The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-17
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
AND ELSEWHERE

It was Byron who wrote that fame cons
your name spelled wrong in the gazette"
Byron has long since gone to join the gods,
and 1t is proper to say that to Englishmen
the Gazette" means everything 1.-The
Gazette" is a newspaper printed in Lon
don and published at opportune moments
by Her Majesty's government. Every Of
fcer of the queen, including the civil, mill
tary and the naval, daily looks for 1.-THE
Gazette" to tell him or his own fortunes
and the fortunes of others 1.-THE London
Gazettee.' to give this proudest of all pub
LEGATIONS its full title, conveys to all men
who serve the queen some indication of
Her Majesty's pleasure and of Her Males
tvs gracious consideration. Now and then
one reads that some person has been ele-
waited to the peerage. On rare occasions
one reads after the the magic in
itials ''V. C."-meaning the Victoria Cross
the 'proudest distinction that can come to
any subject of that venerable and ven
Grated old woman who, in the language of
a brave American, "as wife. mother and
queen commands the admiration of the
world
These simple facts recalled to man In
the lobby the only remembrance of bearer
of the Victoria Cross he ever personally
knew. That man was a colonel. He was
lad, mere sub-ieutenant, in Zuuland,
and witnessed the killing of the Prince I'm
perial of France, the noble young Napoleon,
who, unarmed, rode to death at the hands
or savages. THE general commanding tho
British forces in Zuuland, whose name it
Is not needful now to mention, but who was
peer, afterwar1 disgraced was RESPONSE
BILE for the princes safety. The little party
We're at a krall and were stampeded by the
sayages. The princes horse was a very
Spirited one, and the prince could not
mount. His foot got caught in the strrup
and he was dragged some distance The
others rode away madly, except as to the
sub-lieutenant, who, as colonel, wore the
Victoria Cross. He looked backward and
saw the prince in trouble. He turned to
aid the prince. The assegais that killed
the head of the imperial house of France
wounded him nigh to death. The savages
left him for dead They comprehended In
some way that the prince was a person of
exalted rank. They stripped him of every
article of clothing he wore, mutilated his
body and left him dead there in a gully
eighteen inches deep. He was a colonel
when 1 saw him and is now a general. Hs
was left unnoticed. All that escort party
Of six except himself were degraded and
disgraced He wears the Victoria Cross
time cannot obliterate.''
Speaking of fame, and the passing of the
great" said one of the little group in the
lobby, calls to my mind a cut in one of
the leading Illustrated journals of this week.
1t represents p resident Mckinley and his
three great supporters in this great crisis
of our national life-Senator Morgan, Ad-
miral Dewey and General Otis. John Ty-
Ter Morgan, first American publicist of this
time, is designated as john P. Morgan, as
if he were simply j. Pierrepont Morgan, the
master of Wall street.
Senator Morgan, like the late Senator
Conkling was, is a poor man, and that is
honor that no scandal-monger can rob him
of. Conklng, noblest for many year
amongst the senators. gu tied the senate
with less money to his credit than when
he entered it. Morgan is fortunate in this.
''He has saved enough of his poor pay and
allowance to pay for the house he lives in
va OSPAtNA
haps What sum has been awarded to
him for his services in Hawaii is not known
and will not be made known, but it is
certain to be small indeed
Morgan is the first man of the senate
easily master of them all-and it is not
praise of him to say that he is poor in this
worlds goods. But it is a source of COM
fort to his countrymen. No man has served
in the senate since the foundation of our
form of government who had such extra
ordinary opportunities of making money
illegitimately as Senator Morgan. He re-
mains poor man.
General Charles NJ. Shelley has returned
from New Orleans and will leave at once
for Washington.
Hon. William H. Selden, of Marengo, one
of the best and most influential Of all Ala
bamians, is in the city.