HERE AND THERE

Evening Star, Issue 11890, 19 May 1903, Page 5

HERE AND THERE

Even in these days of ffiechafaicAl development the automatic bar Which was opened the other day at Le&ds cticket ground may be regarded as a decided, rtovelty. The total length of the bar is 25ft, and there is something almost human about the ready way in which the sixteen taps respond to the coins. Bad inofaey is promptly rejected* and should too in&ny .pence be placed in the slot bfaly the requisite amount is retained-, the surplus being returned to the customer. The character of liquor sold is also registered, the money being conveyed to special compartments allotted In the till for each drink. When a “mild and bitter” is required the tap turned one way will supply the necessary quantity of bitter, and when turned itt the opposite direction the half pint will be completed with mild. Pressure applied on a special stand will permit of a flow of water,, so that every customer can wash his OWn glass, and, in fact, be his own barman.

In the American ‘ Review of Reviews ’ Mfc Wellmah describes the great scheme of phjfltefcharing adopted by the United States Sttfel Corporation. He gays:—“An occttttfence of tremendous and far-reaching imBOrtahc© is the success of the United States BWfel Corporation’s wage-earner’s investment and profit-sharing plan. The d'recfcort of the Steel Corporation offered 25,000 share* of StoOk to their 168,000 employees. The books were to be kept open thirty days. No one dared believe that within this month, while the plan was so new, while all. Sorts of prejudices or feats might deter subscribers, and while the great mass of employees would still be studying and thinking about the offer, which to them must have Seemed somewhat novel and complicated, all or even one-half of the proffered stock would be taken dp. Yet* when the books closed on Saturday evening, January 31, it was found that the 26,000 shares offered had been subscribed for more than twice ove employees had subscribed for 51,125 shares. This was success—success complete and surprising.” Nearly one-sixth of all the employees of the Corporation thus became purchasers of the company’s preferred stock, and to the amount of about one million pounds. The company have 168.000 employees, of whom 1,750 receive salaries in excess of £SOO per year. Tbe president receives £20,000 per year, and there are twelve fonr-thousand-pounders.

The Marquis De Montebello is indignant because he has been relieved of the French Ambassadorship at St. Petersburg, and in an article recently printed in the ‘ Echo de Paris’ he says: “I spent half my fortune over my post. My father was one of my predecessors, and for certain reasons I was the leading member of the diplomatic body. This exceptional advantage is now in the bands of the German Ambassador, and it is certain that William the Second will spare no effort to add to its brilliancy. There can be no personal vanity in the remark that M. Bompard, who is the junior, and with diplomatic experience, will feel this inferiority.” The Marquis said he was periona grata with the Czar, and this seemed unpardonable. “His Majesty was much annoyed when I was recalled.’* Tbo ex-Ambassador added: “At Complegne the susceptibilities of the Ministers’ wives were aroused because my wife wore her bonnet at lunch. How could the marquise suppose that this form of etiquette would be ignored by them? They showed vexation because of her assiduous attentions to the Empress, the fact being that the Czarina is exceedingly timid, and constantly sougnt the advice of one who was admitted to her intimacy. If Mme. De Montebello hud wished the Empress would never have left her. The Ministers’ wives would not have committed so many blunders if my wife had been appointed lady-in-waiting. The baptism of my child was the last straw. I liad intended that the ceremony should lake place after the fetes at my own oi.ateau, with Prince Ouroussoff as god-father. Nicholas 11. would rot hear of it. He said to me: ‘To-morrow I shall remain at Compiegne, and we shall be able to find a spare half-hour for the christening.’ ”

During the trial of three men for the larceny of tin ore from the Mount Bischnff Company, which was held at Launceston recently, there occurred an incident probably without parallel in colonial courts, and savoring much more of what is made to occur when in some stage court Scene the hero of the piece is in the dock. The jurv (remarks a contemporary) had been out for two hours, and when they returned to the crowded court the foreman, in response to the usual question, replied: “ Not guilty.” A loud cheer burst from the spectators, hut was instantly suppressed, and the Judge proceeded to order the discharge of the prisoners, when the foreman interposed with the statement that, though the Jury found accused “Not guilty” on the charge of stealing the ore they found them guilty of receiving it. The spectators held their breath in amazement; the men in the dock, suddenly thrust from exultation into despair, appeared dazed and unable to grasp the full significance of the foreman’s “ postscript”: and amid absolute silence the Judge, having iisked the prisoners whether they had anything to say before sentence was passed upon them, committed them to five years’ penal servitude. ,

A story illustrating Lord Charles Berosford’s readiness of retort is to band. He one* had a Chinese servant called Tom Fat, who learnt to so imitate bis master’s signature that he managed to forge cheques to a considerable amount before he was discovered. This became known to some of Lord Charles's friends, and on a certain occasion, when, during a political speech, he observed that he thought a Mahomedan or a Buddhist had as good a chance of ultimately getting to Heaven as a Roman Catholic or a Protestant, a friend interjected, slyly: “But what about Tom Fat?” “That fat will certainly be in the fire,” came the quick answer.

Thomas A. Edison has always been verv jealous of his time (says the New York ‘ Post ’), and expects his employees to be equally careful lest a single minute that might yield an important invention should slip by, A year or two ago an old friend, whose son was just starting out in life, called upon Mr Edl-on and presented! his son. “My boy,” said the friend, “is about to start on his business career. Now I would like you to give him a few words of advice and a motto which he can adopt in bis work.” Mr Edison was very busv at the time with half a dozen engagements , pressing, but, looking up at the big dial of the clock in the laboratory and shaking the young man’s hand warmly, he said, with a smile that is peculiarly his own : “ Youn" man, the best advice I can give you is” ‘Never look at the clock.’” *" ’

An American gentleman who arrived at Genoa lately attracted attention to himself •6 account of his prodigality towards waiters, coachmen, and boatmen. He gave them pounds for even the most in-ignificant service. Later on he threw money from his window to the passers-by. So as to prevent the disorders that had already begun among the persons striving to get the coins, th ■ police put him under restraint. He had £2,o°° m his pockets. The police wired to his family in Boston.

Not much is known about Sir Hector Macdonald s married life (writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne 1 Argus ') but be seems to have gone through & marriage ceremony when he was a subaltern in Uit Gordon Highlanders. He visited at the house of a Mr Dunca, a teacher, and afterwards a shipowner, of Perth, and ran away With one oil his daughters, when she was only sixteen years old. The contracting parties were the only persons present in the room, and the union, such as it was, was kept secret. This absence of witnesses niade it necessary for Lady Macdonald, after she come of age, to bring an action of dedaration of marriage. This was in 1894, after the birth of a son, and when Sir Hector was in Egypt. Sir Hector did not resist Urn suit, and tho Court granted a de-

cdn9nning_ the legality of the union. Sir Hector Macdonald never reported to the War Office at afay time tnat be was a married man. He did not ®^ e h seti Lady Macdonald* but he Scknow*e r as ids wife, and the lady was on friendly terth% with all the members of ms fatnLy, The last time he,was in London visited Lady Macdonald at Dulwich, where shewas. living with her boy, a day piipil at Dultvich College.

According to the annual edition of Pen tness ‘Almanac’ of the German nobility thousands of waiters, coachmen, barmen, miners, and other workmen in the Unit u d States are recruited from the ranks of the German nobilitv. Herr Von Nordegg, an eminent authority on the aristocratic world °l u at^er^an d> fays, in commenting on the book, that a glance over its contents reveals the ominous fact that practically every blue-blooded family of the Empire is now represented in, the United States, where their sciona for the most part are engaged in the humblest employment. The London * Daily Mail ’ adds that not only in America and other foreign countries are scions of noble German families found in the lowest strata of society, but even in the Fathetland the names of the very oldest nobles which appear in the highest ranks of the army, court, and officialdom are encountered among coachmen, copyists, and common laborers. In all Berlin one lawyer only is of noble birth, while the city directory gives lists of hundreds of agents, constables, and skilled and unskilled laborers with fine old noble names. Marriage with commoners in these aristocratic circles is always regarded as, and generally really is, marriage for money. The German nobility, unlike the English, cannot separate from such marriages the odium of mesalliance. In German noble families, unlike the English nobility, the father’s title is inherited by each of his children, resulting in an endless jiosterity of counts, countesses, barons, and baronesses.