ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1622, 25 November 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT.

It is frequently observed that names, utterly unknown before, rise suddenly into notice^ and become for a time household words,splely through their owners having been able,, at some critical time to act on the spur of the moment. To such occurrences our army and oavy records can testify ; battles have been won, ships saved, lives rescued, and heroic deeds performed, solely by some one being able to act on the impulse of the moment. Occasionally, however, very awkward consequences have been known to follow from acting on the spur of the moment. It is related of Lord Ellenborough that, when, on one occasion, he was about to set out on circuit, his wife expressed a wish to accompany him, a proposition to which his lordship assented, provided there were no bandboxes tucked under the seat of his carriage, as he had too often found there had been when honored with her ladyship's company before. Accordingly, they both set out together, but had not proceeded very far before the judge, stretching out his legs under the seat in front of him, kicked against one of the flimsy receptacles which he had specially prohibited. Down went the window with a bang, and out went the bandbox into the ditch. The startled coachman immediately commenced to pull up, but was ordered to drije on, and let the thing lie where it was. They reached the assize town in due course, and his lordship proceeded to robe for the court. " And now, where's my wig? — where's my wig?" he demanded, when everything else had been donned. "Your wjg, my lord," replied the servant, tremulously, " was in that bandbox your lordship threw out of the -window as we" came along." ; ' „',,,. Second thoughts are generally, said to be best ; and an pld adage bids us " think twice before we speak once." In these go-ahead times, however, scarcely any one but a very slow person indeed would consider it sound policy to follow to the letter these really kind and inestimable precepts, laid' down for oui gufdanco by our great-great-grandparents. Yet, lemarks made on the spur of the moment have not unfrequently a meaning which was not quite what the speaker wished to convey. For instance, two ladies having missed " the meet," drew up their pony-trap, and one of them accosted the old gam'ekeeker who was passing : "Do you know where ihe hounds are, Eobins ?" " Y're just too late, ma'am," was the answer ; " the gentlemen be all gone." — On another occasion, a matter-of-fact corporal was compelled to bring a refractory soldier before his superiors, and his account of the delinquent ended in this way : " Why, you see, Major, he thinks he can go out whenever he likes, and come in when he likes, swagger about, tell lies, get tipsy — and in fact, sir, behave just as if he was an officer." — Again, two gentlemen met in the City, and at parting, one said : " Well, you'll look us up at' Primrose Hill — near the " Zoo," ,you know?" — "With pleasure, my dear fellow," was the response ; my children have been anxious for some considerable time to see the monkeys." These and other similar expressions are doubtlessly spoken innocently, and Avithout due consideration as to their consequences. During a wild and raging storm at sea, the chai^lain nervously asked one of the crew if he tllought there was any serious danger .to be apprehended. " There is, and no mistake," replied the sailor. "If it keeps on blowing as hard as it does now, I reckon we shall all be in Paradise before twelve o'clock to-night." The chaplain, terrified at the answer, cried out : " Shall we ? Heaven forbid." Circumstances alter cases ; and words hastily uttered and passed unnoticed at one time, would not be perhaps seriously countenanced at another. We must therefore make many allowances for what is spoken on the spur of the moment. Once, when Bishop Burnet was preaching before Charles 11., the preacher became much warmed with this subject, and having given utterance to a certain doctrine in a very earnest , manner, he, with great vehemence, struck his clenched hand upon the desk and cried out in a loud .voice : " Who dare deny this ?" — "Faith," observed the king,, in a key very little lower than that of the preacher, " nobody that is within reach of that great fist of yours." This took place about a couple ,of centuries ago, when the habits and customs of the people were rather different from those of the present day. Were an interruption of a similar kind to occur now, it would probably be the cause of ,110 slight confusion. Freedom of thought is, however, vary natural, as the following instance will show." The butler of a certain Scottish laird, who had been in the family»a number' of years, at last resigned his situation, 1 ' because his lordship's wife was scolding him. • "Ohl" exclaimed his, master, ' "if 'that be all, ye've very little to* complain of." — ''Perhaps..'' so," replied the . butler ; " but I have decided in my own mind, to put/tip^ with it, no longer.';'^-" Go*, then," said ( his' lordship,; ,"and be, thankful for the rest, of your, life that ye|re not-'marriedtis, Her." ~ In'this/oase^ .the grievance of^h'ejjfaitnf^domesticVandJtKe ,humorous admissiph^of* his 1 xriasier,' p|oint' t at onc'eY to v t^at '''disagreeable,' tenant as js^said to, inhabit^ every. .'ihan'shou'S&eid.i J {:^>\ V -_'!",", '£ '' i :/ffi6tn'eS' example 'm'aylbe .takenf Ss .a'^di-

aildud the paiv>on, "it is uu achiovouient "on which I plume iuyself greatly!"^ "Aweel, sii," replied the man, " I would much rather hae yer salmon than yer sermon." It is, without doubt, entirely to speaking; on tho spur of the moment that wo are indebted for these humorous outbursts. In the " good old times," a carpenter, who could not get his money for two gibbets that had been bespoke, refused to make a thircl, and an execution was, in consequence, delayed. The jailor being called to account, blamed the carpenter, who was at once summoned ,before the judge — a gentleman, by the way, somewhat remarkable for his severity, Tihe jtfdge.,, demanded of the carpenter the 'r^ason.why the work had not been done. " I refused," 'said the man, " to make a third gallows^b'ecause the jailer had not i paid me for the two first." — "But you must understand," said the judge,- ratb^Fangrily, "that I myself ordered tMsone."^A)li?-in>tliat case," said the carpenter;" 1 * I, will .make it 1 at once. It should have been ready Jkmgvbef ore this, if I had only known the- gallows s hsd been foryour lordship." •=•-•--" M , We may remark, too, how vastly interest,- -* ing it is to contemplate the activity aud perseverance, which almost every individual e*x- J hibits in his own individual interest. Cadke ' the tragedian, was in tfuPhabit of giving*' passes to a widow lady, who,,upon ;oiie joofttf^ sion, occupied a prominent'seat ";;int4ne r j>it£ _ with her little girl; when-then' 'ffifend, the^per- u former, was about to meet an untimely end by a stage-rival. As tho villainmis-looking assassin, armed with a deadly weapon l^ stealthily drew near to accomplish his* wicked purpose the maiden, roused by the suppq^d imminence of his danger, started up, anxiously exclaiming : " Oh, pray don't kill'tiinvlf-don't kill him 1 For if you do, he won't give us any more orders for the pit." i, (v ( v We can readily conjectnre how „;&£ gravity of the situation was upset by this sudden outburst of feeling — undeniably spokeri'-^n the spur ,of the moment. Simplicity *- however, according to Longfellow, is ' in character, in manners, in style, and in all things; the supreme excellence. 5 " Patrick," said any Irish gentleman to his servant one morning, "I heard last night, from undoubted authority, that you have had the audacity- to gp and tell some people, that I was a shabby old rascal, a mean fellow, and anything but a gentleman. I am told that these are your exact 'words." — " Bedad, sor,'* replied Pat, " aud it's 1 there ye're quite wrong. I can assure, you, sor, that I don't tell me private thoughts 'to every wan." Steele laid down the maxim that it was decidedly wrong to allow any one to be do familiar with you as to praise you to your face. We are told that the wives of men of sentiment invariably adopt this rule, and are not always the most appreciative of women. It is related of Siebenkees, an eminent German scholar, that having finished reading one of his beautiful imaginings to his wife, who appeared to be listening with bated breath, and eyelids cast down, he closed the book with inward satisfaction at the completion of his labours, only to hear the sharer of his joys exclaim : "My dear, pray don't put on your left stocking to-morrow — I see there 5s a hole in it." There was evidently neither.' praise nor encouragement in this remark, fbtit the reader will perceive it was made on the spur of the moment. . Sometimes the greatest compliments, by being awkwardly expressed, may tend to give offence. A clergyman in the country had a stranger to officiate for him one day, .and meeting his beadle afterwards, he said to him : "Well, Dougall, how did you like last Sunday's preaching ? "— ; " It was a great deal owre plain and simple for me," replied the beadle. ■ "I like sermons that "jumble the judgment and confound the sense. Od, sir, I never saw ane that could come up to 'yourself at that 1 " It was Pope who remarked, that a person who is too nice an observer of the business of tho crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labour of the bees, will often be stung far his curiosity. Bishop Home had ' his dignity considerably taken down when he A arrived to take possession of the episcopal palace at Norwich in 1791. Being amazed at 1 the number of spectators on the occasion, he turned round upon the steps and exclaimed : < " Bless us, bless us 1 what a concourse ,of ' people." — " Oh, my lord," said a bystander, "this is a mere nothing to the Crowd last Friday to see a man hanged.".— -Another - whimsical anecdote is related of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV., who,,riding in the Park on the road between Teddington and Hampton-wick, was overtaken by -a butcher's boy on horseback, with? a tray; of meat under his arm. "Nice pony- that of yours, old gentleman," said he. " I'll trot you a couple of miles for a pot of beer." The Duke 'respectfully declined the 'match ; and the lad, as he struck the heels of his boots in his horse's side, exclaimed with a look, of. contempt: "I thought you was |,only a muff." In facL, from a king to the peasant, or a bishop to an errand-boy, all would appear to, be occasionally "tarred," as it were, with the same brush. It is so pleasant, on the t whole, to be able to speak one's own mind ; and the absurdity often, if not always, lies in the sudden utterance of our thoughts. Two sons of an English aristocrat, were remarkable for hastiness of temper, which on certain „qccasions broke out into very indiscreet expressions. During a quarrel, and in the height of , passion, one said to the other : " You are the greatest ass in the world,"—" Come, come, my lads," said their highly incensed father ; " you forget that I am present." . Apropos to our subject, abundant materials might possibly be found in other countries besides our own, and such as woul(i amply furnish us with food for reflection as well as laughter. One instance may suffice. t On one occasion, a colored preacher in , New York, who was very popular, and who had overflowing audiences, was suddenly called upon to arrange his congregation a little more to the satisfaction of those in the "rear. He did so at once by saying: " My r dear bretheren, for mutual convenience, de-fdrer part ob de church will please accommodate themselves and others by sitting down},|*o de hind-part of de can see ie'^oxepart; for ,de hind-part can't see de fore-part ef de fore-part persist in stan'in' before de • hind-part, to de utter exclusion ob dehijidpart by de fore-part." Nothing could be more lucid. ~ ' _- - One more example, and we conclude. |hese brief sketches. 'In a dancing-saloon .one night, a sailor was asked by a mess&ajfce/tlto explain to him in a few words and aj£ -^qiok as possible, the third figure of the quadrille. His description was as follows : " Yo^'l^Kcf all heave ahead," said he, " and pass jyour adversary's yard arms ; tken in a jiffy^regauji • your berth on the other tack in the safnjpoifd of; order ; slip along 'sharp*, and tikeiyour station with your partner in line ; ;J?|ci||ftn|l 'fill, 'and then fall on your heel, and^ffiifajg^g v with your 'craft. • She then manbau^^^weTO J { off along side'ofyou } then make satf|ini;fl6Bffi•pany'wj^hei* untiljnearly a'dtern of^^!^pw _ "Hije ;'^ake a; stem board; oast n ||§|liiP , 'shift f or^herself ; ,'regairi your place HHwfliiltti mel6e $'^the vW best fanner i you canffiffiMgjec t