LITTLE THINGS ABOUT GREAT PEOPLE.

Evening Star, Issue 11068, 21 October 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

LITTLE THINGS ABOUT GREAT PEOPLE.

Whenever the Czar feels that he can do so with safety, when he is away- from the capital and Moscow, h<s takes a walk alone before breakfast. The Duke of Devonshire possesses a book for which his father refused an .offer of £20,000. It is Claude Lorrain's 'Book of Truth,' the rarest book in Europe, and an ■heirloom in the family. The German Emperor will drink no coffee but Mexican, supplies of which are regularly sent to him by the. German planters who have long being cultivating it on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Lady Londonderry is a peeress of varied accomplishments. She knows as much about politics as her husband, is well read on all agricultural matters, can manage a 3-acht, ■rod is an expert photographer. The Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway has an unenviable physical characteristic. Along the roots of all his teeth runs a bar or strip of bone. Whenever he has a tooth extracted this bone has to be cn( through. King George of Greece goes in for music in private, and his instruments are not those usually seen in royal palaces. He performs on hand-bells and on glasses of various sizes which give forth their notes on being touched by a wet finger-tip. President M'Kin'ley has a most remarkable collection of walking-sticks. There are more than 100 curious sticks from all parts of the world. Most„of them are of wood, but there are some of indiambber, and others of cork and stone. Mr Phil May, the caricaturist, smokes enormous cigars, and is always smoking. He often receipts an account by sketching his own face across that of the Queen on the stamp, including the cigar, which is as much a part of his face as his eyebrows. King Oscar of Sweden is tin ardent pedestrian, and on three or four days of the week he does a thirty-mile tramp. It is not an uncommon sight to see him return to the palace wet through. He cannot be persuaded to carry an umbrella, and he never takes shelter from the rain. The Czar has four separate services of horses and carriages—namely, the Russian, the French, the English, and the gala sets. The Russian set accompanies him wherever he goes. The gala set of horses consists of fifty perfectly-formed, white Hanovarians, with blue eyes. Queej*»Victoria has a miniature portrait of each of her grandchildren, taken in infancy. These portraits —nearly three doaen —are set in three bracelets, each in its own setting. When Her Majesty wears one of these bracelets she can see the pictures of one-third the number of her children's children. The Prince of Wales has only played in one real cricket match. That was soon aft er he had left the university, and it took place at the Vice-regal Lodge, Dublin. The result of his fielding was the missing of two easy catches, and when his turn !'t the wicket came round he was bowled 1 y the first ball—a slow lob. The Governor of Crete. Prince George of Greece, has two prominent characteristic - he is verv shv and exceedingly strong. His uncle, the late Czar Alexander, was a very strong man. and uncle and nephew had maintrials of strength together. During tie last .years of the Czar's life Prince George was proved to be the stronger. 'Pearson's Weekly.' Who would believe it, if they did not read it in print, that, the familiar word " donkey " is little more than a hundred yenrs old? No distinct account can be given of its origin. All that can be said is that, beginning as a slang word, it has worked itself into respectability, so as to be applied as an epithet of everyday use.