NOTES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 13411, 1 May 1909, Page 7

NOTES.

An African visitor says Olive Sohreiner lives en her husband's farm, 300 miles from Capetown, rarely quitting it. •"She has. grown fat. wears thick boots, ar.d tucks up her petticoats in wot weather." "Wo hope thiT is no li'xn. for the commentator was a lady. "And she is so queer; she sleeps at all hours, and gets up in the middle of the night and ""drinks coffee." The lady, it appears, was not acquainted with tV th rills ar.d throes of the literary Hie. "And she writes a great deal; but it is only to be published .after her dr-ith." Sr.'l gossip, this. "An:l fh" Vad one child, and it died.*' A l .', is said. A. S. Walker tolls '"Chambers's Jour md" thai Huskiu threw "a large .quarto at- Irs head, because bo dared t'i question tho proportion of Miohnei A'-2<-!n*s "M.--.-e.s." Tl:on. "Flow havo you soon it?" ho naked. "Half a d.»i:«>n :Li>ii's.'" "'Good heavens! no man should dare to give an opinion on a woik of .irt unless ho has scon it oT'.«:-v day for <dx .months." There i.» something in that, b'sid?s extravagance. "G ■■■•■!' or "bid' may br> fairly attributed .it sight; but ''how good" rakes th!« to measure. An excellent w-.iy of livinr with pictures is to keep en.->_ hang'vg at the lied-feot and look €".*■ it for five minutes in the morning. If you <!■.•> not weary of it in a week it i-5 worth hiving. There is plenty of meretricious work that will not endure three day*' inspection. "When nil the charm is on the surface, and there is n:> permanent power of suggestion, criticism i.s soon over. I have tested Australian black-and-white in that way. and—how well h Phil "May original wears! ''Why?" asked an English critic recently, reviewing the English opera fcenoon :n the".Saturday Review," "why h tho steam always late at Covont Garden? Quito an effective wr-a of steam-curtains can be made in Wagners operas; bat a mere faint vapour suggestive of washing-day ir> worthless. What hunpens is that in tho moment indicated in the score, when steam clouds should rise, the steam is ik) doubt turned on; but tho pipes being of some length, and probably tiill vf condensed •steam and cold water, if is quite a minute before any steam appears. When it dees come, it is too lute, and there :■> never enough of *':. Thero :> a dreadful parsimony about the provision of steam at tho Royal Opera." This show:; how hard it is to be truly musical nowaday*. It was much easier "v.hen Miuic, heavenly maid, was young:,'.' and blew csctacy out of n reed pine, or merely thumped two Lanes for an enraptured audience. The allusion to the "dre-idfnl parsimony" of th? Covert Garden management recalls a story told mo by a Christchurch girl about her visiT to Wellington. '•I was all ready to go to a dance at Oriental Bay, when tho friend who was going to take mc sent word that he was nearly mad with toothache, and was off to a dentist, and couldn't come, and I didn't know what to do. "However, I decided *o go alone and chance coming home, and went, and had a first-rate time, and it was over about one o'clock. So Mrs said she'd get a gentleman to take mc hime, and she brought him \:,v and introduced him. Oh, he did look sulky! Ho didn't live my way at all. "He said, 'Are you ready?' in such a tone .'and I said 'Yes,' and we came along, I.nd ho didn't speak one word all the way. 1 was staying in Kelburne, and when we got to the foot of the hill said: 'Thank you very much ; but I know my way now, and 1 needn't trouble you any farther. Good night.' "So he said 'Good night' in a regular growl, and marched oft. But I.hadn't gone very far when I hoard him coming after mc. So I waited and he" came up, and what do j*oti think ho said? Ho said, 'I s'pose I'd better go homo with you, or I'll get into trouble with Mrs .' "1 told him I was very much obliged to him, but thero was really no necessity; but he was quite obstinate, so wo went, along again, climbing up one of those awful Wellington hills; and he didn't offer mc his arm or anything; just marched ahead; poor mc following after very humbly. I tell you, 1 thought a lot! "So wo came right to the gate of the house where I wss staying, and I thanked him again as nicely as I could, and said 'Good night, Mr , I'm ever so much obliged to you,' and offered my hand. "And whit do you think? Ho refused it! 'Oh no,' he said, 'I've said good night already,' aud off he marched! So I calleel out after him, 'I think you're very sparing of your good nrdvt!' "Xo-; all the Wellington boys' are not like that, thank goodness!"