GLEANINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 901, 7 June 1889, Page 5

GLEANINGS.

A PICTURE OF LONDON LIFE. The Daily Telegraph says : —A remarkable picture of London life is being painted in Paris just now, with a view to exhibition at the Salon. . It is of enormous dimensions, measuring 19 feet in length by 12 feet in height, and represents the outcasts in Trafalgar Square, Large numbers of these wretched creatures are represented lying about on a wet night at the foot of the Nelson Column and round about the fountains. The artist is Mr Dudley Harvey, son of the well-known marine landscape painter, Mr T. B. Hardy. MR GRANT ALLEN. Personally (says the Star) Mr Grant Allen is one of the most delightful men of his day. He can talk botany by the hour, and always be interesting. He is a lover of animals and a hater of sport. His temper is sweetness itself—and though his books are gory, his mind is not. He is happily married. The Princess of Wales has suddenly fallen off in her looks to an appalling extent. From being the handsomest and most youth, ful woman of her years in all the kingdom, she i 3 now said to be only a much-made-up caricature of her younger self. The flower of the flock of young unmarried princes of Europe is George, second son of the Prince of Wales, who is a handsome, spirited, lively young man of twenty-three, possessing all his father’s gaiety of spirits, genial manners and good nature. He is the most popular member of the younger generation of the royal family of England. Set a pitcher of water in the apartment, aud in a few hours it will have absorbed nearly a 1 the respired gases in the room, the air of which will have become purer, but the water utterly filthy. The colder the water the greater the capacity to contain these gases. At the ordinary temperature a pail of water will absorb a pint of carbonic acid gas and several pints of ammonia. The capacity is nearly doubled by reducing the water to the temperature of ice. Hence the water kept in the room awhile is unfit for use. A Welsh correspondent sends the follow ing anecdote : —I had just purchased a copy of the Welsh edition of the War Cry at the door, when a countrywoman entered, and I offered the paper to her, saying, 1 Here’s a paper for you ; take it home with you and read it.’. 4 A paper,’ she answered, • what Is there in it—all about the tithe, I suppose ?’ 4 Oh, no,’ 1 replied, 4 it’s a religious paper,’ ‘ Religious !’ exclaimed the woman, with unfeigned disgust, * I don’t beloDg to religion, I go to church !’ Ward McAllister, keeper of the keys of the upper-crust society of New York, is described by the New York Star as 4 a lawyer without practice, a free-lunoher by instinct and a dancer by ocoupation. His sole distinction is as a professional leader of the german, and his income is chiefly derived from his connection with balls and their patrons. Much as Mrs W. K. Vanderbilt employs a French cook, Mrs Astor, as an amiable weakness, patronises this old pump as a society leader. An Englishman has produced a piece of mechanism containing 400 figures representing horses, cannon, artillery, infantry, and a baud of fifty-two men, each with an instrument. A tiny windmill, turned by the ourrent from burning candles, furnishes the power to move all the figures automatically. 4 Who held up Moseß’ hands while Joshua fought the Philistines ?’ asked the Superin. tendent. 4 Hur and Aaron !’ Bhouted the good boy. 4 She and Aaron,’ softly corrected the new sckoolma’am. A ‘Niagara in London’ show is to have a phonographic reproduction of the real thunders of the cataract to supplement the pictorial attractions. In order not to offend any political party iu Spain, the Queen Regent has gofc.a young

Irish woman, Miss Georgiana Davenport, as a govornesg for the King.