Evening Star Newspaper, November 29, 1931, Page 93

P. €, NOVEMBER 29, 1391 mance in This Story—BY ALICE DUER MILLER your choice. Give back Mr. Barnes' present and keep your job; or keep the t out.” ipted by you. Take your bracelet back and out.” [Phil's back had grown very stiff during this ech “I will not take my bracelet back,” he re- i “because it is not mine. I gave it to a who did me a very great service . . .” “Indeed,” said Mme. Kendal. “And I am curious to know how it came to your possession at all.” “Well, I'll tell you. One of the mannhequins, ottina, came in this morning with that thing her arm. All the girls were buzzing around er like flies. My first idea was that she might pve stolen it. I knew your window had been oken, and she was outside at the time. I dri't so much blame the girl. “But when one of the others said: ‘Why you puld sell that for a thousand dollars,’ and e answered, ‘I wouldn’t sell it for a mil- pn,” then I realized that romance had come to our lives. So when she took it off to pow the dresses, I went and got it out of her rse, and there it is. You ought to be ashamed yourself.” “Now listen to me,” said Phil. “You are all rong about this. I gave that to a girl I bver saw before or since, because she saved e an enormous ioss. I did lose something sterday, by great ruby!” UT Mme. Kendal wouldn’t listen to him. All the time he was speaking she was bang- g the bell on her desk, telling a tangled- ired errand girl to ask Miss Bettina to step o the office. The child was replying that Bettina was showing “Starry Sky” to a stomer, and Mme. Kendal was shouting back her hoarse voice that she didn’'t care what was doing, to tell her to step into the ce. t the command the door opcned and the 1 came in. Bhe was dressed in a sky-blue chiffon dress, n all over with tiny crystal stars. When saw Phil, she froze. Her eyes dilated, her trils trembled, and she colored, so that her k and arms beside the blue dress grew pink P dawn above a Summer sea. Bettina,” said her employer, “Mr. Barnes s he can’t take back his bracelet, because gave it to you for value received. I won't ve that sort of thing, as you know very well. u can take your choice. Give him back his Psent and keep your job, or kecp the brace- and get out.” 5 "here was hardly a second’s pause before ¢ girl raised her pretty, slim young arm and 1d it out to Phil, who once again, with hands OW even more unsteady than the first tine, asped on the bracelet. “All right,” said Mme. Kendal. “That's how is, is it? Get your things out this afternoon now.” “Just one moment,” said Phil. “Bettina, ould you do me the great honor of marrying 87’ There was a dead silcnce. A cheap alarm lock that stood on the desk began ticking ery loudly, like a hostess trying to fill an awkward gap in the conversatis It ticked many times before Bettina a red. *“No, no, under no circumstances w! ver, Mr. Barnes. I thank you, but no.” Mme. Kendal's first assistant in the door.” “The customer won't 'it m t her head said. Like a soldier at thé sound of the bugle, Bettina turned, straightened herself, and went undulating away. Phil turned to Mme. Kendal. “You're a stupid old tyrant,” he said. And she replied, going back to papers on her desk: “Barnes, I've a lot of things to worry about before I get round to what you think of me.” He went back to his own office, and shut the door. The offer of marriage that had leaped to his lips as a vindication of the girl had become, with her refusal of it, something very different. Was there really some un- known obstacle between them, or did she sim- ply so loathe him that the idea could not be tolerated? She had lied to him, fooled him completely with her fine airs and her tales of rich back- ground. And yet, how much nobler it was to have returned the jewel when she herself was in want. Perhaps, that was why she had lied, so that he would not feel under any obligation to compensate her. And she was lovelier, far lovelier, than he had at first supposed. And she had colored and trembled when she saw him. And she had lost her job through him. A knock on his door, “A lady to see you, Mr. Barnes.” “Ask her to come in.” She entered, calm and pale, more aloof than at her first entrance. “I came to thank you for what you did just now,” she said. “It was really a noble ges- ture. I thank you very much, and I want to return your bracelet.” She dropped it slowly on his desk, and it fell like drops of water, He was deeply wounded. “You must hate me a lot not to want to keep it,” he said. ND looking at her, he saw that her calm had been 2 mask, that she was already crying. “Oh,” she said, “don’t you really under- stand? How stupid you are! It was I who tock your ruby. There wasn't any other girl. I hadn’t a car or a mother—all that story was a lie, Every day for months when I went to work I had stopped and looked at it—such a beautiful, glowing, tempting thing. “Why must you show such things? ‘There ought to be a law against it. No, I know that isn't true. There ought to be a law against people like me existing. I've thought myself very fine and superior because I've been icy as far as men are concerned, and then to fall for a piece of jewelry——" She stamped her foot in agony. *“I could not possibly have helped taking it. It was the strongect pas- sion I had ever felt. I'm a thief. Do you understand?”’ “It was you who brought it back, though.” “Yes, because I was afraid—for no other reason. I didn’t want to. I wanted to keep it. That's why I can’'t keep your bracelet. I can't be paid for having been a thief.” By this time she was sobbing so wildly that it seemed the most natural thing in the world to Phil to take her in his arms; but she drew away. “Don't touch me,” she said, “if you despise me.” “My dear, I love you.” “You can’t! You can't possibly.” “I must be the judge of that.” “You don't know anything about me.” “Yes, I know all about you.” “Oh, no, no,” she cried, with a passionate aloofness that was somewhat offset by the fact that, as she spoke, she laid her head against his gray tie. “I have no right to happiness. I'm terrible. I can never-be happy again.” “Dear angel,” said Phil, “I hate to keep contradicting you, but I believe you are happy at this very moment.” (Copyright, 1931.) Oscar Mourns Decline of Dining Continued from Ninth Page words, the Roman rulers placed little credence in what their physicians told them. Today, however, there are public men who seek out the latest dietitians and pay high prices for their prescriptions. They keep doctors on their pay rolls to regulate their slim diets. OWN into the Christian world feasts of Drabulous cost, quantity and quality con- tinued which even Cscar would not approve. Emperor Charles V, powerful ruler of five countries, including Germany, Spain and Italy, was a slave to his stomach, though he was a brave soldier and a splendid cavalryman.- A dinner of 20 courses, including beef, mutton, game, ham, sausages, all highly seasoned, not sufficing, he would get up twice in the night for food. He considered himself a temperate drinker, consuming only three bottles of wine at dinner, and often disparaged guzzling coun- trymen. In his prime he was a powerful phys- ical specimen. In Italy, in 1476, Benedetto Salutatic gave a banquet in Florence for the sons of the King. There were 12 courses of meat, including ven- ison, pheasant, partridges, capon and blanc- mange. At about the same time, wrote Filson Young, culinary historian, England was suffering a period of overeating on the pari of the upper middle classes. TYPICAL menu for the “Grand Monarch” Louis XIV of France included four bowls of different. kinds of soups, an entire pheasant, a partridge, a salad, ham, mutton with broth, plates of “baked goods,” fruit and hard-boiled eges. Goethe and Schiller were heavy eaters. Schiller had to be carried home from a ban- quet because he had overeaten.. Goethe drank 400 bottles of mineral water in a year to keep himself in good condition. In the early history of America the people of the South and New England States were heavy and joyful eaters. For breakfast in certain parts of the South such a spread as this was served: Fried steak and brown gravy, salt roe herring, cornmeal battercakes, a dish of Nor- folk spots (a breakfast fish), calves’ brains, sausage cakes, morsels of broiled chicken and six-inch-high hot rolls. And a part of this breakfast, ‘sah,” was a mint julep, frosted fragrant and umbrageous. In 1851 a dinner was given in Philadelphia, Oscar related, served to 30 distinguished persons. There were 17 courses, each a perfect banquet in itself. More than a hundred items of food were served, including 10 kinds of fruit, 10 kinds of ice creams, 13 varieties of pastry, eleven vegetables and as many different meats. A typical menu which Oscar served at Del- monico’s in 1890 is as follows: MENU Huitres POTAGES Consomme a la Thumery Bisque d’Ecrevisse (Sherry) HORS D'OEUVRES Timbales a la Rothschild POISSON Aiquillette de Bass a la Royale (Sauterne) RELEVE Pommes de Terre Fondante Selle d’Antilope a la Tyrolienne (Claret) Choux de Bruzxelles ENTREES Ailes de Poulet Chevreuse Petits Pois Parisienne Terrapine a la Maryland (Champagne) Sorbet au Champagne ROTIS Canvasback Duck avec Ris Sauvage (Burgundy) Salad de Laitue ENTREMETS Poires a la Ferriere (Port) Pieces Montees Glace Fantaisies Geles aux Oranges FRUITS Petits Fours Bonbons Cafe - (Liqueurs) The banquet for Col. Lindbergh at the old Waldorf, an affair equal in public sentiment . to any Roman reception to a public hero, was a plain dinner that cost only $12 a plate, Oscar said. The menu was much more modes¢ than the elaborate dinner noted above. The world may know Oscar or know of him, but only a few persons could tell you Oscar's last name. Of the countless thousands Le has served, first as a waiter and then as mein host, it is doubtful if 1 per cent could tell you of his origin. His last name is Tschirky. He left Switzerland when he was 15 years old. That was way back in 1883. He was met on his arrival by an older brother. Before the day ended he had made application for his first citizenship papers, then his brother, Brutus, who was a chef, took him to the old Hoffman House, where he applied for a place as waiter, and he wznt to work ai 5 o'clock that after- noon. He has becen working ever since, and always at the business of feeding or play- ing host to people. He spent four years at the Hoffman House, the next five at Delmonico’s and the remainder of th> nearly half century at the Waldorf-Astoria. Today, Oscar said almost with a sigh, a fine dinner for royalty could appropriately be: Caviar followed by oysters or fruit, soup, fish, an entree with vegetables, salad, dessert and coffee. “Any more,” he said, “is literally out of date.” (Copyright, 1931.) Historic Mace Continued from Third Page sapphires and pearls. The crown is of four crosses alternating with four fleur-de-lis. This relic of antiquity is only used upon rare oc- casions of great ceremony, such as coronations and the annual election of the chief magistrate of the city. History records that the Mayor of London carried a very ornate mace as early as 1252, and the present crystal and gold scepter of the Lord Mayor of London may be that mace. There are eight massive silver-gilt maces of great antiquity kept in the jewel house of the Tower of London. The University of Oxford has three very ornate maces that date back to the sixteenth century, and at Cambridge there are four of the seventeenth century. These were altered at the Commonwealth and again at the Restoration. The origin of the mace is shrouded in an- tiquity, but it is fairly certain that it has evolvéd from the Roman fasces, a bundle of elm or birch rods fastened together with a red strap, with an ax protruding from the end. ‘The rods were for scourging, and the ax was for beheading. The mace in the United States House of Representatives strongly resembles the Roman fasces, except, of course, there is mno ax for beheading belligerent members. In the days of the ancient Roman Republic the magistrates went on foot from place to ‘place, proceedead by the lictors bearing the fasces, the symbol of authority that every citizen must respect. These magistrates set up their court, tried offenders, administered justice, imposed fines and punishments. The lictors went in front of the magistrates and made way for them. They preserved order in court very much as the sergeant at arms does in the House of Representatives today. They also made arrests and inflicted punishments on con- demned citizens. While the fasces, or lictor, as it was sometimes called, was carried ceremoni- ously in the left hand and across the left shoulder, it was also ready as a weapon should the occasion arise, just as a policeman keeps his club in readiness for any disturbance. The fasces was also carried behind the bier of a magistrate or other high official. The Fascist party in Italy has adopted the ancient fasces as the emblem of its party The name of the party is derived from fascio, which means a bundle or bunch, from which comes the ancient motto, “in union there is strength.” The celebrated Houdon statue of Washington at Richmond shows the first Presi- dent standing beside a great fasces as a symbol of his high authority. When the Romans conquered Britain they brought with them their ancient emblem of authority, which, like many of their customs, became modified in one form or another, but has continued in use to the present day. In the fourteenth century the General Assembly of the early Saxons became known as the House of Commons, and the fasces became known as the mace. The word mace is closely akin to the word “mallett.” The mace as an original weapon of offense was made of iron, steel or latten, and was capable of breaking through the strongest armor. The king's sergeant at arms carried his war mace at all times to defend the life and limb of the king. He always marched in front of the royal procession. The mace was carried in battl: by medieval bishops, instead of swords, since the ecclesiasti- cal law forbade bishops to shed blood. The venerable Bayeu tapestry which represents the main events in the conquest of England by the Normans, and is now thought to be a con= temporary work of that time, shows Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, carrying a mace. The mace was used in Eurcpe as a weapon of war by the cavalry as late as the sixteenth century, and it is still used by savage tribes in various parts of the world. (Copyright, 1931.)