AT THE CORNER.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4721, 23 February 1884, Page 2

AT THE CORNER.

Homo sum, Tiumani nihil a me alienum puto.

The decision of the R,M. in the "test" case yesterday must have been " plums " to the old Engineer?. Why didn't the company imitate the Battaiion, arid disband before the new regulations were issued? Whatever of law they have on their side thoy certainly have equity. I fancy I hear a growl among the " ex* cised " Brigade men. Yea, dear boys, but the oases are not analogous, so don't you try throwing Millett at the Skipper. Verb. Sap. . **./■

The efforts of a few benevolent persons to get up an entertainment on St. Patrick's day for the benefit of a poor woman here is most laudable, and I hope the result will be a good round sum for the beneficiare. How is it that to obtain assistance for any cause, however good in itself, it 13 neceesary to provide a quid pro quo for the subscriptions. People who button up their pockets and say " Can't afford it," when aeked to give a mite for some indigent fellow-creature, will cheerfwUy'pay t?jree sbillibg* for a. ticket to

the Academy. Alas! for the selfishness of human natare.

A friend of mine who is possessed!, among other weaknesses, of an insatiate desire to investigate the religious opinions of his fellows, and who, iv pursuit of his hobby, visits, without distinction of race or creed,, all churches, chapels, and meeting houses where religious services are wont to be held, informs me that a .certain.section of the Christian church, now holding meetings, at Shortland, teach the doctrine of entire sauctification and absolute freedom from sin on the part of those who believe. But that I have every confidence in my friend's veracity, I should doubt the existence of people so infatuated as to deliberately profess a doctrine to the truth of which their own lives (no matter how sincere) must be a daily contradiction. My friend, who has a turn for rhyme, sends me the following lines, and assures me that they are by no mean's an exaggeration of what may be heard any night at a certain chapel in Shortland :—

I used to cuss, and swear, and lie, And drink, and cheat, and steal, And lick my wife, and plug her eye, And make the youngsters squeal j • But, brother, I'll not siu again— I could not if I tried— My heart ia free from every stain— I'm wholly sanctified.

I've reached perfection, and I know I'm spotless as a lamb ; The devil looked, and fled below, He can't stay where I am, Ob, yes, I feel I'm saved from sin, And know that if I died, St. Peter's got to let mo in, For I've been sanctified.

I have no grudge against those young men calling themselves captains of Salva-; lion, they are only working in their vocation ; nor do I object to them stirring up a " super " with a spiritual spear, or, for the matter of that, with a temporal one if need be, 'but their case should bo fairly stated^ Just consider a moment—'that no bank or counting house would venture to employ even the captains with the gaol experience ; and why should we have such unbounded confidence in their stewardship of things spiritual. Ifc does not appear right that young girls and boys should be asked to testify, nor even to attend the meetings; but as for the old supers, and conscience stricken old vestals, the more they get of spiritual flagellations the better for them, and the keener will be their appetite for creature comforts. But these highly spiced spiritual, foods, though well suited to daily backsliders, is not the kind of..sustenance for boys and girls, whose greatest iniquity may have been a raid on the sugar basin; and it is doubtful if they can be benefittcd by the racy confessions of old sports who stand forth to testify. It must appear to these young people that the only safe way to earn a reputation for godliness is <o be a downright bad 'un for the best part of a life time, so as to have something worth confessing. There is no wish to be rough on the captains, bub the public ought to get fairplay by having the case honestly stated. A correspondent of mine writes: —" I hear that the absence of druoks from the police reports ia credited to the army. 1' I suppose religious intoxication is not an indictable offence, although it may sometimes lay a man open to a charge of lunacy. I consider that the wild incoherent language indulged in by some of the sanctified, quite as deplorable as the ravings of men in D.T's,

A good story reaches me of a practical joke played the other day in a certain Government office on tho Thames. One of the youDger employees, being Jof a speculative turn of mind, had invested in a ticket in an Auckland consultation on the Dunedin Cup, and he was naturally anxious to learn the result. Perhaps his excitement had tended to make him more credulous, and his fellow employes seized the opportunity of having a laugh at his expense. A bogus telegram, to the effect that the ticket held by the young hopeful had drawn a placed horse in the great event, was sent. The bait was readily swallowed, arid home rushed the speculator to teli his relatives of- his good fortune. His disgust on returning to the office and hearing how he had been sold ijiiay be imagined, not described.