CHAPTER XXXIII.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 187, 22 July 1873, Page 3

CHAPTER XXXIII.

You, «ir ; sett up jour «aylc, And rowe forth with evill hayle. Carried on by the enthusiasm of the moment, the donkey, even after he reached the foot of the acclivity, and began to feel the collur pulling nt him, as the hearse took to tlie shingly roa 1 by the be.ic'i, still liuuntained the gallant pace with winch he had started. This enthusiasm, indeed, was perliaps soniewhnt stimulated by the exertions of half-a-do/an seamen, Pugh among the number, who showered upju him as lie g.illopcd blows and cries. G-wen Morris, •\ho was cleaning he steps a little, fairly collapsed with honor and dismay when, watching the flying hearse passing her g.ite, she saw the buck door of it open and ft human form roll into the road. The form soon picked itself up and took to its le^s. • Run, John, run !' cried Pu B h the enptain ; ' run to the pier-head; we'll get the dingy .tlloul, pek yon up in a second or two, and put you .ibomd tneiiig. See! Uiito is a policeman's hat coming round Lite coiner.' Gwen watched the man running to the pier-head, saw l'ugh and his men lias Lily scampering hither and thither for oars, heard the bjat grate on the shingle as the men ran her out into the eea, jumping into her when she was fanly ailoat. They were pulling hard for the pier-head, which they would

roach almost as soon as the man who was running ; othor people were running and shouting, and in the distance a pohccnian'sjmt wns bobbing up and down. The little man is at the pier-head first, and lie eauerh beckons the boat to come on. ' Faster, faster !' he cries. The boat almost touches the pier, «limy with weed and i wrack ; the man look? hn>tih behind liiin, see>> tlie pursuing hat of the polKcmnn ; lie leaps quickly towards the boat, but at the moment of I « ■-» spiing, his Joot slips — ho misses the boat, and falls iwto the seawith a heajy plash. Down like a stone he went, tlic waters closing o\cr him, down swiftly and suddenly as a plummet. There was a moment of confusion on the pier, where a small croud of people had now gathered; a yellow buoy was thrown out, a rope or two, a boat-hook was snatched up, one man shouted to another; but the waters gave no sign, they flowed on undisturbed; a bubblo or two came to the surface, and twirled round on the veering tide — that was all. The boat backed off from the pier. 'Hi! jou come back, Captain Pugh ; I want joii,' "limited the policeman, who now stood on the pier. ' Come 1* \.' j.'ugh took a ' sight' at the policeman. ' Come aboard and fetch me,' ho cried. The man on the pier-heart looked blankly down into the water, but there was nothing to be seen ;'& bubble, another, and then a little flight of tm\ bubble*. 'Ah!' said old G-nflMi Crjdd, who had seen many .1 stout man drown, ' there's no more of him ; thut wa,s his , last breath, l'oor fellow, pity ! ' The thought of a man dying within a few feet of them , struck the seamen on the pier w ith a spasm of horror. ' Hold '' cried a sailor, stripping oil' his jacket. ' I can dive ; I w ill bring him up.' Twice the sailor dived into the eddying waters j twice came up, breathless, empty-handed ; the third time he rose ; clinging to the boat that lay waiting for him, he shouted : 1 V\e found him, scraping the bottom with his fingers ; but he's cast anchor downtheie; I can't fetch him. Give mo a rope to fasten to him.' A thin cord was handed to the diver, who went down again, and presently emerged with the end of the rope in his hand. 1 Now haul away, my boys ' The rope came swiftly in, and presently , Jhko a big fish, darting here and there, and swinging to and fro, came the body of John the clerk. ' Dear me ! he's a weight,' cnod ever} body who helped to lift him out. ' Take him home ; take him to his mother at the bank.' And so, dripping, and limp, and flaccd, the body of the little maji in black was. borne towards the cross street leading to the hills.

Lkoiti"\i\te Business — A doctor went out for a day's hunting, mid on coming home complained tliut ho hndn't killed nn} thing. " That's because you didn't attend to your legitimate business," said his wife. EvriHOKDiNYUY Suiu'Ehiunbax Fire. — For 12 months past a fire lias raped underground in Holboni, South Shields, o\ or an area of 300 square yards, among the pan-ash and small conl, beneath valuable properties, several of which liaxe fallen, causing the deatli of three persons lately. On May 12 the first burst through the surface, spread to a builder's naivhou»e, burned It ddwn, ruined other properties, and is 1 still burning. A panic wns caused amongst the inhabitants in the neighborhood. Great damage was done, and there is a probability of moie being cau-ed. I) VNGKHb ov Prijn Watku —A w I'itor in tlic Coiiiftlulioncl devotes an article to " The Public Health of Europe and the Dangers of Pure Water." Citing the hoaw roll of diarrhoea cases in England, the instances of isolated cholera in Lomlon and P.ms, nnd the infant ih» clioli'ra m America, he argues that these maladies come, most frequently, not so much from the Ijcat as from improper diet, and that a \erj common cause is the u«e of pure, or seemingly puie water. It is certain, according to this writer, that the water purest in appearance, frequently contains thousands of germs of all borts, only visible through the microscope. The most cflectne means of counteracting the dangers of pure water is by boilmjr. '"'Kixo Wit.ltam Y." — Many people are very probably unaware of tho loss just sustained in the death of "William the Fifth, King of England," which has been announced in the New York pipers. The demise of that illu«trious personage took place at the Washington Hotel, New York, early in February, in the 7M. year of hi* ape. The heir of Stuart and Sobeski, and the pretended law fill monarch of England, was a white haired, venerablo gentleman to whome some fated degeneracy left, the name of William 'Ry«am Gracie. Mr Gracie, through a period of of forty-three \eara, lived in the belief that he was the son and last male issue of Prince Charles Edward, who- died at Florence in 1788. He was a perfect gentleman, full of courtesy and of chivalrous bearing, and his features were markedly of the Stuart type. Among his hallucinations were continual fears of assassination, and an ever-present idea thafc tho present dynasty of England was in active conspiracy against his life. Whatever may be the merits or demerits of Mr Plimsoll's Bill, everyone is agreed that something ought to be done to prevent or mitigate the artfulness o f such casualties as have lately shocked the whole civilised world. The Northfleet and Atlantic catastrophes have demonstrated the almost absolute impotenev of tho ordinary methods of saving life from distressed ships In both the eases referred to the boats were either not available, or co severely injured in launching, that they worn practically useless. It is rather the exception than the rule that many of the crew or passengers are saved by tho «hip's own boats ; and,, indeed, it not unfrequently happens that there is not boat accommodation for all on board should occasion foi 1 use arise, and even where the accommodation is jpnple ready access to them in time of emergency is the thing hist provided for. We believe that it is not at all uncommon to economise the ship's space by filling the boats with coal The difficult? is to know on whom to fix tho responsibility of all this mismanagement, for the masters are often as n>v<cli. to blame as the owners There is, the Lancet says, a man in one of the large London hospitals from whom a mature senile cataract was extracted a few days since j but notwithstanding the presence of tin's cataract, and the fact that the right eyeball was extirpated many years ago, this man was, about three months since, allowed to steer a passage lasting six or seven days from a continental to an English port, although on his own confes&ion he was unable to see the binnacle, and had only faint perception of the stars at night We need hardly say that such a state of things ia culpable in the highest elegiac, and with such recklebsupsn wo cannot be surprised that serious disasters frequently take place. The statement made in some foreign papers of an attempt on the life ot the Emperor of Germany is entirely unfounded. The Emperor returned to Berlin on May 12 in good health. Tho following are the accounts thus contradicted : From the Daily Tehc/raph : —" It is reported at Berlin that an attempt has been made at Insterberg to assassinate the Emperor of Germany. No statement of such an event lias been made public, and possibly will not bo in am case, but it reaches me on such excellent authority that I can scarcely doubt its accuracy. As I am advised, the Emperor was holding a review at Insterberg, when a priest fired at his Majesty, who had a narrow escape. The ball passed through Ins helmet, and struck his adjutant, wounding him severoly. His Majesty, as you are aware, left St. Petersburgh on Thursday evening, and was expected at Konigsberg on Friday, where a grand banquet was to bo given him. Insterburgh is in Eastern Prussia, on the route from Gumbmnen to Konigsberg. It will create no surprise here, should the rumour be confirmed, to learn thatan attempt has been made on the life of the Kaiser in that part of his dominions notwithstanding his general popularity, the religious fanaticism of the people being well known, and their antagonism to tho Government and the Monarchy, on account of the anti-clerical legislation, intense." From the Bailtf Xews :—": — " A. letter from Berlin says that the Emperor of Germany was fired at by a priest during the review at St. Petersburgh. Tho bull passed through his helmet w lthout injuring him, but it wounded his adjutant. According to the letter, the Emperor of Russia wept with indignation." A Kentuckey editor received the following note from a subscriber, asking that a false notice of his death might be corrected : — "Sir i not is a few errors in the obituary of myself which appeared in your paper of wensday, l wns born in greenup not caldwcll, and my retirement from bisnis in IS(>9 wm not owin to ill helth, but tv a little trouble i had in connection with a horse, and the coors of my death was not small-pox, please make corrections for which I enclose fifty cents." The title of Browning's new poem, which does not appear just yet, it, " Red Cotton Nightcap Country; oi Turf and Towers." Could theie be a milch more absurd title ? Mr Matthew Arnold, who is still abroad, is about to publish a work on the higher schools and universities of Germany. Lord Hnughtnn is bringing out "at Murray's" a volume entitled " Monogiaphs, Personal and Social." Mr. George Lawes's new book beais the title of Life and Mind." Somebody is adverlwing a preparation which, among other merits, is warranted to keep a lady's hand free from chaps. Punch knows anothor way to effect this. Let her dresi in tho present fashion, and have it known that she has no money. Chaps, if they are sensible chaps, will It t her hand alone very se\erely — Punch. Some newspaper proprietors have been conferring on their liability to bo sued for libellous reports. They do not ask for exemption from responsibility, but that the law may give the newspapers a right to sue the speaker of tho libel for the amount of the damages and costs — Vanity Fair. Mr Fechter has made an engagement with Mr A. Daly, of the Grand Opera House and Filth Avenue Theatre, at NewYork, for twenty-eight nights, at ),000 dollars a reprcscntat on. i Whon Jonah's fellow paviengirs pitched him overboard they evidently regarded him as neither prophet nor loss. The banks and banking firms of Pittsburgh number 101, with an aggregate capital ot over 28,000,000 dollars.