Among The Bohemians.

Among the Bohemians .

As an instance of what may be accomplished by downright pluck and perseverance , aided by a strict adherance to uprightness of dealing , witness the career of Bro . T . H . Roberts , the proprietor of Illustrated litis , the Family Novelist , Ching Cliing's Own , and four or five other weekly publications of the class . Not many years ago Mr . Roberts can tell you of his connection with a firm of West-end newspaper publishers , where his work was guided by

the day and his wages by the hour . Now , he is the owner of " Coverlside , " a charming retreat at Earlswood , where he grows some of the finest peaches and grapes inl ' ie whole of Surrey . He is a very popular man , with a memory keen enough to remember his former days of toil . His round , fat face is always brimming over with good humor , but behind it is one of the sharpest and shrewdest intellects man ever had . He is grateful to one man—a very

excellent member of the Craft—who gave him his first "lift" up the ladder of ambition , and , as if in return for a kindness he never forgets , Bro . Roberts has , in his turn , "lifted" up as many of his fellows as he could . Bro . Roberts disposes of no less than 7 ^ 0 , 000 copies of his publications weekly .

* * Like the Prodigal Son of renown , Bro . William Terriss has returned from his American tour , but he has not brought back any of the mighty dollars from the far west . William Terriss has been spoiled by the dreamy young lady who peeps through an opera-glass and sighs her heart out at the dashing young midshipman driven to despair in his stage love affairs . He was a sound and solid actor before he left the Lyceum , to which house he returns to finish his theatrical education under the tuition of the finest stage-master of the century .

* * * Those who know what an excellent actor Bro . Charles Cartwright is , are moaning for his lost reputation occasioned by his terrible rendering of the King in " Hamlet" at the Globe . The only reputable actor in the cast , he showed us just the worst possible piece of acting he was ever guilty of .

* * * Bro . Sir Graham Berry , who was one of the deputation from Victoria to present the Colony's gift to the Prince and Princess of Wales on their silver wedding , was a draper in Chelsea , but at thirty years of age he emigrated to the Colonies , when the first news of the gold discoveries reached this side . After a little time he settled down to the business of a wine and spirit merchant

in Melbourne . In i 860 he was elected to a seat in the Legislative Assembly , where he remained for five years , when he purchased a newspaper , and for three years or so stuck to the journalistic profession . In 1 S 6 S he was again sent to Parliament , and two years later he became Treasurer of the Colony . Subsequently he was on two occasions Premier of Victoria , and he abandoned politics and accepted the reward of his public services , four years ago , when he came over to London as Agent-General .

* Never in all the camps of the Philistines has such a rumpus been seen as was created the other day over the blackballing of Mr . Flanagan of the Times for membership of the Athenaeum Club . During the Parliamentary season the whole air of the universe is tainted with politics . It enters into our teapots , and even gets between the butter and the toast upon our

breakfasttables . It would not be a bad idea for Crosse & Blackwell to produce a " Political Paste , " manufactured from the gore of the six hundred and odd gentlemen who compose the glorious " House of Commons . " Fancy London without a House of Commons ! What would become of the political clubs ?

* I had a pleasant afternoon a couple of years ago with Air . Webster , who has recently retired from the Secretaryship—with a pension—of the Athenaeum . He took me up into his little " snuggery , " where everything denoted the existence of the bachelor barrister . The books , the photographs , the sword-sticks and guns , the camp wash-stand and the camp bed , and a

collection of " traps " heaped up pell-mell in one corner . How well he brewed tea , too , over the little table loaded with good things from the club larder . The sparkling wit and anecdote of one of the best of fellows , sent a couple of hours spinning away with pleasure . There is no Chairman of the Club , so that the Secretary is virtually at the . head of affairs , and an enormous amount of tact is required to cope with the crotchety ideas of various Committeemen whose

literary or scientific attainments are of no value in dealing with a common-sense question of Clubland . The library at the Athenaeum is the most valuable of any club library in London , and contains thousands of volumes , son . e of which are extremely rare . The best days of the Athemeum were forty years ago , when the blue bloods of fame collected in the long " tea " room on the first floor , and conversed till the bells of St . Stephen's across the Park called them

away . * * * The dinner of the publishers and newspaper men the oilier evening was more than enjoyable to many who were present , but great care had been used in seating all the " cheap houses " far apart from each other . Bro . Dodd

than whom there is no more genial man in London , represented his house of F . Warne ec Co ., and was surrounded by a select coterie of friends , all of whom but one were members of the Craft . The best speech of the evening was , undoubtedly , made by Mr . Murray , the younger , who , 1 was delighted to hear , spoke very strongly against the system of trading now universally adopted by the discount booksellers . liro . Rider Haggard looked as healthy as ever and inclined to refuse Messrs . Longman ' s offer of two thousand guineas for the copyright of his serial now running in the Pictorial World .

* * * The other evening the Devonians in London dined together at the Criterion , the Lord Chancellor , a Devonian mason by origin and a Cornishman by residence , in the chair . A fair proportion of English counties seem to be represented in the Cabinet . Lord Salisbury is a Hertfordshire man , Bro . Lord Cranbrook sprang from the Staffordshire Hardys , and the Westmorland

Gathorne has his home in Kent ; Mr . Matthews hails from Herefordshire ; Bro . Lord Knutsford claims a Cheshire descent , and owns an estate in Surrey . The Stanhopes are first heard of in Nottinghamshire , where their " state and grandeur" were " eminent" in Camden ' s time . The Secretary for War , however , like the President of the Board of Agriculture , has his country-scat in Lincolnshire , and both sit for divisions of that famous county . Bro . Lord

Cross comes of a good Lancashire family ; he made his first great hit in politics by ousting Mr . Gladstone from South Lancashire in 1 S 6 S . Bro . Sir Michael Hicks-Beach is head of an old Gloucestershire house . The Duke of Rutland ' s possessions are scattered over seven counties ; the Manners first throve on Northumbrian soil . Mr . Smith and Mr . Goschen are essentially Londoners . Scotland sends us Bro . Balfour and Bro . Ritchie ; Scotland and Ulster have helped to make Bro . Lord George Hamilton . Bro . Lord Ashbourne is a genuine Irishman ; Lord Cadogan a scion of Welsh princes and a notable landlord in Middlesex .

Bro . Henry S . Wellcome made a hit the other night by introducing to the members of the Savage Club what was described by the Chairman as " a novelty . " Unfolding a copious wrapper he produced a girl doll , and stood his ground bravely amidst shouts of " No ladies admitted . " The doll proved to be one of Edison's phonographic toys , and it gravely recited " Will you walk into my parlor ? said the spider to the fly . " Whose was the parlor , and who the spider , Bro . Wellcome ?

* * * " Pickwick " at the Allsopp meeting : — The Secretary : "What is your christian name ?" Mr . Harrison : "Samuel . " A Voice : " Who gave you that name ? " ( laughter ) . The Secretary : "Did you say Samuel ? " ( laughter ) .

A Voice : " Spell it with a ' wee , ' Sammy" ( great laughter ) . The immortal Weller still retains his sway over the imagination of his fellowcountrymen .

* * * One of the best Greek scholars in London is Thomas Kessanly , the head of the Adelaide Publishing Company , and of Messrs . T . Kessanly & Co ., one of the very smartest firms of advertising contractors in London . Mr . Kessanly remembers when he taught classical Greek for a living and starved on it . Then he drifted into journalism , and connected himself with Life , when that

journal had more weight in the social world than it has now . From journalism he went over to the enemy and made a study of advertising in all its branches . Now he is both a successful and a hard-working man . He is never in bed after eight nor out of it after eleven , except in the opera season . He keeps a flat in Victoria Mansions , and his house at Hampton is thrown open in the summer to a whole horde of newspaper men , artists ,

and vocalists who can appreciate the attentions of a charming host and hostess . Mr . Kessanly has been married to an Essex lady for the past fifteen years , and , although of an excitable nature—as all Greeks arehe is worthily entitled to the Dunmow flitch of bacon which some of his friends contemplate presenting him with , in a form more valuable and serviceable than that from the back of an Eastern porker . Mr . Kessanly is one of the

staunchest of friends ; he possesses a suave yet piquant manner which is particularly p leasing ; he drinks gallons of black coffee and smokes thousands of Russian cigarettes , and in certain circles is highly popular . He has never had time to become a Mason , he says .

* * * The youngest recruit to the "house" of Rothschild is the son of Lord Rothschild , who has gone to St . Swithin ' s-lane as a clerk , and not as a partner —at present . He is a Trinity College man , retiring- and amiable , with a decided love for natural history . His latest freak in this line has been to liberate a " pack' of kangaroos into his father ' s park at Tring .

# * * Bro . Arthur Valentine Palmer , whose amazing story of Tel-el-Kebir in the Nineteenth Century has created so much discussion in military circles , was a gentleman private . He joined the 79 th at Fort George in December , 1881 , and soon obtained a high character in his regiment for smartness and general