Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-05-29
CURIOUS CUSTOMS.
Norman French Sttn Used I'm Law
making I'm England.


mind than the perststency with which
certain old customs are maintained
The Romans, for instance, keep up the
saturnaha OF their ancient pagan an
cestors In a harmless way. and the
Florenttnes go on one morning OF the
year to catch crickets In the grass
simply because the Eduscans did the
same thing 1000 years ago.
John Bull has always had an affec-
ton for the old ways. So persistent
is he In keeping to the, forms and
traditions OF the past that his French
neighb0r over the way has dubbed the
United Kingdom a museum of an
tiQuities" among modern nations.
1t Is somewhat odd that the Norman
French of Edward the Confessor
shonld still be the language, the le-
gal4votce, of parliament, but 50 1t Is
in a way. Whenever q bill has passed
the commons the clerk before he
forwards it to the house OF lords
writessupon it, according to the ancient
usage, "Soit baille aux seigneurs"
Get It be sent to the lords). If It is
sent from the peers to the commons it
bears the Ike Endorsement, "Soit baille
aux communes' Get it be sent to the
commons).
Should a bill pass both houses it
needs only the royal assent to become
q law. Here the Norman French ap-
pears again. The commons, summon
ed by the usher of the black rod. are
admitted to the bar of the house of
lords to hear the statement of his
oil
are assembled the lord chancellor
makes a sign to his assistant, who
reads the title of the bill and then
says in a loud voice, lie roi lie veult"
(The king wills it). In the case of
financial bills the form is this: lie
roi remercie ses bonS sujets, accepte
leur benevolence, ct ainSi lie veult''
(The king thanks his good subjects.
accepts their faith and so wills it,.
For private bills the form is, "Soit
fait CONNIE II est desire" Get it be
done as is desired). Sometimes, If the
bill is Of special Importance, the sane
ton of his majesty is given in person.
In such a case the king, seated on the
throne at one end of the chamber,
bows his assent as the clerk reads the
title.
The infiexibility of Russian official
orders has resulted in some queer and
needless fixtures in the official sys-
tenn. Quite ludicrous discovery Of this
sort was made by the Empress Cath
crime, who was the mother of that EN-
peror Paul who was assassinated in
1901. Catherine at one time was in
spired by some passing whim Of econ
omy to scrutiniZe the imperial house
keeping accounts. To her amaZement,
she found among other queer items that
lone bottle of rum daily" was charged
to the heir apparent. Inasmuch as her
son, Naslednik, then young man, had
never evinced any signs of Incorporate
habits, his mother was greatly as
tonished. Going over the accounts to
ascertain how long this sort Of thing
had been enduring, she found to her
still greater establishment that the said
expenditure went back to the day of
his birth, and. indeed, far beyond it
So, it appeared, the heir to the
throne had not only been charged with
drinking over thirty dozen bottles Of
fine Jamaica rum ever since he was
born, but for a long time before that.
1t is hardly necessary to add that the
empress made a thorough investiga-
ton Of this queer entry. Finally, by
the aid of an antiquarian, she at last
reached the original entry.
A century or so before the imperial
physician had prescribed for the Mas
lednik of the period, ION account of
violent toothache, a teaspoonful of
rum, to be taken with sugar" This
dose was given for several days in
succession, and the nurse in charge
had deemed it more fitting to the i'm
periaI dignity, as well as more profit
able to herself, to purchase a new bot
tie OF rum each day. No one had ever
given the order to discontinue the pur-
chase, and it had gone on for a cen
fury, the rum having constituted one
of the perquisites of the court nurse.
When Bismarck during the term OF
his mission as ambassador at ST.
Petersburg was walking one after
noon in the summer garden he met the
emperor, who invited the diplomatist
to continue his stroll with him. Soon
Bismarck noticed a sentry stationed
In the middle Of large grass plot. He
" EdL tic WAS OOluZ
there. The car did not know. The
aid-de-camp did not know. So inquiry
was made Of the sentry himself
att is ordered" was his reply.
Every official gave the same an
swer. TT is ordered" but nobody
knew by whom. A sentry had always
stood guard in the middle of that IN
nocent grass plot The archives were
searched. but in vain Finally an aged
official was found who gave the ex-
PLANTATION. He had had It from his
father that the Empress Catherine
had once seen a snowdrop ready to
bloom in that plot and had ordered a
sentry to stand guard and allow no |
one to pluck it For more than a cen
fury the watch had been maintained
because '.it was ordered" and because
no one had ever dreamed OF disobey1ng |
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