POINTS FROM LETTERS
MOTHERING SUNDAY.
Twenty-five years ago a few people, including myself, made an effort to revive the custom of observing Mothering Sunday (the fourth Sunday in Lent), a custom which is calculated to foster filial affection. The Simnel cake, the old emblem of this, is still to be seen in bakers' shops, although I opine that the old-time cake was not so " rich " as it is now. The main celebration of this day is for children to visit their mothers with some kind of offering, or if she is passed away to put flowers as tokens of love on her resting place.—J. P. BACON PHILLIPS, Burgess Hill, Sussex.
CROSS-EXAMINATION OF EXPERTS.
The evidence in capital cases is becoming increasingly pathological. While not disputing the fairness with which it is presented it is true to say that the defence is handicapped in so far as no counsel, however brilliant and painstaking, is in any way a match for such pathological experts and skilled witnesses as, for instance, Sir Bernard Spilsbury. A man's life has always hung by a hair, but never more so than now when, weeks after death, the observation of one man of a small bruise on the tongue forms the chief plank on which a capital prosecution rests, and then in direct conflict with the equally skilled testimony- for the defence. Would it not be possible to have technical expert witnesses . cross-examined by men of the same standing ? Sir Bernard Spilsbury by Dr. Brontii or Professor Smith, and vice versa ?—DAVID GUTHRIE, Torosay Castle, Isle of Mull.
" THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND IN THE WORLD."
Your interesting number ofthe Spectator dated March 15th recalled to my memory Froude's great tribute to the'country in one of the most delightful of his Short Studies, " A Fortnight in Kerry," in which he wrote : " Ireland is still the most beau- tiful island in the world, and the Irish themselves, though their temperament is ill-matched with ours, are still the most interesting of peoples." In all essentials the statement is as true to-day as when Fronde first published it in Fras. er's Magaizine, of which he was then Editor, over sixty years ago. "—ALBERT J. BRADY, The Rectory, Macroom, Co. Cork.
• JEANNIE DEANS.
•
In your notice of Mr. Gwynn's Life of Scott, in the Spectator of March 8th, should it not be Jeannie Deans, not Elk, who lives for ever, the single exception to the gene'ral run of Scott's heioines ? —FRANCIS HiTanesncc, Sub-Librarian, Reform Club, Pall Mall, S.W. 1.
JUDITH.
May I point out to your correspondent Lady Macdonald of the Isles that " Judith," the wife of Esau, is mentioned in Genesis, Ch. 26, v. 34 ? Though not " a well-known Old Testament woman," her name finds a place in the Sacred Recorl—ELIZABETH KEMI', The Cedars, Carishrooke, I.W.
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