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 DE GUSTIBUS, ETC.
 Augustus (:ho is all soul) writes :-"YOU ACCUSE ME, DEAREST, OF JEALOUSY. WELL, I ADMIT IT. NAY, I GLORY IN IT. WHEN I
fGAZE ON THE ENVELOPE THAT CONTAINED MY TOOTSIE'S LAST LETTER, I ENVY EVEN THE POSTAGE STAMP TIE TOUCH IT MUST HAVE RECEIVED
FROM 'I'TOSE RUIBY ]LIPIS!
 "WELL THAT, AUGUSTUS, IS QUITE A MATTER OF TASTE!"


 MORALITY FOR THE MILLION.
 THI penny newspaper and the post-office savings bank are two
 admirable institutions. All honour to the powers that be for having
 established the one, and by taking off the tax on paper, having
 rendered possible the establishment of the other. WMe should be
 sorry indeed of underrating either of these important aids to the
 social advancement of the masses. But if the style of instruction to
 be imparted by the penny weeklies is to be such as we read the
 other day, in, we believe, one of the most extensively circulated of
 them all-if the mode of saving money by the new postal bank
 system is to be that therein recommended, we should be almost led
 to doubt the benefits conferred by either on the morals of the poorer
 classes.
 The instruction given by the paper we allude to, teaches its readers
how virtually to lie on oath, and yet steer clear of legal perjury ;
the mode of saving money recommended is by no means a novel one of
swindling one's creditors.
 Lest we should be suspected of overstating the case, we will give
the writer's words exactly as we find them:-
 It is possible, in fact, for a depositor in a post-office bank to crack his fingers
at a creditor in the county court, without being open to the charge of perjury."
 How do our readers think this feat is to be achieved? Thus:-
 Every deposit made may be in trust for one's child, one's sister, or brother,
or father, or mother, so that the trust depositor in the position of a defendant in
tho coilty court could swear with all conscience that there was not a single shilling
standing in his name in a post-office bank."
 The quibble is ingenious, but there are other equally effective ones
which might be suggested; for instance, a person having deposited
two shillings or more, might just as safely swear with all conscience"
(save tlhe mark!) that there was not a single shilling standing in his
name. In fact, once admit the principle of equivocation and mental


reservation as an escape from the charge of perjury, and there will
be no difficulty whatever in proving black to be perfect white, or two
and two make five.
 But have we not misunderstood the writer's meaning ? Mayhe not
 be speaking of bonA fide trust money, upon which, of course, neither the
 trustee nor his creditors could have any claim? We were inclined to
 think so at first; but how about the next sentence ?
 Money held in trust by a defendant is beyond the reach of the county court,
 or even the exchequer court, although the money so held may be the defendant's
 property, and can be touched by no one else. The British statesman who devised
 such a means of escape for the poor man from the rapacity ofpersecuting creditors
 deserves well of the British people."
 But there is yet another "new and attractive feature" in the new
 savings bank. It is not only creditors that may be swindled, but it is
 open to married women to defeat their husbands in the same way that
 it is open to the husbands to defeat their creditors. A married woman
 may deposit money in trust for a sister, a brother, a father, a mother,
 or for any one in whom she can repose confidence, and the husband
 would then be at fault. Legally the money would no$ in such a case
 belong to the married woman, and she could not, therefore, be deprived
 of it by any means. The money would be held in trust, and so it
 would remain until withdrawn by the depositor in the regular way.
 We remember in our school-boy days our pocket-knife was stolen.
It was soon afterwards seen in the possession of a school-fellow. We
identified and claimed it; but he in the most solemn manner declared,
and persisted in the statement, that the knife was one his brother
Tom (not in the school) had given him. However, truth prevailed.
It was our knife, and he had stolen it. Still, when detected as the
culprit, he cried out in triumph, "Well, but I didn't tell a lie about it;
I gave it Tonmfirst, and Tom gave it me!" Can it be possible thatit is
this young scapegrace now grown to man's estate who teaches this
exquisite morality through the columns of the print we are loth to
speak of as our contemporary P