PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2232, 10 December 1896, Page 42

PERSONAL NOTES.

* Mr J. B Kobinson, the wealthiest of all the South African millionaires, is a tall man of imposing appearance. Unfortunately, however, he suffers from deafness ; and, as a natural consequence, has developed a tendency to stoop. • . • LordSalihburyalmostinvariably hurries to the train, and throws himself, panting and weary, into the corner of the nearest firstclass carriage. There is a level crossing at Hatfield, and nob a few natives of Hertfordshire are made anxious by the unconcerned manner in which the Marquess usos it. * . * Mr Cecil Rhodes is believed to possess a contempt for music-lovers. It is recorded ! of his childhood that he insisted upon the I immediate dismissal of all street musicians who were unaccompanied by a monkey.- If the animal happened to "be present, well and good, but instant ejection was the fate of | the man or boy who appeared with musioal instruments when monkeylesß. i • . • The Ozar plays the oomet ; King Hnm- ; bert hunts the chamois; Qaeen Victoria has ' ft^asuivft foe hhtclq* ifeo. Queen, of Icaiy for

tne theatre. The King of Greeoe is an excellent swimmer, and an acoomolished angler ; the King of the Belgians is a great walker and trioyolist ; the Empress of Austria hunts, and tha Empress of Germany " makes musio " ; King Humbert, again, makes postry, and so does the Pope.

• . • In spite of bis good nature, the Prince of Wales ie quick to resent any lack of the consideration due to him. Some time ago he went to see a pley in which there was some incidental satire of tbe British army and navy. The Prince, before all things a good patriot, was displeased. "I knew nothing about this play beforehand," he said. " I was advised to see it. But no one ought to have spoken a good word of it to me."

' . ' When Madame Bernbardt last visited Glasgow she went to an underground shop kept' by a local celebrity who dealt in reptiles, parrots, and dogs. The aotress was much interested, and when the other day news reached her that the naturalist was dead, she wrote a kindly letter of condolence to the widow, telling her that the collie which she bought of her husband is her favourite, accompanying her wherever she went. Id memory, of its original owner, Madame Bernhardt proposed to change the dog's name to that of the old dealer.

• . • It is a curious fact that Count William D juglas, the intimate friend of the Emperor William of Garinany, is not only 'unable "tg speak a word of English, but professes to be utterly adverse to the country from which bis ancestors emigrated at the olose of the Thirty Years' War. Nevertheless he has inherited all the physical traits of the famous house to which be belongs, including the pc-caliar jaw, the falling underlip, and the swarthy complexion of tha "Black Douglas." Count D )uglas is immensely rich, deriving the greater part of his wealth from practically inexhaustible mines in the Harz Mountains.

- . ' Since Lord Kelvin is one of the greatest — if not the greatest — of living mathematicians, it is interesting to learn why he did not carry off the mathematical blue ribbon of Cambridge. This is how it was. The examiners are in the habit of setting papers mnch longer than can possibly be done in the time allowed. It becomes then a question of rapid writing as well bb mathematical ability. One of the students of Lord Kelvin's year saw this, and sot himself by daily practice to acquire the art of rapid penmanship. When the examination came he was able to write so much that he headed the list, Lord Kelvin being second. *'.' Dr Anderson, of the Home Office, whose r>atn© is again prominently before the public in connection with tbe unravelling of the dynamite plot, finds his chief relaxation in Biblical and prophetic etudy. Hs also preachest frequently from the pulpit of an iron chapel in the West End, few of his congregation recognising in their minister the blameless Fouebe of our time. Dr Anderson's brother, the late Sir Simuel M. Anderson, was solicitor in the ryr° fiec ° t *oß of the Pr-ceujx Park mwrdeiors in 1883. His father, the late Mr Mathew Anderson, who was Crown Solicitor for Dublin city for nearly half a century, was the solicitor in charge of the Fenian prosecutions in Dablln in 1865-67. Dr Anderson spent several years in tbe practice of his profession (*he law) I oro ho w,an called to the? Home Office. He married I/*dy Agne& Mcore, a sister of the present Earl of Drcghtida. ' . ' Lord Barton has had some curious ex- ■ parlances. On one occasion when he was in the train a fellow-passenger entered, into i conversation with him, and eventually led | the talk to the subject of brewing. On this ' topic Lord Burton naturally had something to say, and he so impressed his fellowtraveller, who was one also of the trade, that the latter said : " You seem to know a good deal about brewing. Look here. lam a brewer down way. I wantf an active and promising young man to act as manager under me and push the business. I have no family, and IE he does well there's a part- - nership ahead in the future. Now, is that a good offer 7 " "An excellent one," replied Lord Burton, "and I regret that I cannot avail my»elf of it. But the fact is that my name is Bass and I have a brewery of my own down at Burton, which you may possibly have heard of." * . * Every branch of the service is, says an English paper, ringing with praise of the splendid success and brilliant .personal' achievement of Sir H. H. Kitchener. His rise has been meteoric. A major-general in lessthan 26 years' service I As the Sirdar ia.only 46 he seems to have the ball of fortune at his feet. ■ The only cases analogous in recent years of euch e*riy rapid promotion are : — * Macgregorj a major-general at £2, who'commanded a brigade in Roberta's march down 1 from Cabul to Candahar; poor Herbie Stewart, who received the rank at the same age, when his life-blood was running out on the insatiable desert sands; and Lord Methuen, who reachtid the list of general officers after only 25£ years' service. Poor Stewart 1 When he hade good-bye to Wolseley at Korrj, to make his dash across the desert to Khartoum, as the pair shook hands the chief jokingly said: "Now remember, Stewart, I can forgive anything except your getting killed 1 " And almost the last message the intrepid dragoon sent before he was laid in his grave by the Nile was an apology for being mortally wounded. The rapid advancement of Major-general Kitchener is best realised by a glance at the list of officers to whom he" was junior. Actually eleventh in j the major's roll, he leaps over the heads of 89 colonels. The senior on that list, Colonel O. J. Meysey, E.E., has 39 years' service ; while the lastappoiated major-general, H. C. Lewes, E.A., has nearly 41 years'. — Husband: "There is one thing I can say for myself, anyway ; I have risen by my own efforts." Wife : " Never in the morning, John. I notice that it takes two alarm docks and all the members of the household to get you up then." TN THE BATTLE OF THIS LIFE ENO'S " FRUIT HALT" is an imperative hygienic need or necessary adjunct. It keeps the blood pure, prevents fevers and acute inflammatory diseases, removes the injurious .effects of stimulants, narcotics, such as alcohol, tobacco, tea, eoffqe, by natural means ; thus restores the nervous system to its normal condition, by preventing the great danger of poisoned blood and over cerebral activity, sleepl-ssness, irritability, worry, &o. Caution — Examine each bottle, and see the Capsule is marked "ENOVi FRUIT SALT." Without it you have been, imposed on by worthies? imitations, SOW t? »U Ctoititf} ftUd Sfottf,