M.A.P. (Mostly About People.)

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2586, 21 August 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

M.A.P. (Mostly About People.)

The four daughters of the late Rev. G, B. Alacdonald all married remarkable men. One became the wife of Sir Edward Poynter, President of the Royal Academy; another is the widow of ir Edward Burne-Jones, the painter; a third married Air J. Loekw-ood Kipling and became the mother of the novelist. The other sister married the late Air Alfred Baldwin, who for many years represented the Worcestershire constituency, for which his son now sits. * * *

Airs Theodore Roosevelt, Miss Ethel Roosevelt, and Alasters Quentin and Archie Roosevelt, have jyst left New York to do a tour of Europe. They are travelling quite unostentatiously, Airs Roosevelt being without even a maid. When an attempt was made to interview her she said • pleasantly : “You know I am never interviewed.” Told that Air Roosevelt had been very cordial to the interviewer when he went away, she said, “I know all that. He enjoys that sort of tiling. I am just the opposite.” Aliss Ethel Roosevelt, asked to pose for a photograph, said, “No. AVe have been in the public eye for seven years, and have had enough of it. Give somebody else a chance!” .* * *•

The Earl of Tankerville, who has been in the public eye in connection with some curious goings-on at Chillingham Castle, is an unconventional but extremely accomplished peer, with a wife as accomplished as himsell. “Soldier and sailor too” (for he served in both army and navy), he has ranched in the Wild West, shot bears in the Rockies, exhibited exquisite miniatures of his own paintings in the Academy, thrown a stone 113 yards, over the Tweed, and beaten all-comers at singlestick and putting-the-shot at Northcountry sports. One of Lord Tankerville’s many gifts is music, and he has a singing voice of rare beauty. He sang for Air Moody at tho Chicago Exhibition, and in 1872 accompanied the veteran evangelist on his last mission m England, taking Air Sankey’s place as leader of the hymns. *

The Irish Chief Justice, Lord O’Brien, of Kilfernora, who kept his sixtyseventh birthday early last month, Is one of the very few men who have publicly enlisted the help of Heaven_ during an election and lost it. In 18/9 his lordship, who was then a plain barrister, with his way to make, was Parliamentary candidate for Claire. In the course of the contest, speaking at Ballyvaughan, he claimed to be returned as a “Catholic child of a Catholic father,” and then, speaking of the latter, the candidate declared, “His good deeds plead like angels trumpet-tongued rar me, and his memory descends like a gen clo dew from Heaven to bless the efforts of his Catholic child.” The “gentle dew from Heaven” was not an effective electoral influence. Lord O’Brien, or, as he then was, Air Peter O'Brien, Received 807 votes, while the successful candidate, The O’Gorman Alalion, uas returned by 1661 votes. * * *

An interesting offshoot of the House of Lansdowne which has survived is the Earldom of Orkney, which serves to remind us liow largely tlie newer British aristocracy is recruited from the old. Lords Russell, Howard of G’ossop and Howard de Walden, Boyne, Alontagu of Beaulieu, Temple, Churchill, and Dunmore arc scions of the ducal houses of Bedford Norfolk, Abercoru, Buceleuch. Buckingham, Alarlborougli, and Atholl. Two earls, Granville and Ellesmere, are younger sons of tho house of Sutherland, while Lord Ellesmere also represents the extinct dukedom ot Bridgewater. The Cecils, like the Fitzmaurices, have seen several peerages conferred upon their younger members. Lord Poulett traces to the Paulets, Alarquises of AVincliester; Lord Wharncliffe to the House of Bute, Lord Langford to the Earls of Bective, and Lord Fitzhardinage to the Earls of Berkeley. And there are others. J *- * *

Prince Buelow, whose resignation has for months been a world topic of International politics, tells a droll story of a previous change in his career. When the Emperor called on him to serve as Foreign Minister, he was Ambassador at Rome, -where his wife was born, and where he spent the early stages of his diplomatic career. This is how his French cook, who had served him for over twenty years, received the news of his master’s appointment. “I sent for him,” said the Prince, “and told him that we were about to leave Rome for Berlin, and that our future abode would be less commodious than the Palazzo Caffarelli, and the kitchen would certainly be much smaller • did he think he would care to go with us?” The cook asked for half an hour’s consideration, returned, and said : “I have made up my mind to stay with you. It would be a shame to desert such kind emploj T ers because they had fallen on evil days.” The Prince told this story one day to the Emperor, to his intense amusement, and some time after his Majesty presented the faithful servant with a gold watch bearing the Imperial cipher, and a very handsome chain. * * * t

An old man living in a hut in the country has just celebrated his one hundred and sixth birthday, says the Copen hagen correspondent of the ‘London Standard.” Since attaining the age of one hundred years, he has on each birthday received a< letter of congratulation from the reigning Sovereign. The centenarian enjoys complete health, and is following events with the greatest interest. He is a daily reader of the newspapers, but he has never seen a railway train or a steamship, and when, some weeks ago, a motor passed his door, he regarded it as something almost supernatural.

An honor only inferior to that of being the last of the Senior Wranglers lias been attained by Mr C. L. Holthouse, of St. John’s College, Cambridge, namely, the distinction of being the “wooden-spoonist.” Mr Holthouse, in fact, obtained bottom place in the last Mathematical Tripos, and for this he has been presented with a huge and richly ornamented wooden spoon. It is stated of Mr Holthouse that lie lias “taken considerable interest in rowing and Rugby football.” That is the way, no doubt, ho gained his eminent academic position at the bottom of the Tripos, The wooden spoon appropriately enough, is shaped like an oar-blade at one end, and is quite big enough to pUnt with. Very likely the possessor will regard it as better fitted to aid him in his rowing than,-in liis mathematics. ■