Abergavenny Chronicle

I TEA TABLE TALK. t f Miss Horniman, to whom the modern stage owes a great debt, is rarely beaten, but on one occasion she was baffled by one of her enthusiastic Lancashire audiences. The play was "The School for Scandal." It went magnificently, and at the end there were vociferous shouting and clapping. Sud- denly the audience at the back began calling out for the author. Unfortunately, Sheridan could not oblige, and for once even Miss Horniman was nonplussed. Miss Maud Hobson, once famous among other famous beauties at the Gaiety Theatre, married Mr. Farren Soutar, who has now been discharged from the Army. He was one of the first actors to join up. • • t The Hon. Betty Manners once referred to the happy knack some people possess of being able to say the right thing at the right moment, and told the following story as an illustration. John Henry was greatly enamoured of a charming girl named Edythe Estelle, and eventually he reached the proposing point. "Dearest," he softly murmured, "I love you, and I beg the privi- lege of laying my heart and my fortune at your feet." "Your fortune!" exclaimed Edythe Estelle, showing considerable sur- prise. "I didn't know that you had a for- tune." "Well, it isn't much of a fortune, dearest," coofully admitted John Henry, "but beside these tiny feet of your;) it will look like a regular mountain of Brad- burys.' A good story is told about Princess Mary in connection with a river expedition at Windsor with some of her brothers. The Princess had been trying to scull, and she made but little progress. She got rather hot and cross, and to her intense annoyance some rude boys on a passing river steamer called out, "When will you learn to row?" "When you learn manners!" retorted her Royal Highness, tartly. On one occasion she was the victim of a joke played by her brother, Prince Henry. While he was staying at Newquay, Princess Mary wrote to ask him to send her all the flowers he cculd get. Prince Henry dispatched a large box to Buckingham Palace, which his sister glee- fully opened. But—her brother had enclosed half-a-dozen cauliflowers. Miss Nina Boyle, the well-known champion of woman's cause, is a somewhat sharp- featured and a decidedly quick-tongued woman. She was prominent in the suffra- gette disturbances of a few years ago, and suffered imprisonment for her too vigorous propagation of her ideals, Miss Madge Saunders, the actress, tells an amusing story concerning a spoilt little boy of four years, who had been a source of con- siderable annoyance all through lunch. At length one woman, an intimate personal friend of his too indulgent mother, turned to her and said, "I can't think how you can let your little by be so greedy and unruly at meal times. If he were mine I should give him a good spanking." "Oh," said the mother, "you can't spank the poor little chap on a full stomach." "No," said her friend, "but you can turn him over." t Miss Maude Royden, the lady preacher, draws crowds regularly to the City Temple, London, where she is pulpit assistant to Dr Fort Newton. Miss Royden, who is tho daughter of Sir Thomas Royden, of Cheshire, is a charming young woman and an eloquent speaker, with a rich, strong voice. Some may disapprove of her views, but none can doubt her sincerity. She is an ardent suffragist, and the editor of a suffra- gist paper. Once asked why she chose to live in the East-End of London—Poplar, to wit-Miss Royden replied, "Because I prefer it to any other part of London." < An amusing story is told by Miss Hazel Dawn concerning a certain cinema play she was once rehearsing for. In one scene the heroine—not Miss Dawn—had to leap over- board from a yacht, clad only in her night attire, and swim ashore, pursued by the villain in a motor-boat. As the actress, a rather diminutive personage, ran along tho beach after scrambling ashore, she camo un- expectedly on a family party consisting of a father and his little daughter. The child was evidently astonished that anyone should be running about out of doors dripping wet and with so little clothing on. "Oh, dada!" [ she piped, after reflecting for a moment. "Oh, dada, I s'pose that ickle girl must have run away from her mother when she was washing her." < Tho Duchess of Newcastle is an expert in matters pertaining to dogs. She used to have a great number of beautifully fitted up kennels. She ospecially loves that magnifi- cent breed of wolf hound which hails from Russia, and which will tackle the fiercest wolf that was ever savage from hunger. Yet the Duchess had wonderful power over these dogs when she kept them, and they were as fond of her and as docile as any kitten. A gifted lady writer thus takes up the cudgels in defence of males who shun matri- mony :—"It has been argued," she writes, "that men do not marry because they are unwilling to give up their bachelor com- forts.' But what has a bachelor in the way of comforts that can be for a moment com- pared to the blessings of a cosy home and a fond wife? No, I am convinced that very few men remain unmarried from choice. Some few continue bachelors because they never meet a suitable mate. These arc the exclusive few. A far greater number arc deterred by considerations which do them honour. They aro too proud to ask the women of their choice to face with them the strugglos and uncertainties of life. So they wait year after year, hoping at last to achieve a position that would enable them to offer their sweethearts homes equal in comfort to those to which they are accus- tomed. "Very often a bachelor of this type: mis- judges his sweetheart. He fails to credit her with the devotion and self-sacrifice she pos- f; esslis. Frequently a woman would gladly face the discomforts of an inadequate in- come with the man she loves, but the man does not realise this. He fears to risk her happiness, and so remains a bachelor. This is not selfishness. It is really a kind of heroism, although sadly misguided." The devotion of Miss Balfour to her brother, the Right Hon. A. J. I; a If our, the Foreign Minister, is well known, but few people are aware how far she carries her thoughtfulness for him. He once walked into his house and found painters and plas- terers at work. He was astonished, and made a passing remark about the matter, when h6. learned that his sister had given orders foi the place to be renovated. He said no more, and was quite content. When a new coach- man is wanted, it is Miss Balfour who en- gages him. When a new carriage horse is bought, it is Miss Balfour who inspects it, and° buys it! She will walk round the animal, and examine its points carefully, Mid will lift up the animal's legs in the approved style to look at its hoofs.

I DRESS OF THE DAY. I ) A SMART LITTLE COSTUME. í The costumes so plentifully shown in all the West-End shops for spring and summer wear are, in nine cases out of ten, smart, neat, and eminently practical. The very great majority are exceedingly plain in style and have that severely simple, well- preesed look which is so characteristic of the best type of tailor-made. The materials used are various, but, alas, they arc nearly all very expensive. Wool continues to rise in price, so it would be wise to purchase one's summer costume as soon as possible, always presuming, of course, that such is a necessity. The most popular materials for coats and skirts this year are serge, gabar- dine, covert coating, and fine suitings of I [Refer to X 882.] I various kinds. Our sketch shows a very smart and simple costume carried out in the last-mentioned of these materials, which in this particular case was in a charming tone of bronze. The same designs, however, would look very well worked out in any of the materials I have just mentioned. This cos- tume has the rather loose, slim-fitting coat which is so characteristic of the new spring modes. The coat fastened straight down the front with three large buttons covered with the material. BCIOAV the lowest of these it was. cut away a little at each side. A neat little collar, forming rovers in front, turned back from the opening at the neck and was faced with the material. A long seam was carried from the shoulder to the bottom of the coat on each side of the front. The sleeves were quite plain and had no cuffs, but were finished by two buttons at the back of the arm. A small diagonal pocket was placed on each Eide of the front. Inside the coat came a smart, crossover waistcoat of pale putty-coloured linen, which showed above the opening at the neck and between the cutaway fronts of the coat. The skirt was quite plain both back and front, but had four well-pressed flat pleats over each hip. FOR CHILLY EVENINGS. I The little girl's coat shown in our illustra- tion will be found invaluable for the chilly evenings in May. The pattern will also I I [Refer to X 883.] I serve splendidly as a model for a nice sum- mer wrap in white pique, holland, linen, or any washing fabric. The coat is a loose one, and for the May evenings can be cut from a dust-coat, or a discarded wrap of mother's can be used if you intend the coat to be for the summer. If an old serge coat is used, you can try a little coloured embroidery for smartening the garment. I DAINTY COTTON STUFFS. I The cotton materials shown for summer wear strike one as specially dainty and pretty this season. The cotton Georgettes, in particular; are charming. In the better qualities they are so gossamer and trans- parent, and so beautifully fine that they arc almost as pretty and dainty as the silk Georgettes which cost nearly three times as much. Cotton Georgettes are shown in 1 white, ivory, all the pale shades, and in black, dark blue, and nigger brown. Then there are the prettiest cotton voilee imagin- able. Some of the newest of these have white or very pale grounds patterned with stripes, which are made by groups of tiny tiair lines printed in colour. The most fas- :ina.ting of these is a white voile patterned with raspberry red stripes, and a very pale ?cru voile striped in dark blue. Paper patterns can be supplied, price 6Jd. When ordering, please quote number, en- close remittance, and address to Miss Liale, 8, La. Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.

THE MARSEILLAISE. I Rouget de I'Lile will ever be remembered as the author of the Marseillaise. The house in which he died, in the street named after the poet at Chaisy, is a modest dwelling of two storeys, and the room on the second storey, where; the poet died, is said to be in the same state as he left it. In 1892, the centenary of the attack on the Tuileries, a commemorative tabled in marble was placed in the front of the house. Claude Joseph Rouget d l'lsle was a captain of Engineers, and he composed the words and music of the French National Anthem at Strasburg on April 24th, 1792. It was first called "Chant de guerre pour l'armee du Rhin." It was i5ung in the Mayor's house the following day. It was performed by the band at a military review on the following Sunday. On June 25 a singer named Mircur sang ii at a civic banquet at Marseilles with such effect that it was immediately printed and distributed to the volunteers of the battalion just starting for Paris. They ontered Paris on July 30 singing their new hymn, and with it on their lips they marched to the attack on the Tuileries on August 10, 1792. The Marseillaise has often bt-en made use of by composers. Of these two may be cited- Salieri. in the opening chorus of the opera Palmira in 1795, and Grison in the intro- duction to the oratorio "Esther." Schu- mann uses it in hie song of the "Two Grena- diers with magnificent effect, and also in- troduces it into his overture to "Herman and Dorothea."

DUTCH COURTSHIP SUNDAYS. I The Dutch November is the month of mar- riages, but the good people of Holland are more business-like in these matters than English people are, and it is the usual thing with them. to compress match-making in all its branches within this single month. The four Sundays of November mark the four stages of the courtship, and each is known by its individual name as Review," "De- cision," "Purchase," and "Possession" Sun- day. On Review Sunday in every village the whole population lingers after church while the young people parade about, but shyly forbearing to speak. Decision Sunday is a long step forward. After the service each bachelor approaches the maiden of his choice with a ceremonious bow. He must be shrewd, for from her manner of responding he is to judge whether it is the part of wisdom or of danger to make further advances. If the test of Decision Sunday is safely passed the suitor waita a week, and on Purchase Sun- da v calls upon the parents of his beloved. With their approval he may appear on Pos- session Sunday as a prospective bridegroom. November is chosen as the fittest month of the vear, because the hardest work of farm- ing is over, and the comfortable time ol gathering the harvest is the merriest season of all. Possibly, also, the Dutch lords of creation are not averse to having a wife to cook for them, and make them comfortable during the long winter.

GUNPOWDER AND GUN-COTTON. I For many centuries gunpowder-a mix- ture of sulphur, carbon and saltpetre—was the only powerful explosive known and used for warlike purposes. But this primitive pyrot-ecnic was a feeble weapon compared with its modern descendants, the high ex- plosives. Soon after 1845 gun-cotton, or nitro-cellulose, came into general use, and has remained a constituent of the majority of smokeless powders ever since. When gun- powder is exploded it produces a number of solid products which are seen as smoke, but gun-cotton affords only colourless gases which are invisible. Cellulose is the organic matter which forms the basis of all vege- table products and of substances made from them (wood, cotton, silk, paper, etc.). To convert them into explosives they arc treated with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, technically called "nitro-acid." The ser- viceable qualities of gun-cotton can be relied upon after twelve to fifteen years' storage, and deteriorated material can be worked up again, and made as good as new at a very small cost. Gun-cotton and allied sub- stances are prepared for service in various shapes and foriiii--tubes, cords, tablets, discs, and rods—each form exerting its own particular influence upon the rate of com- bustion of the explosive.

MOVING LONDON. I Much of old London has been moved into the country. Clifton Bridge, Bristol, was once "Hungerford Bridge," which spanned the Thames where Charing Cross Railway Bridge stands now. It took its name from Hungerford Market, very nearly on the site of the present Charing Cross "Underground" Station. Few people know that the elabo- rate candelsticks which once belonged to old St. Paul's Cathedral are, or were before the war in the Cathedral at Ghent, in Belgium. They escaped the Great Fire of London of 1666 easily enough, because they were sold by Oliver Cromwell about sixteen years earlier. At Hall Place, Shackleford, Surrey, the dining-room is fitted with the overmantel and panelling from the famous old Cock Tavern, which stood, until 1877, beside Temple Bar, Fleet-street; and in the outer hall of the same country mansion are the balcony-railings from the banqueting-hall in Whitehall.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE. I Buckingham Palace, the King's London residence, of which the principal facade overlooks St. James's Park, stands on the site -of Buckingham House, built by Shef- field, Duke of Buckingham, in 1703, acquired by George III. in 1761, and rebuilt by Nash in 1825 at the order of George IV. It was not occupied by William IV., who preferred St. James's Palace, but when Queen Victoria ascended the throne she began to reside here. The chief facade was built by Blore in 1846, under the supervision of Prince Albert; it is 360 feet in length, and cost 9150,000. The Sovereign's private apartments are on the north side of the palace.

LARGEST AND OLDEST HOUSE. I The largest private dwelling-house in Eng. land is Wentworth-WToodhouse, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam, in Yorkshire. The oldest inhabited house is said to be the so-called Jew's House," in Lincoln, of the Norman period, about eight hundred years old.

Subscriptions to the House of Commons memorial to M.P.s who have fallen in the war total £ 2,000. Faversham magistrates have issued sum- monses to 150 residents to be sworn in as special constables.

CLUB WINDOW. Dr. R. F. Horton, M.A., D.D., tells a gooe story of a certain divine who, on visiting one of his "poor parishioners, was sur- prised to find tha-t she had just bought B piano for X50, er husband having obtained vou pla  lucrative War-work. "Can onv of vou pla the piano?" the minister asked. ?Oh, no, was the cheerful reply, "but my sister'* youngest is coming round to-night to shew us how it works! t • General Sir Henry Rawlinson's family motto is "Festina lente," meaning "Hasten slowly." In Service circles he is known as "Sennacherib" Rawlinson, a nickname dat- ing from his Eton days, when his father's excavations at Nineveh resulted in the dis- covery of t.he tomb of that famous Assyrian king. Well-built, alert, white-haired and ruddy complexiened, General Rawlinson looks the typical soldier he is. In his younger days he was a clever boxer, a fear- less big-game hunter, and a noted polo- player and pig-sticker, while as a. cross- country rider he had very few equals. In the House of Commons, Mr. Balfour rarely relies on notes to aid him when he is delivering a speech. It is his practise, how- ever, to make a memorandum of any obser- vations of the speaker who precedes him that he considers it necessary to refer to. Apart from his extensive library. Lord Morley has no amusements whatever; but to be surrounded by his 'M}()b; is his ideal of happiness. He used to be a capital walker a few years back, tut. from his youth lp. wards games have netor had any attraction for him. So considerate is he of everybody and everything that it has been said of him that if he kept a score of horses he would probably refuse to use them, because he feels so keenly for the brute creation that he will only consent to be driven on the level. The story goes that when he lived in a hilly part of Surrey he once kept a horse, but its kindly owner alighted from his car- riage whenever a hill had to be ascended or descended. A good story is told concerning Louis Wain. It appears that at a gathering of ,in, er -t p artists, a certain Futurist painter ap- proached Wain and said, "Why do you always draw cats, eate, nothing but cats?" "It is true that I draw cats," returned Mr. Wain, fixing the Futurist man with his eye, "but at least I do not call them land- scapes. w Mr. Andrew Carnegie was once asked which he considered to be the most impor- tant factor in industry—labour, capital, or brains? He replied, "Which is the most im- portant leg of a three-legged stool?" The above reminds one of what Mr. Carnegie once said at a dinner:—"Don't believe the old fellows who talk about the superiority of the past over the present. Those old fellows are possessed by the same absurdity which possessed Dash. I guess I want a pair of spectacles,' he said to his oculist. old age coming on, eh? laughed the oculist. I Eyes fHilingh, what?" No,' said Dash. No, my eyes at forty-five are just as good as ever they were, but—hang it-the light nowadays ain't the same.' The Duke of Devonshire possesses, as an heirloom, Claude Lorraine's "Book of Truth," which is said to be one of the rarest and most valuable volumes in Europe. It is worth six times as much as the "Mazarin" Bible, the most costly book that the British Museum can boast. The late Duke refused an offer of twenty thousand pounds for it. Mr. Pierpont Morgan, jun., the youna son of the financier,-who enlisted in the Navy, said to a friend just before he left New York: "Seafaring brings out a man's faith., if he's got any, these days. It's astonishing how little faith some men prove to have. I heard the other day of a minister on a tor- pedoed steamer. The steamer was in a very bad way, wireless broken, boats gone, and rapidly sinking. The captain said, grimly to the assembled passengers, as he tied or his lifebelt, Well, friends, we must now put our trust in Providence.' Good gracious!' the minister cried. Has i1 come to that? General Plurner can be very ironical when he chooses, as the following story proves. Shortly before the war, when he held the Irish Command, a regiment was being manoeuvred before him on a field-day, and the colonel in charge succeeded in getting his men mixed up pretty thoroughly. How- ever, he went grimlv on, and at last, calling halt, rode up to l5lumer with an air of im- portance. "I flatter myself that was ex- tremely well done, sir," he said, evidently with the idea of trying to bluff that nothing had gone wrong. "Oh, excellent," was 'But iniv I General Plumer's suave reply. rtBut may 1 ask what on earth you were trying to do?" :II< workers is One of the slowest of literary workers is Sir J. M. Barrie, who likes to write foi two hours a day and no more. Mr. Jerome K. Jerome works whenever lie feels like it- sometimes he cannot write a word for days. Early training in open-air speaking tc rough and often unsympathetic audiences ha,s made Mr. Arthur Henderson an adept in the art of turning the tables on inter- rupters. "Does your mother know you're out?" shouted a political opponent when he was delivering his closing speech on the eye of the Barnard Castle poll. "She does, and I hope that before this time to-morrow night she'll know I'm in," was Henderson's masterly retort. "You're a gas-bag!" veiled another interrupter at another speech de- livered shortly after he was elected chair- man of the Labour Party. Henderson paused just long enough to remark, medita- tively "Yes, I've risen," and his audience, appreciating the point, roared good- humouredly. A good story is told concerning De Velera, the Sinn Fein leader. It appears that a certain London newspaper sont a reporter OVN to Ireland to take shorthand notes of one of his speeches. The audience objected, but De Valera was all smiles and urbanity. "Let the gentleman remain," he said. "So far as I am concerned, he is at liberty to report my speech verbatim, if it so pleases him." De Valera advanced to the front of the platform and began his speech—in the Gaelic language.. A delightful story is related by tho Bishop .of Liverpool. The incident concerns a German soldier who one morning appeared before the British lines, most wretched- lofking, clothed in rags, and with his hands held high in token of surrender. He was placed in charge of a soldier who had just come back from guard duty, and was about to sit down to his first meal for many hours. Probably the British soldier, like many others, had often spoken of the dreadful fate awaiting the first German to come into his power, but noticing his captive was cast- ing ravenous eves on the meal, he at once placed the food in front of the half-starved German, and bade iiim rd to, going with- out breakfast himself so that the hunger of his prisoner might be appeased.

I NOTES ON NEWS. • I In deciding appeals for exemption in future, tribunals will require a highei degree ef kidispensafr MIDDLE-AGED SoLDIERS. bility than has sati&; fied them hitherto. Thai was to be expected, con- side-riner the urgent need of men. Apart from that, however, it appears that the method of procedure will be much the same as it has been. It is reassuring to learn that the tribunals are to give full consideration to "cases of directing heads of businesses and key-men of working staffs." This is as it should be, for if these men were dealt with only on tbof grounds of fitness and age, there would be a general closing down of businesses, and the "death and disaster to trade of whicjj Sir Auckland Geddes spoke a few days ago? would become an accomplished fact. Deal- ing with men of the ages affected by the new Act, it is more than ever necessary to give due weight to-other coasidersticns be- sides mere fitness for tho Army. It is understood that special instructions with regard to the medical examination of tha older men are to be issued. It is certain:, that any reduction of tho medical standard would be fatal, as in that case many of the men accepted between forty and fifty would break down under training. One remembers some years ago a great discussion as to whether a man of forty NOT Too OLD AT FORTY. was not too old to be of use in the world. It was always a silly idea, but it served to fill columns in the days of big newspapers an d a scarci ty of news. How remote those days seem now! Yet many of the men who were at the "useless" age even then nre still doing good work. and have a lot more in them. And the War Office so little believes in the too old at forty" cry that it is going to take men up to fifty! When the question of which we heard so much in the early days of the war, "What did you do in the Great War, daddy?" comes to be asked by the next generation, it looks as though not many daddies will need to hide their heads in shame. The need for raising the military age higher than, say forty-eight, has been questioned, and it might have been better to have conceded the point, but one advantage from the point of view of the maintenance of the trade and industry of the country is that it provides a wider field of choice, and that the taking of some men between the ages of forty-eight and fifty-one may, secure the exemption of younger men whO may be more useful in civil life. There were many complaints of the weekly return of ships sunk by submarines, THE SHIPPING LOSSES. on the score that it gave nothing but the numbers of the ships and left us in the dark on the important matter of tonnage. Now that the Admiralty has stopped the weekly, return, and is going to tell us the tonnage figures every month. it would not be sur- prising if some people think regretfully of the old system-. Human nature is like that. Indeed, it is hard to see why the old system need be a bandoned. There does not seem to be any reason why we should not know every week the number of -ships sunk and the number unsuccessfully at- tacked. even if we have to wait until the end of every month for the tonnage totals. The weekly returns did, at any rate, en- able us to form some opinion as to whether the submarines were increasing in numbers and activity. A large number of ships sunk meant a large number of submarines at work, while a small number meant the opposite, or else that the Navy was dealing with them as they deserved. But with onlv the tonnage figures we cannot mako these little calculations. Why cannot wo have tonnage and numbers too ? It appears that local Food Committees went too far in prosecuting people for THE TEA HOARDERS. hoarding tea, and tnai; magistrates never should have convicted and fined them, as has been done in many parts of the country. lea, wo ar- informed is not a food. In quashing a conviction for tea-hoarding a learned judge says: "Most persons who read the dcfiiii. tion in the Order would understand that food meant that which was eaten. If the Food Controller had mc-ant to prohibit persons from acquiring large quantities of tea lie could have said so." No doubt; and the Food Committees and the magistrates ought to have known better. A good many people would appear to be entitled to get their money back. They have been guilty of nothing worse than laying in a good stock of something which they wanted and were able to get because they had the money, while their poorer neighbours, wanting tea just as badly, had to be con- tent with an ounce or two at a time or go without altogether. It looks as though they had a perfect right to do it, selfish and unpatriotic as their conduct may ap- pear to ordinary people. But if the deci- sion means that they may go on doing it still, while tea is already being rationed in some parts of the country and may soon be rationed generally, then the sooner tho Order is amended the better. The novelty in the Budget is the luxury tax. It is an idea borrowed from France, where such a tax haa THE LUXTTBY TAX. been in operation for some time. A Committee has been appointed to de- cide what articles and places ought respectively to be classed as articles and places of luxury and should therefore come under the Act. The Com- mittee will have to determine what are articles of luxury in themselves, and what articles may fairly be so regarded because of their high price. In France, for in- stance, a suit of clothes is liable to tax if it costs more than a stated sum. It is the same with boots and shoes and many other things. It will be seen, therefore, thai • the Committee has its work cut out. It will no doubt get through its task ns ex- peditiously as possible, as every day of delay means a loss to the revenue in conse- quence of the rush of people with money to spend for those things which may be ex- pected to be made liable to duty. The luxury tax will strike most people as a just one. There ought to be no money spent at all in these days for anything but neces- saries, but if people will have luxuries it is only reasonable that they should be made to pay for them and that the State should get part of the price.

In Rcdstone tuned, EcchiH, ? ?o-:x!s tr?!n coIHd<'d vnth some dctse?c'i v???r.?, ?rid a ? goods expre? coming in the <j?hcr direction ran into the wr?c?a?p' The hÚmd is blocked, wagons and good- being piled'up to the roof.