The National tribune., 1910-10-27

special trip from her home in England
to Brussels to intercede for them ana
the Countess of Flanders did her best.
King Leopold remained obdurate. and
the case of Prince Victor ard Princess
Clementine seemed hopeless. They had
lots of good friends who sympathiZed
warmly with them, but that didn't help
. matters much. and poor Clementine
grew ill and very, very sad. A year or
so ago a paper chase on horseback took
place near Brussels and Prince Victor
won the prize. Princess Clementine
! had been selected to bestow this upon
the successful contestant, and when the
Prince approached her and she pinned
the ribbon on his breast her emotion
overcame her and she burst into tears.
/ Poor Princess Clcmentine," said every
one present; lit is absolutely cruel that
/ the King will not let them marry and
the royal lady's cause became more
strongly championed than ever. How
ever with the death of Leopold Clemen-
! tines troubles were over, for King Al
bert smiled upon Prince Victor's suit,
and advised the pair to marry as soon
as possible. The wedding will take
place some time in November at the
home of the Princes mother, Princess
Clotilde, near Turin, Italy, and every
one hopes that the long waiting of the
lovers will be rewarded by an unusual
ly high degree of matrimonial bliss.
THE little Republic of Switzerland
has a rather startling innovation
under consideration, which, if
carried into effect, may have quite an
influence on the world at large. An
organization called the "Swiss Society
of Public Utility for Women" is going
to attempt next year to have the State
make it compulsory for every bride to
present to her future bridegroom a GER
tificate of health. If this certificate
does not pronounce her healthy wO-
man, he can still marry if he so chooses,
but he does it with his eyes open and
at his own risk. Such an examination
will not apply to would-be brides alone,
but all young women will be required
to report to medical board for
general physical overhauling, so to
speak, as are their brothers when they
enter the Swiss army. The scheme,
daring as it is, is said to be very favor
ably received in Switzerland, and it's
originators have high hopes of its being
adopted by the State. This question OF
permitting the physically unfit to marry
has been one of the most serious prob
lens of civilization. 1t has been con-
stant menace yet people have felt un-
able to deal with it properly, SO have
left 1t alone. IL little Switzerland has
shown us the way, she has done a good
thing, indeed.
n N important witness In the case OF
~ the Duveens, the New York art
firm now under charges for
cheating the Government by false in
voices of their importations, would be
Charles Taft, the Presidents brother.
Mr.. Taft, who is a man of wealth, is a
great lover of fine pictures, and, in
deed, as Mrs. Partington would say, of
all objects of "bigotry and virtue" His
beautiful home is filled with rare and
costly things. many of which have been
bought from the Duveens. One of his
recent purchases was a framed oval
plaque, 18th century portrait of the
Duke of Nevers done in enamel, for
which he Is said to have paid the Du-
veens 100000. The plague belonged
to the famous s2.500.000 Maurice Kann
collection. which passed into the hands
of these New York art dealers Other
possible witnesses in this smuggling case
are John d. Rockefeller, Pierpont Nor
gan, Mrs. Coils p. Huntington, Henry
c. Frick and a lot more of the million
aire class. Apropos of what we said
last week about women sewing Ameri-
can dreSsmakers' labels on their for
eign-bought gowns, a Mrs McKenna.
of Chicago, has just been obliged to pay
a fine of $1,000 for an offense of this
kind. She attempted to smuggIe in
gowns valued at $1,000 by sewing do
mestic labels on them. but micro
Scope revealed. the deceit, and the
81, 900 fine was the result.