Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-16

that they We're the assistants of the official
who plated the tails and names of his maj
esty's horses.
"Oh." said the kaiser. how many more
OF you are there engaged in this onerouS
occupa ton ?''- Five. altogether" was the
reply. We'll. just go and assemble these
five men in front of me-, said the emperor.
They came, and were dismissed on the
spot with three months wages, the kaiser
remarking that as lusty young fellows
they ought to be ashamed of themselves
filling so absurd a post and with nothing
to do. And then his majesty began to
look into matters, and discovered that he
could do with less than 400 persons in
his Berlin news, and with less than $50
horses and 240 carriages of all sorts. He
remembered that he had also huge stables
at PotSdam, at CaSSel. at Cadinen, and
that there were three breeding establish
ments as well.
He began to reckon up and found that
he owned over nine hundred horses and
nearly five hundred vehicles, and that the
head master of the horse had a regiment
of nearly thousand men under his con-
troll And then began a revision of things.
The grooms and the coachmen. the sad
lerS and the stable boys, the vets and
their assistants, the smiths and carriage
builders were all weeded out, and scores
of men were Informed that they had better
look out for other employment.
The kaiser heard, for the first time, that
he had a carriage which had cost nearly
$4,000, and a set of harness, ornamented
with gold mountings. which had cost
si25,00O Looking through the stable
where the veteran horses are kept, he re-
marked to his master of the horse that
these beasts were here eating their heads
off, and must be disposed of. The master
had d happy thought, and sent two or
three to each of the royal theaters and
opera houses. that when Carmen" or
"Gessler" or "Rienzi' is played the man.
ayers will not have to hire horses for
the stage professions
Bordering on "Salome."
London's dramatic censor would not per-
NIT "Salome" to be performed here, but
we have had play this week bordering on
"Salome.' 1t was only given for the de-
lectation of certain cult and the Comedy
Theater was the scene of what turned out
to be weird performance. Some hun
dreds of people, who Ike to be considered
"in the movement whatever that may
mean. may have enjoyed spasms Of aes-
thetic delight, others, healthier minded, had
a happy laugh.
The theater was dim with a religious
light, the cathedral atmosphere was fill
ed with the odor Of incense. The curtain
rose upon "a room in Herod's palace,
with the king seated on his throne. He
wanted to- see Salome dance, and uttered
quite a lot of blank verse to the same eff
feet. Then an astrologer begged him not
| to, and called Salome nasty names, such
as Dust of He'll" which he liked so much
that he repeated 1t. After that Salome
(who, 1t is whispered, runs" fashionable
milliner's shop in real life) danced. Herod
| insisted that 1t was so diabolical that she
could have whatever she liked to name as
her reward.
AS matter Of fact. although .he lady re-
moved a number of wells, she was prop
! erly attired and her terpschorean gyra-
| tions were so sober, that had Herod been a
volcano he could not have been set afiame
AS a reward Salome, who never spoke a
word pointed to what looked like her dance
program. and Herod, after indicating his
anguish by facial contortons, made a sign
| of assent. Music was heard of" and
Salome showed that the terrible deed was
| a fact but the morbid gathering was cheat
| ed-the head of the Baptist was not brought
| in at ALL
| Taximeters in London.
| 1 forget how many years ago it is since
thirty or forty cabs fitted with taximeters
l-taxameters one called them then-plied
| for hire in London. l know they were
| killed by the compassionate IL ironical
/ interest of cabdrivers who did not see iii
/ to adopt them. Today sees a revival, but
l on very different lines. The General Cab
| Company is placing on the ranks 160 pa.
| troll landaulettes fitted with taximeters
and the fare will be on the lines of the
| draft bill that has been published-Sd. fol
| the first mile with reduced charge fol
| succeeding distances. We are dreadfully
| conservative in London about our cabs, but
1t Is difficult to imagine that we shall really