TOPICS OF THE DAY

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14659, 7 May 1913, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Tho death of tho famous Anecdotes soldier, Lord Wolseley,

of has revived many aneeWolseley. dotes and reminiscences

concerning him. Some of these ho was wont to retail himself for the delectation of his guests, as, for instance, tho story of his meeting with a Red Indian chieftain many years ago,' when ho was serving in Canada. Lord Wolseley rodo forward to interview tho chief, whom ho pictured as an impressive. Fonimoro Cooper species of individual. Instead, ho beheld an un- | romantic person clothed in a discarded dress coat and a pair of very dirty flannel trousers, who dropped his guest a strong hint that ho would not mind drinking his health. Lord Wolseley thereupon presented him with tho sum of half a dollar, rather wondering if the insult would entail his being tomahawked, but was relieved when tho chieftain replied ''Couldn't you mako it a dollar, sir?" Lord Wolseley also used to rclato how two dragoons were, for no reason save their uniform, refused drinks at tho I bar of \i Dublin hotel. Ho happened to bo in the bar in plain clothes. A* th" troopers wero retiring in good order, Lord Wolseley "halted" them and addressing tho barman said: "I can buy what I want horo, I suppose?" "Certainly, sir," said the bartender. Then servo these two gcntlomen with what they want," replied the General: "Gentlemen, what will yon drink with mc?" It is related that once Wolseley stopped ono of a number of orderlies who were hastening aloiy; with pails of steaming soup, and ordered him to remove tho lid. It was promptly removed. "Let mo tasto it," said the officer. "Hut plaze yer"—began tho orderly. "Let mc taste it, I say," repeated tho officer, and ho tasted it. "Disgraceful!" ho exclaimed a moment after, "it is for all tho world like dishwater-" "Plaso, yer honour," tho orderly remarked, "and so it is!" During the campaign in Egypt, a captured Arab, who refused to give information, was brought before Wolsoley, who said to him in Arabic: "Look here. I am a wizard, and will slay you and your masters. To prove that I am, I will take out my eye, throw it into the air, catch it and put it back in my head." And to tho horror of the Arab, Wolseley, who had a glass eye, took it out and performed tho announced feat with it. Tho result was that tho Arab surrendered in terror, and gave all tho information that was required of him,

"While tho first two-of tho Tho famous "three R's" .mamPassing tain their importance, tne of tho third shows signs of Pen. . becoming • a lost art.

London business men testify to the deteioration and disappearance of handwriting in modern business offices. One firm is trying to spur on the flagging energies of caligraphists by offering prizes to tho value of 75 guineas for specimens of handwriting of only four lines. Tho manager of a leading London commercial college is very emphatic about the passing of"the pen. "Five years ago," he says, "the employer took skill in writing more or less for granted, and enquired as to an applicant's ability to use a typewriter. Now tho query is just tho other way: Can the clerk use a pen legibly?" Of course, there are still a few operations left *in which tho pen is indispensible, but a candidate for commercial success must, adds the manager of tho college, prepare himself to handle intricate instruments of office machinery which ' his father would havo been unablo to sco the need of. Machines! aro even attacking the last stronghold of tho pen and inkstand, namely, their use for making entries, invoicing, billing and posting ledgers. One big company declares- emphatically its intention of absolutely abolishing the pen. "There is nothing that can't bo written by machines, and written better and quicker than tho pen can do it," is tho verdict of the manager of this company. Correspondingly, tho speed demanded from the typist has increased. Twelve years ago,the world's speed record was 82 words a mimito. last year it was 117 words. There seem no limits to tho possibilities of mechanical writing in the future. The typewriter, says the "Evening' Standard," is invading all spheres of tho social world. Most typewriter firms now provide machines with big, bold type for preachers to read from in the pulpit, with dainty typo for tin* social secretary or the college professor, italic typo for the author, and squaro typo for the children.' The pen may some day bo relegated to the collector's cabinet, together with the wax tablet. sand-box and other old-world curiosities! I With Mr Clifton Bin?A ham, who died a month I Popular or so ago, there passed j Song-writer, away a very wellJrnown and popular song-writer. The "Daily Mail" calls him "great," but whether, or not he can be called that depends upon what one means by tho word. He was certainly popular and prolific. His output was considerably over 2000 son--, —statisticians and biographers have net yet ascertained the exact number. Of his songs over 1600 have been published and set to music, and ho is said to have written on an average from seventy to eighty ballads a year, while the number of Christmas-card verses which flowed from his facile pen defies calculation. His compositions are of the sentimental variety, and aro to be found in moat homes in the Empire which boast a piano and a vocalist. Mr was the son of a Bristol bookseller, and attcr his father's death found himself, at tho age o f twenty, "out in the world and almost homeless." Some verses of his were accepted by Edmund

Yat-es, then the editor of a magazinecalled "Time," "who sent the. writer a cheque for 'threo guineas,' not so much for the intrinsic merits of the poems' as by way of encouragement to a young beginner on a thorny path." His first big success—though, as a matter of fact, ho never experienced failure! —was '" Love's Old Sweet Song," set to music by James Moiloy. Then Mr Bingham went in for the class of lyric known as ''dying children and angels," which was popular at the time, nntil, on a suggestion by Mr Frederic 11. Cowen that ho had "killed enough little children," ho adopted less harrowing themes. Mr Bingham used to tell an amusing tale dating ironi his "dyiug child , ' period. He went to visit a publisher with whom ho had done some, business in this class of goods, and when lie peo-sented himself the publisher stared at him in amazement. ''Good gracious," ho cried, "judging from your songs, I thought you were an old man with ono loot in tho grave!" Liko many purveyors of popular sentimental literature, however, Mr Uingham was quite inattor-ol-iact in his methods. Ho would turn out his touching little lyrics on tho tops of omnibuses, in underground trains, or anywhere. Ho used also to keep a book full of ideas for verses, and if his own ideas ran out, ho drew on those supplied him by admirers. ''When you have the thought and one Hue," he said oneo, summing up his "ars poetica" with a touch of unconscious cynicism, ''the other lines como almost as a matter of course." Ono of his most famous songs, ''The Promise of Life," was written without hesitation and without a correction. It reads liko that. Mr Bingham used to resent tho criticism that his songs wero sad, while insisting, however, that ho never cared to write on merely frivolous subjects. And, of course, in this he was wise, for sentimentality in the song, as in tho novel, may bo relied upon to exercise a wide appeal.