People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 7 September 1911, Page 1757

People We Hear About

Eev. Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, who was recently elected Superior General of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, is a daughter of the Rev. and Hon. Andrew Stuart, and grand-daughter of the second Earl of Castlestuart (male representative of the .Royal Stuarts).

General Sir Thomas Kelly-Kenny believes more in the efficacy of actual experience and training than in all the military text-books ever written. Once it was hinted to Sir Thomas that his methods were not approved by the text-books. By all the laws of the text-books,' replied'the bluff and hearty soldier, ' Moore should never have escaped from Corunna, and Wellington should have been crushed at Waterloo; Robert's march to Kandahar should have been impossible, and He Wet should have been finally defeated and captured in a month. Text-books are good in their way, but the man who is going to be led by them will never win campaigns.' "*" Sir Wilfrid Laurier is an early riser, practically a teetotaller, and is happier lunching on a bun and a glass of milk than on the most elaborate dainties. Sir Wilfrid Laurier's observation is so acute as to be almost uncanny. He never forgets a face or a voice. To the great delight of a page-boy, Sir Wilfrid recognised him as having been in a certain hotel when he last visited London. He speaks French like a cultured Parisian. Indeed, it was the first language he learned, not having tackled his native tongue till he was nearly twenty years old.

His Excellency, the O'Neill, who delivered an address at the Irish section of the Madrid Eucharistic Congress, is a lineal descendant of the O'Neills, Princes of Ulster (says the Freeman's Journal). His family settled in Portugal, in 1739, and attached themselves to the Portuguese Court. The present representative is Don Jorge O'Neill, who was born on February 15, 1848, and who married Maria Isabel Fernandes on July 14, 1872. His son, Hugh (called in honor of the dauntless Red Hugh O'Neill), born in 1874 is in the Portuguese Navy, and is attached to the suite of the exiled King Manuel. ' The O'Neill,' as he wishes to be styled, was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Leo XIII and is also a Knight of Malta, and Comte de Tyrone. An interesting story of King Alfonso comes from the village of Aravaca, near which the King's automobile recently met with a slight accident. The King got out while the chauffeur was making the repairs Standing close by the royal party was a poorly-dressed woman who was nevertheless of distinguished appearance, and with her were two small children. The King being anxious to maintain his incognito, began talking with the little group, saying that he thought he had met the woman before. 'Certainly, Sire' she answered. Your Majesty knew me when as a'child you came here with your august mother.' Pointing to a fine house in the neighborhood, the woman said that at the time to which she referred it was her property but since then ill-fortune had overtaken her and the family were ruined. She was now gaining a livelihood by mending linen, which her little daughter carried to and from the capital every day. She concluded by declaring: 'My greatest sorrow is as to the education of my son ' The King was apparently touched by her story, for at this point he hastily said: Never mind; from to-day I will take care of Y our son s education.' Then he drove rapidly away