The Washington bee., 1912-03-09
CURIOUS CUSTOMS.
Norman French Still Used In
LaWmaking In England.
RUSSIAN OFFICIAL FARCES.
Amusing History of Royal Daily Ra-
ton of Rum and the Astonishing
Story of a Stoid Sentry and an In
nocent Grass Plot.

In Europe there is perhaps nothing
more astonishing to the American
mind than the persistency with which
certain old customs are maintained.
The Romans. for instance. keep up the
saturnalia of their ancient pagan an
cesrors in a harmless way, and the
Florentines go on one morning Of the
wear TO catch Crickets in the grass
simply because the EtrusCans did the
same thing 1000 years ago.
John Bull has always had an aftec-
ton for the old ways. So persistent
is he in keeping TO the forms and /
traditions of the past that his French (
ueighbor over the way has dubbed the |
United Kingdom a museum Of an /
tIouities' among modern nations.
II 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 bill has passed
tbe commons the clerk before he
forwards it to the house OF lords
writes upon it. according to the ancient
usage. "Soit baille aux seigneurS
1.et If be sent to the lords. If II Is
sent from the peers to the commons II
hears the like Endorsement, "SOit ballle
aux communes" lLet it be sent to the
commons.
Should bill pass both houses it
needs only the royal assent to become
law. Here the Norman French ap-
nears again. The commons. summon
al bv the usher Of the black rod. are
admitted to the bar Of the house Of
lords to hear the statement of his
maiesty's' commissioners. When all
! are assembled the lord chancellor
/ makes sign TO his assistant, who
reads the title Of the bill and then
saws in a loud voice. lie roi lie veult
! The king wills iU. In the case OF
! financial bills the form is this: lie
/ roi remercie SeS bOnS Sujet~, accepte
! Ieur benevOlence. ct ainsi le veult
/ THE king thanks his good subjects
accepts their faith and 50 wills IT..
! For private bills the form Is, "SoIt
! fait CONNIE IL est desire tLet II be
done as is desired Sometimes, If the
bill is of special importance. the sane
ton of his ma JeSty 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 indexibiity of Russian official
orders has resulted in some queer and
needless fixtures in the official sys-
tenn Quite a ludicrouS discovery II this
sort was made by the Empress Cath
| crime. who was the mother of tnat En-
| peror Paul who was aSSaSSinated III
| 1901 Catherine at one time was in
| spired by some passing whim or econ
| omv 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. lHaSmuch as hel
| son. Naslednik. then a young man, haC
| never evinced any signs Of intemperat'
| habits. his mother was greatly as
tonisEed. Going over the accounts Il
ascertain how long this sort OF thln;
had been enduring. she found to he
stiU greater aStuHi>hment that the salt
expenditure went back to the day o
his birth. and. indeed. far beyond ii.
So if appeared the heir To th'
| throne had not only been charged viii
drinking over thirty dozen bottles o
| fine Jamaica rum ever since he wa
, | horn. but for long time before that
, | 1t is hardly necessary tn add that tn
| empress made thorough mveatiga
, ton Of this queer entry. Finally. b.
J the aid of an antiquarian. She at las
Z reached the original entry.
: \ century OF 50 before the imperla
! ! Dbysi,ian had prescribed for the Ma,
! lednik Of the period. "on account of
violent to0thachc, a tea>poonful G
rum. to be taken with sugar. IhI
| dose was given for several days
| succession. and the nurse in chaTg
If had deemed il more fitting to the in
10 neriaI dignity. aS we'll as more prof
able to herself To purchase a new bo
~ flo of rum each day. No one had eve
p Given the order to discontinue the pu
# chase and it had gone OF for ce
10 | turv the rum having constituted OT
-o | Of the perqUiSitcS Of the court nurse.
,o when bismarck during the term
If his mission as ambassador at
Petersburg was walking one afte
noop in the summer garden he met Il
amperor. who invited the diplomat
+o | to continue his stroll with him. SOt
in bismarck noticed sentry station
ba in the middle of - large grass plot. 7
* asked what the soldier was dol
.,+ there. The ear did not know. T
~ sid-de-camp did uoF know So inqui
vi was made of the sentry himself.
eft IS ordered" was his reply.
Fverv official gave the same {
gwer. 1T is ordered" but nObo
,ar knew bv whom. A sentry had alwa
~ stood guard in the middle Of that
nocent grass plot. The archives Wa
~ searched. but in vain. Finally an ag
,cb official was found who gave the
nianation. He had had # from
father that the Empress Gather
had once seen snowdrop ready
tho bloom in that plot and had ordered
sentry TO stand guard and allow