Show DONE A DUKE an american journalist at the pal ace of the duke of sutherland IT Y journal dukes are very interesting personages in england to be invited by a duke to his country place is an honor which makes the ordinary mortal fairly thrill with ecstasy I 1 cannot say that that was my experience when dining with lady one evening tho the duke of sutherland baid to me if you want to seo see sir a mutual friend of ours come to the euston station with me tomorrow to morrow morning and run up tip with me to trentham it was a startling proposition to me fur for I 1 had an engagement for that day jay but everybody round mo me said to me oh accetti accetti you may never havo have such a chaice again well it was astonishing an all american journalist asked to receive the tile hospitalities of one of tha the great princes pritim of Eug landl I 1 accepted the next morning as aal I 1 drove up to the station the duke passed me in a dogcart dog cart waving ti 1 is liand hand cordially and when I 1 arrived in front of the ticket office he said still more cordially there pointing at the tile office 41 where you buy your ticket in Ai america we nye are used to having our traT traveling eling expenses paid for us when we are invited to the country place of a friend biffle different r ent countries havo have dif different manners however and so I 1 paid my ten dollars or thereabouts without a murmur and on we went it was not it very exhilarating party that was with the duke dule it t wae was mainly composed of retired army officers old cronies of his a director ot the northwestern railroad in which the duke lakes takes great interest being also director in the same company a distinguished engineer and other men of different vocations all agreeing on one point namely ballio falling ng to sleep tho the moment they entered and res inthe same somnolent condition until they arrived I 1 think I 1 heard more musical gradations of military snoring during 1 this trip than 1 I had bad ever before in ray MY life I 1 could distinguish the bass enore snore of the retired mayor general from the baritone wheeze or pathe the lieuten ant nt colonel the duke himself dozed more than ho he snored when we arrived a large omnibus was re ready al in waiting for us and we drove droe up through a delightful country lano lane to the back of a palace on the way every woman and every child who passed us made their courtesies and their deferential bobbi dobbinga bob binga amused roe me greatly nothing could bo be less awe inspiring C than the reception at tho the house the back ot of the palace is a very low and unimposing 9 structure and tho the large brown florid housekeeper who shows you to your rooms boull appear to bolong belong more of some well do to farmere farmers house than to that ofa of a great nobleman but you aro are quito quite reconciled to tho the palace when you sec see the superb interior the low long 0 corridors decked with magnificent nt paintings paint illg and works of art an apparently endless series of apartments furnished in different styles the handsome hands some statuary tho the lovely gardens 9 addens and hot hots housea houses the exquisite conservatory with its turkish lounges and anti tho the venus in marblo marble taking a showery bath where we used to take our coffee all these showed at a glance that life lif here could be made very comfortable the tile front of the palace ia is that of an italian colonnade with a magnificent ent park extending to a lake dotted with pretty little islands and through which silver swans are sailing without number and a largo large monument of the late duke crowns the hill at tho tile lake the sight of all thia from my illy room was so en chanting that I 1 used to discover disco vor mys myself C if grudging the moment when I 1 would turn my illy back to tho the win dow to take a handkerchief out of the ilie drawer and would inadvertently twist back my iny head lead not to lose eight sight of tho the view even for one instant but everybody has read descriptions of ducal palaces what will int inter creat esat people most is to hear about the life of the inmates well it was very simple at breakfast and at lunch the servants would ica vo after the first course everybody was to help himself you would get up with your plate walk to alio sideboard cut ent yourself a alico fron from fro n a joint and nd a piece of bread and then march back again q with your supply of these provisions if tho the guest were a stranger stronger who did not know tho the ways of the place the duke himself would get up cut off a piece of beef or seize upon a mutton chop and carry it on a plato plate to the hungry visitor the duke himself is very very eccel trie had lie only been a miner mine r an engineer or some oilier other chilled al artisan lie would undoubtedly have been a very happy man if he lie could only delvo delve down into the mines or run an engine or perform some other useful act of tho the sort every day lay he lie would have been perka k i as factly happy tho tile state and grandeur of his po position must bo be a profound bore to him even his dress indicates that he lie is tall and loose jointe dand nothing is funnier than to see his swinging gait with hig his boyish short abort trousers and their wide ends flapping about as he stalks over the grounds I 1 once asked him this which e character distio of his aversion to be ing paraded before the people eople when you go to dunrobin 1 I 1 queried 1 I suppose all the people turn out to seo see you dunrobin castle is his great palace greatha by the sea containing two hundred un bedroom sand where he recently entertained the not a fool was his categorical and energetic reply there is a great jealousy amon among 9 the dukes of england ta the e du duke ke of westminster is supposed to 1 be e about the richest of them but so eager eager is their rivalry in keeping up a r regal egal splendor that I 1 was told at tre trentham antham tha teven he be with an in come of a yea year repent spent more than his revenue economy in come respects is not absent from a great household like this I 1 N was vas ver very much amused when upon my departure ep 1 arture I 1 was presented with a bill of thirty seven cents for washing which I 1 had res celvid it appears to be the rule rile that no matter how low illustrious tho the visitor DO no washing is to be done in the house except for the ducal family its elfand if you have a collar washed it will cost coa you three centered cent sand you will not escape paying that three cents before leavin leaving g the house the ther pond is green with BE m band the enchanting enc enchanting hantin view which y you ou en joy from a d distance tance is much disturbed when you come near enough to observe these realities I 1 asked why this was allowed and was told that it gouid take to clear the pond thoroughly and that the duke did not feel as if ho he could afford to spend that sum perhaps the most delightful feature about the place was the lovely fruit we had great peaches resembling sem bling ineize in size email melons and instead of cutting them we extracted their luscious meat with a spoon for miles and miles you can wander about the hothouse hot house picking off grapes nectarines necta rines oranges fresh fig figs and fruits of every description n the duke is n agra grand iid kingly king Y old 1 man despite his eccentricities and ashe he has extremely sim simple ae rugged habits he lie barei very litt little e f for or good living his roast beef of course coupe is is as glorious as it generally is in ft a well ordered english boue household hold but as to the fancy dishes of the french cuisine culf ine they are entirely ignored the du duke h e was excessively pleased by his visit to america he ile bought a large am american stove which is still at trentham of aa an ingenious mechanical device which he is around to exhibit to ever every y visitor he lie is excessively fond of american oysters and probably the nearest way to his heart would be to bend him a large barrel of the most enormous saddle rocks Is such a man happy with his half a dozen or a dozen palatial seats in different part parts of the country if an indolent sunshiny doice dolce far niente life is happiness then no doubt the possessor of these vast estates may ordinarily deem himself lucky the impression which all these paraphernalia appeared to make inako on the duko duke was intense ennui ho ile looked constantly bored b by some thing or other except when he could stray away from the tile palace squat himself down en a pile of baiek bi iek lunch upon a sandwich swid which lie had brought along ia in a basket ant and discuss bome u im improvement provo about the estates with some of his mechanical foremen our american dukes have not bave quite bite as many town houses nor have they quite as many palaces in the country A man mall who has one in the city like vanderbilt 5 is regarded as enviable and nobody cx ex iata here who has half a t dozen one finer than own the other as ii often the acte in england 0 but though our american A ule rican nabobs nabors havo have less dor they seem to bo be leas less bored and perhaps their very eagerness to accumulate riches to the very day of their death saves aves them from the immense ennui of the gold cu ow crusted english eng oswel swell |