The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-06-21

widest sense, and would never tolerate
any interference from Downing Street.
One slight instance of this occurred
when England was urged by the colo
nies to annex the neighboring island
ofNew Guinea, and the home secretary
refused, as the British government
did not wish to offend Germany and
were at that time under the influence
of the Little Englanders A Queens.
land magistrate named Graves, char
tered small boat at his own expense,
crossed over to New Guinea and an
nexed it in the name of the Queensland
government, and the Australian gov
ernment notified the home office that
they were prepared to hold it against
all corners. England rapidly reached
some arrangement with Germany, by
which the half of the island nearest
to Australia was retained and the
other half given to Germany.
However, 1 digress. Melbourne has
often been called the Paris of the
Southern Hemisphere. Its wide
boulevarded streets; its magnificent
public buildings of all kinds; its beau
tiful suburbs, filled with block after
block of palatial homes, and above all,
its perfect cleanliness give it an air
of solid grandeur And yet, pervad-
ing everything, there is sort of holi-
| dow otmo phoro which oivoc tho oi+v
that indescribable charm that perhaps
has earned for it, its sobriQuet. No
one in Melbourne, apparently, ever
tires of pleasure. Horse races and
boat races draw crowds of, visitors
constantly from all directions, and
their motto is: "On with the dance, let
J. Joy ha-n -nncnnfino d y -R..rlxn Streot- 10
as brilliant at midnight, as it is at
midday. Its cafes are always filled
with good-humored crowds, and jests
and laughter resound on every side.
| Some of the shops are regular
!. museums, especially the drapers. DRY
], goods stores you call them, l believe.)
! The city is dotted all over with
large public gardens, in all of which
the "keep off the grass" signs are con-
spicuous by their absence. As the
:. people of Melbourne own their
public gardens, land know they do)
, they curiously enough think that they
, have right to enjoy them as they see
fit; and furthermore, that they are
possessed of sufficient judgment not to
wantonly destroy their own property
+ This curioussnotion they have of a
: democracy, i. e., that public utilities are
? for the public use, and that these same
utilities are really their own property
0 not merely soEething at which they
!, are allowed to look at as favor, crops
!. out in every direction. Railroad por
: ters, for instance, help you with your
|. baggage, and clerks in public Offices
: are actually civil, if one of the public
f has occasion to do business with them
e I'll never forget the first time wen
Q to the old City Hail in Minneapolis tt
pay some water rates. 1 thought tina
the noble lord, who carelessly with {
wave of his hand swept my money int
drawer, would have fit when
asked him for receipt. HI
motioned toward the next window
v without troubling himself to reply
q while his twin brother threw the re
/ ceipt at me with not even the faintes
d pretense at civility. Their motto evi
n dently was: "Base is the slave VIII
+ pays" and from an American point o
# view they were probably right. Nv
IS never paid any taxes since. However
- must say that the Minneapoli
# public library is an exception. Their
d the attendants are courteous and cage
!. to oblige, and there is an entire at
70 sence of that air of doing you favo
,r or of affected superiority to thei
te patrons so noticeably present in mos
r American public servants
q The races at Melbourne. For th
ic acme of pure pleasure, the Melbourn
rs Cup day at Remington cannot b
Or surpassed; the whole population is {
the course. The grand stand alor
N holds five thousand people, the hi
q, about forty thousand, and the fiat {
in many more. If the day is fine, and Z
ct always is, the scene on the lawn an
to in the saddling paddock is LITERAL
IN q blaze Of jewels and brilliant co