LAND AND WATER 
September 4, 1915 
Queen Alexandra is spending the summer at Marlborough 
House, where Her Majesty frequently has nephews and 
nieces staying with her for a few days. The King when 
he motors to town from Windsor Castle usually has 
luncheon with the Queen-Mother. Queen Alexandra 
has been enjoying much better health lately. 
The Duke of Norfolk makes steady progress towards complete 
recovery. He has always led a healthy and abstemious 
life, and though to look at he does not appear strong, 
he has evidently an excellent constitution. The Duke, 
who is now in his sixty-eighth year (the little Earl of 
Arundel and Surrey is seven), was the eldest of a family 
of eleven, eight of whom were girls. He has five sisters 
living, besides his one brother Lord Edmund Talbot. 
Norfolk House, in St. James's Square, at the present time 
is given up to Red Cross work. 
Lord and Lady Percy are at Stanwick Park, Darlington. 
Lady Percy is the youngest daughter of the Duke of 
Richmond and first cousin of Lady Titchfield, therefore 
in the ordinary course the next Dukes of Northumberland 
and Portland will be cousins, through their wives. 
According to custom, all Dukes are the right trusty 
and right entirely beloved cousins of the Sovereign, 
and in actual fact, most of them are the right entirely 
beloved cousins of each other — ^if we may take the 
entirely beloved for granted. 
Evelyn Countess Annesley has arrived at The Oak Cottage, 
Handcross, which she has taken for a term of years. 
I am asked to mention that Father Bernard Vaughan is obliged, 
through illness, to change the date of the retreat for ladies 
which he was to have given at the Convent of the Sacred 
Heart, Roehampton, this month. The retreat will now 
take place in October from Saturday, the 23rd, to 
Saturday, the 30th. 
The Ritz, though one of the youngest of London's great 
restaurants, has gathered round it many historical 
memories. And I thought the other day of those whom 
I had seen there during the last four or five years. Three 
of the Kaiser's sons, two married and Prince Joachim, 
were lunching in the restaurant three summers ago. 
The table at which I sat was always reserved for Baron 
Marschall von Bieberstein when he stayed at the hotel, 
previous to the German Embassy being made ready for 
him. There was something of the Bismarck look about the 
Baron ; he was a big, heavy man ; his role was hail 
fellow well met with anyone whom he thought could be 
of use to him, and his mission, as we now know, was to 
disarm suspicion by genial manners and hearty hospi- 
tality. Death intervened. But we have to thank him 
for our war with Turkey. 
For several years the table by the first pillar was reserved at 
luncheon for the Austrian Embassy, and near by members 
of the Russian Embassy were frequently to be seen. 
One still misses the round and pleasant face of Count 
Mensdorff, in the old days so often lunching or dining 
within the Holy of Holies — that httle group of tables 
near the door. But though those have gone others 
remain. On the very day I am referring to, M. de 
Soveral with his faithful white woolly dog was there, 
and at the next table to me the Chinese Minister and his 
wife were lunching, both in European costume. Yet it 
seems only yesterday that I was one of a luncheon party 
in this very restaurant when the then Chinese Minister 
wore pigtail and ancestral robes. The world moves, 
certainly it moves. 
The Royal Colonial Institute has conferred its Gold Medal, 
together with £100 and a Life Fellowship, on Mr. A. e! 
Duchesne for his monograph on the thesis, " A Democracy 
cannot manage an Empire. " Mr. Duchesne has something 
more than a passing acquaintance with the problems of 
Empire. For over twenty years he worked in India, 
being latterly editor of The Englishman, Calcutta. Since 
his return to England he has been connected with the 
Indian Tea Cess Fund, and he has made it his business 
while popularising Indian tea to instruct the people of 
these islands in all that hes behind it. The tea bush, 
though of younger growth, has gladdened the heart of 
man as much as the vine, in some respects more. 
Lady Lumsden, the widow of that distinguished soldier, the 
late Sir Harry Lumsden, has written to the Editor a 
most interesting note on the origin of khaki. Sir Harry 
raised the Guides in December 1846, having been given 
a free hand as regards dress and drill, and he put them 
into khaki ; three years later the Punjab Frontier Force 
was raised and adopted it. But the Guides were first. 
" On one occasion," writes Lady Lumsden, " a Force moved 
from Peshawar ; the Guides went to assist them, and so 
quickly did they accomplish their task that an artillery 
officer deliberately laid a gun on them, and was on the 
point of ordering it to be fired when a keen-eyed gunner 
called out, ' Lord, sir, them is our Mudlarks ! ' referring 
to their mud-coloured uniforms. The 52nd Oxfordshire 
Light Infantry, I have always understood, was the first 
British regiment to wear khaki. They were stationed on 
the Punjab Frontier in the early 'fifties, and wore d5'ed 
cotton for campaigning in hot weather. 
A Punch cartoon is often a national possession, with such 
wonderful truth and skill does our contemporary picture 
the pubhc sentiment of the hour. Never have these 
cartoons been better than during the war. I am glad to 
find that Punch is now printing them separately on tinted 
India paper and mounted on rough-edged white Whatman 
boards. They make the most effective prints. 
The West End, one would have thought, would have been the 
easiest place in the world to shop in, but apparently it 
has its difficulties. A CO. of a Canadian regiment is 
in this dilemma, according to a private letter. He has 
had placed at his disposal a not inconsiderable sum of 
money to buy comforts and little luxuries for his men. 
He regards it to be his duty to find the best in the market 
at the price, but is doubtful where to go to. But as I 
have told him, he and any of his friends who are in this 
perplexity have only to write a line either to the Editor 
of Land and Water or to Hermes. 
^ THE BUYERS* GUIDE ^ 
By PASSE-PARTOUT 
The aim of these notes is to bring articles of present-day use and interest 
to the knowledge of our readers. All articles described have been carefully 
chosen for mention, and in every instance can be recommended from per- 
sonal knowledge. Names and addresses of shops, where the articles 
mentioned can be obtained, will be forwarded on receipt of a post-card 
addressed to Passe-Partout, "Land and Water," Central House,. 
Kingsway, W.C. Any other information will be given on request. 
Half the difficulty of sending food in 
In Collapsible Tubes convenient form to our fighting forces 
has been removed with the introduction 
of collapsible tubes. As the contents of the tube is gradually 
used its compass becomes smaller, for after the fashion of its 
kind it can be rolled up from the end. A firm, which has 
grown noted for its campaign comforts during the past 
year, is now ready with many different preparations in these 
collapsible tubes. Butter and honey are being put up in them. 
the first-named costing is. 2d., and the second is. id. Then 
there is raspberry and strawberry marmalade, cither form, 
costing IS. id., while that useful commodity — condensed milk 
— is available for io\d. only. 
Quite excellent is some potted chicken or potted chickert 
and ham for the same price, which is appreciated wherever it 
makes its way. If, indeed, the number of orders received for 
these tubes was recorded, it would reveal a startlingly large 
figfure. One of their chief advantages is the ease with which 
the contents can be eaten in spite of the fly pest. Many men 
have written home, praising the way in which they can be 
squeezed, a bit at a time, on a piece of bread or biscuit, anc? 
394 
