News? Views- and Opinions.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 196, 18 August 1900, Page 1 (Supplement)

News? Views- and Opinions.

Now that Mr Bryan and Mr .McKin- - ley have been selected as sole candii dates for the Presidency by the respective conventions,, the newspapers of the States are displaying a ridiculous interest in suoh new facts concerning the private lives of the two opponents as have come to light since the last Presidential election. Mr. S Bryan,, for instance, has laid out a small garden plot at the back of his modest little house. A picture of this tiny little strip appears in all the leading' Bryanite papers. Mr Bryan ■ has also built a chicken coop with his own hands. The chicken coop has therefore been photographed irom every possible position, and the pictures are reproduced with a glowing article eulogising Mr Bryan's manliness.

f ■ The legend of -the snowdrop (says W; a correspondent of "The Gardener ) | recalls to my mind the German legend I of the forget-me-not. It is as follows: I When God-made the plants and the W flowers He gave to all of them names I ' full of meaning, and told each one I ■', io remember what He had called it. I Bub in a short time there came a little H*" : flower adorned with heaven's own colj ' our, and, looking up with its eye of il azure blue, it modestly asked, "Lord, n 1 what didst Thou call me? I have forLtten." And the Lord answered, I Crget Me not," Then the little I • flower was ashamed and withdrew to I the quiet stream and under the dark I ! pushes mourned in sadness and soliI , tide over its forgetfulness. Now, ;J when anyone seeks the heaven-born ■ flower and plucks it it says, as a voice I ' from its Maker, "Forget-me-not.

A" curious story of years of wanderSfi inp- was told at Penrith, Cumberland, 1 'England, on Tuesday, June 26, by a I Zn named John Smellie. He had 1 > been arrested on suspicion of having i> ' stolen a bicycle, and on being search- ¥■ was found to have eight gold watI ; ches, fifty-five gold rings, three silver l! "■•'■' watches, and a number of brooches, t ■ lockets, and other articles disposed in | different parts of his clothes. He had 1 traded successively in England, SyciIV ney (N.S.W.), .Capetown, Auckland | (N.Z.), Glasgow, Capetown again, and I Ij; Bloemfontein, and was now once more if , -flt home. At Auckland he encounti ered bad times, at Bloemfontein he tl was plundered of his stock, and Glas--1 ' cow he had to. leave through an enW•'"■ gineers' strike. With the remnant of $ ' his possessions he was again on the I move. The- .Dench believed his story I and set him at liberty.

Sandow, the great strong man, -who a few years ago visited Australia, is a very ordinary blonde young person ■when in his ordinary dress. 'This makes all the more amusI : v,ing the following- story, for which I : the Paris Journal is responsible. I, , The scene was the Palace de lAlma_, $ the centre of ingress and ■ egress of I* the Exhibition, the gathering- point of P&fr hundred bus routes. The time was -atfc»4n the evening when, as the -'"*"Jb\ftoal" truly says, cabmen, make faces at the idea of any distance farther than half a milt> f.ov less than sf. A gentleman hailed a cab and stated where he wished to go. The i cabman made a face, a rude remark, and drove off. At least he tried to , drive off, but the gentleman jumped t behind the cab, seized the axle, and r> (held the cab still. Whereupon the ' i crowd applauded, and the cabman |V' swore and nearly fell off his perch |; . with dismay. The irate gentleman was Sandow.

Dr. McTavish, of Edinburgh, was 1 something of a ventriloquist, and it befell that he wanted a boy to assist in '/the surgery, who must necessarily be ~ of strdng- nerves. He received several applications, and, when telling a lad What the duties were, in order to test Ha nerves, he would say, while point- ; tog to a grinning skeleton standing upright in,a corner: "Part of your work would be to feed the skeleton there, and, while you are here, you 'might as well have-a try to do so. A few lads would consent to a trial, - and receive a basin of hot gruel and a : spoon. While they were pouring the : hot mass into the skull, the doctor X would make his voice appear to prov ceed from the jaws of the bony customer, and gurgle out "Br-r-gr-h-uh, ' -that's hot!" This was too much, and, without exception, the lads dropped ; the basin and bolted. The doctor be- .: gan to despair of ever getting a suit-1 able helpmate, until a small boy came, ; V and was given the gruel and spoon. Af- " ter the first spoonful the skeleton ap- '■' peared to say, "Gr-r-r-uh-r-hr, thats i''•■: hot!" Shovelling that- scalding gruel ; as fast as ever, the lad rapped the . skull and impatiently retorted, Weel, , jist blaw on it, ye aul bony!" The doctor sat down and fairly roared, but he engaged the lad.

' In Vice-Admiral Alexieff the Eus.fcians have in the Far East a man who ■ glories in complex situation and heavy odds. For some months he has had a. position of great responsibility at ' Port Arthur and the China Seas genev, rally, for Etissia has been fearing a -if I > sudden attack from Japan, and it was i' i upon Alexieffi that the chief responsl- ; bility was cast of having everything trim, taut and secure. The St. Pet6rs- ..'.'' burg authorities trust him more than ' they trust most of their- naval men, Which is saying a good deal for a per- . ,:• sonage whose profession, in so far as i! it-relates to Eussia, has been ne- . smirched by every variety of peculation and fraud. Vice-Admiral Alexiefl: ■ is something of a diplomatist, but upon occasion he can adopt the blunt!npsa which makes dipl6macy so difficult. Thus in every event which has ; so far taken place in China he has ' claimed the credit for Eussia. Th^is the people*,of Eussia devoutly believe 1 that Alexiefi's men stormed Taku, relieved Tientsin Relieved Seymour, ana ; gained all the successes that have ' '■ been gained," while the rest of the tionalities merely followed. This is a 'sample, of the. Vice-Admiral's dipio- ■ ,"■. aacy. It has fixed the eyes of the na- ! •tion upon ;him ,and if it has nettled 1 \ anyone else the bluff- sailor does not ! "' care .in the least. He appears to> have J learned the lesson that it is the man ■i ■>■ who gets his advertisement in first ; who. secures all the profit. However, ! • ataongndn-Eussians on the spot Alex- ' ' •; ieff has the reputation of a brave man, k■<■ who,,as far as fighting goes, may be , trusted to fight fair, and who, at a -"',' pinch, would sooner fight his friend / than not fight at all.

Pater and materfamilias are mostly well aware of the importance of holding highly discreet tongues before their little ones. Seldom, however, i does a casiial word on their part lead to snch appalling consequences as befell an American family crossing the Atlantic a few weeks ago. A lady, returning to England with her children, was trying to quiet the baby, and said to it in the presence of others: "If you are naughty, we shall have to put you through the porthole." She afterwards had occasion to leave the cabin for a few moments, and on re-entering, missed the little one. "Where's baby?" she asked, far from suspecting the terrible reality. "Oh, mamma dear," came the reply, "baby was very naughty again, so we put her through the port-hole. The vessel was stopped and backed, but of course without result. Needless to say, the event created a profound sensation among the passengers.

All manner of facts are brought to light by means of the Paris Exhibition, which is now daily growing in favour with the French populace. One of them is that the pickpocket of our experience or imagination exists no longer, and that he is now reappearing in a highly modernised form. He takes the shape, we are told, of a polite and well-dressed gentleman of. perfect manners, who endeavours to play the St. George to distressed ladies wandering about the Exhibition. Has a fair one lost her way in the labyrinth? Is she being molested by too pressing salesmen or women? Up starts her deliverer, a gentleman immaculate as to hat, gloves, boots and every detail of the toilet. Of course this gentleman is wise and wary enough to know which ladies he may or may not approach, and when, after a triumphal rescue from the confusing pathways or the distressful persecution of the seller of Exhibition, things, the lady finds herself at home, delighted with the perfect manners of her knight-er-rant, she finds that in an altogether inexplicable manner her jewelled watch, her well-filled purse, and the very diamonds on her wrist have departed with him.

Mr Pritchard-Morgan , 'M.P., has been wiring- in at the missionaries in China as the primary causes of the present trouble, and Mr Rider Haggard has been defending them. Answering the toast of the evening at a missionary dinner in London recently the latter combated the idea, that the troubles in China were in any way due to the action of the missionaries, and asked whether there was any case on record where an English missionary had sent for help to his consul, and for a gunboat to get him out of his trouble? It was not the missionaries who leased Wei-Hai-Wei, and declared 'a sphere of influence in the Yang-tse Valley. The trouble in China, he submitted, was the result of annexations by acquisitive and hungry European Powers. Subsequently Mr Rider Haggard laid the foundation stone of two fives courts, the funds for which have been raised by public subscription, and declared the necessity for athletic training as a preparation for the life of a missionary. The savage, as he had known him, whatever his vices, was manly, and appreciated manliness of physique _ and strength in those who went to him.

- A short time ago attention was publicly called to an epidemic of suicide, which appeared to be raging in various parts of England. In this connection Count Leo Tolstoi, Russia's highminded humanitarian, has uttered a notable.warning for the benefit of those who are tempted to commit this form of stupid iniquity. "To take one's life," says Count Tolstoi, "is neither sensible nor moral. Life in reality is indestructible. As to life's abbreviation in this world, what guarantee have I that its spiritual resurrection in the hereafter will be more pleasant and congenial. Most bestial is the idea that life has, been vouchsafed to us only and alone for worldly and mental enjoyment and pleasure. Life is given us for our self-perfection, and in order that we may be enabled to serve mankind collectively. , All work, everything we undertake, appears disagreeable, sometimes mountain high. Obstacles abash us, dangers inspire fear, disappointments discourage us, misfortunes bring despair. Nevertheless, suicide is foolish and immoral, because only a coward v.ays down his weapons in battle and flees, rushing perhaps into greater peril. As long as we live we can perfect our own selves and serve one another, and we only serve others by perfecting ourselves in this world and in the world to come."

Baron yon Ketteler, who was murdered by the Chinese soldiers in Pekin some weeks ago, was a member of one of the most ancient families in Westphalia. In the sixth century an ancestor was King of Courjand, a little State now absorbed by Eussia. Born in 1853, Yon Ketteler entered the army in 1874, but tired of the idle life of the German officer, he decided to resign his commission and entered the diplomatic service, becoming an .at* taehe of the German Foreign Office. In 1880 he was attached to the Pekm Embassy, where .he helped to frame the first German treaty with Korea. Subsequently he was sent to Morocco as Charge d'Affaires, and in the spring of 1892 was appointed Secretary of the Legation at Washington' under Minister yon Holleben. In 1893 the Washington Legation was raised to the rank of an Embassy, and Baron Ketteler was made Counsellor of State and First Secretary of the Embassy. During his term of service at Washington he ■received the honorary appointment as Chamberlain to the German Emperor, and also a number of high German and foreign decorations. During his stay in Washington Baron Ketteler was Universally recognised as one oi the ablest and most popular of the foreign representatives, and became a very prominent figure in the social life of the capital. He was appointed Minister to Mexico in May, 1895. His •appointment was a great surprise to Baron Ketteler as well as to other members of the German Diplomatic Corps at Washington. It was regarded as an extraordinary compliment. While at Washington he, fell, in love with a well-known ' society beauty, Mjss Matilda Ledyard, and thereby hangs a, tale. It appears that the paternal German Foreign Office exercises a veto on the marriages of. German Ministers. Baron Ketteler applied for permission to marry Miss Ledyard, but the German Chancellor, Yon Caprivi, iorbade the union on the ground that the lady was an alien. When Prince Hohenlohe came into office, however, he listened to Baron Yon Ketteler's suit,- and the marriage took place in 1897. Baroness Yon Ketteler accompanied her husband when he was appointed German Minister at Pekin in 1899, and her iate at present is unknown.