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Show IMPRESSIONS OLD AND NEW if "Good Will and Fellowship" Motto of I Members Outside Debate Before a ; Sitting Different Rooms An Amus- 1 1 ing Incident Cromwell's Statue Westminster Abbey. J j My friend, the member for C . and I were j- standing on the lobby just outside the chamber of f the house of commons. Around us in groups were Tory, Liberal. Labor and Irish members discuss- ' 1 ing various topics. Party spirit seemed for the time being to be forgotten, fpr see there is an Irish f 'and a Tory member discussing the probable chance it of a certain horse for the Brighton cup. That tall I man with the tall hat, carelessly tossed on the back . of his head and his hands thrust deep in his trous- ars pockets( he is a cabinet minister), and is just ! telling a Welsh Labor member all about the fin ; points of golf, in a few moments more they will ' 1 be at daggers end over some grievance in the little, principality of Wales. Taken all and all. every ; group there is happy, and there is a spirit of com- ; radeship and joviality which you would find diffi- ; i cult to find anywhere else. I was totally interested s in the scene and was following with keen eyes the f hand of my friend, as he pointed out to me the f famous celebrities whose names were household J words the world over, when a voice suddenly started - me with "Hats off! Mr. Speaker." i A stately official appears, and following on hU heels cames another carrying a mace. "The speaker I is coming," whispers my friend, and I doff my hat as a plain, pleasing looking man appears on the corridor with a serious Church of England clergy- jj man to his left. j the house is about to begm a sitting and there J will be prayers just now; few of us attend .the ?' prayers," again whispers my friend. My friend was right, for very few members on the lobby joined in the prayers said before every sitting. The speaker and his attendants passed f into the chamber, and the hum of conversation be- gan again. Fifteen minutes passed and then as if by magic the lobby was empty and the chamber j inside was filled. Looking from where I was stand- ing into the chamber, I saw a tall, sallow man on 1 his legs. His right Igind clasped the- lappel of his coat and in his left was a copy of notes. He spoke h with ease and eloquence, and the way he rounded off . his sentences was a treat to listen to. The speaker f was James Arthur Balfour, and the cheers of the Tory party gave one to understand that he had ; their confidence and was their Bayard. S My friend plucked me by the sleeve with: "I ' have a short time to spare. Come, and I will show you the house," and leading me away he showed ma I the spacious dining room, the kitchen, the library .md the various committee rooms. In many of the committee rooms were parties of men discussing private bill., and these parties represented a little house of commons in themselves, for after discuss-i discuss-i ing and formulating these private measures, these bills are presented before the house of commons f : for sanction. Such a method saves time. He led me out on the terrace, and I obtained a magnificent view of the Thames, the Embankment and Lambeth i palace over in the distance. "In the summer it is very pretty here, for the members entertain their friends to tea on the terrace, ter-race, and the scene then is very gay," he assured me. j t After narrating this funny incident. I will leave ; the house of commons and take you to th Abbey. f One evening my friend took me into the cham- j, her of the house of commons and was pointmg out to me all its mysteries, when a group of three en- 4 tered. One of them was a stalwart Irish member, and with him were two more Irishmen, professional men, they looked to be, but the house of commons seemed to have little awe for them, for the youngest young-est of them, after carelessly glancing around, calmly calm-ly seated himself in the speaker's chair, and the other quickly drew a pocket camera from his loose jacket and proceeded to snapshot, his comrade. The policeman at the door gasped in astonishment astonish-ment at the proceeding, and then recovering hiru- j self, he rushes at the offenders with a round Saxon f oath on his lips. , ''By . you are cool ones." "All right. Mr. Robert, we are not going to blow I up the house." and the occupant of the chair calmly ri.-ees and yawns. The policeman looks at him for a moment and laughs, and'then immediately adds: "Get elected I for some Irish constituency and come here, for from the looks of you, you would liven things up a bit. You would be about half as bad a rebel is Mr. P - there," pointing to their member friend. You Irish are funny fellows but your heart is in the right place. Sake? alive! you are a handful to tussle with, but I hope you will never get Home Rule for we woidd have no fun without you. Ta, Ta, now and mind yourselves and don't let me catch you breaking through the ropes." I left the House of Commons but as I was leaving it a f statue inside the railing attracted my attention. It was but recently set up and the Puritan look ! of it in comparison with the beautiful and grace- j ful monument 5 around made me ejaculte: f '"Who the mischief put you there, and you. Oliver Cromwell, above all men what right have you to be there?" The bootblack on the pavement answers my ques- t tion with a shrug of his shoulders and an anxious f look at my feet. - ''Roseberry, Sir, got Cromwell a bit of ground there. Who Cromwell was I don't know and don't I care. He won't hurt either of us now. Roseberry J .(Continued on Page 5.) I V '" " 1 1 . . . I .11 llll .1, ll..LJ. ., , IMPRESSIONS OLD AND NEW (Continued from page 1.) is not a bad fellow though, he won three Derbies, and bagged a half sovereign on Ladas. A fine horse was Ladas. T)n you want your boots shined. sir? All right, sir, put your foot there. Thank you, sir, plank a sovereign on O'Donovan Kossa for the Brighton cup. He'll roll home." Well. well. I murmured, surely Oliver Cromwell, thou groin protector, art out of place there ami thy admirer, Koseberry, are out of place everywhere. every-where. ; ! "Who knews the mind of Koseberry, j For answer ask '.he Gods: i The most that we can knew on earth. His furrow lone he plods." But let it be, statues as my bootblack said, don't hurt, they offend, and perhaps in the future day Ihe eyesore that conjures up visions of the requisite requi-site and the butcher of Dragheda may be removed. re-moved. Evervbody has heard or read about estmmster Abbev. so-called, because St. Paul's was the parent, and the abbey situated to the west of it was its dependency and hence the name Westminster. It is a massive structure and the grandeur and the solemnity of the whole strike you forcibly. It is not within my power to describe it and it, would take years to describe one's impressions of it. Though beautiful in architecture with all the genius of men embodied jn its every stone. Still the most beautiful part of it lies not in the grace and symctry of its every proportions but in the beauty and' wonderfulness that spring from the mighty dead that sleep their last sleep within its walls. All the illustrious in England's history, whether in the domain of literature, art, war. scienc or kindred subjects rest here with few exceptions. ex-ceptions. Y'ou enter the Abbey and in the dim light you see nothing except monuments, and immediately im-mediately to your mind rushes that beautiful passage pas-sage of Joseph Addison's in the Spectator: "When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies within me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful every inordinate desire, dies out; when I meet with the grief' of parents upon a tomhstone my heart melts with compassion ; when I see the tombs of the parentsCthemselves 1 consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them; when I consider rival wit placed side by side, or the holy men who divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect re-flect with sorrow, and astonishment on the little competitions, factions-and debates of mankind." I well remember as I crept slowly up the Alps on one August day some years ago, and saw the wonders of nature above and around me, the thought that came rushing to my mind then was the greatness of God. and as I stood within, the confines of the Abbey on a later day that same, thought came rushing back again with a tenfold intensity. Y'es, man indeed is very little and those silent tombstones of the mighty dead whisper if we would only hear their whisper Jesus of Xazareth vesterdav.' today and forever. A Bousing myself from the meditative mood I joined a party who were availing themselves of the services of a truide and with them I was conducted con-ducted from chapel to chapel. What struck me most I shall show forth in mv next article. TAPPER LAXD. |