; who could testify that I was as free from "beer as he is from common.sense^-.butJE neither consider his opinion, tiis' friendship, Iris-patronage, or ' hiß--spftei"W r ortih i > that j trouble. - 1 am sorry theyiiare-80'fulllupinithe 'Sig Building con- :i tiguous to the Hospital^ or ?' Veritas "-"would : have been caged long ago, and in safe keeping where; he and ;all mad bulls ought to be. I shTOTld very jnuch like the true name of Verftas, not that I fear getting it, because a coward in'rwriting is' a coward in acting.- I ask. for (his true name chiefly because (1). I am anxious to see the curiosity of a perfectly, abject Bneakihg,,cpward, who meanly . endeavors to injure me and others undor an assumed name.* -.' (2). I want him to personally explaurthe lump of jumbled-up venomous verbiage t which he- calls f> letter. (3). I want to intercede 'with him for my fellow schoolmasters,-? as I have been the means of bringing- .down his wrathful indignation upon them.o In the meantime I hope he won't let ; the Governor, or the. jjouse of Representatives know>what sort of men. are absorbing that ~ £272,Q00,:per. annum he twaddles about, if he does, there will, doubtlessj be a great augmentation of the unemployed fraternity. Andnow to see what a miserable concoctor &nd.'lsiaitfatlempter'atyacet!ousness can make ; out of this ambiguously concocted verbiage Bigned '? Veritas." In the first line I see this . start off.—" It struck me in reading, &c.' ' I v wonder what struck the writer — the moon, or a.Tbull. o T r arpl! of jE272,000 worth of bank notes, onshe says i-r-'f It was needlessjjfpr anyone^to travel the road between Richmond and, Stoke tomeet ahull." There's log^c^iatjwould. the writer for imxnefliate^ admission.rnio the Big House above referred^, to. c ' Ho^r, in the. world should I know!. tfiat, 'Veritas could oblige any one ( paaf&criliurly Schbolinasters) with a headlong charge 7 from Buch animals, on the\shortest notice too and close athand. "We must have a signboard. .up on the Public Road at Stoke.; — N6* I padHxcept )r for Mad, bulls,. 'by order of Verl&^'lSgam'^yerito^iays'j— " For the writer of that 'execrable "production assisted , in -letting 1 - one -(a bull) -loose." Can it be possible thafche means an attempt at faceti-ousness^-if^ io, -I'li -encourage him and exelaim,^" What Sparkling Wit," if. not, I can

o»ly ; say "yeritas" lies, 'because T am as 'fond "of bulls as I am of him and other monkeys that try to play with sharp razors. I always shall, endeavor to avoid both. , And now, we find the man with a Latin name floored, he " cannot swallow this,—' " mutually recognising each other," because he was, during his school life, never higher than- the Monosyllabic Class, and so his stunted brain " imagines " and " presumes " all sorts- of veritable rubbish.- Is the next part of his letter viiser ably concocted and ill worded, or is it deep, sound, logical, Latin reasoning ? To connect a simple statement about a bull rushing one with the alarming fact that it costs our country £272,000 per annum to pay their (schoolmasters') salaries. The connection is beyond me, still it emanates from a person with a Latin name, therefore it must be right. Here's dog Latin again, Veritas says :— " Can it be possible that the word spelt b-u-1-1 should have been b-e-e-r." Can it be possible that this unscrupulous Veritas means slander ? No it cannot be. >He must be trying his hand again at facetiousness — even after so rigidly condemning what he calls my attempt—judge, Oh ye public, but don't dishearten him by saying in his own words, it is a. wretched and vain attempt. I'll say he's improving, with' room to try again and leave out the overflowing spite and put in a particle of wit. Notice his two words, each having four letters, and first letter in each alike, and then all connection ceases. It's harmlessly clever I say. again. It reminds me of the beautiful poem that says something about a cow. the moon, and a spoon and a little laughing .dog. What a kindred affinity they all have for each other — ditto.for " bull " and " beer." [ That mean and dastardly composed twaddle finishes with ambiguous expressions. — Notice, " To err " Sir, " is human " perhaps it was "Tours, &c, Veritas. (He seems well posted up in two old sayings). Does he mean that : — " To err is human — perhaps it was error,"— on his part to write rubbish, or on my part in selecting my own way of narrating an event— or that it is eiror to attempt to be facetious — or that I have made an error in daring to suggest that dangerous animals should be kept off the public road, or that I have mistaken hull for beer or gate — I interpret it thus, That in spite of all his erratic and idiotic statements, he would like outsiders to classify him as Human, but I, for one, must say such cannot be done. The writer is so wanting in humanity and charity. Nevertheless I'll finish his proverb find my letter by saying that I'll imitate the Divine quality (in my poor small way) of forgiveness, and I'll forgive a poor raving Latin Lunatic who prides himself on a fine name and is ashamed of his own, and I'll subscribe my own insignificant, but yet unsullied appellation, as plain • Stoke, June 21, 1880. 3. Natloe.