The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-27

answered. "Why it should indicate an
 excess of virtue to wear garments in
 which a self-respecting maid of all-
 work would not be willingly seen by her young man, remains a mystery
 Then, determined to make a good par
 agraph out of these May meetings, and
 finding it very difficult to repress the
 time sheer at them, this writer
 drops the country parson" who has
 his dowdy looking wife with him and
 takes up as a more promising subject
 ''The young country parson." He was
 easily distinguished" we are told,
 from his confrere of the big city. Not
 that he was less pallid-it is curious
 that in these athletic days the average
 curate should remain the pale faced
 anaemic-looking individual of the "Pri-
 vate Secretary" epock-but his beam
 ing, interested expression betrayed
 him. He was so evidently out for a holiday, so evidently glad to be eman-
 cipated for the nonce from district wis.,
 itors, mothers meetings and his vicar's
 supervision, and so determined on get | ting his pennyworth out of his trip to
 modern Babylon. The theaters and
 music halls had an uuwonted number
 of parsons among their audiences each evening-the clerics laudably carrying
 out the advice of Father OFlynn not l to leave gaiety all to the laity
 But long enough have we lowered
 about the ragged edges of these May meetings; what I should like now is to take my readers inside of one of them nay into a dozen of them, for Pm sure if they once began making the rounds they would not stop at less than that
 many, and it is equally foregone cer- tainty that in all these gatherings any intelligent American would find much to interest him. There are scores of
 them, probably more than a hundred in all, and almost always one needs to go early to get a seat. These English are great meeting goers and they are decidedly better church goers than we are. Not only do they go oftener and in greater numbers, but they get there earlier. Their feet keep time better with their watches, the late conner be- ing so rare as to feel unpleasantly con- spicuous. These May meetings are al- ways we'll attended; few late corners, and besides being on time, everybody who comes seems to have charged himself for that special occasion with an immense battery of enthusiasm Say what you please about John Bull being phegmatic and not being up to a joke and all that, but if you saw him en masse at these great meetings you would find that at least he had a strong scent for every good point in the <fro locks on his proverbially heavy boots, | on fire with interest toward at least | one measure of reform. It Is my per suasion that the English as we see them in our country are little cowed; | to see how truly John Bullish they can | be, and how they can make things | howl, you must see them at home
 Another striking feature of the May meetings this year was the fact that with scarcely an exception the chair men in their opening addresses made | sympathetic allusion to the death of the queen, Tin whom'-so the remarks would run-"the society represented at this great meeting had always found its chief supporter" This sentiment was invariably received in silence-a silence so different from the ordinary silence that 1t conspicuously impressed one as mute indorsement of what had been said. stronger than words or cheers could have given For real ap- plause you had to wait till this refer ence to the patronage of royalty was chief commodities; for these there complete--then, you heard roars and thunders. As might naturally be ex- pected, for the presiding officers at these meetings have no sooner told us that "in the late queen the society we love has lost it's best friend" than they ''rejoice to be able to say"-so this sec Dnd formult runs-"that his Majesty King Edward II. has been graciousy pleased to become their patron, and in- spired by her example will no doubt fill : with credit the place formerly occupied by his noble and royal mother
 Here was where the cheers came in, and If it happened as it often did, that It was not the king, but Queen Alexan- Ira who had graciously assumed the vacant sponsorship it seemed then as though the outburst of loyal enthus- ism was even greater Usually after m announcement of this kind the na- -1onal anthem was cailed TOT, ana you nay be sure it was sung with will, .hough often, I must say, incorrectly; Or almost as many people seem to still ;ay God save the Queen" as "God ;ave the King" and it may be conf- lently predicted that this unwilling = tribute to the force of habit will in- 'ure that for some time to come the people of England will in this way pay tribute not undeserved, though it :, nay be unintended, both the the queen C vho has gone, and to the new one who Il low reigns. This at the expense of the 7, ting, but not to his harm; for Edward c s all right. Beloved for his mothers l, md his wife's sake, but equally so for : is own. And as men and rulers go in | hese times-and of course they never were any peter than now-he deserves o be held in esteem both by his own
 IL