PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 82

PERSONAL NOTES.

— For over 40 years Mr J. G. Talbot, Af.P. for the University of Oxford, has sat in the House without defeat, and on that account is regarded as Father of the House. His intention to retire will be regretted by men of all parties, for he has earned the respect of all who have ever known him. Mr Talbot 16 a brother of die Bishop of Southwark, his eldest sou being a K.<J — Excepting, perhaps, Lord Lyveden, the Earl of Egmont, who celebrated his fifty-third birthday the otner day, has had a more adventurous career than any other member of the peerage. Before succeeding to the title, about a dozen years a«o, he roughed it tor some 20 years, serving as a 6ailor before the mast, as a fireman in the London Fire Brigade, and as a caretaker of the Chelsea Town Hall. — The distinction of being the only practical lifeboatman in the House ot Commons belongs to Lieutenant-colonel Seely, who recently celebrated his forty -first birthday. Colonel Seeiy used to be a member of ' the Brooke lifeboat crew, and as such received the thanks of the French Government, with a medal, for aiding in fhe rescue of a, French crew shipwrecked off the Isle of Wight. Colonel Seely has played many parts in his time,, and has been a barrister and an Imperial Yeoman besides a member of Parliament. — : Nexfc to the wonderful Foster family, of Worcestershire, there is, perhaps, xio more remarkable', illustration of hereditary cricket skill than that afforded by the Crawford family,^ one member of which — Mr J. N. Crawford — was fortunate enough to captain the Surrey team in their great victory over the Australians. His father, the Rev. J. C. Crawford, chaplain of Cane Hill Asylum, played for Surrey some years ago, while another of his sons, " V. F. 5.," acts in the capacity of player and secretary for Leicestershire. A third son, Reggie, has also played for Leicestershire for several seasons, while to a sister of these three cricketing brothers belongs the distinction of being the only Surrey lady to 6core a century in a. oricket match. "J. N.," by the way, is one of the few first-claes players who wear spectacles. — Strolling with one of his children on Hampstead Heath one day Mr Martin Harvey came across a Punch and Judy chow, and paused in front of the elevated theatre to see the farcical tragedy out. The feedy man who stood at the side waiting for the time for collecting the spectators' coppers looked hard at the actor during tho entertainment, and when it came to going round with the hat he carefully avoided him. The actor, however, offered the man a shilling. " Oh, no," said the sseclv one with a vigorous shake of the head ; " I've often been into your show on the nod, and itV my turn now ! " — Amongst the amusing storks tojd of the undergraduate days of Lord Wemyss, the first chairman, of the council of the National "Rifle Association, is one concerning a day when he got leave from the dean of Christ Church to go to town "to ccc a doctor about his lame leg." The dean expressed sympathy for him, and gave permission to go. The real object, however, was a State ball given by the young Queen, which he particularly wanted to see. Unfortunately, his name appeared- in all the papers the i>ext day as having been among those present When the dear met him, therefore, on his return to Oxford, he drily remarked : '" 1 was not aware that dancing was a cure for lameness." — Lord Methuen ha.s ever been a stickler for discipline, and in this respect, when occasion d-sir.and*. ho has a knack of making caustic remark-. There is a story told by" a tall, hand-omr- Ir-shman, an excellent soldier, who had one failing— he could not keep fob-er. One day, after he ha<l received l)uins!<:npn* in the orderly room for th« offonco of diunkennc=ts, Lord Merhurfi, who took asi int<ie=t in the toper, -,eveivly rc-nion-'rated with him concerning hi- infirnvttf The man shook his head -adly "Aii." h*» oh~=r\ed, '"I can't help 't; I'll never be »obor until the breath i- out of me bod-\." "But vthnn the breath is oat of -our body," i«tort<vl Lord M<-thuen. '•riu afi-o-d you'll h?i\e tho great^-t po«ibl'» justification for being thin-rv " — A plea-ing little -.lory is b^in(r to VI about the (ierman Crown Prince which augur-, well for his future career a-, a monarch. He was dri\mg in the count ly in hk motor car not lony t-ince w'hon i tramp, evidently worn out \>ith walking-. iiioN^d out of the road to lot tho car pa-<-Hoei"<,' the man's souy condition. th« Prince immediately stopped and fipoke to the* for.lpad Learning that tlv latter wa« troing tho ->amo way as him«elf. tlv> Crown Pi nice asked h-m to get into the car. Tho man gladly ol>eyod, and the 111-fii-sorted nair diov> on for boiw mile*-. Arrived M In-, destination the Prince put flown his passenger, and ghing him a hand.-ome '" tip" went his own wav without the tramp ha\inc? tha least idea of his idenfity. — Dr Pharle« W. Eliot, the retiring president of Harvard University, is one of the i/io c t strenuous workers in America. Although he is 75, he is still a 6 active as most men half his age, and he attributes his good health to the fact that he is a tee-

totaller. "I can still go up two stairs at a time," he once said, " and a man who can do Ehat is not ready to be laid on the shelf." Probably the real secret of Dr Eliot's success is due to his splendid 1 strength of will. " Nobody," he has written, " has any right to find 'ife uninteresting or unrewarding who sees within the sphere of his own activity a wrong he can. help to remedy, or within himself an evil he can hope to overcome." It is because he has spent his whole life in remedying the evils .around him that he has reached 1 his present position of the leading educationist in the United States. — General Sir Bruce Hamilton is a capital hand at spinning a yarn, and one of the funniest of thes© refers to some Volunteer manoeuvres at which he was present some years ago, when a young officer in the East Yorkshire Regiment. It was at the time when Volunteer bearer companies had been recently established, and, seeing a dressing station erected, Hamilton went over to watch the men at work. Pointing to one much-damaged individual, he asked what he was supposed to be under treatment for. " A severe scalp wound, with complete insensibility, sir." "H'm," replied Hamilton, "and how have you treated him?" "Dref;3d the wound according to instructions, sir, and given him some whisky 'and water." " Whisky and water — what on earth for? " he asked in surprise. " Please, sir. he asked for it ! " was the surprising" ieply he got. — A piquant ■ interest was lent to the reappearance of Mine. Nordica, the famous prima. donna, in London by the fact that she is engaged to be married to Mr Young, a wealthy American. It was in the States —Texas to be exact — that . Mme. Nordica was paid what she asserts .vas the prettiest compliment of her life. She was singing at a concert the arrangements for w.hich were none too luxurious The audience was primitive, and the night was bitterly cold. Among the crowd in the concert room was a cowboy ; who, during the evening, eat spellbound as he listened to Nordica's notes. When her last song was finished, and she was wrapping up to return to her lodging, it was discovered that her warm overshoes had been forgotten. The cowboy immediately offered to go for them, and brought them one at a time. Mme. Nordica thanked him graciously, and expressed regret that he should have had so much trouble. " Not at all, madam," said the admiring youth ; " I only wish you were a centipede." r — Archbishop Bourne is one of the manyclergy in the Roman Church who are selfmade men. His mother was an Irish Catholic, his father a Protestant, and the story of Dr Bourne's early days is one of struggle and effbrt. His father, a Government official, who, by- the way. was one of the original, members of the Civil Service Stores, died while a young man, leaving a widow and two boys totally, unprovided for. The elder boy died ,afc" the age of 17, but the mother lived long enough to see the other installed as Archbishop. Dr Bourne himself ras intended for the civil service, but his career at St. Edmund's College, Ware, marked him for the Church, and ac one likely to make a name for himself. Dr Bourne shares with Father Vaughan. the distinction of being one of the ablest religious orators in England. He has delivered sermon^ in> half a dozen languages. He obtained a working knowledge of German in six months, and of Spanish in half that time. But he found himself defeated 1 once, though. That was when he set himself out to learn Welsh under the guidance of Father Yataghan, who is an accomplished Welsh scholar. The Archbiehop's knowledge of the underworld of London is unique. He knows the slums in their beat and worst garbs, and is inclined to believe that the former more than outbalance the "atter. — The Duke of Oporto, a Prince of the Braganza House, who visited England lasc month for the purpose of announcing the accession of " King Aianuel to the thrqna of Portugal, is on? of the handsomest* men of a family whose members are all noted for their good looks. Taller than the lateKing, whose neavy build mada him look smaller actually than he was, the Duke of O-portp iias little trace of the obesity which. so distinguished his dead brother. In appearance the Duke of Oporto strikes an appealing note. Fair nair that has receded slightly from the forehead and temples, laughing, sparkling eyes, at once impressionable and full of suggestion, and a very flowing moustache, partially evealing an expressive mouth, are the salient points of his face. *> soldier by profession, his deportment is certainly most military, while his manners aro simple and unaffected by his social position. Like so many royal Princes, the Duke is a remarkable linguist, speaking English clearly, without hesitation or any noticeable accent. In his tastes he also "shows his partiality 'or English things. Among a people not over<>nthusia&uc for sport, his Royal Highness takc^. a warm interest in the doings of the Lisbon Hunt Club. By reason of hi» military training the Duke of Oporto is a fino horseman, and hunts with the be=t of them by the Tagus and in the vicinity of the Portuguese capita!, where on occasion a first-class run is put up. Like- hin 'ate brother, he is also a remarkable *hot, arid has b.-»e.n known to piorer* card", thrown into the air when from a revolver at 60 paces distant. Th<» Prince is very partial to swimming, and has encouraged this pastime by hf-oming patron of ihe Swimming Club at Lisbon.

— Two thousand movable kitchens have been ordered for tho Austrian army. Each <,! t'-xx*? i> a four-wheeled vehicle, weighing- about half a ton, thoroughly equipped for rooking in the field. Sw-Us fiie-toads aft as perfect barometers. If kept in glass jars containing water and a ladder, they will climb up the ladder when tho weather is to be wet, and pre\ious io dry weather will stay snugly in their watery homes. They cost about 9d. Mr C. L. Tomlinson, secretary, Mechanics' Institute, Northampton, W.A., says: " I would not be without a bottle of your GRAND Cough Remedy at any time. I use the word ' Grand*' fearlessly and with! confidence that if anyone will take Chamberlain's Cough -Remedy . according 1 to directions, the result will greatly surprise the most sceptical. I myself found ifc wonderful in its speedy action and curative properties, and never lose an opportunity of recommending it to anyone who is troubled with a cough or cold." For sal* everywhere.