TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 11806, 2 February 1904, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A few—a T«y few—peoEntertaining pie amongst that class of Royalty. Society known generically as "the upper ten" have occasionally the privilege of entertaining Royalty at their country houses. The honour cannot be said to be very lightly eiuned. On the contrary, it involves a good deal of sacrifice. "A Fellow Gue»t," writing in the "Daily Mail," say 3: —The host and hcetoss do not even have a voice in the selection of the guests to meet Royalty. The name of every guest has to be submitted for approval to the King, who very often will simply ksue definite instructions ac to who is to be invited. Some times he will not deem even thie necessary, and will invite people "on his own," so that the host and hostess may not know who is coming till the happy inviteo wrives and says "Here I am." Then the whole house is papered and painted, and the sanitary arrangements are thoroughly overhauled. This last point has to be specially looked after since the 111----iiess of the present King in 1871, when ho nearly met hia death owing to faulty sanitation in a house in Yorkshire, in which he had been staying. The late Queen used to take a good deal of "luggage" with her to any country house she happened to honour with her presence, or in which she deigned to "lie," as the eayiag used to be. Thus she took her own bed and bedding, carriages and horses, and servants, including the cook. Moreover, when Queen Victoria paid a country visit her host and hostess could only join her at meals by exprees invitation. At all other times her Majesty would dine with her mite. The present King and Queen, however, are no longer so exclusive, and always dine with their host and hosteie and their other guests. The first meal of the day is invariably served in the Royal apartment*, and luncheon is more often than not taken abroad. Whenever the King is accompanied by the Queen, Court drees-»-knee-breeehes and silk stockings is "de rigueur," but when the King is alone ordinary evening dress is worn. The whole house party must bo assembled in whatever room is customary before dinner previous to the entrance of the King and Queen. The latter, and not their host and hostess, lead the way into the dining-room. The dinner must be choice and the menu brief, for the King detests long meals. Those who contemplate entertaining Royalty aro requested to note that fingerbowls must be conspicuous by their absence. Everybody knows the origin, of this point of etiquette. The old Jacobites used to hold their wine glosses over their finger-bowls when the King's health was proposed, and co toasted, not tho reigning monaroh, but the Stuart King "over the water."

Quite a storm was created The Corse in London by the announceof ment of a West End docOatmeal, tor, a Scotsman, that oatmeal is not only an inadequate and non-nourishing food, but it positively dangerous. "I consider it the curse of Scotland, and the curse of every community which acqwree a liking for it," said the accuser. Ho fully realised the gravity of the charge he levelled against such a popular foodj but he. was prepared to back up his statement. The two classes of persons -who use oatmeal, ,he pointed out, axo those doing hard manual and bodily labour, and those wh*o work wita their brains, but do little with t&eir muscles. The firat division, such, for instance, as quarrymen, .jniners, and unskilled labourers, find oatmeal a good enough article of diet; but, adds the doctor, "owing to the excessive muscular efforts by which they maintain themselves, they could cat paving irtonee." As for the other class, the accuser is quite clear in his own mind. "To people who live in towns and who ,work with their brains, and are troubled with digestive disturbances, oatmeal is little short of a poison." The process of digesting this dangerous food is thus described. The immediate effect is a feeling of euch extreme eatwftu? , tion that the person eating it is unable t| partake of more food. At the end of al hour and a half there supervenes a feelua of discomfort, and a desire to ewallow saliva. There are other disquieting Bym» toms, and then the stomach feck emptM and manifests a semi -catarrhal condition ■* a feeling of false hunger. "The unMformed layman," continue!? the doctor, 'jm almost delighted to find that this huner disappears at the sight of food. Ho. da) not know that bis stomach is getting $■> o> condition of clironio catarrh." '-Ag<e. after operations for appendicitis oat-stoße are often found in the stomach, wbileSi Scotland the eating of oatmeal is a ojfrmon cause of drunkenneee, becauseflt caunce a dry mouth. In the discission tSt followed this condeaauation of oatmß. there were, it is true, individual autbStws to support practically every c«. Aa to the <iFecte of porridge eating, oy race, an English surgeon declared empaK? cally that ho never taw a more degeneieo race than the Scots, " and the PhysKl Research Commission," he added, "Wfl prove this." Several correspondente, Jgp, the other hand, urged the neceesity preparing porridge in the proper Scotch method. The argument was an amusing one, but it did not succeed in settling the question conclusively, whether Dr. Johnson was quite justified in hie gibe that oatmeal was the " food of hones in England, and men in Scotland."

At a recent meeting of Why Children the Sanitary Institute are Naughty, in London, a certain' Dr. Still read an original paper on "naughtiness" in children. Naughtiness, it seems, is not always the outcome of mere childish perversity. II we are to believe Dr. Still it is a species of disease, or "moral imbecility," that causes a child to steal, to lie, to be greedy, or to kick. And this moral imbecility may be the effect of a physical ailment in early youth, by which the "moral potentiality ,, ha* been impaired. Dr. Still quoted in support of his theory the case of a small boy whose parents lived in Burmah. Hβ wa» never known to tell a lie until he had a severe attack of malarial fever, but after that he became an "inveterate and aadacious liar." There was another little boy who had a vexatioc* habit of stealing daily, and every night solemnly presenting the spoils to hie mother. And finally, Dr. Still quoted the

cam of a little girl of nine who, after a slight difference of opinion with her mother, attempted suicide by throwing her* self oat of a wiadow. Punishment in such cane, mid Dr. Still, was quite useless. To parade daily for castigation children of trarped moral sense "has no more effect than beating carpets.!' However this may be, Dr.' Still cannot suggest any cure. He confessed that he could 1 not write a prescription for making bad children good. He can only suggest a system of segregation and careful watching of the morally deficient, and this he think* is very necessary, since moral.imbecility nay so easily become vice or crime. Dr. Still's paper was, of course, fully discuseed, and several of the debaters emyed to fill the gaps which the writer had Deen unable to negotiate. "Send them to sea," was Professor Shuttleworth'e drastic cure for moral imbecility m boys. Dr. Kerr, medical inspector to the London School Board, declared that fnlly 10 per cent, of the children in the London Board Schools were, owing to moral deficiencies, unfit and unable to work alongside the rest They had no right at school at all. Dr. Kerr adduced an amusing instance to the support of Dr. Still's theory. This was the case of a, winsome, little girl who had a habit of burgling the school out of hours and upsetting all the inkpots. At the close of the discussion s, lady suggested that if all the vicious, brutal and unkind children were put into one school they would terrorise each other into good behaviour. Dr. Still stood aghast at the proposal. Finally it was agreed that it would be a good thing to have a Royal Commission to consider what should be done with the nation's naughty children.