THE RECTOR AND THE WEED.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2167, 29 May 1886, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE RECTOR AND THE WEED.

Church bazaars lie so much on the frontier between worldly and spintual con* cerns that it is not burprising thcyahould i{i\e rise to some fine points of doctrine. An instance in point came recently under my notice, and to prevent misconception we may say at once that ie was not in connection with the St. Paul's hizaar. It happened in this way. Among the multifarious articles of ornament and utility sent in to the committee for disposal in aid of the chinch funds waift liox of cigars presented by agood-hcartrd md not wholly mucxenetat? tobacconist. A committee of men would probably •uve thought the donation a capital one, for the cigars were good, and sure to sell lonjj after slippers, antimacassars, and lubics' hoots had become a drug in tho market. But it happened the committee weie ladies, and to the feminine nostril rheic is a delicate odour of iniquity about icigai. They thought the practice of jellm<r them in aid of chuich funds would be, to say the least, unsuiptural ; .md had it not been for the representations of one dissentient lady who happened to know their value, the box would have gone back to the tobacconist. It was, however, eventually decided to keen them, and after be.mg passed from stall ro stall like a sort of infernal machine which might go off inconveniently at any moment, the box at length found a rest-ing-place on the stall of a young lady who desired above all things to stand high in her pastor's regard. The bazaar was uot open many hours when the pastor, strolling amiably through ths fair, stopped opposite this very stall. A tenible sense of guilt overwhelmed the conscience of the girl as her drooping eyes lighted on the box which contained the nefarious Havannas, and a blush rose to her cheek. "I didn't expect to fee the bazaar such a grand affair as thic. Why, iea!!y, what a brilliant display of ; things jou have :"' said the pastor. " You seem to lia\ c a little of everything, from a pincushion to " His eye had tallen on the cigar-box. The sinner was ibout to utter a little «cream and prr* test " That's a box of figs I sold to a gentleman iust now— Oh, you mustn't •>ppn it !" But she was too late. The ltr»x was already open — the contents displayed in all their naked sinfulncss— and the pastor had a Havanna in his fingers, holding it to ins nose, sniffing as it wern the btimstone. There was a pause — only three seconds, but it seemed to the girl three weeks — the whole bazaar appeared to vanish into thin air, and .she to stand llone befoie a judge awaiting sentence. At last she heard his voice addressing her, and she trembled. What he said was this :— " These seem very good. I'll take fifty. "— Christchnrch Pi ess.

Tun man who Ins not a iiatiir.il liking for horses will never make a successful horseman. SrcvEssrrr. experiments have been made at Coblcnt/. in the training of ravens as carrier birds in place of pigeons. Each pheasant that is shot in English parks and preserves co-.ts, it is estimated, its breeder a sum of at leaft three shillings. During somo seasons so many of these birds are placed on the markets that they have to be »«old at the samo price as domestic poultry to get rid of them. DrsrivnßY hnsbecn made at the Ministry »f Finance, at. Cairo, of the correspondence, the Duly Chronicle says, of a Ktronjf | "ring "fortheis-ueof fictitious "Gordon" '•ond>. Had the sclipmp beeu successfully [ •11 ricrl out it would have entailed a loss hi tho Government of about £20,000. •evcral Government offi< ials nnd financiers ara compromised in tho affair which is now being investigated. Young Mr William Lchmanu Ashmead Cartlett-Coutt* has been very properly rebuked for his "fro-hne«s." Feel in if •dated at bis "lection to Parliament over eminent, an opponent ns Professor Becsley, the Cnmti.st. ho took occa-iou uiMioly to sneer at Mr Gladstone us an ' Old woman. '' " T should think," re•nrkcdoiu- of the audience. "Mrßurdett. 'yontts ought to le the last nvin in tho roild to speak .slightingly of old wom-n. A wiui7fc.il in Longman' b Mags/mc says >f the indiLstiial f,l.i-hes in Fi<w< <\ than ■ liev hive learned to live on food which 'he Briti*h pauper throws to the pig.«, to fire meagrely and dies-, cheaply in ord'»r to idve a f.u thing. Prodijr.il «>f nothing hut their labor, spaum; of evorvthin<; but Ibpin^elve-!, they tod the live-lonijdiy for infinitesimal reward*. If wealth be attained they neither .slackoa their exertion* tioc inciea-e thi-ir f xpenditurt*. They still lon the bloui* 1 . wlmse purple patches aro aiore honorable to them tlnn tho gaudy luartcring* with which her tlds adorn the coab» of our •successful traders. Th« women wear thoir .simple c-ips rather than iffect tliofce Parisian novelties which, on the heads of our fellow countrywomen, •ire often as srrotesquo as the embrace be>itowpd by Titania on tho cheek of Bottom, ft is wiser to t-tick to your native jfaxb than, like the unadulterated .savage, to dap a cocked hat, on your head, thrust your loprs through the amis of a dross coat, and imagine yourself cltd iti the fashion. Womk.v Johrnalists. — " There is a newspaper field for wocre'i,*' s<tid nn American editor recently, " which is very little jultivatec l . It i-> the cinduoting of local newspapers, the weekly home papers of the country towns thnt gave the events of the locality in whinh thejrare printed. Tn Masuillon, Ohio, there was at one time an office where a weekly paper wai printed, which was conducted in all iti departments by women. Tho proprietors were two sisters. They were both typesetters. They had a female apprentice. The elder sister was the editor, but the younger one was a good local writer. They had a 'patent outside' for the paper. All the rest of the work these three persons did. They even ran the press on which they printed an edition of 900 or 1000 It was a power press, one of the drum cylinder kind, that turned with a biir crunk. Occasionally they sent out and hired a man to turn this press for them on publication day, but often they worked the press themselves. They were none too rich. aDd they saved this expense if possible. The peculiar feature of this offie wa< its extreme neatness. There w*re no piles of dirt swept up into the corners. There was no • pie 1 under the stands that bore the cases. There was a pot or two of flowers in each window, and a canary bird sansr in a cage above the type rack. The proprietors pot married. Their weddings were within the barae month. The office was aold. to | a man The flowers "wilted,"