PERSONAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11771, 28 September 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Mr. F. C. BXJRNANP, editor of Punch, is somewhat seriously indisposed. He has arranged to undergo a severe operation.

Arrayed in all his State clothes the Sultan of Johore is a glittering curiosity. He wear gems worth £2,400,000. They sparkle in his crown, on his epaulettes, in Ins girdle, and in his cuffs.

Sir Claude Macdonald was accorded a public welcome on the occasion of a visit to Grantown. The Town Council and the inhabitants of Strathspey joined in the presentation of an address.

Sir George Gabriel Stokes, who has just attained his 82nd birthday, is the first man since Sir Isaac Newton who has been M.P. for Cambridge University, Lucasian Professoi of Mathematics, and president of the Royal Society.

The Mikado of Japan is a man of much energy and endurance, and is constantly smoking cigarettes. He is fond of outdoor sports, and has warmly encouraged the introduction of football into Japan. He is a hunter and fisherman of no mean reputation and is a good shot with a rifle. His devotion to lawn tennis is marked, and he is clever as a wielder of the of the racquet.

A man of colour, ex-Congressman John R. Lynch, has just been appointed a captain and assistant-paymaster in the army of the United States. During the Spanish-Ameri-can. War Mr. Lynch was appointed a major and paymaster of volunteers. He is the first negro, with the exception of a few chaplains for service with the negro regiments, ever, commissioned for staff service in the army of the United States.

It is not often that a woman of to-day can array herself in any fabric that once formed part of the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth. The Countess of Pembroke has, however, this privilege, and at the last Drawingroom she attended she wore a white and silver gown, the peach-coloured train of which was trimmed with old Point de Flandre, which not only had been owned, but also worn, by the famous Tudor Queen.

One of the most interesting personalities in Russia is the famous Father John, the handsome priest whose piety is so great that. he is supposed to have the power oi performing miracles. He is devoted to his religous work fit Cronstadt, where he often greets English travellers; and he distributes large sums of money entrusted to him by the wealthy Russian nobles among the poor of the neighbourhood. It was Father John who was called to pray at the bedside, of the late Czar, and he possesses many tokens of Royal favour.

In his very young days Dr. W. G. Grace was playing in a small match near Bristol. Ho had scored his usual century, and was now employed in mowing clown "the wickets of the opposition, when one of the batsmen skied a. ball to square-leg. Not being sure of his fieldsman, " 6." shouted to him to leave the ball alone, and sprinting round behind the wicket brought off a magnificent catch. ''Well, bless me!" said the discomfited batsman, as he made his way to the tent, "the next thing that man will do will be to wicket-keep to his own bowling."

Mr, Gustavo Kerker. the composer of "The Belle of New York," "The Girl From Up 'I here," and half a dozen other operas, is a. genial, good-humoured American of German parentage. He is about forty-five years of age, of average height, is always in good spirits, and wears glasses. The entire score of "The Belle of New York" was written in six weeks, the well-known song "When We are Married" being composed in less than fifteen minutes. Mr. Kerker devotes no special part of the day to composition, but simply writes when he feels in the humour. Many of his most popular songs were first scribbled on his cuff or the margin of the New York Tribune. He personally rehearses bis own pperas 4 and is a bora xductor.