GSSIP AND NOTES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10333, 29 April 1899, Page 10

GSSIP AND NOTES.

Mb KiP-iJro's little ,'o.aughter who died the other day,.w;*3 well known by i sight jo Rottingdean and Brighton visfewH. \*\ I A writer in the "British Weekly" tells tlia* -/ Mr Kipling had a great, objection to any '' forcinr -sf children with their studies;" Some- ..*-.- ---one onto asked, "Is your little girl going ■',"• to be a writer?" "No," ho replied, "I aaa |. proud to say she cannot even read." ■;•; Josephine Kipling was called after her «i _nt, Miss Josephine Balestier, whose first achieve, ment as a writer was a.translation of Marie Bashkirtseff's famous journal. There is a poignant pasfchos for all lovers- ' of Kipling's work in the many i>assages in \' wh-kh he deals with the death of little 4 children. .Perhaps the classic instance is -, ? the. awful grief of poor Mulvaney at the *l loss, years before,,of his only child, hinted "'$ at rather, thaft described in the "Courting 'jj of Dinah Shadd.* 1 - - But the merest suggesr- - ; . tion of a genius when his heart is touched, - {• put down on paper with a reverent pen, '* avails -acre to bring homo to humanity "the sense of tears in'mortal things'" than tho -"<" most careful writing of less-ar men, whose hearts do not go out to the sorrow of others'. The little son of a gifted writer whom - Mr Kipling had aided in 'gaining the ear '-■ of the public when all sdaned against him,' '.■, died on the very day when the long struggle was over, and his father's "first book was h published. Mr Kipling promptly wrote a long letter to the sorrow-stricken frfther, - ! from which I am permitted to quote the fol- ' lowing passage: — "As to this matter which you have done • - mc hue honour to tell nic, I'can only svm- - pathise most deeply.. and sorrowfully. People say that that kind of wound .heals. It doesn't. It only skins over; but there -; is rib least some black consoiatiop. to be got from-the old and bitter thought that- the boy is safe from the chances of the afteryears. I don't know that that helps, unless you happen to know some man .who is under deeper sorrow than yours—a man, say, who bns watched the cliild of Iks besotting go body and soul to the Devil., and leels that he is responsible. But it is the - nxother that bore him who suffers most • when the young life goes out." These words have. a) very vivid and --' sorrowful actuality to-day. , One incident of" the ntarriage of Mr Wil« liaan K. Vanderbilt, jun., and Miss Virginia Fair, which wi r J cement the fortunes of - two great millionaire families, and is the subject of much" discussion and many headlines in the New York press, is the fact that Miss Fair wears the costliest engagement ring ever used in - America, for it cost £8000. This'modest trifle consists of a great soUtaire.diamond, aasd is an inch in diameter. - • The other day 4 Chicago lady went to her lawyer, and asked extitedly whether he had • filed her application for a,divorce which she " had instituted against her husband. "lam -. working on the papers now," he -replied. J "Thank heaven; then I am not too fate,'' she exclaimed, "destroy all the papers and evidence at" once."- The lawyer was beginning to congratulate her on her reconciliation to her husband, but she cut him short by exclaiming, "Reconciled 1 no; .he. .:- .was run over by a freight train this morning, and I want you to cccmnence a suit at once against the company for damages." ' Lord Kelvin is something of a wit as well '. as a great physicist. The "Fireside" te r .ls 'a story of a student who was brought before the senatus charged with writing his 'name on the famous Bute" staircase. Asked what he could say in defence, the young man " mumbled that even r Sir Walter-Scot* had scrawled has name on'the walls of Edinburgh " University, and he did not see why he - should be prosecuted for writing his at Glasgow." , "My, young mm,' 1 said Kelvin, who was'preading', '"if you will certify on this paper that you. wii 1 ; be as famous a: man as Sir Walter we shall take every step%o',:t*re-> serve' your, naonie, but!-if'.ypu~ cannot"?,ypu,' must pay the usual crdwri^'\^ i H-um.quKhas' it that the. student certified, ''.tnd-sav-d his crown.'" - t . ' ■AccdßDrsro' to an "American" paper, a truly, nemarlcible character, ■ Samuel Voder, the husband' in his time .of five wives, to none, of whom did he ever speak), died 1 recently, "at Indianapolis. . He obstinately refused to speak to any one of his brides after ■ the marriage ceremony. He gave as his reason that if he.did not talk to his.wife,she.. cou r d not argue with him,- and that this was' his plan for ensuring domestic peace. > One wife became so exasperated at his persistent reticence that she sued for a djvorcß and was granted it, whereupon, the tie between them ■ being broken, he, -talked. with her freely. Another of his wives put up with him for' twenty-three years. During the whole of that time he never exchanged a word with her, but conversed.with his previous wife and other ladies of his acquaintance. »He left a considerable'amount of property. His fifth wife and 'his children have refused to attend the funeral. He had no friends. ■ Mb Israe?'Zangwill, who recently returned to. London from the United States, has much to say, and will publicly say some of it, on his. visit.' Interviewed since bis, return, the distinguished novelist has' been relating some of , his experiences. "My experience of the American reporter," he says; 'leads mc to", the conviction that .you must either accept •hirii unconditionally or reject him absolutely. No temporising or attempts to dodge him ' will pay.- Perhaps the most extraordinary I opecimen of the journalist that I ever met was I a young man in Cincinnati. He called on ' mc one night, told mc that he was racked and, • torn with religious doubt, and asked my ' guidance. With such reasoning and thought as I have-at command, I tried to help him I to a clearer view, and he Went away full of L gratitude. Imagine my utter astonishment .when, next day, I found this young gentleman posing throughout the interview as the ! profound thinker, while I figured feebly as a I shallow sophist." i According to the "Glasgow Citizen,", - you will be able to eat your dinner on the top of Vesuvius at the Paris Exposition, and have a look at Dante's Inferno iuEide of the | crater. The miniature Vesuvius is tbe idea lof -j.. Jodice.. He promises to supply real lava and real flames, and the general i characteristics of the mountain just as it looks. ' There, will bkewise be a funicular railway at Vesuvius, restaurants, cafes, and peep-shows on the wav up; and inside the volcano itseif, M. Jodice proposes to ,have Uvuir pictures, with representations of scenes from' Dante's Hell, Purk-ito'ry, ,and Para--- - disc., Another scheme—that of ML Delonclo's lunar telesrope-—is already on the road to realisation. This big spy-glass is being fabricated on the Boulevard Arago, I not for from the observatory, by M. Gau- . tier, and promises to be one of the leading features of an exhibition' which is now in full course of active preparation, in spite of all the rumours of war and revolutions.