NOTES AND COMIENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9711, 5 January 1895, Page 5

NOTES AND COMIENTS.

Music has not been neglected in the beitowal of the New ear honftirs of 1595, a baronetcy bavirg been confered upon Dr. Mackenzie, the Principal d the/ Royal Academy of Music. The nane of m celebrated Principal has a fine Celtic riig about it which there if no mistaking. /Born in Edinburgh in 1547, he was pa&ed offto Germany at the tender age of/en, and at Sonderhausen, wider Ulrich/ Stein, he learned to play tie violin so Well that in three years he wasa member pf the ducal orchestra. There wis plenty f experience of a rough kind to begot her/ but Dr. Mackenzie desired to beiomea fished violinist, and so, in 1862, he London, and placed himself urdor /ainton at the institution which he ft ow directs. In the end he becane si excellent player on the stringed in;triV ient > and when he returned to Edinbirg* to settle down as a professional it was k first mainly as a violinist thathis toymen knew him. As a soloist ant an Orchestral player he travelled aboit a deal, and he has many reminicency of that early time. On one occasio, yhen playing at a concert, ha observed atcut gentleman in the front Beat who appred to appreciate his efforts in quite aninusual way. The concert over, Dr. Ma-enzie was told that someone desired to > introduced to him, and behold the ho of the front seat, who proceeded to ower compliments on the player. Th latter was about to make a suitable rep, when he was cut short with the remark" But mind you, you'll never be half as,'ood a man as your father." It was a tut this time that Dr. Mackenzie "diovered" Chopin's biographer, Professor iecks, now the holder of the Music Ciir in Edinburgh University. Hi brought the professor over from Dueldorf, but so little was his brother ipressed with the importation that he couldjnly compare him to a "stickit minister. Niecks and Mackenzie were frequent" engaged to play together. One ereninghey, with some other musicians, landed > a little, country town where they were t<accompany the "Messiah." The nppear»ce of the orchestral instruments in their criously-jhaped cases greatly puzzled the coutrymen who had gathered about the station "What's all this, Sandy inquireebne rustic. " Man, do ye no ken ?" was ts reply; "it's the Meesia come; they'r going to play the nicht." As a churcl musician Dr. Mackenzie had other and vry different experiences. " Training the coir, quarrelling with the minister, and gnerally managing to get the bettor of him" is the way he speaks of his work at St. Gorge's, Edinburgh, where, however— as, meed, in the capital generally—he is very indly remembered and very proudly thougl of.

An American insurance journal, The {/hroniie, has a readable article on insurance apnts and the useful part they play in the -orld. It is claimed for insurance agents that their services rank next in importnce to those of the minister of the gospel,in that the insurance agent spends his lifein urging people to prepare for the future. But the article goes on to state that tte vast majority of American citizens, whether they earn live hundred dollars a year 01 ten thousand, live from hand to Koutk They save nothing for a rainy day. "We doubt very much," says The Gronicle, "whether the average American, if suddenly deprived of his salary, is so far away from actual destitution as sixty days; unless he has credit with his grocer and other tradesmen. Salaried men have adcpted the rule of insuring their lives for the benefit of their families, and ifter providing for the annual premiim, living up to their incomes whatever ney may be." This is a curious feature cf American life. What would Benjamin Jranklin have said about it ? In the same journal is given an estimate by the Statistician of the Mutual Life Insurance Cocrpany, Mr. Guiteau, of the number of instrers in the United States. Mr. Guiteau sayj there are 10,437,000 insurable persons in (he United States, of whom 7,366,000 are already insured. Mr. Guiteau further estimites that the amount of life insurance in firce in the United Stales is equal to 141 dollars per head of the whole population, I: this is worked out it comes to a gross asm of seventeen hundred millions for which the American life offices are responsible to their policy-holders. These astounding figures go to confirm the statement of The Chronicle that Americans provide for the future by means of insurance and nob by saving.

We have more than once drawn attention ko the importance of teaching the children the public schools something more than She three R's ; and we notice that the same question is coming into prominence at home. Archbishop Walsh, in laying the foundation stone of a new school in Dublin, eaid the State system of primary education in Ireland was a gigantic mistake. The Parliamentary grant, little short of a quarter of a million, was very liberal. But ho had the gravest doubts whether there was one other million in the 70 millions of national expenditure for which a more inadequate return was made. Education did not consist of teaching children a lot of information from books. They had to face a fact that they had never faced, but there was very little training which would fit boys for their future work in life. He did not say the national schools should bo turned into carpenters' shops or smiths' forges, but pupils should be taught how to use their hands, and to cultivate accuracy of observation. There should also be introduced into every national school what was now to be found in the national schools in Sweden, where there was an admirable system of manual instruction—namely, the SLoyd system.

To morrow, January 6, is Twelfth-night, j or Little Christmas, as it is sometimes called. As a day of feast and frolic this festival in England was formerly considered second only to Christmas Day itself. It brought tho merry season to a. close in fine and fitting style with a grand display of shining lights, frosted cakes, and gay revels. Young folks looked forward to Epiphany— which is its church name—with glad anticipation. Then it was, indeed, a jolly, merry time, particularly to children and pastry cooks, and the confectioners' windows were brilliant with manifold waxlightß, and displayed such wonderful cakes, ornamented with the most delightful sugar devices, known as "subtleties." Stars, castles, kings and queens, cottages, draeons, trees, fish, flowers, cats, dogs, churches, lions, milkmaids, fairy princes, knights, and pages, in snow - white confectionery, or painted with variegated • colours, all found a place upon these Twelfth-night cakes, and attracted an admiring crowd around the shops, in and out of which the little street urchin delighted to dodge, and nail the coat-tails of the spectators to the bottom of the window-frames, or else pin them together. Sometimes eight or ten persons would find themselves thus connected, causing uproarious merrimont and laughter from those fortunate enough to have escaped, for this was a well-known Twelfth-day trick. But the evening was the gayest time, when in many hospitable houses parties of friends met together to «feoosQ a holiday kipg and queen, and

beneath their gentle sway, with game and dance and merry song, help speed the happy hours along. It was a pretty custom, and pet-haps in this peep into the past young people may find some suggestions that could be happily introduced at) their own parties.

At Twelfth-night gatherings the mam moth plum-cake and sweeb wine are brought in soon after the arrival of the guests; and oh ! what a fluttering therw is among the girls, and what a giggling among the boys, as the frosted slices are passed around !—for hidden snugly away in two of them are the bean and pea that shall determine the chosen sovereigns of the feast. With mock pomp and ceremony, then, the little King of the Bean and Queen of the Pea are led out and crowncd, and they reign supreme, directing all the amusements, until twelve o'clock proclaims the holiday at an end. The remainder of the company draw their "characters," which are written beforehand on cards and placed in a hat or bag. Some are maids of honour, some Ministers of State; one may bo Mirth, another Grief, and another Folly. In France the Twelfth-night Cake is plain, containing only a bean, the receiver of ib being the king or queen, as tho case may be. In Normandy the good people consider the first slice of the loaf sacred. A child is placed under a table, covered with a cloth, so he cannot see, and when the cake is cut, someone takes up the first piece crying, Faba Domini pour qui The child at swers, Pour It ban Ditu, and that slice is bestowed upon someone too poor to buy a cake. In the same manner the remainder is allotted to the company. Should the bean be found in tho portion "for the good God," the king is chosen by drawing straws. Royalty itself did nob disdain Twelfthnight, and on this festival, in 1610, Prince Henry, eon of James 1., then but a lad of 15, assisted by only six others, performed a feat of arms, in the palace of Whitehall, against fifty-six earls, barons, knights, and squires whom he had challenged to a trial at barriers, fighting, it is said, " with wondrous skill and courage," from ten at night till three in the morning, to the great joy and pride of his father and all the court.

The engagement which took place at Neuchang last month between the Chinese and Japanese appears to have been of an undecisive character. The General commanding the Chinese, believing that he was defeated, retreated, while the Japanese, for some reason, also retired—probably under the impression that they had got the worse of the encounter. The Chinese accordingly advanced and again occupied Neuchang. Moukden is reported to be in a state of anarchy. The Mikado has decorated the German Emperor with the Order of the Imperial Chrysanthemum ; n recognition of the services of the German officers who acted as instructors to the Japanese army. The arrest.of M. Stambouloff, ex-Premier of Bulgaria, has been ordered by the Uourb of Inquiry in connection with the murder of M. Beltcheff, on the ground that he was an accessory to the crime. The order, however, has nob yet been carried into effect, the Commandant in Sofia declining to execute it until it is confirmed by the Minister of War. News has been received in Paris that a French military expedition in the Upper Congo district was attacked by the natives, who killed six of its members. On the French being reinforced, the expedition destroyed several villages, the loss on the native side being about 100. It is proposed to establish a daily mail service between Southampton and New York. Lord Sandhurst is to succeed Lord Harris as Governor of Bombay. Lord Monkswell succeeds Lord Sandhurst as Parliamentary Secretary to the War Office. The New Zealand Midland Railway Company have decided to submit their case to arbitration. Eight persons perished in the fire in a London laundry. The flames spread with such frightful rapidity that the inmates were unable to escape while it was equally I impossible to render them any assistance. In the recent gales experienced on the English Coast two hundred fishermen belonging to Hull and Grimsby lost their lives.