Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 4 September 1913, Page 34

Notes

The Rabbi's Reply Want of politeness in tram cars is not common in New Zealand, but it is not altogether -unknown; and the rebuke administered recently by a Jewish rabbi to a rude passenger in one of the American cities will bear passing on. The rabbi was riding in a street car, and rose to offer his seat to a lady. Before she could take it a young man plumped himself down in the vacated seat. The rabbi said nothing, but gazed at him in disgusted silence. 'What's the matter?' suddenly demanded the young man in a gruff voice. ' What are you glaring at me for like that You look as if you would like to eat me.' 'I am forbidden to eat you,' answered the rabbi. 'I am a Jew.' The Poet Laureateship As might have been expected, the appointment of Mr. Robert Bridges as Poet Laureate has. been received in England without any particular enthusiasm. On the whole,' says the Pall Mall, 'we may accept the appointment as an academic choice which does honor to Oxford and to English letters, and will continue to invest a unique and illustrious office with a fitting dignity. But the fact remains that the Laureateship has never been conferred for genius. If the criterion had been the creation of pure poetry, Mrs. Meynell has put into her slender output a larger number of immortal things than any living English poet can claim. It is when .we. come to the true . interpretation of the Laureate as a voice of the" race that we see how the

new appointment falls short. The Premier has ignored the wishes of the country and the principle that the Laureate is a singer chosen to voice the nation's great moments of duty, rejoicing, grief. Here Mr. Kipling's claim is far above that of any contemporary.' ,_'■/■;'.--' ':... , .;.'.', * », . ■-"./ ' v-. 'V. '■'".:' The Pall Mall's selection of the two most suitable names for the position is confirmed in rather a striking manner by the results of a plebiscite taken by T.P.'s Weekly. The readers of that journal expressed their preference by their votes in the following fashion:Kipling, Rudyard 22,630 Noyes, Alfred ... 704 Meynell, Alice ... .5,598 Yeats, W. B. ... 641 Masefield, John ... 3,267 Dobson, Austin ... 575 Hardy, Thomas ... 2,170 Le Gallienne, R. ... 522 Watson, William 1,086 Housman, A. E. ... 466 Newbolt, Henry ... 821 Davies, W. H. ... 423 Chesterton, G. K. 777 Phillips, Stephen ... 324 Bridges, Robert ... 710 Hewlett, Maurice ... 35 It will be noted that apart from the outstanding figure of Rudyard Kipling, the Catholic poet, Mrs. Meyneil, heads the list of competitors with a substantial lead.