GLEANINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 914, 6 September 1889, Page 5

GLEANINGS.

MISS MARY MILLAIS. Miss Mary Millais, daughter of Sir John Millais, is starting for a six weeks’ tour in Iceland, accompanied by her two brothers, one of whom is an accomplished photo-, grapher. They hope to bring back many new views of the icy region. A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY BEAUTY SHOW. A Brussels correspondent writes : ‘Beauty shows are, it appears, not quite a novelty. The intermediaire des Chercheurs describes one held at Paris iu 1655. In remembrance of the oldest competition of the kind, the prizes were golden apples. The first prize was of course awarded to the Queen of France, and the second was obtained with 1723 points by a Mdle. Semure. Most of the prizes were given to ladies from Normandy.’ Last year, when the price of potatoes was very low, a Dundee farmer put a lot of them among chaff at the bottom of a silo. When it was opened the other day they were as fresh as when they were dug. Ira D. Sankey, the sweet 'singer, has decided to settle down after his travels. He has bought some thirty acres'of beautifully situated land at a point between Seatuck River and Little Seatuck Creek, Long Island, where he will build a handsome residence. Dancing is one of the oldest of recreations. Homer speaks of a new dance invented by "Dtedalus for Ariadne. The Normans revived rather than invented round dances in the twelfth century ; the Bohemians invented the redowa ; the Poles the polka, first danced in England in 1840 ; the Hungarians, the mazurka and galop. Rev. Dr. Edward Beecher, who in his eighty-sixth ytar is rapidly recovering from the amputation of one of his legs, says that in his opinion the vitality and endurance which he possesses are due entirely to the care he has taken of his health. He never used tobacco nor drank ardent spirits in any form, and from boyhood has not permitted a day to pass without indulging in some form of exercise. China is one of the moat self-supporting of countries. Three-fifths of the population live almost entirely on rice, and the remainder on millet and wheat, and the greater part of the soil is devoted to the cultivation of these grains. Princess Metternich of Australia will soon visit Paris. This is important news for Paris. The Princess is the wittiest, most dangerous, brilliant, sarcastic, and fascinating woman in Europe. She does the most eccentric things—to use a gentle adjective—and society applauds. To her is due the introduction of the circus among people of leisure. She is fond of smoking a pipe, and as she increases in years is more and more dependent on tobacco for consolation. She speaks a number of languages fluently, even the profane. Altogether she is the most picturesque woman in Europe. Gudbrand Vigfusaen; the famous Icelandic litterateur, who died at Oxford the other day, was full, during his last days, of homesickness. He longed to see and feel the snow once more before he died. The wish was denied him, but, as though in irony, it has fallen heavily upon his grave almost as soon as it was closed over him. A more kindly-hearted, genial companion than this simple though scholarly Icelander, never lived ; with him die a multitude of Icelandic traditions, Sago lore, and Edda meanings, which his life was too short, with all his work, to fix upon contemporary records. He died of cancer of the liyer.