TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11478, 10 January 1903, Page 7

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The people who "do good , Anonymous by stealth and blush to Benefactors, find it fame " are, perhaps, more numerous in this age \H self-advertisement than is generailr X

t, imagined. Religious and philanthropic soil cieties frequently benefit to a substantial t , extent by anonymous donations, given sometimes in very curious ways. The London cilice of the British and Foreign Bible Society. for instance, used at one tune to be visited by a farmer, with hay tied rounjd '* his legs to protect his'trousers, who would - walk in, put down a banknote for £50. - and go out again without a word. When i. he died he left a legacy to the Society, but » rven then he elected to remain anonymous, j Quite recently an individual of similar disposition, and even more generous purse, has been*" in evidence in London. He walked into the Edgware Road branch of the Church Army, put down a banknote • for £1000, and, refusing to give his name, - walked out again. A similar gift of £1000, t m«de in exactly the same curious manner, was received a few days later by the Sot cirty for the Propagation of the Gospel , in Foreign Parts. Another anonymous . benefactor sent £500 last month to the Chelsea Hospital for Women, in aid of an Emergency Fund, which the same donor has already founded there. During the last- month or so two separate sums of . £1000 have been sent through a bank to the London Missionaiy Society, the name in each case being withheld. The London S* '" Daily Mail recalls in this connection the '• curious ease of an elderly gentleman who - for some years called annually at the office c of the Bible Women's Mission, inquired what the deficit was, put down the money, g and went away. On the ]a_t occasion, say. the "Mail," he gave £3000, and altogether his donations totalled £8000. The National Lifeboat Institution is another Society which has had occasion to be gratee iul for substantial donations from anonyr mous well-wishers. On one occasion a ta'.l< r stranger entered the office, handed the secB retary an envelope, and left. Inside the envelope was found a £1000 banknote. One evening fifteen years ago an old m_i entered and said to the secretary, 3fr Dibdi-i, " Oh, as I happened to be passing, I saw the name, ; .'_o I thought I would * just look in and see if you want any 5 money."' Then he. began to talk politics, i and as he talked, finding that Mr Dibdin'-j t, views agreed with his, he began putting . banknotes on tha table in front of him. When at length he left the office, there was a pile of notes worth £2000 lying on the table. The old man refused tot give his name, and was never seen or heard of ' again by the Society. i The new architecture, » English which revives so many , House Mottoes, pretty fashions of the t old, should welcome the curiously interesting collection of "Houio Mottoes aud Inscriptions," made by S. F. ' A. Oaulfield, and published just lately by Mr Stock. Amongst these, it is noted that Scotch taste inclines to religious but j rather gloomy sentiments; the Irish inscription is usually jocular; the Dutch quaint and grotesque; while [England, in her house mottoes, as in other details of domestic architecture, is described as "mixed." Probably the prevailing note is hospitality and welcome. "Through this wide opening gate None come too early, none return too late," is tine inscription over the chief entrance of Montecute House, Somersetshire. "Aa Dieu foy, aux amis foyer,"t £ is another wellknown house motto. " The ornaments of a house are the friends that frequent it," suggests plain living and high thinking, and many pleasant fireside legends round old mantels show the same appreciation of friendship's place. " Over the doors of Harleyford, Marlow, Buckinghamshire," we are told, " there are no fewer than thirtyone mottoes, one of the most notable being, , 'Peace on earth, goodwill towards women.'" A critic remarks that perhaps another inscription on the same building may to some eitent explain this. It is, "An obedient wife governs her husband." Another curious choice was made in the motto of tbe Ladies' Tea Room at the House of- Commons, which runs briefly, " Get Understanding " —possibly in admonishment to a sex hot yet promoted to the making of laws. It was the then Prince of Wales who, in conversation with tha architect of the Royal Exchange, drew attention to tbe German practice of placing an inscription on all important public buildings; and after oonsultation with Dean Mihnan, tbe approved motto was selected, " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." In this connection we may remind our readers of the happy choice made by the Hon. W. Rolleston for the Christchurch Museum, by which every visitor is reminded on entrance, " Lo, thee* are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him." "God's Providence is my Inheritance," is the graceful motto which gives the title to Mrs Banks's story, " God's Providence House," though even a religious citation has at times carried som« personal grudge! Thus an inscription on a private house in Chelsea has a story attached. It is said the proprietor, who employed Godwin's'oarvices, was so Hhberal as to quarrel with his architect, and he inscribed over the entrance door the words, " Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it," and immediately following, " This house was built by Godwin." The "Amended Obituaty" The Latest is a delightful vision refrom cently called up by Mark Mark Twain. Twain. In a contribution ;to "Lloyd's Weekly he points out that the habit of leaving important matters to others has consequences often most regrettable. "Of necessity an obituary is a thing which cannot be so judiciously edited by any hand as by that of the subject of it. In such a work it is not the facts that aro of chief importance, but tbe light which the obituarist shall throw upon them, the meaningis which he shall dress them in, and th© judgments which ho shall deliver upon them. The verdicts, you understand; that is the danger-line." He suggests then, with a view to his own future interests, that the Press might allow him access to any standing obituaries, with the privilege of altering, according to his better knowledge, "not the facts but the verdicts," and he pro- ' ceeds to work out the idea with al! humor- ! ous gravity; "It is.my desire that such journals and periodicals as have obituaries of me lying in their pigeon-h©k_ with a view to sudden use one day, will not wait longer, but will publish them now, and kindly send me a marked copy. I will then , correct them, striking out such clauses as could have a deleterious influence on the Other Side, and replacing them with clauses of a more judicious character. I should, of course, expect to pay double rates for toot- \ the omissions and the substitutions; and 1 ; should also expect to pay quadruple rates ; for all obituaries which proved to be right- 'j lv and wisely worded in the originals, thus requiring no emendations at ail. It is my ( desire to leave these emended obituaries j neatly bound behind me as a perennial con- ; sedation .and entertainment to my fanuiy, '' and as an heirloom which shall have a j mournful but definite commercial value for ( my remote posterity." So this inveterate ,

journalist burlesques the idea once set forth by a fellow-countryman, the Autocrat, in "Every man his own BoswelL" A postscript is still more expressive of the up-to-da* Maik Twain. "P.S.—For the best Obituary—one suitable for me to read in public, and calculated to inspire regret—l desire to offer a Prize, consisting of a por* trait of me done entirely by myself in pen and ink without previous instruction. The ink warranted to be tbe kind used by the very beat artist-.—M. T." Yet, in spite of all temptations, "Lloyd's Weekly" decides not to venture upon an answer to this appeal ; and the Press in general, while it recognises the charms of the "Amended Obituary," will agree that we can in no way "seek to proticipate" the day which takes away our philosopliic humorist.