The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-12-02
IN ROYALTYS PRESENCE
A Peculiar Custom That Has Lons
Been Observed
In Leaving the Royal Presence II Is the
- Correct Thing to walk Backwards
Origin OF the Custom Il
3y.s Still in Doubt,

# Mr. Labouchere continues with hl
average assiduity to search for the orr
gin of customs that ha We come down to
these days from prehistoric times, his
SUCCESSORS in that interesting line Of
inquiry will have noaling to do bui
to pore over the pages of his unique
publication, London Truth. Whence
came this custom of walking backward
before royalty? is one of the ques-
tions to the solution of which Truth
has recently addressed itself with char
acteristic energy. We do not know that
the prosperity or happiness of mankind
or the advancement of civilization is in
volyed in this inquiry. We could i'm
agine the nations of the earth going
on for ages to come, growing wiser and
better in the future, as they have done
in the past, and notcaring continental
where OF when or how that old habit
got its start. Indeed, it requires no
great stretch of the Imagination or Of
the probabilities TO picture a time when
all ROYALTIES shall have walked or been
walked off the stage, backward, or for
ward, never to return. Humanity has
but to go on as it has been going on
for some centuries in order to arrive
at the end of the monanchical institu-
tons. But, inasmuch as Truth oonsid-
ers this query worthy of corsidera-
ton, we must conclude that it possesses
some Importance. some claim to h1man
interest, even though that claim is not
within our visual range.
One of Truths correspondents grave.
~ suggested NOT long ago that the Gus.
tom of walking backward before roy
atty was due to an instinct in man i'm
planted by Providence. In other words.
nature is responsible for the habit In
a certain sense this is true. Nature en-
Gowed the earliest specimens of the
human race with power to walk, and
it must have given them that veneration
for superiors which prompted them to
a1nble backward before kings and
queens. We suppose nature is, to some
extent, responsible for toedyism IN all
countries. It is nature that makes the
English people dearly love lord," and
nature causes great many Americans
to make fools of themselves and bur-
lesque their own democratic govern
ment whenever they get a chance to
pay homage to atftled aristocrat. real
or bogus, from the old world. But it |
is perverted nature, and the growing |
spirit of the age is getting |
the better of it.
Another correspondents Of Truth. |
writing from the far east, where he is
to have seen much of savage
life, makes philosophical suggestion
that seems to US to throw a great food
Of light on this question. His notion
is that the custom Of always turning |
the face toward royalty originated in
the stern necessities of rude and poor
people who had little skill in tailor
ing. He says the first kings were rulers
OF savage tribes, whose clothing was
extremely limited, and rarely consisted
Of more than a scanty garment mod
,led on the primitive fig leaf. He re-
;pectfully submits that when subject
thus appareled had to present himself
before royalty, courtesy, not to say
lecency, would suggest that he should
present to the sovereign only that por-
ton of his anatomy which was con-
,ealed by clothing. He therefore kept
lis back averted in approaching and
This explanation is highly cre&table
o the rough and simple people from
whom modern notions have descended.
That necessity long since ceased to ex-
st, but the custom of walking back
ward survives because etiquette now
demands what decency called for when
he world was younger.-Washington