Cleanings.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 147, 18 March 1859, Page 4

Cleanings.

The Wesleyan Conference on State Aid. The Rev- Ralph Mansfield proposed the following resolutions .■ on State Aid;:—l.. That it is the opinion of this com mittee that the system of State Aid .to public worship existing in this colony is upon the whole injurious to the interests of true religion, confounding, as it does, all distinction between truth and error, in matters of Divine Revelation, by indiscriminately supporting both." 11. That this committee does not affirm that the principle of State Aid is in itself sinful or unsound, and is of opinion that the Wesleyan Church in this colony would not be justified in relinquishing its own participation in State Aid, so long as the other denominations continue to receive it, believing that such relinquishmenf would only aggravate the; evil herein deplored. 111. That this committee, therefore, deems" it a duty to recommend the adoption of all constitutional and ! befitting means for causing the said system to tjie abolished as early as practicable. These resolutions were carried.— Sydney Paper. Mr. Binney on Mr. FpTrrgfeon. At the public breakfast given to Mr. Binney, in Adelaide, he thus spoke of Mr: Spurgeon :—" Now, it is as an extraordinary phenomenon I am disposed to look upon Mr. Spurgeon, although 1 never came in contact with him. to observe him closely, but I think he is a very wonderful rind extraordinary young man. It is wonderful that a man so young should exert such, a power over the public, mind, and retain it so long. I hardly know how to account for it. There is something in his youth, something in his magnificent voice—he "stands up and his voice issues out and fills the largest places without effort. There is something in his idiomatic, racy phraseology —something in the fluency of his speech and familiarity of his illustrations—some r thing, in a good sense, of what men call assurance, a calm self-cdnSdence, that enables him to say what he likes, when; he likes, and how he likes. There is, also; something in his sarcasm upon the characters and doings of other ministers; and more than all, in his high doctrine. I cannot help thinking that he has been raised up by God providentially to do a great work. I heard

llllll UHCC UUIOO) «■"« ■*■ vi»uu«iiiwj< ..wtiwiw ing how the illogical common-place which II heard could produce such a great effect. "Yet there was the great fact; his sermons, read a great deal better than my impressions upon hearing him'led me to expect. There is a most extraordinary movement now taking place in our fatherland; I cannot but think that that young man, under God, has a good deal to do with it." Decline of the Unitarians. The Inquirer has the following remarks on the decline of Unitarianism:—"Year by year our congregations grow weaker, often in numbers, more often still in social influence and relative importance. It is but a short time since the treasurer of one of our institutions assured us that the denomination to which we belong is gradually changing its character altogether, and that he now drew his subscriptions from the .lower grade in the great middle class. Or, if we take individual congregations we find the same result; and Wakefield, Exeter, and Norwich are but individual examples of a universal rule. Liverpool has doubled and trebled its population, and the three Unitarian congregations which existed, at the 'beginning'of the century barely maintain their ground either socially or" numerically." . ' " Sarey out-Sareyed. The exploits of a horse-tamer.. named Bankes, who obtained some notoriety during the reign of the Virgin Queen, completely eclipse all that we have yet heard of the doings of Barey and his pupils. Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World says :—lf Bankes had lived in older times he would have shamed all the enchanters in the world; lor whosoever was most famous amongst them could never master or instruct any beast as he did his horse." And Sir Kenelm Wgby observes: — "That his horse would restore a glove to the due owner, after the master had whispered the man's name in his ear; would just tell the number of,pence in any piece of silver newly shewed him by his master, and even obey presently his command in-. discharging himself of his excrements whenever he had bade him." Among other exploits of this celebrated beast, it is said that he went to the top of St. Paul's; His end and his master's was tragical. Travelling in France, Bankes excited the anger of the priests, and only escapedjts effects in the following manner :—"Bankes came into suspition of magicke .because of the strange f'eates which his horse Morocco plaied at Orleance,; where,he,.to redeem his" credit, promised to manifest to the world that his horse .was nothing lesse than a devill. To this ond he commanded his horse to seeke out one in the preasse of the people who had a crucifix in his hat; which clone he bade him kneele down unto it; and not. only this, but also to rise up again, and kis'se it. And now, gentlemen (quoth he) j I tliinke my horse hath acquitted both me and himselfe. And so his adversaries rested satisfied, conceiving (as it might seeme) that the devill had no power to come near the cros&e." In Italy, however, they were less fortunate, since at-Borne, to the disgrace of the age, of the country, and of humanity, they were burnt by order of the Pope for magicians. A New Trade. An action for assault—Leverson v. Atleff—brings to light a new trade. The plaintiff Leverson's account of herself is that she is a ladies' decorator, or face-pain-ter. For a fee of five guineas she attends a lady'going to a party, improves her complexion, hair, and teeth, and supplies all deficiencies. This trade, according to the woman's statement, brings.her in not less than £800 a year, and what it enables her to afford may be inferred from the fact that the cause of action arose out of a dispute abbuf a lodging she had taken in Bondstreet, at the rent of three guineas a week. Leverson boasts of having'all the. crowned heads amongst her customers, not excepting her Majesty, whose patronage she pretends to enjoy. She sa} Ts she has preparations for making complexions white or red at pleasure, and carries about beauty for sale in a small box. We know nothing of this woman's preparations, but generally the medicine-chest is not far behind the paints and fard, and too often the coffin brings up the rear. For Bradford lozenges are hardly more deleterious than cosmetics. If we could but see the account of the number of*women destroyed .by doing violence to the complexion suited to them by nature, what a frightful revelation it would be. The law interposes to prevent suicide by jumping over a bridge, by the knife,' pistol, &c, and why not by the slower but not less sure process of the paintpot, or white lead? Imagine a duchess brought up to Marylebohe. Police-office upon a charge of attempting to "destroy herself by spreading a deadly preparation on her cheeks to pale the vulgar hue of health. Fancy her replies to the humane magistrate's inquiries, what could hay driven her to practices which she must know would shorten her life, and her confession, that for a miserable vanity she was content to accept disease and death. Divine Service at the Edclystcne Lighthouse. In the English channel, on a ridge of dangerous rocks facing the port of Plymouth, says-the Bristol Times, stands this majestic and highly useful beacon to the mariners of. all nations, a structure which, has been the means of preventing fr quent shipwrecks, and the sacrifice of much valuable life. At this spot, far away from the land, are sta-, tioned three men,'who through a large portion of the year are cut off from all-social and religious intercourse with the-world. ;In the summer lime they occasionally receive a flying visit from a* few strangers, 1 but during the greater part of the year, especially in tempestuous weather, they are left alone to their own society and their

difrn reflections. On the 29th Jnne, however, a somewhat interesting and novel event took place at the lighthouse—the peformance of divine service by a clergyman of the Church of England. The Rev.' Francis Barnes, incumbent of Trinity Church, Plymouth, who is also chaplain of the emir : grants embarking at that port, and honorary chaplain to the Sailors' Missionary Society, took a trip on the day named, with a few friends, in a steamer to the lighthouse, and after landing availed himself of the opportunity of offering up prayer and preaching an impressive and appropriate sermon to the assembled party and the men in charge of the lighthouse —a circumstance, it -is believed, tnat has never before occurred since the erection of the edifice, except once last year by the same clergyman. The visitors, before their departure, presented the three men with a < supply of fruit, .vegetables, and other products of the season, which; on such a spot, were, of course, highly prized, and thankfully received. We understand these services will be repeated occasionally during the season. Novel Method of Catching Eats. A gentiemau whose premises were; mnch infested by rats tried every means to effect their extermination, but without avail, till " Baxter's Library of Agricultural Knowledge" having found, its way into his library he tried the remedy mentioned there. According to the direction, he procured a sugar hogshead, poured about four inches of water into it, and in the centre placed a brick. He then covered the top with a piece of parchment, on which he placecl enticing food for the rats. Here they feasted themselves for a few days, when he made several openings in the parchment sufficiently large for a rat to drop through ; the baits then being laid, no sooner did one of the rats get on the top than he iell into the water. He of course swam to the brick, where he moaned most piteously. The whole community of rats were alarmed, and then curiosity led them in great numbers to the spot, when they got on the parchment head where they had often' been before, and in they dropped in quick succession. There being only one brick in the hogshead, a war ensued for the possession of it; they fought most, desperately, and the longer the battle continued the greater became the number of forces, for all the rats about the premises ran to see what was the matter, and sharing the fate. of those who preceded them, dropped into the hogshead. The war lasted some hours, and was not.quite silenced^even by the morning. When at length all became silent the gentleman removed the parch ment s and discovered the number of rats he had caught to be much larger than he had supposed to be on the premises. He has since recommended the same plan to all his neighbours, and it has been.-found equally efficient. — Western Daily Press. ■ The Hercules of Modern Mytholgy. 1 No country in the world presents such a combination of facilities for manufacture and commerce as England; coal and iron, ships s.nd steam-engines, hardy seamen and ingenious mechanics. With these combined advantages the progress during"! the present century has been beyond ex- i ample. In 1784 an American vessel arrived in Liverpool, , having on board as part of her cargo eight bales of cotton, which were seized by the Custom-house officers under the conviction that they could not be the growth of America. Last year there were imported, at Liverpool, not less than/a million-and-a-half bales of cotton from the United States alone. ,The first steam-engine used in Manchester was not erected till 1790. Jtisnowcomputed'that, in that city and the district within a radius of ten miles, .there are more than fifty thousand boilers, giving a total power of upwards of a million of horses. The engine of Watt has proved the very Hercules of modern mythology, the united steam-power of Great Britain being equal, it is estimated, to the manual labour of upwards of four hundred millions of men, or more than double the number of males supposed to inhabit the globe.-— Quarterly Review. How1 to Identify Stolen Fruit. Set a mark on the most promising pieces of fruit, when in a green state, by affixing to them, on the side next the sun, an adhesive label of your initials, or an}'prtvate mark. When the fruit is ripe, the labelled spot will remain green; and when a capture is made, the thief will be petrified at finding that there is conclusive j evidence against, him, even ohj the fruit ' itself.— Notes and Queries. Minute Philosophers. It has not added to my personal comfort to know to a decimal fraction what proportion of red earth I may expect to. find in my cocoa every morning; to have become knowingly conscious that my coffee is mixed with ground liver and litmus, instead' of honest chicory; and that bisulphuret of mercury forms the basis of my cayenne. It was once my fate to have a friend staying in my house who was one of these minute philosophers. He used to amuse himself after breakfast by a careful 'analy-, sis and diagnosis of the contents of the teapot, laid out as a kind of liortus siccus on his plate. "This leaf, now," he would say, "is fuschia; observe the .serrated edges; that's no tea-leaf—positively poisonous. This now, again, is blackthorn, or privet; you may know it by the divisions in the panicles;1 that's no.tea-leaf.'' A mcst uncomfortable guest.he was; and though not a bad companion in many respects, I felt my appetite improved tbe first time I sat down to dinner without him.—:, Blachwood's Magazine. "And them's my Opinions." " Don't tell me, sir," said Mrs. Spitfire, ! with a face burning like a kitchen fire; "no man has a right to be a bachelor. It's his own fault if he is, and serve him right 100, say I! An old maid, poor creature, is fre-

qnentiy an via maid from c&^uinoir; -but when a mart is a' bachelor, I mean. to say that, nine times out of ten, he is a bachelor from choice; and a pretty choice it is. -It's' all the difference between making your own bed, and having it made for you. Ariel them's my opinions!" and here Mrs. Spitfire folded her arms a la Napoleon, as though she were perfectly.ready to receive the combined contradictions of the entire world. — Extracts from an Unpublished Novel, ■ A.Perfect Wretch. " Talk <lf bringing, Turkey within the family of nations," writes an indignant British matron;—too. savage to begin her letter in the .usual way, and much'too angry to dot her i's or cross ;her t's--" a nice'family man the' Sultan, must be! Have you. seen that abominable order of his—that none of the Palace ladies are to : go out shopping ?"' " Oh, .the mean-, spirited creature ! The wretch! the low, dirty heathen I No, Mr. Punch; don't.tell me about civilising them! Turks are barbarians at the- bottom, and at the top too for the matter of. that, as this abominable order of the Sultan's shows. I see they talk of dethroning him—and serve him right too. : They tell me jie has 50 wives— and not to go out shopping-!" -^Well! A nice time he'll have of it, and a nice time he deserves to have of it—the .nasty, sneaking, low-minded Mahometan !"— Punch. . . ■■,', Heroic Devotion to Art. In that scene in the play of the ** Committee," where Obadiah.hais to swallow, with feigned reluctance, the contents of a blade quart bottle administered to him by Teague, Munden was observed one night to throw an extra amount of comicality - and vigour into his resistance, so much so that Johnstone ("Irish Johnstone"), the Tmgwi of the occasion, fired with a natural eh-* thusiasm, forced him to drain the bottle to the last drop. The effect was tremendous. The audience absolutely screamed .with laughter, and Obadiah was borne off half dead, and. no wonder. . The bottle, which should have contained sherry and water, was by some mistake half filled with the rankest lamp oil. When the sufferer had in some degree recovered from the nausea the accident caused, Mr. Johnstone wondered why Munden should have,allowed him, after his first taste, to pour the whole of the disgusting liquid down his throat. "It would," said Johnstone, "have been easy.to have.rejected, or opposed a repetition of it, by hinting the mistake to me."—"My dear boy," replied Munden, "I was about to do so; but there was such a glorious roar at the first face I made upon swallowing it, that I hadn't the. heart to spoil the scene by interrupting the effect, though I thought that I should die every .time you poured the accursed stuff down '.my throat."— Anecdotes of Actors. ■Falsehood. —It is a hard matter for a man to lie aIL over, nature having. provided King's evidence in almost every member. The hand will sometimes act as a vane to show which way the wind;blows, when every feature is set the other; way, and the knees will smite together and sound the alarm of fear under a fierce countenance. " When a stranger treats me with a want of respect," said a philosophic poor man, "I comfort myself with the reflection that it is not myself he slights, but my old shabby coat and hat, which, to say the . truth, have no particular claim to admiration;. So if my, hat and coat-choose to fret about it, let them,.but it is nothing to do with;me." "Why, Jack! what's the matter? You look deuced queer!" " Yaas,! you see, I've gone into business. I buy clay pipes at a penny a-piece, and smoke 'em till they are black, and then sell 'em for a.guinea; but it's precious hard work, I can tell you." The Pairie has made the marvellous discovery that the Euphrates railroad is the weapon with which England intends to conquer Asiatic Tuikey. "An English mercantile company conquered the Indies— an English railway and steam navigation company will absorb Turkey in Asia. This destiny may be accomplished if all the European nations do not protest in the name of a common danger against such a shock to the balance of power." At the close of the reign of Napoleon I. the total number of members of the Legion of Honor was 9000. Great progress hat been made since then. There are now 272,000 members. Their name is, indeed, "legion."— Spectator. An association has been formed in Dublin similar to the London Association for the repeal of the duties on paper; an effort is to be made to obtain the repeal in the next session of parliament. . Miss Witherditty, speaking of marriage, says it is like any other disease, while there's life there's hope. Mr. Owen Jones says that he owes more to the people of his district than any other :maninit. If he is owing so largely,-he ought to be called owiri Jones. ' Which is the most celestial part df the British Empire ?—The Isle of Sky. What relation is that child to its father who is not its father's own son?-I—His daughter.