Such is Fame

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 32, 6 August 1903, Page 18

Such is Fame

After all, fame is a relative thing. Many of our readers may have heard of the laborer who said, as he saw the tall, well-knit, active FTuxley pass by : ' What a sttinnin' navvy he'd a' made ! ' Ruskin was known t o a certain class as ' the old gent what teaches drawrm' at tho Taylorian.' Among the simple folk of Haslomere, Tennyson's fame is said to have largely depended on his ' **?*?? °; lord and wcarin S 'an 'at big enough for onythm'.' ' Harper's,' in a recent issue gives another curious instance of t-he perversion — or inversion— of fame. 'Tho late Dr. de Koven, of Racine College, Wisconsin,' it says, ' was in the habit of giving his classes a weekly lecture on religious subjects, questioning them befoiehand in order to ascertain what they already knew. On one of the occasions the topic was tho angels. "Now," said tho doctor. " before 1 begin, let some of you gi'\c me his notion of an angel " A profound silence followed. "Thd none of you, for instance, ever hear of Lucifer?" Thereupon a hand was lifted to reply. "Well," said the doctor, "what have you to say of him?" "Why," replied the student, " wasn't he the follow that started the German Reformation, as they say ? " ' And this is fame ! ' as Mr. Crummies obser\ed