Evening star., 1901-05-13

she were a French deputy or an Irish NJ
p, he went to the railway station master
and required that s. BIS saloon carriage
should be uncoupled and run into a siding
This was done, with the effect that She
alfghted and gave the customs director a
piece of her mind. He might have ordered
her to be searched, but he did not. How
ever to prevent her carriage staying all
night in the siding, she declared that she
had nothing on her or in her boxes liable
to duty.
AS the train bearing the accomplished
actress steamed out of the station she
started up, and standing at the window
fit lie pied de neZ. You know the gesture.
II Is very common one in the primary
schools Of Paris. Boys there font le pied
de nez behind the backs of school masters.
The gesture is made by placing a thumb
to the nose extending the hand. and plac-
ing the thumb of the other hand eNtHnl.l
at the end of the fourth finger. Two his
torical instances of the pied de nez nav.
come to my knowledge. One was made by
Pauline Bonaparte behind the back of the
Empress Marie Louise; the other was made.
by a late noble lord acting as captain OF
the yeomen of the guard at Buclin CHAM
Palace, behind the back of the late queen
She saw him In mirror, and with conse-
quenceS that he had cause to rue for the
rest of his life. You see from this that
human nature is the same in tragedy
queens, in noble lords and in communal
school pupils.
The customs director [ have spoken OF is
good fellow, and he constantly lets ladies
pass who he is persuaded have yielded to
the temptation to make paltry gains by
smuggling. One day a very grand lady
Indeed, who was coming. via Queenboroueh
and Flushing, from visit to Queen kic-
toria, seemed to him rather hurried and
uneasy. AS she stepped into her reserved
carriage q big bundle fell from beneath
the fiounces of her dress. The underlines
made rush for it. and she took care Tot
to claim 1t. but enSconsed herself in a cor
ner and drew down the blinds. The pac
that had fallen was not of enormous value
The goods 1t contained might perhaps have
cost FIVE or six pounds more on the conti-
nent than in London. IL was not possible
to return them to her without stopping her
and prosecuting her for misdemeanor. The
underlings who picked up the packet were
allowed to keep 1t.
Attaches" said the director of customs
ARE awfully cheeky. They pretend to think
that diplomatic immunity extends to them.
1t does not-only to ambassadors. 1t is n
favorite trick of theirs to speak in French
so broken that nobody can understand il
But as all postal and custom house officials
in Holland and Belgium speak French.
English, Dutch. and many German. This
way of defending their smuggled goods is
no longer Of much use. The naStiest Gus
tom houses for foreigners are In Spain.
Trunks are completely emptied. and Span
iardS have not the cleVerness or muscle Of
the French dounanier in repacking thcnl-
always for fee. The Barcelona manuGac-
turerS at the great frontier stations have
agents who spy the custom house Off
cials and prevent them becoming slack.
But at small frontier stations, where there
are no female Searchers ladies and poor
women can smuggle in as much as they
please Stockings bHggy at the knees are
specially knit to serve as receptacles,