M. A. P.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2128, 29 February 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

M. A. P.

(Mostly About People.)

Lady Helen Griniston, tlie eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Verulam, lias just secured her certificate as an expert butter-maker from the Essex County Council. She went through tin l tliroe weeks’ course in the work of cooling and separating milk, churning, making butter, and managing a dairy at the County Dairy School at Chelmsford, and proposes to take over tho superintendence of the dairy at Gorlia minify.

The world loves a lover, and for that- reason is deeply .interested, al tho moment in. the doings of .l’r.ince George of Greece, who is to marry Princess Marie Bonaparte. The world also loves a brave man, and has not. forgotten how Prince George saved an Emperor’s life some years ago-.--In a place of honor in the Winter .Palace at St. Petersburg hangs a walking-stick which, il it could speak, would tell the story of how .Prince George saved the Czar from a murderer's blow. The Royal cousins were walling through the streets of a Japanese! town during the celebration of a religious festival, when a fanatical poll ennui aimed at the Czar with a heavy bludgeon. The blow must have killed Nicholas-—then the Cz.arowittli—had not Prince George averted it, and knocked his assailant down with his stick.

it is interesting to learn that the Ka : -;er has brought to England the far /ns Holienzollern talisman, which far centuries lias been credited with a supernatural power to protect its wearer from harm of any kind. This Imperial talisman, a massive gold ring with a square, dark colored stone, which the Emperor is said to wear on the middle linger of his left hand, lias a highly romantic history, dating from the famous days when his ancestors, the Margrafs of Nuremberg, followed their leaders to the capture of the Holy Sepulchre from the Moslems. The ring, which was captured in a hard-fought battle under tlm walls of Jerusalem, came into the possession of Margraf Ulrich, from whom it lias descended to liis successors general ion after generation, as a highlyprized heirloom. The sentence from tho Koran which adorned the ring wlien worn by Saladin and liis successors has been removed and a Latin cross engraved in its place.

Sir Charles Sanfley, the veteran baritone, whoso knighthood has delighted all lovers of music, confessed to the write;- not long ago that some curious criticisms have been -passed regarding liis voice during' the fifty years lie has been singing before the public. The most amusing was that of a sailor friend, who. while expressing liis great admiration for -Sir Charles's voir;', invariably toned down his words of praise with the remark: “All the same, Charlie, you’re a good sailor spoiled. You ought to be ordering your men on board ship, instead of bawling and squalling your voice away in a stuffy theatre.” A fair sli ire of the ups and downs of life have fallen to iSir Charles Santley. He returned to London, after liis training in Italy, without a penny in his pocket. He was half starving, and was compelled to pawn liis .portmanteau to raise sufficient money to pay a railway fare. But Sir Charles wiis ever an optimist, anil .married -Miss Kemble two years after his debut in London, although at the time liis sole wealtli was a £lO note.

It may he news to many people th it Lady Malle, who has oxpressid her intention of settling permanently in London, after years of residence abroad, possesses the unique title of “Violinist to the Queen.” As a matter of fact, Queen Alexandra numbers Ladv Halle amongst her personal friend's, and quite recently Her Majesty sent, a letter to the iamous violinist, saying how welcome sue would be in London. Lady Halle, who made liei professional debut ill England when she was ten years old, as TYilholiiiiiie Neruda, is one of the family of Nerudas who for a century and ii hilt have been famous in .Moravia as violinists. Her father was nil ominist, and nresided over the or-o-an at the cathedral at Brniin. As a child she- was permitted to have a seat, bidden from sight, in the organloL. There, as in other Catholic cathedrals, they have an orchestral accompaniment to the organ, and it was-tiie violins. Lady -Halle remembers. which most delighted her young heirt. Long before her first maiviane, at twentv-four, to Ludwig Norman, the Swedish musician, Lady Halle’s fame had penetrated to every music-loving centre in Europe .he married the late Sir Charles Hallo nineteen years ago, and his been a widow for the last twelve years.

“Sometimes people try to secure my services for a drawing-room performance for nothing, by asking me to their house as a guest and subsequently asking me to play,” says Mr Mai K Hambolirg ill tlie January number of Cassell’s Magazine. “1 am strongly opposed to this method ol cheaply entertaining one’s friends. It is grossly unfair to.the artist, whose work is his livelihood, and remember, ho has spoilt years of his life and probably a. large fortune in bringing the former to a high state of perfection. 1 remember one time, at btuttgait, Where 1 had given a recital, 1 was asked by a lady, whom 1 'knew slightly, to come to a dinner party one Sunday evening. The day before she very kindly asked me out for a drive in her carriage in the afternon, and a very enjoyable drive it was. When ve were returning she asked me il 1 would plav- the next night at liei party. ‘I will ho charmed to do so I replied, and added, much to lierdis<nist WicTclisappointment, I fear, my manager,' you know, will inform you of my terms. 1 hate discussing business business details’. I did not go to the party, as a matter id fact, niir did she communicate with my manager.”

Mine. Tetrazzini, who made such a sensation at the Covent Garden Opera this season, writes an interesting autobiography in M.A.P. (Dec. 14.) “In lluenos Ayres,” she says, “I sang Lucia no fewer than fifty-four times. The fifth performance was made the occasion of a great fete, and the President was present. The theatre was decorated. That perhaps was to be expected. What I certainly could not b.ave expected was that the whole route along which 1 had to go from my hotel to the theatre was decorated too. From Buenos Ayres I went to Bio and other towns, and then to Russia, Sail Francisco, and Cuba Then T. went to Mexico, where the people are devoted lovers of music, and they made my life very pleasant for me. At Guadalajara the opera house is half as big again as Covent Garden and holds over four thousand people. It was a wonderful sight to see it packed from floor to ceiling.”

In the venerable Abbey, which is the shrine of many proud memories and thrilling associations, the mortal remains of Lord Kelvin last week found their last resting-place. ‘He sleeps as is fitting and just,” says the Times, “by the side of Sir Isaac Newton, the great pioneer in the science to which Lord Kelvin devoted the intellectual energies of a long life of untiring activity. A brilliant and virions assemblage of mourners testified alike to liis dominating position in the scientific world, and to the number of points at which he was in contact with the practical activities of liis time. The King paid a last tribute to the great subject 'whom lie had delighted to honor in liis life, the whole academic and scientific organisation of the country was fully represented, while foreign learned Societies, notwithstanding great obstacles of time and distance, did homage to one who was honored" everywhere learning is cherished. While the world joins with us in lamenting the loss of one whose services transcended all political divisions and geographical differences, we in this eounry have lost a good citizen as well as a great man,” The total estate of Lord Kelvin is reported to be nearly £1,000.000. The property passes to his widow, Lady Kelvin, absolutely.