Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-10-31
HE GETS A DRINK.

which he was invited so solemnly.
HE GETS A DRINK.
The Mayor-elect has not passed all
of his perils, until, in the last week of
October he is taken to the House of
Lords, and presented to the Lord
Chancellor. That functionary, in robe
of black and gold, accompanied by his
mace, his ushers and his gorgeous
pursebearer, informs the aspirant
whether or not the Queen approves
him. AS a mater of fact, she never
thinks of disappearing, but that does
Mt matter. After this ordeal the Lord
Chancellor and the new Lord Mayor
drink rare old port in turn from an
Official loving sup, and the Mayor-elect
begins to feel reasonably certain of
getting his office.
But the most overpowering func-
ticns of all awit him. The queerest
cores on November s, when he is "ad-
mitted" in the Guild Hall. The Lord
Mavor, the Lord Mayor-elect and the
Aldermen take their seats on the
raised dais at what is called the hust-
ings end of the hall, the clty's mace is
put into position and then the Town
Clerk, making the three "low reveren-
ceg" required by law, approaches the
Lord Mayor-elect and administers the
declaration of office, then backs away
with three more reverences.
Thereupon the City Chamberlain ad-
vances with a corresponding series of
reverences and places the citys da-
mOr1 scepter upon the table before the
reverences and then advances with
the seal of Office goes back again and
makes third trip with the city's an
cient purse, all the time bowling as if
he were working with spring. Once
these relics are on the table they have
to be taken back again in the same
manner but, luckily for the City
Chamberlain it is his chief clerk who
has this job.
In the same painful manner the
city's sword and mace have to be toted
forward and then taken back again
with the prescribed quantity of bows
and reverences, at which no one
dreams of cracking a smile. Then for
a second time the Lord Mayor and the
Lord Mayor-elect, in their robes of Of
flee, with the mace between them,
drive in the state coach to the Man
sion House to drink more toasts to
each other.
Then comes the great day of all,
the immortal November 8, celebrated
as Lord Mayors Day ever since 1853,
and probably even before that, al
though there is no definite record of it,.
Nearly all of the cities SIT Lord May
crs have gone through with it.
At first the Lord Mayors used to
walk from the Guild Hall to the Palace
CT Justice to take the oath of office, but
the robes of state were heavy, and af-
ter few hundred years some bold in
Eoyator provided the Mayor with a
horse. Most of the Mayors were COM
Portable city merchants, not much
used to equestrian evolutlons, and
there is tradition that somewhere
along in the seventeen hundreds one OF
them tumbled off his horse and fell
with all his robes of state into a capa-
clous mud puddle. At any rate the
/ present coach Of state was introduced
in 1857, and has been used ever since
1t cost $4,000, and in these days of its
old age it rolls like a ship at sea.
This coach with the great mace
sticking out of the window and the
poor Mayor bobbing about inside, is
the chief attraction of the Lord May
or's show, which makes November {
sacred. Half a dozen floats, bodies o
policemen, firemen and other civic
bodies complete the procession, which