MISCELLANEOUS.

Southland Times, Issue 1538, 16 February 1872, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

A lady'asked a pupil at a public school, " "What was the sin of the Pharisees ?'* " Eating camels, ma'am," quickly replied the child. She had read that the Pharisees " strained at gnats, and swallowed camels." \ There have been many definitions of a gentleman, -but the prettiest and mpst pathetic ia that given by a young lady— "A gentleman" saysahe, "is ahumblebeing combining a woman's tenderness with a m in*B courage." Modesty — A Scotch witness in the House of Lords gave recently in rather dictatorial style his notions as to failings in the character of Irishmen and Englishmen; He was allowed to say his say, and when out of breath Lord Lucan askefl him to oblige the committee wjth his ideas relative to Scotch character. " Aweel, my laird, they're jist on the contrary, unco modest and ." The rest of the sentence was drowned in uproarious merriment. Thk Kej cted Sttitob. — I praised the glory of her brow, and cheeks that shamed the rose, and paid my tribute to her chin, my homage to her nose. I sighed into her listening eaT — her left it was I think — that, 1 was almost iv despair ; yes^ standing on the brink. I spoke of what my life would be if I was left to pine ; I talked of love's felicity, and asked her to be mine. She gently said, " I think you are perfection o'er and o'er ; I think you are a perfect tool," and — I went out the door. The Pall Mall Gazette gives the following explanation of the proposed German expedition to Brazil : — The report of the. proposed German expedition to Brazil reduces itself into a question directed by the Minister of War to the harbor authorities at Kiel : whether three vessels, namely, the ironclad frigate Frederick Charles, and the corvettes Elizabeth and Augusta, are in a state of readiness to proceed without notice across the Atlantic. Peculiar importance is attached to the question on account of its following with astonishing suddenness Count You Boon's announcement in the Chamber, that " complications with transmarine powers are very likely to occur in the immediate future." * The quarrel between Germany and Brazil is the consequence of a brawl between part of the crew of the German vessel Nyraphe, anchoring off Bio, and a set of natives. According to the German account, the latter were set on by the French residents, who were prompted by national jealousy, and the same influence is said to have determined the arrest of the Germans — among them a lieutenant and two midshipmen— ;tbe alleged injustice to which they are alleged to have been exposed, and by which they have been kept imprisoned by the Brazilian authorities. On this account the indignity is resented with the greater aeuteness. The question addressed to the harbor authorities has been answered in the affirmative.