The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 6

0 THE ACE. SATURDAY. DJiCEMBJiU 23. 1933. NOTES FROM VARIOUS was suppressed at tbe instlgatiou of the Jupaiieae authontie, becuuae of its out ttpuken critic iem of Japan's policy, bcuur collect in a uiaieruit fur thim hnnir 1 BOOKS, 1 Writers and Readers 'The Nativity in Art A.C.

Christmas in Literature DICKENS, CAROLS AND TALES was comfortably off. The Mill and Tay BY It may be said that as soon as man be-J gan to think for himself be adopted a belief in some form of existence other than the one in which he personally moved and had his being. In the beginning it: could hardly be described as a faith, and was largely the outcome of fear of happenings physical pain, hunger or death under possibly' trying conditions evidences of a force irresistible and unavoidable, lying outside the sphere of human experience. What was more natural than that the ''human," puzzled and apprehensive, should seek to placateHhese forces which could be kind and cruel in a breath; and as the race progressed in, intelligence and ascend ancy, the blurred first sensation of belief I BY C.H.S. CHRT6TMAS occupies ft happy place in the annals of literature.

The gay laughter and free spirit in which young and old relatives and friends fore gather for the pleasantries of the magic tree, turkey, pudding, mince pies and the giving and receiving of presents have been picturesquely narrated in poem and imaginative story. In the mtoenth cen tury Caxton, the first Eugliub wrote "at Crystmaeao men ought to go vyeit and see good friende." A hundred years ago England's rural workers wel comed 25th December, for it was onoi of their only three holidays in the year sheep-shearing feast, harvest-home sup per and Christmas festival. So there was much truth, in the words ot tho rude poet A Ohnstnui-gambol wt could cneer A poor nun'i heart for haU a year. The moods of this season have been faitlifiillv chronicled down the sum in English poetry. The way early hngliindi Kept Uhristmas -is descriDea Dy tuo tnir teen thcen tury poet Layamon It clianred on a Tule-ttde day, That King Arthur.

iu London lay; There had coma tp him at that tide. Vamlf from far and wide: From Scotland and Britain From Ireland and Iceland From every folk and land That had bowed them to Arthur's band. There Arthur sat in hli pride. With Wenhavere, the Queen, at bit Aivd the gueita in order right. First earl, then baron, then knight, Eich found hia appointed seat As the Klng'a men- deemed it meet.

1 There wore men right noblv born Who did service that Yule-tida And bare the meat forthright To each the-gallant knight. Then they turned them toward i the thanei, And below those still, 'the awaina, Thui served one and all, The folk in Kins Arthur's hall. And writing centuries liter, painted the typical English scene Christinas' is-here, Winds whistle shrill. -V -ley and chill, Little care we, Little we 'fear v- Weather Sheltered- about The Hahogany Tree. like: a -dun, Lurkrat the gate, Let the dog trait; Happy we'll be I Drink, ewery Pile np the coali, Fill the red bowls Bound the old tree.

Christmas in a home made hannv with yOUnff Deonle could harHlv hn nl1r1 Christmas without the enchantinjr Christ-1 inaa tree I Th home of the Christmas I nr tree is in tne northern lands JNor-way, Sweden and Denmark. Hans An- uersen iairy story xne Jf ir itee" is a beau tit I tale. The fir hron wan iinhnrmv in the forest, "where the warm sun and fresh air made it a sweet resting place." jue-omer trees, me aimonaB ana tiu olives, were thoucht event dttal nf hi. cause they could be used for all sorts of usetui purposes, and were not dry like language of pop, pop," as it was broken UD to kindle the fire. But a cronr.

de stiny was in store for the fir tree. It was given a' beautiful star from the heavens, and chosen to become the Christ mas tree. That is why the story tells us that it "trembles so with- joy in all its branches." We have manv nthnr such delightful tales in Dickens's The Christmas Tree," Mrs. Swing's "Three Christ mas Trees and Maeterlinck "The Blue Bird." There is the Christmas carol, a custom which in some places appears- to be dying. The oldest known Christ mas carol goes back to the twelfth enntiirv.

and is not rehmoufi in senti ment. It is written 'in Anglo-Norman dialect, and is entitled Lordings. Christ mas Loves Good Drinking. The reli gious carol is said to have had its birth in Itftlv. nnd that its oricinator was St.

Krtmaifi nf Assisi who considered It the mOKt'uRofiil form of religious instruction. Tbe oldest English religious- carol' dates from 1410, ot whicn we oniy nave a Jiag I saw a sweet, a seemiy sight, A blissful burd, a blossom bright, 1 -That mourning made and mirth A maiden mother meek and mild, In'oradle keep a knave child, softly -slept; she sat and Lullay, lulli, balow, My bairn. Bleep softly now, It was largely by carols that the people nf the Middift Aces were familiarised with thft Atorim of the Bihle. Carol sintrinff was suppressed with the rise of Pun tan-1 ism, but was revived a century later. No writer has immortalised the tmirit of Christmas as has Dickens.

In "A Christ mas Uacoi" we have the story ot ope. ocrooge, wnose wnoie me was aosoroea in the laying up of riches on earth. It mude htm a hard and unrelentintr. man of business. In his darkened omce there was none of the cheer of Christmas itive, Scrooge worked and shivered, and his poor clerk shivered tne more ocrooge nan a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like; one coal, When a nenhew calls to wiBh him a happy Christmas, Scrooge, is angry that other men should find happiness in thntiohtfl and notions that nm tint nriml arily profitable "llerry Christmas TWhat, right liave you to be merry What rea-l son have you to -be merry You're poor enougn.

couia worgiimy win THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. Roger van der Weyden's picture in the Imperial Museum, Vienna. SOURCES. TH his entertaining book "G.G." (Hut- ohinson). Mr.

George Grosamith, the famous sctor, tells some good stories of the areat men who found their way into his dressing room. Uoe or tneae wss; Mr. Lloyd George, who, the sight he celled, had just hesrd the popular wartime song. And When I Told Them How Beautiful You Are, They Didn't Believe Me. "Thst is the most haunting and inspiring melody I have ever heard," said Mr.

Lloyd George. "I could come again and again to listen to it. A song can have power." Another visitor woo tbe late King Feiaal of Iraq, who bad just seen his first play. "We have playa in my country," he aafd, but they are of a semi-religious, character, laBt for seven or eight deya, and the music consists of lugubrious noises on tom-toms." One night after his return from the South African war Lord Kitchener sat in the front row of the Gaiety stalls. "His steely eyes never left the performers; never smiled at them.

Between the acts he visited the stage, and before passing back to bis seat through tho corridor I invited the great soldier to peep through tho scenery snd see what the crowded house appeared like to the actors the sea ot jacea concentrated on our antics. He drew back nervoualy. I'd rather face an army than he said." Headers of "The Age" Theatrical. Reminiscences will be Interested to know that of tbe old Gaiety Theatre in London, with its famoua chorus, Mr. Grossmith has written a glowing obapter on the many members of that chorus who married into the peerage, and quotes a charming compli ment paid to the theatre by Lord who Miss Connie Gilchrist 'If I were to lose my wife," he said "I should sit on the step of the Gaiety stage door a'nd marry the next girl who came, out of it if she have me.

Ihese agreeable reminiscencea take the reader behind the scenes in the theatres of London, New York and Paris, and in tne studios of Hollywood. where Mr, Grosamith discovered a new and discon certing world. Mr. Winston Churchill's fondness for painting in his leisure hours is well known. It is a curious coincidence that he shares this hobby, as well' as his name, with the American noveliat whose "Jnaide the Cup," "Richard Carrel" and other books! of twenty years ago are still beat sellers in the United States.

Few authors, writes Peterborough in the London Dsily hare preserved- so long a silence as the American Mr. Winston Churchill. He retired from active writing shortly after he had reached his fortieth year A who saw him recently writes that he spends all his time in New Hampshire, where he has a picturesque colonial house, and is wholly occupied with outdoor, pursuits. Whenever he hods that the urge to write ia irresistible. he permits his work to be circulated only amongst his closest At the research laboratories of the General Electric Co.

in England, some ex periments hare been carried out into the1 best lighting for arterial roads. Tbe idea was thst the road should be so lighted that a motoriat could see a eat crossing tne road at a distance, and since tho in vestigator found that "even the best trained cats would, not do what he wanted 'be had Borne dummy cats made for experiment and put them in the road to' nee what they looked like. One aus-pects, saya the Manchester "Guardian," that what happened waa that the real cat just crossed the road with all their usual caution and success. Dogs fly about at all angles On the impulse of the moment, but cats have often been seen to thread their way through quite thick traffic with conspicuous ability, pausing when a pause was necessary-and moving with delibera tion when; a move was safe. If everybody crossed roads as carefully as the average cat doea there would be rather fewer accidents.

The animal must hare been selected for these tests not because it lacks road sense, but because its color is often black. Will Melbourne hare an official city Poet Laureate for the Centenary According to a London "Timea" correspondent, the City of London once hsd a iCity Laureate. This correspondent writes: slkanah Settle, an obscure poet, Politi cal and religious pamphleteer, and dramat ist, the details of whose life nevertheless occupy something over six columns of the D.NJS., succeeded another forgotten rersr fier in the City Laureatesbip to wit, Mat- The last of the Mayoral panegyrists seems in his time to hare turned hia dubious literary hand to well-nigh erery branch of writing. Among many dramatie works he is credited with a delectable anti-Papist play, atill extant, entitled, at complete length, A Dramatic Piece, by the Charterhouse Scholars, in Memory of the Powder Plot, performed at the Charterhouse, Sth Nor, 1732. This literary reminder of 'Rememher the Guy I' was given by tho Charterhouse scholars regularly for a number of years on November the Fifth I Settle bimeelf, after a miserable last chapter writing verses ior ail-comers at old Bartholomew Fair, eventually entered tbe Charter house to end his daya in Ionelincaa and neglect.

During hia tenure of office aa City Poet his emoluments were annar- ently the one commentator noting tnat the show cost 737 2. rinnr Settle receiving 10 for his crambo verses I waa fortunate said wit Ironically, 'in that hia verses predeceased him 1' The revival of mm. at lef 'poor Settle's" verses, to be printed on this invitation card to the Banquet at Guild Hall, pays tardy tribute to the last ot jjondon's City Laureatea." That grand bid ladv nf tl, 4nl the Mauretanlar had her twenty-sixth birthday on 16th November last. On 16th November. 1807, ehe set off from Liverpool for New York on her maiden The London "Doily Telegraph" shipping correspondent of tbe day waa confident that she would boat the Atlantic record set no a few mnnth i her sister ship, the Lusitania.

Unfor- ana encountered bad weather, and although ahe smashed the dav'i hours br-fore she reached New Yorje. The Lusitania achievement was beaten, how- when the Mauretanfa reached Queenatown in four fe" rd-tb, weatbound DUn nutes Rren th.n sbly bettered Z. Gloucestershire Home to Young W7- .7 rw. xt at l-auntley Nowet. For each reading (within limit of forty miles from the J7n of TjSf.T"Z LAr- 7 wuw-iouiea to the home.

For each autograph half a culneai must bs subscribed, wish it fo be olesrunderstood? states Mr" MssefleR "that I will not write in what are called1 autograrh books and iwJJJ .3: thst I will not. make any reduction lit cnarge for signing many books," Bignor Mussolini I. i When, says the London T.i graph," he heard that Romano, his six- year-oia son, nan lauea to pass his examination; and would have to stay in the same class for another year, he nt fori minreaa ann tnanaea her. He said, "You're a nore ty. Most people think ther can neat riUHua m.

hv annllln. n. 'children. Treat him like any other lasyJ Kill. kn anJ UI-.

1. vuw WM. M1IU ITUIIi. Kiftcr Japun lguu her attack on Man cuuna. ne nae maue extensive uae of oflicia) documeuta dealing wth the relations between Japan and China, aud the attitude of the League of Rations and of the Great Powers, In au appendix covering more thau WO pages he quotes uinu vi vuivibi uufJUUieuta 10 tUlL Thu book, thereiore, though partisan from besiuninsr to etid.

is a vuluahl ur.ru- of reference connection with Japan's aggressive attitude to China since 1031. uu uca ueuauva vi iuo ogue OI iSa tious, lu addition to an interesting account of the fighting in Manchuria afid Jehol and the Jopaneeo attack on Shaog hai. the author gives particulars of many outrages of which Chinese civilians are the victims. The book constitutes a vivid record of the hopeless efforts of China to stem the onslaught of an enemy vastly superior in military etliciency and equip mcut. The author insists that tho victory of Japan has by no means settled the tW tiny of Manchuria, and has inteusitied tho problem of peace in tho "What will happen in the immediate future or within the next few yeara," ho states, ''will depend upon the attitude and actions of the leading Powers, Hie dominant or subordinate position of the militarists in Japan, the relations lit tween Russia and Japan and the internul political situation in China.

In view of Japan's precarious financial position, a persistent Chinese boycott stretching over a number of years will have diaiM. trous effects upon the economic life of the island empire. As for Manchuria, its recovery may have to be brought about by force of arms, failing outside media-acion. On the other band, the overwhelming majority of the population are still Chinese in blood and sentiment, and no amount of oppression could force ampere allegiance to the Japanese flng. In this respect Manchuria may be said to be a second Alsace-Lorraine.

It ib too much to expect the League of Nations or the United States to Jifrht China's battles against Japan, although the Powers must consider some sort of action to protect their own interests in the Pacific. The settlement of the Si no-Japanese question not merely concerns the balance of power in the Pacific or the maintenance of peace in that area, but determines whether respect for international agreements or brute force shall rule in this world. Whether joint nctiou ia to be taken by the United States in i-o-opcration with the League of Nation to preserve the peace of the Pacific, or whether it will be necessary to effect an Anglo-American combination, the object must be continually kept in mind, i.e., preservation of the sanctity of international agreements for world peace." RECENT FICTION; "Three, Cities" (Victor Gollanw, Lon-don), by. Bholem Asch, which was originally written in Yiddish, haB been translated into Polish, German, French' and English. The author, who waa born at Warsaw 53 years ego, has written a number of novels, and has had plays produced' in European capitals and New York, but "Three Cities" is the first of his books to attract attention in England.

The three cities are St. Petersburg, Warsaw and Moscow, The scenes in tho first two cities deal with -the period be fore the Great War, and the Moscow section of the book, begins in October. 1017, on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution in Bussia. It ib a remarkable novel of great range, filled with the diversity of characters, and presenting a long succession of dramatic situations arising out of the actual historical events which form its background. Only the fact that the characters lack the subtlety of life debars it from being classed as a great novel; but despite this defect it is an pean nction.

It is impossible to outline in a paragraph tbe story of this long book of 860 pages; but it is not the plot that holds the reader's attention, but the series' of dramatic incidcuts based on actual events of the time, and the gre.it variety ol characters and scenes winch the author depicts. "Shake Hands With the Devil" (J. M. Dent and Sons. London).

Iiv Heard nu Conner, is a story of the conflict ia lrc land bet ore tne establishment ot ilia Irish Free when the British Go vernment vainly endeavored to suppress cue 'campaign ot outrage conducted in the name of the Irish Iteuublieau Armr. Murder, and outrnire by the Kenublicam were answered by murder and outrane by the military known as the "Black and Tans. The author records the experiences of a young Irish medical student, Kerry Sutton, who by force of circumstances threw in his lot with the underground organisation of the Republicans when he was unjustly suspected of fiarticipation in a bomb outrage in Dub-in. He went into hiding, and wan taken care of by the Kepublicun organisation. He was sent to join a small body ef ReDublicans who had their quarters in an old farm building in a wood near the, village of Ard falla.

There he found the nead ot the little group was the assistant master at the local village school, who was able to carry on a ruthless camnainn locally against the "Black and Tans 'and their spies without interfering with his school duties, and apparently without arousing any suspicion among the military authorities. There is no story in the book' in the-ordinary sense. It is a revelation of ruthless guerilla warfare within the narrow -limits of the viildftc, and the surrounding district. The author claims that the incidents he has recorded aro authentic and iinombeiMshcd. "The Cuban Farm" (Kober aud Fabcri London), by Wilson Wright, is a very entertaining book, which gives an amusing nieture of life in Cuba.

Thouch it touches on those' revolutionary activities which form part of the normal political unrest of the Itepublie of Cuba, it deals mainly with the humble lives of the working Jose Perdriga-had emigrnted from Spain to Cuba, to make his fortune by hard manual labor. He obtained work at the manganese mine at Miguel, conducted by" American managers, and made love to Maria Banclemente, daughter of Papa Marco Sanclemente, who- had charge of the mine's canteen and eating the mine workers had their meals. Jose, being a Spaniard, was despised by Mnrert. t1i nn suitor for the hand of his daughter; but Maria would not give up her lover. Joso, despite the fact that he preferred work to temporarily drawn into revolutionary politics uutil ho committed the unpardonable sin of handing over to justice ths man whn nhrtt thn Pi-PMidential canili Aai nf tha narfu In wlilr.li rift ivnn ni)- posed.

The Great War created a boom in the Cuban nroducts of miliar and tnnn gancse, and even the lazy Mnrco fun clomento -made a fortune, which, however, disappeared when the boom collapsed after the war ended. Jose Perdriga, who possesses, the opaniah peasant love oi the laud, bousht a farm of 20 acres, and there he took his bride, Maria, nn through the machinations of his unforttiv ing father-in-law the farm was taftcn from -him. But fortune smiled on Jose again, and he bought another farm, where he became prosperous and envied by his neighbors. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Dtaton' and Kpencer.

Rjdney. UngamUlla, by Stuart McDonald. Ths Mercury Prw, Jipan.t:hliu Undeclared War, by ttlward Blng-Shuey hi. Ribhael Tilek and 8onii. Ironilon.

Miner Tuek'a Annual (or Little Tcoplej luck'i Ijonrntian's. Green ind Ixmlon. Tha Story of Paula, by R. Inge. 0.

P. Putnam's 8oni lionflon. ine Swallows, by Henry Wllltatnion, FrnUnd Prciw. London. Tha Boiled 'lcmpic.

by R. M. England. Philip Allan and Days arid tyo Days, by Ralph Greaves Ths Jaw at Biji oy u. a.

0. Allftti and Unwin Attack from the Kaaty by St. B. M. Jonrti Indian Vile, by E.

P. White King's Son, Churl's Son, by Jane Cran. Dent and flons, London. Plavs by Wehatrr and rord, Tha Captain's Daugh(r and Other Tain, by Alexander Puahkini Germinal, by Etnll Zola Biographical Dictionary of Forelun Lltm-turn, by R. Farmiharaon Bharp, The wh DeVIt, by John Webitcrt Tha Way of the viorM, by William CongrevK Making a Unlvrrlt, Dr.

W. W. Into (lit. Sun. by T1 Dai Morning Pride, by Halcott Glovarf String uatuiion, oy wary Lang.

Duckworth and London. Bach, by Batbtf Anna and Robertaon Srdnw. tha Wort, hy nudwrn Fyah Budgerltran Buah and. Aviary, hy Kevllle W. Caylny.

Blank le and Sons, London. Technique ot em WHdlnr, by P. Bardtka. fllmni n. Maraba II London.

TM ri Parla, by Harold Clunn. Ohanman and Hall London. Kan Aniiia by A. M. Motlram.

liOthUn Publlahlng with Charlls Vaude, eomplled by hlmMK. Oxford irn iiritl.i PnML tmdnn. Oa homf na in Vachta, by Conor 0 Brian. will lama and N.rtraf -a Indian Ooutltutloiv hy A. Jriabnivfml 11i''iillliliiiini1Hiiiiitiiiiviji attention as the later life of the Savionr, and the treatment both technical Tud descriptive, varies a good deal, according! to the time.

Ind school. The coming of Christ took under the humblest conditions born in a wayside shed, and cradled in a manger yet it was marked by circumstances of special import, heralded in the heavens, and attended by shepherds, wise men, and kings, united in a common bond of worship, which embodied in its universal embrace the in tricate distinctions of caste, learning end tabor. The subject many be classed under two headings, the Nativity, and the Adoration of the Magi, and It is also linked with tho appearance of the angel to the shepherds, as illustrating the firsti I stage in ths long record of tbe Christian lann. The earliest Hativitv nrnhnMo Giotto's mural naintitiir in 41ia chapel at Padua. In writing of this picture, oonn ituskin saya: "I am not whether I shall do well kindly in telltno- ih.

a. thing about this beautiful design. Perhaps the lesa-he knowa about early art. or early traditions, the more deenlv ha will fool its purity and truth; for there is scarcely an rncincnt nere, -or anything in the manner of renreaentinff the ineirlnnta wltinH 1. not mentioned justified in Scripture.

The writer goes on to apeak in great appreciation of the beautv unit nnfnrnlnncB of thia niottire. hut. ia mnrn tctfipal next in the series, The Wise Men's Offer ing. One incident he cites as being worth considering is the -recention of tba irifta. not by the Child, but by the attendant angel, liater artists cases, much more elaborate of the NAtivitV and Adnpoffnn A vtn.akla instance ia the picture by Mabuse, in the iionaon'flational Gallery.

The stable here is a ruined nalace. and the central flmriu of the Madonna and Child suggest a set pose, aa does that of the kneeling priest, while the three kings, described (outside Holy Writ) as Balthasar. (black), from Afril-ft' ftflNnnl-. from IT.MPnnA anil U.l. choir, Asia, take a dignified place in the composition.

In the lpscnd thev nrA 'iari vA a. the descendanta of the prophet Balaam, the fulfilment of whose prophecy, "There' snau come a star out of (Mum-bers, 17), they had waited and watcnea tor, xne aupstitution of a ruined buildinir fop thn toa is adopted 'in many other later paintings ua a.iorm oi symnoiogy in wmcn tho new faith takes birth among the crumbling ruina oi tue rp unnm nf 1U. cThe. subject- of The Procession of the Magi was treated in'. a eeriea of aoven uj icaiian jjen-oaro Gossoh in the fifteenth century, the artist a conception of the term "Kings" ucmg evioenuy Based upon the pomp and pageantry common to the monarcha of hia own time.

In Eubena's Adoration, in uiunuuiu. mere is also evidence of a great painter whose tern- In Hle airection of till, ffnrfromin anil iar away Irom the example let by Giotto. daya there waa little or no knowleiltro the dkVn "ft was enacted, and tho paintera who enme KmSii i.presoniaiion were those i ha ri aPRroxlote in 'iTi lent Whlm.S 'In0' ueaoMiiio oiimotng pn the roof in order to peep inside tho tumbe-down liifi r.no tne nVC i.Tt there is reverence in this ine nativity, painted by the tfufy a-humble knee hng. before the tiny recumbJnfCf oi Hamh nn dm from tlioir i.iC,-.T- "raight: ent now. differ- llh.r.il: deals whfeh i.

-v." "JT futlfuirenderin waii alv.L "sn der Goes, of nn pa Florence, Augustine -wnier, due auecu melancholy, W. pf tbe most In the! Picture In -t. -louv-r'. by thelpaXd'' Josef Riberd, born in Valencia fn low! van paae. tr "iiini; in co or.

but KtSaiSWlJ- on Tlittl. ana tne isos of tbe kneeling beside, Him In aivo- auty 1: contrast to the rugged but reverent types represented by the sdoring shepherds to lormnra jn TCIbll Bimoannere of temporal consequence, It appeal lrinal mors in the closeness with which the I 'in an mie. humility, and iia nf for his purpose the human tru. spirit BEHIND. THE SCENES.

ORD RIDDELL, whoBe "War Diary" about British atatesmen and soldiers in their conduct of the war, brings his diary to a conclusion in a second volume, "Intimate Diary of the Peace Conference and After" (Victor Gollanci Ltd, London). Thia new volume, which begins five days after tbe armistice waa signed, covers a period, of five yeara; but Lord Riddell Iwearied of the task of keeping a diary be- I fore be finally abandoned it, and at times the entries becsme spasmodic. In addition, ihe has found it advisablo not to publish numerous entries. At the Peace Conference at Vorrailles, and at fifteen subse quent.conforences of Allied statesmen on mattera ariaing out of the war and thej peace trratieB, he was entrusted with thel official task of seeing that the representatives of British newspapers were sun- plied with information as to the proceed ings, and in this capacity he saw a great deal of what went on behind the scenes; at these conferences. He waa a personal friend, of Mr.

Lloyd George, who. ss Prime Minister, wss the chief British delegate at the Peace Conference and at otner conferences, and he waa constantly in close association with other British statesmen, such as Lord Balfour; Lord Curzon, Mr. Bonar-Law and Mr. Winsten Churchill. most interesting psrts of tbe book are those which take the reader behind the scenes of the Peace Conference at, Versailles, and supply interesting vignettes of some of the outstanding figures at the conference.

There era manv intereptino on President Wootlrow tcucu wis conierence as the head of the American delegation. "The President is "rote "rtl iuddell in his iliary. "This afternoon he oame from the conference room and gave instructions for someone to telephone for his typewriter. We conjured up visions of a beautiful American but in a short time a messenger appeared, bringing with him a battered typewriter on a tray. By this time the conference bad finished.

The typewriter was placed in a corner of the conference room, and the President proceeded to tap out a long memorandum, the purport of which had been decided on by- him- and hia colleagues. It waa a strange sight to see one of the greateati rulers in the world working.away in this On one occasion, whpn th of tbe German mercantile marine among the Alliea in compensation, for shipping sunk by the German mines and aubma-! imes waa unaer discussion by conference, Lloyd George said in the hear. ing of Lord Riddell: "Wilson has been giving iib a lot of trouble. I had quite a row over the compensation. I said, Australia is a long way off, but she hasl given more lives than Am.rU President replied, Yes, but America was I said.

'YeB, and so waa Australia, if Australia had not done what she did. when ulie hm eiiortB wouid nave been useless This argument did not Perm to have occurred vu unit. lavmeiuiv ne oin DOC want-, tn continue the discussion; and said, 'Very well, then." Here is snother interesting entry in Lord RiddeIPe diary: "Lloyd Gerge told a good storv of TTmrliM lir Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia) at tue -eace tonierence. 'va underBtand, said President' Wilson, when dealing with the mandate question, 'that AiiFtralia, in face of the wishea of the world, would inBist upon haring her own way There- upon Hughes, with his hand to his ear (h very deaf), remarked, 'Yes, that'a about 't' en answer which so flabbergaated the President that he did not continue; the discussion." Under date 26th My. 1MB.

when parations were made for the formal aign-ing of the Peace Treaty by all the dele-1 KVf? Ino countries concerned, Lord Riddeir wrote: "There is much talk about- the sealinor nnfl .1.. trcatV. Llovd Cianraa' nao ...1 TT- hub oracreo one with u.UG. on it. The rumor is that Sir nAAi.

the Australian delegation, has ordered a ai Bearing a small oross with J.C. under it. Point is giren to the story by the fact that he is giren to preaching. Hughee lost night arrived from London with a magnificent gold fountain pen. yon going to sign the treaty with that asked someone.

TTes," ssid Hughes. 'I bought it for that purpose. I am going to present it to the Commonwealth. It will be put in a musenm, and thousands of years hence the people will say. That is what the little devil signed the treotv with I' A HAZARDOUS FLIGHT.

In 1029 Mr. Francis C. Chichester, a young New Zealander, after a compara tively oner experience as a pilot, flew soio irom Xionnon to Sydney in a. moth aeroplane. Ho wrote an interesting Bccounjc or tne night in a book entitled 0010 to Sydney." Ho has now.

wrilt, second book, "Seaplane Solo" (Fabor and Faber, London), in which he records uigui, irom new Zealand to Australia, via Norfolk Island and Lord Howe isiana, in the Moth that carried him from London to Sydney. From variousl -uauupoinia it wa. in nying range of his little aeroplane was 950 miles, but the distance from Wellington to Sydney ia 1430 miles. Ho wonuered how be was to make the trln fnlt a mop he saw Nor- folk Island inri srA T-1 if they had been specially dumped there tje purpose of enabling him to flv a -V roH me -teaman Bea. The first hop from the north of New Zealand to Norfolk Island wae 480 Pi i tI' 5f0Ia, to ord Howe Island was 660 miles: and the third hnn to brdnev wim 4nn milpa tiK uui no nao to convert hia aeroplane lntO a SPRnlPTUV Pa aerodrome at Norfolk Island or Lord -Howe therefore he mint ile-fcend on tho wotcr.

And he had to risk Wing able to navigate a course so accu-rate as to enable him to find these tinv in l'af" m- Ihe first was mode sueeoss-tu ly, but sftcr reaching Jord Howo Island-and anchoring hia seaplane it was nnf A.L: -tun "uctnis disaster did XL" er The damaged machine was raised anA tt as the inadepuate facilities on Lord Howe Island would permit, and, with an englno that repeatedly missed fire, the third hop of the flight was entered upon, snd the vi ujuirej, THE MERRY MONARCH, Apparently the m.in nnrn.M at tr. Dennis Wheatler in writing nu urai' A Private Life of Charles son and Co, London) is to give his per-siyisl support to those modern biographers who have contended that history has misjudged the Merrv Mnn.rph A ftp. a brief and inadequate survey of Charlea's life, which fills only 180 pages, Mr. Wheat- iey concludes: "Ho was a very human man, a good-natured roue, who bppI, nl Ideny it but, owing to his constant habit of- joBtlng, his intellect has been underrated; Hi was undoubtedly the cleverest, and perhaps the greatest, man Va2 Zm English, throne. For 200 years his charaotor has been be-llttlod, as a definite policy againat the weak- and Inept Pretenders who succeeded In the Stuart llpo, The legend that ho was nothing but an idle, dissipated monarch dies hard.

Yet, in the eonatant sift- ii? i oi time, tne dross of libel falla away, leaving tbe gold of truth revealed. The day 'will come when Charles will lake his rightful plsce in ww, sweet-natured king, Who lPrt hta npnnlp n. at 1 anarcny. and. p.araccutlon into ths m-eat prosperity of the Georgian century." It may be true that history will ultimately reverse Its verdlot on Chsrles II, but befor.

dolrut so it will demend a lot more rni i Wlieauey JAPAN INDICTED. "Two Teari of the Jannn.nhtnM TTil.l ciarea war (iieroury rrew, Bhanghai, China), by Edward Blnr-Shuev Lm. Ii an Indictment of Japan for her win urn nf iMnnonor-i. ma her nnprovoked war on Ohin. The author, who was editor nil the VLeador" (Pekin) until tbe paper to A LASTING INFATUATION.

Ilia Infatuation of Jobs Stuart Mill for Mrs. Taylor it strlkinir illu.tr.tion of the influents of womin of ordinary attainments over the mind of a man who regarded one. of tho outstanding intellects of hi. generation. 1 This infatuation, which luUd more than a quar ter or a century, separated tho lady from her htubind, end separated Mill from moat of hi.

friends. It auffered so diminution when after twenty years of Platonic relation. tho Carlylea durlns their friendihip with Mill uaually referred to the lady aa Mrs, "Platonics." Taylor Jiiu married her after ehe became a widow. It may bo aaid to have survived her death, which took place seven years after her second marriage, for Mill made constant visits to Avignon, where she waa buried. In the epitaph he wrote for- her tombstone he said: "Were there even a lew hearts and intellects like hers, this earth would already become the poped-for heaven.

Mill did not regard her as a woman of brdinary attainments, but aa great and original thinker, and one of the noblest women of any time. In the glowing tribute he paid to her in hi. "Autobio graphy" he wrote: "Alike In the highest regions of apeculation and in the smaller practical concerns of daily life her mind was the same perfect instrument, piercing to the very heart and marrow of the Blatter; always' seizing the essential idea or i The same exactness and rapidity. of operation, pervading as it did her sensitive ss well ss her mental faculties, would, with her gifts of feeling and imagination, have ftted her to be a. consummate artist, aa her fiery and tender soul and- her' vigorous eloquenoe would certainly have, made her.

a great orator. and- her. profound knowledge of human and discernment, and sagacity in practical life in the -times when such a career was open 'to women, have: knade -her eminent among the rulers of snankind, 'Her gifts. did but to a moral character at once the best balanced which I have ever mettwith in And elsewhere. bot capable interpreting to- the world one half of tho great thoughts sad noble feelings which -are buried ro her grave I should lie tbe-medium, of a greater benefit to it than is ever likely to arise from anything that -X 'can write.

'unprompted and unassisted by her all but unrivalled intellect." Trill' tr-tanA. wlift lrnPTT- Mm. Taylor -was much impressed with her in tellectual powers. But none of them saw much of her, or saw her in the light that Mill saw her. His younger brother George said of her that-she was "a clever and remarkable woman, but nothing like what John took her to be:" Mill was so sen sitive regarding the equivocal position hel occupied as the friend of a married woman whose husband objected to the friendship that he would not allow any of his friends to discuss her or his infatuation -for her.

Those friends who did. try to remonstrate with him soon found their friendship with him st an end. John Arthur Roebuck, who had been associated with Mill, in founding the Utilitarian Society, records in his autobiography how at an evening party at a friend's house he saw Mill enter the room with Mrs. Taylor hanging on his arm, "The. manner of the lady, the evident devotion of.

the gentleman, soon attracted universal attention, and a suppressed titter went' round the room," wrote "My affection for Mill was so. warm end: so that I waa hurt by anything which brought ridicule upon him. I saw, or thought I how mischievous might be the Affair, and as wo had become all things like brothers I determined, most unwisely, to speak to him on the subject." But the result itoeoucKs xnenaiy aavice was to end their close friendship. later years several attempts on his part towards reconciliation were Roebuck gives a very simple explanation of Mill's delusion in regard to the mental equipment of Mrs. Taylor.

"He (Mill) believed her an inspired philosopher in pettieoata; and as she had the art of re turning his own thoughts to himself, elothed in her own -words, he thought them hers, and wondered at her powers of mind and the accuracy of her conclu-aions." An Unsympathetic Observer. 1 There are a' number of reference, to Urs. Taylor 1 in Carlyle's correspondence, but they are not helpful in explaining the cause of- Mill's infatuation. Carlyle, writing to his brother John on 22nd -July, 1834, soon- after, he had settled in London at Row, said "Our most interest ing new friend is a Mrs. Taylor, who came here for the first time; yesterday, and stayed-long.

She ia. a living -romantic heroine of insight, of -the royalest volition very interesting, of ques tionable 20. Jane (Alrs.Carlyle) to go' and, day with- her -soon, being very greatly taken with' i But' Mra. Carlyle soon found shs had' little in common with their, new friend; In- Carlyle's we read "She Taylor) at first con sidered, my. Jane to be a rustic spirit, fit for rather -tutoring and twirling' about when the.

humor her; but.got taught better her; lasting memory) before Jong. Mill was" a 'young man of 25 when he first met -Mra. -Taylor-at her husband'a bouse, -ho- was 23. She had -been eosrrjed. at, and was -the mother of several children.

Her husband, described by1 Carlyle aa "an moat ioyous-nstured man, the pink of social lospitaiity," -was a wholesale druggist, snd PUBLICATIONS. 0 1. I-'S HO0K-i A'D JB COLT'S FOUNT PICTURB BOOKS, i Nos. iult, Prise-Each. Fosiaas oo-'Zach, The.

-Books-an-world -rameus. V. Have suai. roiruuoD asouwr copies ab'uis tattii to PIOTIOK. TBAVBI BIOORAPBTEg, Ac' BIBLES, PRATER BOOR! Ill JUVIN1LB BOOKS Jgavs Kver Bn so Ridiculously Chtap as: Tola Tsar at cols'.

Booa-areaoe. 9taar' Cast. Discount Allowed on Aa Prlu BITS- Teur rrlinci On. Tsar's Subscription to Our Library for a xmas.uilt., IV and, o7 rr Annum, I. COLB'tV BOOK-ARCADE, -V I IWANBTOrr-BTKEZT, U.SLBOURNB and Post.

Office- Plaoa). HD1HO L1BRARII8, the Bast and Latest FUllon. aWPURT ADYIOB.G aWPURT ADVIOB OrVBN rRII, asters OoUis BlMwaers Consult' OSOROB BAOHBLOR, VeKlLLOP-STKEHT, MELBOURNE. lOOKS. A Ifllllan.

from H.lf SMpp, n. Bouritfrtraat, MtlbeurM, trot whence book Books. WW BOOH Mtfuxau UOU CJ a i SMvauju uaiMuuiA, M.v rras. BOOK DPOT, CoTpny. ftnli at HANLEY BOOK iftCRrVftcm OnrHtm SObST JouHiHt.

(Ktuttrn Martut M. TVat'atB. Valh. llBrTNslrTr Nap I rroniacs, HAKtltr BOOK KXCHANd, and tht umbr( foe-T wtaea you BallllVi umbr( JflJ-f wtiea you ym Uy 4f BaCLiLt tfHItK BOOMt. BIRD'i BOOK SHOP, si oiritit-aTnRRT.

A ORBAT VARIBTT OP CRTLDRim'S ROOSTS, AT LOW PRICES, Osalral. esse. lor f.milia nf tho nrevioua eeneratloo had been near neighbors for years. Mill in bis "Autobiography" described Mrs. Taylor's husband as "a most upright, brave and honorable man, of liberal opinions snd good education, but without the intellectual or artistic tastes which would have msde him a companion for though a ateady- and affectionate friend, for whom she had true esteem and the atromrest alfection through life, and whom she most deeply lamented when ueau, Mr.

Pavid Aleo Wilson, in his recent lengthy, study of Carlyle in five volumes, gives a brief unsympathetic account of the Mill-Taylor relationship an account derived from Carlylc'a talks to C. Nor ton and air V. Uavan JJuity. "Taylor lUOJJCVMlUlO lllllll, UUb II1D IIU found him dull; she had dark, black, hard eyes, and an inquisitive nature, snd was Eonuenng on many queationa tnat worried er. and could cet no answers to them.

(Or. aa Carlvle told John Morlev. "She 'was full of unwise intellect, asking and re setting stupia inat unitarian; clergyman, William. Fox, who pat- rurnwa r-eier ana -raui as ignorant duc well-intentioned persons, and delivered prayers which aomeona described an tho most eloquent prayera that ever wero aaaresseato a ifntlsh audience, had pro-; at aUV rat, 1fti Afm Tnvlnr thnf Mill waa the man among the human race to relieve, in a eomnetnfc minnpF. hnr dubieties.

With great difficulty he brought bcb uer. jinn juiu, wuo up 10 mai time bad never so much ss' looked st a female creature, not even a cow, in the face, found himself opposite those great dark eyes that were Bashing unutterable things while he waa discoursing the un-; utterable concerning all KortR nF Ml topics. Mill was spellbound. She wrapped nun up like a cocoon. He used to go, to an nia irouoies to ne comtorted, and in all his difficulties to.be guided and nrobablv to ha flnt.tArH litfl h.

sides. From that time all Mill's enjoy, raents in life centred in her. Officious friends suggested to Mr. Taylor that he was letting thinm on ton fur. a l.A remonstrated with her.

She told him, he might blow up the house if it seemed goodto him, but she could not give un! this friendship. There were children to be -considered, and he thought he hadi result was thst Mr. snd Mrs. Taylor determined to separate, and she took a small house at Kingston-on-Thames, where Mill was in the habit of going on Saturdays to spend the next day." A Burnt Manuscript. jura, xayior figures in that aum.

whan on Friday. 6th March, lira Carlylea home in Cheyne Row to make the distressing announcement that Carlyle manuscript of the first volume of hta -n, frenca jtevoiution had been accidentally destroyed by a maid' who had used it to um who had formerly contemplated writing book on the French Revolution, had been extremely helpful to Carlyle by lending him a large number of books on the sub- jeot anu supplying him with notes he had made. He had been given Carlylc's manuscript aa it progressed, so that he might read it at his leisure, and mak an geaiion tnat occurred to him. He was eniuusiastio about Carlylc'a work, and the author that he had begun to .,7 aaa Dcen euch a book niatory of the iuiii ana Mrs. Taylor drove in a carriage luiw.

ana wnii Mill side to break the bad news, Mrs. Tayl. remained in the carriage. Mill. ml.

unresponsive to the cordial greeting of the Carlylea, who were at tea; and look- vmun of despair," asked Mrs. Carlyle. in a "half articulate gasp," to go down to the carriage and speak to Mrs. Taylor. If.

rrlv.i i. Mill had come to Ti. Mrs. Tajlor had decided to run away to. dcetruivin which: represented-five months of intensb work, Was a severe blow, to not only.bccause he had destroyed the iotcs he had used when writing it, but also be- auauciai resources were limited, and he and his wife had been looking fori ward to the publication of the complete! 55? ey FjltaM "SirnoTSJInS1 i i re, 01 manuscript, that Cai 4 Ihrht make fiH to.

"Pae: -lntensi-, hoHr." iul talking for three1 nours. in the meantim. "or tSf a'ccT- sf isKt.tei1 uteSfh.Tei??fK;for'ffi script. manu- it J.m?i9irQTe' on the sub! of Jit- whont a volume of previously unn.ih i.T ly e. ref.rr.

ar- l.nu luciaenc ac some "dP" forward' the interestfag suggestion that MrB. Tavlor h.rf j.in!?, ratejy destroyed th event a 'cock-and-1 thai Mill hlnualf h.T2L. A1 script by inadvertence 'for kitchen th.f w. faT na No that was the story told to Carlyle, and of I. im- But wht man ol letters since time began borrowed from WJlter.

of uniform and, of'tte noble letters of Carlyle here printed for the first time, Carlyle, with remarkable writes to Mill, We will not speak of the misfortune to any new unconcerned But what to the astonishing Mrs. Tavlor. no not even Jane Carlyle, could ven- STm10 WM her Plw' in this gallery, and what the meaning of her accompanying Mill when the terrible tale had to be told 'People don't do, such ss Hedda Oabler said, and mirlous reader will recall tho burning uinu.nunpc, inero una been a conRniranv AF i i uuti, a truly Victorian wish to shelter John Stuart aimosi manincal lnlatuatton. Years agO I WaS toM hv 1 all the parties concerned that redoubtable Mm (tne tather of John Mill, who disanoroved of hi. win'.

to another man's wife), did not hesitate cnorgo jars, layior with the and exactly on the lines to be sfterwarda oeveiopea ny ipsen." Thu motlvn Mirtiamt 1.. fl: VJUJ Gosse is that Mrs. Taylor waa jealdtis of Bucven witn wmcn uariyle handling- his subject, snd resented the fact that he owed it partly to Mill in abandon inc. in favor nf Hnrlvl. HM1 pf a book abcut the French Revo lution ana in supplying Carlyle with numerous books snd notes on the sun- ject.

it nae since been disclosed that Mrs. Taylor did play a part in the destruction 01 ine manuscript, but, not the guillj Dart Sir Edmnnd (Jam. aanlhaJ was living at Kingston at the time, snd Mill used to go down there J' eek ends. It was during week endf that he read tha mnniianrlnf anA 'S? to London he habitually leftl 'ayior, une night, when Mrs. Taylor-was reading it, she became so engrossed that she was, "surprised st the flight of time" when she looked at the ''Clock.

Snd. leavlns-' fh. rn.nuai.vlr, "csrelessly upon the table," she went to rr ln" morning tne maid, who wsa kindling the fire, mistook the manuscript for waste paper, and nut it in the grate. Mill chivalrously shielded Mrs. Taylor Whan telling Carlvls ahnttt.

fh. rWrnntton of the manuscript, snd took all the blame on nimseir. in bis distressing interview wun tne autnor ns said in self-accusation 'Ducn a thing never hannened 'hefora." "Tes," ssid Carlyle, "Nswton and his dog, "True, but Nswton'went mad over "Well, well, wo ahall hardlr so bad ss that," said Carlisle. After Mill's de parture oa turned to his wire and said, "Mill, poor fellow, Is terribly cut up. We must endeavor to hide from him how very serious this biirlneas is for us," But snnareiitlv Mrs.

Tavlor was not. much distressed at the accident, or at heri ahai-e in It. Csrlvle, In talking it ovir years siterwards with JK, Norton, said. "I never heard that It very much di minlshed her content in took form and gathered to itself certain additional tenets based on principles of meum and tuum and the survival of the fittest, to develop gradually into definite forms of worship with the establishment of temples and a priesthood. Art seems to have grown' up with religion almost to have been part of it.

It gave "actual form to the gods, and during the classic periods of Greece and Borne reached on acme of beauty and grace in sculpture, which, though describe it as Pagan, belonged to the culture which' produced Homer and rrr With the advent of Christianity, which was to become the faith of the Western world, came recognition of the value of art' as a means, of spreading religion and at the same time introducing an element of beauty into the teaching of the church, nor were the artists slow to discover in the life history of the Christ a source of absorbing pictorial interest, to which was added a natural unquestioning faith in its. spiritual significance. In the pre-Giotto Byzantine period the pictured incidents from sacred, history represented a transitionary stage between the art of Greece and the new art of the West, and manifested itself chiefly in mosaics mural paintings in a form of tempera on the walls of ecclesiastical buildings. With the introduction of painting in oils by the van Eycks came a more extended field bf action for the artists, who, in addi tion to the now. began to find favor with the courts; yet whatever secular, matters -may have taken their atten tion wars and revolutions, and the com ing and gbingv, of kings, and dynasties devotion; to Mother Church continued to be a the early and middle ages' in' Europe." The chief exnonents of aaorcd art were the Italian frOm Oiotto to tho late Renaissance through the Flemish" muters, dating from 'the Eycks, with the Spaniah school -as-represented by Vl-ques, and more intimately Murlllo, have contributed their share to the picturing of Incidents real or apochryphal, in the life of our Lord, the Virgin, the apostles snd the salnur with the- Inclusion at tlmei of J-'donora' or contemporary ecclesiastics.

Pictorially, the Virgin and Child had a strong appeal to the domestio as well aa the spiritual emotions of the people, and though most of ths painting represent Mary the Mother, the greatest snd most impressive aa works of art aro probably those dealing with ths Immaculate' Con. ccption or the Assumption. The Nativity, though ths subject of a number of great paintings by famous masters, ha not rscoivMt quits ss much jA pf ADORATION BY THE SHEPHERDS. Byi Josef Riberd. i (The picture in The Louvre, Paria.) evory Idiot who boss about with 'morry Christmas'- on 'his llpa-ahould bs boiled with hia own pudding, and buried with a ataka of hollv throuah hia heart.

Hi ahouid Then Hcrooge goea home grumbling, after ne nas toia oieric tnat ne aupposei he will have to have Chriitmas day ort, though he doesn't see why he should Jiay him wages for doing nothing, That night he has a dream, in which three spirits the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghent of Christmas Present and the Ghoat of Sirlatmaa Yet to Come lesd him shout town, into the homes of peopls msking merry on Chriitmas day. Scrooge sees wnnt a wretcned man h. has Been' ann what a lot nan ha ant nut of Ufa for th spending of a little money, Next morning he i a changed man, welcoming Chrliitmaa day tor the flmt time In his manhood "Ilia own heart laughed; and that was quite enough for him i Tie knew now keen juirtetmns, it snr man alive nOMCMcd inn Rn the Tinnr clerk grts a hinnnne master, a rine in his salary and a fire thst burns merrily. 4.