PIERRE LOTI'S KITTEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12478, 23 January 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

PIERRE LOTI'S KITTEN.

j ! NAVAL OFFICERS TAKE PART IN A I ! NOVEL CEREMONY. j ! Ihe Temps publishes an account of an extra- I | ordinary ceremony of naming a kitten which I I >vas held oh board the French man-of-war ! | Vautour, stationed at Constantinople and j ! commanded by Lieutenant Viaud, better I ' known to fame as Pierre Ldti. the poet and novelist. ' " A Persian kitten was born on board oil i December 8, while the vessel was in the Boscutis, and a few days later it was solemnly named. Among the guests invited to the ceremony were tile commanders of the British and Russian men-of-war permanently stationed i«i the Bhbjphnrus, the French Coii- ! sul-Geiieral, at Constantinople, and M. j Coqtielin the younger, the well-known actor. ! Mine. Roux, wile of the commander of the i French warship Mouette, acted as godmothj er, while Viscount de Sali»nac-Ffefae!on was j godfathei. The ship's decks, and especially , the commander's state-room, were sumptu- ! ously decorated with rare flowers. i When the guests had been received on board «it'n fine ceremony, a procession of the entire party was formed, and made its way to the fefctitfe saloon, where an altar dedicated to Odin, the supreme mythological grid, had been erected. The kitten meanwhile lay asleep in a pretty basket trimmed with white satin. Pierre Loti and his o(; : c- under the leadership of an Eihbassy a'.Hchfr, besjan the baptismal ceremony b; ; executing a burlesque symphony by if* consisting of an allegro, minuet, e Af>r "the music, which was pell''tiled i-i resi"u kah'.e fashion, the high pries.' of Odin, out of the ship's officers, advanced in a while robe, electrical reflectors forming a bright halo around his head. After a horn had bees blown quite c-lnso to the kitten's ears, eauslhg ii t* stand up in its basket and lnew, it was lifted oh the tar while til* high priest, invoking Odin, baptised it Reikis," which menus 11 pretty girl," and recited a cleverly composed' uoeni by Pierre Loti.