The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-03

of the Order to call the roll. This was
done. and each member OF the order pres
ent rose as his name was called and
courteously bowed to the Viceroy aud
the Prince and reseated himself. The
Viceroy then declared the chapter opened.
The secretary then read the Queens
warrant. especially authorizing the Prince
of Wales to invest certain persons named
in the warrant with appointments as
Knights Grand Commander of the Star of
India. As the Secretary finished reading
the warrant the Viceroy and all the mem
bers of the order rose and bowed to the
Prince
without rising the Prince ordered the
investiture to proceed. ss..-:l.----- Icy
thereafter the Maharajah of Jodepore
was with great pomp and ceremony led
forward by two of the Companions Of the
Order. up on to the dais. and paused in
front OF the Prince of Wales. In the
mean time the collar of the order had
/ been brought forward on blue satin
cushion, think by the Grand Marshal of
| the Camp. The maharajah now knelt at
the Princes feet, or rather at the foot
stool upon which His Royal Highness
feet rested and the Prince took the splen-
| didly jeweled collar from its cushion, and
without rising from mis- seat placed it
over his neck and outside the blue robe
of the Knights Grand Commander with
which. together with the broad blue
ribbons and the Star of India the mahara-
jah had already been invested before he
| had approached the foot of the throne.
He then rose and the Prince in a deep,
rich voice addressed him as follows q
| copy from the daily papers of that date):
I'm the name of the Queen and by Her
! Majesty's command, herewith invest you
with the honorable insignia of the Star of
India. of which most exalted order Her
Majesty has been graciously pleased to
appoint you TO be a Knight Grand Com
mander"
The maharajah was bit awkward in
kneeling and still more so in leaving the
royal presence, in walking backward.
| However, he got his reward. for as he was
indicted into his seat among the Knights
Grand Commander OF the Star of India,
seventeen guns pesiing from Fort William
told that he was among the ranking ma
candidate to be invested was the Mahara-
iah of Jeerd. in which precisely the same
ceremony was gone through with, but,
alas for Jeerd, he got salute Of only
eleven guns. How he must have hated
JodepOre as he took his seat near himi
Then followed the inyestiture of the
following Companions of the Order as
knights Commander: Mr.. Robinson,
whom I was told was one of the eblest
of the civil service in all India; the
sJaharsjah of Tuna; Rajah Mahan Casee;
Major General Ramsay, General Ranod-
epo Sing, Gunpot Rayo and Faiz Ali
Khan. Two English gentlemen and one
rajah we're then made companions of the
order. When Mr.. Robinson and Major
General Ramsay were made Knights Com
panion of the Order, l think 1t was just
after they had been duly invested by the
Prince he turned his head toward his
standard bearer, General Probyn. who
was holding his standard just over him.
The general gave the Prince drawn
sword (probably the Princes own which
he had been holding in one of his hands.
Then the Prince leaned slightly forward,
and laying the blade on Mr.. Robinson's
shoulder said in a ringing voice: Rise.
Sir Edward Robinson" and as the
faithful civil servant rose, he had received
his sccolade and stood among the Knights
OF England. The same form was gone
through with in the case of Major General
Ramsay, and was told chat in each case
the honor had been fairly won.
Ac Dnht lie ntv.
five years since this happened. and / may
not correctly call given names. but as to
facts am perfectly sure). rose to his feet
l noticed sitting near me middle-aged
English gentlewoman, with eyes intently
fixed on the scholarly face OF the new
Knight, and just then beautiful young
girl sitting near her leaned forward and
said in a low tone, but | caught what she
said: "Oh. Lady Mary. how well Sir Ed |
ward bears himself" AS the older woman |
turned toward the young one with moist |
ened eyes and said in low voice, THANK |
you. dear" 1 saw by the happy flush in |
her cheek that the young girl had been
the first to give her her new title, and
to this day regard it as the most abso-
lutely tactful thing | have ever known
young girl to do. And yet there are peo-
pie who say that the English have no
tact?
4, There being no further business before
the Grand Chapter Of the Order the Vice
roy ordered it closed.
At this the splendid audience seated in
the amphitheatre arose and stood quietly
looking down on the recession as. led by
the Prince of Wales and his reteiners, it
ter tents. As they marched in close order
1t was, VII lie perhaps less dignifed, far
more effective than the procession had |
been. The waving of the banners at the
head of each knights encourage, the gor-
geous blue silk robes of the various
naughty mein and solemn tread they fol-
lowed the lead Of the Prince; the scin-
tillating jewels OF the Maharajahs tur-
bans that flashed back the glorious light
OF midas winter sun-the fanfare of
trumpets, the bursts OF music from the
military bands, the thunder of the salut-
ing cannon from Fort William, the cheers
of the delighted throng of both English
and native onlockers, the glittering white
facade of the noble Government House
rising Just beyond and shutting In the
line of chapter tents, and over all the
deep blue of midas winter sky, made a
coup de DEL as unique and exquisite as
il was beautiful. The next day our party
left Calcutta for the great camp OF Eng