I was present at a public dinner where the interruptions and
hostile demonstrations were very pronounced. But Mr. Chamberlain
won his audience by his skill and fighting qualities.

I gave him a dinner at my house and had a number of representative
men to meet him. He made the occasion exceedingly interesting
by presenting views of domestic conditions in England and
international ones with this country, which were quite new to us.

Mr. Chamberlain was a guest on the Teutonic at the famous review
of the British navy celebrating Queen Victoria's jubilee, where
I had the pleasure of again meeting him. He had recently married
Miss Endicott, the charming daughter of our secretary of war, and
everybody appreciated that it was a British statesman's honeymoon.

He gave me a dinner in London, at which were present a large
company, and two subjects came under very acute discussion. There
had been a recent marriage in high English society, where there
were wonderful pedigree and relationships on both sides, but no
money. It finally developed, however, that under family settlements
the young couple might have fifteen hundred pounds a year, or
seven thousand five hundred dollars. The decision was unanimous
that they could get along very well and maintain their position on
this sum and be able to reciprocate reasonably the attentions they
would receive. Nothing could better illustrate the terrific
increase in the cost of living than the contrast between then and now.

Some one of the guests at the dinner said that the Americans by
the introduction of slang were ruining the English language.
Mr. James Russell Lowell had come evidently prepared for this
controversy. He said that American slang was the common language
of that part of England from which the Pilgrims sailed, and that it
had been preserved in certain parts of the United States, notably
northern New England. He then produced an old book, a sort of
dictionary of that period, and proved his case. It was a surprise
to everybody to know that American slang was really classic English,
and still spoken in the remoter parts of Massachusetts and
New Hampshire, though no longer in use in England.

The period of Mr. Gladstone's reign as prime minister was one of
the most interesting for an American visitor who had the privilege
of knowing him and the eminent men who formed his Cabinet. The
ladies of the Cabinet entertained lavishly and superbly. A great
favorite at