The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-06-30

story OF Stolid Sentry and an In.
noeent Grass Plot.
In Europe there is perhaps nothing
more astonishing to the American
mind than the persistency with which
pertain old customs are maintained.
The Romans, for instance, Keep up the
saturnalla Of their ancient pagan an
cestOrs I'm a harmless way, and the
Florentincs 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.
tion for the old ways. SO persistent
Is he In keeping TO the forms aud
! traditions of the past that his French
neighbor over the way has dubbed the
! Uuited Kingdom museum OF an.
uquitles" among modern nations.
II Is somewhat odd that the Norman
| French of Edward the Confessor
should still be the languoge. the le-
! gal voice. OF parliament. but so It is
In way. Whenever bin has passed
| the commons the clerk before be-
| forwards It to the house OF lords
writes upon Il, according 10 the ancient
usage. "Soit haile aux seigneurs'
| Oet It be sent to the lordsI If It is
sent from the peers to the commons It
bears the like Endorsement. "Soit baille
! aux communes" U.rt II be sent to the
| commonsl.
Should bill pnss both houses II
needs only the royal assent TO become
a law. Here the Norman French up.
! pears again. The commons. summon.
ed by the usher OF the black rod. are
admitted TO the har of the house or
! lords to hear the statement OF his
majesty's commissioners When all
are assembled the lord chancellor
makes sign to his assistant who
reads the title Of the hill and then
says In a loud voice. lie roi .e veult"
! (The king wills ~. In the case of
financial bills the form Is this: lie
rol remercie ses Dons sujets, accepte
leur benrvoence. ct siasi 10 veult'
CThe king thanks his good slbjects,
accepts their taih and so Wills IT..
For private bills The form Is. "Soit
fait CONNIE II est desire" Q.et II be
done as Is desired Sometimes. II 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 ciid OF the chamber.
bows his assent as The clerk reads the
title.
The inGexibllty OF Russian. official
orders has resulted IN some queer aud
| naanlneu Hzt tv
TEN. Quite n udicrous discovery of this
sort was mnde by the Empress Cath
crime, who was the mother OF that En-.
| peror Paul who wns assasslnated in
| 1901. Catherine ut one time was in>
| splred by some passing within OF econ
omy TO scrutinl2e the imperial house
| keeping accounts To her nmHZemenL
she found among other queer items that
zone bottle of run daily" was charged
to the heir apparent lnaSmuch as her
son. Naalednik. then n young man, had
never eyinced any signs OF inlpmperate
habits. his mother was greatly as
tonished. Going over the accounts ia
ascertain how long this sort of thing
bad been enduring she found to her
still greater astouishment that the said
expenditure went buck 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
tne Jamaica rum ever since he was
born, but for long time before that
Ii is hardly necessary TO add that the
empress made a thorough tnvestiga-
tion 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
lsdnlk OF the period. ION account OF
violent toothache. teaspoonful OF
rum. TO be taken with sugar" This
dnse was given for several days in
succession, and the nurse In charge
had deemed IL more fitting to the i'm.
perinl dignity. as well as more profit.
able TO herself. 10 purchase new bot.
tie of rum each day. No one had ever
given the order to discontinue the pur-
chase, and 1t had gone on for a CEN
tury, 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 czar did not know. The
aid-de-camp did not know. SO Inquiry
was made OF the sentry himself.
sit is ordered" was his reply.
Every official gave the same an
swer, at 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. hut in vain. Finally an aged
official was found who gave the ex-
planation. lie had had It from his
father that the Empress Catherine
had once seen a suowdrop ready to
bloom I'm thar plot and had ordered