VARIETIES.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2428, 29 December 1880, Page 4

VARIETIES.

Curious as are many of the customs of land tosaire in England, none is more curious Khan that by- which one of the great ®ity guilds for many years held a considerable estate, and which’ has just „ been brought to light after long disuse, | The estate was left to the Company' by f one of its lively men in amy years ago, on condition that once a yea r r on a certar (1 day, the Master and Wardens shor j ( } visit the toipjh their benefactor, r after k thereon thrice, 1 question, '‘John Smith, how arc.* ,J U m The peremony, like most fo r . nudities, was always foWtw' .j by a sumptuous banquet, v’’ idch the memory of their patron (Irunk by the company. This -cGMwfliiiJ lie d until a few y cars ago, some. ’ wag, hearing of tiie strange procQe,diu g concealed himself in a couver dent, corner behind the tomb, and whe- a the. usua | question was asked, ropae bl a -sepulchral tone, Very cold ! v ery co hh‘!” The officials are said to r ave beateiu a hasty retreat, and us tr ore was n 0 -possibility of any' ciaimap c ar i s j n g to su© for forfeiture on t,ie t °urul of nou-comi pliancc with the cor .ditions of the beq nest, the custom ' yas discontinued, but the banquet still goes one. It was tat rts recurrence the other day that the elcrik of the company' gave this explanation of the disuse of the ancient cerems-ny.

The other evening, sit a little dinner party', one of the guasts, the younger brother of an English nobleman, expressed with commendable freedom, his opinion of America and its people. “ I do not altogether like the country',” said the y r oung gentleman, “ for one reason there are no gentry there.” “ What do y r ou mean by Gentry ?” asked one of the company. “ Oh, those Avho never do any- work themselves and whose fathers before them never did any!” “Ah,” exclaimed his interlocutor, who was an American, “ then we have plenty of gentry in the States ; hut we don’t call them gentry, we call them tramps !”

Amateur—“ Coming to our concert, Mr Brown?” Mr Brown—“Wellno —I think not.” Amateur—" Why, I thought you were fond of music.” Mr Brown—“ Well, yes ; you see, that’s where it is,’’ (Amateur would like to ask him what he means, but thinks it best not to.) Perfect Bliss.—An old Yorkshire woman described her happy circumstances thus—“ I’ve a nice little cottage, a chest of drawers, and a pianny, a lovely garden and flowers in my window and (waxing warm) my husband’s dead and the very sunshine of ’Eav’n seems to fail on me.”