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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1908)
10 THE SUNDAY OKEt0IAN PORTLAND. MAY 17, 1908. AN ENGLISH telephone is a con tradiction in term. If it is in England it isn't a telephone. It is a thin that looks something like a broken ox-yoke, that is manipulated something like a trombone, and is about as effectual as the Keeley Motor. A course of lessons is necessary to learn to use one. but the lessons "are wasted, as the instrument is invariably out of order, and moreover, nobody has one, anyhow. But one morning, before I had dis covered all this, 1 was summoned to the telephone booth of the Pantheon Club, and blithely grasped the cumbersome affair, with its receiver on one end and its transmitter on the other, I ignorantly hld It wrong end to, but that made no difference, as it wouldn't work either way. "Grawsp it stiffer, madame," advised the anxious Buttons who engineered it. At length I discovered that this meant to press firmly on a fret, as if playing a flute, but by thin time the party ad dressing me had been disconnected from the other end, and all attempts to regain communication were futile. The boy took the instrument, and I have never seen a finer display of human in genuity and patience than he showed for the next half-hour trying to hear that chord again. Then he gave it up, and layinc the horrid thing gently in its cradle, he nonchalantly informed me that if the party awrsked for me again, hed send me naotice, and then demanded tuppence. This I willingly paid, as I was always glad to get rid of those copper heavy weights; and. too. it seemed a remark ably small price even for a telephone tall, until I suddenly remembered that I hadn't made the call, nor had I received it. The call was repeated la"ter, and after another distracting session of incoherent shouting, and painfully-cramped finger muscles, I learned that I was invited to an informal dinner that evening at Mrs. Marchbanks at 7:30 o'clock. I had not Intended to plunge into the social whirl so soon, and had declined all the many invitations which had come to me by mail. But somehow the telephone invitation took me unawares, and, too. I was so pleased to succeed in getting the message at all that it seemed ungracious and un g ra tef ul to re f use. So. I took a fresh grip on the fretted monster, and, aiming my voice carefully at the far-away trans mitter, I shouted an acceptance. I hoped it reached the goal, but as there was nothing but awful silence afterward, I had to take it on faith, and I went away to look over my dinner gowns. The invitation had been classed a 'Informal," but I knew the elasticity of that term, and so. though I did not select my very best raiment. I chose a pretty docollette frock, that had "New York" legibly written on its every fold and pucker. go late Is the dusk of the London Sp rin g Americans Excell all Others as Billiard Players Game Especially Adapted to Courtship Old Favorite In the Courts of Europe. AMRRICA plays billiards more than does all the rest of the world combined. Every hotel and club and most private houses built for persons of means In clude a billiard-room. It is a resource In the 'entertainment of visitors; a mag net to attract young men to home amuse ment, and, besides proving a recreation, Is, in a way, a test of disposition for persons will display qualities and char acteristics while playing billiards which one is not likely to discover In them at any other time. Billiards induces thought and reflection, and one who plays the game frivolously is considered by wielders of the cue in capable of serious attention to anything in life. In no other pastime is one able to dis play as much grace of action, except, perhaps, in fencing. A woman who plays billiards gracefully is wonderfully at tractive, and her opponent, if a man, is often so interested in admiring her at titudes that he loses his heart as well as his game. Two persons only can play billiards. A chaprone may not converse, . and if she is not herself a player she soon tires of watching balls bounding back and forth in mysterious angles over a green cloth, and leaves her charges to themselves. I Serious as is the ame. it offers far more I opportunities for Indulging in flirtations ! than docs even the game of hearts where interest is all centered in prosaic chlls, and the grace or awkwardness of a player matters not a all. To an onlooker unfamiliar with bil liards there is something astonishing about the seriousness with which its devotees enter into it. Many a pompous financier, who Iirs preserved a calm and smiling demeanor through all the strain of deals involving the loss or gain of fortunes, becomes excitable and irascible at billiards. Does his opponent tiptoe gently backward and beckon the oncom ing bit of ivory with caressing words of. encouragement to "come on," he may shout angrily at the ball to stop, and if be does not accuse his opponent of taking unfair advantage, is as likely as not to call him a fool. There is something startling in the ap pearance of a staid man of affairs, hounding up and down, violently gesticu lating and shouting at a meaningless looking little ivory ball no more than two and three-eighths Inches in diameter. One marvels that some of the cues branished heedlessly during moments of absorption on the part of players do not cause injuries to eyes and noses, and the onlooker momentarily expects that something will occur to start a tiht between the excited players. One falls to wondering whether Queen Klizabeth ever beheaded opponents who Incurred her anger at billiards it was so easy for her to trump up heretical or political charges against them: and whether louls XIV, who made billiards fashionable in the I7th century, when the game was prescribed by his physician as an aid to royal digestion after dinner every day, ever consigned to the Bast lie courtiers who upset his calculations and temper by making remarks at inopportune , moments during the game. If women of old indulged in the contor tions that some modern women consider necessary to billiard playing, how did they manage, in stiff ruffler. Medict collar and steel plated stomacher, to achieve such gyrations? Considering the fact that billiards was an exclusive game of the courts for a long time, one does not marvel that Eng land clings to the game of "hazard" to tills day, for at it courtiers were less likely to lose their heads or positions by winning too frequently through good filay that I easily made my toilet by daylight, j and was all ready at 7 o'clock. , Carefully studying my Baedeker maps and plans to make sure of the distance. I stepped into my hansom just in time to reach my destination at a minute or two before 7:30 o'clock, assuming that New York customs prevailed in England. The door was opened to me by an amazed-looking maid, who seemed so un certain what to do with me that I al most grew embarrassed myself. Finally, she asked me to follow her upstairs, and then ushered me Into a room where my hostess, in the hands of her maid, was In the earliest stages of her toilet. "You dear thing," she said, "how sweet of you to come. Yes, Louise, that aigrette is right.- Here is the key of my jewel case." "I fear I have mistaken the hour," I said; "the telephone was a bit difficult, but I understood 7:30 o'clock." "Yes," agreed Mrs. Marchbanks, study ing the back of her head in a hand mirror, "but in London 7:30 means 8 o'clock, you know." This was definite information, and I promptly stored It away for future use-. Also, it was reliable information, for it proved true, and at S o'clock the guests began to arrive. Dinner was served at 8:46 o'clock, and all was well. Incidentally I had learned my lesson. The half-hour in the drawing-room be fore dinner was an interesting "first im pression" of that indescribable combina tion of warmth and frost known as a London hostess. Further experience taught me that Mrs. Marchbanks was a typical one. The London hostess invariable mode of procedure is a sudden, inordinate gush of welcome, followed immediately by an icy stare. By the time you have politely responded to the welcome, your hostess has forgotten your existence. Nay, more, she seems almost to have forgotten her own. She is vague, self-absorbed, and ing rather than patent luck. Court eti quette, too, prevented the bore from wearying others by recounting reasons for losing a game "accidentally." No such etiquette restrains the bore now. It also caused winners on flukes to refrain from asserting their signal ability at the game, as they do today. In this country and France the car rom game is the rule, as it is the favorite in most countries except England. The carrom affords an outlet for the excitable tempers of American players, and also an opportunity to exhibit fine calculations, marksmanship and touch. To Henrique de Vigne, a French artist of the reign of Charles IX (about 1571), is ascribed the invention of billiard tables and formulation of rules for the game, although the origin of billiards has been accredited variously to China, England, Spain and Italy, as well as France. Shakespeare asserts that Antony and Cleopatra were good enough friends to play billiards without falling out, but he doesn't mention how or when the game got Into Egypt. Billiard-room libraries contain books with diagrams and rules showing how various games of billiards and pool may be played. Such rooms are usually dec orated in period styles, and billiard tables and mantel and wall markers are con structed to harmonise with the room, even to mahogany claw-footed tables where Colonial furniture and decorations are employed.. Billiard tables are constructed of the fashionable finishing woods of tooay, notably Circassian and Italian walnut, mahogany. Quartered oak and even rarer woods. Such tables vary in price from iW to X1800 and are finished with rubber cushions, to which is due the high average maintained in the American game. Im provement In cushions is responsible for Improvement In playing billiards. Cotton, wool and hair filled cushions on billiard tables until 1S35, when those of India rub ber were introduced. Oak beds, followed by marble, were employed until about 1S27. when slate beds were first used. Ancient "pockets" or ''hazards" were generally mere wooden boxes, and "mace playing" and "cue playing" described the game we know as billiards. The old method of converting a billiard into a pool table was to use pocket stops; now a change of rails may be effected in two minutes since the introduction of two sets of rails and cushions, with . convertible tables. Another improvement in the construc tion of billiard furniture is the table with six legs and slate beds an inch and a half in thickness instead of one inch. The idea is to give greater solidity. Frames are also heavier, and head blocks are reinforced. To contribute to the uninterrupted smoothness of the game receivers are built into the heads of six-pocket pool tables. Balls drop and roll through troughs into this re ceiver. How different sounds this description from one given of a table made for Queen Elisabeth's successor and paid for out of the exchequer: "One billiarde boarde. twelve foote longe and fower foote broad, the frame being wallnut tree, well wrought and carved, with eight great skrewes and eighteen small skrewes." It is said that old billiard tables were of many and various shapes, so that the new oval table now enjoying great popu larity in England may not be so very new after all. This innovation. It is de clared, does away with the possibility of "nursing" and "top-of-the-table" play, and gives a more scientific basis to the game, besides furnishing greater oppor tunity for exhibitions of skill, calcula tion, delicacy of toucb and execution of stroke. The English architect who de "Grawsp It stiffer, Warn." f MU'J 1 X TM" I talkative and amusing. quite oblivious of your existence. I have heard of a lady with a gracious presence. The London hostess is best described by a gracious absence. But having adapted yourself to this condition, your hostess is likely to whirl about and dart a remark or a question at you. On the evening under discussion, my hostess suddenly broke off her own greet ing to another guest, to say to me, "Of course you'll be wanting to buy some new clothes at once." This statement was accompanied by a deliberate survey, from berthe to hem, of my palpably American-made gown, and as the incident pleased my sense of humor, I felt no resentment, and amiably acquiesced in her decision. Then, funnily enough, the conversation turned upon good-breeding. "A well-bred Englishwoman," my hostess dictatorlally observed, "never talks of herself. She tactfully makes the person to whom she is talking the. subject of conversation." "But," said I, "if the person to whom she is talking is also well-bred, he must reject that subject, and tactfully talk about the first speaker. This must bring about a deadlock." She looked at me, or rather through me. in a pitying, uncomprehending way. and went on; The well-bred Englishwoman never makes an allusion or an implication that signed this oval table planned it so that the balls would always be more accessi ble, the rest or bridge seldom being re quired, and to obviate the necessity for assuming different attitudes when mak ing a stroke. The oval table also affords excellent opportunities for posing as well as flirting, especially where it becomes necessary to hold feminine hands while teaching amateurs the technicalities of the cue. A few people have French markers, with a dial to register scores, set in the rail of the table, but most players cling to the Chinese button and wire. A touch of the cue sends the button flying to the ; end of the string and a glance at U shows the score. Where mantel mark ers are employed, these often Include mirrors, in which players may admire the reflection of their pretty strokes. Many wish that all reflections were as silent during the progress of a game. Various cloths have served their turn as covers for billiard tables, all clinging faithfully to a green color, possibly as a reminder that billiards was evolved from a game once played upon the turf, some what analogous to bowling and called "halyards," a name meaning "ball and stick." For centuries the cue was known as the "mast," "stick" and "mace," and the modern billiard table had its some what crude prototype in 1674. Billiard cloth Is made in Vervier, Belgium, and is known as Simonis cloth. This affords the most perfect medium for the prog ress of the balls of ivory, out of which the best billiard balls are made, for no other substance, experts affirm, pos sesses such elasticity. The same results cannot be obtained with composition balls. Balls for pool are often made of a composition of celluloid and other In gredients, the qualities and proportions of which are held secret. In order to play a good game of bil liards one must possess excellent sight, steady nerves, alert mental faculties and the ability to make rapid combina tions to meet exigencies of ever-new positions of the balls. Billiards de mands the qualities necessary to good chess-playing and those imperative in fencing. In the first case planning ahead and calculating strokes and counterstrokes cannot be indulged i deliberately, as In chess, but must usually be the work of an instant. Here comes into play the attributes of an expert fencer, alertness of mind and motion, suppleness of limb and a trained eye. educated to see an attack and formulate a counter-charge in the same instant; to estimate distance, de scribe angles and take points. The billiard player obtains physical exer cise and mental relaxation at the same time and insensibly and inevitably trains all his faculties to a wonderful degree. No game is superior to it in the development of skill, calculation precision and dexterity. The billiard player is usually quick at repartee and spirited in conversa tion. The game he plays teaches a man much more than how to drive a ball successfully and a woman more than the art of moving gracefully as she wields her cue. Women make good billiard players, and many a one de clares that her husband enjoys her companionship more because she is able to beat him at billiards. The weight of cues depends upon the fancy of the player, who uses that to which he has accustomed himself. Ex ports play with a cue that weighs from 19 to 22 ounces, and the shaft of maple is preferred to any "other kind. In England those of ebony Btill have a vogue. The standard cue is 4 feet 9 Inches In length, with maple shaft and butt of rosewood, ebony, California rosewood, mahagua Indeed, any wood that is decorative la hue and texture could cause even the slightest trace of j discomfiture or annoyance to the pers addressed." This, of itself, seemed true enough, but again she turned swiftly toward me, and abruptly inquired, "Doesn't the servility of the English servants em barrass you?" This time, too, my sense of humor saved me from embarrassment, but I began to think serious-minded persons He amused me with Jokes directed - against his national peculiarities. should not brave the slings and arrows of a well-bred Englishwoman. Geniality and ingenuousness are alike unknown to the English hostess. It is a Ivory tips are of ancient origin, but leather ones and the use of chalk upon them to prevent their slipping upon the balls were not introduced until 1808. Olden cues went through various evo lutions, such as perfectly flat ends; points, sometimes of ivory, in 1760; the oblique cue, that rounded upon one side, and the bevelled cue. Persons often use cues inlaid with pearl and with fancy gold and silver name plate. Once in a while some player la presented with a jewel set cue, but he keps such souvenirs and trophies for ornament rather than service. Practically every nobleman's house in England and every chateau in France, had its billiard table, and the game was popular in England for more than a century before it was Intro duced in America. Prior to the 19th century, the only billiard table in New York was owned by an Irishman on Whitehall dock, and New York's first billiard room was opened In 1808 100 years ago. So fashionable did the game become later that among men who vied with one another In the beauty of their bil liard appointments was Alexander Ham ilton, who possessed a richly-carved six-pocket mahogany table, 12 by 6 feet in size. A modern devotee to the pastime was the late Henry Ward Beecher, who praised the game as a "noble" one. to "be encouraged In all safe ways." and who said that "bil liards must be regarded as one of the most charming games invented," a statement to which every blllard play er yields hearty assent. Ijocal Option Puzzle in Illinois. Carlinville Democrat. The City of Litchfield is both wet and dry. The city is located In two town ships. The major part is in North Lltch field and the balance Is in South Litch field. At the recent election North Lltch field went overwhelmingly against the saloons, while South Litchfield township went for saloons by a majority of 982. People of that city now are wondering where they are. Saloons in South Litch field, in which is located the saloon part of the City of Litchfield, will not be dis turbed and the probabilities are that many of the saloons voted out of North Litchfield will move across the railroad track and do business In saloon territory. "Thirteen Ir. Army and Navy L.lfe. Wise folks are sayln' sadly that the Army's on the blink; The soldier has good food and clothes, and water Dure to drink. He gets a chance to ne the world the Philippines take in. And yet they're leavin' like hot cakes the ranks are woeful thin. O the Army's on a striker It's "Comrades un and hike- Dolt the blue, for times ar'n't what they were: We've done the best we can. But who will blame a man For gettln restless under 'thlrten per. It sure is mighty troublin wnen we think with deen reeret That, spite of all the fine peace talk, this world am t heaven yet: And some of us are like the kid who waited sure and sly To grab a fellar marbles when that fellar wasn't by. Of course, we have our ideas, me and wise old Sergeant Brown; We've turned the question inside out, and round about and down. If any pu tiled Congressman would like to near our view. Just let him strike the nearest trail and ask the Boy in Blue. O the Army's on a strike! It's "Comrade up and hVfce, iKift the blue, for tims ar'n't what they were! We've done the best we can. But who will blame a man For a-etUii' restless under "thirteen per?" 11 very rare thing to meet a charming Eng lishwoman. Good traits they have In plenty and many sterling qualities which Americans often lack, but magnetism and responsiveness are as a rule not among these qualities. And I do not yet know whether it is through ignorance or with malice pre pense that an English hostess greets you effusively, and then drops you with an air of finality that gives a "lost your last friend" feeling more than anything else In all the world. This state of things is. of course, more pronouncedly noticeable at teas than at dinners. At an afternoon reception, the hostility of the hostess is beyond all words. Moreover, at English afternoon teas there are two rules. One is you may not speak to a fellow-guest without an introduction. The other is that no uv troduction is necessary between guests of the house. One of these rules Is always inflexibly enforced at every tea; but the casual guest never1 knows which one, and so complications ensue. English hostesses always seem to me very much like that peculiar kind of flowered chinti with which they cover their furniture the kind that looks like oilcloth, and is very cold and shiny, very beautiful, very slippery, and decidedly uncomfortable. But in inverse proportion to the con versational unsatisfactoriness of the Conversations out waiting: to be expected to do it. It's all right to eat up the hits that come into your pocket, and your fielding record might make a blamed pleasant little bit of reading for you, but the guys who go to the games will pass your name and look up the one who made errors by trying to pull drives off the whisky ads. I could stand a scare-crow out on the lot and he wouldn't make an error In a million years, but I'll be hanged If I'd want to sign him to win pennants for me. "Speaking of taking chances and doping out opportunities. Kid, here's an instance of what can be done with this kind of playing. In a game against Washington a few weeks ago, Harry Davis, of the Philadelphia Athletics, engineered a triple steal and got away with it by doping out what the. next play would be from the ex isting conditions. The Athletics had the bases full with two out and two strikes and no balls on the batter. Davis was on third, and reasoned wisely that with two strikes and no balls on the batter the pitcher would waste the' next ball. Giving the sign for a general dash all 'round, Davis made a break for home and mother as soon as- the pitcher began to wind up for the next pitch, and, just as Harry had doped it out, the pitch was high and Harry slid over the pan with what proved to be the winning run tynd the other two runners advanced a base. On the next ball pitched the side was retired. "Now, a lot of dubs will say that was a piece of good luck in getting away with a reckless chance. 3ut let me tell you. Kid, It was the result of shrewd reasoning and taking ad vantage of existing conditions, instead of performing his duties mechanically and merely doing what was expected of him. And, Kid, that's the game that will always win. Let a lot of dubs bust their thoraxes yelling about luck if they want to, but take it from me. the element of luck will always be found plugging for the guys who are doing the thinking and taking chances. "And now. Kid, you'd better hit the hay. Let this dope soak into the sponge in your belfry while you're thinking yourself into dreamland, and we'll see if it doesn't splatter your name through the sporting notes with a little more frequency. Good-night, Kid." ENGLAND'S THE first attempt at printing, at Mayence, in 1450, was a copy of the Vulgate, wood characters being used, which contained only the principal parts of the Old and New Testaments. This is the so-called "Biblia Pauperum," one of the rarest bibliographic curiosities, a copy of which was bought by the Duke of Devonshire in 1815, who pld only 1 for it. - England occupies a prominent place in the history of the Vulgate and In its preservation, as, the' purest text being In Milan. Naples and in the southern provinces. Archbishop Theodore and his companion, Hadrian, abbot of a monas tery near NapleB, went to England In 668, taking with them some of these Bibles. Besides, Just at that time Benedict Blscop and Ceolfrid, traveling between Rome and England, brought in other pure Vulgate texts, which were copied and reproduced in the monasteries of Wear mouth and Jarrow. not only for local English women are the entertaining powers of the English men. They are voluntarily delightful. They make an effort (if necessary) to be pleasantly talkative and amusing. And, notwithstanding the traditional slurs on British bumor. the English so ciety man is delicioualy humorous, and often as brilliantly witty as our own Americans. At the dinner I have mentioned above. I was seated next to a somewhat Insignificant-looking young man of true English splck-and-spanness, and with a delightful drawl, almost like the one written as dia lect in international novels. Perhaps in consideration of my probable American attitude toward British humor, he good naturedly amused me with Jokes directed against his national peculiarities. He described graphically an English man who was blindly groping about in his brain for a good story which he had heard and stored away there. "Ah, yes," said the supposed would-be Jester; "the man was ill; and he said his physician advised that he should every morning take a cup of coffee and take a walk around the place' "He had missed the point, do you see." explained my amusing neighbor, "and the Joke should have been 'take a cup of cof fee, and take a walk on the grounds,' do you see?" So pleased was the young man with the whole story, that I laughed in sym pathy, and he went on to say: "But you Americans make Just the same mistakes about our jokes. . Now only last week Punch had a ripping line asking why the Americans were making such a fuss about Bishop Potter, and said any one would think he was a meat potter. Now one of your New Yon daily Denouncing the course taken by a certain ' political party. papers borrowed the thing, and made It read, 'What's the matter with Bishop Pot ter? Any one would think he was a meat packer. 'Pon my honor. Miss Em mins, I know that for a fact!" "Then I think," I replied, "that we ought never again to throw stones With an Old Sport us. ' dHASK-HIRlNG -ACROSS-TRE-DIAMDND- 1 A rimi-DINS-UPIJNTaiI-,mE-THIRD-ME-L1NL LOVE FOR use, but to be spread by missionaries in foreign countries, especially Germany, France and Switzerland, and, strange as It may seem, even back to Italy. But what is stranger still is that these copies, known under the name of Northumbrian texts, had been transcribed with such exactness that when they returned to Italy they were found to be purer than the Italian copies, which meanwhile had degenerated. One of the attempts., to revise the Vulgate was made by Charles the Great, who Intrusted the work to an Englishman, Alcuin. In the century after the invention of printing the circulation of faulty Bibles assumed such proportions that the neces sity was felt of establishing an official edition. A handsome volume, in 1590, took the name of the Slxtlne Bible, from Sixtus V. and had as preface the famous bull, "Aeternus ille." establishing that this Bible be considered as "true, lawful, authentic and unquestioned." Sixtus V. died almost immediately after, and only at the British sense of humor," In the pause that followed, a bulky English lord across the table waa heard denouncing the course taken by a certain political party. So energetic were his gestures, and so forceful his speech, that he had grown very red and belligerent-looking, and fairly hammered the table in his indignation. , The young man next to me looked at him, as an indulgent father might look at a naughty child. "Isn't he the saucy puss?" said my neighbor, turning to me with such a roguish smile that his re mark seemed the funniest thing I had ever heard. I. frankly told my attractive dinner partner that the men of London society were for more entertaining than the women. Ho did not seem surprised at this, but seemed to look upon -It as an accepted condition. I glanced across the table at a young EngllFh woman. She was an "Honorable" and possessed a Jointed surname. She was attired with great wealth and unbe comingness, and, to sum her up In a general way, she looked as if she did not write poetry. "Tee," she was saying, "cabs are cheap with us, tout If you ride a lot in a day, they count up." This Is a stock remark with London women and I was not sur prised to hear it again. I glanced at my young man. He too had heard, and he qunickly caught my mental attitude. "Yes," he said, "English women and girls are very fit; they're good form, ac complished, and all that. But, though they know a lot, somehow er their mind don't Jell." As this exactly expressed my own opinion. I was delighted at his clever phrasing of It. But if the Englishman is charming as a dinner guest, he is even more so when he is host, as he often is at afternoon tea. And though I attended many teas pre sided over by London men, all others fade Into insignificance beside the one given me at the Punch?onice. I was the only guest, the host was the genial and miraculously clever Editor of Punch. The tea was of the ordinary London deliciousness, the cakes and thin bread and butter were, as always, over there, the best in the world; but It was served to us 'on the historic Punch table, tho great table where every Friday night, since the beginning of that publication. Its editorial staff has dined. And as each diner at some time cut his monogram into the table, the semi polished surface shows priceless me morials of the great British authors, art ists and illustrators. I was informed by my kind host that I might sit at any place I chose. 1 hesitated between Thackeray's and Mark Lemon's, but finally by a sudden impulse I dropped Into a chair in front of the monogram of George du Maurler. The editor of Punch smiled a little, but he only said, "You Americans are a hu morous people." CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 THE BIBLE two years later Clement VIII ordered that every copy of the'Bixtlne Bible should be destroyed, and published another called the "Clementine." It seems that Sixtus V had himself revised the work of the Commission, hurting the feelings of the members and offending the Jesuits, who never rested until they obtained the sup pression of the Slxtlne Bible, now one of the rarest books In the world. Leo XIII created the Commission "De re Bibiica." presided over by Cardinal Rampolla, for the study of the Scrip tures, but It remained an academic body, while Pius X desired to transform it into an institution for practical work. So. on April 30. 1907. Cardinal Rampolla wrote a letter to Dom Hildebrand de Hemptinne, abbot primate of the Benedictines, who used to live In England, intrusting tjie new revision of the Vulgate to them, and straightway appointing Abbot Gasquet as head of the committee. The English abbot admirably fulfils the requirements of so responsible a position.