London, Dec. 14.
Pride of place this week must surely be given to Mrs. Caroline Merriott who died yesterday at the tremendous age of 110 and two months. She was the oldest woman in. England, She had pneumonia three years ago rather badly. but. made a thoroughly good resovery—think of it at 1071 and continued to enjoy her life pretty well right to the fend, with a hearty appetite, though she'beeame rather dear and complained that her memory was not What it hed been, Pictures of her show a strong old face, with an excellent set of teeth and quite piercing eyes. She never needed spectacles, [Oddly enough, and unlike most of these Long-lived people, she had no children although twice married.
'She was a laundrese till she was 80, when she waz able to give up work, Her prescription for a long life was plenty of work and plenty of warm clothing. She frequently said that modern girls would never live to any. fage' because they did not wear enough.
What do the sun-bathers know about that? But without going as far as that, how many of us would fly In the face of fashion by wearing Ihug-me-tights and woollen undies on the problematical chance of being a Yet another interesting name in the obituaries is that of William Barker, the oldest Royal servant. But he' was a mere baby compared with 'Mrs. Merriott, only 91. As a boy be: helped to push about in a Bathchair 'Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, After her death he became vine-keeper at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park and there he' remained till he was. 75, when the king presented him with a cottage in the Park.
One of his most vivid memories was of hearing his father talk of the error inspired by Napoleon's name. "If you're mot good, Bony will get vou" nurses used to say to refractory, charges, Between "Bony" and "bogy" there is not much difference, Both, of course, would be viewed with Korror In' modern nurseries as caljeulated to inculcate inhibitions nnd complexes and phobies, of which Mr. Barker's generation never dreamed, though apparently without much harm to themselves, For it Is to be jcbserved that the modern generation have not yet lived to be 81
Self-Reliant Youth are disliked by every one, and above All, don't be afraid that your children Tave you tess If you keep to what You sy, Instead of always. giving An, against your beltes Judgment, because ira, Sovand-So lets her ehlidren sanest oF cinemas all the time.
He also declares (1 naturally assume the writer is a man) that "in four homes children are growing up with no idea of law and. order, or such polite virtues as neatness and Funetuality.... a nuisance to all with whom they come in contact'
Which is no doubt as true of some children as It has ever been. Think fof Miss Edgeworth's Tom, of Mrs. Sherwood's Lady Augusta Noble, of [Midshipman Basy before Mr, Bony-Jeastle took him over. They certainly were not drawn as unique specimens fof their class. One foresees a juicy correspondence on the strictures Jquoted, to last well through the Christmas "silly season."
Unhappy Queen Redeemed The now hackneyed fashion of whitewashing all the villains of the past has been turned on for the beneiit of Mary Tudor ct the Playhouse his week, The play's chief attraction the noble portrait of the unhappy queen given by Miss Flora Robson. Of course in trying to redeem the [character of Mary, the author Wilfrid Grantham has to blacken that of her half-sister, who, admirably played by Miss Joyce Bland, is represented as fan intriguing minx, cold and heart. Tess. Elizabeth covid be all that of course when necessary, and as she was in the liveliest. peril during Queen Mary's telyn she had to use every weapon in her armoury, Auctions, Literature, Art This week has been an interesting tone in the salesrooms. It began with the auctioning of several presentation copies of R. L. Stevenson's books. A preassure Island" Inseribed by him to his mother "From her aft, son, The Author" fetched £580, "Travels with "a Donkey" similarly inscribed went for £170, And the "Child's Garden of Verse," which Stevenson algo had given to his mother, fetched £890, This book (might one call it unerrpassable) was dedicated to his old nurse Cummy, us of course all 008 Stevensonians "know; and" the copy he gave to Cummy, with the letter to his mother in which he explained the dedication, was sold New York six years ago for £1,700, Apropos of this same much-eritietz~ generation, one who signs himself "Guide, Philosopher, and Friend" writes to the "Times" to entreat that the coming holidays parents will not strain themselves and their sources (o provide their off-spring with endless. entertainments ready-made, but encourage, nay, compel them to rely on themsel {o'éo things and wholesome upon politeness, suppl
read, and then let the boy Me get' on with. them. Don't its of 15 go to grown-up dances grown-up frocks and fet thelt aly ile ends turned long. before they ready" to. be frown-up, Don't {et your boys be spoilt darlings who 'A "Strad" violin of 1720 sold on 'Thursday at Christio's for 1,900. gul-eas. But this Is. far from' being 6 record. The "Messiah" "Stead," which was lost for 80 years and turned up in a chest of dhawery old farmhouse near Milan in the 1840's, fotched 2,000 guineas when it last Changed hands, and the Strad" [belonging to the late Lord Newlands sold for £2,500, The changeableness of taste was hustrated yesterday when a Rem-brandi etching of his greatest friend Burgomaster Jan Six, which sold for £8,200 in Amsterdam seven years ago, could find no one to ive more than £2,000.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.