PERSONAL.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 131, 2 December 1908, Page 7

PERSONAL.

A PKOPHECY WHICH ALARMED KING HAAKON. Among tlie many Royal persons of whom tales arc told of clairvoyant aud other prophecies coming true is King Haakon of Norway, who recently celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday.- In 1890, when he was* Prince Charles of Denmark and a senior naval cadet, he was on a cruise in the Mediterranean. At Malaga, where they stopped, the cadets heard of a fortune-teller whoso prophecies often came true. So a party of them visited her. What she told tho Prince ho would not tell his companions, but- lie wrote it down and hand- ' ed it to a- personal friend to keep until he — Prince Charles— asked for it. Ten years later, in 1900, the Prince redeemed tho ■envelope, and let his friend read its contents. "You will have a throne," it ran. "You will change your name without changing your language." "This upset me," remarked the Prince, "as only my brother's death could have brought this about. But now that he is in good health himself and lias a son, I I can laugh^at the prophecy." Cut, for all that, five years later he became Haakon VII. bf Norway, changing his name without changing his language. MARBLE COLUMNS FOR AIRSHIPS. Mr Spencer has met some curiousminded people in his time who possessed extraordinary ideas on the subject of aerial navigation, but he thinks the most remarkable of them all was an otherwise intelligent inventor who proposed to construct an airship, obtaining -its levity from a small gas vessel, but which was to bo furnished with marble columns, couches, and arm-chairs. When it was pointed out to the inventor that his airship would not rise, he replied, "But instead of using horsehair for stuffing the chairs, I will fill them with hydrogen. And the marble columns, too, I will make hollow and fill thorn with gas. And if this does not give the airship sufficient lifting power, I will pump into them more hydrogen under pressure until I do got sufficient lifting power." The humour and absurdity of which suggestion are pretty obvious, as, of course, the more gas is compressed the heavier it becomes. TURNING SILVER INTO GOLD. "Whatever you do, don't make the 'lad a chemist. There are too many blanks and too few prizes in the profession." Thus Professor Anderson, then Professor of Chemistry at Glas-i gow University, advised Mr Ramsay,; tho father of Sir William Ramsay, who startled the world tho other day by suggesting the possibility of turning silver into gold, when they were talking over the boy's future one day. But Sir William has proved quite capable of drawing some of the prizes, and good ones into the bargain. Ho it was who, together with Lord Rayleigh, discovered tho new element "argon," the two scientists sharing the prize of 10,000dols. awarded by the Smithsonian Institute for the discovery. It was really through reading some works on chemistry in the library of his uncle while a youngster that Sir William- becamo a chemist. They so stirred him that he made up his mind there and then to enter the profession, and the advice of Professor Anderson in no way damped his ardour. "THE AMAZING SHIKAR." So Lord Elphinstone, who has just entered upon his fortieth year, is known in India, where his prowess as a big-game hunter has endeared him to the hearts of the sporting natives. Tho family of Elphinstone has produced many notable men, among them being the thirteenth baron, who governed Bombay in the troubled days of the Mutiny, and who left in •that city many fine memorials of his rule. None of the Elphinstones have distinguished themselves more as sportsmen than the present holder of tho title, who stalked deer as ahoy in the forest rented by his father, and who, when he was sixteen, accompanied James Anthony Froude on his voyage round the world. Lord Elphinstone is still a bachelor, though not, possibly, for so romantic a reason as that which actuated the aforementioned thirteenth baron, who in his early days at Court fell in love with Queen Victoria, and remained a lifelong celibate for her sake. A DUKE'S APPETITE. Though the Duke of Connaught is said to have an almost Gargantuan appetite, he never seems to require a course of waters. By his bedside each night are placed a pint of claret and a cold chicken, which are decidedly punished before he is called in tho morning. In'" "addition 'to 'ordinary meals, the Duke invariably has a substantial "relish" at eleven in the morning, and with him afternoon tea is quite a solid affair. . THE CZAR'S CROWNS. The Cza-r has as many crowns as a fashionable lady has .hats. He is regarded by his people as a religious as well as a secular monarch, and therefore has crowns for every posi sible State occasion. The Russian

Imperial Crown is modelled after a patriarchal mitre. Five magnificent diamonds, resting on. a huge glowing ruby, form tho cross at the summit. Diamonds and pearls of utmost perfection render this crown unrivalled among all others, and there there is one sapphire in it which is said to be tho finest stone of its kind ever mined.