The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-01
ISLE OF Man.
emalisr Thnn Some American Ranches.
still Has Home Rule Governments.


still Has Home Rule Government.
The isle of Man is only 33 miles
long and l2 wide, 80 that it is not
great labor 10 get over II, and as two
railroads run one north to south
and tho other east TO west you can
see how convenient it is to the visit
or. Douglas, Port Erin, Peel and
Ramsey are tho chief towns The isle
OF Man, whiIo belonging to the Brit
ish crown, is neither English, Scotch,
Irish nor Welsh, but is q separate
country, with. Il home rule govern
ment and q language of its own,
but yet with great loyalty to the inn
perial government and devotion to
Queen Victoria, for everywhere you
go you see pictures of the royal fam
lily.
The government Is known as the
"house of keys" and consists of "a
members, elected overy seven years,
but no person has vote unless he
Possesses real estate of the value Of
$40 or occupation Of the value Of
f60 per year, and women are also
entitled to vote. The court of Tyn-
wald, presided over by the lieuten-
ant governor, is composed of the
council, which embraces the bishop,
attorney general, two judges, the
clerk of the rolls, water bailiff and
the vicar general. This council and
the house OF keys are the active gov
ernment OF the great isle of Man.
There is ono feature Of special inter
est in reference to the laws, and that
is that all laws passed by the house
of keys are sent for the royal assent,
and when that has boen secured then
the law must be formally read in the
English and Manx languages on Tyn-
wald hill in the open air, where the
council and the keys united form q
Tynwald court before they become
laws. This form of reading the law
at Tynwald is the oldest style on
record, was old in 1417 and has
been continued over since The 5th
day of July in each year is the day
OF public proclamation of the laws
passed by (Ae house OF keys.
The coat OF arms of this isle is
three Ices Of q man i'll circle. The
motto translated reads, "Whitherso-
ever thrown, l shall stand" The
Manxmen apparently rather enjoy
the throo legged crest, for every
where you turn your face, whether
at a steamboat, q railroad, a coach,
q flag or on tho windows of the
stores, there you SEQ the three legs.
had read of the Manx cats with
out tails and thought it joke; but,
sure enough, the cats here are with
out tails, aud saw several without
that graceful momber. Some ladies
of our party who had not seen the
Manx cat were rather doubtful Of
the truth Of our report, and we had
TO accompany them TO tho house
where tho atlived, and after close
examination came away believers in
the tailless cat. L don't think pussy
is improved by tho absence Of the
tail. Some people say this strange
net of nature extends to the dogs
also.
The Manx language, like the an
cient language Of Ireland, is fast
passing away, and in generation IL
will be one of the dead languages,
enjoyed only by scholars. l met an
old woman on the side of q mountain
selling milk, cakes and ginger ale,
and after asking some questions
about the locality / learned from her
that tho children were not learning
the Manx language, and that only
the middle aged and old people spoke
it. She said her children only spoke
the English. ! was anxious to get a
book in Manx, but could not find one
In the stores. Tho old woman re-
ferred TO showed me an old Bible in
Manx, which tried to buy, but she
said no money could buy her Bible.
1t had belonged 20 her father. Rich
mond Dispatch.