CLIPPINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2019, 16 June 1885, Page 4

CLIPPINGS.

The French Minister of War, acting on the recommendation of the Commission of the Defence of l\ins, has de clincd, i^ is uudcisoood, to sanction the proposed demolition of the fortifications, although the (iovcrnincnt of the city, and the working classes would have beon largely benefited hy their removal. In so doing the Minister is acting contruiy to the opinion of a high military authority in France, who assei t that .1 ctrmpnti<nichc is a terrible mistake 111 modern waifaie. CcMPr/LSORY IN'SITRWCE IN GhRMANY. — Some of the mischievous consequences of the German laws of 1883 and 1884 for insuring woikmen against sickness and against accidents respectively aie already beginning to make themselves felt. With respect to the first, as there is practically no precaution against malingering, fraud, recklessness, and ignorance, while the ordinary stimulants to independence and self help arc withdrawn, the temptation to lie in bed, or to remain in the house on half-pay, is too great for the naturally indolent and the "crawleis" to resist, and the town is obliged to maintain them in idleness. In the case of accidents the insurance tax comes out of the pockets of the employers, who add it to the price of the goods they manufacture ; and thus one set of people are provided against illness and misfortune, which may be entirely the result of individual carelessness, or worst, at the expense of those who have to maintain themselves under similar cir cumstunces. Mr Darwix and the Dukk of Akoyll.— ln the last year of his life Mr Darwin did me the honour of calling upon me in my house in London, and I had a long and very interesting conversation with that distinguished observer of Nature. Darwin was above all things an observer. He did not profess to be a theologian or a metaphysician ; it was his work in the world to record facts, so far as he could see them, faithfully and honestlj , and to connect them with theories and hypotheses, which were con structed at all events for a tempoiaiy convenience, as all hypotheses iv science must be before being proved. But in the couise of that conveisation I said to Mr Darwin with reference to sonii of his own remarkable works upon the " Fertilisation of Orchids," and upon 11 The Earth woims," and vauous other observations he made of the wonderful contrivances for ceitain pin poses in nature — I said it was impossible to look at these without seeing that they were the effect and expression of mind. I shall never foi get Mr Darwin's answer. He looked at me very hard, and said • " Well, that often conies over me with overwhelming force ;but at other times," and he shook his head vaguely, adding "itseems to go away." This is exactly the language which we have expressed in a remarkable passage in the book of Job, in which that truth is expiesscd which every Christian holds— that in Natuie we cannot see the Creator face to face, and that these are difficulties and y cils between him and the visible methods through whicli He works. " Behold Igo forward, but He is not there ; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him ; on the left hand whine he doth work, but I cannot behold Him ; He hideth Himself on the right hand that I cannot see Him." — The Duke of Argyll, in ' (»ood Words for April, A Markbt roit Old llat>>.— The group of islands known as the Nicobars, situate about l.) 0 miles south of the Andamans (says Hatter's Gazette), has been but little explored, though the manners and customs of the inhabitants of these islands offer very interesting peculiarities to the notice of the ethnologist. One of the most noticeable of these, and one which seriously affects the trade of the islands, is the passion for old hats, which, without exception, pervades the whole framework of society. No one is exempt from it. Young and old, chief and subject, alike endeavor to outvie each other in the singulaiity of shape no less than 111 the number of old hats they can acquit c during their lifetime. On a finr> morning at the Nicobais it is no unusual thing to see the surface of the ocean in the vicinity of the islands dotted ovei with canoes, in each of which the noble savage, with nothing whatever on but the conventional slip of cloth, and a tall white hat with a black band, may be watched standing up and catching fish for his daily meal. Second-hand hats are most in lequest, new hats being looked upon with suspicion and disfavor. This curious passion is so well known that tiade's from Calcutta make annual excursions to the Nicobars with cargoes of old hats, which they barter for cocoa-nuts, the only pro duct of these islands ; a good, tall white hat, with a black band, fetching from fifty-five to sixty-five good cocoa-nuts. Intense excitement pervades the island while the trade is going on, and fancy prices are often asked and obtained. When the hats or cocoa-nuts have at length come to an end, the trader gener ally lands a cask or two of rum, and the whole population in thcii hats get drunk without intermission until the rum also comes to an end. It is curious that in those far away regions so ptofi table a market should be found for cast of! specimens of one symbol of civilisation. Ths same yearning after better things in a more advanced stage may be obsetxed in Madagascar, wlieie no oihcul is content if he cannot deck himself out 111 the tarnished plumage of sonic long defanct admiral, general or ambassador.

A Woman with a Whim.— ln limiting up the battlefield of Joncsboro I came across the usual score of blind roads leading no one knew where, and in following one through the woods I came to a point where a fence blocked further progress. On the other side of tl c fence was a fanner hoeing corn, and after the uhiial talk about the weather, I asked :—: — • Say, Colonel, ia this the end of this road?" "This id the end." " Don't go any further?" "Not a rod." "And I\e got to rule back?"' "I reckon ko, but you'd better come over to tin* house and have a bite first." "Won't it put you to any trouble ?" •• Not a bit. Ride down into the sciub and you'll find a low spot where you can jump the horse " When I had followed directions and readied his side, he continued — " Stranger, I want to post you in advance. When the Yankees came down here they ripped open our feather beds, broke open our chests, smashed our crockery, and stole our chickens I never laid it up agin 'cm, but my wife can't forget it. Win n we leach the house she'll take a squint at ye and ask if you arc from the North You'll say yes, and then she'll nsk ii yon -was in the Yankee army. You'll sny yen, and then she'll open on you and call you all sorts of hard names. You won't pretend to hear a word, and she'll have chairs and boot jacks and flat irons at ye, and yell out at our four dogs to chaw ye up. That's a whim of hers, you sco, but she can't hit ye if you are good at dodging, and the clogs dasu't bite anybody. ' " But I don't want to be greeted that way." " You nevermind. It's only a whim, and after she has tired heiself out jawing and throwing and tearing around she'll sot to and cook the best dinner in the State of Georgia. There w«s a chap here from Chicago only last week, and after he had dodged three chain*, a dozen sticks of wood and six milkpans, the old woman pulled him off the hois and made him feel so much at home that licikon he may marry our oldest pal th. s fill " I positively declined to take dinn'T with him, and I think I lu-ai him calling jet as I galloped away — " Stranger, if you can't face one old woman with a whim now, I don't reckon you bothered our folks very much during the war." Dri'NKKV STcrr.— How many children ai d women are slowly and surely dyinp, or rntlu-r bcinp killed, by excessive doctoring, or the daik use of some drug or drunken stuff called met »• ciuo, tbat no one knows what it is rmdo of, \\\o ran easily bo cured and saved by American Co.'s Hop Hitters, which i* so purr, simple, and harmless that the most frail woman, weakest in\ alid. or sm illcst child can trust in it ' "*ee