SCRAPS FROM OUR NOTE BOOK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 52, 6 February 1869, Page 5

SCRAPS FROM OUR NO TE BOOK.

No. XXL— ON SIMPLICITY. \

Among the many strange . inconBistenci&B the. pilgrim, ; in, what Mr., Stiggins . would call this " wale of tears " Has brought before his notice, the extraordinary unanimity with which all classes praise simplicity ' of style, dress, or demeanour, and the equally "wonderful accord with which all violate its rules, cannot fail to attract his attention. , Madame iHiss-and-flutter, refreshed by lecturing poor Betsy Jane ojr the iniquities of a scarlet ribbon, and the excellence of simplicity

of dress, ascends to -the parlour to, * torment her husband into purchasing "that lovely shawl" or "charming barege," which is glowing with all the prismatic colours, and with many of subsequent invention— thanks to Q-as-tar —to the proverbial rainbow. Augustus Muggins, word-tormenting, sentence-distorting, is down with more than the usual amount of critical venom on the unhappy wretch whose, first production, sent with the author's «oiripliinents, is- submitted to him for review, when he detects in the lofty roll of the sentences a gross violation of that simple and Saxon, style which aJ the scribbling brotherhood unite to praise and all decline tapractice. The \ unapproachable, the lofty, the haughty Sir Bashaw Bulltrout cannot for the head of him — the wager is triflingdiscover how fellows Who put on such airs as Mr. Castiron Consols can so "violate all the canons of common sense and simplicity as not to foUow his own ■example, and by a meek and lowly, unassuming and gentle ~ demeanour conciliate all classes. In shorj:, this same praise of simplicity is one* of those, good-boy pieces' of twaddle -which, like early rising, every body praises and every one secretly detests. It may be all very well to sneer at the jackdaw decked in peacock's feathers ; but to my mind he a was most sensible bird of High Church tendencies who, wearied with the aesthetic faults of his modest black coat, burst upon his astonished brethren not exactly in the glory of chasuble and' cope, but with the more chaste beauty of natural decoration. Of course he was pecked to death just on the same principle that the best dressed woman at a ball becomes the target of theill-natured sneers of every other female in the room ; but for all that, to my mind green and gold are more beautiful than rusty brown or hodden grey. Take heart of grace, then, demoiselles and dames of Tuapeka; heed not the dyspeptic maunderings of Diogenes the Younger, but continue to dress with your accustomed taste. Brighten the pavements of our little city with all the glories of mixed red, yellow, green and pink as you have been wont to do, and heed not the laughter of thpse who pretend to artistic skill. Are not the peony rose and. sunflower permitted in our parterres ? Why object, then, to our fair ones' taste? for of a truth thelillies of

the field in all. their glory were not attired like one of these. So much iS»rTife^«nlam^nta]U^him which would make quakers ofTEel&feeteTJCirimunity^ Against it we have the grand principle of female vanity arrayed; but against the equally absurd clamour for simplicity of style how can the poor penny-a-liner hope to wage successful - battle?. Yet,' in spite of .all, is not this same representative of literary acavenger-work a benefactor of his kind ? Is it not his pleasing- task to tickle the yanity ; of the worthy .but illiterate,. with .finely rounded phrases. What girl would be galled- a young woman when the choice and elegant phrase " a young lady with a prepos-sessing-appearance "is in the penny-a-liner dictionary ? TThp would be an old. woman when she might be styled 'J a" lady of advanced years. Who, in fact, would be content to remain a man or woman when a dab of printers' ink can. transform him or her into a gentleman or lady. Certes 'tis a strange world, my masters ; and ever since the days of the Old Serpent we have agreed to Compound for sins we are inclined to By damning those we have no mind to.