The Washington herald., 1912-09-28

The thief. who stole the dressing bag
belonging to Princess Friedrich Karl OF
Kesse. In London the other day. made a
good enough haul but to the princess
the most precious thing in the bag was
the Kaiser, and her mother was the EN-
press Friedrich. daughter Of Queen
Victoria, from whom said Bible IL said
to have been inherited. As q matter Of
fact, some of the most precious possess
sions Of crooks frequently are such as a
moderately successful thief might decline
TO stoop to pick up out Of the gutter.
A treasured article. similar to the
above. was purloined at Victoria Station.
In London, is carefully preserved and
cherished at the seat of Mrs. Nisbet-
Hamilton-Ogilvy. near Prestonkirk. In
Scotland. II Is the lucky prayer book"
OF the Hamiltons. which Is supposed to
have such virtues that II has been used
at nearly every royal wedding since that
Of George III and Queen Charlotte. In
1761. tBut that poor Queen certainly was
unhappy, and prosecuted enough by her
brutal husbandD Dean Stanley took the
book to st. Petersburg In 1874 for the
marriage OF the Duke OF Edinburgh and
the Grand Duchess Marie.
No less markedly beyond price is the
triangular stone about half an inch
long. Traditionaily taken from the Sara
Gems in 1879, during the second crusade,
II has remained the most cherished be-
longing Of the Lockharts ever since and
to this day Is the great treasure OF Lee,
in the county OF Lanaris. the seat OF Sir
Simon Macdonald Lockhart. The prop
critics Of the stone are medicinal ana
miraculous cures are attributed to it
When. In the reign Of Charles the First.
the plague was raging at Newcastle-on-
Tyne the Inhabitants borrowed the Lee
penny, which wrought such wonders
that they desired to keep IL and offered
to forfeit the sum OF $1,000 which they
had deposited as security for its return
But. of course, the offer was declined
and nearly led to an armed clash.
Another family talisman Is the fairy
flag of the Macleods. so-called because
OF the legend. II was bestowed upon a
Macleod OF Macleod by Titania, queen
Of the Fairies. It is the most admired
and cherished object in Dunvegan
Castle. Isle OF Syke.
To the same class Of priceless posses
sions belongs the silver brooch Of Lorne.
believed to have been taken from Bruce
in 1906. and now kept in the residence OF
the Macdougans OF the Campbell High
land clan, the head of which is the Duke
Of Argyle. at Oban.
So too, does the Warlock Pear OF Coul-
ston. the chief treasure of Coulston. Had
dingtonshire. the ancestral seat of the
Brouns. Its history dates from lg7o. when
the then head of the house is said to
have plucked il from a tree and given 1t
to his daughter on her wedding morning,
telling her that as long as she kept II
unharmed good luck would never desert
her and her descendants. For more than
400 years the Brouns fourishsd: but to-
ward the end of the seventeenth century
a female member Of the family took
bite out of the pear. whereupon IL imme-
diateIy turned to stone. and soon after
ward a long series OF misfortunes be-
fell the house. The remarkable pear.
which remains in a petrified condition
and bears teeth-marks. is kept in q silver
box presented to the Lords of the Manor
by the town OF Haddington.
There are many other equally treasured
possessions. the most curious of which.
perhaps, is the celebrated luck of
Eden Hall The luck" which is a glass
cup OF Venetian origin, is said to have
come into the Murgatroyd family through
a servant seizing II from some fairies
who were drinking at a well.
The legand goes on to tell us that they
begged him to give II back and when he
declined to do so. they left him with
this warning:
II ever that glass should break or fall.
Farewell to luck of Eden Hall!
There Is hardly a regiment among
the soldiery of any nation that has not
a pet or a mascot of some kind. But
I believe this sort OF harmless super
stition or courting the favor of the
tickle goddess is practiced more in the
British army than elsewhere. The
goat OF the Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders is a well-known example.
The Seventeenth Lancers have a bear.
and the Grenadier Guards used TO pos
sess a famous goose named Peter.
which Joined the regiment when in