People We hear About.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 8, 23 February 1899, Page 24

People We hear About.

Sir Edward Braddon, Premier of Tasmania, is brother of Miss Braddon, the well-known novelist. The Rev. John S. Chidwick, who was chaplain of the Maine at the time of its destruction in Havana Harbour, has been appointed by the Secretary of the Navy to be chaplain of the Washington Navy Yard. Miss Adele Chevalier, the pretty sister of Mr. Albert Chevalier, both of whom are Catholics, is, like her brother, musical and artistic. She is known as the composer of some charming songs, one of which, ' My dream is of thee,' is very popular. Mr. Grant Allen can boast of having English, Scottish, Irish and French blood in his veins. He was born in Kingston, Canada, fifty years ago, and one of his appointments, after a distinguished University career at Oxford, was that of principal of the then newlyestablUhed Government College at Spanish Town, Jamaica. Mr. Rider Haggard, who is a farmer and J.P., as well as a novelist, lives at Ihtchingham House, Norfolk. The house wps formerly the property of Major Margitson, Mrs. Rider Haggard* father. Ditchingham House is rather plain without, but extremely tasteful within. Mr. Haggard farms the property himself, fiction on an average only occupying a few hours of the afternoon and evening. Arthur Playfair, a leading light of the London stage, who married Miss Lena Ash well a year or two ago, was educited first at the Oratory School at Edgbaston, under the late Cardinal Newman, and afterwards at Ascott College, near Birmingham. Having been formerly destined for the army, he spent a short time at the Oxford Military College before making his appearance behind the footlights. The many readers of that excellent magazine The Austral Light will be interested to learn that the writer of the serials, The Mysterious Secret, and On the Banks of the Swan River, which have run through the pages of that publication, is a member of the Australian community of the Sisters of St. Joseph. This talented authoress, whose pen name is ' Una Roe,' intends to publish these two tales in book form, the proceeds to go for the benefit of her community. Ada Rehan, who was born in Limerick, was, in the World Fairy days, adjudged worthy of a silver statue representing the lass o'Shannon banks as ' the most perfect type of American beauty.' Miss Rehan has now a companion beauty. According to the Union and Times, of Buffalo, Mary O'Shea, a hard-working Irish girl, employed in the bindery of the Lincoln State Journal, has been adjudged by the commissioners of the Omaha exhibition the moat beautiful woman in Nebraska. The Tuam J ft raid of a recent date contained the following interesting paragraph: — "We understand that the people of the electoral division of the Gort Union, where Lady Gregory resides, intend putting her name forward as a guardian for that division, and should she be elected it is not unlikely she will be chosen chairwoman of the union. Lidy Gregory is an admirable woman of business.' Lady Gregory is a well-known contributor to the magazines, her treatment of Irish subjects being distiDguished by deep sympathy. The most vigorous speaker among the Australian premiers is Mr. Kingston, and the most eloquent is Mr. Reid. Sir George lurner is straightforward and earnest, but with no claims to oratory, while Sir Edward Braddon looks and talks like a British official. Sir John Forrest has a bluff heartiness which is very effective, but he has commanded West Australia for so long that he is somewhat impatient of interjection. Mr, Dickbon, the new Queenslard Prime Minister, seems to be entirely lacking in fire and fervour. A Mass, which was most singular in its circumstances, was recently celebrated in the Church of the Jesuits, Gardiner street, Dublin. The celebrant, the Rev. William Kanfr, was ordained on the previous day. He had been a barrister and a leg 1 commissioner m bouth Atrica. The assistant prit bts w«.re his two brothers, the Rev. Robert and Patriuk Kane, both Jesuits also, and the Mass was served by another brother named John. They are all relations of the late Sir Robert Kane, author of The Industrial hettoureex of In land, and of the distinguished Captain Kane, of the warship Calliope, who saved his ship by running her out to the open sea when half a dozen vessels of war and a dozen merchantmen were sunk in the harbour of Apia during a terrific tornado. Six world's records were broken on American soil in amateur athletics during the past year. The figures altered were for throwing the 16-pound hammer, pole-vaulting and running the high and low hurdles. Among the record-breakers is John Flanagan, of the New York Athletic Club, who upset the record tables for the weight twice in the season of 1898. He raised the figures for the 16-poußd hammer from 150 feet 4 inches to 15S feet 4 inches. The first alteration took place at the Southern championships held in New Orleans. Here Flanagan cast the missile a distance of 153 feet 7 inches. Two weeks later, at New Jersey, the heretofore invincible Irishoian met defeat at the hands of J. C. McCracken, of the University of Pennsylvania, who put the record to 153 feet 8 inches. The latter'B triumph, however, was short lived. Flanagan, a fortnight later, at the spring sports of the New York Athletic Club, turned the tables on the student, and put the record where it stands to-day— at 158 feet 4 inches. He duplicated this performance at the autumn meeting of the New York Athletic Club, and would have put the record still higher had not the hammer got caught in the branches of a tree and hung suspended in the air. The muscular giant from Kilmallock, County Limerick, says that he believes that i he has not reached his limit, and will try to put the record well i above IGO feet before he quits the game.

Mr. T. P. O'Connor says he has no hesitation in pronouncing George Eliot the greatest woman novelist of our country. ' I might,' he says, ' be tempted to make a struggle for Maria Edgeworth, whose story, Castle Rackrcnt, is one of the greatest tragedies ever written, but I must stick to George Eliot. I find it difficult to say which of her novels I consider the greatest. For pure storytelling, poetry, and exaltation, Adavi Jiede stands supreme, but the | larger view of life, the greater variety of interest, and the wider range of character in Jfiddlemarch make me hesitate a little whether it does not deserve the first place in the works of the first of our woman writers.' The Rev. Father Brindle, who is just retiring from the department which is controlled by the Chaplain-General to the Forces, has had, like the Rev. J. W. Adams (the only clergyman who holds the Victoria Cross), a distinguished career in the field. Entering the service in 1874, Father Brindle was present at the Battles of Tel-el-Kebir, El Teb, and Tamai ; he took part in the Nile Expedition of 1884, and in the following year was present at the Battle of Giniss. He was at Dongola at the series of battles which took place in connection with the re-occupation of the capital. On Good Friday last he was at the Battle of Atbara, and has been mentioned in despatches for the services which he rendered at Omdurman. Father Brindle holds many decorations. The Marquis of Ripon is now over 70 years of age, yet he is possessed of all the enthusiasm and activity of a man of 30. His i home is most attractive, and is in the famous old Chelsea district of | London. He has a large and well-selected library, and he may be found at almost any time of night or day devouring some favourite volume. He is rather thickset, of medium height, with gray hair and full gray beard, and he wears a monocle. In spite of the many titles which he bears, he is very modest and retiring, with all the quiet, polished manners of an English gentleman. He is an easy conversationalist, and possesses a fund of apt illustrations. Altogether, he is a delightful old man, who keeps in touch with the events of the day. The Marquis of Ripon was Grand Master of the Freemasons of the British Empire before he entered the Catholic Church, after which he was succeeded by H. R. H. the Prince of Wales. He has since been Viceroy of India, where he endeared himself to the i natives by his regard for their interests. He is the secretary of a St. j Vincent de Paul conference in London. In view of the probability that Mr. Clement Scott, the eminent dramatic critic, will come to the Australasian colonies on a lecturing tour, the following particulars of his career will be of interest ■ — Mr. Scott, who is now a Catholic, was born October 6, IS4I, at Christchurch parsonage, Hoxton, London, his father being an ] Anglican minister. The boy was sent to Marlborough College, in Wiltshire, for his education ; and after his graduation with honours, he secured a clerkship in the war office, through the influence of Lord Herbert of Lea. He remained at the post for 20 years, retiring with a pension. During his clerkship, however, he wrote frequently for the London papers, particularly to tho 'hlcgraph, to which he began to send literary criticisms and special articles in 1.57.5. Coming out of office he joined the Tih'ijraph'H editorial staff ; but he has contributed to other papers, notably the ("urontclr and the Saturday Ihcuw. He helped to found the latter publication, and he edited for a while a dramatic paper called the I'luatn, Mr. Scott became a convert to Catholicity many years since. His chief journalistic work has been in the line of dramatic criticism, but he can write on many other subjects. Mr. Scott earns into prominence not so very long ago by some scathing denunciations which he visited upon the actors and actresses who degrade their calling ; and he has long enjoyed the reputation of bi'ing the foremost of London's dramatic critics. The London Tahlct, in the course of a review of Thi- Ltf< ami Work of Lady Jiutler, the famous Catholic artist, nays -—No artist could have been more appropriately chosen fur commemoration in the Art Annual of this year of military achievement than Lady Butler, who paints the soldier as vigorously as Kipliac: describe^ him. Miss Thompson, known first to fame as the painter of the ' Roll Call,' is a born artist who has cultivated her mm r if ts by sedulous work. Her first picture for exhibition Wcis one portraying the ' Visitation,' which received honourable mention in Rome, but was rejected by the Royal Academy and sent bao'.c with a hole through it. Again she tried, but was again rejected, but at last wa* accepted and skied. Then came the commission for the ' Roll Call ' which was hailed with a round of cheers by the Hanging Committee. Since then her work has been continued with little interruption, and is known for its vigour amd truthfulness no less than for the excellence of its drawing. No one who has seen her ' Charge of the

Scots Greys at Waterloo ' will forget the shock received by the first sight of that regiment of grey horses galloping upon him. Lady Butler has had the advantage of seeing life in many lands, and her sketches of Egypt are more satisfying than pages of description could be. How patiently she prolonged her work, how she achieved success, and how she has kept her laurels, Mr. Meynell tells ua in a flowing narrative radiant with knowledge and affectionate sympathy.