The National tribune., 1908-05-14

potaie aDStlnence, and ne mas not III
proved his after-dinner wit thereb!
Time was in the old days when to ad
gertise that Minister Wu would be pres
mt and make some remarks was I
make 1t known that there would be
Jolly lot of fun, rather riSque, in a
probability, for it is well known tha
the freedom of action of our Wester
women leads men of Oriental countrie
10 trench rather farther than the.
lhould upon polite subjects. There wa
much joy in dining-out circles when
coming back as ambassador WI. But
tlackt ambassador Wu's life wa
turning into the sere and yellow lea
Khen he left, and about that time on'
" the most charming faddists o
washington society got hold of him
hamely, Mrs. John B. Henderson, wife
ef former Senator Henderson, of Mis-
louri. The Hendersons occupy won
terfully beautiful home on 18th street
known as Boundary Castle, and they
entertain superbly-or used to. They
ipend just as much in entertaining now
as ever, but the character is changed
Once you got there Wines cordials and
liquors such as made the tears of JOY
ZONE to the eyes of the connoisseur. and
meats that melted in your mouth. Now
Tou, -don't get either of these The cor
poured into the gutter one night, and
The papers were full of the "orgies''
which Followed the dipping up of these
~ the people of the vicinity and how
hey drank and got drunk. 1t was just
:he papers that were full; the people
never even got sniff, for the reason
that before the gutter outside the
grounds could be reached by the thou
lands of dollars worth of liquors that
n oct Cd hnd oil,
INTO the ground.
But that's another story
The meats that you get at the Hen
fersons now are of the near" kind.
lnd-are made out of ground nuts and
:hings. Also the Hendersons gave up
.ea and coffee. butter, reckon, and so
on: Then Mrs. Henderson, like all
laddists, wanted the world to know all
bout it, and wrote little book about
t. Minister WI got that little book.
md read it very carefully. Then he
7isited at the Hendersons, then he ac-
.epted the whole taboo business, and
IS champagne and juicy, blood-running
roasts were getting the better of him
In the way of sciatica and other ills,
hsagave them up. When he came back
ambassador WI very few knew him.
. ehad lost at least 100 pounds of flesh
d If he wore 'em might be cited as
having fallen into the lean and slip
having achieved perfect health" as
he puts it, ambassador WI feels called
upon TO preach the new doctrine Of
abstention from alcoholic beverages and
fish, flesh and fowl" and on this topic
he is now boring everybody in after
dinner speeches. Everybody who lis
tens to him now is wishing that he
For his speech has lost every atom of
its sparkle.
4 general arbitration treaty between
the United States and Japan mas been
signed by Secretary Root aad Embas- |
sador Takahira.
This treaty follows the lines of the
several arbitration agreements nego-
.iated between this country and Euro
oean Nations during the Winter, in ac-
',ordance with ideas recently adopted
n, The Hague Conference. 1t will per-
nit of the arbitration at The Hague of
nearly teyery class of disputes which
may arise between the signatory pow
srs.
The National Society of Americans
of Royal. Descent, composed of men
and women, has been organized in this
.ity.
The only persons to be charter MEM
bers of this society are the Presidentsl
Of the different colonial organizations
rhe Honorary President is Mrs. Beverly
Kennon, of Tudor Place, and the
founder and President, Miss Lally
SomerveIl Mackall, of Georgetown.
1t would seem as tho this was mighty
ccer the limit of sgobbery for an Amer
lean citizen.
Members of the New York American
League baseball team. headed by Clark
Griffith, the manager, called on Presi-
dent Roosevelt at the White House the
other day. and were graciously received
oy the Executive, who talked with them
in an informal manner for several min
utes
The President said he was disap-
pointed that matters of state prevented
MIN from attending baseball games
more frequently. He expressed an ad-
for the sport, and interested
his visitors with an account of the
baseball activities of his son Quentin.
He said Quentin followed ali the big
games closely, and kept the averages
of all players.
The President dearly loves anything
In the way of sport that calls him out
doors.
The United States National Museum
has just received as bequest from
Stephen Decatur Smith, thru his son,
S. Decatur Smith, of Philadelphia, a
gold ring, formerly the property of
Commodore Stephen Decatur, given to
him by his fellow-officer, Richard Som
ers. at Tripoli. in 1904.
The late Mr. Smiths record of the
ring states: ''As Somers parted from
Decatur to embark on the Intrepid to
meet his heroic death, he took from
his finger ring and gave it to Deca-
tur. Decatur wore it always. till his
death"
In the war against the pirates Of ;
Tripoh Commodore Preble fitted the
intrepid as a bomb vessel to explode in
the midst OF the Tripolitan fleet, and
Sept. 4, 1904, dispatched il, in charge
Of Richard Somers. When within 500
Yards of the enemy they opened fire. a
premature explosion occurred, and
5omers with his crew were never heard
Of afterward
Those who hoped to see the canteenI
established at Soldiers Homes again
will be disappointed. The House re-
fused to concur with the Senate, and
that clause goes out.
The Navy Department sent a mes
sage to Rear-Admiral Robley ID. Evans
him upon the safe arrf-
val of himself and the Atlantic fleet att
San. Francisco, after having success
fully completed the worlds most re- .
narkable cruise ever attempted by I
1t was characteristic of Ad-
miral Evans that he finished his jour-
ney ahead of time. having arrived with
tan Root L., l..