A SLEEPLESS PHILOSOPHER.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1655, 13 February 1883, Page 4

A SLEEPLESS PHILOSOPHER.

The distinguisfiei scientist;,' 'HevWt Spencers/whose writings .have coloured, much 1 <?T ctaut 'Bnglfttf' 'thougnV'nfrid' literature, is in the city at , the , Aid; no Hqtff, where he expects to spend" a fe\\y dava'in quiet before going to New, York, with 'the intention of re-embadiing as 1 aom as possible for Europe. His health was/preoariou? when he loft the other' side on liis ocean voyage, which he hoped would do him fc'oo'd, Lut thus far'his condition has not improved. He thinks that he docs not feel as well as when he started, but lie attributes this result in part to the spirit of purest and bustle and Ijnray so characteristic of Americanj life, which he encountered in all "the large cities. I! • '. Mi-MSpencer'strouble is insomnia* He is in a highlyi wrought nervou,s condition, is ,<moi bully sensitive to every kind oil mental mnoynnoe, especially noises, and finds it utterly impossible to ble^p pn the cars. He is ( accus-^ toincd to cairy round with him a bag' of 'liopsi which when placed under his' helid. , sometimes has a soporific effect, and on Saturday, when he arrived at the Bellevup Hotel in a cab, he had the hopbag'jnsido with him, and carried it under hisarm)ntothe hotel. It is related as an amusing circumstance that a wellknown gentleman who has been spending the, summer at Newport, went to the depot to meet Mr Spencer, and looking in vain for a distinguished-looking gentleman, returned to the hotel to find that the very plain-appeaiing person with the bag was the groat man whom ho was trying to find. Ha\ ing an aversion to meeting strangeis, and being in such poor health besides, Mr Spencer, when one of his most ardent admirers came to him with a letter of introduction, met him with an indifferent wave of the hand and the nonchalent lemark : "Ah, that's all right." After going all over the Bellevue Hotel, Mr Spencer picked out a whole smite of rooms'&t 18dols a day extra, and ehofee the lear room as his sleeping apartment, thinking he would be able to get a feu winks. His idea in having a suite to hinibelf was that he might be secluded and undisturbed. It seems, however, that Mr Spencer could not rest profoundly. On Sunday he left the hotel to "visit George W. Childs at Wootton, and spend the day thcie. It is one of Mr Spencer's fancies to change his location often, and tiy difleient rooms and beds and situations in the hope of wooing slumber. His prefcicnce is for rooms very high up and very far back, and having concluded to tty a new situation alter being at Mr Childs' a day, he went to the Aldine Hotel, where he was given at his oWii request a 1 ooin in the csxticmc rear of the house, as far removed from the street as possible. He subsists almost entirely upon dry toast and sai dines. His health has boon so bad, and he has found the annoyance of tra\ el so great, that he has doandoucd . his piojectcd Western tup, and will icturn to England as soon as ho fools well enough to undertake the voyage. He is accompanied by Mr Lot, a gentleman of about his own «igo and tiibtob, who does a deal for bib comfort, and saves him from many annoyances. — Vh i f «<l< lpl< w Tunon.

Aj;j:\sd.n wliyapiano was not saved at a liio was because none of the fhcincn could play on it. " All. ha,," said Mis Paitington, " it takes all soils of folks to make a world, and I'm glad J'm not one of 'em. ' As old Dutch lady at a religious meeting became vciy much concerned for her .soul, and went about sighing and sobbing and would not be coinfoited. Upon being asked by the minister what the matter was, she replied " that she couldn't pi ay in English, and she was ahaid the Loid couldn't understand Dutch." .Eicimxv inches is the size of the lion. Ivo Bligh's feet so it is said. No wonder he can make a good stand at the Avickets. This beats the flat-footed maidens of the lo\oly city oi Nelson. A biotlicr had espoused an old and ill-tempered wile, but e\.tiemely lich. lie used to f>ny, "Whenever I Jind my wife cioss, and my own temper giving way, I letuin to my libiary and coiisole 1113'sclt by leading hei maniagcbettlcincnt," 'L'ui. question has lufsen ■why Waslungton did not clioose the ],i\r for his profession. Olio of tin- suggestions made on the subject is that his decollation that he could not tell a lie settled the matter. Win \* Adam Mas 111 his baehcloihood he found his nights lonely, and always welcomed the 1110111 with gladness. Still, ior all tluil, he Mas happier when Eve came. Tin. wit of Scrganl Ballantine appeals tobeof a \ eiy caustic chaiactei'. When wjme yeais ago, a distinguished journalist was foiced to appeal in the witness-box, ihe Sergeant, just before cross-examining him, enthely depn\ed him of his selfpossession by coolly obseiving, "'There 11-Hourl 1 - Hour on your nose, sir." On another occasion he publicly lebukcd Mr Justice Hawkins — then Mr Hawkins. Q.C. — for his iuveteiiitc love of accumulating wealth, assuring him that he had much nune money than he would ever need in this life, that he could not possibly hope to take the sin plus aw ay with linn, and if he did it ■would most ceitainly melt. Tin, following is the .salutatoiy of an Oregon editress: — '' Wo ha\e served a n'gulai apprenticeship at workingwashing, scrubbing, patching, darning, iioning, churning, and poultry raising, Wo li,uc Lupt bo.ml cis, taught, music, wntlcn for the newspapeis, made speeches, and carried on an extensive jndliiieiy and di ess making business. We can piove by the public that the work has been well done. Now, having leached the age of tliirtv-si.\, and having Iji ought up a family of bojs to &et type'and a daughter to mil the millinery btore, we proposed to edit and publish a newspaper, and we intend to establish it as one of the permanent institutions of the countiy." PoKKijKii, \\i> Mjj.k. — DrJ. Batty 'Tuke, C.U.JU\, F.H.S., recently delivered a lecture under the auspices of the Edinburgh Health .Society, taking for his subject ' the Establishment and Maintenance of IJiam Health.' In the course of his mnaiks the lecturer said — He had met with many cases in which the. sole a&ccrtainable cause of nervous symptoms in young children was their being v too long suckled. But the mother heiself must be well fed, and this (nought him to the consideration of an- . other question. In some respects he believed the food of the working class in Scotland was improved, partly because in the new workmen's houses the means of 'cooking were better, and partty ,because new articles had been introduced into the market. But he also believed that it liad become deteriorated in a very important item — porridge and milk — for which hail been substituted a much Ipss : nutritious, ami in itself a somewhat deleterious article of diet — tea and bread. , The physiologist would tell them that , porridge and milk was a ' typical' food — ■, that was, that it contained all the necos' aary constituents of food in the most .perfect proportions. He had nothing to say . against the' staff of lite so long as it was 'sound in quality and well fired, except _, ttia^it was not such a typical food stuff " xis'oatriical, and, weight for Weight, did ',' , not possess an equal power of nutrition aj=i,porvisge.' It was the constant use of ica that he'would most' strongly deprecate. He uope,d his teetotal friends 1 ' wtfiijd' not; be' very an&ry with him if he ' ' $aid J that it was quite open to argument ' n 'iVhetlier the teapot 'or the whisky bottle exercised the more baneful effects on the *.>' public lconstitution. He did.nqt> think .S.'lihp-quesfcion.had ever,be3n:fairly worked t h'onti »iiH«' ftdvispd ialL wprking men, whqther they. worked' in the workshop, in^lip .office, - , or, the study, to feed th'enwelps,|tl(eJr' wives, fmi their chll,dfWrtis^Mi&tiMjyton the mpst pep feet form or food wJ)ii?h'Qo4 had.^fv^p'