The age-herald., 1900-04-05
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE


 ! the kings progress over that same road eighty years ago." said traveller last
 night. "In the year 1920. or about that time, George " paid a state visit to Ireland landing at what is now Eingstown, just as the present queen did today. The little port formerly bore another name, but the
 name was changed in honor of the kings visit; just as Cove, Cork harbor was changed to Queenstown in honor of Queen Victoria's visit there in 1S49. Just after
 King Georges splendid procession started on the short journey to dear, dirty Dub- lin, in the long ago. and when the horses l had been turned loose, so to speak, in a | fast ftrot, it was discovered that the noble pageant was being led by a butchers boy | on horseback The boys long, unwashed, I smock frock his smutty face, and his gen | orally bedra ggled and slouchy appearance. | together with his dsreputable looking | horse, combined to present a most ludicrous | spectacle at the head of the kings gorgeous | cavalcade Perceiving this, guardsman | dashed off to make the boy get out of the | road Seeing what was up, the boy spurred
 his nag into a canter; whereupon other l guardsmen joined in the chase, which be- | came fast and furious. All the kings horses | then increased their speed to gallop and | onward toward Dublin swept that mighty | monarch with his gorgeous procession. | Faster and ever more furious grew the | pace, the butcher boy well in the lead his | greasy and foul frock flying back in the | wind as level as a card table; the king | and courtiers amazed and angry the while.
 Nor did the foremost horseman ever over
 take the butchers boy. that proud rap
 scallion triumphantly entering Dublin at 1 the head of the kings procession That Is, in brief, the truthful story of how the butchers boy of Dublin led the British | king eighty long years ago. It Is to be re- ] gretted that this identity of the boy was l never established, as he might have taken
 his place with the boy who kept the dyke l the youngster who stood on the burning | deck whence all the other chaps had ske- | daddled, the little swipe who sat in the | corner overlooking his stomach, the yellow | kid and all the other immortal young fel- | lows.''
 Hoiyhead. the port from which the queen | sailed for Ireland, is on the rocky lttie | island of that name forming a part o1 An glesea county Wales. It is distant from | Kingstown 6 miles, and is largely crea- | tion of the London and Northwestern rail- | way The harbor is formed by massive | breakwater. constructed of granite, mile | and half long, and costing about SS,ooooVo. | The fastest passenger boats in the world | now make the cross channel trip at speed | of something like twenty-four or twenty | five miles an hour. These boats were punt l recently under a twenty-year contract pe- | tween private individuals and the British post office department. By this line the American mails are conveyed on the way to | Queenstown, where they are placed on Gu nard and White Star steamers calling there | on the westward voyage from Liverpool the mails leaving London eight to ten hours | later than the ships depart from the Mer- sey The distance by rail through Ireland from Kirgstown to Queenstown is 190 miles; | and Queenstown Is about 530 miles west ward from London. Going to Ireland or Liverpool, the first glimpse of the old world l the American has is the Fastnet, pillar or ] rock. surmounted by famous lighthouse OH the mainland of southwestern Ireland; then comes Browhead, followed by many miles | of the rocky and precipitous Irish coast, to | Daunt's Rock lightship, and then Roches- point at the narrow entrance to the Cove of Cork perhaps the most beautiful har6or in the world About nine-tenths of the native Irishmen in America sailed from this famous harbor with it's amphitheater of the
 greenest hills upon the earth.
 Somebody said something about Bob Toombs. 'rI never saw MT. Toomos but orce." observed Virginia gentlewoman now in Birmingham, ''and then he gave me a someNoat unpleasant sensation which l have not Torgotten Immediately after the surrender of General Lee my huSoand and I. with our little daughter, went to Havana for the benefit of my husbands health. At our rlotel in the Cuban city we formed the acouaintance of some charming people from
 Boston, and our association together be- came very agreeable to us all. One morn- ing I received the cards of Mir. and Mrs. Robert Toonbs the servant saying that
 the visitors were in the general parlor.
 l went down at once, and when l entered the parlor l found cur Boston friends
 t.lere. Sitting apapt were Mr and Mrs.
 Tocmbs, and I passed on to greet them.
 1 was glad to meet them, and they seemed glad at meeting me. Our greetings Of civ
 fifty were scarcely over, when MT. Toomos | suddenly 'ourted OBJ, How can you stand these d-d Yankees? having reference ito the large number of northern people then in Havana. Mrs. Toombs pulled his sleeve
 iii expostulation, and I was speeches. in confusion at his cath, and because of the fact that our Boston friends heard him. Our interview was not a prolonged one MT. Toombs was not really aware of his own swearing: it was said to oa second nature with Him, and for it he was notori- GUS. How did ne look? He was tall and
 rather muscular, as I recall him, with strong face without any particularly dis ino,ive feature He was gray and looked old
 ''It is doubtful if amongst all the million soldiers of whom Grant was chief there
 was one who was his superior in horse
 manship,'' said Major Mccoy. "I know of his deeds with the bronchos on the plains
 of Texas, when he was a lieutenant in the regular army; and in many .nstaces his skill