Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

11 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

T O W 1ST TALK.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

T O W 1ST TALK. BY OUR SPECIAL CORSESPONBENT. freer readers will understand that we do not hotrl owrselves respon- sibLe for our able Correspondent's opinions. THERE was at college, in my time, a witty fop, who used to make us roar with laughter by his ac- count of what he suffered for three months during which he was at feud with his father. His allow- ance would not have comfortably fed an old maid- and he had a very good appetite. But what gave him most trouble was not that he should have to live on half enough of food, but that, as a neces, sary consequence of insufficient nourishment, his figure must suffer in its exquisite symmetry. However," he used to say, with indescribable seriousness, I got as much padding for the price of a dinner as set all my fears at rest." But your face must have suffered F one of his hearers would put in, interrogatively. Ye-es, that's true," he would reply; it of course lost its roundness and colour, but that was more than balanced by additional thoughtfulness of expres- sion." The point of this anecdote, for my pur- pose, is in the padding. This is the season of short commons for newspapers. Westminster no longer affords its supply of news. Padding is wel- come. If you have a crotchet, this is your time. Paterfamilias, indignant as M. Dupin, may" dilate upon crinoline, and his conjux cara may mourn over the peccadilloes of Dolly. Mr. Ruskin set the "Servant Gal" question going in the pages of a leading contemporary, and the ball has been kept up with considerable energy and various success by inferior players. The question, of course, is discussed about town by every one— even by those who need not be in very great alarm, as far as their own peace of mind is concerned- about the deficiency in the supply of good domestic servants. But, on the other hand, it is quite true that the supply of servants is worse. than it was; and this scarcity bears its natural fruit. Nor are servant girls the only class of persons who, when you want them, are disposed to be "saucy, independent-don't care a hang!" But, comparing them with servants formerly, do they suffer so very much by the comparison? May not the servants to which you look regret- fully back have become idealised to some ex- tent, their bad qualities being almost forgotten, and their good ones remembered only to be exag- gerated by contrast with faults from which you at present sun'er ? However, Susannah, and the ser- vant maids of Smollet, do not seem to have been composed of the most faultless clay. Distance may lend its enchantment even to servant maids. Then as to the time servants stop in their places, no doubt the railway has given them a wider market, and has made the servant, as well as her master, a far less stationary being. However, great things may arise out of the present dis- cussion and both masters and servants shall have much reason to be thankful if, from the ventilation of this question, there results a better understanding of the duties of the one class and the responsibilities of the other. THE retired way in which her Majesty lives is again much talked of. Human life is a mingled charm. We alternate between smiles and tears; and it is, perhaps,' one of the saddest reflections one can make that in almost every house we enter there is a chair vacant, there are associations of which we are ignorant, and there are deep yearnings for "The touch of a vanished hand, The sound of a voice that is still." Yet we have to perform the duties of our several vocations; we have to come in contact with the cold, hard facts of life; and we do all this in nine cases out of ten without impairing in the least that tenderness with which we regard those who have passed to where beyond these voices there is peace." It is felt, and not unreasonably, that her Majesty ought to depart from the tomb where she lias mourned so faithfully and long, and feel- ing that she has duties to perform, and strengthened for their performance by the know- ledge that her sorrow is shared by a large portion of her subjects, and sympathised with by all, come once more into public life. If she would do so, she would be hailed in a manner that would take her back to those early days, when, as a young Queen and bride, she won the unparalleled popularity which has hitherto been so hearty and unflagging. THE cattle disease, although its attitude becomes everywhere more fearful and menacing, is-as a subject of conversation—voted a bore. So is cholera. Yet this last subject, how- ever much it may be eschewed in conversation, ought to receive more attention than it has received from the authorities. The newspapers have sounded the alarm, and the voice of scientific men has not been wanting to swell the cry-Has any- thing been done ? I go through the back streets in Westminster, I go down Leather-lane, that runs from Holborn towards Islington, I pass through some parts of St. Giles, and I see decaying matter on every side. And oh! the smells! That was a very wise person who locked the stable door after the horse had been stolen, but he would have been somewhat sager had he locked the door before. It is to be feared that the authorities in the various quarters of London are somewhat like the pro- verbial philosopher alluded to. If the cholera should come, most energetic efforts will, beyond doubt, be put forth. Prevention is better than cure. How much better is it than a state in which there is no cure—nothing—but devastation and death! I ONCE heard a gentlemen congratulated on not having read "Vanity Fair," as having that plea- sure before him. Take the following as a speci- men of ignorance quite as happy, but on different grounds. The other evening, at the Club, the Fenians were much talked of. When a Dun- dreary convulsed every one by asking, Aw, what aw those—aw—Fenians ? Aw they hoiway wob. bers-or what are they ? THE wife of Thomas Moore, the greatest lyric poet in our language, died last week. Those who have read the ill-digested memoirs of the poet by Earl Russell, will remember how affectionately Moore speaks of her in his letters and in his journal. She was an excellent wife; but it was not quite the way to treat an excellent wife to go flitting about in saloons and drawing-rooms, having left her at home almost as lonely as Mariana in the moated grange. That Mrs. Moore never complained is only a proof how much worthier she was of treatment of another kind. Still Moore was, on the whole, a good hus- band to her, and his faults, and, indeed, his virtues, are so clearly traceable to his bringing-up, that we cannot but regard the former very leniently. His mother commenced very early to make him a I show child amongst her friends:; and Moore con- I tinued to play that character almost to the last. I The scene was only changed from a Dublin back parlour to the spacious drawing-rooms of Bowood or Holland-house. Yet if she gave him some weaknesses, she was also-as he himself loved to acknowledge-the source of much of his strength. She was the chief element in kindling that ambi- tion which the pure breath of a wife so noble and true, combined with the praises of patrons and friends, to keep vigorous and bright. That loving I wife, about whom-it is the biographer's fault -we know so very little, has just died, aged sixty- eight; perhaps in the same room in which, thirteen years ago, her husband passed away warbling-a swan gliding down the cold stream, and singing as he died! Z.

SUMMARY OF PASSING EVENTS.

The Veterinary Congress.

Meeting of the British Association.

Uncovering Prince Albert's…

High Price and Inferiority…

AMERICA

THE CHOLERA IN SPAIN.

GREAT FIRE IN CONSTANTINOPLE.

SUICIDE FROM REMORSE.

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