Some idea of the amount of distress there is among Stock Exchange men,
owing to the continued depression, may be gathered from the fact that a
number of members, anxious to get to Brighton on their recent holiday on
the 1st inst., walked all the way.
***
While there would seem to be no "Picture of the Year," the canvas which
appears to attract anyhow most feminine attention is the Hon. John
Collier's "Clytemnestra," with its guess at the fashion of
to-morrow--the low-neck blouse carried a little bit further.
***
A publication entitled _Pictures and the Picturegoer_ has made its
appearance, and, please, we want to know what a Picturegoer is.
Suffragettes, it is true, are apt to go _for_ pictures, but we have
never known anyone merely go pictures.
***
Sculptors submitting designs for a statue of Peter the Great, to be set
up at the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, are required by the conditions
not only to produce a statue which will be recognized by the man in the
street as that of the monarch, but it must also convey the idea that he
spent his last days in the Palace. Possibly this might be effected by
his wearing his linen collar inside out, plainly showing the marking,
"Peter the Gt. Winter Palace."
***
In the duel which took place last week between M. Caillaux and M.
d'Allières the ex-Finance Minister fired in the air. As a result, we
hear, aviation societies all over France are protesting against what
they consider may develop into an exceedingly dangerous practice.
***
As regards the result of the duel, M. d'Allières was certainly the more
successful of the two. He fired at the ground and hit it. M. Caillaux
aimed at the sky and missed it.
***
The House of Commons has passed the second reading of a Bill to enable
Health Resorts and Watering Places to spend a portion of their rates on
advertising. The urgent necessity for such a measure would appear to be
proved by the fact that newspapers of every shade of political opinion
approve it.
***
"Democracy," says Lord Haldane, "is rapidly finding its feet." But it
will not gain much if at the same time it loses its head.
***
"A rector," we read, "has written to his bishop and to his wife
announcing his elopement with the wife of one of his parishioners." This
is a little act of courtesy which some men would not have thought of.
***
The London County Council proposes to allow on the Aldwych site a
circular experimental railway on the Kearney high-speed mono-rail
system. It seems strange that what is undoubtedly the most rugged and
wildest tract of forest land in London should for so long have been
without railway facilities. To nature-lovers, however, the proposal is
as distasteful as the idea of a railway up Borrowdale.
***
We had thought that races between omnibuses had, owing to an entire lack
of encouragement on the part of the police, died out, but we see that
the L.C.O.C. is now advertising "Another Motor-Bus Derby."
***
The police are said to be viewing with some apprehension the spread of
habits of cleanliness among our house-breakers. Last week, for instance,
some burglars who paid a visit to a Birmingham firm, after opening a
safe and removing its contents, obtained a bucket of water and carefully
removed all finger-marks.
***
At a recent smoking-match at Brighton the winner kept an eighth of an
ounce of tobacco alight for 103 minutes. The tobacco trade, we
understand, is strongly opposed to the holding of competitions of this
nature, "which serve no useful purpose whatever."
***
"There are 'vintage years' for babies," says Dr. James Kerr. These must
be the years when they take most readily to the bottle.
***
Extract from an account in _The Birmingham News_ of a meeting at
Solihull:--"The next business was the presentation of a handsome
breakfast egg to the Rev. Courtnay Smith, B.A." Once upon a time such
gifts were confined to political gatherings.
***
In the course of his exploring expedition Mr. Roosevelt lost nearly four
stone in weight, and it is rumoured that Mr. Taft may once again follow
in his footsteps.
***
A vulgar person with no respect for wealth has suggested that the Royal
Automobile Club shall change its name to the Hotel Nouveau Ritz.
***
[Illustration: "I say, I've a bone to pick with you."
"Pardon me, Sir, that's quite impossible, for I'm a _strict
vegetarian_."]
***
Another Mysterious Disappearance.