The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-19

corning these British blue bloods, which Is, that they seem in these days to be no more leaders in the social whirl than they are leaders and mad rivals of each other in seeing how many good causes they can help.
 Remarkably, too, have impressions and conculsions of this kind been strengthened and illuminated by anoth CT event of this wonderful week. While the Duchess of Sutherland and her set were hard at work in advance prepar- ing for their great life boat fete, other circles of high society, and in fact one great circle taking in all the quality" of all the counties in the realm, had been stirred and driven, not for weeks only, but for months-ever since at the beginning of the year the precious prin- cess who is now queen had sent out her appeal on the subject-in preparation for what was called "The Counties Ba- zaar," held in the interest of the Sol diers' and Sailors Relief association. This society is voluntary means of holding together and keeping out of in- digence the families of men at the front. It's work was greatly helped, if indeed it was not started, by Kipling's Absent Minded Beggar," for the ab- sent minded beggar was the volunteer Tommy Atkins who had enlisted to follow the flag in absent minded disre- gard of what might become of his home while he was gone The amount alrea- dy disbursed by this association is con- siderably more than three million dol lars.
 Naturally a sale under these auspi- ces, held in the Imperial Gardens of Earl's Court at five shillings admission, with each county of the realm repre- sented-each county, too, working for the needy at it's own doors-would com mand unstinted support, To charac- terize it in a sentence one might say that the fifty eight stalls contained al- most everything one might ever want and some things one might be puzzled to death to know the use of, that be- hind the stalls, acting as sellers and at tendants, were nearly all the duchesses and countesses of the kingdom, and that before or in and out amongst these tempting booths of merchandise, buy ing, or trying to get beautiful, pleading, begging, coaxing ladies to excuse them from buying till they went home and replenished their pocket books, might have been seen at different times dur ing the three days, almost everybody else in the kingdom who was anybody, with, of course, great many others who wer'n't anybody, and didn't pre- tend to be.
 But how inadequate must be any de- scription one can compass into a sen- tence, even though the imagination be let loose a little in getting it off, to convey an idea either of what ones privileges were in seeing at one time in such favorable circumstances so many of the nobility, or of the impression one carried away from that bustling, beg ging, cajoling scene of the common place uses to which blue-blood will put itself in a cause which appeals to char ity and patriotism. Georgia, the world known and universally admired Countess of Dudley, you could see ar ranging the articles at her stall with all the zest of cheapjack laying out his wares in the public market, and once in a while she would stop working in that way to WOTk udiu dt SettiIlS eooi by the vigorous use of palm-leaf fan. The Duchess of Marlborough seemed to take as naturally to wrapping up par cels as though, instead of being born Vanderbile she had always done that kind of work for living.
 The Duchess of Devonshire, one of the very proudest and highest of the grand danes of England, took charge of stall, and assisted in making it go, with as little apparent reluctance as you you'd expect her to show in taking first place at & queens drawing room. Countesses would beg you to buy in the sweetest and most appealing tones, and if you said you would when you came that way again" they would say, "Ah, be sure that you do-so many have told us that" There were plenty of Honor able Misses who would pin rose on your lapel and smile and talk most prettily and saucily while they did it, if only you had the required sixpence to hand over, and there were some ti- tied damsels, who, if they couldn't tempt you to pay a good round sum for the privilege of taking tea under