SCRAPS FROM OUR NOTE

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 65, 8 May 1869, Page 5

SCRAPS FROM OUR NOTE

BOOK.

No. XXIX.— WALKING- ON

STILTS,

A dwarf on a mountain peak towers above a giant standing at its base, yet is the dwarf none the less dwarfish byreason of his accidental elevation. A certificated teacher of bur own day might convict the Stagyrite of childish ignorance, yet for all that the.greatness of the philosopher remains undiminished, and the knight of the certificate is not the less an unwholeweed. No one denies the truth of so self-evident a fact, yet none appear to view it as affecting their own case. They plume themselves on their own superiority, and forget the vulgar logs which eke out their scanty length. They walk on stilts, yet so wooden is their understanding that they glory in their elevation above those who use the limbs nature has given them. Otago, thank goodness, is devoid of timber, so we "are saved from many disagreeable varieties of the stilt family. Among us, no one can raise himself upon timber hewn out of a family tree — or, if the attempt bo made, the rotten old stick breaks beneath the weight, and deposits the unlucky aspirant in the kennel. Yet, for lack of staves, the golden treasures of the earth have been employed, and our great men stalk about upon pedestals" of gold. Our notables found their greatness on a foundation of notes, and are worshipped as reverently as was the Grolden Calf. All the virtues are bought by wealth, for the possessor of a thousand a year cannot be other than a very paragon of perfection. An envious few there are, no doubt, who dare to question the wisdom of a social system which gilds over fraud, ignorance, and corruption, and treads underfoot honour and intellect ; but such persons are few in number, anc 1 their croakings are/treated with deserved contempt. Grlory be to the Calf! the "only fit governor, the noble, the virtuous man of means, whose greatness is founded on a wellstored pur.se ! Such a cry is natural; is just, is appropriate, is — and can praiee more lofty be awarded? — ia intensely respectable. No less laudable is the ambition of those who, not possessing the means to procure golden stilts, strut and fret on gilded ones. llh6l I h6 ambition is right worthy, and noble are the sacrifices made by those who are consumed by it. The belly is robbed that tho back may be clad in broadcloth and fins linen. A month's starvation is rewarded by the funds to head a published subscription list. The sacrifice of all the refinements and most of the comforts of life is a cheap price to pay for a few more inch.es of gliding than adorns their neighbour's stilt. Charity may plead at tho street corners, but if she is not raised upon artificial props she is unworthy of notice from our lofty magnates. Broad clothes are their only Avear, for the seven deadly sins lurk in the tatters of a threadbare coat, and the evil one himself peeps out of a bulged boot. But our noble stilters, they seem far raided above all adverse fortune ; and if fato destines their disgrace, to them let us exclaim in the vernacular : " Gro it, ye cripples ! " 3?or the final crash is very certain ; the leaden-paced but untiring constable, who has been so triumphantly outrun, is sure to win the race, where bottom and endurance tell more than speed. "What a tumbling and smashing will then ensue let the future tell ; and let the lowered price of wood, when all tbe stilts are thrown in the market, show how universally they are used.