MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1506, 6 February 1885, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Auckland Herall on Monday says : —The Rev Themas Spurgeon has annonnced his arrival in Australia to his congregation in New Zealand in a truly characteristic manner. By cablegram from Adelaide he sent the following message: — "Roman Ist, 8 12; 2nd Coriathians Ist 11." The message duly expended, by reference to the texts, rnns as follows : — " First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that yonr faith is gpeken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom T serve with my spirit in the Gospel of His Son, tha* without ceasing I make mention ! of yon always in my payers ; make rerequest, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto yoo. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto yon some spiritual gift, to the •nd ye may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of jtm sad me. Be also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed apon us by the means of many persone thanks mar be given by many on onr behalf." The cable officials are of opinion that, in ingeniously squeezing a " pastoral" through the cable in this fashion, on the "ten-wWd minimum tariff," the rer gentleman hat shown financially, " the wisdom of the serpent," combined no doubt, with " the harmlessness of the dove." When the cablegram was read yesterday morning from the Wellesley-ltreet pulpit by the Rev W. E. Rice a smileflickered across faces of some of " the faithful" at seeing so much theology covered by seven shillings. Patti's billiard table, and her achievements as a player are spoken ef quite frequently at present The table is of carved mahogany, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and brass, with broeafr medallions fixt-d to it* sides and ends, md cost $2500. Th»> maker wis a*ked : "T* the c nnv truth in the strips ahont Patti's achievements aa ; I'il'-jmlist ? " " Oh. yes, she plays ■!♦•■♦« r reod sra'tja. In one of her

games with Dion she made a run o eighteen at three-ball caroms, whicl is quite a respectable showing fo any player at that game. " Wh( taught her to play?" "Her owi Nicolini. He is an enthusiast, »nc carries about a hundred fanc> cues with him in his tours." Here h a chance for some enterpiisingplay wright to produce an opera with i game of billiards set to music, in whicl Patti can take the cake, and probablj the bakery. Imagine the beautifu cantatrice, in suitable costume, dcx teiously manipulating the ivories, anc wa-fing her opponent, the heavj villain, with the poor but favored lover et al. as spectators and chorus lt would be immense. No charge for this hint. Two journalists, one as brave anc honorable aa a hero of romance, tht other— well, cast in a different mould stand face to face, sword in hand, in ai avenue eighty metres long in the neighborhood of Paris. At the mom «nt of crossing the weapons, the lesj brave of the two falls back first one step then another, until he starts on a backward repeat at double quick time, until the end of the walk is reached. Here they paused to take breath, and were afterwards bi ought back to the starting point, and placed in position The same manoeuvre was repeated and another race run, the same antagonist retreating and the other parauing. Again they reached to the end of the avenue, and had to be brought back to their original position. And this little game was enacted fifteen timei. Fifteen times! As before stated, the avenue was eighty metres long, and was the combatants each tim« traversed the distance twice, by the time the duel was over they had gone over a distance of 2400 metres. What a state they were in ! And the wit nesses ! And the doctors 1 The latter were the most to be pitied, for they scrupulously kept up the chase, carrying their trusses, bandages, lint, and phials with them. But the nimblefooted duellist was not content with " falling back ;" three times he lowered his sword to take a cordial and ask ■the doctor to count the pulsations of his heart! Not until the witness theatened to get into the landau, the horses having rested meanwhile, and being thus in a condition to keep the combatants well in sight, did the fugitive stand his ground, and tamely submit to receive the fatal — scratch in Ilia left arm.