PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 82

PERSONAL NOTES.

—Mr Frank Allan, a member of the first Australian Eleven that went to England, has just published a racy budget of reminiscences ir Melbourne, where he hold 9 a Government appointment. In his day Mr Allan was Australia's premier bowler, and was nictoaamed "Kangaroo" because when not bowling he was in the habit of amusing himself by giving life-like imitations of that animal.

— Exactly who is the highest-paid variety artiste next to Barry Lauder, -who re/seived close upon J £800 a week while touring America, at is not easy to say.. Mi 66 Ada Reeve and Miss Vesta Tilley, however, must be very near ,-the top. A . recent law case revealed the fact that tsie former is accustomed to obtain engagements at £300 a week, while Miss Vesta Tilley's "turn" is placed at an even .greater value. There are quite a number of variety artistes- — Mr George Robey, "Little Tich," and Miss Marie Uoyd included — whose salaries rang^, from £100 to £150 and more .per week. — One -of the most amusing of Sir W. Grantham's experiences occurred when he was engaged as a political speaker in the days before he took his place on the Bench, and when he was plain Mr Grantham. ' On one occasion, while he was delivering an address, a iran got up ir the audience and shouted out excitedly, "It's a lie!" "Thanks," said the future judges "It's a lie!" shouted the excited one again. "You're a gentleman," 6aid Mr Grantham sarcastically. "It's a lie!" burst out his opponent again, carried away by his wrath_; but tl»e general laughter which arose at his answer recalled- him to himself again, and he sat down discomfited. — One of the peculiarities of Viscount Goschen is to pay surprise visits to the branches of the bank which he helps to control. Not long- ago he entered; a countrybranch and adked the clerk in »onarge to oash a cheqtse drawn by a friend, adding that both himself and friend were customers of the bank. -When the-clerk complied, Mr Goschen. as he was then, read him a severe lesson on cashing cheques for strangers. "How do you know I came by the cheque honestly?" "he asked. '"I don't know," said the clerk; "but if anything- went wrong your father would indemnify the bank against loss, and I always like to oblige a director." The said director had thought

ae was _ — — Here is a characteristic story of Admiral Evans, the "Fighting Bob" of the American navy. As a midshipman he fought against the Confederates and was shot four times, bein? sent to the hospital in a very damaged condition. He overheard the surgeon in charge «ay to hie assistant, "Tabs both legs off in the morning." Bob slipped a revolver . under his pillow and waited with eet' teeth for the morning. He felt jthat he had use for those legs. "When the assistant came to prepare Kirn for the operation. Bob at first protested: earnestly, but in vain. Then he pulled' his* revolver from under the pillow, snd told the doctor that it hadi six cart ridges, and that if anybody entered i&e place with a case of instruments six men would be killed before the operation began. The legs were saved. — Because he did not take unto himself a wife until he was 40 years of age people began to regard Sir Claude Maodonald 1 — who is home from Tokio, where for the last nine years he has acted as British Minister — as a confirmed woman-hater. On the contrary. Sir Claude was always as popular with the fair sex as he is with tihe thousand and one men who admire him for his gallantry during numerous compaigns. and particularly during rhat trying time in 1900 when he held the Legation, in the Chinese capital against the rebellious Boxers. In fact, so popular is Sir Claude with the ladies that in West Africa, when he was still a bachelor. ,a native princess asked him to marry her. — The placing on the retired list of Lieu-tenant-generaJ Sir Charles Knox recalls the etorv of one of the most exciting chases of modern times. General Knox was the hunter and General De Wet was the game. Some of the references to General Knox in De Wet's book are most interesting. One runs: "My old friend General Knox, whose duty it had been to prevent me entering Cape Colony on a occasion, was again entrusted with this same' ta^c. Any person who has had dealings with this general will acknowledge that he is apt to-be a rather troublesome friendi, for not only does he understand the art of marching by night, but he is also rather inclined to be overbearing." —At one time Mr Thomas Hardy, who has just entered upon his seventieth year, had serious thoughts of devoKng himself to dramatic authorship. He is an enthusiastic playgoer, and at one time took a flat in Condon^ for three or four months of the year so" that he might attend the theatres. As an illustration of the dependence of the author upon the actor, Mr Hardy tells a pood story of "Walker. London." J. M. Barries first play, which was produced 'by J. L. Toole. He witnessed a performance of the play in Barries company, and several time 6 found occasion to congratulate the authoi upon the dialogue, laughing freely and exclaiming, "That's a efood thinaj." But, as sure m ho did so. TSarrie •would reply, in a melancholy .one, "Ah, that's not mine: that's Toolp'<s. There's a food deal that's now since I was last here."

— Marshall P. WiVW. an American, is laughing- his way th;on^h ihc -world. The Fccret of how to bo Vappv thousrh living, hr <;ay«. is lainrhir-. That i= why he wrote "The Sunny Sido of fho Street," a book guaranteed to en re rhe worst fit oi the rr blues" before yon h?vo rea<l the fir 0 * page. "Don't trw* a man tuntil you have laughed with him." says Wilder.. "You can tell him by hi* Inuprh. 1 know all the laughs that are — the hearty laugh, the nanny-goat laugh, the tvreedle-dee laugh l& kind of titter), the guffaw, the mere smile, the merry laugh with the eve, and the middle-class laugh. They're all jfood, but save me from the man who laughs with his ears — you know, the man who sits down at an entertainment with a sort of 'I-dare-you-to-make-me-iaugb' kind of air, and bites his lips when he sees a joke."- *

— Prince Nicholas of Montenegro spent a few years at fche Louis-le-Grand lyoee in the French capital. - "Wihen die time came for the Prince to leave, one of his masters laughingly observed : "If you come to Paris again at an.*, time, bring me a few Montenegrin ciearettes. They are said to be delicious." Twenty-five years later Prinoe

Nicholas was in Paris. Ascertaining that the master in question was still at the lyoee, he called and sent in his card. The master received him with due ceremony, and with some curiosity with regard to the object of the visit. "Prince . . ."he said, bowing. "Oh !" replied Nicholas, "it is not the prince who has come to see you. It is your old 0 pupil wiio has come to pay a debt — or, rather, to keep a promise." And at the same time he presented the master -with c box of superb cigarettes bearing his arms. "Take them," he urged. "They are delicious, our Montenegrin cigarettes. And, do you know, I hadn't to pay anything on them at the Customs!"

—Mr Matheson Lang tells an amusing story of some of his earlier methods of studying Shakespeare. With a fellow-actor he was in the habit of going into the fields every morning, amJ there they declaimed passages from the bard in or-der to improve their .elocution. "One fine day," says Mr Lang, "in the midst of a soliloquy from 'Hamlet,' a little shiny head 1 suddenly appeared above the hedge, and a piping voice squeaked out, 'Be you Junies?' Intending to "wither him up, in thundering tones* I replied, 'Fr-'end, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'. It fell quite flat, for he only chuokled and said, 'Dearie me, Fve been in an asylum myself.' "