Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-21
THE ISLE OF MAN.
Its Ancient Customs, Its Governmen,
and Its Taflless Cats.

From the Richmond Dispatch.
The Isle Of Man is only thirty-three miies
long and twelve miles wide, so that IL is
rot great labor to get over IL, and. as two
railroads run-ole north to south, and the
other east to west-you can see how con-
venient IL is to the visitor. Douglas. Port
Erin, Peel and Ramsey are the chief towns.
The Isle Of Man. while belonging to the
British crown, is neither English, Scotch,
Irish nor Welsh, but is a separate country,
with home rule government ana a Ian
guage OF his own; but yet with great loyalty
to the imperial government and devotion TO
Queen Victoria, for everywhere you 20 you
see pictures Of the royal family. The gov
eminent is known as the House OF Keys
and consists OF twenty-four members, elect
ed every seven years; but no person has a
vote unless he possesses real estate of the
value OF $40, or occupation of the value OF
ttc per year, and women are also entitled TO
vote. The court of Tynwald, presided over by
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. is composed Of the
council, which embraces the bishop, attor-
rey general two judges, the clerk OF the
rolls, water balm and the vicar general.
This council and the house OF keys are the
active government of the great isle of Man.
There is one feature Of special Interest in
reference to the laws, end that is that all
laws passed by the house of keys are sent
for the royal assent. and when that has
been secured then the law must be formally
read In the English and Manx languages
on Tynwald Hin in the open air, where
the council and the keys united form a
Tynwald court before they become laws.
This form OF reading the law at Tynwald
Is the oldest style on record; was old In
lila, and has been continued ever since.
The 9Th day Of July in each year is the day
of public proclamation of the laws passed
by the house of keys.
The coat of arms Of this isle is three legs
OF man in a circle. The motto trans
lated reads: "Whithersoever thrown. shall
stand" The Manxmen apparently rather
enjoy the three-legged crest. for everywhere
you turn your face. whether at a steam
boat. a railroad. a coach. a flag, or on the
windows OF the stores. there you see the
three legs.
1 had read Of the Manx cats without tails
and thought IL a joke; but, sure enough, the
cats here are without tails. and saw several
without that graceful member. 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 the house where the cat lived, and after
a close examination came away believers
In the tailless cat. i don't think pussy Ia
improved by the absence of the tail. Some
people say this strange act Of nature ex-
tends to the dogs also.
The Manx language. like the ancient Ian
guage OF Ireland, IS fast passing away, and
in a generation IL viii be one of the dead
languages. enjoyed only by scholars. i
met an old woman on the side Of a noun
tain selling milk. cakes and ginger ale.
and after asking some questions about the
locality 1 learned from her that the chill
dren were not learning the Manx language,
and that only the middle-aged and old peo-
pie 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 The old woman referred 70 showed
me an old Bible In Marx. which I tried to
buy, but she said: mo money could buy
my Bible" II had belonged to her father.
1 was sorry but 1 also admired the old
woman's love for her old Bible. and was
glad TO see that money could not tempt
her. though she was quite poor. and few
shillings would have been a large sum for
her purse.