The herald., 1897-05-02
BRITISH GOSSIP
Concerning English at Home and
Americans Abroad

Concerning English at Home and
Americans Abroad
LONDON, May with the return Of
ttify. Prince of Wales and his family to
Marlborough House. the opening of the
royaal academy and next weeks draw
Ing room in sight, the season has fairly
begun. The big houses are rapidly open
ing aud preparations for lavish hospital
ity are being made on all sides.
Mr.. William Waldorf Astor is making
great preparations to entertain. He has
taken Lord Normantons house for the
Jubilee ZOO ession and has already issued
invitations for two parties in June and
q big dinner on the 9th, to meet royalty.
The arrival and departure of the Queen
to and from London on jubilee week will
be a matter of semi-state. On Monday
June 21, the, journey from Paddington
Station to Buckingham Palace will be
imposing, and on June "a, the procession
from the pala ce to Paddington Station,
on the return to Windsor will be the oc-
casion for even a finer display. The
Indian colonial troops will form the es-
cort Of the latt er occasion.
Thomas F. Ba yard continues his stay
here to the slight embarraas ment Of
the United States Embassy, the situation
being complicated by the absence Of
Queen Victoria, 9 Col. John Hay is not
really the ambass edor until he presents
his credentials. 1t is said that the action
Of the consistorial court on Thursday,
in deciding to make Mr.. Bayard its ac-
credited agent to Nonvey the so-called
log Of the Mayflower to Boston, was taken
in response TO Mr.. E'ayard's personal re-
quest, but to some d agree at the expense
Of his successor and the seeming rivalry
between the ambas sadors has caused
considerable gossip. Mr.. Bayard says,
the recovery of the log is solely due to
his personal efforts ass the papers he had
from America were of nature calculat-
ed to cause the dema nd to be refused If
presented. The situation will be re-
lieved on Monday next, when, by special
arrangement the Queen will receive Col.
Hay at Windsor.
Letters have been received from
Bishop Joseph c. Hartael of Cincinnati
from Freetown, Sierra Leone, bearing
date Of March 80, which gives interesting
details Of his work and the condition of
that country The bishop writes: II
have now been in Africa two months
and over and thus far in my episcopal
ecNi, AdNC 6iNCh lily lliIt ~ hlUeTld ana
Sierra Leone. I made a thorough visit
alton Of the four hundred miles of Lii
berian coast and the principal places
That republic needs and deserves the
sympathy and help Of it's friends. Its
commercial possibilities are sreat. The
work of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in Liberia includes three institutions of
learning; we have So ministers and "a
lay helpers and teachers, or II, in all.
shall shortly sail on the steamer Bona
Tor the Congo TO visit our missions I'D
the river st. Paul de Loanda,, Angola
and out 250 miles in the interiof, to hold
the Congo Mission Conference at Oui-
hangoa. Then to South Africa and IN
the coast to study the needs of a mission
IN the Zambesi region. My plan is now
TO continue up the east coast aud study
the methods and results of miss ION work
in Eastern Central Africa and along the
Mediterranean. I expect to return to the
west coast by next January, hold three
conferences in Liberia and Angola again
and then return to America and renort
the results Of my explora tons and the
needs and conditions of the work"
NOTES
The library of the late Sir Nugutus
Harris, the we'll known theatrical man.
ager, was sold at auction On Thursday
last. The most important lots were some
hundreds Of dramatic works of all kinds.
from drama to pantonlime, some in Ms.
many of them managers copies and 9th.
ers in print. There We're besides many
books on subjects connectd with the
stage in England and the Continent.
Spence Eddy of Chicago has arrived
here and has taken up his duties as sec
retary to Colonel John Hay.
The Quarterly Review publishes an
interesting article on the Queens liter
ary taste, written by some one we'll ac-
Quainted with Her Majesty. Her favor
lite novelists, it appears, are Jane Aus
ten, Charlotte Bronte, Mrs. Oliphant.
George Eliot and Edna Lyal. No men
tion is made Of Marie Corelli.
Coaching, as a pastime, increases in
popularity. Beginning on Monday there
will be fourteen regular coaches running
to we'll known places around London
against eleven coaches in 1896
The fifth member of the House of
Commons chess team, which will com
pete with a corresponding number of
chess players of the United States House
of Representatives, will be Mr.. p. w.
Wilson. M. P. for the middle division of
Norfolk He is the author ofo "Our Ma
tional Debt" ETC., and was president Of
the Newspaper society Of the United
Kingdom in 1894.
A cable message sent to Washington
suggests May or IL as suitable days for
the match. Postmaster Pyke Of the
House of Commons has arranged for a
special wire to Committeeman No. 12
The telegraph operator detailed for the
service will be practical chess player
1T is suggested that play begin at
o'clock. Greenwich time, which would be
noon in America.
The position of the British bicycle in
dustry is regarded with anxiety. Amer
loan competition is increasing, while the
demand is dull British exports have fall
len more then a quarter, a reduction
of>thN British output ID impending and