Personalities.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 347, 1 January 1903, Page 2

Personalities.

ECONOMICAL KING. \ #Jg:iNG"VTQ^Oa 'ltafliaa subjects ''sW jKjIJ call him pltingy.*' The royal chsf'e salary of £2O a month has been out to ,£l2. The contractor .who caters for the royal household of 460 persons, gets only two shillings per person a day, ' ''aUhoufeJi-hejißVexgected to provide three meals. Queen Margherita 'pays four shillings a person to feed the 112 members of her household. Eighty horses have been sold! from j §he royal atabfes in the last two months, and 850 employees and servants have Jbeen 4ij|t. miKßed,' most of "them without peßßioHs. It 1b rumoured that the king, fearing that rapidly developing socialism may upsetthg.throne, ia.put^Bg^aside,mpney for a rainy day.

DUMAS. Alexander Dumas the Elder used to ba paid for his 'copy' by the line and not by the word. Here ia a characteristic example of Alexandre's ingenious method of 'lining' which we quoto from a romance called the ' Mohicians of Paris/ in the • Journal de Dimanche' for October, 1862; Christmas Rose looked at her questioner. What do you mean by that, sir P " I ask if you remember-yonr relations. Which ? Your father and your, mother, • My father a little, my mother not at ajl. And your uncle. .Chri&tmas Bose grew pale. Which uncle?' • • Your uncle Gerard. , My uncle Gerard P We read this quotation with a bitter smile when we find publishers writing to ua to aek for ohort stories 'about 4,000 or not exceeding 5,000.' Ah, the good old days of payment by the line and columns full of nice, fat, white blank!

THE PBESIDENT'S WIFE. ' •Although, the fierce, light of publicity has beaten President; Boosevelt for years past, it is surprising how little the American public knows of the woman who has suddenly become mistress of the White House—the official residence of the the President in Washington. To understand properly Mrs. Eoosevelt's retirement in these years, when the newspaper paragrapher has scarcely been able to catch the colour of her gown, one must first appreciate the fact that she is distinctly a happy woman—happy in her homo, in her husband, in her children. She would rather fifty times reign-at her hearthstone than in the White House. Let.it not be thought,, however, that the new; Mrst Lady of tue Land is timid or retiring through any Ifear.:of not being able to hold her own, or through any false modesty aa-io her charms or graces. Mrs. Boosevelt has a fund of both. , A Clever Woman.; The wife of the, new President is a woman of exceptional tact and amiability. Her social qualities which * made her so popular as wife of the Governor of New York admirably fit her * for her new position. v i- • . In appearance she is fair of complexion,' with an aquiline nose; medium in height,, with a jslender form and an aristocratic - %: ::,- ■ »;-iH ■ '?"*■ She has never been in any sense a public woman, even as a Governor's wife; She avoids clubs, and refuses to identify herself with any social'display or ostentation. '■' '■'• "-iiit';«' tx '• '■■ ■ ■>:.? The President once tried to express his wife's unwillingness to .her .personality becoming known to the public. 'lf I should* let you have a photograph of Mrs. Boosevelt,' hw said laughingly to a reporter, 'she would consider it sufficient ground' for a divorce.', < ~„. , Mabkied in London. English people will be interested to learn that Mr. and Mrs. Boosevelt were married at St. George's Church, Hanover Square London. The marriage occured in the spring of 1886, Miss 1 Edith Cafew being Mr. Boosevelt's second wife. The President's first wife had died after only a year of wedded bliss, leaving behind her a little daughter. Alice. t? \ Both Mr. and Mrs. Boosevelt are in the prime of life, and a perfectly model couple. So close, itde'd, is the bond of affection between them that their friends refer to their marriage as a perpetual honeymoon. Neither likes aught better than to steal away for a time from care and picnic in the woods with their children. ; Both stem to have the same love for life in the out-of-doors. Colonel Boosevelt is the youngest aad most athletic man who ever occupied his exalted position. His action in resigning a high Government appointmant in order to command a band of Bough Biders in the war against Spain won the hearts of all his countrymen, to whom' he is affectionately known by the sobriquet of; /Teddy.' ' '"..,. W As a mother the new mistress of the White House is irreproachable." Her love" for her children—of whom she has five, in addition to her stepdaughter Aliceamounts to a passion. - ; -'