ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10575, 16 October 1897, Page 3 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

' •■•>••: [FROM THE SOCIETY SoJtE thirteen' years ago, Colonel Buchanan invited Dr. Grajie and a 'party'' of cricketers to Drumpellier, Scotland, to play • match with twenty-two of hie " bairn** fas' he playfully calls them). The visit Wat the sole topic of the place for weeks, and the CoidneVto put His men on their mettle, offered a silver-mounted bat to .the'man who bowled, stumped, or caught the great 'MV.o.";'.ThVeventful day arrived; but at'the last moment something happened to prevent Dru'mpellier's best bowler taking hla 'place in the field.' The vacancy was" filled up by a big, burly bricklayer, known I' jimmy," who was said to be a " bill of a bowler." Grace took bis place at the wicket, play .commenced, and to the otter astonishment of everybody. Jimmy bowled Grace with his first ball. Jimmy scratched his head'and mumbled something to the effect that "he dinna mean to dae it one sin." The Colonel blushed, and " W.GV face did not wear a pleasant expression. Most painful of all was the funereal silence which fell upon the assembled company; Jimmy got tho silver-mounted bat, but he was never again asked to play for Drumpellier.

In the September number of Cosmopolie, Professor Max 'Miiller gossips pleasantly about)" Royalties." The Professor makes no secret-' of bis pride and pleasure in so many Royal acquaintances. Of our own Prince of Wales, Professor Max Miiller permits himself only the following story I— " Among the many things which I treasure in my memory I may as least produce one email treasure, a sixpence, which I wort from His Royal Highness at whist. I have always' been a very bad whist-player, bat good luck would have it that I won a six* pence at Freweh Hall, the Prince's residence at Oxford. The Prince maintained, that I had calculated my points wrongly, but, not being a courtier, I held my own, and actually appealed to General Bruce, When be decided in my favour, the Prince graciously handed me my sixpence, which I have kept ever since among my treasures." The Prince Consort, the Emperor of Brazil; and the 'King of Sweden are among the Royalties whom the Professor has met, and about whom he has reminiscences, Hero is a story, of Tennyson :—The late Queen of Holland frequently came to England; according to the newspapers, as a friend .and advocate of the Emperor Napoleon. - She was far., too wise, however, to attempt to play such a part at the English Court. But that she was much admired and won thehearts of many people in London is certainly true. She came to lunch with Stanley at the Deanery. She had asked him to invite » number of literary men — Tennyson, Mqnckton Millies (Lord Houghton), Huxley. and several more. We were' waiting ana waiting, but Tennyson did not appear, Stanley suggested that we should not wait any longer, but the Queen refused to sit down before the great poet's arrival. At last it was suggested that Tennyson might be mooning .about in the Cloisters, and so he was., Ho wits caught, and was placed next fa. the , Queen. The Queen knew wonderfully how to hide her crown and put everybody at bis. ease. She took the conversation into her own hands, and kept the ball rolling' during the whole luncheon, But she got nothing out of Tennyson. He was evidently in low spirits, and sitting next to him, I could bear how, to every question the Queen addressed to him, h< answered "Yes, ma'am," "No, ma'am and at lost, by a great effort, "Ma'am, there is a great deal to be said on both sides of the question." He then turned to me and said in a whisper, but a loud whisper, "I wish, they bad put some of you talking fellows next to Regina."

. The leading millinery and lingerie shopkeepers'of Paris were greatly surprised the other: day on beholding a procession of private carriages driving up to their respective doors, in which were seated thorite of Paiisian feminine society. The object of their calling was soon explained by the spokeswoman, the Duohesse de Doudeauvilla, who politely but firmly informed each astonished shopkeeper that unless the girls iii his .employ were provided with seats for rest. when! not serving, the entire deputation of grandes dames would withdraw their patronage from his establishment. It is gratifying: to hear that in every case the ladies gained their end.

. A ' correspondent) of an English paper writes There are some arts admittedly lost, and there is much reason to believe, since the advent of the new woman, that the practical part of the art of darning, il not lost, is on the high-road to extinction, During some recent festivities, a gentleman —one of the old school, and doubtless a bit of a' wag— made some outspoken' remarks on the subject of needlework. Of course, his words called down the wrath of some of the would-be-superior sex. He undertook to find evidence to prove thai his opinion was well grounded. Later in ' the afternoon, while fun was yet running high,' he suggested a " potato-race" for the ladies, with ah entry of 2s 6d, for the benefit of the Society for Bettering the Condition of Indigent Needlewoman, a condition of the race being that no contestant was to race in her own boots or shoes. It was i

novel notion, and was rewarded by a good entry. Much mirth prevailed during thi interchanges of chaussures, until it wal discovered' that the advocate of the darninj art ' has busied himself taking snapshots, and was already boasting of a fin« collecfmn-'of, 11 burst seams, "half-crows heeled"' and'"'sixpenny' toed stockings," .wherewith to demonstrate the truth of hit allegation of' the earlier part of the alternoon,•'': •' ' -''• , '

■ Accprding.to the New York Journal, a new employment for monkeys has been found by the owner of some mines. He has succeeded! in training a number of tame monkeys to help the miners by carrying the pieces of .quart?.- entrusted to them ,to certain spot, and arranging them in order for crushing. /The animals performed their work with the most careful precision, and seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. If this be true the advantages of employing monkeys, .instead of human beings, are many .obvious.. They neither drink nor strike, and.a handful of nuts suffices for their daily ■wage,, But we wish the name of the mine had been given ; one cannot be too precise in-investigations of this nature. „

The Qncen Regent of Spain is an accom. pliahed swimmer and diver. One summer evening at Sap Sebastian, the two men who ' . ; always accompany Her Majesty in a boa) were horrified to lose eight of her altogether On more, than one occasion the Queen Regent bad been pleased to.tac* with the boat, invariably distancing it; but J Urn time there was no swimmer to be seen anywhere upon the water. Just as the alarm # was becoming great Her Majesty waved her band to'them from the shore.*;. She had' travelled underwater all the distance .host;