MARVELLOUS BOYS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 233, 6 November 1909, Page 3

MARVELLOUS BOYS.

Jl ?! !?'PRECOCIOUS IiENIUSES WHO IIAVJi ,J| AMAZED THE WOULD. \ I Thirt U the age of prodigies. In the U world of art, on tlw stage and concert a platform, and even in the pulpit, cliil<lreu have been astouishiug the world !' with their genius, and earning incomes calculated to arouse the envy of the c most successful business num. It i* only e a few weeks ago since it was anmuineed *' Ithat amongst the exhibitors at tin- • | J-'rench Salon this year its a twelve-year-J old artist named Marcel Lavallard, the • I s;m of a haberdasher, who commenced t.o '»J j.aiut pictures when he was six. " ThN is the first time in the history of ihe French Salon that *o young an n art is;, lias exhibited, although a tew year* ago Henri Curies wa» admitted when he wan nearly thirteen. Lavaihire's success recalls that of Tada. Styka. a l ov painter of thirteen, who had two (iuivat>es accepted by ihe Salon five > years ago. and the work of Viscount De 1 Soissuus, whose water colors and oil ; pointings were exhibited at the Dore • (iallery in 100-f. The young viscount I was then sixteen, and in addition to at- • liacting much at Milium on account of • Ir.s skill as an ait is- ];<■ |j;. gained a big • imputation a> an author, having written • several serial stories. BOYHOOD ACHIEVEMENTS Off i ENGLISH AUTISfS. English painters appear to be somewhat less precocious than their French ; comrades. Sir Edwin Landseer, it U '■ true, was admitted to the Academy at • the age of thirteen, but Mr. Waltei • Crane was already sixteen, and Mr. teen before they secured the coveted honor.

I. it is to the stage and concert plats t form, however, to which one must turn •> | to find the most remarkable examples s of precocious genius. Whether the numi-; berless child actors and musicians who j have made their debut lately will fulfil e the promise of their early years remains, 11 of course, to be seen; but the present i- and past history of acting and music *, contains some remarkable instances of v clever children who have continued to win fame year after year throughout . life. t MARVELLOUS 31USICIAXS. t There was Jenny Lind, for instance, t who at five or six years astounded every l body with the purity of her voice and v her wonderful skill in its management, The pianoforte playing of Meyerbeer, i. Mozart, and Mendelssohn, when they u wore six years of age, aroused the adi miration of every critic, while when he ..was eight Paganini composed a sonata lof 60 dillicult u nature that none but i • himself could execute it. He performed ,j it in public at the age of nine. I the age of three Paderewski coult

:' P la y the piano, while Lady HaUej wkea j<he made her first public appearance at . six years of age, created such enthusiasm , that a tour was instantly arranged which included such musical centreß as Leipzig, Berlin, and Breslau. At eight Lady Halle was playing at the London |. Philharmonic Concerts.

I THE ''POCKET SIMS REEVES." Amongst present-day actresses are many who showed histrionic talent at tender years. Mies Ellen Terry made her debut when she was eight. Mrs. Kondall was appearing at the JlaryK bone Theatre when she was four, and playing Ophelia at the Haymarket wli,*n she was sixteen. Miss Batcman, the famous impersonator of Leah first appeared on the stage when she' was fiv, stud when she was eight was brought to London _by the late T. P. Barrtum, to appear in a series of Shakespearean revival Lady 33aneroft was at one time tlu' leading child actress in the country, while Miss Ada Reeve appeared before

the public when she was six, and a fourteen was an acknowledged music i 1u '. 1 , 1 , " a *»r." Miss Vesta Tilley ' hegai still earlier. Tier stage career started ■ when she was three, and at six she fir<t I appeared in men's clothes and was ad-

. vertised as the "Pocket Sims Reeves." • | PULPIT PKODIGIES. 1 1 Two or three years ago quite a num--1 ber of child-preachers were attracting ; attention on both sides of the Atlantic, i notably Frances Storr, the twelve-year- - old Doncaster girl, who often had audi- . ( ences numbering close upon two thou'st nd; Lonnie Dennis, who was only live : when he preached to an audience of over three thousand in New York, ami ineluded amongst his tsermons one which ! told how he was called to the ininistiy jat four years of age; and Jack Cooky, : the -Manchester boy. who at a very earlv age determined to become a second D. U 1 .Moody. He preached his lirst sermon j ' when he was eleven, and two years later | • conducted many successful missions in 1 ■ the States. | ■ 1 \\ ho knows but what they may fol- i low in the footsteps of Spurgeon, who | wan tin avtive member of the Haptist, ( connexion while lie was still in knickerbockers, and preached his first sermo.i iat the age of sixteen? Before lie was : twenty Exeter Hall was not lavqe , enough to hold his congregations. . (leurge Fox, the evangelist and founder of the Society of Friends, was quite a , little boy when lie started preaching at . a tavern, and Ceorge Whitefield and I John Wesley both commenced- preaching , | at a very early age.

KNEW THIiITEEX LANGUAGES At | TWELVE, i j It has often been said that the moat

i • amazing example of precocious genius t on record is furnished by John Stuan I .Mill, who at three years of age was 2'learning the Greek alphabet, and at c | eight had read in the original many x Greek authors. Then he began to learn t'Euclid, Algebra, ami Latin, and before he was twelve was made to teach tae . 1 younger members of the family, u j The precocity of Sir William Rowan r Hamilton, the celebrated mathematician, ix ' is often overlooked. He excelled in toe

study of languages, and is said to have j Known at least thirteen at the age of twelve. At three years he wag a veiy good reader of English and considerably advanced in arithmetic. At four he was n good geographer, and at live able to | lead and translate Latin, Greek, and j Hebrew. Then he added a knowledge of I Italian and French to his learning beI lore going on with Arabic and Sanskr't. | —Home paper.