PEN-NOTES AND PENCILLINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 16

PEN-NOTES AND PENCILLINGS.

The remains of the Greater Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, have been buried at Frogmore. The Empire hoped that they would be placed in Westminster Abbey, but the devotion of the Queen to her husband! prevented this. Her Majesty had the dead Consort buried in the Royal Mausoleun at Frogmore, and her intention of lying by his side when death should claim her, was early •shown in the inscription which she caused to l be graven on the tomb. This reads: — Farewell, well beloved, Here at last I will rest with thee. With thee in Christ I will rise again. Above this are .the arms of both, signifying that unity in death which characterised’ their relations all through their married life. The tomb of the Consort, which will also be the tomb of her late Majesty, is built of grey granite and other stones gathered from different parts of the Empire. On top of it is the recumbent figure of the Prince in marble in the uniform of Field Marshal, and wearing the mantle of the Garter. This figure is on the left side of the lid, and the vacant half the other bide will doubtless be occupied by a companion figur© of her Majesty. At each corner of the tomb is a bronze angel with overclasped hands and outstretched wings. FOR THE SOUTH POLE. It is not generally realised that while much interest and attention attaches to North Polar exploration, a very much greater region remains unexplored at this side of the globe. No less than seven million square miles are .there which we know nothing of, and no British Government expedition has made an attempt to discover their nature for a quarter of a century. In August next, however, a British Antarctic expedition will set sail and explore as thoroughly as possible for two or three years in company with a German expedition which will start at the same

time. If it is to do all it wants to do, the British expedition will cost no less than. £IIO,OOO, of which £90,000 is already subscribed, £45,000 coining from the Government. However thoroughly it does its work, it is not to he expected that such an expedition will actually reach the South Pole; hut in any case it is believed that its practical scientific investigations will, among other things, prove of the utmost value to navigation. The nearest point to the South Pole which has been reached so far (by Borohgrevink, who .beat the previous British record by tfiirty - five miles) is still

miles from the North Pole. The ship which is being built for the British explorers at Dundee, and which may be launched in. about three months’ time, is a curious craft. Though a steamship she will be constructed of wood so that she will not interfere with the magnetic observations which it is desired tO' make. As shown in the picture, she is a threemasted ship, and in her general lines will be something after the style of a whaler. She is being made specially strong, ,sp that she will be able to stand anything, in. the way of seas and both of which are of a far severer charcter at the South Pole than at the other. Som© idea of the ice that is there may be gathered: from the fact that, one expedition counted ninety-seven icebergs at once, and another sailed for 450 miles along a great ice wall, which wa.s calculated to be a thousand feet iu thickness. Inside the Discovery will be eventually a little museum-. She is the first British ship ever built for purely scientific purposes, and! contains laboratories and special quarters for geologists and scientists of different sorts, and will afford accommodation for officers and crew to- tile number of forty-five, which will be the total extent of her population when .she starts' for the Pole. She will be commanded by one of the youngest explorers who have ever embarked on such an important mission, Captain R. F. Scott, R.N., who is only thirty years of age. The South Pol© Nansen is a fine specimen of the British naval 'officer. He was in the Navy till last August as torpedo' lieutenant on board the Majestic, and as always had a considerable love for research work of every kind. Though young he is by no means too young for such an important undertaking as this; in fact, he is regarded as being of ideal age for it. A man is too old at forty for such work, and since British expeditions to the South Pole have been go infrequent it is impossible to get experienced men. It is not yet clear how' the expedition will communicate with civilisation; but perhaps Captain Scott’s knowledge of wireless telegraphy will be useful. A me-

thod adopted by Mr Borchgrevink was to place watertight oaken casks in the hollow of icebergs, and on the ice-floes with letters inside them addressed to 1 the Royal Geographical Society. THE QUEEN’S FORTUNE. The Queen’s will is not going to be proved. The will of a) monarch never is, and hence, the public are in ignorance whether they die rich or poor. It is generally believed that her Majesty

based probably on. misconception. The only man who knew how she stood at the time of her death was Viscount Cross, who had been the Queen’s financial adviser for twenty years. Through

him, about eight years ago, the late Sir Henry Ponsonby sent a letter to the press in reply to a statement tha,t the Queen had £2,000,000 invested in London ground rents. Sir Henry pledged the word of his Mistress that she hadn’t anything like two millions of money in anything and all things,- and of course everyone of decency accepts the statement. At the same time it is very definitely stated that the Queen had an enormous amount of property in the United States, notably in New York, and in Scotland, England and Ireland. This statement is given in the New Yoi-k “Heralds’* and must be taken for what it is worth—the expression of an irresponsible person who may or may not be well informed. One thing we should always remember, though the Queen’s revenue was large, the spending of most of it was in other hands, and her own charities made out of her “pin money,” if the term may be used, were innumerable though often individually small. KIPLING AS A SCHOOLBOY. A schoolfellow of Rudyard Kipling’s contributes', to the “New York Metropolitan Magazine” some interesting reminiscences of the latter’s career at Westward-Ho College. It wa-s in the beginning of 1879 that he first made the future author’s acquaintance, and he had no great opinion then of his intellectual capacity. “At no- time did Kipling appear to strive for distinction in that respect, except possibly in the ibranch of English literature, when he would 1 , without much effort, generally carry Off a prize at the Christmas or

midsummer examinations as if it belonged to him, by his inalienable right. Nevertheless, apart from this single achievement in his studies, I should imagine that no' such great man ever displayed less promise of a, brilliant future than did Rudyard! Kipling. Out of class hours he was generally engaged in some escapade with his two chums. It was one master's practice to cane on suspicion and inquire into the circumstances afterwards, and Kipling was frequently a victim:. On one occasion, when he and his companions caught the master in a species of booby trap, however, the oonspiiibors escaped in the darkness unrecognised and did not receive the usual reward for misdoing. It has been said that Kipling does not fully appreciate th© character of woman. This may be called in question. At Westward-Ho there resided an angular and severelooking spinster lady of Jthe name of Miss Hunt. Miss Hunt dealt in a select assortment of groceries, kept three or four cats, and cherished 1 a profound abhorrence of the ways of all college youths. Even for cash their custom was unsolicited; and as to credit, Kipling, I fancy, was the only one whose naan© appeared on her books. Never did diplomatist win his way into the

greater finesse than did “gigs” win bis way into the regard of Miss Hunt. While his companions were staffing their handkerchiefs into their mouths to suppress a desire for immoderate laughter he would blandly talk cat and pay the blushing Miss Hunt such delicate compliments that his object' would shortly be attained. As Kipling grew older he became less of a. persistent law breaker. But he also came, to be regarded as, perhaps, an over-zealous worker in a natural history society which was started. In the'interest- of scientific research the collecting of insect specimens wa-s encouraged., but not to the extent- of permitting a box of creeping things with innumerable legs to escape near the president’s desk when that personage was delivering a lecture on Cioero. A UNIQUE SUSPENSION RAILWAY. The German Emperor and Empress have recently opened a suspension railway which connects Barmen-Ritter hausen with Emberfield and V’oh-vinkle, iii Rhenish Prussia. The projector of the aerial line was a Mr Langen, of Colonge, who died before seeing the completion of tiie idea. For a great part of the way the railway has been built directly over the Wupper River, and in other parts runs over the highway—in which case the railway supports are fashioned like an inverted V in consequence of

the road traffic below. The stations ai’e also “hanging,” and! of a peculiar shape, necessitated by the conditions. The lino lias taken a little over two years to complete. Cheapness seems to be the chief advantage of the. system. As the line has been carried mainly over roads and rivers, there has been practically no expense incurred in buying ground. The cars runt smoothly and pleasantly, so that the. chief objection to the system would be its unsightliness. That it is a slight eyesore theie can be no doubt; but then the Elb erf elders consider commerce and convenience before comeliness. From this point- of view the Sc'hwebebahn should certainly be a speculation. . The German Emperor, whose interest in scientific apparatus is wellknown, made a minute- examination of the working of the new railway, and expressed the belief that a- successful future was in store for this means of transit. A SCIENTIFIC MOTHER SHIPTON. On the threshold of a new century, a-s lu w t re ’ is weil 1)0 halt for a moment the better to see your finish as others ff e One of the others according to Hie Chicago Times-Herald” is Professor r■ ‘ ® ee > astronomer, who has charge of the big telescope in the naval observatory at Washington. He claims to hay e made a discovery that leads him to believe that mankind has Cnly 3,000,_ 000 years to live on mother earth. In a recent interview on the subject Pro-

fessor See said—“l believe that the existence of mankind will end on this earth in about 3,000,000 years, although, of course, I cannot state this as an undeniable fact. The destruction of the earth will undoubtedly be caused by the sun, but I do not accept the theory that

fire. Tli© sun will eventually fail in fore©, and light and heat will depart from our planet. The condition of the sun ha» been changing for many thousands of years, and the end is still a long way off- . There is a diversity of opinion as to just how the end of the world will come to pass, and a great many stories have been set afloat frightening the timid and credulous into a, belief that the day of judgment w&s very near. Most of these scares have been based! upon the theory that the sun was moving; rapidly towards the earth, and would eventually collide with, our terrestrial planet. There is still another theory, and this is •the one I hold'—that the earth will not foe burned, but frozen; that our world will not .be destroyed, but merely made uninhabitable by the . excess of cold. This will, 'according to my- 'discoveries, come to pass because of the exhaustion of the sun's energy. Old Sol has already expended eight, - ninths of his energy, and at the present rate of heat increase it will take no more than 3,000,000 years for the 'remaining, oneninth to _ burn out. . The entire solar system will then b©, bathed in perpetual night. -The earth ana its sister planets will continue,. however, to travel on their orbits around the darkened sun, which will still remain the centre of the solar system. _ Despite* the eternal darkness which will reign, when the sun has burned itself out, man 'could still continue to live on this gloomy ©artk If it were all he had to cope with, for long before 3,000,000 yeahs have elapsed man will have learned-to-manufacture artificial daylight. But when the light •of the sun is withdrawn, the heat which makes life possible will go with it. This it is my belief, will be what is termed the end of t'he> world.” .. ' • . . LORD ROBERTS'S DOUBLE. ' “Great* men . .and their doubles-”• -has been the heading of .many, arti-dles show'ing how certain celebrities are .physically reproduced;' in other persons, -Lord: Salisbury has a. double in. a- resident of San. Francisco, and Mr Barton has almost a twin brother in one of the -leadL ing-: officials •in Washington. The late. Sir-. Henry Parkes- was not 'particularly afflicted in this way, but Beaoonsfield ibaid.a double in Sydney "who was'his'

proto type even, to tTiio curl •aa the- forehead.. It -paw appear* - that Lord- Roberts has..: Ms do table in.; a ; eitia©n; ; ;ofi Oxford, add' in --that reader?- iaay teat the’accuracy o f the' .statement, ’ th 8 •latter's portrait is giveh ■ ’ ’herewith; Like other gentlemen who resemble distinguished persons our Oxford friend assumes the same out of hair,. the same expression, and what is equally important, a uniform. To the 'latter-."he is' justfae much entitled as to the former,' ag7 ha.; wore it in an official• • pro-cession' the. other,:.day,' and: a-question elicited the statement that it was quite in order. Lord. Roberts - gets sp. many warm- re~oeptions - that h© needth t . begrudge his dou/bl© an occasional “good- old Bobs”' when he goes to to.ke the air. : ... ANOTHER,' OF ;THE GREAT ONES. The seats'- of the mighty are becoming, everyday less—-th©. great ones of ' the

world are falling all round. One such was Field Marshal Gourko, whose death has been announced at the age of 73 years. Gourke was a distinguished Russian General and perhaps the greatest of the Russian commanders in the last war with Turkey.. Entering th© Army in 1848, he soon -attained to a captaincy, and in 1860 was appointed Adjutant- to the Emperor. A year later he was made a colonel. On war breaking out with Turkey—-that struggle which was to have taken a fortnight, but- occupied almost two years —Gourko was created a General, and given command of the vanguard of the army. The battles fought by him were many and brilliant, on© being won after a , passage of the Balkans in the middle' of winter. In 1878, as reward for his services, lie was made a Count and appointed Gover-nor-General of Polandv Here his rule, though arbitrary, was strictly in the.interests of his Emperor, who, in 1884, visited him. In. 1892 he was appointed 'Commander-in-Ohief of Poland and Lithuania, his headquarters • being at Warea w. In losing Gourko Russia suffers as much loss as England would suffer did the latter lose both Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. He had the miasterly_ organisation of the one combined with the stern, administration of the other.. - ■ALL THE WAY FROM PEKIN. “A missionary and her clothes” is the heading of an item which is going the rounds of Europe. Miss Mary Condif Smith achieved greatness in this way because she was an escaped Pekin missionary, and wanted to -lay up treasureswhich moths corrupt and thieves get away with —if they can. She. had money, plenty of it,. was the daughter of a bleated American plutocrat indeed, and when she was saved, from Pekin she went over to England and laid out £250 in dresses. These she

took with her to New York, and when she was asked to pay duty spoke of her work on behalf of the Gospel and of how the Chinese had burnt most of her old dresses.' The Collector heard her -unmoved,- and as she wouldn’t pay a farthing, consficated the wardrobe and made a report. It was then that the Pekin cleverness of Miss Smith asserted itself, as she went to t-he head cf the Department, whoever he is, and spoke of American liberty and the rights of American citizens who have been threatened by Chinamen to special consideration. The gentleman asked was it fair to expect this consideration Tor £250 worth of dresses when even the most un-missionary like of Tadies would. -be content with a -wardrobe costing amfth of It, MisA Smith ; pouted and . Miss Smith cried, and finally- being a goodlooking. girl got a clean discharge” and went on her way triumphantly.- Th©' item is published partly by way of news and partly to see if any - Australian lady missionary' would like tc work'thesame game under, the Federal 'Tariff, an dhow an Australian tJustoms - ~ chief would' meet her if she attempted it.-