TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13364, 4 March 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Tho nose of Pepita ArA .riola, the little Spanish Virtuoso hoy pianist who played of with tho best orchestra Throe. in England at tho age

of eight, has been quite put out of joint by his stop-eister, aged three. Pillar Osorio is perhaps the most- extraordinary prodigy in the history of music. When she is older she may be jio better than a dozen other pianists, but the fact that eh© gave a public recital at the ago of three (to be precise., she was a few 'weeks short of four) gives her a niche •in tho temple of fame. The reeitaJ took pl-ace in Leipsig, a centre of musical culture, and attracted a great deal of attention. The. Berlin correspondent of a, London paper reports that she played a number of classical pieces with ■•astonishing verve- ajid correctness of execution and touch." "Her achievement is all the more remarkable because she plaj-ed without a single note, having learnt solely by oar and memory. Little Pillar Osorio's musical talent is regarded not only as an artistic, but also a scientific wonder. Men of science are interested in the (Westion as to how the brain, of an infant of three years old can be capable ol the- mental effort required to grasp all rho intricacies of classical pieces which this infant prodigy played cor-ret-tly before a critical audience at Leipzig." Thi.s amazng child even composes. Berlin also applauded her playing, and marvelled at- the wonder of it. The story goes that she was discovered ojio morning, at the ajo of twa. trying to pick out on the piano tho song with which her nurse put to iJoop. Hex education is not behirr forced, and she plays only when the whim seizes her. Her dniiv life is-the life of an ordinary child, most- of her time being; spent with toys.

Kvery now an<l then rl'.o goos to tho in hor pVayroom and satisfies a UMisif.il impni.so. While playing a B:?C't!i'>von number in Br:lin before an .nvit-r , *! yudnnrp ahe truddonly jumped iix her itool, and boyan txa piay with

a toy motor car rhe had brought with her. Her mother was also a prodigy, and developed into a musician of note.

It is an interesting Tho question how much Value great commanders are of indebted for their s:icHistory. cess to the campaigns of other generals. It is argued by some that -a Napoleon solves the problems confronting him entirely by his own senilis, alK i does not stop to think whether Hannibal or Marlborough or Frederick the Great were <*vex in a similar position. In all efficiojit armies, however, tho study of military history is imposed on officers, and it shouid not be difficult to obtain plenty of instances of its value. Lieut.CcJonel Jarvis, of the London Yeonianry, supplies ono. Addressing his regiment tho other day. he told them that tho exact date of the relief of Mufeking was fixed by Lord lloberts soon ait* r he landed in Capetown in January, 1900, to take over the command of the army. In February General Phimer told pome of his officers that he had received instructions that liafekiiig was not to be relieved until May ibth, and that their work meanwhile was to keep tie Boers in t'iiat vicinity busily employed. As a matter of fact Male-king was relieved on May li tihi. ijonio years afterwards Colonel Jarvis .Lord Koberts why it was that May lSt.'h tvas fixod for tiie relief. Lord Koberts replied by asking him if he had ever r#wi "istojieivaH Jackson -, —presumably the masicrly book on tJio great American commander's work in tiio iiciid, by tho late Colonel Heudere>on., wtou was ti.-en on Lord Koberts's aw.ll". Lord lioherts went on to teil how '•fcjuinewall Jack&on" had Jumped-him. When he arrived m fekmth Africa in January he found everybody

"up against a Urick wail," and unable to move, and ihe thought wiiat Jackson would have done under tiiose ciircuins.uim.es. "Ho rememberod that whenever operations came to a similar deadlock in the American "War, tttone•■vali Jackeon ujvariubiy coliocU'd what forces he could, slipped in between two of tjic columns thus iicid up, and made a dash at Washington; tiiat all history pointed to i,ho fact that pooplo of all nations had a sentimental feelijig of revtu-oxKo for their capital, and always l'eil back to protect' it when 'Jnireai-aned, and in the American Wax this was so much the case that Jacksun's strategy invariably had the effect of setting everybody going again. Hβ therefore cam© to the conclusion tikat lie would collect what forces he could and attack Bloeiufojitoin, for this , would have the effect of automatically setting'evewything going again." It would be early in March before he reached Bloemfontein, and he would have to stay there for some time to make lias lines of communication good, and the Boers round Aiafeking, on his left ilank, must b© kept quiet until he had advanced sufficiently far Jiorthwards for their preseneo to be of small importance. He calculated that -this would be some timie in May, amd informed Baden-Powell that he could not bo relieved until the 18th of that month. The plan was carried out to the letter, with a success that is a matter of history. Despite the efficiency A Lesson of the much-vaunted from Franco. British system of local government and the. ready obedience the averace Briton is supposed to yield to those in authority over him, there are still many valuable, lessons to be learned from the practice in foreign parts, all calculated to appreciably raise the standard of British good citizenship. Nowadays in Paris anyone eating an orange is certain to bring himself under the closest surveillance of the police. The reason ij a practical order recently issued 6y M. Lepine, Prefect of Police, making it a punishable offence to throw orange or banana peels into the street. Whether from painful personal experience or as the result of judiciously ©xorted pressure from elsewhere, M. Lepine is no doubt right in thinking that this detestable habit is a danger to the lives and limbs of the gay Parisians under his immediate care. The order oi the Prefect is absolute—no peels or vegetable refuse of any kind are to bo thrown into the street or on to the pavement. They may not even be thrown into the gutter. The remedy, therefore, for the incorrigible orange eater is to wrap the peel up in paper and carry it home, to be offered uflf subsequently upon the altar of the family dust-pan. In France, however, the police have much wider power than in Anglo-Saxon communities. In the light-hearted republic M. L© Prefect is a personage of overwhelming weight and influence, before whom eveji M. Le Maire may feel uncomfortable. It is one of the compensations for tho plain austerity of a democracy that the outward and visible signs of law and order should sometimes eclipse the effulgence cast from the light and leading of representative heads of the common people. It is difficult to believe that any English community would tolerate the minatory behests of a glorified policeman, even though they should bo delivered at the point of a. particularly persuasive bayonet. In the instance under notice, the despotic power of a republican democracy appears to have been most wisely directed, and the whole arrangement affords luminous illustration of the fact that we as a race have not yet reached a plane of perfection in local government from which municipal thou-shalt-nots can be latd down with a tolerable certainty of their being implicitly observed. So far as our own civic affairs are concerned the communit3- has first to learn how not to covet its neighbour?! theatre eeat, ere the hope may reasonably be entertained that it will be prepared t<}_ devour the succulent orange and to nibble the nourishing banana without occasioning risk to the lives andi limbs of others. France may #iot he able to keep her cradles full, but at least she has learned the secret of keeping her gutters empty of bewildered citizens.