The National tribune., 1903-08-06
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it with the manner in which an Italian o.
a Pole does not learn our language, o.
make any attempt TO do so. after a resi-
dence of p years i'll the United States
Sir Chen Tung. the Chinese Minister. ha:
informed the President of Andoyer tha
three of the young Chinese noblemel
whom he brought TO this country to place
in school will he able to enter Andovel
this Fail. having now acquired sufficient
knowledge of the English language to pas
the proper examinations in Eng ish vi
course. the young men were students ano
well educated when they came here III
April. but not one of them could speak a
word of English. The Italian or the Pole
knows that he can become an American
citizen anyhow.
Secretary Root has ordered that the
cantonment at the Military Reservation at
Monterey. Cal. shall he called Ord Bar
racks in honor of Maj.-Gen. +. o. q.
Ord. who was an officer of the first COM
mand that occupied Monterey, Jan. %,
1877.
Mrs. Berger. the wife of a Washington
baker. who applied for license TO run a
stationary engine, has succeeded in get
ting it. The Commissioners. to whom the
matter was referred. did not believe that
they had any right to grant woman a
license to run an engine, but to lie safe
in the matter referred it to the Cooperation
Counsel lie has decided that there is
nothing in the law that differentiatcs as
to sex. and so Mrs. Berger got what she
wanted. And thus does woman reach out
after the jobs that men were wont to per-
form.
On the authority of the President it is
announced that the Prince of Wales has
not been invited to visit the President.
This being the case. the Prince of Wales
is not likely to visit the United States.
Rulers of great Nations do not run in
to see their neighbors. They wait for in
vitations. and then they expect to be re-
ceived with the dignity and honors be-
coming their official positions.
1t is mighty good thing that we are
not TO be bothered with royalty just now.
There is Il tradition (which is not true,
by the way that he who entertains roy
atty is expected to practically turn his
house inside out and to refurnish it from
basement TO attic. Now just imagine for
a moment turning Architect McKim loose
on preparations for royalty. Goodness
gracious, What q row he would make.
He has been very costly experience as it
is. and if he were ordered to cater to roy
al tastes. nothing short of the gold of
Ophir and the looms of Bagdad would
satisfy his artistic tastes. Especially
since King Edward decorated him. 1t
mas been carefully explained from Eng
land. however, that the decoration means
almost nothing. The King bestows it each
year upon the President of the Architec-
tural Society. or some such organization,
in the United States. and McKim hap
pens by accident to be the head of that
organization, and so got the decoration.
Mourning might be said to be one of the
relics of the ancient days that is. the
swathing of the form in black Grape from
head to feet. bIack-bordered handkerchiefs,
and all that. 1t ought to be relegated to
the limbo of things 10 longer useful,
though it probably never viii he.
The crape-bound figure always suggests
'look at me how l grieve." Six months
later the Grape comes off and the black is
relieved with white, then the 'mourner'
seems to say. "My grief is deep, but not
quite so deep" A year later. and laven-
der. white. and purple say, Il am in the
last stage of my sorrow. and will soon be
with you again. No human being has
right to make the people around uncom-
Portable or unhappy, and the constant
feeling in the presence of deep mourning
garb is one of depression. Physicians say
that mourning attire is actually unhealthy
for the wearer, TO say nothing of the peo-
pie who must look at the sad garb day
after day.
There are society women, however, who
positively are not satisfied with the Grape
and bombazine, but are bomharding the
Post Office Department with requests for
mourning postage stamps" Now isn't
that conventionality gone mad! These
women say that it seems such an incon-
gruous thing to put a pink stamp on a
black-bordered letter. 1t certainly is. but
the incongruity comes in using the black
bordereh envelope. Why use it at all?
The Postal authorities do not care whether
the letter is bordered in black or green.
They carry one just as tenderly as the
other. The recipient of the black-bor-
dered letter is apt to have spell of heart
failure, if she is receiving the thing for
the first time, and spell of Mysteries
while she is studying the address and
postmark, before opening the letter to as
certain who wrote it. but it is neither
wise nor kind to cause all this commotion
to an innocent person.
Those people who have money enough
to parade grief in this manner, and it is
only those who have money who make
this garish parade of if. ought 10 be able
to use the three-cent stamp, which is pur-
pie. 1t is true the purple is only second"
mourning, but it is only few months to
the seconds" in mourning stock, and the
purple will not be quite so shocking as the
pink, and then it has the added merit of
costing more. A whole cent for being
exclusive. don't you know. By all means
let the Post Office Department announce
that hereafter the three-cent purple post
age stamp will be known as the mourning
stamp. and issued in white books bordered
with deep black for the early stages, and
narrowing for the later months Of grief.
A sweet thing in white-and-purple could
be made very attractive for second mourn
ing.
Congressman Forderer. of the Fourth
Pennsylvania District. died last Sunday
of complication OF diseases. He was
first elected to the 51th Congress and was
reelected TO the 5Sth.
Toe indefinite postponement of the In
ternational Red Cross Conference which
was TO be held in Geneva, Switzerland,
next month has bouleversed up the plans
of the dissenting faction of the American
Red Cross Association. This faction re-
lied upon the International meeting in
Geneva to settle Miss Clara Barton's |
hash," as one of the number remarked, |
and make it impossible for her to hold the
Office of National President of the Red
Cross Association of the United States