INTERESTING HEADING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12861, 9 May 1905, Page 3

INTERESTING HEADING.

THE BEST BUSINESS WOMAN IN THE WORLD. " A Frenchwoman," says a contemporary, " is the best 'business woman in the world." and, of course, we feel a tiny bib indignant, because we Lad an idea that we were .so businesslike and independent ourselves. When we consider, too, the restrictions upon her liberty to which the French girl lias to •submit, and which, though gradually re-' laxing, still keep her in. a, very different position from that occupied by an English girl in her freedom, then we think the assertion absurd; yet, alter all, it is character that tells. A Frenchwoman is naturally business-like—quick, clear-headed, ever on the alert, ready to seize an opportunity, prompt in catching at details. Jdo »ot mean to .say that the French arc more intellectual, nor even more intelligent than other races. , Wo may make a discovery, or suggest an. i idea, but while we still" suffer from the effort, our French sisters will appropriate! our handiwork, and put it into use. What' wo want is to he prompt; the French are prompt, and they aro decided, and they know that tells. " It is a case of the proverbial early bird.—Lady Phyllis, in The Bystander. BLONDE AND BRUNETTE. An American statistician has been alarming his countrymen 'by the statement that blondes are a, dying race. He gives a vast number of figures in support of his statement, but they all come back to the idea that town life is particularly hard on the blondes, and that the brunettes arc having it all their own way. A larger proportion of blonde than of brunette children die in infancy, while their elders are steadily darkening in colour. It seems that the blonde is peculiarly subject to the attacks of germs, and that microbes, whatever may be said of the human species, have a great affection for our fairer sisters, while for the most part they scorn the darker ones. AS BY MAGIC. Nikola Tesla, the great electrician, made the astonishing statement recently that he had almost completed inventions by which he could send electrical power to any distance without wires. This means, in effect, that from a centre of electrical force established, say, at Niagara Falls, be would be able to transmit power to any required extent to operate the machinery of a sttgar factory in Australia or an engineering works on the Nile. The traveller in remote regions of the earth might by this invention have all the news of the day telegraphed to him, and be enabled to cook his meals over nil electric fire. In short, the electric wonder worker claims that when his invention is complete he will be able to convey power to any part of the globe at will, and at such a small cost as to make if commercially profitable. TEN-YEARS' MARRIAGE.

The New York World has appealed to nine well-known ladies for judgment on. Mr. Meredith's proposals in regard to '* tenyears' marriages." The. verdict is eight to one against. "John Oliver Hobbcs" (Mrs. Craigie) says: "The one indispensable gift to make the marriage relation good' is the gift of loving." ".Rita" (Mrs. Desmond Humphreys) is of opinion that such a proposal "places human nature below animal." " Ouida" says that it is "neither original, logical, nor possible." Miss Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler regards marriage as a sacrament, ami therefore '.tor an open question. Lady Warwick is not much interested, but thinks that people who choose can generally make the 'best of married life. The only lady who endorses the proposal is Miss Gertrude Atliertou—"l entirely agree with Mr. Meredith as far as he goes. His - Tangement is not. ideal, but perhaps it is as far as anyone can go at present." WHERE FLEET-STREET CELEBRITIES LUNCH. I dropped into the handsome grillroom of the Savoy Hotel to lunch y. day or two ago, and was intensely interested ill seeing the variety of notable people who were congregated to enjoy their mid-day meal. Theie, for example, was Miss Ellen Terry, radiant and charming as ever; Mr. .1. M. Harris, novelist and playwright, was deeply absorbed with Mr. Charles Fiohman, who is shortly to produce his new play, in which Miss Terry is to be the heroine. Newspaper magnates were iu abundance—Sir Alfred Harmsworth, for example, just back from a trip to Spain, Mr. C. Arthur Pearson. Mr. Kennedy Jones, and Mr. Frank Newues; Mr. 11. E Hooper, who Las distinguished himself so much in the world of advertising, was also there. 1 noticed the Marquis of . Hiintly, and yet another Scot, Mr. Futon, the bead of the well-known publishing firm id Xi.Oiet. Every day, indeed, sees an amazing succession of well-known visitors, including, apart from tlie light-hearted social circle, not a few Quiet students of literature— Mr. Edward If. Cooper, for example, and Mr. E. V. Lucas, the biographer id' Lamb.-—Taller.

AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS OF MR. RIDER HAGGARD. .Any Englishman of more or less distinction who wishes to gel- an unbiassed description of his personal appearance, may be recommended to travel in Ameiicn, where the daily press will oblige, him. Mr. Rider Haggard, on his recent visit to Philadelphia, tell into the hands of an interviewer from the Public Eeder of that city, who thus- summed him up:--" A high, broad forehead, indicative of intellectuality, is his best feature. Small »ray eyes, more or less bloodshot, shifty and cold, an? not pleasant to gaze into. A close-cropped beard, which fails to hide a bronzed complexion, eminently superinduced, by exposure to wind and sun, only accentuates the pallor of the forehead and the high temples, over which clustering strands of chestnut hair fall in graceful waves. Intense nervousness appears in his every gesture.'' THE EDITOR OF VANITY FAIR. Mr. B. Fletcher Robinson, the editor of Vanity Fair, was bred in Devonshire, and, under the influence of Dartmoor air, developed a stature of Oft 3in. and a weigh;, of over 14st when in training, lie played in the Cambridge football fifteen for three years, rowed for his college for the same peiiod, was tried in the 'Varsity eight, and won a cup at Henley. He Mas, moreover, a scholar of his college, and took two high honour degrees in history and law. The journalistic instinct showed early in him, and for a year he edited the University humorous paper, the Granta, of which Mr. R. C. Lehmann was proprietor, and to which Bany Pain, Owen Seaman, Cair Bosauquet, and A. C. Deane were regular contributors. Coming to London, he was called to the Bar,, but never practised. He spent a year abroad visiting the capitals of Europe, and shortly afterwards went out to South Africa as the chief of the Daily Express correspondents. On his return homo he became editor of that paper, and he held the post for three and a-half years, lie still writes in its pages, though he has now migrated to the editor's chair of Vanity Fair. He is a member of many clubsthe Reform, Union, Authors', Leander, and Almack's being amongst them. He has abandoned more strenuous athleticism for golf, and the collection of china, and old prints. His first book on Rugby football ran through many editions, and since then he has produced a number of short stories, which have a greater popularity in. America than in England. A sensational serial of his, which appeared in the Windsor Magazine, "The Trail of the Dead,", was translated into four languages. He also assisted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the production of "The Hound of" the Baskervilles," the scene of which lies near to Mr. Fletcher Robinson's Devonshire home.