The National tribune., 1908-06-25

Miss Clara Clemens, daughter of the
great American humorist, Mark Twain,
has just made her debut in London as
concert singer, having spent num-
Der of years abroad studying under the
81 best masters. She seems to be blessed
with almost as keer d sense of humor
as her illustrious father, and in a recent
interview gave an amusing account of
the trials which the offSpringS of genius
undergo in the laudable attempt TO
win OUT on their own merits. When
her father is around, she says, she is
no more noticed than a footstool. and
when he is not, so much is expected of
her as his daughter that she finds it
Impossible to rise to the occasion and
gets far less than her just deserts. She
: avs her fathers genius is the result,
pure and simple, of the habit, usually
considered so absolutely destructive to
success of any kind, of lying in bed.
Her august sire, according to Miss
Clemens, has an affection for nice,
soft, white bed that paSseth under
standing. The reason why he wears
white clothes is because they remind
him of bed, and his flowing white locks,
SO much admired, are due, she says, to
a scientific cause, and not old age at
all. As the birds and many animals
of the Arctic regions take on dazzling
whiteness from their snowy surround
ings, so her fathers head from long
association with a pillow has assumed
its color, or lack of color. 1t is. she
declares, a plain case of sympathetic
celebration. While she has been get
ting up in the morning with the birds,
and putting in long, hard days work,
according to ordinary methods, her
father has been lying in bed thinking
things, with the family tending on
him, and the world standing around
waiting patiently until he should feel
like getting up and writing them down.
Occasionally he crawls out long enough
to loaf around Europe for a while, or
to go off on lazy lecture tour, but
nothing else can beguile him from his
downy couch except for few hours at
a time. Miss Clemens says she is there
fore on the lookout for comfortable
bed to which she can retire for couple
ofsyears, say, and arise a genius, for
1t is perfectly plain to her that genius
is the art of taking to bed, and if one
member of her family can acquire it in
that way. she sees no reason why an
other should not. Miss Clemens has a
rich contralto voice, and has worked
hard in cultivating it, and, in spite of
her playful complaint that she is over
Swallowed by her fathers genius, will
undoubtedly win for herself the laurels
she deserves.
1t is rather disquieting to women to
be told that nearly at the substantial,
useful, ard otherwise desirable traits
of character are inherited from the
father. Two celebrated Dutchmen, af-
ter a long period of careful investiga-
: ton in which they have been aided by
5000 of their colleagues have an
nounced as the result of their work the
conviction that the power to think log
icaliy to formulate and present such
thots convincingly, is almost exclusive
IL Inherited from the father. Amiabil-
ity, generous instincts. honor and lofty
sentiments generally are also, accord
ing to these savants, inherited from the
father, who on the other hand is apt
to hand down to his children any NOR
al weakness, melanchclia, epilepsy, or
mental unbalance. An aptitude for
mathematics. or any branch of science
almost invariably comes from the
father, as well as the excellent working
pabilities, with the exception of the lit
erary talent. come from the mother,
who, strange as it may seem, also gives
to her children, when SO inclined her
self, a love of sport, especially the
chase. and of games. If the mother be
dainty and neat in her personal habits
that characteristic is very likely to de-
: scend to her children as, unfortunate
ly, is also the habit of untidiness If she
possesses it. From the mother the
children get their love of dress and of
show, and from her, too, their good
soODS- uO moi receive
their share in these gifts of the gods,
for If the mother be gifted with unus-
ual mental capability, along any lines,
she hands 1t down over to her sons and
not her daughters. The poor girls do
not profit by their mothers wisdom or
love OF wisdom; Girls sometimes in
herit mental gifts. ii is true. But these
almost invariably come from their
fathers and not their mothers All of
. winch is interesting, whether true or
not.
The walters in the Paris restaurants
have been dissatisfied with conditions
for some time, but in spite of numerous
attempts have been unable to change
them. Their employers have refused TO
listen to their complaints, and a strike
has been imminent for many weeks A
daring spirit among them has, how
ever, conceived Of novel and one
would suppose most efticacious plan of
bringing the employers. to terms,
which is to expose to the public the
terrible secrets of the restaurant kit
chen. He threatens TO tell exactly what
goes on in that usually remote and
mysterious domain the truth the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth
OF Just what enters into the making of
hash, soup. the various sauces, and the
many tempting and attractive dishes
which are placed before an innocent
and confiding public. 1t is truly a
CHASTITY threat, and the world awaits
with bated breath its effect on the res
taurateurs. We all have suspicious to
which we do not give expression, which
We endeavor to Danish from the mind
hs soon as they enter it The suspi-
cion with regard to restaurant food is
one of these, and is matter upon
which we absolutely refuse to be en-
hghtened. When ignorance is bliss, tits
folly to be wise.
The birth of no child in England
outside the royal household has, per
haps, ever excited more interest than
that of the son and heir which the
Duchess of Norfolk has just presented
TO her husband, the Duke of Norfolk
This nobleman belongs to the ancient
family of Howard. who We're so con.
spicuous at the court of Henry VIII
one of whom, Catherine Howard, 1t viii
be remembered, had the ill-fortune t.
please the fancy of that monarch, who
made her his queen only to have he,
beheaded in two short years afterward
The dukedom of Norfolk is the oldes
in England, dating from 1888, and wa.
created during the reign OF Henry VII
1t stands at the very head of the Eng
lish peerage, next to blood royal, and
as has been remarked, traces its de
scent back to Saxon times. The Duk,
of Norfolk has also many other title
which to the ordinary American do no
signify much. but which in Englan,
carry with them great honor and dig
nifty. Besides all this he is the mos
important lay member of the Roma,
Catholic Church in Great Britain. an,
all important matters between Englan,
and the Vatican are arranged thru
nnh1Gn11n &c al n