The Cairo bulletin., 1911-05-19
CURIOUS CUSTOMS
Norman French Still Used In
LaWmaking In England.
RUSSIAN OFFICIAL FARCES.

noccnt Grass Plot.
In Europe there is perhaps nothing
more astonishing to the American
mind than the pcrsistency with which
certain old customs are maintained.
The Romans, for instance. keep up the
saturnalia of their ancient pagan an
cestors In harmless way, and the
| Florentlues go on one morning Of the
year to catch crickets in the grass
i simply because the Etruscans did the
same thing 1900 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
neighbor over the way has dubbed the
United Kingdom q ~museum Of an
Equities" among modern nations.
1t is somewhat odd that the Norman
French Of Edward the Confessor
should still be the language. the le-
gal voice. Of parliament, but so 1t Is
in way. Whenever bin has passed
the commons the clerk before he
forwards it to the house of lords
writes upon it. according to the ancient
| usage, "Soit baille aux seigneurs"
| Q4et 1t be sent to the lords). II 1t Is
sent from the peers to the commons 1t
bears the like Endorsement. SOFT baille
aux communes" Let 1t be sent to the
commons).
Should bill pass both houses 1t
needs only the royal assent to become
law. Here the Norman French APP
pears ngain. 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
are assembled the lord chancellor
makes sign to his assistant. who
reads the title of the bill and then
says In loud voice, lie roi lie veult"
The king wills it,. In the case Of
| financial bills the form is this: lie
roi remercie SEES bons sujets. aecepte
leur benerolence, ct ainsi lie yeult"
(The king thanks his good subjects.
For private bills the form is, "Soit
fait CONNIE II est desire Uet 1t 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 case the king, seated on the
throne at one end of the chamber,
bows his assent as the clerk reads the
title.
The infexibility OF Russian official
orders has resulted In some queer and
needless fixtures In the official sys
TEN. Quite a 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 scrutinizs the imperial house
keeping accounts. To her amazement,
she found among other queer items that
zone 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
expenditure went back to the day Of
his birth. and. indeed. far beyond it.
So. 1t 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 long time before that.
1t Is hardly necessary to add that the
empress made a thorough inyestiga.
tlon 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 a
violent toothache, teaspoonful Of
rum, to be taken with sugar" This
dose was given for several days in
succession, and the nurse In charge
had deemed 1t more fitting to the i'm
perial dignity. as we'll as more profit
| able to herself. to purchase new bot
| tic of rum each day. No one had ever
given the order to discontinue the pur,
| chase, and It had gone on for 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
asked what the soldier was doing
there. The ear did not know. The
ald-de-camp did not know. SO inquiry
was made of the sentry himself.
at Is ordered" was his reply.
Every official gave the same an
swer, at r. 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 OK
PLANTATION. He had had 1t from bis
father that the Empress Catherine
/ boI nuca ennn gnnr-Jro, rao1,y -