The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-06-06
CURIOUS CUSTOMS

Norman French StIil Used In
LaWmakInp In England.
RUSSIAN OFFICIAL FARcES.
Amusing History Of Royal Daily Ra-
ton Of Rum and tho Astonishing
Story Of etsiId Sentry and an In.
ncesnt Qrass Pict.
In Europe there IL perhaps nothing
more astonishing to the American
mind than the psrststency with which
certain old customs are maintained
The Romans, for instance, keep up the
saturnalia Of their ancient pagan an
cestors IN q harmless way, and the
B1orentines go on one morning Of the
year to catch crickets In the grass
simply because the Etruscans did the
same thing 1000 years ago.
John Bull has always had an affec
ton for the old ways. 30 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 a museum Of an
hquities" among modern nation&
It Is somewhat odd that the Norman
French Of Edward the Confessor
should stil be the language, the 10
gal voice. of parliament, but 80 It is
IN q way. Whenever bill has passed
the commons the clerk before he
forwards 1t to the house Of lords
writes upon It, according to the ancient
usage, "soit battle aux seigneurs"
Get It be sent to the lords). If 1t ia
sent from the peers to the commons it
bears the like Endorsement, ~sodt bailie
aux communes" Get 1t be sent to the
commons).
Should bill pass both houses 1t
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
majesU's commissioner When all
are assembled the lord chancellor
makes q sign to his assistant, who
reads the title Of the bill and then
says In loud voice. lie roi 10 veult'
Ths king Wills it,. In the case Of
financial bills the form Il this: lie
roi remercie SEES bons sujets, accepte
leur benevolence. ct ainsi 10 veult''
CThe king thanks his good subjects.
accepts their faith and so wills it,.
For private bills the form Is, "Soit
fait comme II est desire" Get It be
done as IL DESIRED Sometimes, If the
bin Il Of special Importance, the sane
ton Of his majesty Is given In person
In such case the hng. seated on the
throne at one end of the chamber,
bows his assent as the clerk reads the
title
The fnnexibflity 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 Gath
crime, who was the mother Of that Hm
peror Paul who was assassinated In
1901. Catherine at one time was in
spired by some passing within of econ
ony to scrutinize the imperial house
keeping accounts. To her amusement,
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 eYinced 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
fne Jamaica rum ever since be was
born. but for long time before that
1t is barely 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, teaspoonfuI Of
rum. to be taken with sugar" This
dose was given for several days In
succession. and the nurse In charge
hoS a~nxx,oS g. xx,>ro a++5r~ 80 A. a.,
perial dignity, as well as more profit
able to herself, to purchase q 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 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 diplornatist
to continue his stroll with him Soon
Bismarck noticed sentry stationed
in the middle of large grass plot he
asked what the soldier was doing
there The car did not know. The
aid-de-camp did not know. So inquiry
was made of the sentry himself
'slt Is ordered" was his reply.
Every official gave the same an
swer. ut 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 Sund 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 cen
tury the watch had been maintained
because ut was ordered" and because
no one had ever dreamed of disobeyine
the order or questioning any one as to
the reason therefor.-New York Press
THE NAME STUCK.
And Yet the Man Who Owned II pidn't
Feel Flattered.
They had been speaking of name