Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld. : 1892 - 1922), Tuesday 27 June 1899, page 8


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THE May number of the Windsor Maga zine Fupplied by Messrs. W. Munro & Co., of Koekhampton, iB particularly interest ing to Australians, inasmuch as it contains an article written by a Mr. Anton Bertram upon " Bush Life in Australia." Tlie series of stories contributed by Rudyard Kipling sotting foith the doings of three very smart youths at college .ore concluded. " Stalky and Co.' have seen their last term, and go forth into the world. The " Gold Star Line" stories are continued, and an interesting article upon Napoleon's last home-St. Helena-is also included in the pages of the magazine. There are many other articles and stories in lighter vein which go to make up one of the best periodicals now published.

FROM Mr. Park, bookseller, Barcaldino, we have received a copy of a very amusing and interesting publication issued by the Until/ Chronicle of London to expose the literary impostures of the notorious De Rougemont. That journal expended a considerable sum ofmoney in cablingto Aus tralia, and sending reporters to investigate the birth registers and supposed relations of De Rougemont in Switzerland. This they did with such effect that the impostor was completely unmasked before his narra tive had passed through five numbers of tho Wide World Magazine. Tho book is illus trated by the inimitable Phil May, who takes as his text that truth is stranger than fiction, and this is ably represented in the pictures. There are also given engravings of Grin's home in Switzerland, portraits of his relations and himself when a boy. It is a book everybody will enjoy.

From the Bulletin Publishing Company (Sydney) we have a rather bulky volume of Mr. W. T. Goodge's compositions. The author modestly describes them as " Hits, Skits, and Jingles," a most appropriate designation for them. Some are mere jingles, rhymes without reason, but to read them is to produce laughter from the audience. Their very absurdity is mirth-provoking. Who could restrain laughter after reading this, rapidly as the patter-song singer lips it ? It concerns a "Sweet young man whom everybody used to know as 'Mealy Mary Ann.'"

"He shuddered when he hoard a D,

Drank nothing stronger than his tea,

And grieved how sinful men could be, Did Mealy Mary Ann."

Mealy Mary,

Chic and chary, Airy Fairy,

Mealy Mary,

Mealy Mary Ann,

Of course this is fearful rot, but it raises a laugh just as easily as some profane drunkards' blasphemous outburst will cause a crowd to shake its sides. There is much rollicking humor in the rhymes con-cerning certain Mickity Mulga celebrities, Bandy Jack, Carrotty Ned, and Billy the Pug. The author is great on slang, and his best known rhymes are those concerning the use of the "slanguage" by " the push," already familiar to readers of the Bulletin. The songs of the loveborn larrikin are plentiful, of which the chorus runs

"So it's nark it now, fial, or I'll shore yes,

Don't be kidding a Woke as is true, For it's DO dicken pitch ns 1 love yes,

< ill, strike me pink, Sully, 1 do."

There arc moral sentiments in this book of rollicking exuberance. The patriotic Australian, who wears English clothes, rides an American bike, drinks Belgian gin or Jamaica rum, and smokes tobacco manu factured in Spain, sits on an Austrian chair, and uses articles "made in Ger many," iB satirised in rhyme. The man who didn't mean to fire off a loaded gun

and shoot some of his relatives is immor talised, and the ridiculous fashion of "shouting continuous drinks" is properly lampooned in the story of the men who, instead of the bar, stood ut the store counter shouting groceries. It is a book the bushinan will like, chaff and wheat are mingled together, and if the reader likeB to winnow out the grain and let the other go he can do so, but the majority of those who peruse these rhymes are likely to take the lot together and absorb it all. -

Footualt. was a crime in England during "the reign of Henry VIII.

Tim Chinese detective force is a secret body, and the bi>t organised in the world. They have au eye upon every man, womau, or child, foreign or native, iu China, and, in addition, watch over each other.

An English manufacturer, while examining the texture aud quality of some bandages found on a mummy, was astonished.to find that the arrangement of tho threads was exactly like that which he had patented a few months before, and. which ho had sup posed to be au independent invention of liis

own.

AN enthusiastic student of political

events furnishes us with results of his own laborious search through the pages of //"» nan? to learn how often each member of the Assembly addressed the House. Ministers omitted for obvious reaBons. The results of

his investigations are as follow:-As might be expected, the Labour leader heads the list .with a record of 281 speeches. Those who exceeded 100 are Messrs. Battersby 107, Brown 133, Dunsford 14-0, Hamilton, 153, Jackson 132, Kidston 134, Stewart 150.* Between 100 and 70-Cross 81, Dawson 79, Drake 81, Hardacro 73, Jenkinson 79, Leahy 73, M'Donald S3. Between 70 aud 40-Bell 30, Boles 46, Daniels 62, Grimes GO, Groom 53, Keogh 63, Kerr 05, M'Don nell 54, Newell 41, Sim 64, Smyth 58, Stumm 41, G. Thorn 62, Smith 42, Turley 60, Armstrong 46. Between 40 and 10 Callan 32, Castling 12, Cribb 30, Curtis 12, Dibley 12, Finney 20, Fitzgerald 38, Fogarty 25, Fraser 12, Hood 15, Lord 11, Mncdonald Paterson, 27, Ryott-Maughan 18, Petrie, 18, M'Master 39, Morgan 12, O'Connell 28, Stephenson 16, Story 84, Thomas 14, Annear 10, W. Thorn 13, Bar tholomew 14. Below 10-Bridges 8, Col lins 5, Corfield 5, Hoolan 3, King 7, Moore 2, M'Gahan 2, Stodart 2, Stephens 9, Tooth 7, Lisner 7. Browne, Dunsford, Hamilton, Jackson, Kidston, Stewart, Dawson, and Jenkinson delivered most of their speeches during the progress of the Mining Bill. The voluble Hoolan only found his tongue three times in eo many months. The old veteran waa riding for a fall. Subsequent events showed that he was thrown rather nastily.