HERE AND THERE.

Evening Star, Issue 12067, 12 December 1903, Page 11

HERE AND THERE.

Carious divorce pleas are occasionally raised in the American courts. The wife of William Georgian, at New York, has sued for a divorce on the ground of cruelty. She alleges that her husband compelled her to wear shoes too small for her feet, once cutting up and burning a pair that fitted, which hi replaced by small ones. The wife of William Lucas, of Louisville, who is also seeking a divorce, alleges several " acts of cruelty," one being the retention of her eye-glasses, without which she states she is practically helpless.

Dr Brice, of the White Star liner Germanic, holds the record for ocean trips. He has made 804 trips across the, Atlantic, and hopes it 900 before he. dies. He is now seventy-five years old, and his ambition is to achieve the 900 th trip and then die and be buried at sea, "I can't understand the feeling people have against burial at sea," said the old surgeon. "For me, that is the only burial I desire. A weight to my feet, then overboard into the sea, down among the fishes—that is good enough for me. May my last voyage be the one on which I die. I don't want my old body to rest on shore. I'm afraid I'm an old sea-dog, and I want the sea to be my last resting-place."

From Mr Morley's 'Life of Gladstone' we get glimpses of the impression which Disraeli's oratory produced on Mr Gladstone. Two references are made to it in private notes which he wrote from the House of Commons. During the debates of the 1840-46 period this was what he said: " Disraeli showed the marvellous talent that he has for summing up with brilliancy, buoyancy, and comprehensiveness at the close of a debate. You have heard me speak of that talent before, when I have been wholly against him. Never, last night or at any other time, would I go to him for conviction, but for the delight of the ear and the fancy." The second reference occurs in a note, dated December 18, 1853, referring to the famous occasion when Disraeii spoke until earlv in the morning in defence of his Budget, and Gladstone followed with a speech which completely crushed him. "Disraeli rose at twenty minutes past ten, and from that moment, of course, I was on tenterhooks, except when his superlative acting, and brilliant oratory from time to time absorbed me, and made me quite forget that I had to follow him. He spoke until one. His speech as a whole was grand—l think the most powerful I ever heard from him." The only defects in the speech were the personalities, which, as Mr Gladstone says, gave him topics to begin with. Of the qualities of Mr Gladstone's oratory—the greatest of the nineteenth centurv— the world is well aware. •

During dinner a few weeks ago at the forest residence of Mr Burroughs (says the New York 'Mail and Express') President Roosevelt turned to his venerable host and remarked: "Burroughs, I wish I could inspire as much interest in any man as vou do in me. You know, I have read* all you have written, and I love to hear you talk; but lam always asking myself some new question about "you. I never knew until a few years ago" why vou called your first book ' Wake-Robin/ and I can't* see how this delightful place ever got such a name as 'Subsides.'" "Can't tell you, sir, exactly." Mr Burroughs is reported to have replied. "But when I was a voungster I knew a man whom we called ' ofd Slabsides.' He was a Presbyterian minister, a tall, lank, melancholy man, and my father used to lend me out to him to cut bait when he went fishing. He had a glass eye and a chronic catarrh. One cold March day, when the fish were biting, he was greatly annoyed bv having to resort almost constantly to* his handkerchief. Finally he turned to me and said : ' Johnnv. don't you know some nice bov I could hire on a small salary to blow my nose?' "

fhe Duke of Marlborough's new mansion. Blamford House, in Curzon street. London, is approaching completion. Its cost will be more than half a million sterling, apart, from the fitting and furnishing, which will absorb another £300.000. The house built by Bjrney Barnato in Park lane, and now occupied by one of the Sassoons, is a cottage compared with the noble palace that has been set up with the Vanderbilt money in Curzon street. The place contains 15*0 rooms. There are also sixty-five separate chambers in the basement. * Every pane of window glass is a quarter of an inch thick. The batluooms have, silver fittings and silver heating-coils. The panels and wood-carving and marble-carving have been done by French and Belgian experts. It is all magnificent. The description given bv one of the daily papers reminds ys of the home of Miss Kilmansegg or an American oil king.

I here was an impressive ceremony at Heidelberg (Transvaal) on October 18. when the remains of eight Boer soldiers who fell in the war were reinterred. General Christian De Wet was present. With rugged but moving eloquence he pronounced a eulogy on " the deathless dead " whom he had known in life. His speech stirred the better feelings of Afrikanderdom to the very depths., In marked contrast to General Botha's utterances, Genral De Wet declared that it was his intention to absolutely abstain from politics, in perfect lovaty to the Vereemging Peace Compact, He reminded the Dutch peope. of their noble Huguenot forefather-.;, who adopted African exile for religion's sake. Th e v must remember the glorious traditions built up by the great Afrikander people ; but. at the same time do what was absolutely their ciuty.

One of the Conservative candidates for the recent London County Council elections in his address said:—"l am a licensed victt.aller. and my address is the Flying Horse 267, Borough. I pursue an honest and legitimate trade. I pay my rates and taxes —on an assessment, let me remark, which is most unfair as compared with other tiades—and my creditors fully and fairly. I do my duty to my neighbor, and mv level best for those in distress not less freelv than any teetotaller I know. Ido not rail at any man because he chooses to abstain, and I have but little respect for the man who, because he disagrees with me. would hold me up to public scorn and ruin me if he could. Put me down as I am. The public must take me or reject me with a full knowledge of the. facts."

A new world's record for long-distance running was made recently by a passenger train on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. A stretch of 128 iriles was covered in 125 minutes. No stops wera made. Duriivr the run the speed of S5 miles an hour was reached. This was the maximum. Bursts of speed at 70 and 75 miles an hour were frequent. The train was made up of five cars, and was pulled by a locomotive of the new Atlantic type, weighing 177,0001b. An extra large water tank helped in this performance, saving stops for water.

Eating small quantities of cordite has been discovered to produce a similar effect to the taking of a powerful narcotic. Each Army cartridge contains 60 cylindrical strands of cordite, and when Major Jennings. D.5.0., learned that the men while in South Africa were eating these (says the ' British Medical Journal') "he experimented on himself by sucking a strand. He found that it tasted sweet, pleasant, and pungent. but it resulted in giving him the roost recking, splitting headache he ever had in his life, and it lasted for thirty-six hours. Dissolved in tea, cordite produces an almost immediately exhilarating effect, "inciting to almost demoniacal actions." This condition is followed by heavy sleep . and stupor lasting five to twelve" hours, according to the quantity taken-

was that over which Dr Ure presided at Glasgow University. To that anatomical theatre was taken the body of a murderer who had been hanged for an hoar, but whose neck had not been broken. A galvanic battery was applied to the body with startling results. In the first experiment, every muscle of the body was immediately agitated with convulsive shuddering movements, • the legs were thrown out with such violence as to overturn one /jf the assistants. Next, full, laborious Breathing was produced. A third experiment sent every muscle of the face into "fearful action; rage, horror, despair, anguish, and ghastly smiles united their hideous expression in the dead man's face." The onlookers for Ihe most part fled in terror from the theatre; one swooned. The concluding trial caused the corpse to point with his fingers at each of the remaining spectators in turn. Then they dared do no more. Dr Ure in deliberating upon the phenomena believes that thev might have brought the man to life, which he considered undesirable in a murderer, and which perhaps would have been contrary to law.

The famous Eiffel Tower is to disappear. The Municipal Committee of " Old Paris" have decreed that the huge structure shall be pulled down at the expiration in 1910 of the concession held by the Eiffel Tower Company. The Paris architects complain that the tower interferes with their plans for the embellishment of the Champs de Mars. On the other hand, says the Paris correspondent of the ' Financial Times,' after returning twice over in dividends the capital invested on its construction, the Eiffel Tower has now ceased to pay a-.? a financial investment, and the company are annually losing a considerable sum' through the expense of keeping the tower in repair. Various schemes are now on foot for removing the edifice to some other place. It has even been proposed that it shall be acquired by the State and set up somewhere on the French coast to act as a sort of gigantic lighthouse. It is doubtful, however, whether such a scheme would be- .'seriously entertained by the authorities. The alternative is to sell the tower to someforeign capitalist desirous of pulling it down and taking it to America. Here, again, however, there is a difficulty, for the actual cost of tearing down the Eiffel Tower is estimated to be. not less than £IOO,OOO, while the cost of re-erecting it wculd be about the same. Meanwhile, the tcwer is to be pulled down at latest in 1910.