TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12452, 15 March 1906, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Mr Julius Knight has been Stage talking to a Sydney jonrClothes. nalist on the congeni-a! subject of stage clothe*. His admirers Trifl be interested,' but hardly surprised, to learn that his " best clot hes " arc worn in ''Monsieur Beauonire." "There are four lovely ■nits in the part, besides the accessories, end in costume parts accessories aro of ihe greatest importance.'. , . As en example of the part dress sometimes plays in helping the audience to ■follow the action of a play, he instances tho moonlight scene in " |Joaucaire," iv which ho wears a dress-suit rflifferont from the dre«*-snit used in the previous act. "By the hero's appearing in a different , suit the audience at once grasps tho idea, that the action in that scene has moved forward; the events; aro not on the same night as in th*> previous scene. A email point, you say, but every little helps to make things clear." Colour schemes arc most important, for fcho effect of n scene would be marred-' if the dresses did not harmonise. "The leading lady has first choice. She- announces, 'In such and such a scene. I'll wear .sapphire blue,- ,- then tho costumier'plans out, nil the" others, not to clash. 'Then the heavy lady must wear black,' he decrees, 'ingenue , , white; leading juvenile, shell pink,'" and so on. The days of tinsel, fiays Mr Knight, are gone, for long nine kill rubbish. Clothes must lookjust, as fresh and good a. year hence as they do on the first night, and a guinea a. yard is quite an ordinary price for him to pay for costume coats. Airy chiffons, and light gauzy materials are really the, most expensive 6tiiffs to buy in the end, for they aro easily damaged, a.nd-mu6t soon be replaced. In the "Sign of the Gross," for instance,-Miss Jeffries'e white robes are of heavy rich crepe, and Mr Knight -will have nothing else for his toga. Hβ was given a new one of nun's veiling tho other day, Vbut it "ballooned" so ungracefully'that he had his old. garment repaired. Tho idea of Miarcue) and Mercia " apotbeosised in breezily ballooning gowns" was too.much, for Mr Knight's sense of the fitness of things. Jewele. ere it mistake in many parts, thinks Mr Knight. " Sarah Bernhardt nover wears, diamonds unless the scene specially requires her to do 60. They detract the spectators' attention from the face, and especially the eyes of the wearer." Mr Knight goes on to give some advice to the girl who wante to be an aristocmt behind the footlights. '• Girls who wish to make the stage their profession should cultivate the style and manner of well-dressed, sumptuous women even in private life. How is it possible for a little girl, living ) in the most humdrum way, wearing an imitation pearl necklace with a pearl or two missing, and the string showing through, to step on to the stage and suddenly assume the demeanour and style of a duchess or a countess?" 'But the lot of the family, of a stage-struck girl must be trying enough at times without this new affliction, sanctioned by so eminent an authority. ■

The business career of A Romance the. late Lord Masham, of Businesß. whose death, was announced some weeks ago, has been described ac tfhe most romantic of the nineteenth century. The youngepson. of a county family, he went into partnership with a brother in some woollen mills at the age of twenty-one, end a few years later turned Tiis attention to producing*a perfect wool-combing machine, a work had been the ruin and despair of many earlier inventors. ' For a machine whidh he felt sure contained the germ of the .right idea ho paid £11,000, and in, 1843 produced at Manningham the first wool ever combed By machinery. Nexfc year he received an order for fifty machines, and a fortune oamo to him. "jfciit ho was by <no means,content with this*suoceaSi In 1848 he invented an improved combing machine, and in the same year, actually patented the atmospheric railway brake with which Westinghouee made a fortune twenty . years later. But he needed all the money he-made by his wool-combing maohinefc. Ore day he discovered, on a chance visit to a London warehouse, a heap of siik Waete lying in a corner, an apparently valueless mass of rope-ends, decayed leaves, dead siik-worme, and ell kinds of refuse. This was deemed to be quite useless, and was sold for ruplmti Mr Lister—as Lord Masham tfhen was-— knew nothing about the manufacture of silk, but thought there might be semething in this waste, and gave the owiu«r a halfpenny a pound for it. In JJJjH. he calculated that his attempt to thie ''waete ,, |iad cost him but in another twenty-five yeare\!ie' Had I capitalised the business which gravgfctt of this "failure" at nearly.two,'mnWas sterling. The invention of a epecial comb had worked the change. „ By his improvement of the plush loom he established a new industry, and m»do a new fortune. ■ For fifty years inventory had been busy with 4ho problem of weaving a pile cloth face to face, and cutting with a knife to produce two even surfaces. "The chief difficulty," said Lord Masham ia later years, "was to keep the knifo sharp so as to cut the pile regularly and evenly. This was overcome in a very curious manner. I was looking out of the office window one day, when I noticed a eciflsor-grinder in the street who was running a very small eharpening wheel at a h ; «h rate of "velocity. - It occurred to mo, that "by making this sharpening wheel still smaller and fitting it to one end of the loom, we could sharpen the knife eaioly and keep it sharp." The experiment wae made, and proved successful. 'He left a fortune estimated at several'• millions. In politics ho was a Fair Trader, and in 1903, with tho burden of ninety years upon him, he challenged all Free Traders in the country, under a forfeit of £1000, to prove that Protection would not give the mosf employment and the most wages'. •

■'£^'\ 1 extraordinary oaso Four Souls:, of multiple personality and=' noticed in these columns Ono Body.' laet year has been equalled, if not surpassed, by a ca&e carefully investigated during recent years by Dr. Morton Prince, a distinguished Boston physician. JA few years ago there, camo to Dr. Prince a Miss Beauchamp, a morbidly ehy and dolicate student. The doctor found that she was a good subject for hypnotic influence, under which she developed a second personality. By* means of hypnotic suggestion Dr. Prince effected a. groat improvement in her health, and all went well until one day a third "soul" or personality made its appearance quite suddenly as he was talking to her. The body of Miss Beauchamp was alive with a freakish intel-

ligence which called itself Sally and denied all knowledge of personalities number one and number two. '•'.Salty" was as lively and vivacious as Miw Beauchamp was sad and reserved.: She despised Miks Beauchamp as ono who went about "mtfoning," who read stupid old books, ivho studied languages and science. Sally knew no foreign tongue, spelled badly, and misunderstood< difficult words. The poor girl was soon obliged to confess that sho was no Jonger mistress of her mind and body for any long period. For hours and days together ftho would unaccountably "lose time." and find out subsequently that in those intervals ehe had played foolish pranks, told lies to her friends, or wa&ted her money. S'#> would awake to find herself dusty from a long walk in the country, , with « cigarette in her hand and her purso empty—for Sally was'fond of cigarettes and sumptuous lunches. Sally would write letters, which Mice Beauchamp, when recovering* her own consciousness, would find before her. In these notes the staid and reserved Student would be abused as a "chump" and a "sneak," and tho freaks of Sally when in possession of tho body would 1» detailed with, mischievous delight in a shower of taunts. Finding that Miss Beauchamp was nervous, Sally would send her an envelope of spiders, and would threaten mice end snakes to follow. But before long c fourth personality came upon the unfortunate girl— that of an a vera go woman of good health, selfish, ambitious, and ilj-tem-pered. Then,came the weirdest*part. of this strange etory. Personality No. 4 and.Sally each became award of the other's existence and, struggled for the possession of the body! Then, asa further bewilderment to Dr. rrinoe, Miss Beauchamp No/ 1 became deeply religious, and greatly wished to enter a con-vent,-a desire most repellent to 5 her other personalities. But the doctor claims a victory—temporary, at any Tate. ;, Hβ has amalgamated personalities pne and four, and for a year the real Miss Beauchamp has been in continuous existence/ and healthy in mind and body. But he is frankly apprehensive as to the future. "The , problem etill remains/ ho aays. "How far and for. how long can Miss Beauchamp be protected?"