PEOPLE WE READ ABOUT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3439, 21 May 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

PEOPLE WE READ ABOUT.

Dr Max Nordau, the author of “Degeneration," works on an average between fifteen and eighteen hours a day. He has

always several irons in the tire, and works in a study very small in size, hut simply crowded with book cases.

One of the most remarkable features of the luxurious London home of Mr AlmaTadema, 8.A., is a wall panelled with pictures each by a different painter. Lord Leighton, Mr George 11. Boughton, Mr John S. Sargent, and Mr P. H. Calderon are among tbe artist's famous friends who have contributed to its embellishment.

The German Emperor cannot exist without the telegraph. Wherever he goes ha drags behind him “a lengthening chain" of telegraph wires, and arrangements are always made to connect him with Berlin. Even his yacht, the Hohetizollero, must always carry its telegraph operators ; and whenever she is moored she is at once connected with the telegraphic arteries of Europe.

The Czar and Czarina are proving themselves wonderfully tactful as rulers. The choice of the name Tatiana for their little baby has given their subjects the most unbounded delight. Tatiana, a name that belongs essentially to the people, is one hitherto unknown in the '< imperial family, and by making so marked a departure from tradition and thus causing their little daughter to be, so to say, a princess of the people, the Czar will have won many hearts throughout his empire.

Lord Stanley is one of the merriest and most popular Whips the House of Commons has known for many a long day. Ho is more or less intimate with every member of the Jlonse of Commons, ard disarms in many instances a relentlessly inclined opposition by his tact and gaiety. As second Ministerialist Whip it is his duty to try to soften the hearts of those likely to delay Ministers “ getting their votes," and his success in this province is generally admitted. His favourite relaxation outside politics ii seeing his racehorses run.

President McKinley soma time ago found that he was not sleeping well, and he has been devoting his energies to conquering the complaint by his will power. He has succeeded in his efforts, and is again a living example of the rule that no troubles or anxieties are too great for him to endure who can put them behind him and go into a sound sleep within ten minutes after retiring.

Dr Hermann Adler, the Chief Rabbi, is remarkable for his great sympathy with children, and it is said that he is seldom so happy as when he is talking with little people. He is Vice-Presi lent of the Society for tha Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Dr Adler’s hobby is the collecting of manuscript and printed books on the subject of Hebrew literature and history, and his library is a monument both of taste and patience, for all its contents have been arranged by himself.

Professor Lomhroso, the great Italian “ physicoorirninologist," while visiting Russia recently met Tolstoi, and this is what he says of that eminent writer; “As I entered the room I saw him sitting at his writing-table in old patched clothes. I am an admirer of Tolstoi, but I believe he is ill. I received the impression that he is very vain. You have only to look at the shoes he hss on his feet. The leather was everywhere torn and in holes, all done artificially, in order that he might have an opportunity of mending them."

The finest lady-shot in England is the Duchess of Bedford. Lord de Grey ia often described as our best small game shot, but ho has a formidable rival in her grace, who can bring down rabbits, hares, and rocketing pheasants with unerring precision. She shoots not only with nerve and precision, but with great care, and is eminently a safe shot. Her weapon is a light, double-barrelled twelvebore, which differs little from the ordinary game gun. The Duchess does not believe in battue shooting, a few hours’” sport among the preserves with a couple -of spaniels being more to her taste. She is also an expert salmon-fisher.

The Duchess of Fife is the most domesticated and retiring of all our Royal Family She has a horror of State ceremonies, and, indeed, of publicity of any kind ; and spends her happiest hours playing with her little girls in the nursery, fishing with her husband in Scottish streams, or tramping over the mcors by his side. One of her chief enjoyments in town is the essentially feminine one of shopping ; and. thiokly veiled, she may often be seen with her husband peering; through shop windows in the West-End with all the pleasure of a suburban matron or a country cousin.

Rosa Bonheuc spends the greater part of her life in retirement in the Chiteaa de By in Thormery, a small place situated in the woods of Fontainebleau. An almost impenetrable series of ditches and fortifications there serve the double purpose of keeping out intruders and keeping in Mile. Bonheur’s numerous wild beasts. Lions, tigers, and panthers, sometimes let free, are the talented artist’s daily companions.

The Marquis of Londonderry—who, although ha boasts a distinguished descent from an ancestor who fought at Aginoourt, has been willing to earn large revenues as a coal merchant—is a dark, handsome, fine • featured man of forty - five. The noted Seaham. collieries, the sale of which he has been negotiating for the substantial sum of £2,000,000, were at one time in the possession of Byron’s family, who had not the enterprise to turn them into geld. Lord Londonderry owns 50,000 acres of land, and has two princely seats north of the Humber, one in Ireland, another in Wales, and a town house iq Park Lane,