OTHER LANDS.

Lake County Press, Issue 2136, 20 September 1906, Page 7

OTHER LANDS.

A curious account has recently' been published of the average number of letters received daily by European sovereigns. The Dope breaks the record, as his daily average of letters and papers reaches the enormous number of from 22,000 to 23,000. Thirty-five secretaries are kept fully employed with his Holinesses correspondence. King Edward must find his daily quota of 1,000 letters and 300 newspapers a heavy tax on his attention. The Czar and the German Emperor receive from 600 to Too a day ; the Emperor likes to answer many himself. The King of Italy gets 500 and the young Queen of Holland struggles under the daily burden of between 100 and 160 letters. • • » * A pretty story is being told about Miss MarCarthy, the famous musician, who pitssed some of her earliest years in Sydney, N.S.W., where she was tl diligent student of the violin. One day she was walking in the park with her nurse, when she noticed a small I ragged boy. who was trying to earn a few coppers by dint of scraping out some tune on a violin. Maud, in an impetuous way, olTeretl to play iav him, as she wished to help the poor boy, and none of the passersby seemed to notice him. The boy, however, evidently doubting the ability of the little girl, younger than himself, refused to part with his precious violin even for it moment. Persuasion seemed useless, when suddenly little Maud had a happy inspiration. Opening her own purse she gave the small amount it contained to the boy, who thus being assured, handed her his violin. Maud MacCarthy began to play, and such was the marvellous way in which she showed her power over the instrument, that first one person and then another stopped to listen, till soon a crowd had gathered round. The little girl played on, quite lost in her music, till the nurse(who had 1 n too surprised at her charge's act to interfere before) made her stop pla.\ ing. Maud then told Ihe boy to take off his cap. in order to collect the coins which were bestowed freely. and the generous little girl went oiT with her nurse, happy at seeing that the lit He street musician, instead of being rewarded only b.\ a few peine, was astonished and delighted as many silver pieces fell among the coppers in the cap which he held in his hands.

There are few more popular monarchs than King Victor Immanuel 111 of Italy. Prom the lime when he was culled to the throne, u| on the assassination of his father. King Humbert, on duly 20. 10i»i). he has shown himself » thorough capable Sovereign, combining a firmness ol

purpose with a kindliness of heart that has not failed to endear him to till classes of his subjects. Born in 1800, the King as a young boy wits not strong; but thanks to the judicious care of his mother, liueen Margherita, whose love of open-air life is well-known, ho outgrew his tendency to weakness, and, entering the army, passed through the early stages with much credit, becoming an expert, horseman, and thoroughly we'll versed in military tactics. In IHOG he was appointed to the command of the Naples Army Corps—a post he filled with great credit—and in the same year attended, on King Humbert's behalf, the Czar's Coronation. In IHO7 I"' went to England to be present at the celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The King, like his mother, is an ardent hunter, he is it keen yachtsman,

and possesses great artistic taste, his collection of coins being greatly envied by connoisseurs. Before coming lo the throne, King Victor Immanuel had married, on Ot lober 21. 1800, Princess Helena, daughter of Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, by whom he has thr hildren.

The oldest diary in existence is saitl I o be I hat preserved in Ihe Japanese family of lloznka. Il has been duly maintained by the various heads of the family for four centuries. About twenty years ago a dispute over precedence arose between two branches of the family, and this was promptly settled by recourse to the diary and the discovery of Ihe record of ;< dinner gi\ en Iw o or I hree hundred years ago by the head of the family to the founder of the side linn It is the rule for the .lap soldier to keep a diary, and each night, when march litis ceased, hundreds of men may be seen lying on the ground around the camp fires, writing the daily record for their children's children to read. * * • * It is slttted that, J. Pierpont Morgan, Jr., recently paid £:'.,< >i>n for a twenty-four hour steamboat ride. When Mr. Morgan was in SI. Petersburg in connection with the negotiations of a hum he. saw from the condition of allairs in that city Hull the safest thing for foreigners to do was to get away without unnecessary delay. Unfortunately, the the railroads were not running and navigation was slopped. Then Mr. Morgan appealed to the Government, which ordered a vessel from Pilllund ami put it at the disposal of the Morgan party, who were safely landed in Stockholm at the cost of a