CRICKET.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 725, 8 February 1877, Page 3

CRICKET.

♦Op course we 'have -been foil off oricket sfbrtbe last few dirys. la fact scarcely -anvthintf'else'iis talked of. I had a look; .-at the Englishmen:; they -are <good criok-; eters, one or two of them almoßt gentle ,men, and as to the reßt, wby— they re ■good crickfibets., 1 think they are almost -all good jUfakets. The way they can "do theflroW* " is said to astonish the natives. It is saidalso, I know not with -■what truth, that the partiality which •some of the team exhibited for the borne brew of New-South Wales had some effeot .on their play m Sydney, but from what I saw at fcllerslie.l don't think it would make a deal 6i difference. It seemed to *me they were able to win anyhow. A MOSAIC >3>i:<OOVERY. • Not the finding of an> of the chariots *cf the Egyptians m. the Bed Sea, nor the brazen tablets, -but something very much , •;More modern. Bill Spriggins had been to tlie Kegatta/ and stajed out all night.. _At early dawn ''his anxious spouse arose ; and procepded to communicate her fears; -to Mrs Brown, next door. Together they <made a minute exunination of a puddle on the side oi the road.but the. drowned : body of ' Spriggit.s was not there. They despatched little Torn Spriggins, jun, to imake inquiries at the favourite .pub, where hs papa was Wont to beguile the '•hours, but there were no tilings of ;Spricgins, ten. 80 Mrs 3 became a .prey . -to gloomy fears. She heard the old hen under the house, and went to see if there was ;an egg, when lo:l m a -dlscradle that Vad .been, placed there as. Inmber, she perceived Sprigginß, sen,, gracefully reclining m a profound slumber. Spriggins 'has lost some hair,, and, the old .cradle has been \conßumed with ffire. ■• . . ■ .: .AKOTHHE STOKPPOB TH* SUNDAY SCHOOL. Two fellow Sunday school teachers full . « of brotherly love— an -full that one of them ;had lent the other £5 besides various trifles at sundry times and places- Repeated ; appications for the £5 not. successful. They met.at^a "feast;" or something of *tbat;sort, where each one prays m turn, ;and it came -round to him who had lent the £ b. He jprayed that men might be .delivered from the, sin of coveteousneßs, that every one. might become honest, and •upright and conscientious, and thatihose *w! o owed money fo their neighbours might be imbued with a spirit prompting them to payment. Nobody but the bor?roj»er of that £5 knew this was a covert 'thrust at him, but he patiently waited MiDtiltbe tuin came round. At last.it came round, and then .he prayed fervently that •those who owed monry to their neighbours might.not only be embued with a • conscientious desire to pay,' but with the •wherewilhnll to do so. 1 fear your t readers will begin to suspect me of impiety but if they will let this pass, I .promise mot to offend again — until the next time. BXHAtTSTBD VITAL ENEBG3T. I saw lately m one -of the übique ■Bchnapp's advertisement, an annouccetjnent that this "wonderful medicine," '• extraordinary tonic*' &c, &c, waß warvrante 1 ! to "restore exhausted vital energy. .Like the dolorous Teuton m the song, I .had "von leedle d»wg," and like his kind ':he wat. possessed of a very large amount -of "vital rnwgy." I determined to try the pchnaps on him. I carefully observed the facOhat'the "vital energy" was to be -exhausted, and I determined to do the thoroughly. , I poisoued the -■animal -with aboul^^O^rains of stry chine, -submerged him infold waterfor six hour.*, -and then hung him on a clothes line all .light to dry. In the rooming I made a ninute examination, but failed to discover the slightest evidence of vital energy — nary a-aign. It waß now time to try the echnaps. 1 ;. poured a drop on the puypy's tail. It wriggled m a feeble and painful imanner. Two more drpps caused the animal to stagger toiis feet, aud -about a Bpoonful poured down hiß throat made ;him scampe^^alt the rate .of sixty miles an hour. I last saw him he was just disappearingltpund a corner with a '..quarter of beef. There's no mistake . about Udolphe Wplfe'sSdhiedamSohnappa. I should liks to try it or an Egyptian mummy. lam thinking of asking VUdolphe to send me out one to eiperi inient on. But the Schnapps can't hold a .cundle lo tb the new patent flytrap that is beirg exhibited m Auckland. At the bottom of thiswonderful contrivance there are "Directions for use." "When the trap is full" yoa are to thvow the (flies int o an oven, int o ! hob water, scorch them •with lighted ,paper, or subject them \p any •other process of -extinction that'iVyour tasie or ingenuity may suggest, when "the fl.es will soon forget their cunning." 'This statement -appears slightly inoredible at first sight, but a little consideration will show that after all it bears the imipressof truth. Flies, after all, are only unortal, and when baked m an oven, si aided, or 'burnt m flames are very apt to loee their "vital energy." I wonder how the Sobnapa would act m such a <caßeJ ' ' Shews. ■ '••- ■ - I read the pther day how lhat -a Frenchman narn^d Kaynaud, an •engineer, wbb blown into smithereens by the . burßting of a large iKrupp Bhell, a louvenir of tb'e war which he bad found .at Montmartre, aud waß. trying to unload. There was a poor runner from ;Eome French newspaper standing by, having just; / delivered' Mr Kayna-iid'a daily paper; '- and this news vender was cut m two. This ought to be a caution to press runners. I aqpfo c there are >no shells lying promiscuously around Hamilton, and t'heref< re the Tjmes runners are not m any #r< at danger, but I ■will tell you a little story about Taranaki after the .war.., A.* the. pa at Pukerangiora, VVaitara* a.very large quantity of r«und shot, Jtforsom Bbell »>ad been <ired v without any appreciable df. ct. NftWi. Home cf the sheHs had lain m the «Col hiaUMay^ineß .ever since the time vlnajlhe fi a man-o-v»ar vi&ited Ntw

Zealand, and thus m many oases tho fezes had become damaged, and not to be relied upon to go «ff at all. Intact, a good many shells were fired which never ; expVded bnt lay feathered outside tho pa and T believe the Maoris obtained a considerable «v ply of cun powder, albeit coarse After peace hid bpen made, a .nun-bar of Maoriis lived aa form- r'y at | Pnk<raneiora. One day an old lady, m seirch of fi ewoo'l, found several of tie w>ndfr r ul imn balls of tie pnkeha, snd slie bad them carried up to the pa. For a lorg time the Maoris tied to pquat , down on these balls as they sat around the fire, but when the -cold weather came m they did not take kindly to them. However, one day, an old lady was struck with tbe idea of using t'<e pbells Ito stand the cop:« , goia-shore* (T?ohua) upon. The plati succeeded -admirably for Home time, but at last one of the shells firt red hot. and suddenly there wos a trflrrendons explosion, the fire was sca'tered m all directions, the pots went up m the air, and about a pore of men, women, and children were placed bore de combat. This , was ono, of tbe sh'lfs that bad be-n overlooked by the natives m tha s-r.ih for powd.r ri cou'-e, there was a korero over tbe .. my^terif-u^ affair. The snrvivora de li crated m the whare runanga for aeveral days, and finally passed a resolution rera. con., th»t tbe whole 1 business was tbe work of Satan, who had instigated the Pakeba to adopt this mode of revenging himself npoD the Maoris for the heaps of soldiers alaugh-. ; tered during the war. 'CRICKET TARNS. ; Whatever the English Eleven may be at oriokefc, -they are certainly not orators. At the. luncheon, on Wednesday, some of them amused themselves by throwing pieces of, orust at ea"h other. I saw Ernmett deliver several well-pitched ernsts, m bis swift style, at cricketers at the other end of the table. Oth rs of tbe cricketers indulged m the samelcind of horseplay, between the intervals of eating enormous junks of tart, and scooping np the jam with their knives.. ■ Just at the -end of the lu n ch, an urchin . peeped into the marquee, and it was easy : to. see that bis mouth watered at the sight of tbat heap of sweet and f *t things' Emmett's eye lighted on the boy, and he rose from his seat, his great honest countenance beaming all over with smiles. He swooped down upon a tart, cut .off a great junk, and slily handed it to the hungry nrchin. I think tbat English Cricketer's heart is m the right place. When it came to the speech-making. , the English could not score at all. In response to repeated calls, 3?nol«y, tho; champion wicket-keeper, bolted preci<>itately fr m tbe tent. He was dragged m , a prisoner hy two of his fellows, andthen, after standi-g sheepishly with' his head down, for nearly a minute/ he Bt mmered tat the following: — "Well, I aint much of a hand atflpeecbffyinp, bufc I'm very much obliged to you. But, if •'you come outside, and any on yer git outside that tliere creace, I'll iiave y n r out, blow me if I dont." . Tihen he hastily gnlped downja glass of champagne, and , rushed out of the ten ".