FORTUNE-TELLING.

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 118, 6 February 1873, Page 2

FORTUNE-TELLING.

4- melancholy but too common phrase of " colonial experience " turned up at Darlinghurit on Monday, when the) astrologer, Ha«san Bradstreet, convicted of "obtaining money under false pretences," wa« brought up for sentence. Having told, many fortune.9, the luckless Hassan—" Hassan'-' doubtless to give him the full Eastern flavor proper to a professor of the stars— proceeded to, recount his own. Born under Mars he was at an early age destined for a military career and provided with a commission, when a fatal con^ junction with Mercury compelled him to sell out, and a eub l^ sequent transit of Venus landed him in Kent-street, thq keeper of a house of ill-fame. In that most improper and unprofitable business it is no wonder if in this moral city, he was reduced to utarvation, and being too proud to work, and far too honest (o steal, he, bethought him of the " pasttime of his youth," and took to feeling bum,ps ancj swindling silly women. One has seen and heard of many ex-military officer! in divers curious positions in this curious country. An ex-captain of- draeoons long officiated as " boots " at the principal hotel at Wagea, remarkable chiefly for the sharp, ness with which he looked after his " tips ; " and for many years an ex-guardsman, and the son of a bishop to boot, sold matches at the corner of Princes-bridge in Melbourne. Th?ro is an ex-military friend of our own now, who would, be happy to sell you any number of shares in any number of companies at any moment, and who, we fancy sometimes may have been, or may vet be, in the same regiment with. Hassan. But surely the fnfas never played military swell a, harder turn than to transform him into a, fortune-teller, with a dash of pimp ! This estimable character, who we wonder did not plead piety as well as poverty, inasmuch as he had been accustomed to trust to the heavens for his bread, had one more reason to thank his " stars," when Mr Justice Faucott, touched possibly with the fallen fortunes, as much of the ancient "science" now sunk to a common misdemeanor, as of the cvolhYer turned brothol-kceper, sentenced him to the mild punishment of two month* eclipse in Darlinghurst gaoj.

Tho Wellington Post says • — In the ve,ny he*rt of the Government Buildings a largo strong room is being built, tho walls of are of brick, and about two feet in thick'nesi. At one side, an opening iq to be icon, sufficient to allow, with some difficulty, caress toaman,a»id above it, in large printed letters, appears the following startling announcement : " For members o«.ly." Is it tho lqbby of the Parliament IIOUMI'S ' There is a capital anecdote, illustrative of Mr Gladstone's sunersuhtletv, wliinh will be new to many of our readers, iv relation to Mr Qladstone's caMiistienl modes of reasoning, Durinct Garibaldi's visit to London, it was suggested that a noblo nnd richly jointured widow, who was much about with him, should marry him. To the objection that be had a, wife lmn X , the ready anwer was, " Oh, he must get Glad, stone to explain her away." Why is an infant like a diamond? Because it is a dear little thin;. •Lr/r?<^^^l£L'!s2yjL r/ r?<^^^ 1 £L'!52yj I --■>.• i