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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 7
[miscellaneous paragraphs]
The prize essay at Canterbury College for 1892 was a paper on the « Past and Future of the Maori Race, » The prize was won by Apirana Turupu Ngata, of the Waiapu, a Maori boy, matriculated at Te Aute College, who is going through his university course for his degree in the Canterbury College. The following unique macaronic verses, sung on diploma day, to a well-known American marching air, are by the same ingenious student:
In the college cell I yawn, freezing, mother dear, with awe
For I caught the threat and menace in that look,
And the professorial eye, it is evil, it is sly,
As the gentle tones come sweetly, « Will you, please. »Chorus—Maranga ranga ! ra ki runga !
Takahia ki raro te mamae!
Whaia ko te mahi pai ! Ko te matauranga nui
Takahia ki raro rawa te mamae.Now I view, in dread array, cosine θ, tangent ϕ,
α β γ—mamma, I shall die:
But what scares me most is this, O ye gods and little fish
That the prof, just looks and winks his other eye.Judices me hercules, oh the host of busy B's,
Hear them tramp and tramp and tramp o'er Latin prose,
Hear the keen sarcasms ring, books and glasses thundering
Classic warning, time for clearing, dangerous.But in spite of all their fads, Mother, they are not so bad
Ko te take o te matauranga nui
View them here in dignity, sober calm benignity,
Ko te puna o te matauranga nui.
Mr R. Carter still continues to collect, and to present to the colonial museum at Wellington, all books about or in any way relating to New Zealand, says the Press. The collection when complete will be invaluable, and Sir James Hector, the director of the museum, justly regards it as being even already a national treasure. A little while ago Mr Carter's second instalment came to hand, and he has just advised Sir James Hector that a third is ready to be despatched from London. The collections, when complete, will comprise from 500 to 600 volumes.
« Civis, » of the Otago Witness, has tripped sadly, through neglecting to verify his quotations. He writes: « Herrick, you see, was only anticipating when he implored his ladye love to cast a kiss within the cup and he'd not ask for wine. » The fine old song « Drink to me only with thine eyes » is by Ben Jonson, not Herrick. More surprising than this is the lapse made by Oliver Wendell Holmes in his beautiful memorial poem written in 1879 for the Boston celebration of the Moore centenary:
« Let Erin remember, » the echoes are calling;
Through the « Vale of Avoca » the waters are rolled:
« The Exile » laments while the night-dews are falling;
The « Morning of Life » dawns again as of old.
There are few lovers of English poetry who could not have set the veteran author right. « The Exile of Erin » was not the work of Thomas Moore, but of his contemporary, Thomas Campbell.
« The French, » says the Paris correspondent of the Standard, « make a well-marked distinction between the terms spiritist and spiritualist, the former of which corresponds to what is understood in England by the latter. » Whatever may be « understood » by loose writers and speakers, the distinction is as clear and as important in English as in French, and is observed by all who write or speak correctly. It was pointed out in our own pages years ago. Every man who is not a materialist is a spiritualist. A spiritualist is a believer in the invisible world, whatever his creed or denomination may be. A spiritist is one who holds that communication with that world is possible and legitimate, and who endeavors to enter into such communication either for the satisfaction of curiosity, or for practical guidance.
The New York World has regularly devoted a large portion of its space for years past to show that « Protection is robbery, » and the untiring efforts of its conductors have been recognized by the tariff reformers as having been potent factors in the struggle which has sealed the fate of M'Kmleyism. This is one of the World's concise paragraphs:—The protected ironmaster of Pennsylvania asserts that to pay the « difference in wages » he must have the right to collect from the people $6·72 on every ton of pig iron made. The total wages of his workmen is under $2·46 per ton, and he steals from the « difference in wages » $4·26 per ton. He gets his labor free of cost. The furnaces of Pennsylvania produced in 1890 4,415,329 tons, representing $18,809,429·34 literally stolen from the pauper dole to the pauper workmen supported by public contributions. What is true of the protected ironmaster of Pennslvania is true of every other protected employer. He has absolute pauper labor, supported by public contributions, and his profit comes mainly from what he steals from his workmen.