ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10419, 17 April 1897, Page 3 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[from tub society papers.] Did the Hon. Wilfred Laurior, Premiet of Canada, make a verbal slip at the ■banquet recently given in his honour ab Montreal, or, asks the Sb. James' Gazette, was it a caso of coming events casting their shadows before ? In tho closing words of hi? speech, in responding to tho toast of the Ministry, he expressed his personal grutification at boinn privileged to be present) at "the first dinner of the Lord Mayor ol Montreal." Second editions of banquet speeches aro often the most correct; stilli Mr. Laurier is a cool and practised speaker, and theso words of hia have beon generally interpreted a; an indication that one of the compliments of the Queen, this year, to her loyal colonial aibjects will assume tha form of bestowing tho title of " Lord Mayor" on tho chief magistrates of the principal colonial capitals. It is an open secret that Sydney and Melbourne have been ambitious of this honour for some time past. Prince Bismarck is reported to be in melancholy mood. In conversation with a> visitor tho other day tho Prince said:—" I feel weak and languid, but not ill. My illness is want of the joy of life. My existence is no longm , of any use. I have no official duties, and what I sco as at onlooker gives mo no pleasure. Should ] live longer it will still be the case. I feel lonely. I have lost my wifo, and as regard! my sons, they have their oivn business. With growing ago I have also lost interest in agriculture and forestry. I rarely visit fields and woods sinco I can no longer ride, shoot, and movo nbout as I like. Little by little politics begin to tiro me." Mademoiselle Borniche, an eccontrio old lady, has left a will which is being hotly contested by her heirs before tho Civil Tribunal of Paris. She died about fourteen months since, leaving her large fortun* in trust to a M. Clumonce for tho foundation of a maternity hospital for women who could not afford efficient medical aid. ' Three of her relatives have opposed the appointment of M. Cle'mence us universal legatee, and the case has unfolded some amusing evidence. The testatrix was tho daughter of a merchant, who, having amassed money, bought pictures right and lett, and became the patron of poor and unknown artists. When he died there weri 24,000 oil paintings and rough engraving* scattered all over his rooms, most of them unframed. The best pictures, being collected, were sold for a little under £6000, v the remainder being kept by Mademoiselle Borniche. This lady, it appears, was even more eccentric than her father, and it is on this account that he? heirs raise the question of sanity. She had a splendid property near Paria, and made her gardeneß count over all the frnit daily. She also had fresh vine leaves put on her statues of gods and goddesses every morning, and if she could not obtain a supply of the foliage she was satisfied to dress the divinities in cotton cakcons. Furthermore, her favourite) amusement was to have herself carried) around the town of &lary-sur-llarne in aj wheelbarrow, to the intense delight of all the small boys in tho place, who acted as her bodyguard, and received sous for their services. Tho old lady, howevor, was very parsimonious, and increased the fortune left by her father until it reached th< respectable total of 3,000,000 francs, oc £120,000.

If there be any obstinate sceptics who entertain any doubt as to the re.il greatness of Mr. Chauncey Uepew, we commend to their attention the account which that eminent publicist gives of his recent) accident. It seems that Mr. Depew had to attend two meetings simultaneously, like Sir Boyle Roche's bird, and was obliged, in consequence, to adopt a lightning mode of progression. " 1 was walking," he says in his inimitnblo style, "at thu rate of abont eight miles an hour, when my feet suddenly shot) out from under me, and tho hundred and eighty pounds there is of me struck the side walk." Well may Mr. Depew'* admiring compatriots say that Cicero was the Chauncey Depow of tho later Koman Republic. But lam morally certain that) Cicero never walked at the rate of eight miles an hour. Mr. Olney, again, is said to adopt a rate of progression, while on his daily constitutionals, which would do credit to a professional pedestrian. With us, on the other hand, Mr. Chamberlsin makes no ' secret of his distaste for athletic exercise,' while Lord Salisbury never exceeds a leisurely saunter. Should Mr. Chauncey Depew be appointed as Mr. Bayard's successor, his telegraphic address ought certainly, suggests tho World, to be " Walker, London."

Misa Maitland, the Principal of Somer« Tille College, Oxford, tolls in the Youn£ Woman for February that one of the students, Miss Sorabji, ia now practising in fcbe law courts in India. Miss Sorabji baa been very successful. She has this advantage over men : she can take the evidence of the high-casto women of India, who are not allowed to speak to men other than their husbands and brothers. These have a good deal of legal badness which ought to be attended to, and if they are widows they are even worse off, for them is no man to whom they can speak. In some places this casto fooling ie breaking dowD, in others it is rigidly maintained. Miss Sorabji, who is a Parsee, has jusfc conducted her tirat murder case, and secured an acquittal.

George Tinworth, the well-known artisan sculptor, is the subject of an article in the current Sunday Magazine. Ib is told by the writer thab on one occasion a clergyman waa on a visit to his studio, and observed a pulpit in terra-cotta and] Doulbnn ware, adorned with panels of Scriptural subjects. On the pulpib door the sculptor bad put a bird's nest, to say " Foxes hare holes and the birds of the air have nests, butkthe Son of Man hath not) where to lay Hie head. Tinworth alyly exclaimed to the cleric, " That, yon know, is for the bishops and canons to see when they go into the pulpit dressed in their fine robes." Ten years or more afterwards the same clergyman turned up at Mr. Tinworth's studio, and good-humouredly reminded him of the incident and the good advice. Tinworth was taken aback. Tbe clergyman was Dr. Benson, who had now become Arolibishop of Canterbury! Services for "men only" are now of common occurrence in churches and chapels alike, and, as a rule, the addresses delivered on such occasions are in some way or other especially applicable to the peccadilloes of the sterner sex, whilst the gentler sex are left severely outside. Why for " men only" has never been quite apparent, unless on the principle of an East-ender's opinion of them: "I don't mind being lectured by a parson, so lonp as my old woman ainbaboub to 'ear it." In such a position there ia sound reason. There would always be a danger of the teaching being further enforced and supplemented at the domestic hearth, where the introduction of theological disquisitions would be destructive of harmony. Thab there id some danger of this is evidenced by an announcement at o church in the neighbourhood of Brixton, Recently a service waa advertised for " men only," and the bill bore the ominous words, " Ladies admitted." Needless to say, curiosity led to a large attendance of those who were anxious to know something of the doctrine usually promulgated to "men only." There is an amusing anecdote in Si, Martin's-le-Grand, the postman's magazine, concerning the choice of books. The poafcmaster of a little town in the West of England was also a bookseller, and knew something about books. A man who had made a fortune as a railway contractor in the North of England retired from business, and settled down in the district as a country gentleman. His house was furnished in the most approved style with the exception ol the library bookshelves. Unfortunately he knew nothing about books himself, bub one day, after measuring the shelves, he drove into the little town and called at the post) office. "You are a bookeeller, Mr. A,, I believe ?" " Yes," answered the postmaster. " Very well, I want you to fill up my library for me. I have sixty feet of shelving. I wanb ten feet of history, ten feet of novels, ten feeb of poetry, ten feeb of religion, ten feet of science, and ten feet ol other sorts of books. I understand yon know your business, and I leave the choice ol tbe books to you." After some further talk the order was accepted, and executed to the owner's satisfaction, which was greatly - increased when visitors to his house complimented him upon the judicious selection of books in his library. ' .