HERE AND THERE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10068, 9 February 1909, Page 4

HERE AND THERE.

PROPOSED MONUMENT TO BUNYAN. A movement on foot in Great Britain—originating through a remark made by an American visitor to Westminster Abbey, which was communicated to the Baptist World Alliance, to the effect that there is now no monument there to John Bunyan—to erect a suitable monument in the abbey to the Bedford tinker, says the Zion's Herald. On behalf of the alliance, Dr Clifford has presented a memorial to the Dean of Westminster, calling attention to the lack, and the memorial, which lias been signed by leading men in every department of English life—among them Lord Rosebery, Lord Tennyson, Lord Courtney, Augustine Birrell, Sir Oliver Lodge, Mr Meredith, Andrew Lang, Frederic Harrison, Professor Dowden, Holman Hunt, Thomas Hardy, and several bishops and deans—has received favorable consideration by the chapter. An effort is being made by a committee of which Dr Clifford is chairman, to raise the sum of J3IOOO to replace a window in the north side of the abbey witli a memorial window to Banyan, which will depict scenes from "Pilgrim's Progress." The project has the warm approval of the archbishop of Canterbury.

PEN NAMES OF WOMEN WRITERS, Miss Gregg, who is known as "Sydney C. Grier," chose "Sydney'' because it might be interpreted as either a masculine or feminine designation. "'Grier'' is a Shetland name, and at that time she was much interested in those faraway isles. "C" was inserted to make the name look a natural surname. Mrs Harrison's reason for concealment as "Lucas Malet" was that she "did not think it right to trade 011. the Kingsiey name" lest she should do it discredit. She therefore chose the "surnames of her grandmother and great grandmother, both women of remarkable intelligence and character." Tlie pseudonym of "George Egerton," adopted by the lady now Mary Chavelita Golding-Bright, also springs from family associations, Her mother's name was Isabel George Bynon, aud "George Bynon" was her first disguise. But the name of Bynon had been unlucky, and it was quickly dropped for that of "Egerton," the baptismal name of her second husband. Under the "distinctive combination" of George Egerton she has published nine ■works since 189j. Mary Ann Evans called herself "George Eliot" because the first name was the Christian name of her husband, and "Eliot" was a "fine, short, full sounding name that matched her style and story." GREAT CANADIAN GLACIER. Eight thousand and four feet of icc high is the Yoho glacier of Canada. Since the first discovery of this largest of Canada's glaciers it has maintained a grand archwar of ice at its lower extremity. The span of this arch is no less than "250 feet, and its height is estimated at 70 feet, while from beneath the arch the drainage escapes. The formation of the arch seems to be an annual pheufamenon. Toward the close of the summer it becomes weakened by melting and the whole structure collapses. The ice gradually is broken up and finally removed, and the formation of a new archway is commenced. From the archway issues the Yolio River. It is calculated that an avalanche must have occurred in 1850 or 1860. Since then the retreat of the glacier has been at the average rate of live, to six feet a year. From August, 1901, to August., 1904, it was found that the retreat had been 111 feet, or 37 feet a year. Between August. 1904, and August, 1905, the glacier receded but nine feet, and is now thought to be checked. About the nose of the glacier there is evidence of a bodily disruption of the rock strata, to which the term "plucking" is applied. Rock-layers are ripped off where the layers are thin bedded and pointed, and the fragments are pressed into the ice to assist in further work. The Yoho glacier is an almost- if not entirely isolated example of a glacier as a great engine of erosion. Other glaciers move forward and .are engines of transportation.

SURVEYING NUBIA. The Egyptian Government has recently undertaken an interesting survey of Nubia in order to obtain . material for the reconstruction of the early history of the country and- its relations with the Nile valley. There is evidence that Nubia- and Egypt once formed a single ethnological district, but Nmbia failed to keep pace with Egyptian civilisation. At present, some fifteen centuries of Nubian progress are a blank that badly wants filling up. A number of cemeteries have revealed interments varying from archaic to Moslem times. ]3r Elliott 6inith has made anatomical examinations of the bodies, in the very early days the whole region was Egyptian, but at a later period it assimilated negroid elements. The remains arc well preserved. The practice was to pack them in salt and fruits of oertain as yet unidentified plants. In the case of one

'•ounj woman the cause of death was plainly appendicitis, and rheumatic gout showed itself with great frequency. The older skulls showed no signs of dental caries except in the case of the milk teeth of three children —the first instance of bad teeth in an ancient Egyptian boy or girl under 16. A case of tuberculosis was discovered at Biga, and theie is only one other early instance—that of an infant at the burial grounds near the Giza pyramids. In those days there is no occurrence rf tattooing or of the skin gashing which is now a universal custom'in Nubia.

A GOOD JOKE. Not since the famous Sultan of Zoaizibar hoax, when some undergraduates misled the authorities by getting- one of their number to masquerade as the Sultan, have Cambridge undergraduates perpetrated so successful a joke as during the run of '•The Merry Widow" at Cambridge Theatre. There is a rule that undergraduates shall not engage a box at the theatre unless they are accompanied by a lady, who must be a relative, and this rule four students set themselves to break. One night "The Merry Widow" divided the attention of the audience with a beauteous being who sat in the middle of box C, with three undergraduates dancing attendance upon her. The fair stranger was faultlessly gowned 1 in white satin shimmering and had a- beautiful head of hair. There was much speculation as to who the stranger could be, and undergraduates in the stalls oast many envious glances toward box C. Next day the secret was known. The distinguished "lady" was an undergraduate who with three companions had thus succeeded in breaking the 'varsity rule. The costume was designed by a West End court dressmaker, and the beautiful head of hair was by a famous theatrical wig-maker. Before the performance the party, were photographed. They dined at a fashionable restaurant, and then drove to the theatre in a taxicab. In the vestibule of the theatre they encountered the managing director, who has a keen eye for undergraduate pranks. So completely successful was the makeup, however, that he was deceived, and that evening was remarkable for the clever acting- on both &ides of the footlights.

QUEEN'S DISCARDED GOWN'S. Both Queen Alexandra and the Princess of Wales dispose of dresses which they

do not intend to war again by having them taken to pieces and the, materials distributed among the members of their households. There is an inviolable rule, however, in Buokingham Palace and at Windsor that the recipients of any royal finery is never, in. any circumstances, to wear a gown in the form in which it is worn by the Queen. Often her Majesty wears a dress 'only once, particularly those in which she is seen at evening courts, after which the gowns are taken to pieces and the parts distributed, with the exception of the valuable lace trimming, whicu is -used over and over again. On the other hand, .the Princess of Wales does not hesitate to be seen in the samo gown many times, especially if it happens to suit her. The German Empress has tho same rule regarding gowns worn on state ami other important occasions as Queen Alexaaidra, and they are never seen again in the samo form. Queen Anielio of Portugal has long been known as one of the best-dressed queens in Europe. She seldom is seen in any gown more than once, and is very generous in her disposal of old clothes among the less affluent ladies of her court. The Queen of Italy, oil the other hand, is noted for tho extreme plainness of her dress. She has one extravagance, however. She never wears a pair of evening shoes more than onco. In this respect she is' like the ex-lvmpress Eugenie, who used to give all her discarded slippers to a girls' orphanage in Paris.

STORIES TOLD IN VENEZUELA. An American who knows Venezuela pretty well observes in an article in tho November Atlantic that he wishes that he could retail some of tho stories of \ enezuelan life heard in tho restaurant La India —of the prominent oflieial (perhaps still alive) who loaded bis loot in coin on a launch which he filled to the gunwales, and drove her across the open sea to a refuge in Curacao; of the melancholy succession of American .Ministers who disgraced us in Caracas in the days when the spoils system w r as at its worst; X, who drank from finger-bowls and kept his neighborhood moist with tobacco juice; Y, -\vho suffered from the delirium tremens; Z, whose wite, at dinner parties, used her napkin for a handkerchief. "Hut, Caracas gossip requires a book, for itself,'' he says.