"ONE TOUCH OF NATURE."

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9817, 28 August 1897, Page 9

" ONE TOUCH OF NATURE."

Its Chekrivg Effect on' a Sinuous Assem BLACK DESCRIBED DV JLATKE SIIARP.

Detroit Free Press,

_ I nsed to think in my young days that a time would arrive when Great Britain would (?e« up and chuck the Prince of .Vales. I have heard various rumours that the empire would never stand him as the king, but now that I know more about the business, my wonder is that the Prince of Wales does not chuck Great Britain. I give you my word that I would not take his job for the salary attached to it, together with all the honours that may pertain to the position. I don't thiuk I object to a reasonable amount of hard work ; 1 have in my time ploughed fields, cradled wheat, rafted logs, cut down timber, shingled houses, built barns, and served as a newspaper reporter, but to go through the daily task of the Prince of Wales would drive mc raving mad in a month. He has to open bridges, lnunch ships, inaugurate public buildings, dig the first sod on new railways, preside at meetings, give away prizes, attend volunteer reviews, and all this week in and weak out without cessation. His time is accurately marked out for him a year ahead, and on each occasion the proceedings are almost iuvariably the same, lie has to stand up and receive an address from some commonplace people he never heard of or saw before, then lie has to make a suitable reply, pick up a mallet or a silver trowel, declare the place open, or lay the corner-stone, as the case may be, and tho moment he is through with one job he is whisked off to another, to receive another deputation, make another address, and so on.

It would not be so bad if the torture was limited to one address and one reply in a day, but sncli is far from being the caso. The moment it is known that tho prince is coming to some provincial town in England, say to open ii«w municipal buildings, every society and every coterie in that town claims tho right to welcome him, and present him with an address and listen to a reply. Of course, a great number of these are weeded out, but nevertheless he has sometimes to listen to half a dozen addresses from half a dozen different bodies in the coiuse of a day.

When he arrives l>.y special train at the town, there are the mayor and the aldermen in their robes of odjce to greet him. An address is read and a reply is made, in which there are graceful allusions to the town and its energy and all that sort of thing, and then ho is whisked away to the place where the oornei'-stono is to be laid. Here the worshiptul body of something or other presents another illuminated address, and the prince is expected to make a fitting reply. The moment the corner-stone is laid he lias to go somewhere else and meet another lot of utterly stupid people, in whom no sane man oould have the slightest interest. Of course, the prince's addresses are all written out for him by useful and intelligent secretaries, and a man stands at his elbow ready to give him the right one so that he does not congratulate the worshipful company of tanners on their skill in making cutlery and things of that sort.

The average English official ia generally very much impressed, with his own importance anyhow, and, a3 he is usually an exceedingly ordinary person—at best, always deadly dull—it wottld take half a dozen Charles Dicken&ea to describe the inaneness of his remarks. When royalty comes to town it ie the occasion of the official's lifetime, and ho makes the most of it. Hβ has his whack at the prince, and the prince stands there, pretending to enjoy it all, compelled to receive every sentence. Never is there a scintillation of humor in the remarks ; the case is much too serious for that. The sairie, or very similar, turgid sentences, the unfortunate prince has heard a thousand times before, yet he must; stand there with a smile on his face and look as if he likes it; then he, in his turn, ha 3to make practically the same reply, with various local additions and changes, which he has made time and again this past twenty years. It is always a great occasion for the local man in authority ; it gives him a chance in after life of puffing himself up and saying to his hearers: "And when I met the prince I says to him, says I, and he says to me——" and so on.

I swear that if 1 were the Prince of Wales and had to stand what he does I Would some day astonish the nation by pulling out a knife and tomahawk and wading into some deputation and would have their reeking scalps at my belt before ten seconds were past. lam the more amazed that the prince doee not do this, because I understand he is onfcwle and above the law and they couldn't touch him if he scalped a whole city council.

I have seen a good many functions where the Prince of Wales was the central figure, and I could not help thinking when I looked pityingly at him, of Fred Villiers' device for suppressing local chairmen when he gave his lectures in the rural towfts of Kngland. Once a chairman gets on his feet and gets a chSnco at An Audience there is no limit to his dullness and verbosity, so Fred had it arranged with hie stereopticon man that when the chairman had talked for five minutes the Useful assistant, as if by mistake, Would turn on the limelight, flashing it in the orator's eyes, causing him to blink, stammer, break down and th?n sit down. Mr ViUierd invariably apologir.es for the man's stupidity and then begins with his lecture. If the Prince of Wales only had some such device as that he would be a happy man ; but, alas, he has no such luck, he must stand there and take it.

Now, if this unfortunate royal lifer were condemned to a similar round iv America his condition would not be so deplorable as it is in England, for now and then, over there, he would meet a man who would tell him a good story, or crack a joke that would bring a smile to his royal countenance. Of cottrse he would meet the pompous darn fool in America, just as here, for a republican farm of government has not succeeded in eliminating either pomposity or darn foolishness from human natnre; but he wouldn't meet the pompous dull official all the time, as he is obliged to flo in England. I was invited down to the ancient city of Canterbury the other day to be present at the ceremony of the opening of the Chapter House, which adjoins the great cathedral there, and on looking up the history of the old town I find that in 1<169 King Edward IV. came to Canterbury and ordered the execution of the mayor, and I could not help thinking during the ceremony that the Prince of Wales must regret the good old time when a person in his position might hang a mayor and a whole corporation without anybody making an unnecessary fuss about their taking off. The Chapter House ia a fine old edifice that took twenty years in the building, just a trifle over five centuries ago. It had been allowed to fall into disrepair, bnt when Canon Farrar was appointed Dean of Canterbury he took the ancient building in hand, got up subscriptions for its restoration, and now it presents a creditable appearance worthy of the old town and the fine cathedral which it adjoins. It was from the Chapter House that Thomas a , Beoket went to hie death ; and besides its architectural beauty, the Chapter House has many historical associations connected with it which makes it a place of great interest. The Chapter Houss is a large oblong room, and at one end of it Vis a dais on which the royal partfc and the distinguished guests, many of them allied by kinship to the royal house, stood. The occasion being seini-ecclesiaatical, was necessarily pervaded by great solemnity. The Archbishop of Canterbury waa t!:-re himself, of courae, surrounded by niv.nerous dignitaries of the church. The Prince and Princess of Wales with their daughter, Victoria, formed the centre of the royal group. There were duke 3 and earls and lords without uumberon the platform, and a dash of colour was added by the presence of the lord lieutenant of the county, together with the military commandant of the district, accompanied by several distinguished officers. Among the noted foreigners present was Prince Charles of Denmark, a tall, serious young man, looking more like an Englishman than a Dane, and with him was his wife, Princess Charles of Denmark, who a little more than a year ago was Princess Maud of Wales. The talented Dean Farrar, author of a most celebrated life of Christ, was the orator of the occasion; and I must here make an exception, and cannot include him in the category of dull English speakers, tor he gave an extemporaneous address that was exceedingly interesting, and, to the amazement of many present, walked into the Danes for their desecration of this church and of Canterbury ; perhaps forgetting that Prince Charles, who listened with constantly heightening colour, was a Dan*.

It is true that the Danes did play havoc in Canterbury, but that was some time ago, and doubtless Prince Charles did not at all feel that he was responsible for it. In the eleventh century they marched upon Canterbury and were evicted only by the payment of a large ransom. Yet a few years later they returned, and Canterbury not having any money left, the Danes mercilessly massacred nine out of ten of the people, leaving only 800 men and four monks alive out of a population of about 8000.

I have no doubt that Prince Charles was shocked to hear of the unjustifiable action of his countrymen.

The body of the Chapter House was jammed full of people gazing up at the royal party and paying attention to tho dignified ceremony. I dwell on all this, because to understand what follows yon must have a knowledge of how particularly formal and stiff a function this was ; how tremendously impressed all persons were with the ceremony, and in addition the reader must endeavour to form some idea of the awe and reverence with which royalty is still regarded in England, and how abashed the ordinary man teels when he finds himself in the presence of the members of the reigning house.

The entry of the procession after all others in attendance were in their places was most impressive. They stage-manage these church and state functions well in England, and I don't know that Sir Henry Irving himself, who next day gave a reading :n the Ciiapter House, could have done it any better.

The procession was headed by the surplice 1 choir ->f the cathedral, chanting as they came ; they were followed by the mayor and corporation in their robes ; then came the Earl of Rosebery, Earl Stanhope, the Karl of Cranbrook, Viscount VVolseley, head of the army, the Duke of Fife, Lord Amherst, for whose ancestor the town below Detroit was named, and other celebrated persons, who, when they were seated at the back of the dais, were followed by the royal party and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The ceremonies began with a prayer by the Archbishop of Canterbury ; then came the address of Doan Ftirrar, and after that the reply of the Prince of Wales. Then the Princess stepped forward. On a table bafore her was a large silver salver, and there trooped np to her, one by one, something more than a score of pretty little girls nil dressed in white, each with a bunch of ilovvers at her girdle, and each holding a white silk purse filled with gold. Thie was money subscribed for the restoration of the Chapter House, and was to be presented in person by the little girls to the Princess of Wales, who took from each ono her purse and placed it on the silver salvor. The little girls had evidently been well drilled and went through their parts to perfection. Natural born actresses every one of them, each made her advance, did her bow and her curtsey, at exaotly the proper places, handed up the purse to the smiling Princess, and then backed out of the presence of royalty without a mis-step or a mistake. They did acquit themselves well, and I have no doubt their mothers were proud women that day.

When the girls had finished their presentations as prettily and as daintily as if they were a group of fairies, then came the turn of the little boys, for an equal number of them had purses to present. They also were dressed in white, but it was quite evident that every blessed one of them had forgotten all that had been impressed upon them regarding their conduct during this trying time. The poor boys looked flashed add unhappy. They approached the royal lady awkwardly, moat of them forgetting to bend the knee, then remembering it just at the wrong time, and when the princeSß had taken the purse the boy usually bolted in panic, not recollecting that he must never, if he wished to shine in etiquette, turn his badk upon royalty. Finally there came on a little fair-haired fellow with the face of a cherub framed in fail , curls, somnwhere between fivo and six years old, altogether too young to appreciate the iron fetters of ceteftiony, or to understand that ho stood in the most distinguished gathering that hie country could well bring together. He came forward a few steps and then finding himself alone on the platform, ac it were, stopped and glauced found, apparently just a little frightened to find nobody near him whom he knew. He clutched his white silk purse fintily in hie hand and stood there. The Princess of Wales, Seeirig his dilemma, herself advanced to him and held out her hand for the purse, but the boy wasn't going to give up his cash to the first one who asked toe it; perhaps remembering that some hundreds of years before, the Danes, of whom the princess Wafi 80 fair a sample, had grabbed all the money there was in Canterbury. He held the ptitse behind his back, ignored the outstretched hand and looked up into the face of the tall lady. She, however, was Ho pleasant end her smile was so charming that the little fellow quite evidently lost his heart to his future sovereign, for he smiled genially up at her, and, inspired by new confidence, impulsively held out his hand' with the pUrse, saying: "Here." The Prince of Wales put hie hand over hie mouth and quite palpably strove to conceal a smile. The efficial down at the foot of the Steps, who dared not advance end clutch the boy by the arm, was motioning to him to coinfe off, but the" little, fellow felt that he had fallen among friends, and he smiled in a most fraternal mabner at one and then another of the royal party, looking tipon them as a lad taken to a ten Cent museum would look afc the wonders there displayed. All at once ib seemed to strike him that the polite thing to do was to shake hands With the Princess, so he held out his chubby little paw and smiled up at hef with the utmost confidence. She cook hie fat hp.nd and shook it heartily. Those responsible for the working of the ceremonies were in despair ; they daren't shout at the boy, and they dareu't go up on the dais and yank him down, and what to do they didn't know, for it was a case utterly without precedent. Meanwhile the little fellow, who Understood when he was well off, strolled nonchalantly along the platform before the royal group, regarding them all with good hum,oui-ed toleranoe. He apparently sized up the Prince of Wales critically, and evidently did not think so much of him as of his wife, for he made no offer to shake hands, and the Prince, finding himself thus judged, made no farther attempt to restrain his mivth, but threw back hie head and laughed heartily. The little fellow didn't quite see where the joke lay, bnt nevertheless, being a companionable boy, he laughed in company. The tall and stately Prince Charles of I)enmark, who was very solemn and did not laugh, was in fact the only one of the group not now convulsed Math merriment, attracted the boy's attention. The youngster gazed at his uniform with interest and appreciation; then he walked up to Prince Charles and held out his hand. The tall Prince of Denmark got very red in the face and seemed inclined to stand on his dignity, but Albert Edward, shaking with laughter, put his hand to the side of his mouth and whispered, so one who was near him reported to mc afterwards " Shake hands with him, Charles ; he represents young England, and is willing to let byegones be byegones," at which Prince Charles smiled wanly, and shook hands with the insistent rising generation. The boy, attracted by the Prince of Wales' whisper looked at his royal highness with a smile ; and, reconsidering his first impulse, concluded that he was not such a bad sort after all, and then to the horror of all the attendants he backed round beside the Prince of Weles and took up a position complacently by the side of the heir to the throne, resolved to stay there in spite of all beckoning and whispered beseechmenta from below the dais. He was quite satisfied with his position, and his smiling face showed bis contentment.

A roar of laughter went np from all the packed throng in the Chapter House, nobles and commons alike. For the time being, etiquette went to the winds, and in the storm of merriment, an attendant came hurriedly up the steps and cook the youngster away, but not before the Prince of Wales had shaken him cordially by the hand and putted his curly head.

And so this young man of five goes beck to the comparative obscurity of his kindergarten with the prond knowledge that his first appearance in public life created not only merriment but consternation, and although many solemn things have hap. pened in that Chapter House daring the five hundred years of its existence, I doubt if anything quite so funny ever occurred in Canterbury before, for it i> ft solemn towu not given to laughter.