The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-08-17 00:00:00

lOoroet Cot*

DORCHESTER, TUESDAY, AUG. 17, 1680.

Now that Dr. Tanner has succeeded not only in his
forty days fast, but in recovering from the contrac-
tion of his digestive organs which threatened to be
equally dangerous, people are crying out that the
'Doctor was • fool for his pains We fancy this. a
vast number of people far more truly merit that
appellation than the fasting doctor, who has proved
that the human body is more indebted to pure water
than to all the variety of foods and drinks that it costa
the majority of people so much to provide. Even :
mineral water and the alcoholic bath left him worse, 1
while from his drinks of pure water he always rose
refreshed. Although we are hardly like jelly-fish,
each a specimen of "organised water,- yet that
cheap liqu not only forms the greater portion of our
bodies, but it should be by far the larger part of what
we consume to repair waste. In spite of the denunci-
ations of Tanner for straining his omstitution so
severely, there can be little doubt that many a
gourmand and a hundred times as many a "moderate"
drinker, injures himself and his posterity far more by
pandering to appetite in excess, than the average
pauper who fancies himself half-starved is damaged
by want of food. It may be worth consideration of
our "ministering angels' how far their solicitations
to eat plentifully really have to answer for that "pain
and anguish" which they so delight to relieve.
Corner,, lived to 98 years old, on only 12 ounces of
food per day, and delighted in hio comedy and his
grandchildren to the last; the well-known prescep-
tion of • celebrated doctor for long life wls—" Live
on tkl. • day, and earn it,-:while for sickness the
remedy was abstinence from one, two. or three meals,
according to the severity of the attack.

Bournemouth will not be thanked ‘..ry heartily by
Purbeck for bringing down the Lord 31.' or, and no
end of "Mr. Sheriff So-and-So and Mrs. :;.-and-So,"
if in their train, as *opposed, came down the thieves
who carried off L 15,000 worth of jewellery and plate
from Lord lildon's. Metropolitan grandeur seems to
be accompanied with a worm at the root, which must
make it a very tinsel-like thing, in spite of all the
state coaches. No doubt the loss of 1:15,000 is a mere
bagatelle to the wealthy, highborn, and popular, lord
of Purbeck, but the associations connected with the
jewellery and plate must make their robbery far more
annoying than the mere pecuniary lots. The
authorities that planned the great show at Bourne-
mouth thereby seem to have brought down upon what
the Bournemouth He'portAlobecurely calls "the solitude
of Dorsetshire"—" that dreary region," a break in the
aolitude which can scarcely be agreeable to the Inner.
'Whether the authorities will join their efforts with
those of others to discover the thieves, we are curious
to know. At present the lesson seems to be that when
great civic dignitaries are at the move, it would be
well for the servants of wealthy lords to keep special
watch, remembering Mrs. Hemans's exhortation' Fear
ye the festal hour."

Furious ars the Tories are at the Liberals having
taken the reina of Government out of their fidgety
hands, they cannot be forgiven for having in their
islindnees charged the misfortune in Afghanudan AA •
mark of disapproval by Providence toward* the
schemes of progress. It will be remembered that
the able actor Abdul Rahman, who, there is too much
reason to fear is thoroughly Russian, was a legacy left
to the Liberals by the late Government, and he seems
to be a sisassose her&.iests that it is hard to get rid of.
It would bonsai, in keeping with all that the leading
Imperialist Power has done, if she has inspired Abdul
Rahman to play his part with smoothness of tongue and
treachery of heart; but let the "scientific frontier"
party have the discredit of bringing us into the horrible
toil, that it will take all the combined moderation and
firmness of the Liberals to deliver our Afghanistan
army from. And from "the indispensable' roust not be
omitted the determination to do right, cost what it
may. Vapouring about the "Afghan scorpion," and
shrieks for vengeance, come ill from the Jingo party. It
was not so many years ago, back in the good old timed',
that Afghanistan waa considered an impregnable
harrier against Russia; but lately the scientific frontier
party were doing all they could to turn the barrier
against ourselves.

The statement that the Russian and the Afghan are
In collusion is doubted (!) by the Russian papers; but
this we regard an pretty sure evidence of the fact on
which it is sought to throw discredit. It would argue
the mad deplorable fatuity were any Englishmen to
be deluded by Russian statements, considering the long
series of disclaimers from Russia relating to all sorts of
absorbed countries, from Poland to North Roumania.
That Russians affect to disbelieve anything which
evidently tends to increase of their, and diminution of
our, influence, should be taken almost as—" confirma-
tion strong as Ifoly Writ." The relief of Candshar is
the nu& before our forces, and all Russian end Tory
legacies must be shaken off, before we are more
seriously damaged by the Imperialist plot.
Brightly gleams one good prospect amid the rest.
The glorious harvest weather of last week was a free
gift of Providence worth many millions to the country.
But, say the Goiservatives, " good or had politics have
nothing to do with the seasons." It used to be thought
and we confess to believing it dill, in spite of the
a4nostlcs. But at all events, farmers won't deny that
the Liberal Government hex a g.ssl share of " luck "
as they call it, and it might be worth their while to
keep in the fortunate Liberals, instead of the unlucky
Conservatives.

Hares and Rabbits and a Malt Tax—these would be
not very attractive additions to a Beaconsfield year.
The ousting of the first-named nuisance is being
opposed by the Conservative. in a niggling way worthy
of the manners taught us in the truly Tory couplet-
- - -

"Let laws and learning, arts an commerce die;
But leave us still our old nobility."
Even conciliatory amendments are opposed, in order to
obstruct the bill.

The House of Commons. on Thursday, did a real
service to people who didike violent and extreme
changes, by passing the Burials Iliil. More than three
to one waa the respectab!e majority by which they set
at nought the obstructionists and tried to secure
equality in what are called the national graveyards. The
ministers of the Church of England are more fortunate
than the Lords who threw out the Compensation for
Disturbance Bill. That which extreme clergymen
asked has been denied them; but they are far more
likely to conserve a large prop,rtion of their influence
and their fees than if by transient success, to be
followed by more crushing defeat, they had been able
to get the Burials Bill rejected. People would than
have asked—" Why should there be a ceremonial
burial, • service, and a feed relLious officer at all ?"
The Lords, on the other hand, appear to be successful;
but already the question is asked with Fleeter force
than befere—" Why should the Lords legislate at all?'
And such exercises of their power purely in the
Interests of their own class will make the question
Increasingly difficult to answer in a manner favourable
to their lordships. Self-willed refusal to do what the
Commons wish only widens the gulf between classes,
and helps the extreme of the Radical party in propa-
gating their doctrine—(although it be a short-sighted
one)—that the hereditary rich and powerful are—

" Only horn to eat the corn."
Dianus.