The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-07-12
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PERSONAL AND PECULIAR.

pThe Shoe and Leather Reporter notes that
Lord Tennyson is writing one-thousand-
dollar poem for an English magazine, thus
beating his famous charge by four hundred"
1t is sad to think that many of the novels
which have won the admiration of the world
have been produced by Wilkie Collins while
he was enduring agonies which would drive
weaker man to the hospital The govt, as
exquisite pain as toothache, but more con-
tinuous. attacks him. not only in the hands
and feet-where it is bad enough-but in the
eyes. 1t Is impossible to imagine such tor
lures. But In spite of them, and sometimes
during them, Wilkie Collins goes on with his
work, and finds relief in forgetting himself
In the scenes of fiction. Never once has he
failed to keep his contracts with the publish
ers. Never once has his copy been delayed.
Col. John Thomas North, the Nitrate
King" is astonishing New York at present
with his gorgeousness A Yorkshire me-
chanic, he went to Chill when he was %
years old, % years ago, and riveted boilers
In the town of Huasco. Among the spoils
which Chilli grasped from Peru as result Of
the late war was the Province of Tarapaoa
That its mountains were rich in nitrates of
soda had long been known. but the York
shireman alone saw the possibilities of
wealth, and after many struggles he got a
concession" from Chilli of certain of the de-
posts on the top of the Andes Mountains by
an agreement to pay small sum. Today,
eight years after getting the concession, he
is really worth $l0,0O0,000, and If fortune
should continue to favor him, he Is likely to
be worth 500, 100000 before another eight
years shall have elapsed.
In Persia boys and girls never play together
Even at home the inferiority of the girls is
insisted on. just as much by the mother as
by the father. The little girls have to invite
playmates of their own. but their games are
never lively ones. They generally prefer to
sit by themselves under the shade of null
berry or pomegranate trees In the garden
(which usually is laid out in the courtyard
surrounded on all sides by houses or high
wallis and listen to fairy tales which their
mothers and nurses can tell them very inter.
estingly, indeed. While there is very little
c0mpanionship or love between brothers and
sisters, there Is no quarreling and no fight.
ing, either, between them; and the boys
while thinking themselves above the girls
show them many little kindnesses.
As is well known. the Queen is in the habit
of keeping rooms which have been occupied
by deceased relatives locked up. The apart
ments at Claremont in which the Princes,
Charlotte died more than 70 years ago are
vigorously closed, and nobody is allowed tc
use them. Prince Albert's apartments al
Windsor. Osborne and Balmoral are all kept
precisely as they were when he was alive
and on the wall of the room in which he ex.
pired there is tablet with an inscription
recording the fact that "this apartment was
the scene of his demise" The Duchess OF
Kent's rooms at Frogmore are also shut up
an arrangement which renders that abode
absolutely useless, inasmuch as they are the
best in the house. Frogmore, by the way, is
oficially part Of Windsor Castle, and any
repairs that are done there go into the Castle
account The Qneen has also kept Johr
| Browns rooms at Windsor entirely CLOSED
| since the death of that domestic and large
| brass has been erected in the apartment il
which he expired, with an inscription com
memorating his virtues and deploring biz
| loss.