CURRENT" TOPICS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 430, 21 December 1889, Page 3

CURRENT" TOPICS.

(By Zamibl in the 4 Auckland Ster."

Wtll my friends of,, the Salvation Army take a suggestion from me ? They Have a remarkable capacity for doing good, and i is apparent from their recent propoeal to feed one thousand poor children tha fc their philanthropic intentions ar 0 occasionally misdirected. But I sup. pose they are still anxious to do something to contribute to- the enjoyment of the poorer*' children .'in Auckland at Chrisomas, and I think I can help them. The free dinner would have been a failure, because there are*fewchildren indeed in Auckland on that day who will not have a dinner, and a good one at that. But 1 here are many whose parents cannot afford money for pleasure. Let the Army charter a couple of ferry steamers and take all the children of poor parents who choose to go for an excursion down the harbour. I an* "sure they would thus give pleasure to numbers of little ones whose means of enjoyment in this direction are nil, and who would not soon forget the pleasure of an afternoon" on the water. Such an excursion would be free too from the objectionable features of a charity dinner.

"Is Life worth living?" This question occurs to every one of us at intervals, when the rush and hurry of business lets us think, and when afc the same time we have not succeeded in our efforts -to -r,ise above our neighbours.. It- seemed, to occur with special force to an old man"' whom I met on the tram the other day.- He attracted my notice" tirst by hia carelessness over a threepenny piece. He hdd evidently been looking on the beer when it was yellow, and in pulling out the coin to pay his fare it dropped from his weak grasp. He made a motion to get off the tram, but drew back, saying, " Whass -er good ? It's only a pint gone." I suggested that even a pint was worth looking after in these times. "Oh, it all comes V same thing in th'end. I doan' care." Being in a moral frame of mind, I remarked that it is the littlei things of life that are most worth looking after; and he proceeded to paralyse me by asking, ". Whass th' good o J -bein' alive?" I said I thought it wasn't bad fun on the whole, and was proceeding to particulars when he stopped me with — "Rubbish. You doan'. know anything 'bout it. I've lived in New Zealand forbyfive years and I doan' see "th! gjood bein' alive at all. You work, an 5 work, an' work, an' it all goes to somebody else, ' I had to get oft the tram about' this pointy and left my philosophical friend to go his own road. But I wonder how many men agree with him? - ."

It may nob be generally known, but ifc is nevertheless true, that the r average man when he becomes intoxicated 'is more'inclined to go up to a policeman than "to give that -important ' representative *of .the law a wide 'berth. A 'drunken man who is quiofe 'an'd- keeps out of 'the Way of the' man in blue, is ' very seldom arrested. Jt is the drunkard who becomes pugnacious, ' or 'whose one object in life for the time being appears to be" to convince people that he is quite sdber, that ordinarily goes to make up the list ot inebriates at the 1 Police Court. A case in point occurred during the present week. Sergeant- Major Pratt was standing at the door of the lock-up Micawber-like, waiting for something to turn up, when he was accosted by a man ' who waa more than half-seas over. The man, however, didn't believe he was drunk, and came "up to the sergeant to have & little friendly chaff. After standing'some bandiage as to hi 3 rank in the force, the sergeant good-natiiredly said : " Look here, my good man, you Have evidently had' too much to drink. Take tny'advice, and go home and sleep it off. The indignation depicted on the drunkard's countenance was enough to make even a reporter" laugh/ He looked the sergeant - from helmet to heel several • times, * avowed ho was as sober as' a judge, and then began to use insulting language. vT.tiis was the climax, and the sergeant/ .after. giving him one more chance to go away quietly", "run him in to the lock-up, the inebriate protesting at every step that he was not drunk. The met amus-ingf part of the affair occurred subsequently, when a' man with a black eye and badly cut face, eamVinto the station, and identified the prisoner as a man who had broken down his door and half -killed him a few mimites previously. The inebriate admitted the assault, but denied the drunkenness, and, he' is probably equally convinced that'Jie was perfectly sober, although, as a matter of fact, he could not walk without staggering, -AW # * 4f

I have had anqther communication, from Rosie and Edith re "cram.? This time they join in signing the letter, so I wasn't far wiong in supposing it -was a partnership concern — it may be with papa as the silent partner. They w.ant to know — •' Did you at. the age of 18 ever pass such an examination as the .Junipr Scholarship, and could you, do it now?]' This question gives me a fine opportunity, for boasting of what I cpuld do.when I. was 13 (a long time ago, by the; way),'' 66 v ut, l shal 1 lefrain. However, I know quite a number of little boys and girls under. 13 who have passed the exams, very creditably, and whose health is none, the worse for ip, and if 1 couldn't, "with a' months. preparation, say, pass easily, I should #Q into. the. back yard andxpelt mud ao myself. -

They tell me in thi? letter that -they have pasvsed standard* and pupil teachevs' examinations without) failure, and "so prove my contention that it is riot sii'dh a; dfeadful trial to undergo. It appears they- are also able to " wash up the planes," • and", on the whole, it is hard- J t6 "tell \ why' they have been complaining.' They think "a little of the time devoted to learning"- the towns of Japan, Bolivia, or' any other such unimportant places/or "to the stVidy of the genealogical tree of Henry Vlll'.'s fifth wife, or to'ttfe story o£ King Alfred and the cakes, might profitably be devoted to sew ingr, .music, or i-eading." It is very useful to know the towns of Bolivia and' Japan if you want to have an "intelligent interest in what is taking place in the world. How many teachers force their •pupils to study the genealogy of Henry" VIII. wives? Sewing, music,' and' reading" are very well in their place ; but I think you have been able to find some time for them, eh, Rosie and, Edith? Use a little logic, and you will see that you have simply been raising a bogie, to crush him yourselves.

Ko thing ever causes a young man" greater surprise than to.tind out that some one ha s fallen in love with his sister. -. „ " It is hard to -believe when a sleepy bo leaves his bed in the morning, that lie wi ] dislike to return to it at night.. *~ > More deaths occur in Great Britain from bronchitis than from any' one disease,- and . bronchitis nsually> begins -by^a simple cold,