MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 25 August 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

♦ The London correspondent of Ihe A. S. Better, writing on the general eleo* M-in.. snyj:— ' il-ina; with tbe eruption of Xoncnnforroi'y and republicanism which ha? distinguished the election mint be noted the appearance of a bery of fair politicians, who have wielded their slender spears on tbe hustings with marked sac* cess. The example of Lndy Ramsay, at Liverpool, and Lidy Portsmouth, at Barnstaple, has found many imitators among candidates" wives. Several of them have taken part openly in the canvas, ar.d other* have worked not les3 HTiTtuaiiy in the back -ground. Ladj ffurcoiirt, an American, by (lie by, \:\ U-i.l .-it 'h° hca 1 of Sir WiiliamN pro* • wm at Osfonl, Lidy Maj w i 8 <it her husbands side all through ;^a

severe contest in Berffiekabire. Mr Gladstone graced nearly every platform in Midlothian on which her distinguished spouse was holding forfc'i. One of the most graceful of bfdy canvassers was Lidy Elza'ieth Biddulph who, at Here. f jrd, conducted meeting by her self. At one of them she delivered the follow.ng terse and pithy little speech.:-' Gentle man,— These, are election times, and uncommon times, and we are at present allowed to do things we don't do at other times ; so I will make that my excuse for addressing you, and I will make you a little speech. Mr Biddulph cannot bp 1 ere to-day, but I am here as his wife and representative, and I ask~ you to put bim at the head of the poll, and make him d happy man and me a happy woman. He has your interests at heart, and nobody loves the country more than Mr Bid- - dilpb, I declnte to you.' lam glad tr say that her ladyship's candidate is now one of the members for the county be and she love so well." Mr Josh Billings, after considersaV-l. gtndy since the Ut of April, 1877, has accumulated the following facts and philosophies : • There is lots of people in this world who spend so much lime watching their health that they hivent got time to enjoy it. I have a gre^t kuriosity now to'k'no when the next flood is going to take placet and whel her there can be found on the face ov the earth a crew fit to man the next ark with. There is nothing that ya andl make so menr>y blunders atout, and the world so few, as the aktual amount oy our importance.' Informations have been laid against the proprietors of the Fcho newspaper, for a libel on Mr J. Izlett, The hearing of the case is fixed for August 23. We have been told that it is the nature of a certain objectionable being to grin when he sees any sign of his darling sin. which is the pride that apes humility. I sincerely trust (writes a lady correspondent) that his sardonic humour was not tickled by any false show of humility on a recent occasion when the Emperor and Empress of Austria respectively washed the feet of 12 of the oldest and poorest ! men and women to be found in the city of Vienna, This yearly spectacle takes place on the daj before Good Friday. The poor infirm creatures are clothed in pilgrim-like habits of brown serge, bor« dered with purple. The make and material of Ihese garments is similar to that worn in the reign of Maria Theresa. The cus'om is tor the friends of the mendicants to uncover their feet, 'which the R6yal pair then proceed to lave and afterwards carefully dry. A silken purse with a few coins is presented, tn&'bUr, in their respective homes, a • Berganittn's portion ' from the Emperor's own table is f served to each of these indigents. The edifying spectacle of washing of feet is *■ witnessed by al] the arfcb dukes and arch* duchesses of the Austrian Court, together with the civil and military members of their several households. I wonder what our countrymen and women would think and say if such an outward manifestation of humility were advertised ns above to . take place at an English Court. •I do not see,' remarked Colonel Inger- ' soil, * how it is possible for a man to die worth 5,000,000 or 10,000,000 dollars in a city full of want, when he meets almost ' every -day the withered hand of beggary and the white lips of famine. How a man can withstand all that and bold in the clutches of his band 20000,000 or 30,000,000 dollars is past my comprehension. I should not think he could do it any more than he could keep a pile of lumber when hundreds and thousand? were drowning in the sea. If you have lut a dollar in the world, and you have 5 got to spend it, spend it like a king ; spend it as if it were a dry leaf and you i the owner of unbounded forests. That's the way to spend it ! I would raf her be a beggar and spend tny la?l dollar like a king, than be a king and spend my money V ! - like a beggar.