HERE AND THERE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2968, 1 February 1911, Page 82

HERE AND THERE.

—Thumb Nail Farms. — In Denmark instead of dragging vhe clerk to the country they bring the country bodily to the clerk. In Copenhagen, that grey and stony old metropolis, every man has his farm round the corner. A thumb-nail farm to be sure, but his own, a place where he may scratch the sympathetic bosom of Mother Nature as a man should. In that city of flat-dwellers, where everyone, from the tinker to the ex-Minister to Japan, lives at the top of more or less tall stair, where detached villas are all but unknown, and the only house with a garden is the almshouse — in this least rural of aJI the cities of Europe, any man may be a joyous tiller of the soil. For is there not the Garden Union, a country paradise in the heart of the city, a horticultural apartment block? Every here .and there in the midst of the flat houses of Copenhagen a tract of land is set apart for a veritable garden city. Enclosed within one general wall, with city gates and broad avenues and narrow lanes, the place is just a nest of infinitesimal garden plots to be let on hire. What though one's garden bears a number? What though laden electric car-; go thundering past the confines of the flowery enclosure? Is it not as much a garden as the city flat is a home? And ma/ one not dig there to heart's content, sow tares, raise orchids, or hoe potatoes as suits his fancy or his purse? No charitable scheme this, no municipal potato patch. It is simply a neat and economical "Back to Nature" for the cooped-up city man. On any fine summer's night, when the sky is aglow with tne long northern twilight, Nature-loving Danes by the hundreds are to be seen at work in their compartments of these great garden enclosures, or taking beer and smorobrod before these wee individual summer-houses or little plaster mansions with which Danish taste adorns each toy farm. or simply brooding on their growing "acres" in the full bliss of rural content. —Lad}' Barristers in France. The Paris Bar celebrated its centenary by a grand banquet of 1100 covers in the Law Courts, to which many leading counsel from other countries were invited. Among the 1100 diners were over a dozen ladies who have been admitted to the Paris Bar. The oldest by seniority is Mdlle. Chauvin, doctor of law, who is now in her eleventh year of legal practice. She was the first woman barrister, and paved the way for her sisters at the Bar. Mdlle. Petit came next, but either although or because she married a lawyer she never practised. Six years passed before Mdlle. Chauvin's example bore more fruit. Mme. Benezech and Mdlle. Milkwere called to the Bar together The former is a lively, ch'Hsh little person, who attended one day in court during the hearing of children's misdemeanours. The judge, a trifle short-sighted, perceiving her at counsel's table, called out, "Usher, remove that child to the back of thp court." At the banquet they wore not counsel's gowr.s, but quite feminine evening gowns. Mine. Verone has given an interesting lecture on "A Woman Counsel's Day" Her mornin? is taken up with visits from clients. All are women. and nearly all have pitiful tales to tell of unhappy married life, or of disputes over children after divorce or separation. Some tiae'eswomen came to her with their business law suits. The most oitiful clients are the mother of "iris and boys under age, charged with misdemeanours, who implore her to get their children off. The worst part of'her day is her visit to Saint Lazare Gaol, whither her duty to her clients takes her, and where she has to listen, to tragic or squalid tales. A large

' number of women prefer a woman counsel i in whom they often can confide more than they venture to do to a, man. This is especially the case with wives suing for divorce. Richest Heiress in the World.— Miss Catherine Barker, of Chicago, who is only 14, inherits £6,000,000, the entire fortune of her father, John Barker, constructor of tram and railway cars, and a highly successful investor, who died on November 26. She is now the richest | girl in the country, being worth just double as much as Miss Helen Gould, of New York, and three times as much as Mn--s Jennie Crocker, of San Francisco, the two young ladies nearest her in worldly possessions. Catherine lost her ; mother last June, and is now in charge lof a governess. The estate is adminisi tered by the Chicago Trust and Savings | Bank. f: It's just horrid having so much money," Catherine remarked to an interviewer, but the governess present at the interview said, " You must try to endure your affliction with patience." Catherine is very popular with her girl friends, who declare that she will always be Catherine, and that money cannot spoil her. One of the late millionaire's pet prejudices was a hatred for cigarette-smoking. He urged Nelson Barnes, a young broker, of Isew York, who was then engaged to his favourite niece, to quit cigarettes. His urgings were in vain, and at last he said: "Barnes, if you throw away .that cigarette and pledge your word of honour never to smoke another I'll give you £10,000." "Done!" said Barnes, who gave bis word, and forthwith replaced the cigarette by cigars. High Price for Old Lace. — Nearly £9400 was realised at Messrs Christie's rooms, London (says the correspondent of the Newcastle Chronicle) in less than two hours for the collection of lace formed by the late Sir Wiliam Abdy. No similar collection has appeared under the hammer during the past 25 years, and as a consequence the King street ljorcs were crowded when the dispersal of this wonderful collection of point Alencon, point Argentan, point de Venise, Brussels, and Valenciennes commenced. Private buyers, however, were few, almost all the more important lots falling to the leaders of the trade. The chief of the whole collection was an old Italian gold and thread lace flounce, four yards long and. 29in deep, and after a long and spirited contest it sold for £740. Scarcely less important was an Italian rose-point flounce, nearly four yards long, which made £660, while £650 was given for a point de Venise flounce four yards llin long, together with a pair of sleeves en suite. Another magnificent flounce of fine raised point de Venise, sometimes called point de France, sold for £6OO, and two others made £569 and £540 respectively. Finally, mention must be made of an Italian rose-point flounce, three yards 19in long, which made £520, and one of point de Venice a la rose, four yards 3in long, for which £5lO was given. In all the 62 lots sold produced £9397. High Priest of Vegetarianism.— The Rev. J. E. B. Mayor, who died recently in London from heart failure at the age of 85, was, in addition to being one of the foremost Latinists of the day, an outstanding figure among vegetarians. He succeeded Professor Newman, brother of the Cardinal, as president of the Vegetarian Society. The professor's diet was simple in the extreme. At 6.30 he breakfasted on porridge and fruit, at 1 30 he had vegetables and unleavened bread, and at 7.15 he dined in hall on a vegetable soup, a vegetable savoury, and a little lemonade—his only drink ; n the day. He was one of the first of the fasting men. Some years ago he decided to take no food for three weeks while he completed his edition of Juvenal. He was under medical inspection during this time, and every morning walked from St. John's College to the Cambridge county gaol to be weighed. In the third week he yielded to the advice of his doctor, and brought the fast to .an end. The professor insisted, however, that he would have suffered no harm had he continued the fast, and added that he had " never felt so well in his life or so capable of getting through a hard day's work." He was unmarried, a non-smoker, and a total abstainei. Travelling Schools in Germany.— The American Deputy Consul-general at Frankfort reports that the Prussian Government will in its next budget ask for a grant, in order to provide foi itinerating housekeeping schools. These are to move from place to _jlaoe and give instruction in housekeeping to the daughters of labourers, craftsmen, and farming people. The plan of instruction comprkes cooking, baking, conserving and putting up fruit, vegetables, and other food articles,, dairying, feeding, and caretaking of farm animals, poultry culture, raising of fruit and vegetables, sawing, repairing, and cleaning of clothing, laundrying, cleaning, and sanitation of the home, nutrition, and health. The course of instruction will take about eight weeks. Schools of this sort have been in existence in the Rhenish provinces and in some of the other German States, and have been of great benefit. It is intended eventually to provide such an itinerating school for every country in Prussia. Prussia's Goldfield.— The Cologne Gazette says, in reference to the gold discoveries in the Elifel Range, Rhenish Prussia, that a gold-bear-ing stratum has been reached by boring almost midway between Iveldingen and Amel. and only sft below the surface. The boring has since pierced 45ft without coining to a rock bottom. As the whok diluvial mass down to the palaeozoic rock bottom contains gold, this discovery would appear to be of great importance. The interest of capitalists has been enlisted, and the district south of Malmedy will become the centre of a considerable mining industry if present expectations are fulfilled.