SELECTED ARTICLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 165, 31 October 1876, Page 3

SELECTED ARTICLES.

CAPILLARY CORRESPONDENCE. A correspondenca of this nature was recently attempted between a notorious* Parisian thief in dnrance vile and his comrade* outside. The prisoner was sent * tetter from his Jlmmm containing merely & lock of hsw"ft**v»j>p««t in the- leaf of a book. The garter did not consider the wu/mwp important enough t©- be deltvetß«t r hnt a few a»y» after cam© a similar enclosurey and yet another. Tbis arotased aiwpioion,. and the governor took the matter in hand.. He examined the lesti of the book ; it was only that of a common novst, twenty-sbt tines 00 a page- Then 1W studied the hair, and noticed 6 tie small quantity of tfto gift.. Counting the hairs, fie found then* of unequal length and twenty si* in number, the same as the tina» el the page.. Struck with the cu» incidence, he laid the hair* along trie tines of the page which they respectively reached, beginning at the top with the smallest hair. After some troabte he found that the end of each hair pointed to a. different tetter, and that these letters, uotnbined, formed astang sentence, which informed the prisoner that his friends were on the watch, and that the nest time he left the prison to be examined an attempt would be made- to rosette hnu. The governor laid his plans accordingly ; the attempt at rescue was matte, but tne reacu«» f«ll into thir own trap.

LOVE OF SCIENCE: A tittle incident related in the- ** Lite of Audubon'' fe»v«ibty illustrates the patient, persistent, painstaking manner in which men of science, as well ad men of letters, prosecute their investigations. It was while he was hunting in the forests of Louisiana that he discovered a tiny little woodbird hitherto unknown to the ornithologist. It was not so big aa a wren, ami was clad in » coat of such plain, sober Srey, that none but practised eyes would ateet it Sitting in and out among the similar colored branches of the peculiar apecius of tree* it inhabited. But, however humble the bird might be, to> Audubon it was one of a charming and curious race of beings that interested him above all other living things, and to ascertain its history and habits was a matter of aa much importance as though it were chief of the tribe. He therefore bent every energy of his intense and eager nature to the study of it. One night he came with the exciting news that he Lad found a pair,, which were evidently preparing to build a nest. Next morning he was up and otf tu the woods at daybreak, taking along with him a telescopic microscope. Erecting this under the tree that sheltered the almost invisible little creatures he was anxious to observe, he made himself a pillow of moss, and then lay quietly down os the ground, with his eye tu the instrument, and remained throughout the livelong hours until nightfall, watching the

movements of the secret and unsuspecting architects. This coarse, he repeated day after day, for three weeks, without respite or intermission, and then lie was able to t? 11, with minute and accurate detail, jnsfc what materials these bin>i ■ -i ?n t!in heart of the wood choose for t..- n* dw.dling3, how they put it together, and the number of days required to complete the process of incubation.

THE WIVES OF GREAT MEN. It was a saying of Rousseau's that "a man is only what a worn m makes him," and this sentiment is slightly varied in our own English proverb, which says that "if a man would thrive he must ask his wife's leave." The records of history contain numberless examples of women who have done for their husbands what Aaron an 1 Hur did for Moses ; they have held up their hands and supported them at the greatest crisis of their lives. and so turned what would have been a failure, into triumph and success. And they contain examples, too, of those wht? have accomplished a far more di Jlienlt task—that of sustaining and cheering when endeavor and h«»p«s were dead. It is only necessary to mention the names of Gertrude von der Wert and Lady Rachel Russell in proof of this. It may not be uninteresting to give a fnw instances of women in our own generation who have been t«» their husbands helpers and fellow-workers, as well as sympathising companions, and who have thus taken a position which is unanimously acknowledged to be a most pn,tul and honorable one—that of a helpmate to man. Among these the name that is tirst thought of, probably because it hat so recently been brought before the public notice, is that of Lady Augusta Stanley, the wife of the Dean of Westminster. Herself the daughter of a peer, and one of the most intimate of the Queen's personal friends, she possessed a largeness of heart and a strength of intellect winch won respect and kindly fettling* from all who came in contact with her. She sympathised most heartily with her husband, both in thought and work, while the poor of Westminster found in her tenderness and kindness a frequent alleviation of their miseries. Every one will remember t.-.f testimony of John StUart Mill to the worth of his wife, which is to be found in the dedication t<> her memory printed at the OHtttuencetnuut of one of his vssjvs : '" To the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the tnspirer, and, in part, the author of all that is best in my writings—the friend and wife whose exalted sens..* of truth and rght was my strongest incitement, and whose approbation was my chief reward—l dedicate this volume." It is said that such was Mr. ALU's sorrow at her death that he continued to reside at Avignon, the placs where she was buried, so that he might continually visit her tomb, and he never ceased to lament her lo&a. Thomas Carlyle, one of the greatest intellectual lights of this century, has recorded his testimony to the worth of his wife on her tombstone :—" In her bright existence she had more sorrows than are common, but also a soft amiability, a capacity for discernment, and a noble loyalty of heart which are rare. For forty years she was the true and loving helpmate of her husband, and by act and word unwear'edly forwarded him, as none else could, in all o£ worth that he did or attempted." The wife of Sir Will cam Hamilton, professor of logic in the University of Edinburgh, was a true helper to her husband ; indeed, it is more than probable that without her many of his best works would never have bean written. When he was elected to the professorship, mn-ny of his opponents declared publicly that he wotthi never be able to Juldl trie duties of his position, as he was only a dreamer. He and his wife heard of this, and determined to prove that it was not true. . They, therefore, arranged to work together. Sir Wittiam wrote out roughly, each day, the lecture that was to be given the next morning : and as he wrote his wife copied it out, and again and again they sat up writing till Lt into the night. When Sir William was struck down with paralysis, the result of overwork, Lady Hamilton devoted herself entirely to him—wrote for him, read for him, raid saved him in everyway.—

THE ENGLISH PAINTED BY AN A3IERICAJN*. Sirs. Louise Chandler Moulton, an American lady now in London, contributes a descriptive article to the Sttr York tt'trMij, whence we select the following passages :—" The best dressed women we saw in England were the shop girts. There was a qntet elegance about them which their idler ami wealthier sisters certainty lacked. They are dressed throughout London in black. At Swan and Edgar's and other select and highpriced establishments in Regent-street. they wore realty sumptuous silks—fitted to perfection, and made up in the most artistic manner. The liar was simply and beautifully arranged ; their hands welt kept, and their manners would haze been ladylike but for the truce of servility, of which I shall speak hereafter. At Whltetey's, on the Westbourne-road, the girts wure dresses of cashmere or some sort of woollen stuff*, but still they were black, and they fitted to perfection, and yet the young ladies had that air of quiet gentility dor which the Loudon is so distinguished. " Nothing catt equal the servility of London shop-keepers as a rule. It is a comfort to be ruled, not to Ims bullied into buying what we don't want ; but the freshly-imported American is mildly-sur-prised to be thanked with just as sweet a humility for saying that goods are trash, and he will have none of them, as if he had launched out in some unparalleled extravagance.

" He gets used to this servile civility after a while, and receives ii ~± :-> „"~idue. " ' Quite so," is a favorite formula with the London shop-keeper ; and this habit lead* them sometimes into ludicrous blunders. For instance, I went one day into the shop of a London druggist, or a chemist as they say there. " ' I want a toothbrush," said I. " ' Quite so, madam." "' And some smelling salts—very strong!" " ' Quite so !" •'« Oh, and ink ; have you got good, black ink I"

"'Quite so!" " Present!v my parcels were put up, and I began to count out the pay for them. My Yankee arithmetic was scarcely equal to the shillings and sixpences, not to say farthings, of this unaccustomed currency, and I said : "• I am very awkward with your inoncv.' " ' Quite so, madam,' came the shopman's ready reply, with the accustomed sweet readiness. " It was only by the smile I could not suppress that "he was reminded of his quite unintentional discourtesy. There is something pitiful in the humility of the lower orders in England. They are a sadfaced and solemn lot. They quite understand Carlyle's theory that half mankind arc born with saddles on their backs, ready to be ridden, and the other half are bom booted and spurred, ready to ride them. The common people have felt the saddle on their backs so long that they do not object to it now. I presume, in fact, that they scarcely feel its pressure. The whole of life in England seems to be arranged for the benefit of the upper classes, one of whose distinguislung characteristics is a very wholesome, or rather very unwholesome, contempt for those people who are beneath them.

Amongst the list of exhibits at the Art Exhibition r.t Wrexham is a magnificent cup of pure virgin gold, obtained from the Castle Carndochan Mine, on the estate of Sir Watkin Wynn. The cup is so massive as to bear pretty good evidence of the existence of gold. The CVojnc Gazette says that Frau Theresa Fiedler Von Hvdsenstein, who died recently at Prague, had attained the age of 119 years. She was born at Hamburg in 1757, and was in her youth a maid of honor to the Empress Maria Theresa.