LADY OF HOLLINWOOD HOUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 99, 24 October 1938, Page 3

LADY OF HOLLINWOOD HOUSE

Seventy years ago, on July 22, 1868, a strange funeral took place at Harpurhey Cemetery, Manchester, says the "Manchester Guardian." It was that of Miss Beswick, of Hollinwood House, who died about a hundred years before her burial. She had a horror of being buried alive, and by her will-she left most of her property to her physician on condition that he undertook to keep her above ground as long as possible. Quite agreeable to this condition, the doctor mummified the body by coating it with tar and wrapping it in bandages. In this state it figured for many years as an exhibit in the Manchestser Natural History Museum, then in Peter Street, until the commissioners decided that it was an undesirable specimen and ordered it to be buried. Meanwhile Miss Berwick's ghost was said to have been haunting Hollinwood House, and there was also a legend that she had hidden valuable jewellery somewhere en the premises during the Rebellion The house has long ago been taken down, but no trace of the treasure was ever found. ____„_» ferred to Lillas Pastia's fried-fish shop lat Triana. j CARMEN'S DEATH. Merimee's Jose kills the officer, his Carmen is a prostitute. Does that sound more squalid than the opera story? It is not so in effect. The operatic Jose is a weakling; the original is a man and a half. And the original Carmen? A wild animal—not so much vicious as simply conscienceless. "Poor child!" are Jose's last words. He has killed her, for she had tired of him. " 'So ypu are in love with Lucas (the picador)?' I asked her. •Yes, I did fall in love with him for a while, and I did with you, and less with him, perhaps, than you. And now I'm not in love with anyone at all, and I hate myself for having loved you.' . . . And she said, 'Love you again? Impossible! Live with you? I will not.' A fury seized me. I pulled out my knife. I wanted her to be afraid and ask for pity, but that woman was a demon. . 'No, no, no!' she said, stamping her foot. And she pulled off a ring I had given her and threw it into the bushes. I stabbed her twice. ... At the second blow she fell without a cry. I can still see her great dark eyes staring at me; then they clouded over and were shut." "Poor child!" are his last words. It was the fault of the Cale"—that is, "the blacks,"' the gipsies—"for having brought her up badly. . . ."*' No, indeed, Bizet did not properly appreciate his subject. It was, if he had only looked deeper into it, more than just a police court case: it was a properly tragic subject. And still there remains much to be said for his opera, especially when we think of its successors, "Cavalleria Rusticana" and ihc like.

TO SERVE COUNTRY

"OLD COMRADES" REUNION

Mention of what he termed the apathy of some of the youth of the [country towards military training was made by Major-General J. E. Duigan, Chief of Staff of the New Zealand Forces, at the sixth reunion of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Permanent Force Old Comrades' Association on Saturday evening. He had been speaking of the invaluable training a person received in the Army, and said it was remarkable the number of men who had started off soldiering and had since made great successes of their business lives.v The discipline one learned in the Army, he said, was a help for all time. "I would just like to mention," he added, "the apathy of some of the youth of the country who are not training at all. It seems a great shame that these boys nowadays are not worrying about anything except enjoying themselves; they are not thinking of their country at all, and a little discipline would do them a lot of good. They should think of others a little before they think of themselves." A few were keen on serving their country, however, he said, and only last month fifty men were sent away to Auckland, forty-three were sent to Fort Dorset, and another sixty would be sent next month. Two hundred special reservists were in training now. The country must have men ready in] case of emergency; it was just as necessary as it was "to have firemen ready in case a fire started. "We are putting our house in order with coastal defence as lar as we can with equipment from Home," he said, "and great changes have taken place."

The function was an outstanding success, a large number of old campaigners joining in the choruses with a* will. The Police Band rendered a number of pleasing items and there were many individual items —songs, saxophone solos, and sleight of hand tricks. Among those present were two members of the old Armed Constabulary, j Mr. J. Spence, president of the association, welcomed Major-General Duigan, Colonel Cowles, president of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association, and Colonel H. E. Pilkmgton. He said that the oldest member of the association, Mr. Charles Grey, of Island Bay, was unable to be present ,on account of ill health. Mr. Grey, he said, was 90 years of age, and he suggested that a letter of congratulation should be sent to him. The suggestion was received with acclamation. Since the last meeting of the association, Mr. Spence added, the name of Major F. M Turner, who died on September 24, had been added to the Roll of Honour. Members stood in silence as a mark of respect of "absent comrades," and this was followed by the singing of Stevenson's "Requiem." . Major-General Duigan, in proposing the toast of the Old Comrades' Association, said it was an excellent thing to have such an organisation. As one got older one looked back and it was nice to come together once in a while. He referred to the other branch of the association, in Auckland, and said that as time went on there was no doubt that the organisation would grow. • He was particularly pleased to see the members of the old Armed Constabulary present. ~,,,. Colonel Pilkington replied to the toast. He paid a tribute to the executive of the association, "by whose hard work the reunions were made possible, and he also expressed appreciation of the entertainment again provided by members'of the Police Force. They played an important part in making the function a success. The increased membership in recent months—from 1301 to 2i4_augured well for the future of the aSC DoloneTcowles said that in these days of peril the youth of New Zealand did not show that love of country which he was convinced, deep down in their hearts, they possessed. He considered what love of country they did have was covered up by a lot of cynical talk. "I hope some means toII be taken," he added, "to induce these men to come forward for training.