Evening star., 1905-08-26
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Francis j. Kilkenny OF the office Of the
controller OF the currency recently made a
trip to his old home in Ireland. Before he
went away he was advised to take with him
g. prince Albert" suit. He hesitated about
doing so. This IS the way he tells of his
experience with the suit in Ireland:
THE fact that the people of Ireland can
not be accused by even their most violent
calumniators of being perambulating fash
ion plates made me hesitate to become con-
spicuous and be singled out as a foreign
visitor. Moreover. 1t was not my wish to
risk having the motives of my visit i'm
pugned by wearing raiment too fashionable
by comparison with that of my hosts. Yet
1 knew they would expect something out
of the ordinary In the dress of their cousin
from America / finally decided to disre-
gard the first objection and the dictates OF
my naturally retiring disposition.
"One glorious Sunday morning after my
arrival on the other side my father and
mother and my two brothers and 1 plan
ned visit to our cousins. who were in a
convent about six miles from home. The
first question to confront me was as to the
correct dress for the occasion, but, after
conference with my brother. l determined
upon the Prince Albert and the silk hat
Before leaving the house l was careful
to inquire to toe effect of unusual
sights upon the gentle beast of burden
which was to convey u.s. 1 was apprehen-
sive that the result of my attire might
cause some little excitement. or worse. My
fears were allayed by the assurance that 1
looked a typical 'SoSgdrth,' for 1t seems
that the characteristic street garb Of the
fathers in that part of the country Is the
ions-tailed coat and the high hat
ION the way to mass every passerby sa-
luted me reverently. and l concluded that
case of very badly mistaken iden-
tity. However. l decided that 1t would be
a pity TO disillusion the good people. so
made a brave effort to assume and pre-
.Jfeyv, h.nff tiv,cr voyh
But the older folks were not the only ones
taken in by my unintentional masquerade.
on our return we came upon party OF
children playing by the roadside. and at
they all knelt down and reverently bowed
their heads. and these acts of obeisance
were repeated along the road whenever we
passed group of children.
while clothes don't make the man or the
priest, acted the part as well as could.
but it was case of badly mistaken iden-
tity."
One evidence Of the friendship Of the
United States for China" remarked an
army officer the other day. rs clearly
shown by the fact that we admit Chinese
to the United States Military Academy on
the same terms as we do citizens of the
United States Many Chinese have been
educated in the arts Of war at the West
Point institution. There are two there
now, named, respectively, Ting CHA Chen
and Wing Hsingn Wen. We are equally
liberal to the people of other countries
both at the Military and the Naval Acad-
envy The only other foreigners now at
the Military Academy are Frutos Tomas
Plaza of Ecuador and Carlos AlfonZo Ze-
laya of Nicaragua. The four young men
named are in the fourth class"
i X
For some days past" said man who
has a wide acquaintance in the city. Il
have been asking practically every one
whom / met whether he knew personally
of any cases of typhoid fever In this city.
I have yet to hear an affirmative answer.
This is curious circumstance to me for.
while this disease has been prevalent in
W ashington for some time past and the
number of cases. according to the reports
of the health Office. are much larger than
the average, yet ii so happens that among
a rather extended circle l have been una
BILE to hear of u single case. I have made
some effort during this time to keep the
matter in mind so that l would be sure to
ask every one I came In contact with.
have not found a single instance of per-
who had a-personal knowledge of even
a single case of typhoid fever.
such an experience only goes to show
II my opinion, that this city Is no longer
small one and that it Is now so metropoli-
tan in character that a great deal can be
going without affecting the lives of a
large number of the residents
Something of the same kind Of impress
sion OF the mass of the population of the
city can be obtained by any one who has
lived here for any time In attending a the
ater other place where large crowds of
people come together. 1t will be safe to
say that on an average occasion there will
prob Ihly not be more than half a dozen
persons in the entire throng who are per-
sonally known TO the old citizen"
''I have found It to be the rule" remarked
an officer OF the local brigade of militia,
that when disorder or damage occurs in
locality where soldiers happen to be en-
carnped the blame Is invariably placed on
the men in uniform.
For instance" the officer, continuing,
said. during the recent encampment of the
National Guard of the District of Columbia
near Bolivar. w. Va, two or three arc cleo
tric lights in Harper's Ferry were extin-
gushed by pistol shots about 3 O. clock one
morning The matter was promptly COM
municated to the National Guard authori-
ties. The latter made a most careful inves-
tigation the result being that 1t was clearly
proved that every member of the comman nd
was in camp at the time the lamps were
put out of action. more than two miles
away. Notwithstanding the investigation
the officers Of the electric lighting company
insisted that the shooting had been done by
a party of five men in uniform.
The hoodumism. however, was perpe-
trated by three civilians. I know this to be
50 for the reason that later one of the trio
admitted the facts to me and gave the de-
tails of the destruction. Nevertheless, of
course. our boys got all the blame and our
reputation was greatly lowered"
A former Washington character who was
known as "Nibbsey" and was noted for his