The True American. Stephen C. Massett read the following at the Arcadian Club in New York :

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 16, 19 April 1884, Page 3

The True American. Stephen C. Massett read the following at the Arcadian Club in New York :-

A Cockney Wail, The great Pacific journoy[l have done, In many a town and tene I've found a lodging, I think I've travelled to the setting sun, All round this continent 1 havo b en dodging, Like Launcelot, in quest of Holy Grail, From Western Boerahcba to Ynnkcc Dan I've been a seeker, yet I sadly fail To find the genuine type American. Whore is this object of my youthfnl wonder, Who mot mo in tho pnges of '• Sam Slick ? " Who opened every sentence with Jiy Thunder ! And whittled away on a bit of stick. Tho more tho crowd of friends around me thickens, Tho loss my chance to meet him socms to be, I Why did ho really show himself to Dickens, To Dixon, Sala, Trollope, not to me. No ono accosts mo with tho words, Wa'al Stranger I Greets me as festive Cusi, or snouts Old Moss ! No grim six-shooter threatens with danger, Jf I don't quickly pass the butter, Moss. Round friendly boards no cocktail evor passes, No brandy smash my morning hour besets ; And petticoats aro wo m by all tho losses, And the pianos don't wear pantalettes. , Tho ladies, when you oiFor chicken salad, Don't say, Vm prcttu crowded now, Ip%ia<s ; Thoy don't sing Mrs Barney Williams' ballads Of "Bobbing Round," nor add Sir-ec to y os. I too, have sat, like every other fellow, ' In many a railway, omnibus, street car, No girl has spiked ME with a fierce umbrella, And said, You git, i mean to sit ri(/ht thar; Gone are the Yankees of ray early reading ? Faded the Yankeo land of eager guests! I meet with culture, courtesy, good breeding, Art. letters, men and women of tho best. Oh ! fellow Britons, all my hopes aro undone, Take counsel of a disappointed man! Don't come out here, but stayathomoinLondon, And seek in books the true American.

There are no Auckland representatives at the session of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars now sitting at Oamaru. The special pilotage rates on the Suez Canal have boen abolished.