Personalities.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 390, 29 October 1903, Page 7

Personalities.

MIS 3 GONNE. McBRIDE, of the Irish mWfft Brigade in the Transvaal, has married Miss Maud Ginne, who j-'H'i is aiH'otable figure and beloags to the - '"physical forco' section of the Irish Nationalists. She is the daughter of a British of&cer, from whom she receives an allowance. Ignorance of this fact led a Dublin editor to state that Miss Gonne was a spy in the service of Dublin Castle. How could she appear so fashionably attired unlesa secretly in the pay of the Government reasoned the journalist. In action for criminal libal ended ip the editor apologising and confessing hsi | error* Handsome in person, with a dashI iag style, Mis 3 Gonne occasionally app3ars ■in' Dublin when political excitement runs high, and addresses meetings, but.latterly she has resided much on the Continent. When Qusen Victoria ordered the shamrock to-be worn in the Army on St, Patrick's D*y, Mits Gonn3 asked Irish people to wear the • sweet little plant' after dipping it in ink, bat .'her suggestion was unheeded. Though her opinions are advanced, she is in very many quarters.

ERRAND BOY TO MILLIONAIRE. Mr Gaorge White, who is succeeded by Mr Yerkes, the financial genius, in the chairmanship of the London United Tramway Company, has had a career not lesa s *trikin£ than that of any American millionaire, A Bristol man, and one of a large family, he received a Board school education. His first situation wa3 aa book-boy in the library o£ the British Law Society at a weekly wake of 5s A , solicitor frequenting the library took a' fancy to the lad and gave him a berth in his office as tuonir. of errands and copyist of letters. Smartness and ability raised White to a responsible olerkship. His employers .were solicitors to the Bristol Tramway Company, and, anxious to retain the position, they put forward their clerk for the vacant secretaryship and secured his appointment as their nominee. This White's opportunity. One of the first "to see'the- superiority of electric tractioß, he organised in Bristol in 1895 the first olectrio tramway under the modern conditions of the Board of Trade. Pour years ago, haviflg risen to the chairmanship of the company, he electrified and extended the whole tramway system of Bxistol. He has given Londjn its finest electric tramway service, and done the same for other towns as chairman of the Imperial Tramwayß Company. The ex-library boy is now a millionaire, though there is nothißg in his quiet life at Bristol to disclose the fact. Mr White is a staunch teetotaller, and selects his lieutenants from men of the same principle. ' ~- ./, r ,..- ; ' .;:.

JUSTICE GBANTHAM. Not only i's Sir Wm. Grantham a learned judge, fearlessly putspokon, but he is one of the best sportsmen in England to-day. He once told a gathering of farmers that he owed his actual elevation to the judicial bench to his knowledge of agriculture and horses. 'l"had the benefit,' Sir William went on to say, *of reading and learning l*w under a barrister who became one of the most eminent judges of his day, and while he taught me law I took the opportunity of teaching him to ride. When I left his chambers he told his friends that whatever I might turn out to be a lawyer, I should always an excellent judge—of a horse I A few years afterwards, Her Majesty the Queen wanted someone to

Fepresept her on the bench, and, looking for someone who would make a good judge she hoard part of the remark of the distinguished lawyer to whom I have referred, and she supposed that he had alluded to me as a good judge—of law! That is how, gentlemen, I got a seat on the bench,'

DOYEN OF FINANCIERS. Mr Edward B. Wesley, the doyen of financiers, is an American, and though considerably over ninety, ia slill a pro-, minenfc figure at Wall-at. Ha is over 6£t., broad shouldered, with massive frame and head. The span of almost a century has left him erect, bright-eyed, and vigorous. Five days in the week, except* in inclement weather, he can be seen striking along Wall-at,, or following closely the market reports in his private office. Mr Wesley began his career as a speculator when a lad nine years old, in fciie little town of Lester, in Worcester county, Massachusetts. Mis first 'deal' was a lottery of a shilling and tickets sold at twenty-five pins each, pins being then expensive articles among the village boys. He cleared a dollar pro fib, and started in the candy tr*do, and after working for eight months on a farm he arrived one day in New York with soma two'pounds—eighty times the traditional amount—in his pocket. If you ask him the secret of his long life and his wonderful vigour he will tell you contentment and frugal living are virtues that have enabled him to keep an active body and brain when most men are in their dotage.

SARA BERNHaRDT. The age of ladies should not bo disclosed. But sometimes tho facts will transpire. Mine, Sara Bernhardt, who is to visit London again during the summer, is in her 59 th year. Rosine Bernhardt, to give her her true name, was born in Paris in 1844, Her first visit to London was in 1879, and she was married there at the church of St. Andrew, Wells-at., in 1882, to M, Damala, who died seven years later. Her debut was made at the Tneatre Francaiß in 1862, so that she has been acting for over 40 years, yet she is as full of life and energy as ever, and her dearest wish is to die on the stage where she has won so many triumphs. Mme. Bernmother was a Jewess, and that came near on one occasion to being her -daughter's undoing. Some years ago, when she was acting in Russia, her carriage was surrounded by an angry mob shouting,' Death to the Jewess 2' It was a moment of the gravest peril, but the actress's nerve did not desert her. Hastily opening a handbag she drew forth a dazzling array of jewels and tossed them among the human wolves that thronged about her; a wild fight for the booty ensued, and the coachman, whipping up his horses, was soon beyond the reach of pursuit. It was not till they tried to sell the the Jew-baiters discovered that they were only paste—the Btage properties, in fact, of the divine Sara I