Speeches.

There are various kinds of speeches of course . There are after-dinner speeches speeches for charitable dinners , and so on , ad infinitum . After-dinner speeches are generally allowable , to be made as pleasurable to one ' s feelings as possible , providing tbey do not savour too much of anything approaching toadyism . Nothing is in such bad taste or more quickly and ridiculously despised than to pay a man a compbment exceeding on the face of it all bounds of probability . We can , howeA'ei ' , generall y

speaking , after a dinner that Ave have gone to with the sincerity of being mutually pleased with each other , think and speak of each other at our best , ancl , if Ave are called upon , to speak it , to say it , and the pleasant recollections may possibly occur again and again to our minds , even when our body is not being supplied with such pleasant food . Speeches for charitable dinners form an important feature , and require much delicacy in treatment and expression . It is certainly a more comfortable and pleasurable Avay of giving subscriptions over a dinner that may perhaps give us the momentary feeling of being kin one ivith another ; but tbe publicity that attends such a dinner sometimes ruffles

the feathers of those whom it is intended to serve . It may be someAvhat difficult for a donor to steer clear of the patronising expressions that Avound and offend AA'hen speaking of an institution he helps . Many indeed would not contribute at all if they had not the pleasure of making it a subject of ' conversation afterwards . Still , AA'hen a mill turns out bread , all should be grist that comes to it . There are men , hoAvever , Avho preside at such dinners Avith grace , delicacy , ancl feeling , and it argues a want of self-respect to be too

much discomposed or to take offence at hearing tbe benefits of tbe institution described . Success is in some cases a mere matter of chance . People occasionally grow rich through no very great merit of their OAA ' . Chance has placed them in some particular berth or calling , and they bave passively gone up Avith the stream ; but if a fBAV have found tbe stream carrying them where they kneAV not , and have tried to resist it , and SAvim themselves , and been swamped thereby , why , let us man the life-boat and row them

back into smoother Avaters , and give them the opportunity , if possible , of making a fresh sail and steering towards that AA'hich may be to them as a haven firm as a rock , ancl not a sand- shore . - As - regards speeches for ' weddings , Ave have never had tbe occasion , happily or unhappily , to be the blissful , happy , incoherent bridegroom . We haA'e had , however , to return thanks for the bridesmaids , and then , although we still remained a batchelor , cainebravely and-gallantly'forward as the champion of more than one maiden that was elegant , graceful , and beautiful .

Turf Smoked.

TURF SMOKED .

A MASONIC SKETCH . J BJ BBO . SAilUEL I'OIX'rEll , 1 VM . AND TKEASUllEB , liUJlGQXNE , S ' O . 902 .-P . M . ATHENJ 3 UJI , ISO . 1491 .

" T NEVER go east of Temple Bar , " as the song says . Perhaps , hoAvever , in strictness - * - I ought to quality the assertion by a quotation from the refrain of another popular lyric , and . explain that I mean "hardly ever " : but when I do , I invariably drop in at Louey ' s . '" . .- , Not at . Dolly ' s , nor Betty ' s ,, nor Jenny ' s , nor Susan ' s , nor Polly's . Li fact , no pet diminutive in feminine gender , possessive case , will represent Louey ' s at all . Louey s ^ is , oii . tbe . contrary ,.. essentially masculine ,.. If it had occurred to the late Lord Macau ^ y