The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-08
for him a professorship in Edinburgh
University

for him a professorship in Edinburgh
University
The Paris papers have just made the
discovery that Andre Theuriet, who
was recently received into the French
Academy, does not speak Partisan las
she is spoke Some critics who heard
his address atthe Academy found fault
with his accent, while others approved
Of it, saying that it enhanced the charm
of his voice. Apropos of the Academy,
lie Figaro" publishes AN alleged bill of
q newly elected member, showing just
what it costs to become an Academi-
clan. The regalia is reckoned at 694f.,
and is distributed as follows: The en-
broidered coat, 50Of.; the white broad
cloth waistcoat, 25f.; breeches, TOT;
plumed chapeau. 55f.; sword, 4Of., and
hatbox, 4f. But this is not all; there
are other expenses, of which most polite
Frenchmen do not allow themselves to
speak. Alphonse Daudet, however,
had something to say on the subject
in 'L'Immortel."
There is a letter of Eugene Fields full
Of advice to a tyro in book hunting. He
bids him to keep on piling up auto
graph letters, and don't forget to keep
the letters you get from contemporaries
Gus people; they may in time become
of great interest and value AS for
himself, he says: II have absolutely no
sense of barter-no, I am simply
royal. and unmitigated huckster." This
is the amusing conclusion of this let
ter:
You know that when Diogenes re-
turned, from his cruise about Athens,
under the auspices of a lantern, his
friend Socrates asked him what his
racket had been. I have been hunting
for an honest man. replied he of the
tub. Indeed?' queried Soc, and did
you find any?' No, that did not.
quoth dog; but L ran across heap
of-fools.' 'So?,asaith Soc, and now,
by Pallas! tell me the names of them
That were. tedious job answered
Diogenes; but I don't mind telling
you that the chiefest and veriest-fool
of 'em all was gangling, cadaverous,
lantern-j awed, lop-eared, fat-footed
Missourian named Field!' BY the dog
you speak truly!' cried Soc. When it
comes to the quintessence of damphool-
cry, Eugene does indeed take the
caker''
Miss Rhoda Broughton, who writes
neither so much nor so we'll as she once
did, has finished story with sug
gestive title-"The Game and the Can
de-
The sum recently paid by Lord Hard
wicke for a controlling interest in THE
co f11rx do icc
800. The new editor in succession to
Frank Harris of Harold Hodge.
In the published Life of Henry Nor
ley is recorded this story of a railway
journey made by him: HE had for a
companion an old gentleman who had
been trying to make himself more COM
Portable with the aid of a somewhat de-
flated air-cushion. Professor Morley
was going to blow it up for him, but
his action was arrested by the exclama-
ton: Stop, sir, stopl That cushion
contains my deceased wife's breathI'
+
Chicago Post: A Southern poet con-
tributes to his local paper a sparkling
poem which we find under the caption,
"A Sonnet We note with great inter
est that it is restricted to twenty lines.
We say with great interest because
the Warsaw Qnd.) sonnet, which we.
take to be the formula for the gravel
pit circle, comprises twenty-four lines,
and we are told that in certain parts
Of Indiana the sonnet has been stretched
to twenty-six lines, or one line for
every letter in the alphabet. The War
saw sonnet is sometimes known as the
Extra Sirloin"-that is to- say little
too much for one and not enough for
two. OF course, we all know that Ital-
ian thrift and parsimony reduced the
sonnet to fourteen lines, but with the
general spread of educational advan-
tages. the growth of sonneteers, the ire
mendous increase in the output Of poets
not to neglect the lavish scale on
which everything is done in the United
States-this stinginess of composition
has been discarded and broad and lib
era1 basis has been supplied. 1t is a
common saying that we throw away
food each day sufficient to feed another
nation, and SO it might be said that in
our sonnets we exhaust enough ma
terial to double the number in less
generous country. We are proud of our
sonnets and our sonneteers, and we re-
joice in their breadth of scope and their
elasticity of measurement.
How much reverence have we? Some
years ago at an auction in Edinburgh
two bones, announced to have formed
a part of Robert Bruce's anatomy,
fetched IS, and one of the vertebrae
of William the Conqueror sold for 70
los. What is called "a most interest
ing relic" is to be put under the ham,
mer at London. 1t is a mans garment,
made Of blue silk and stained with
blood. To this CORY raiment there is
a document attached, duly certified
which declares that it was worn by
Charles l. when on the scaffold, and
became the property Of Dr. Juxon, who
attended the King during his last mo-
ments. The history of this garment
is then traced through it's numerous
possessors up to to-day.
| Darwin's Origin of Species" was
evolved by the philosopher when he
had reached his half-century and his
Descent of Man. when II years older