EMOTIONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2986, 25 August 1888, Page 3

EMOTIONS.

(Tlio Fortnightly RoviowV

As concerns emotions comiooted witli religion, the contagion of tliom lias been notorious in till ages, for good or for evil, according to the character.of tho religion in question. Tho intoxication of tho dances of old . Mienads and modern .dervishes; tlio shrieks mid of tlio priests of Baal and Cybole; tlio frenzied scenes of sacrilico to Moloek and the Aztec gods, and a hundred other examples will occur to every reader. Probably those on the largest scale of all recorded in history wero the first Crusades, wlioii" Europo precipitated itself on 'Mt&" in a delirium of religious enthusiasm caught from Petor tlio Hormit and Bernard of Clairvaux. Tlio outbursts of Aimbaptists and Flagalants and prophets of tlio Cayennes and Christendom and of Moslem fanactics, undei prophets and Mahdis, of which wo lmvo probably by no means heard the last, and finally the revival of various sects in England and America, and the triumphs of the Salvation Army aro all instances of tho part played by the contagion of emotion in tho religion of tho community at large. I shall speak hereafter of its share in perfonal religious experieno. In much smaller matters than religion, andwhero no explosion roveals tho contagion of sentiments, it is yet often possible to trace the spread of an emotion, good or bad, from 0110 individual of a family or village to all tho other members or inhabitants, It suflices for some spiteful boy or idle girl to call a miserable old woman a witch, or to oxpiess hatred of some foreigner or harmless eccentric, to sot afloat predjudices which ends in something approaching to persecution of the victims, who may be thankful they did not live 200 years ago, when, instead of being boycotted thoy would liavo been burned. A child in a school or large household who has the misfortune to be lame or ugly, or exhibits any peculiarity, physical or mental, may, without any fault on his side, become obnoxious to the blind dislike of a stupid servant or jealous stepmother, and then—the contagion spreading and intensifying as it extends—to the common hatred of the little community: a hatred justifying itself by the sullenness or deceptions to which tho poor victim had been driven. Even domestic animals suffer from this kind of contagious dislike, and benefit on the other Land by contagion! admiration and 1 fondness." Give a dog a bad name and hang him is true in more senses than one.

A Story of Bismarck.

i (Vanity Fair), rA Vavzin correspondent relates tlie ( following amusing anecdoto of Prince '' Bismarck. Some days ago the Chancellor, in the quiet enjoyment of his well-earned holiday, had invited a few chosen friends to one of those solect little dinners which he lovos so woll, when, just as the soup was being served, a servant handed him a telegram, With ii hasty glance.tlio prince perused it, and with a look of disappointment at his plato which contained his favorite dish-goose broth—rose from the table, askiug his guests to excuse him lor a moment, Someone, however, saying in fun; 11 Oh, let that wait, your soup will get cold," thomaii of blood and iron turned to the company with a look of foar 011 his face, amusing in the extreme and said; I wish to Gott I could! But the message is from my son Herbert, and if I let him wait I shall have another and jgr more peremptory one in ten minutes. ™ He won't wait an instant, If I had only worked half so hard when t was

young I am sure I would have become quite different." Exit Chancellor fol- . lowed by the laughter of the company,