Evening star., 1901-06-22

but the clubs yachts. The subscription is
considerable. enough to relieve a member
of all other expenses. He goes down to the
club of a morning, and is given a yacht.
with crew and everything complete, ana
he sails her against any other yacht. But
he does not have the same yacht two days
running. and in this way the highest test
of his skill is made.
The newest and one of the most sports
manlike yachting clubs is taking the sea
this season, and is to be run much on the
same lines. The idea of the club is to Sc
cure equality of conditions for racing, and
to make success the test of seamanshlp
rather than of the builders skill. This IS
how the club did it. The number of MEM
berS having been fixed, as many yachts
were ordered from the same builders to be
constructed on precisely the same condi-
tiOns.
When finished the yachts were portioned
out to the members by lot, so that it would
be impossible to say that on hod any ad-
vantage even of choice. The members are
further limited to one set of sails per sea-
son, to the same fixed number of crew, ana
not TO exceed a given limit for wages. They
have to look for success to indtVlduai skill
in fitting and in navigating their boats. The
results of the racing will be watched with
the keenest interest by nautical men
The king displays robust disregard Tor
what the knowing goSsipS at home and
abroad may say. He has arranged that
mis- stock of bottled sherry, which has been
lying among the cobwebs in the royal Gel
lars at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Pai-
ace and Sandringham, some of 1t for forty
years, shall be sold by auction on Monday
next. The auctioneers in the most prosaic
way advertise that they are instructed TO
sell 5000 dozen bottles. Sherry has gone
little out of fashion during recent years.
but the late queen seems to have caused
the steward to bottle regularly, and the
stock which is now to be brought to the
hammer has accumulated since 1864.
Great will be the company of snobs at
the auction to buy at least few bottles OF
royal" wine, which they will never pro-
fame with common lips, but will keep to
show admiring friends and hand down TO
future generations
The sale will put a pretty penny into the
kings pocket, too.
American Competition.
. The wall over American commercial COM
petition is growing louder, and one patri-
otic British shipping firm Glider, Demp-
ster) makes open offer of free passages to
the United States and back to official dele
gates of any trades union desirous of visit
ing that land of energy and invention for
the purpose of studying the condition OF
abOr there.
The following is how one paper puts the
case:
An American-owned horse wins the
Derby an American horse wins the Oaks,
an American contractor will turn the dis
trict railway into a galaxy OF light, an
American buys the Duchess of Devon
shire and now an American has offered
s.. .OOO, 900 for Shakespeares house. which he
intends to transport to his own land We
must next expect to hear of an offer for
ST Pauls."
Battle Abbey, which was owned by the
late Duchess of Cleveland, will soon be
sold at auction. 1 suppose this place, which
is from a historical point of view one OF
the most interesting places in England Will
fall into the hands of an American mil
iCnaire The ruins of the abbey, which
was erected in celebration of the Norman
victory are yearly visited by thousands of
persons, and antiquarians are agitatlng to
have the nation purchase it.
l.. H. MOORE.