MISS COLONIA IN LONDON.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1217, 28 June 1895, Page 13

MISS COLONIA IN LONDON.

CONFIDENCES TO HER COUSINS ACROSS THE SEA.

London, May 10. THE SEASON.

Dear Cousin, —The season is now in full swing, and we are going out a good deal in a small way. Of course Mr and Mrs Ward will, during the present month, be the bright particular "stars" of the Anglo - Colonial set. They are overwhelmed 'with invitations, but; your Treasurer's public dinner engagements prevent them enjoying society as much as I suspect-Mrs Ward would like. You will have Heard all about the big New Zealand meeting at the Colonial Institute a fortnight ago: Unfortunately it was held not at the Whitehall Rooms of the Metropole, but at the United Service Institute, and there, were no conveniences for the cup of tea arid chat with one's friends afterwards which form the chief attraction of these gather|bgs-.to us women. The Treasurer's wife sat; in front close to the relatives of the new Bishop of Wellington, who were there in force to hear the Bishop of Salisbury, instruct us. Mrs Ward looked charming (as indeed she always doe<?), and was much admired. She has a delightfully natural and unaffected manner, and a sweet expression which makes everybody like her.

; THE SERVANT QUESTION. I don't suppose the correspondents thought it worth while to mention the little discussion which arose during the on the servant question. Yet in was instructive. The Bishop of Salisbury, who possesses a fund of; jiiimour of the dry " pawky " sort, dwelt on the fact that servants were rare and expensive luxuries in New Zealand, and that every woman emigrating like his friend Dr Wallis'wife should be prepared to do—or at least able to do if necessary—-a fair share of her own housework and cooking. / Thiswe all recognised as perfectly true, the males amongst us murmuring " hear, hear.'' Presently, however, a prancing swisby-skirty ycung woman garbed in a nightmare of ultramarine bounded on to the, platform and let off a series of gasps flatly contradicting the Bishop. She said in effect the New Zealand servants were the best in the' world, and that his lordship must have been unfortunately placed not to find this great truth out. Later Sir Westby Perceval endeavoured to reconcile the statements of Miss May

Yates and Dr Wordsworth, or, as he called

them, " the lady and the Bishop." No - Agent-General said, servants were few high in the colonies, as his lordship alleged, but it was certainly also a fact, as he presumed Miss Yates meant, that the colonial domestic did twice the work of her English prototype. Plis experience here had led him to the conclusion tfiat .every good servant required another one to wait on het;. ~ THE ONSLOWS AT HOME. It is most important if you really want to enjoy London society to get into a good as distinguished froin a "smart" set. Smart' people are to the stranger dull beyond words. They talk an " argot" one neither understands nor desires to understand. It is all about " Billy "■ this and " Jacky " that, and their goings en at one country house or another, feeble practical jokes, petty scandal, idle, irrespon-

sible, trivial and uninteresting chatter. On the other hand some comparatively unimportant people gather round them a deiightful lot of" friends. Lord Onslow's is a pleasant house to go

to. His bachelor dinners served at a ..number of small tables and most informal in Character, are, father says, unique. Lady OnsloW-' At Homes " I can myself vouch for. Last time we were there I talked principally to Cranley—l beg pardon, I should say Lord Cranley—who has grown up a fine handsome lad, just a wee bit affected perhaps, but Oxford will brush that off. His mother is terribly afraid of

our sex. She suspects every girl who ever smiles at her boy of designs, and being a 'mischievous young scapegrace, I'm afraid he gives bier many anxious quarters of an hour. Lord Cranley's destiny is to marry an heiress and restore the family fortunes. Crandon, the Onslows' beautiful home near Guildford, has been let for a long time now, and I'm told the Earl has also

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been obliged to sacrifice some of the magnificent timber in the park. The tenants complained bitterly as it spoiled the shooting this winter.

LUNCH WITH THE DUKE OF NORFOLK.

We spent Easter at Arundel, a delightfully picturesque Surrey village which combines the joys of exquisite country walks through the loveliest old woods with propinquity to the seaside. But the feature par excellence of Arundel is of course the Castle, the ancient home of the Howards, and one of the most perfect combinations of mediaeval architecture and modern splendour and comfort extant. We were staying at the Norfolk Arms Inn as guests of Sir James and Lady W , who had taken rooms there for the holiday eeason. Sir James, an exLord Mayor, knew the Duke of Norfolk, and learning he was in residence, wrote to ask if we might see the Castle. Presently looking out of the window I saw a man coming down from the castle with the reply. " From the way the villagers are ducking to him," I remarked, " I should say that, inconspicuous though the little man seems, he is the Duke's agent or secretary." But I was wrong. It was His Grace himself, and he'd come to ask us all to lunch before we went over the Castle. I enjoyed the afternoon immensely. The Duke is the simplest, kindest, and most good-hearted of men, and the Castle—well the Castle —is a dream. I must not turn this letter into a guide book, or I could go on about its ancient and modern sides, its beautiful chapel, and gorgeous new. staircase now unfinished, for pages.. It was a painful reflection that .the.heir to all this wealth of beautiful things was a blind lad of limited intelligence. When, however, His Grace was called away to attend to other guests, I got some comfort from a dear old dependent deputed to act as cicerone. The little Earl of Arundel and Surrey, he said, though unable to see and not very bright for his age, was not by any means the hopeless imbecile the papers represented. Every year he grows better and stronger. Is it too much to hope, I wonder, that he may eventually be privileged to rise superior to his afflictions, and fulfil some such destiny as that so beautifully sketched out in dear Miss Muloch's " A Noble Life." FATHER BLACK. Of course you've read all about the scene at the fashionable wedding the other week, when an Anglican priest named Black protested against the Church breaking its own laws and marrying a divorced man whose canonical wife was still alive. Some people were very angry with Mr Black for the action he took. ■ But ' it seemed to me even before we met him and got to know what a remarkable man he was, that he had behaved perfectly logically. He knew "a just cause and impediment" in the way of Mr Brinckman's marriage, and as a churchman he was boiind to declare it. The illogical people were the bride and bridegroom, the latter especially, who, whilst (1) professing to be a churchman, and (2) believing and proclaiming marriage indissoluble! and (3) inviting the Church to proclaim his union with Miss Linton indissoluble—yet came up to the altar with his first wife alive to ask the church to bless an ecclesiastically illegal union with a second. Nonconformists of course many of them countenance such unions, averring that each must stand or fall on its own merits. If a man has had (for example) to divorce his wife through no fault of his own, Nonconformists mostly say he may remarry and their minister will bless his union. But the Auglicon Church countenances nothing of the sort. " Those whom God has joined together no man can put asunder." But to return to good Father Black. We met him out at dinner last Saturday evening. Such a charming mari, tall,' handsome, resolute and dignified. A splendid type of the church militant. One could imagine the tonic hiu breezy cheerfulness would be through the terrible cholera seasons in India. He had endless stories to tell of strange experiences in the far East. One, tending to show the curious subtleties of the human conscience, struck me very forcibly. There were, he said, a sect in India somewhat similar to the Thugs (save that they were high caste called Brahmins) Karhadis. Their religion expected them to sacrifice a human life to a particular god annually, but they must not shed blood in doing so. Father Black attended a trial for murder arising out of this amiable religious rite. The victim was a doctor, and his assassins

numbered four men, one of whom turned Queen's evidence and with the utmost sang froicl related the mode of killing adopted. They procured, he said, a large packing case and lined it with waterproof material, making it air-tight. Then one of the party lay down beside the case and pretended to be ill, another kneeling alongside and chafing his hands, whilst the other two rascals armed with a sack hid in the back-ground. The unfortunate doctor was sent for and of course bent down to examine his patient. Whilst thus the sack was dexterously slipped oyer his head and the four men whipped him into the packing case, carried it to a suitable spot and suffocated the man by drowning as we should kill a superfluous i kitten. Not a touch of pity, even momentarily, entered any of their hearts, and they listened absolutely unmoved to the recital of their comrade. Nothing disturbed their apathy till an English medical witness, describing the condition of the corpse when discovered, deposed that the skin of the neck was abraded as though chafed by strangulation. Instantly all four men sprang to their feet, unmitigated horror, repulsion and agonised fear pictured on their faces. It was, they said, simply impossible the skin should be broken. They had taken every care to avoid such a catastrophe. " Why," cried the ringleader, " if we had broken the skin or scratched him bo as to shed even a drop of blood, we should be everlastingly damned."

THE INTERRUPTED WEDDING. With regard to the Brinckman marriage, Father Black said he could have defended his action on many grounds. But he wished public attention concentrated on the main Church issue and not diverted into personal channels. The Brinckmans were warned beforehand what would happen. Mr A. Brinckman, who subsequently had the assurance to write to the Times, charging the good Father with surprising them, actually called on Mr Black two days before the wedding to tell him his nephew (the bridegroom) would shoot him if he interfered. "He's bought a revolver for the_ purpose," said the avuncular relative with a bloodthirsty scowl. " Do you really think he means business ?" enquired Mr Black, blandly. " I do," solemnly responded the uncle, " all the hot blood of the Brinckmans boils in his veins."

" Perhaps, then, I'd better warn the police," quietly said Father Black. The disgusted " Oh !" with which Mr Brinckman received this lapse from romantic and imaginative threats to prosaic realities much amused his auditor.

The Duke of Newcastle and another cleric accompanied Father Black to the church. Just before the service began a tall man came up and said, " Mr Black, I am instructed to inform you by tho Vicar-General that if you interrupt this service you will be arrested at once for brawling." ,

" Both you and the Vicar-General ought to be ashamed of yourselves," replied Father Black sternly. But of course the Vicar-General had sent no such message. It, is due to the consistency . of the Church to explain that great difficulty is experienced in getting clergy to officiate at these marriages. Dr Kerr Gray, who solemnised the Brinckman matrimony, bears a. very lax reputation amongst cleries, or in other words carries' broad church free-and easy principles to lengths parsons like Father Black..can't abide. Dr Gray is a great friend of theatrical people, a sort of chaplain in ordinary to " gay Bohemia." It was once, I believe, playfully said of the good man that if you lifted up his surplice you'd find he wore pink silk tights underneath.

A marriage ceremony was interrupted at Barcaldine, Queensland, the other day by the refusal of the bridegroom. For several days preparations had been made for the celebration of the marriage, and a number of the friends of the parties assembled in the church. The contracting parties having arrived, the ceremony was proceeded with until the question, " Wilt thou take this woman ?" &c, was put by the clergyman. The bridegroom said in a loud voice, " I will not," repeating the words three times, and, taking his hat, be hastily left the church. As may be imagined, the incident created great astonishment and confusion.

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