PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3101, 20 August 1913, Page 79

PERSONAL NOTES.

Of all men who ever lived Henri Rochefort. who died recently, was the sport of paradox. Amnestied on the one hand for participation in the Commune, yet excluded from pardon on account of a few newspaper articles, all his life was on similar lines. His father entered a prison at the age of two, one grandmother was the last person with whom the Du Barry conversed, the other saw the execution of Marie Antoinette. Identified all his life with violent propaganda, Rochefort carried his tenderness for *• children* almost to extremes, and once declared that he would have the death penalty repealed for all except parents who let their children play with matches.

While Mr John D. Rockefeller was playing golf with some friends lately one of them said, “Why don’t you buy about 400 sheep and let them feed on your lawn? You would save the cost of cutting the grass.” “How much would they cost?’’ he asked. “About 24s apiece, the expenditure about £480,” was the reply. “Oh, that’s too much,” answered Mr Rockefeller. Later he calculated the cost of his big motor lawn-mowers, and the cost of the, sheep, and found that his friend was right, so he placed an order for 400 Southdown sheep. —By the .death of the Rev. Dr Cameron Lees, who prior to 1909 was minister of St. Giles’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, the Church of Scotland has been bereft of one of her most gracious and distinguished ornaments. He had, perhaps, come more into contact with Royalty tlian any other Scottish divine. He was in 1881 appointed one of the chaplains to Queen Victoria, and since 1901 had been Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the King in Scotland. During the reign of Queen Victoria he was generally at Balmoral twice a year, her Majesty having a great regard for him and bestowing upon him many tokens of esteem. On one occasion when Dr Lees had been ill her Majesty sent her own physician to attend him. The late Dr Cameron Lees was a noted pedestrian. While still in the active discharge of his duties as minister of St. Giles’s, Edinburgh, ho made a point of walking 10 miles per day and six on Sunday, and in the course of some years managed to walk a d’stance equal to that round the world at its widest part This ho did twice. In 1910, after going to reside in Kingussie, lie walked 2090 miles, a distance equal to that from Kingussie to John o’ Croats, from there to Land’s End and back, and then back again to Kingussie. Two years ago he started with the idea of walking a distance equal to that from John o’ Great’s to Land’s End and back to Kingussie. He succeeded in doing that, covering a total of 1624 miles —a remarkable feat surely for a man bordering on four-score. One of England's parson-peers passed away the other day in the person of the Rev. Lord MoncricfF, vicar of Tamworth-in-Arden, near Birmingham, who succeeded to the MoncricfF Barony third holder in 1909 He was the second son of that Scottish judge who in 1874 was coronetted as Lord MoncricfF, and whoso eldest son had already become a Scottish “paper lord” as Lord Wellwood, before his father was elevated to the House of Peers. The first Lord MoncricfF represented a notable family in the baronetage, and he was the eleventh Baronet of his title. —lt is proposed to raise a memorial at ShornclifFe camp, as General Sir John Moore was long connected with that place, and there trained the famous Light Brigade. Everyone who has read British history is familiar with the career of this remarkable man, and it would be superfluous to recapitulate it here. One point which marked the career of Sir John Moore throughout was his deep study of his profession as contained in authoritative works, and the proposed memorial is to take the form of a military library, which is greatly needed at Shorncliffe Sir Robert Ball, the Astronomer Royal, is still at 73 cue of the most juvenile of living savants. Ho dearly loves a joke, but he once met his match when dining with some fellow-scientists at Stratford. “Madam,” ho said to the landlady when she presented her bill “I am going to give you a lesson in astronomy. In 25,000,000 years all things must return to their original condition. Wo shall all be here again eating a dinner. precisely identical. Will you give us credit until we come back?” “Well.” replied the landlady, “you were here 25.000,000 years ago, and you loft without paying the bill then. Settle that account, and I will trust you for what you have had to-day.”

The Duke of Beaufort, who has just celebrated his sixty-sixth birthday, is a great power in the West of England, where ho owns over 50.000 acres. He is descended from the Somerset family, and a'so,- in the female line, from the Fitzroys. Iho Beauforts were originally Dukes of Somerset, but this title came to an end with the third Duke, whose illegitimate son was known as Sir Charles 'Somerset. Still further back, the Beauforts trace their descent from John of Gaunt. The first Duke of Beaufort, who had been a staunch Royalist, obtained title and lands from Charles II; but after the Revolution of 1688 ho was obliged to live in retirement, for ho stubbornly refused to take the oath of allegiance to W illiain and Mary. . . .

Too indolent to take his recreation in the more sensational forme, among the shining stars of society (says the World’s Work), Sir Edward Grey' retires to his fishing in the north and spends days in his woods watching the habits of birds. Surely no stimulant, not even the heavy drinking of the eighteenth century, has fallen more completely out of use than that of solitude and repose. It is almost entirely forgotten that 40 days in the wilderness, or their equivalent, wore on~e the normal resource of men who desired to achieve great things. There is more than enough written against the rush of modern life, but this much is a criticism beyond all cant and affectation, that modern men and women, seem-"V-m------plete-lv to have lost sight of the *.?yTf..Jng expedient of repose as a stimulant to successful action. Of cours", it is n.pt the habits that make the man, but the man

the habits. No imitation of the ways ot Sir Edward Grey would be a talisman for greatness, but the success of a man in whom such habits are natural stands self-explained. His secret is simply his character. Sir Alfred East, A.R.A., who was recently elected a Royal Academician, is a native of Kettering. He could draw before he could talk, and actually used to teach drawing to his schoolfellows' while ho was still in pinafores. At the age of 10 he got his first commission, which was to enlarge pictures for a travelling lecturer, who paid him in tickets for himself and his friends. In spite of these early leanings his parents chose a different walk in life for their son, and had not circumstances taken him t* Glasgow, where he first made the acquaintance of artists, he might never have become a painter. Many of his works find places in foreign galleries. Sir Alfred was once asked whether ho would advise young fellows to devote themselves to art, and he made answer: “That I couldn’t, for the reason that the calling is the most difficult I know. 'Any person who paints can call himself an artist, hut unless you have gifts and earnestness of purpose and will which arc by no means common, many years must elapse before you can make a living." The reward is not at all commensurate with the amount of -work and study which the profession entails. I don’t think I should have become an artist bad I known the difficulties which were in store for me.” If Sir Alfred is dissatisfied with a painting, off it goes. Ho has more than once taken a picture, which would have satisfied most critics, off the canvas by means of soft soap just because didn’t quite please him.