The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-11-11

bed and the kitchen ard culinary uten-
sils of the Mansion House are among
the popular curiosities of London. So
are the Lord Mayors jeweled collar and
other insignia of Office. Notwithstand-
ing the liberal salary attached to the
Office. the expenses are SO great that 1t
is almost impossible for Lord Mayor
to save anything out of it. In fact he is
not expected to.
There are many curious things con-
nected with the Lord Mayors Office
which are survivals of old English GUS
toms that once possessed significance,
but which are now obsolete. Formerly
he was elected by the freemen of the
seventy-tive city guilds. or corporations.
which embrace the different trades of
London. These electors are called liv-
erymeD, because they are entitled to
wear the livery of their respective COM
panies. In former times the wardens of
the companies used to deliver yearly to
the Lord Mayor certain sums, 90 shill-
ings of which was given to individuals
who petitioned for the money to enable
them to procure sufficient cloth for a
suit to wear in the street parade on Lord
Mayors day. In recent years the Lord
Mayor has been elected by the Council
from the aldermen or councillors. This
election is called passing the chair, as
indicative of the alderman's promotion
above the rest of the body. He holds
Office for one year only.
The two great features of the Lord
Mayors inauguration are the civic pa
rade, or ''show," as it is called, and the
banquet. The former is brilliant
spectacular display and the latter an
immense feed. The banquet is also
made the occasion of considerable
speech-making by members of the gov
eminent. The parade is queer mix
ture of London magnificence and squat
or, of brilliant uniforms and eQuipages
with rags and CRIME. The street arab
gets up pretty close to the big wigs and,
as likely as not. his rags catch bit of
their tinsel. The young chimney sweeps
swarming up the lamp-pOsts get an ex-
cellent view. of the procession. and. per-
haps, rich merchant or capitalist Razes
ut it under the gamin's ragged elbow.
| The procession itself is composed of
civil and military bodies and officials,
and represents the vast and varied life
of the metropolis.
The banquet-ah, that is grand af-
| fair and something to warm the cookies
| of the British heart, and stomach, too.
| Turtle soup by the hogsheads, fish by
the wagon-load, roast capons and pull
let's by the hundreds, barons of beef,
rounds of beef, rumps of beef, and beef
| in all the styles that John Bull knows
and loves, game of all kinds, vegeta-
| bies, pastry, ices, fruits, sweets and
| oceans of wine. to wash all down with
| are a few of the features of Lord
| Mayors banquet. Fancy the havoc that
| four or five hundred Britons, with we'll
| trained and highly cultivated appetites,
would make in such bill of fare! The
speeches. which. under such inspiration.
ought to be brilliant and witty. are gen.
orally phenomenally dull, officially
heavy and guardedIy non committal.
Sometimes, however, Minister doessay
something of real significance, and
once in a long time some speaker is ac-
cidentally brilliant. At the banquet on
last Wednesday night one of the speak
ers. answering n toast to "Our Colonial
| Visitors said that Canada was in great
need of more agriculturists. If we get
| free trade or tariff for revenue only in
this country there will be an army of
men out of employment, and Canada
can get all the agriculturists she wants
| dirt cheap.
| The new Lord Mayor is Roman
| Catholic, and some trouble was feared
in his Inauguration. A cabieGram, how
ever, says the No-Popery Association
failed to show itself in any demonstra-
tive way and the show passed off with
| out interruptions. 1t WAS probably just
as well for the No-Popery Association
that it did not attempt to demonstrate.
The police would doubtless have made
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. that might
have been embarrassing to the party of
the first part.