The National tribune., 1908-10-29

have something to say to the large
number of Americans living abroaI
many of whom are largely responsible
for the erroneous opinions concerning
us entertained by foreigners. DIR. Van
Dyke stands for the very best that there
is in our Institutions. for the highest
culture. the loftiest ideals. and If he
succeeds In making himself fully COM
| prehensible to the Gallo mind his lee
lures will be revelation to his French
audience He will be absent from
Princeton q year. His course begins
some time next month, and in the mean
time he is getting settled in his beauti
full home, Is meeting people, going to
the tfleaters. and otherwise seeing the
sights of Cay Paree."
Thoughtful people have always felt
that it was terribly wrong for peoDle
tainted with the great white plague to
marry, but it has seemed impossible to
try parental authority amounts to very
little if girl makes up her mind to
marry a man, and. indeed. In maIy
cases q mother willingly gives her
daughter to one whose appearance
clearly indicates tendency. if no more.
to tuberculosis. The grave responsible
ity for these marriages really seems in
the last analysis to rest most heavily
upon the clergy. and one gentleman of
the cloth has come out into the open
and boldly declared he will hereafter
marry no conSumptive, man or woman.
no matter what the circumstances may
be. This clergyman says that he has
given this matter great thought. and
considers it high time the church took
a stand for life and mortality, meeting
and conquering this condition. Surely
no one can fail to think that he is eli
tirely right, and that IL all the clergy
in the country would only follow his
example a great and terrible wrong
would be righted.. The clergyman in
question, DR.. Johnson, of Boston, goes
a little bit farther, and some might say
too far. He says he will hereafter marry
no man whose income is less than S12
a week.
The Count of Turin, brother of the
Duke of the Abruzzi, who is just about
TO marry or not to marry Miss Katha-
rine Elkins, has also been smitten with
the unquestioned and A No. l quality
of American feminine charms. When
Wayne MacVeagh was ambassador In
Rome. so the story goes, two very
bellies In societo there. The elder was
a tall. golden-haired, snowy-skinned
girl, with that air of distinction which
so many of our girls have, and which
Is sometimes extremely difficult to ac-
count for. She met this scion OF no.
Dlllty Ut SOlle court dlldlT, WIN icli dt
once victim to her fascination, paid
marked attention to her from that time
onward, until 1t was distinctly under
stood that the question of matrimony
rested entirely with her. The Duke OF
Aosta (this was before his marriage)
was also badly smitten with the young
lady, but generously retired in favor Of
his brother. About this time Queen
Margherita, who up to then had been
as gracious as possible to the young
lady, suddenly became freezing in her
manner toward her, and seemed to for
get that she ever knew her. Just what
happened no one ever knew, but the
Count left Rome. and the golden-haired
American girl came home and later
married one Of her own countrymen.
Some one who boarded in the same
house with the great Abraham Lincoln
about 1856 says that he remembers
very distinctly several things about him.
As everyone knows. Lincoln was a very
long-legged, long-armed man,
with scanty beard, badly brushed hair,
if brushed at all, the sleeves of his coat
far too short, and of a generally untidy
appearance. He would sort of drop
into his chair in the most ungainly
fashion when he came to the table, but
would begin at once to talk, and would
usually continue to do SO all thru the
meal, no one else having much of a
chance to get word In edgeways as
the saying goes. But his talk was al
ways very interesting, and the others
were content to listen to him. He
would reach his long arm out whenever
ne wanted anything not near at hand,
and pull 1t towards him, and as
''reacher'' had the advantage of the
other boarders, who in those days al
ways waited on themselves. Lincoln
had rather small appetite, and the
manner of not knowing what he was
eating half the time. He never drank
coffee. but would make way with sew
eral glasses of water during a meal.
He was specially fond of pie, which, II
must be confessed, he ate unblushingly
with his knife, in the good old-fashioned
way. He sat at table with his legs
crossed Invariably. making him look
more awkward than ever, but no one
of that little company ever thought of
the mans appearance nor of his table
manners as they listened to one funny
story after another. or TO the remark
able expression of his views on slavery.
the Kansas-Nebraska bill and other
great National questions which showed
the wonderful ksenness, wisdom and
intelligent comprehension which distin-
guished this great man.
A most unpleasant bit of information
is offered US by q German doctor. who
says uS udS COuulcO tHeii up, diiQ tHdt
there ere 1,100 known diseases, all In
good and regular standing. The eye
alone. he tells us. can go wrong in 48
different ways, and while he does not
say so, 1t Is presumed that all the other
members are armed with equal power
to get US into trouble. 1t is fortunate.
indeed. for US poor mortals, chained
to these earthly bodies as we are, that
the ideas and methods of the medical
profession which prevailed during the
days of our grandmothers, when every
disease had its special remedy and
nasty enough they all were. too. are no
longer in vogue. Great changes have
come in this respect during the last 25
years, and, comparatively speaking,
hardly any medicine is given nowadays.
Much more is left to the good sense of
Mother Nature and to the favorable in
fiuences of mind and surroundings. The
German Doctors figures are startling
certainly. but we live In a day of star
tling announcements. and nave become
hardened to them and somehow lost
the faculty of getting scared"
Queen Alexandra's fondness for anna
teur photography and her expertness
with the camera has often been COM
msnted upon. and II is well known that
she seldom makes a journey without
her beloved kodak. She has hundreds.
probably thousands, of these pictures.
many of them really little gems
of art, for the Queen has a real
talent for this work. She has
decided to do a very interesting.
a quite unique thing with these pictures,
and that ts to write what she calls foot
notes" to some 1870 of thof.s, and pub
lish them In book form for the benefit