SPORTING.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1209, 24 November 1882, Page 2

SPORTING.

Owners of horses are reminded that the Nominations for the Handicap Hurdle Race and Boxing Day Handicap, to be run on 26th December, at Waerenga-a-hika, must be handed in to the Secretary (Mr M. H. Smith), at the Masonic Hotel, not later than 8.30 p.m. to-morrow evening.

THE MELBOURNE OTTP, 1882. The following clever lines were contributed to the “North Otago Times” by a correspondent calling himself “ Owl — (With an apology to the memory of Lord Byron.) The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold On the Flemington course in the rain and the cold, And the thud of his hoofs on the turf brought much glee To the “ books,” for his price was 100 to 3. Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green The favourite’s backers at sunrise were seen ; Like the leaves of the forest when autumn has blown The friends of sweet William at sunset were strown. And the angel of woe spread his wings on the course, And loud were the blasphemies hurled at the horse Who was first for the Cup which does not always cheer, But inebriates multitudes year after year. And the unlucky losers are loud in their wail, For their “fancies” have fled, and their fortunes turned tail, And the notes they invested have met an “ odd ” fate, or Have melted like snow in the totalisator.

Polygamy in the United States, says the Pall Mull Gazette, does not appear to be confined to the Mormons. Tno Rev, Dr Leonard Bacon, of Connecticut, alleges that there Is as much polygamy in New England as in Utah, and that it is more open and shameless. It originated in the impulses of a large portion of the New England people, and Is, he assorts, promoted through the assistance and connivance of the divorce laws and the judicial tribunals. Even the clergy are in many instances polygamists, A professor in a theological seminary of the dominant orthodox sect of New England, who was a polygamist, long occupied his chair, without scandal or objection ; and he is still held in high estimation by the clergy of the congregational churches, These polygamist practices are, Dr Bacon says, peculiar to the native population | foreign-born citizens do not share in them. Dr Bacon’s statements have attracted much attention in the United States-especially in Ltah» where they have awakened “ sad surprise.