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Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 714, 13 January 1877, Page 5 (Supplement)

'It's all for the best,' remarked Blinks, with a sigh, sb he paid for the hat he had lost. ' Nay,' interposed the lucky man, • 'tis all for the better.'.

Ifc. occasionally happens that a woman, with her husband or her lover comes into a crowded street-oar and a young man, whose chivalric feelings have not been utterly destroyed by constant contact with the busy world, rises and surrenders his seat to the lady He takes hold of one of the straps hanging from the roof of the car for the convenience of passengers to whom all other conveniences of travel are denied, and stands patiently m the aisle with the glow of conscious well-doing upon his ingenuous countenance. He feels that he has done ah acb of kindness to a damsel m distress ; that he has paid due homage to the gentler sex ; that he has acquitted himself courteously toward a stranger. He can, therefore, bear with content the elbowing of the conduodbr as he pushes m and out, the trampling of fellow passengers upon his toes. The meek satisfaction of selfsacrifice exalts him. Let such a one enjoy the illusions of his youth while he may, for a few moments will see his reverence for womanhood dissipated and a hard, distrustful oynicism ' take its place. Invariably after his act of Jcourtesey comes a sequel of selfishness, (as if m bitter mockery. One of the passengers sitting beside the lady rises to go out She glides hastily along so as to make room for her escort, lover, or husband, as the case may be, /and that gentleman glides quickly into the seat, leaving the courteous young stranger still hanging to the strap from the roof, and abiding the buffets of the conductor. To him the little drama is a revelation. He sees at once the meanness of humanity. The hollowness of the werld and the sawdust stuffing m his doll are painfully manifest. He feels toward the man and woman who have disenchanted him as Sir Pelleas did toward Gawain and Ettarre when he laid his naked sword across their throats. They have destroyed his faith m his kind. He who had been cheated out of a seat by the woman to whom he had surrendered his own, has touched the bottom of all meanness and disgust, and may go through life confident that he will never again experience such a sensation of cheapness and weakness as he did when he caw the couple to whom he had been co courteous, complacently settle close to each other and smile m blissful forgetfnlness of his existence. Even the fiend's arch mock would be bearable to the victim of such a misery.