MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 342, 23 July 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr Barry Sullivan has been summoned before the police court tt Liverpool for an assault upon a stage carpenter. Oar old friend was playing Richard 111 at the time, and was so wrapped up in the conception he had formed of the overbearing attributes of the crooked-buck tyrant, that for • moment the actor was lost in the king. Ever y one knows tho scene in which Richard offers his kingdom for a horso, and the necessity there if at this portion df the tragedy to keep up the exciteimnt by an imposing display of warriors and the prompt shifting of the scenes. It was at this juncture that Richard, sword in hand, was waiting at the wings for a change of scone, The trumpets brayed, the drums rolled, but the scene rein lined unmoved. The prompter was mad with rage, He shouted. ' The scene! the scene ! ' but the carpenter was so lost in admiration of the fight that lie forgot his duties, until a sharp slap upon the back from the monarch's sword brought him to his senses, and warned him that ' the stage was waiting.' This was the assault complained of, and the magistrate, taking all the circumstances into account, lot the tragedian off with a fine of 5s and costs. Mr A. J. Mundella, one of the members for Sheffield, is a colonist at heart. Tho other day lie presided at n meeting of the Sheffield Trades Council on behalf of the agricultural labourers, and, speafring of emigration, he raid, they could not blame, they ought rather to honor, the men who left their miserable hovels, who left want and privation, who shook the dusjb off their, feet and sought a homo in New Zealand or Australia, where 7s or 8s a day awaited them ; wbero there were no harsh land laws — no privf er<>d classes— where every man could hope to, and didheoonfe his own master on bis own farm. He urged that the whole question should be submitted to arbitration, and so long as the dispute lasted he hoped the trades of the town would help the men. It if pleasant to find a man of Mr Mandella's calibre approving a couwe which cannot fail of building up " another England " as a panacea for the " evils which encompass labour " on this side ; and perhaps no man is more entitled to speak with authority upon this subject than he, as all must admit who have read his admirable lectures on arbitration, education, and capital and labour. TJtaHT.-TjFair damsel, ,pofcting ; ori new t-loves — "Too tight f OK, no, auntie, not at all. Betides, I like them a loetlc tight 1" Troublesome brother — "Feels as if something was squeezing her hand ; don't.you see, auntie !" Pbpsin ix OytfrWttS.-— lt' appears from the experiments made by Mr E. H. Haskins (Medical and Surgical Journal) that rnw oysters contain pepsin enough to digesjb themselves. No wonder oystees agree with most dyspeptics. — London Medical RecordA recent critique upon " Othello" had the following — 'The Moor, seizing a bolster full of rrige and jealousy, smothers her." An embryo poet, who is certainly a dote observer of human nature, remarks, " Time marches on with the slow, measured tread of a man working by the day." An American editor, writing to a Connecticut brother — "Send full particulars of the flood"— meaning an inundation at that place — received for reply — "iYou will find^ them in •Genesis.'" " How does that look, oh ?" said a big-fisted Wall-street man to another man, holding up his fist. " That," said his friend, " look* as if you'd gone short of soap." "Wife, do you know that I h»ve got the pneumonia?" "Now monia, indeed ! Such extravagance ! You are tho spendthriftest man that I over did sco, to go and lay out money in such trash when I need a new bonnet so much." A German who was asked if lager-beer was intpxjoating replied — " Veil jl' trinkV from seventy \6 eighty glasses a day, and I feels nil straight in my upper story for any kind of beesiness, but I can't tell vat it vould do ,mit men vat makes a swill tub of hfomli" < Mb GxiDSToinc awd his Poetical Admibbb— ln a Northampton paper, on the 14th inst., there appeared a sonnet to Mr Gladstone on his, rumoured intention to retire from the leadership of the Liberal party. It concluded with the appeal— " Oh, eschew Tby just resentment, and thy well-earned ease Forego j still keeping watch, and prompt to seize The rudder soon as danger looms in view !" ___^ The Rev W. Tidd Matson, who is the author of the sonnet, forwarded a copy to Mr Gladstone, who replied :— " I thank you for your kindness in sending to me a composition of which few, I think, would dispute the merit, however they might question the application oi your powers. You will see in tne public journals an explanation of my intentions, which I hope will not meet with your disapproval. Meantime, T will only assure you that I feel no ' resentment,' and that if I did it could not be 'just' resentment, for I have nothing and no one to complain of." Mr Matson has, we believe, frequently been a wooer of the Muses, but with very little success. ■' A horse I A borso ! My kingdom for a horse ! My kingdom for a hone ! ' cried a celebrated tragedian, ' Wouldn't a jackass do as well ?' inquired an affected young man, rising in his seat. • Yet,' triumphantly exclaimed the actor j * just step up this way, sir.' The young man, sat down. In the State of North Carolina, terrific volcanic earth3 uakes have recently occurred in the AUegbany mountains, 'be whole mountain was shaken; the cattle ruih»d madly away. The simple people believed that the end of the world was at hand ; they gathered together in terror, and sent for tho neighboring preachers to oome and pray for them. Day nffcsr day the mountain groaned and the ground shook, and lor "sixteen days and nights the people continuod in almost incessant prayer." During this time the people lived in common; no attention was given to labor or property ', the horses and cattle were turned out in the forest ; and the whole of the people believed that they had but a few days more to live. The top of tho roounfaiu still continues to he agitated. During the long French war two old ladies in St ameer were going to the kirk j the one said to the other, 'Was it not a wonderful thing that the Breetish were aye victorious over the French in battle P ' ' Not a bit,' said the other old lady } ' dinna ye* ken tfofi Bireetiih aye say their prayers before pain into bittle ? ' Tlio other replied, ' But ennna the French say their prayers as weel ? ' The wply was most characteristic : ' Soot, jabbering bodies, wha could understand them ?' Dobson say* his friends seem determined to give him tho fcitlo of Dr. His butcher, baker, and atl the rest' do so, but t}icj put the Dr after hU name, in»tea J of before it. <