GLEANINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 763, 15 October 1886, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

A SINGULAR ORNAMENT.

In a show window at Washington is a., golden chameleon from Yucatan. It is a. long cream colored beetle, wearing a dainty gold harness, and tethered to a pin. with a six-inch gold chain of the lightest pattern.. He wanders aimlessly to the end of histether and round and round his beaten, stake. A peculiarity of the creature is that r . it will live some months without eating; The ladies of Yukatan and Central Americavery generally wear this curious pet, in a harness of gold, tethered with a gold chaim to their corsage.

A dozen good bands play for the public amusement in Vienna on Sundays in summer, and Berlin is similarly provided for.

The Empress of .Austria was not much> seen in public during her staj r at Gastein, asher Majesty is a very early riser. She took, a bath at 4 a.m,, and went out for country walks whilst most people were still asleep. At 8 p.m. she retired to rest.

Owing to the lack of funds, according to the London World," the musical portion of the daily services at Westminster Abbey is to be shorn of some of its effectiveness by the withdrawal of the assistance of six gentlemen of the choir.

The London Lancet, formerly oppos-ed to the temperance movement, now vigorously supports it.

Miss Mary Cecil Hay, the well-known

novelist, died on July 24, after a long illness. Her first novel, * Hidden Perils,’ was issued in 1872 by Messrs Hurst and Blackett, who published all her subsequent works— ‘ Old Myddelton’s Money,’ 4 Nora’s Love Test,’ ‘Victor and Vanquished,’ and several more. During the spring and summer she was able to correct the proofs of another novel, called 4 A Wicked Girl,’ ■which will be issued before long. She was an excellent and charitable woman, who worked exceedingly hard.

The politeness of New York waiters is illustrated by the following incident : Customer in Park-row (late Chatham-street) coffee and cake saloon—Aw, waitah, a napkin, please. Waiter—Yes, sah. Wid or widout fringe, sah ?

Mme. Bernhardt has written an interesting letter in defence of the sincerity of the actors and actresses, seeking to prove that many of them really enter into the spirit of their parts. She declares that Croizette, after the famous poisoning scene in ‘ Le Sphinx,’ used to remain for some minutes pale and with chattering teeth. Of herself she says : 4 I have never played Phedre without fainting or spitting blood, and after the fourth tableau of 4 Theodora,’ in which I kill Marcellus, I am in such a nervous state that I return to my dressing room sobbing. If I do not weep I have an hysterical fit, which is much more disagreeable to those around me, and more dangerous for the vases and other things near at hand.’

Lady (to servant whom she is about to engage)—These are my conditions ; do they suit you ? Servant—H’m, I’ll see. I always take ladies on trial.—French joke.