PRENCH AND ENGLISH WIVES (From the Examiner )

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 121, 13 February 1873, Page 3

PRENCH AND ENGLISH WIVES (From the Examiner )

HoR the two Western r«.eo* tlie bo^t plan would be that all Englishmen should marrr Frenchwomen, and all Frenchmen should niarn Englishwomen! Of course there would be in the beginning a gooi deal of diaagivoinank m the various couples. But by and bye e\ervthinK'wo>ild settle, and the ■world would enjoy all the benefits of mixed breeding winch proves bo succcs-I'ul in animals, and winch thoiv is no reason to suppps) would not prove just as successful in regard to nymkind. In fact, what is wanted is not to abstract anything from the French or English women, but to add to them certain i'eatnrjs which they respectively do not possess at present For instance, -the Englishwoman is sadly m want of taste, cheerfulness, sprightliVreSs, and many of those small qualifications which often make a clever woman without her being necessarily m possession of what is called accomplishments. Tlie Frenchwoman, on the other hand, is just as sadly in want of the sense of duty, of kindness, and of readiness to oi'dure hardship if necessary. The Englishwoman marries realty " for better and for worse ; " the French implies it as a ■condilto sine qua non that she does so for " better " only. As soon as she sees it is getting " for worse," she throws, everything overboard and runs avray to .her parents, into business, or to a lover, as the case may be ; and the husband who failed to make her life plea«ant or comfortable becomes almo-t as dead for her as if he had never existed. She has not tl c slightest sense of the duties the marriage contract imposes upon her The money *pent or the debts incurred by tie. husband with a view to pease her when she was young, foolish and capricious, are of no consideration to her She will stay under lm loof and share his misery or troubles only if utterly unable to find any other place to go to * * * Poster tv would be certainly a gainer if Frenchwomen could bo sent to English schools of matrimony. On the other hand, it would probably gain just as much if the kind-hearted docile English gnls, often capable of r«al abnegation, but just as often, unbeai ably dull, tasteless, and devoid of all that gives women the rigl^t of being called de\ er, could, instead of being doomed to serve 113 as -machinery for the production of children and for housekeeping purposes by business-like Britons, be associated to , repiP3entatives of that nation-which is often called volatile", merely because nature has endowed it with more liveliness, with blood of a little higher temperature, and because a noli soil and bright climate have made it value, life higher than money. It is really puzzling to see the change whiiji. a year or two spent abroad produces on an English woman. You can scarcely believe you are *peaking to the same person who, a couple of years ago, made you wish for a fit of apoplexy by way of escape f1 om the pleasant evening you had to spend in her society. The ccleiity with which she gets rid of her insular dulness and clumsiness, without losing any of the merits natuae has endowed her with, makes her mcoinpaiably pieferable to her sister over the Channel, whom no amount of tiavelling will change an inch from what she, was. when leaving for the first time her dear Paris, Lyons, or Marseilles The defects of the Enj;- , lishwoman are, as a rule, easily to be got iid <> f ; those of the French woman are almost uiiuiablc: Exceptionally , good natuies are equally good heie, and happy family irfu is by no means an exclusive privilege of England, as is generally supposed by English people. But one thing is I certain, and this is, that if a man w duomed to a life of toil and misery, he must not attempt to t>haie it with a i French wife : she would only make it ( wcrae. In such a j case the Engh&h w lfe would be far preferable. The wisest thing, however, is always to icmavn "a wild ass alone by himself." Azamat Batuk.

Considerable misunderstanding appears to e\is>t between the Rev. C 11. Wlntehead, new of. Norcleti, ami liis parishioners in consequence of las lugli ritualistic puttiees These differences have prevailed more or lev! during the whole of the five years tho rev gent'eman lias haJ cliarge of the parish. The services lately eulminited in processions through the aisles, wuh incense) eirfvattd CiHioifii, banners, testments, viretta, and all the bi longings of the extrcmest ritual. One result of this has been that the congregation attending the church has become exceeding thin even on Sundays, whilst on week nights it has been no- unusual thing for the Vicar to stand nut he church alonv and perform the whole of the service, saying the prayers, singing the p*alms, placing the harmonium, and cten repeating the " Amens" in the absence of his clerk llavmg stated -o much by way of explanation we hate now to narrate a most extraordinary circumstance which oeturred in the church one evening about o fortnight ago. By some the (ceumnoo is looked on as of a terrifying nature, whilst m the e\cs of others it approaches the ridiculous. However, on the evening referred t© the Vicar wa» staudmg. m- his umirl place, attired in his surplice, reading the praters afl to himself. Suddenly, strange to relate, the gas was extinguished by aorno mysterious and unseen power, and our pai'son for a few minutes was left in the dark to feast on his own fancies. As he was quietly groping his way out of the church, the silenco and" darkness of which had become horribly oppressive, he was roughly seized by the shoulders by some unknow n force and pushed out of tho church faster jthan his legs could carry him. His ghostly assailant seems to hate left him at the church door, and to have retired into the gloomy recesses of Hie building, for the next that was seen or-'the rev. gentleman was that he was scampering through the church j arrl loudly calling on some one to help him But no good angel j came to his aseistanee> and he Tjaflly rushed on, j " And hears, or thinks he hear-!, i The sounds of something purring nt hi-, Ik el«, Full fast he (lies, and dare not look' behind him Till out of breath" lie arrives at the house of the parish cleik "When he gained this port of safety he stood in the centre of the room a living monument of the effects ofttii&vliarrible. He was pale and trembling with the few hairs of his head standing on end. "When he had taken breath he told the clerk's wife, f< rthat functionary waa absent, how ho had been seized by a dreadful something which was black from head to foot, and looked at him with red glaring eyes as big as saucers. This j strange tale soon spread through the village, and effectually j prevented antone, except 'the policeman; going neir the church that night. The place was therefore at the mercy-of the ghosts and the more substantial midnight marauders, but neither seem to hnve done auy mischief. As to the rev. I gentleman himself the shock to his nervous system was so ' groat that he has been compelled to seek a change" of air. been compelled to seek a change of air During his absence the members of his flock have prepared formgnaturc a memorial, asking him to renounce his ritualistic practices, and suggesting an interview with the BUhop on tho iiibj©«t Although many of the more Buper>-t'ti3U3 person* in the ' Tillage have asserted that the being which a*=a»lted the Vicar was a demon, the suspicion* of the more common sense portion of the community rest upon a ctLiiu eollirr ■who was black' from head to foot, and who, by the aid of a ' mask with red glaring eyes, was induced to personate the Evil One.

Scssia and Germany. — Ai pamphlet on the Russian cavalry, which was recently published nt Tiwhlond hv General Pistolkors, lias been received with much fin our In the leading papers of Moscow and St Petersburg, which i-tronglv wge the Government to adopt Hie General'" recommendations. The German army, he «ayn. now ha* Ilie reputation of being the best in Europe, and if Russia vuhes to retain her old position on the Continent she must mnifrhor miliUrr foicc at least equal to that of Gennam. Unfortunate] v j many jears mu«l elapse before the Rus«ian infantry can be raised to the German standard ; but this need not be the ease as regards the Russian cavalry. The regular troops, it is true, have all the defects of the cavalry of other countries, besides several peculiar to themselves, tho latter chiefly caused by the importation of regulations from Western Europe which are not suited to the Russian soldier. Moreover, in these days of immense agglomerations of infantry, a force of 50,000 not very efficient cavalry soldiers, which it would cost a \ery large sum to increase, is almost u«ele*s. It is in her irregular troops, which, if properly employed, would be tho best and most numerous in the world, that the real source of Russia's military strtngth is to be found. During the last ten or twenty years the Cossacks have been systematically neglected, yet if they were thoroughly reorganized j they would make the finest cavalry in Europe, and entirely supply the place of the costly and inefficient regular troops The first thing to be done (proceeds the writer) i> at once ro abolish the utterly inapplicable system of European drill, which is quite opposed to the traditions and character of the Cossack*. They have for centuries been a nation of riders and warriors ; every man in their military c >loni s has always been a soldier as well as a peasant. Tlioy should be permitted to rido with their traditional sport stirrup, and to resume their old weapons, which a fibolish mania for uniformity has abolished The old custom by which the State piiitl every Cossack for the horse he brought with him into tho field should also b« revived '• under tho present system they are badly faounted, becau«e they leave their horses at home The experience of the American varhas shown that tic most useful cavalry are dragoons armed with revolvers, i c , horsemen that van also fight on foot It would not be difficult to train Cossacks for such service, as they are accustomed to the use of firearms from their childhood. At prccnt there are from 260,000 to 280,000 Cossacks in the Russdan army; if the regular cavalry were abolished, and the sums appropriated for its maintenance were expended in the organization of a Cossack force, the above numbers would bo increased to half-a-million, including the Kal nouks and Eaihkirs, who now serve ns irregular troops. " No European etate," concludes the writer, " could compete with Russia in producing so numerous, effc3tive, and inexpensive a force, for none of them havo such an abundance of excellent material for the purpose. Russia might then recover her military predominance in Europe, and force Germany to withdraw into-her natural 1 limits." 'Phe Russian Ministry, whose policy it is just now to be on good terms with Germany, is of course not likaly to endorse all the opinions expressed in this pamphlet, but there is good reason to beliere that they are shared by many Russians of all classes, and it is doubtful Mhether so*b«olute a. ruler a» the Czar will long ho able to rasibt a feeling of national jcaloiwv which is so persistently »ad generally manifesting: itself.— EallZlall Gazette.

! An'Ciknt Ckhemony. — Thfc very ancient ceremony of rendisnng certain rent services to the Crown by the Corporation of the City of London was performed on the 31st October at the office of the Queen's Remembrancer, 58 Chancery Lane, at 2 o'clock. Mr De Jersey, the Secondary, of the city of London, and Mr Nelson, the City Solicitor, being assembled before the Queen's Remembrancer, the proceedings were commenced by the Secondary reading aloud two warrants, and praying that the same might be recorded. The first warrant stated that Sir Francis W^att Truseott, Knight and Alderman (for and on bt'half of himself and Robert Jones, Esquire, who served the office- ot Sheriff until the 13th of October, 1871, and of Richard Young, E*quirc, who held the like oflke until the date of his decease on the 15lh of October, 1871), and Sir John Bennett, Kuighl, were prepared to lender to Her Majesty an account of the issues of their late oflice as Sheriffs of the city of London and Sheriff of the county of Middlesex, from the feast of St. Michael, 1871, to the same feast next follow ing. After this w arrant had been ordered b.\ fie Queen's R< me nl r ncer to be recorded, the Secondary rca'l the second warrant iip,jointing Messrs De Jersey & Croaley to render the account of the late Shenifafor them as their attorneys. The following proclamation was then made by tho Queen's Remembrance; 's clerk : — "Tenants and occupiers of a piece of wastcground called 'The Moore,' m the county of Saldp, come foith and dd your service." The city solicitor, ou the part of the Coiporation of London, performed this rent service by cutting through one fagot with a hatchet and another with a bill-hook. A second proclamation was then made, thus :— "Tenants and occupiers of a certain tenement, called ' The Forge, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, in tl c county of Middlesex, comeJoitb. and do your service." The city solicitor then counted six horse-shoes and 61 hob-n»9s r and upon, announcing the number of each was answered by the Queen's llemtuubraneer, "Good numbers " Thfo- ceremony used to be pei formed befoi c fie Cursitor Barcn. of tke, Exchequer, in open Court, until the abolition of -that oflioe in 1850, and continued to be per formed before the Court until the passing of the act 22 and '23 Victoria, cap. 21.

Fikkproof SrAßCir.— From .the scion of royalty to the seamstress or the ballet-girl, more cases of sudden and violent death have been due to the combustion of , wealing apparel than to any other cause. Now it is the Archduchess Matlujde* of Austria — now the accomplished wife of the poet Longfellow— who falls a victim to her dress catchiiig fire ; far. oftpner, however, it is the poor danseuse or cantalrice before the footlights, or tire still poorer heroine of the " Song of-the Shirt." At the International Exhibition at South Kensington there was exhibited a btarch, says the Lancet, which ought to remove all such calamities in futuie from the category of acqident to that or design fmpiovnig o:iv the old. and \ eiy partially adopted tengstale of soda, Mr Donald Nicoll hus produced a preparation which rendeis the finest cambucsAiid muslins, the material of window-blinds, mosquito curtains— the finer fabrics of every kind, in short — not only uninflammable, but wellnigh incombustible Henceforth we are entitled to expect that the verdict, hitherto so frequent at coroner's inquests, " J'urnt to death by her clothes accidentally taking fire," will reacli its mavquum ; and that the "curse of Prometheus " will, in gieat mcaauie, be neutralized by thia latest tu'uhtun to the.arjnomy of picventive mediune.

L'oi-ocrtiNG tiik Eyi;. — Dr It. J. Levis, of the IVnsjlvania Hospital, lms devised a means of colouring opacities in jhe cornea of the e\e. Ho says, " The disfigurement of the glaring white opaque spaces of the cornea can be cured bj indelibly tinting, so that if central, they shall allow tlio blaekness- c£.ilie natural pupil, or if peripheral in location, the colour of the undcily.wg ins >nr»y- Ire most deceptively imitated. Shonld e\eu the- entire cornea bo opaque, a very natural imitation of tho appearance of the whole circle' of the iris and the pupil can be accomplished." The instrument used is a bundle of from three to six fine sewing needles inserted into a handle. For colouring matter ordinary water pigments are used, rubbed to a pasty consistence, and mixed with a little ghcenne. For the black of the pupil Indian ink is employed, The surface of the opaque spot being w iped clear from moisture, the paint ia applied thickly o^er with a small pencil. The neeedle points arc made to penetrate repeatedly and in varying directions, until much of the opaque surface is gone over with the pigment. Two or more repititions of the process, are required ' The operation is saki to be painless , and as the colouring matter is regularly tattooed into the tissues, it cannot be washed out by tears. A most exciting scene occurred on the Cornwall Railway not long since. The driver of a mineral train descending the iucline from Brungalon to Par, lost control over it, in consequence of defective bieaks, and the tiain dashed at a fiightfurand increasing speed down the single line up which a mail train was approaching. The driver of the passenger ti*»iii»saw tho danger when the mineial tiain was a mile off, and reversed his engines. The passengeis v/atchod with breathless terror from every window the descending train., theie was a race for life to Par, but the mail train was there first by twenty yards, and all danger was avoided. TliQ pa&sengers overwhelmed the brave man with their thanks ami gifts. It is proposed to give tho diiver, West •> hike, a public testimonial, which will also include Sutton, the stoker, and the guards, Searle and Hockin, .ill of whom stuck to their posts. In a letter to (he clergy and laity of his diocese, the Bishop of Lincoln has published a narrative of the Old CnthoheCongress at Cologne, m which, after htatinc that Pore ll\adinthe was present by inyitation, Bishop Wordsworth incidentally says — " Perc Hjncinthcwas married before a civil magistrate. It is well known 'that in France and Belgium the contract of the partias before a civil magistrate is obligatory in all cases-, and is regarded a»con«mjting the essence of mariiage. But it ought also be irtiowmthat PJ-ec H; scinthe, kneeling side by aide with his bethrochjd, received a nuptial benediction from a KOman Catholic Archbishop, w ho said that he regarded enforced clerical celibacy as a ' piaic de V Eglise: " The city man on the Jacksonville Journal is in trouble again. Ha w rote for the fame issue of his paper an obituary on "one of our oldest citizens," ami a notice of the proposed Fourth of July celebration. He got one end mixed up so as to btate that the deceased " would in a short time have the pleasure of witnessing the most wojidGrffll displa-v of fireworks ever seen." The Borrowing relatives put oft" the garb of mourning, and are now* looking for the city man w ith short ( I'ibs Miss Edmonia Lewis, a lady w r ho is half negro and half Indian, is very busy at her studio in Rome. .She is engaged upon a statute of Abraham Lincoln for the Central Park at New York; one of John- Brown for the Union League Club, and one of Longfellow for Yale College. The Duke of Edinbhrgh (say* tho JVlpstern Mfiriiiug Xews) h<H been strongly pressed to become an admiral, but he firmly declines to take a flag until he has some experience as captain in an ironclad ship, and the Sultan is designated as the vessel he is desirous to dommund. Dk. Bkight's PnosrHODYVE. — Multitudes of people :we hopelessly suffering from Debility, Nervous and Liver Complaints, Depression of Spirits, Delusions, Unfitness for Business or Study, Failure of. Heating, Sight, and Memory, Lassitude, Want of Power, &c, whose cases admit of permanent cure by the new remedy Phospodyne (O/onic Oxygen), which at once allays al 1 irritation and excitement, imparts new energy and life to the enfeebled constitution, and rapidly cures every stage of these hitherto incurable and distressing maladies. Sold by all Chemists and Storekeepers throughout the Colonies, from whom pampUeto .containing testimonials maybe obtained.— Caution : Be particular to ask for Dr Bright* Phosphodyne, as imitations are abroad ; and avoid purchasing single bottles, the genuine article being sold in cases only. — Adv.