PERSONALITIES.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 3174, 19 June 1900, Page 7

PERSONALITIES.

The Pope had four different hammers presented to him for the ceremony of opening the Holy- Door in St. Peter's on Christmas Eve. Only one could he use, of course; this was of solid silver, very richly carved, and will be kept as a souvenir of the event. The other hammers are, it is said, to be presented to sovereigns of the Pope's faith. President McKinley is fifty-seven. He enlisted as a private in the American Civil War, and in the course of a few years rose to the rank of Captain with the brevet of major, by which title Mb intimates still address him. He abandoned { the army for law, and went into Congress in 1877. One of an American millionaire's most recent ideas is to have a miniature railway constructed all round his vast park, exactly on the model of an ordinary everyday working railway. On this line runs an engine, three or four carriages, and a guard's van, There are signal boxes, and everything complete. It is said that' the millionaire himself often acts as driver of the little engine, and has, on several occasions, gratified his guests by driving them round this new pleasure course. One of America's greatsst millionaires affirms that only 15 per cent, of the successful men in New York were born to wealth, and that 85 per cent, came from small towns and from the country. They are naturally imbued with that energy and perseverance which are gained by outdoor life and undaunted determination to succeed into the acquiring of wealth. This same millionaire, however, thinks that rich men's sons have an equal chance of success provided they are possessed of ' ambition, and adds that almost every rich man he knows brings up his sons to some kind of work. That very wealthy and fortunate i violinist Senor Sarasate has received during his career as an artist a set of pearls from our Queen, three rings from the German Emperor Wilhelm 1., a blue enamel watch, from the Emperor Napoleon 111., a diamond ring from Dom Pedro, a portrait etched in gold from the Empress Augusta, and a set of diamonds from Alphonso XII., with which and many other valuable offerings he means to enrich his native town.