The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-28
GOSSIP IN LONDON
From the Philadelphia Evening Tel

From the Philadelphia Evening Tele-
 graph.
 Representatives of the chief London clubs met recently at the Charterhouse hotel to consider the question of playing cricket during the coming summer. Sir Home Gordon, who presided, dwelt on the distinction that was to be drawn between club cricket and county cricket, pointing out that club cricket did not draw the public. He read a message from Lord Hawke, in which he said that now that in the midst of a terrible war, with losses in- creasing daily. it was not becoming that any serious cricket this summer should be thought of. There could. however, be no harm in friendly games among cricket CTS who are not qualified to enlist or who must stay at home for government work. The chairman added that he believed the M. c. c. would play all the schools they met annually. resolution was passed in favor of the older members of clubs endeavoring as far as possible to keep the grounds and staffs going while the younger members are fighting so that expenses may be to some extent met
 
 The King and Queen inspected yesterday at Buckingham palace a motor coffee stall provided by the church army for the service of British soldiers in France.
 The van, which was dedicated by the bishop of London a few days ago, will start for the front at once. It is the first of fleet of 20 which, with the ap- proval of the war office and the co-opera- ton of the Red Cross society will, it Is expected, be sent out shortly by the church army to accompany the ambulance conveys.
 After close examination of the car. they hoped that the hot beverages it would supply might prove a comfort to the wounded and weary. The King was particularly interested in the portable communion equipment carried in the car. It consists of a small altar, a chalice, surpllce and a stole, all slowed neatly in cupboard, and available at any time for the use of any chaplain of the Church of England. He remarked that he was per- sonally aware that many men would well come an opportunity of taking communion before they went to the trenches.
 
 One of the unexpected phenomena of trade in London during the last two months is the sudden demand for curios of all kinds, particularly those which are small and inexpensive. s. 4s
 When war broke out the antique busi- nesses were among the first to be hit, and dealers who had no capital were forced to close their doors or to try some line foreign to their business. Job lots of lit- tie brass odds and ends, cottage Stafford shire, bits of doubtful Waterford, old tea caddies and the like, were to be seen marked '10s the lot" or even less, but they rarely tempted any one to buy.
 But things have changed. People have begun to spend money on the little objets de vertu they have denied themselves so long, and the antique dealers are finding it hard to keep up with the demand for some of these things as owing to the good separation allowances, the poorer people who in times of storm and stress part with objects that have a collectors value are not doing so now. Nearly every thing that is being bought is of the early Victorian or late Georgian era; old work boxes, work tables and pole screens have been much in demand for sometime past.
 To the new cult of the needle and the loom is due partly the sudden interest in that early Victorian Berlin wool work which brought such anguish to the heart of William Morris. The emphatic shaded flowers on their chequers have not cer- tain dignity from the effect of the climate and the years that have passed over them. Victorian prie-dieus and footstools com mand a certain price-though it must be emphatiscally asserted that war prices prevail rywhere.-I.ondon Times.