Personal,

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 529, 9 February 1889, Page 10

Personal,

_ .... ._<>_ Suitable items for insertion under iliis head a/r iiivit'il. Titty should be. short aml swot, authenticated b'j the >ri-it<-i's nal ?M,nf and address, and should reach u s not Ik 'i i- then 0 v.m, on Wcdm-sdmi. — Bravo, Baldwin ! — "Mr O. A. Salmon is once more up and dcin^. He ha* had a narrow squeak for it. — A Wan gun ni man filed the other day. Assets • "Well-worn saddle and bridle, valued at 30d. — For the first six months of LSSB the English railway* killed 105 people and injured 0:">V. — The dailies have r.ot had one word to say n: J)r Orcmonini's l resignation ' — good, bad, or inuiil'ercmt. — 'The local flunkey journal ' is how the editor of the A'apier .\V.. •-.«.■ refers to the Napier niorninp- paper. — S. Fernandez, Tom Latla, and E. Brown, three well-known young Ancklanders, are ' baching' together in Melbourne. — Among the wedding gift* presented to TtT r and Afrs George Cecil JKufscU, oi" Wanganui, the oilier day were /<"'/• salad bowls. —An Austin (Texas) female parson, the Rev. Kii/.abeth W. Gi-eemvood.says that there are 11 ; 1'k> female commercial travellers in America, —A. domestic help hired in Napier for service at Vv'oodville. charged her mistress firstclnss railway hire, as she ' didn't think it right to travel second.' ■ — Ask the young city organist about that trip to Warkworth and t,he destruction of his ancient alpaca gamp whilst tiding to mash the young ladies. — Mrs Kamruei'sley, tho now Duchess of Marlborough has takon the reins of domestic affairs in her own hands, and is making ' Marbro ' walk a very straight line. — Young Mr Dan Ross, of Auckland, is a constant contributor to the Canadian press and does a good deal to keep N.Z. before the Canadian people. Dan is a, Canadian by birth. — A good story is being told in town about an Auckland barrister who is so absent-minded that, seeing a notice on his door the other day 1 Back at 2 o'clock,' he sat down to wait for himself ! Fact. — According to the London SUo; the Prince of Wales ' laughed heartily ' when he read that his old friend Lord Carrington had been taking the chair at the annual meeting of the Sydney V.M.C.A. — It was at first thought that the Austrian Crown Prinze suicided while temporarily insane, bnt now it is said there was a woman in the case. ' Who is she ?' as the Eastern sage need to ask whenever ho heard of any calamity. — ' Let 'em fight it out for themselves ' is the tone adopted by tb.3 publicans when speaking of ' the coming struggle ' over the licensingelections. The brewers and the Blue Eibbonites will wage war this time, the publicans not caring to take a hand in the game. —Twopenny is working hard to make the Dunedin Exhibition gee. Auckland was a little piqued at one time tho.t Dunedin should have ' jumped her claim,' but when the inevitable deficit in the Exhibition accounts makes itself apparent the laugh will be on our side. — Dr. Philson attributes the absence of typhoid in Auckland this summer to the same cause as he last year attributed its prevalence here — ' the will of God.' If this theory met with universal acceptance, where would be the use of looking after sanitary matters ? Let us never forget that ' God helps those who help themselves.' — New Zealandors are indebted to Mr Akroyd, of Gisborr.e, for Professor Baldwin's visit. Mr Akroyd saw the Professor's performances in England, and, being of a speculative nature, brought him over here. Baldwin should do well in Australia, but in this colony the financial result of his visit has not been encouraging—too many deadheads.

— When the firebells rang out on Sunday evening (for Garrett Bros', fire), the Rev. Chew, seeing how the attention of his flock wandered, stopped preaching and said : ' It is useless for me to continue at present. We will now sing a hymn, and perhaps by the time we have finished the hells will have stopped.' And they sane the remarkably appropriate hymn, ' Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.' —Baldwin has a rival, and that rival lives in Auckland. Yesterday afternoon he gave a gratis performance near the Parnell railway bridge. Just there there is a white fence. Baldwin's rival, who is a small boy, had got hold otan antique umbrella, and standing on the top rail of the fence, and holding the umbrella over him. he would jump to the ground. He came down with somo force, and not always on his feet, but was undismayed, and repeated the performance again and again, evidently in the oau3e of science. — Jay Gould, the American speculator, was worth in 1552, 52,000,000 dollars. To-day he is worth 100,000,000. Following Vanderbilt's lead,he proposes to divide his wealth before he dies, thus : Miss Helen Gould, ten millions ; Mrs Jay Gould, five; George his first son, fifty ; Edwin, second son, ten ; Mr Howard, five ; Mrs George Gould, one ; Miss Alice Gould, five ; himself, five ; Baby Kingdon Gould, two ; and other relatives and public bequests, seven. By this scheme Miss Helen Gould will be the wealthiest unmarried woman in the world, in her own right, and as she i 8 said to be a charming girl, will be a. substantial prize in the marriage lottery. — We have received the December number of 'Lypo, which proudly describes itself on its diminutive title page as ' A Monthly Newspaper and Literary (?) Review.' This little rag is published in Napier, and if it would stick to advertising the latest things in printing machinery, inks, and sundries, and publishing puffs about the same, it might ' fill a long-felt want.' But Typo is ambitious ; it aspires to be ' a leador of public opinion ' and that kind of thing, and even ' slates ' public men when it gets a show. In the issue before us it actually falls foul of Professor Aldis for objecting to the introduction of Dr. Richardson's Temperance Lesson-book into schools. But this was to be expected. The editor (?) and publisher of this ridiculous little publication is a rabid teetotaller, and lives upon bread, vegetables, and cold water. Judging by his pars., this diet doesn't agree with him— sort of sours on his stomach. One of these days some outraged individual will put this diminutive vege tarinn editor in his waistcoat pocket and walk away with him. —This took place in a Ponsonby tram the other morning. A thin man with the corners of his mouth well turned down tendered a florin in payment of his fare. Tho conductor gave one glance at the coin and remarked shortly : ' Can't take this, got a hole in it.' ' But the coin is perfectly good ' said the thin man, 'it has been hanging on somebody's watchguard, that is all.' ' Can't take it, got a hole in it.' ' Well, I have no other coin on me.' ' Very well, you will have to get out and walk.' 'Oh, I shan't do that.' ' Have to.' Here one of the other passengers offered to pay the thin man's fare. ' Certainly not,' he said, ' I have offered a twoshilling piece in payment, and it has been refused.' ' Can't take it, got a hole in it.' Here the thin man fumbled in his vest pocket and at length unearthed a, sixpence. The ticket was brought out again and paid for. A moment afterwards the thin ma.n called ; ' Hi ! I can't take this ticket !' ' Why not :-' ' Got a hole in it,' pointing to the torn edge. ' Butthat's where it wastornin being taken from tho book.' ' Can't help that, got a hole in it.' ' But they are all like that.' 'Look hero. I paid for an entire ticket, and an entire ticket I'm going to Ihvb. This ticket has gota hole in it.' The conductor's face was not seraphic as he carefully tore out another ticket, but the people in the car all said : ' Serve him jolly well right.' — A Now York reporter's description of Mrs Shaw, the famous whistling prima donna : — Mrs Shaw is a tall, well-proportioned woman, dark mid languid. Her gait cannot be called undignified, but it, is so exceedingly slow that ponderous is the only term for it. She was dressed all in white, save for long black gloves and heavy black stripes that fell from her shoulders to her waist in front and to the edges of her skirt behind. She held a piece of sheet music in her hand, just as though she were going to sing from it, and she consulted it and turned the leaves during the performance exactly as a singer would have done. Mrs Shaw held up her head and put out her flexible red lips like a pretty school girl, under the light of the moon. The sound that followed was not suggestive of the moonlit scene. It was a soft, silvery trill that hung for an instant at the same note and then darted away in liquid melody. High and low, presto and adagio it went, now blustering a forte like a mad winter wind around a house corner and again wailing sentimentally after the fashion of a lover tenor. Mrs Shaw was at her best in the sentimental phrases. Then she put her head to one side her body swashed gently, her eyes half closed in subdued rapture, and she caught her breath like an ecstatic nightingale or a yellow canary.'