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New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3678, 2 March 1899, Page 6

The Chinese Minister at Washington has found a novel use for his bath-room, according to a veracious correspondent of the Chicago “Tribune.” One should rather say bath-rooms, inasmuch as the palatial dwelling now occupied by the representative of the son of heaven United States has four of these important adjuncts to civilised existence; They are every one of them beautiluily tiled and provided with porcelain tubs and washbasins’ to match. But the extreme Oriental idea of the purpose of a bathroom' is different from ours, and so it happens that the Minister from China has found a better use for these conveniences than mere washing. . He, Keeps ducks in them. In the .day-time, the porcelain tubs being-filled to the brim, they swim about as happy as can be. Incident ally, they are fed to fatness like any ordinary ducks. At night the wateris withdrawn from the tubs, and they go to perch on sticks conveniently-placed across these receptacles or. otherwise bestowed. All of which is.' ifiost ' creditame ■ to Chinese ingenuity, so far as duck-raising is concerned. But it would be interesting to know what provision it makes for the legation’s personal ablutions.

Paris connoisseurs have lately been congratulating an American millionaire on the purchase of Prosper d’Epmay s ebrated statue of doanoFArc. /The acquisition, after being exhibited in European cities, will be presented to the v\ asnington gallery. This i masterpiece of d’ifipinay’s art is certainly beautiful—-trie charming head, with its helmet, and t,ie chain mail beneath that incloses brow r-nd chin like the coiffe of some sisterhood. A small bronze model of the statue lias also been on view at the sculptor’s studio. It is an exquisite work of art. The maiden warrior’s full armour is feminized by a richly embroidered fleur-de-lise cloak '"hat falls back on the saddle. Her mi'ded hands are olded as if in prayer. The splendidly caparisoned horse, that bears her[ raises its neck, on which the bridle reign hangs loose. Several members of the,French nobility are talking of gathering a' fund with which a colossal bronze cast of the equestrian Joan of Arc could be acquired. It would be placed o.i a hill top at Domremy. the maid’s birthplace. and—-a gift to the French nation—would look toward the frontier, emblematic of future deliverance from the oldtime enemy.