The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-01-20 00:00:00

WHAT TER WORLD SAYS.

Yr& Parry. the Sergeant's second wife, died only • few
hours before kin. I notice that the idyllic with expressed
by the lover in the Laureate's vet,.,—
Pray. Ali" pray, my darting wife,
That we may die th• seU-sanse day"—
Oecaidonally receives almost literal fulfilment In reaLlife,
especially in the case of couples who hive been so long
together that their union has become a habit of their
existence. Mr. Tennyeon's own brother, it will be maim-
t.presecited an instance in point; so did Sir Walter
an, the death of whose widow, &Yew days sitar dim
:ign7las added considerably to the difficulties of Dr.
Richardson in &goofing of the famous wine bequest, b 1
cutting off any powilble explanation of the testator's
wishes ; and a few days ego occurred the deatha within a
few hours of another couple, Mr. Chichester•Natirreacz.d
his wife, Lady Henrietta. at Oalverleigh Court,
He was eighty-seven and she wag eightpone.

The unwise decision of the Admiralty to permit women
to reside on board ship has already began to bear fruit.
Ain odker has complained that be hae been turned eatable
quarters by—not his superior °dicer's wife. but by
•P7elCr relative of the latter. This certainly seems to be coming
It rather strong. If permission to have your wits on board
Is °maned into is.,. to accommodate your wife's rela-
tions.

Tha naval administration d this unmaritlma country is
food of copying that of highly nautical Italy. The latter
country her ships with one haadM-ton guns, so
pine of Nighty tons. Bha built the Dal°,
:11:d we followed suit with the Inflexible. A year ago the
Italians abolished their marine coop.; now it loots am
though we were going to follow their example in this also.

Slam the ball given by tis Lancers at Brighton there
has been a complete (soder. nu place la as bowling wilder.
nem and .11 1. Nwrea from " Primes" to "

It seems that we are about to repeat the intolerable
folly of " lending" instroeton to train the crews of the
new gunboats lately built in this country f or the Chinese.
British naval officers and seamen—in most cases by
virtual direct appointment, not mere permission to
eve bean awed to instruct Chinon and Japanese
officers sad sailors at Too-chow and Yedo. The result is
that the Japanese certainly, and the Celestials probably,
have a fairly strong navy, able to give us plenty of
trouble lilt should piea.e them. The sympathies of the
former are far more with Russia than with us, as we
should have unpleseantly experienced had there been a
war with that power two years ago.

I am prepared to back William Howard Russell to any
amount against the Horse Guards and Sir Garnet Wolns-
ley. Perhaps it Wall not wise of him, especially when we
remember how wide has been his experience of war, to
give publicity to • budget of ugly truths, proving the
license and savagery of the British soldier when not held
in this bonds of rigorous discipline; but he is far too old a
hand to have been. A/ Sir Garnet Wolseley blandly pro-
pounds, "the victim of a hoax." The Duke of Cam-
bridge ought to know, if he does not, how thin is the ioe
In this direction; and when the public are in possession
of the crushing espoN, in which Dr. Russell, if he wants
them, can have many coadjutors, his Royal Highness will
be heartily furry that he moved in the matter. Does he
happen to remeinber how, in the Crimean days, the Duke
of Newcestlis gave evidence that, when he read Dr.
Russell's statements in the Timms concerning the misery
and mismanagement in the army, he believed them to be
all false; but that, having immediately instituted an in-
quiry, he found them to be all true?

Among the many sermons--some of them in execrable
taste—preached in Scotland on the subject of the Tay
Bridge disaster, was one by Dr. Beg, who took for 1L
text a portion of the tenth verse of the ninth chapter of
Leith : The bricks are fallen down, but we will build
with hewn stones." The sermon being printed has drawn
forth an Indignant letter from the contractor for the
bricks need in the construction of the bridge, who urger,
drat, that his bricks were of the very best quality; and
secondly, that it wee the stonework, not the brickwork,
that gave way I

Lord Beaconsfield once declared that by the Household
Suing* Act be had destroyed the political power of the
Nonconformists. He probably despises the English Dis•
seater as thoroughly as he despises anyone ; and be
intends, if be can, before he leaves ofilos, to inflict upon
" our Dissenting brethren" a severe mortification. This
year the Act for the census of 1861 mast be passed, and
Orom intends to introduce a clause requiring that the
religious opinions of the population should be included in
the returns. The Dissenters object, as we all know, to a
religious census. Their opposition is not based on con-
science, but on policy. They do not object to a census of
the actual church membership of the country; but they say
that if the return is collected in the war which was pro-
posed in 1800, it will unduly swell the adherents of the
Church of England. few psr,ona cue to write themselves
down of no religion. When they are unattached, they
describe themselves as members of the National Church;
andthuA in the view of the DUMDUM, the numbers belong-
ing to the church would .be enormously, but unfairly,
increased. The church party, however, are anxious to
bare a religious census. There will be a bitter fight over
Mr. Cross's clause.

Bred Shabraque, of the 25th Lemons, was up with some
brother subalterns last week &fors • board, presidad over
by an infantry major, which was to decids whether they
were flt to pass for their captaincies. 'Can you state
what ars the peculiar advantages of an advance guard of
cavalry to • reconnaissance in forcer was one of the ques-
tions asked. It was without answer till fresh turn cams.
" Well." he lisped, "it givta • tone to the what affair,
and converts what might be a brawl into • battle r Fred
is awaiting promotion.

I locked In at the Alhambra on Tuesday night to see an
act or two of Rothowsego. The spectacle proceeded as
usual, but I could not account for the fact that many of'
my neighbours in the stalls kept turning round and
at some interesting object in the private boxes. At"1:111
turned round too to see what it was. The mystery was
soon explained. In 004 of the boxes were three real Zulu
ladies, who had been brought there by their Hestia
Importer, to see a trench If nio. I had heard of the
airival of them strange visitors, and knew that I should
soon have an opportunity of seeing them at the Aquarium.
where Captain Hobson has arranged for their appearance
but it @troth me as being far more interesting to °testy*
them amid such novel surroturdings as they were then
among, and I mold not help devoting a good deal of my
attention and my apera.glaseee to them. I have said they
were three in number. They ware young girls, apparently
not more than about IS, with round good-natured faces,
vary ftat neerkbuint not pa
ual rticularly thick They were
evidently
the • nolists wore • gold fillet round her hee In the nad heavy
gold chains upon her neck., and a gold bracelet about two 1
Inches and • half deep upon her arm. She was much
darker in colour than her companions, who were of •
rich copper hue. She had a splendid row of teeth,
which glistened as she smiled in admiration at the
spectacle on the stage. The other two had not much
on In the way of jewellery, contenting themselves
with arealler bracelets and lees brilliant necklets.
As to the attire of these ladies—well. If being somewhat
undressed is to be fashionable, they were very much in the
fashion indeed. The dusky beauty in the centre would
have run some haiitrees of West-end ballrooms very close
In the rase for diedietie-iern. As far as I could see her
only jarment was • robe of rich texture hung over the
left shoulder and looped under the right arm in clasidisal
style. Even this alight protection :would keep slipping off
altogether, and as as the lady s torso was left bars to
the gam so often was it carefully covered up by • watch-
ful 'anthem= in the rear. The maiden on her left had
a shawl, which the did not use much, preferring to sit
1 with her arms, which were perfectly free and uncovered,
resting on the idll of the box. Her other garment
appeared to be • cloth bound round her waist rather lower
down than • lady's evening corsage usually commence&
She was perfectly innocent of anything in the shape of
sleeves, and had • *want habit of spitting on the Rom
MINOR the acts the ladies took wine, merrily clinking
their glamse one against the Aber, and the performance
appeared to planes them Immensely, as they remained up
to the end.

DR. PACEMANE WEATHER FORECASTS.
The
criticlssaasd doctor thus disposes of • tiossionetshirs
:

Gamin to your criticisms on my forecasts in
your lest issue. allow me to state that you hays not die.
any cme of them, and that it is impossiblivhfz you
to do so, as thsg had all beau proved correct.
arguments tsndlng to repudiate than may stimulate
further redardes, but weer annihilate facts.
Your amertion that weather changes are directly doe to
the incessant variations in the density sad pressure of the
=we regains oorreetkai. In the first place, three
bad not been proved to be incessant. but
periodiail. Than, that they are not the csam of weather
changes. but are equally the effects of dame which pro-
duce them. Odhudng effects with ceases has ld many
others on the wrong tack. The mune may to said of your
remark... the faros and direction of the wind.
Teen question whet odds the changes in the density
ad pressure of the dowerphere thin been partly answered
In my former letter, sad to that I will add the bed of the
wan. aad the motion of the earth on its aria Your int.
preatien that electricity is thu principal agent is left um-
=by illusion to • fact, and could only be
by assuming that lightning is caused by
thunder, or that electrieity maintains the galvanic bat.
tory in adios. and similarly it might be said that tite
your at the cannon tames the expireura, and that the tides
turn the moon round the earth.

thilwr.Weres of faele may serve to convince of
established troths, and whilst It can never altar them, it
may hare the advantage of promoting discumden and the
elucidation of phenomena apparently mysterious.— Yours
faith( illy,
F. Pscwitsu, D.D.
January 3rd, 1880.
litefen to electricity things beyond the power of the
critic to explain is a favourite mode of shifting the dill-
cialtw. hansom,. few of Nis Moral Public know aboolik of
elsid. and he laws lob. able to PAPS .whOdlor the
argemost I. right or wroos.—Zo.)