Here and there

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 25, 22 December 1906, Page 34

Here and there

“ Tiger Tim.'* It lias been my good fortune to be on terms of friendship with most of the notable Irish members in the House of Commons during recent years, writes Spencer Leigh Hughes in "M.A.P.” There is Tim Healy, for instance —"Tiger Tim’’ as some call him. I have seen this redoubtable Parliamentarian, a man whose sarcasm is of the scorching or skin-you-alive sort, in his own home jiist outside Dublin, at Chapelizod, on the banks of the Liffey. There he is a model of all the domestic virtues —- gay, humorous, kindly, without a hard word for anyone. When 1 was there—it is now some years ago—his children seemed to rule him—which is more than can be said of the whole House of Commons. Instead of being excited about public affairs, I found him chiefly interested in an installation of the electric light, which he so arranged that it was worked by a turbine driven by the waters of the Liffey. It was there that 1 heard the tale of how on the day of his wedding, when he had just married his excellent wife, a daughter of Mr. T. D. (Sullivan, for a long time a member of Parliament, Tim, in the agitation of the "moment when the twowere leaving for the honeymoon, took up by mistake his father-in-law’s umbrella, and was making off with it. “No, no, Tim,” called out the old gentleman, "don’t take that, me boy — I’ve several daughters, but only one umbrella.” I shall never forget the ceaseless flow of talk as he rowed me about in a boat on the Liffey, and gave me accounts of many a memorable incident in the House of Commons, and I was particularly struck by the fact, that he did not say a harsh word about anyone. He is quite a subdued creature at home, petting a favourite pony that was too fat to do any work, or giving orders to a dog that simply laughed in its master’s face, and did as it liked. Arid there is more than one home in London in which this savage debater has been seen down on his hands and knees, while delighted children have sat astride his back. House Interior Like a Ship. . One of the most originally constructed houses in the I nited States is owned ami occupied by Captain AL P. Doullut. He likes to fee! that he is aboard a vessel even when he is at home, amt the interior is so constructed as to suggest this at all times. The house overlooks the river and the captain’s vessels land directly in front when they are in port. The plan of this house was originated by Captain Doullut, Twice he tore up plans and was not satisfied until he had made them different from anything he had ever seen, and he has travelled considerably. The house was built by Captain Doullut ami his crew of boatbuilders, and one year was occupied in its construction. It cost about A 1(100. The house is fifty four feet square, surrounded by an iron fence, with cement pavements. The rooms resemble the interior of a ship: there are portholes, eonqranionways for .st airs, ami the lower floor, in which- is located the store-room, bears a striking resemb lance to the hull of an oeean-gying v< ssel. The .lower story -is of brick, the upper of framework. The roof, of slate, is modelled after the Japanese style. The eaves and corners are built directly fyoin Japanese patterns. a The hOnse -is celled w4th -pressed steel and finished as elaborately as the saloon of a ship. The cupola is <.opst.rjtet<;<i exactly IHie 1 a’-pVbrt-ftouMe, abd has windows all round. If a I'jpw.e the, captain is sure to catch it there,' The gallery is continuous, and at any time the owner can string his hammock so as to be in the shade. Electric lights are used for illuminations, amt everything is situated so that it is unnecessary to leave the iHnise-'fbr any? thing, even the cistern being located on the gallery.

Rossetti's Ghost Picture. Gabriel Rossetti, poet anil painter, was onee visited by an East Indian prince, who said to him: "I wish to give .you a commission to paint a portrait of my father.” “Is vour father in London?” asked Rossetti. fll "No. my father is dead,” replied the Oriental. ‘‘Have you some photographs of him or any portrait?” .‘‘We have no portraits of him of any kind.” "How ean I paint a portrait of him, then?” asked the artist. “It is impossible. I could not think of attemptinganything so absurd.” "Why is it absurd?” demanded the prime gravely. "You paint pictures of Mary Magdalene, and Circe, and Jahn the Baptist, and yet you have never seen any of them? Why can you not paint my father?” The prince was so insistent that Rossetti yielded in sheer desperation. He painted an ideal head that, was certainly (hiental, and also regal in its bearing. The prince came in great state to view it. When the ea-nvas was uncovered he looked at it steadily, and then burst into tears. "How father has changed!” he cried. A Grateufl Goose. One day, in the country, a goose was nearly terrified out of her life by meeting a fox, but just as the fox was going to make a spring a collie dog came bounding up. The eollie soon drove Mr. Fox away, and the goose was so grateful ever afterwards that she never left her kind friend. She would waddle along beside him whenever he went for a walk, take her food beside him, and onee, when he was ill, she nearly made herself ill, too, because she wouldn't touch food. Whenever anyone passed the kennel where the dog was lying she would fly out, lapping her wings and screeching till they passed on, because she thought they were going to hurt her siek friend. And when the dog got better the goose was simply delighted, and quite happy again. Great Writer’s Fii-st Earnings. "There is a vast amount of interest in the ways and means by which famous novelists of to-day got their first guineas. All of them have had to climb the hard ladder of success; there has been no royal road to literary fortune; there never will be. Mr. Morley Roberts, the famous Writer of sea stories, got his first guinea in the following manner. He says:— “If any particulars about my first guinea are of any use to you, I may tell yon that I got it and six besides by stealing a Texas newspaper article holusbolus, and adding a head and tail to it. Perhaps this is -uHieiently immoral to be interesting.” Air. Cntclilie Hyne’s first earnings were, derived in a different though no less romantic fashion. He says:— "The first real literature I was ever paid for was written to decorate the wrapping paper of a tradesman who mended anything from a kettle to a diamond necklace. A brilliant idea had struck him that if his usefulness was displayed in type and colour on the paper in which he wrapped his handiwork, trade would subsequently increase. Hg. felt that he epuld not put sufficient literary finish on this personally, so I supplied designs for mottoes, and for the wrapper to his esteemed order—privC.' one guinea.” ' - ■ - ... Mr. Robert Barr had some trouble over his first earnings. "My first embarrassment and my first gninea,” he writes, “came to me through a too confident belief in the struggles of an unknow n ,;nan. f began a series .of ’to be continued in our next’ articles on a daiioe lrq> T 'had' t'jVen round a few American lakes. I was so certain that tire serie* would be rejected that I did

the first article in duplicate, and sent * to Hie then leading weeklies in the Unit* etl States. To my horror the article waM accepted and printed in both and . each editor sent me a letter asking,for •< the next instalment as soon as possible. I had to make my choice. The' jilted editor wrote me letter after letter, and then took to the telegraph wires.” ■ - . Mr. Coulson Kernahan, whose sensational novel, “The has just appeared, earned half a guinea for a sonnet on Charles Dickens, contributed to the “Graphic,” but the money never came to hand, for the editor wrote saying he had enclosed a postal order for. that amount, but forgot to do so, ami it never came to hand afterwards. Persian Proverbs. Good luck is not sold in the market. An ass is an ass, though his saddlecloth be satin. Liars have bad memories. A pound of learning needs ten of sense. If you go to hunt a jackal, prepare to meet- a lion. An old man sees in. a brick what a young man sees in a mirror. Streteh your feet according to your blanket. Gold does the business, man does the boasting. The apples will not fall from the tree till you shake it. Wealth is in heart, not in money. A fool speaks, and a wise man thinks. Fear not him who fears not God? A donkey cannot be made a horse by. beating. While the root is in the water there is hope for the fruit. The Scottish Language. Till the middle of the nineteenth century the form of speech used by Burns and familiar to Sir Walter Scott.might have been occasionally- heard, in its purity’ and significant strength, even within the Parliament House at Edinburgh. This, in these latter days, is completely, changed. The educated classes in Scotland, and even many who have little education, no longer speak the language of ■their forefathers, and such of them as try to write it not infrequently show that they would have been wiser if they’, had let well alone. It is not long since one had to attempt in these columns an explanation of the monstrosity “magerfu,” to which a modern fabulist had given currency; and it would have been easy to convict the same writer and others of solecisms even more flagrant and offensive. Meanwhile the practice thus illustrated and exposed seems to be steadily prevalent. A delusion appears to be widely current to the effect that anything will pass muster as Scotch, provided it is sufficiently strange and uncouth. Airy’ practitioners on an instrument with which they have but slender familiarity forget that they are trifling with one of the’ forms of English and a medium with - great traditions. Sharks ax’e Useful. Sailors as a rule can’t say anything bad enough about sharks, and delight in catching the ugly monsters. But, all the’ same, some sorts of sharks are far - from useless. -The huge hasking-slmrks, ; which sometimes grow to a length of thirty feet, are eaught off the Irish coast for the sake of the oil obtained - from their livers. As much as £5O worth of oil has been taken from a single fish. In Norway and Iceland the ; flesh of a speeies of shark is cured like ham. and after hanging from the rafters ,■ for a year is considered excellent for r ‘ food. The eggs of a shark caught in . the Baltic are about the size of a “ small orange and are all yolk; they " make delicious omelets. Shark fin, everyone knows, is a very expensive delicacy in China; 10,000 a year are ; shipped there from Bombay. But remember, if you ever attempt eating j shark, don’t eook the liver; it is deadly poison. j ■;