Loading...
The Brussels Post, 1916-6-15, Page 6WHEN O11 y'h R ARE I and .e i his plea court . recorded g' L�yy RS as the finding of the court. If the plea is "Not Guilty," the COURT -MAP r °-�k ART ALLED prosecutor now addresses the court tt 11SA s and proceeds to call witnesses, who may be cross-exrunined by the pri- soner of the "prisoner's friend," IIQW ' TIIE TRANSGRESSOR' IS When the witnesses for the proseeu- T11IED IN BRITISH ARMY.i Ginn have been heard, the accused is asked if he wishes to give evidence himself or to call witnesses, and he is allowed to do so, If Iie Pleads "Not Guilty." The accused is always asked if he has anything to say in his defence. If he has pleaded "Guilty," he is allow - Just What Happens When Tommy Ilas to Face Military Court, To everybody the term "court -mar - ed to make a statement in miti ation tial' he familiar, especially in these x; times when Britain's Army has grown of punishment and to call witnesses to proportions hitherto undreamed of. as to character. Although the term is familiar enough, i If the plea has been "Not Guilty," few people, Ifancy, really know how the court is closed to consider its a court-martial is held, says a writer finding after hearing the evidence and in London Answers. the addresses of the prosecutor and In the first place, it should be' the "prisoner's friend," Then'the pointed out that a soldier has always court is re -opened and the finding the right to elect to be tried by Dis- made known, Wet Court -Martial before sentence In the event of conviction, before is passed on him by his commanding sentence, the court is re -opened officer within the powers vested inithe arousal brought in. The prose - that officer I cutor is asked if he has any rvid- tiaOsar�ntiidV OF once as to character or particulars of f�j' j � �j ,"(�j Of Varying Degrees. service to produce. The particulars are read and the prosecutor asked if Courts -Martial are of four degrees: the accused is the person named ARMY OFFICER OFFICER .. General Court -Martial, composed i therein. Ile must also satisfy the of nine members in the United King- I court that he has compared the de. ::cc�ass:cu.I,a;ne^.W:!s,•,n. _s. :am'•,su1a Hundreds of Miles of These Light Railways Have Been Built Round Verdun to Carry Food and Munitions dom, India, Malta, and Gibraltar, or tails with the regimental books, and SOME OF THE SECRETS 0 five elsewhere, a field officer—i,c., an that the entries on the accused's con - officer not below the rank of major— duct -sheets are a true summary of NECESSARY EFFICIENCY. being appointed as president. All such entries in these books. members of the court must have held; On these matters the prosecutor commissioned rank for not less than may be cross-examined by the was- Thoroughness, Discipline, Cheerful three years. This court, which is ed,who also has the right to make a nese, Fairness tout convened by his Majesty or the gen- s'tement, eral officer commanding, by warrant, 1 The court is now closed to consider Truthfuhicss. has power to sentence a prisoner to the sentence. A military writer in the Lando 2. District Court -Martial is conven- Carrying•Out the Verdict. Daily Express says: ed by the general officer commanding, Next, the papers are forwarded to It is no difficult thing to beeom or an officer holding a warrant for Divisional Headquarters for confirm- an officer in these strenuous times the purpose. Such a court has the ation of the sentence by the general To be a thoroughly efficient one i power to discharge a man from the officer commanding, and are then sent anything but easy. In the firs Service, or sentence him up to two back to the officer commanding the place, an officer should be thorough years hard labor, and to reduce a unit to which the accused belongs for in all his dealings—on the barrack non-commissioned officer, promulgation of the sentence, which square said on the training area, in is quite a ceremony in itself, the barrack -room and in the officers' The battalion is paraded and the mess. Discipline is the key to prisoner marched—between a guard thoroughness, and thoroughness with fixed bayonets— before his com- spells reliability. It follows, then, rades, who are called to attention that the very first thing for the while the sentence is read out by the young officer to master is discipline, colonel or the adjutant, after which Discipline is the secret of the Guards, right—nohed complaints,meh," "Albert" BRITAIN IN A C� blushed red from the tip of his beauti- IS l'�, fully clipped moustache to o '.0 plaster- hCORD RUSSIA ed hair. He had forgottten, rest of the incident was short and WITH painful, F Five Cardinal Points. The real "pukka" officer does no forget. He never "thinks so." II makes it his business to know. Ther are five sound words stored in th back of every good officer's brain:— Cheerfulness Accuracy Pluck Fairness Truthfulness n The man who bears all these quali- ties cannot go far wrong. To be e able to take a senior officer's dress- , ing down when it is undeserved, and s at the some time to store up th t words of' good advice for future re ference; to differentiate between th Tommy who has a "dying grandmoth- er" and the man whose wife is really ill, can only be accomplished by the man who has character and who un- derstands his men. "Get to know your men" is a max- im which most officers have im- pressed upon them in the early peri- od of their soldiering. There are some officers who have no secrets with their men. Their minds are as an open book to the good officer. He knows their weaknesses and their good points, listens to their sorrows and their love affairs, and in some cases even helps them write their let- ters. Men would go through any- thing for these officers, KING GEORGE ADDRESSES RUS SIAN VISITORS. 0 Complete Agreement Has Been Reach ed on Conduct of the War. King George gave a stirring addres at Buckingham Palace recently to th Russian visitors from the Council o£ the Empire and the Duma. At th e Government banquet in the evenin Mr. Asquith said Great Britain an e Russia are in complete agreement on all points of'Eastern policy—Constan tinople, Persia, etc. "However long and however severe the days of our common endurance may be, we will stand together unti we have beaten to the ground the forces which now withstand us, and we can begin in peace bo rebuild, in concert with one another, the shaken fabric of European civilization." The King at the palace extended a cordial welcome to the visitors and said:— "I consider it a privilege that I am enabled to meet you here to -day. M pleasure in doing so is much enhanced by the opportunity thus given me to convey to you, and through you to the great Russian Empire, the heartfelt desire of myself and of my people that the relations of our two countries should become even closer and more intimate. Russia's Feats of Arms. "To -day we are pursuing a common aim in the brotherhood of arms. May we remain firmly and lastingly united when we have together attained the victories for which our armed forces are now so valiantly fighting. I can assure you, gentlemen, that the whole nation has followed with the keenest interest and the deepest admiration the marvellous feats of arms perform- ed by the gallant Russian troops throughout this war, and the brilliant achievements which, conjointly with the Russian naval forces, they have recently accomplished, in the face of formidable difficulties, in the Asiatic provinces of the Ottoman Empire. "The armies of our two countries are engaged in fields widely distant, but I rejoice to think that my gallant sailors have been able to render ser- vices in concert with their Russian comrades, and that in other ways my country has gladly given what 'I be- lieve to be useful and effective help. Strengthen the Bonds. My prespagammersgraracomoma WEAR-. Cod:, Cosy PRA COM) kritahle WORN BY �R MEMBER OF THE FAMILY SOLD BY ALL G9OD SHOE DEALIMIN PRINCE OF WALES IN THE STOKEHOLD WHEN°ICING GEORGE ACTED AS A SHIP'S FIREMAN. Memorie>f of the Time He Shoveled Coal Into the Furnaces of the Indomitable, • It used to be said our Sailor King that in his early days he was never. more at his ease than when on the duck of a man-of-war. He always s had the faculty'of being able to adapt e himself to all circumstances, and ib did not surprise his old shipmates— e although it greatly astonished the or - g dinary landlubber—to hear that when 1 on his way home from Canada in 1908 he descended the stokehold of H.M.S. (indomitable and worked in the black inferno for at least forty minutes, says London Answers. It was Vice -Admiral King -Hall' who 1 was captain of the Indomitable,, and no doubt when the King invested him with the insignia of a 'Knight -Com- mander of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath pleasant memories of the visit to his Canadian Dominions had recurred to his Majesty, if he did' not actually call to mind the incident of the stokehold! Volunteers Called For. • It is composed of three members with not less than two years' com- missioned service, under the presid- ency of a captain, if a field officer is not available, 3. A Regimental Court -Martial, convened by the general officer com- the 1 of the line regiments which fought mangling or the commanding officer of prisoner is marched away to his at bions and of the famous. 29th the unit to which the accused belongs. punishment. Has power to sentence him up to for- If the offender is a non -commission- Division, who made their name an ty-two days' detention. On Active Service. It consists of three officers,' with a captain or president, all having held his Majesty's commission for one year or more. 4. A Field General Court -Martial is designed to meet the exigencies of active service- It has the same pow- ers as a General Court -Martial. Any three officers may compose the court, or, if three are not available, two may serve. Such a court may be convened by a commanding officer de- tached on service, if no superior au- tority is available. Let us assume that a private sol- dier has struck a superior officer— say, his company sergeant -major. The accused is brought up in ord- erly -room before his commanding of- ficer, who hears his evidence. As this officer has not power to deal with the case himself, he commits the man for trial by court-martial. The prisoner and all the witnesses are next paraded before the adjutant, in order that he may prepare what is known as `The summary of evidence," The charge and each piece of evidence and cross-examination by the prison- er, after it has been taken in the ad- jutant's own handwriting, is read over to the accused and signed by him and by the witnesses. "The Prisoner's Friend." At the conclusion of the evidence the prisoner it at liberty to make a statement, which is also taken down and signed. The charge is drawn up by the ad- jutant as follows: "Sec. 8 (1) Army Act,—The ac- cused, No.--, Private -- , — Battalion, ---. Regiment, a soldier of the Regular Forces, is charged with striking his superior officer, being in the execution of his office." This charge -sheet, the summary of evidence, and all necessary papers are then forwarded„ with a request that a court-martial may be convened. The accused is given a copy of the evidence, in order that he may pre- pare his defence, and he may, if he wishes, have an officer appointed to defend him. The officer is styled, "The prisoner's friend." A court is appointed by the general officer commanding the division, and assembles on the date fixed. Directly the court assembles the order convening it is read, and the, charge -sheet and the summary of ev- idence laid before the court, who sat- isfy themselves that the proper of- ficers are present and eligible to serve, that the accused os amenable to military law, and that the charge, as formulated, discloses an offence under the Army Act, Next, the prosecutor—who is the adjutant—ane, the "prisoner's friend" are called in, and take their places. Then the accused is brought in under escort, the names of the president and members of the court are read out to him, and he is asked if he objects to be tried by them. The aoeused is then arraigned oh the charge and asked if he pleads "Guilty" ;or "Not Guilty," If he pleads "Guilty," the president warns him that no evidence can be'taken,! ed officer who is to be reduced, his the Gallipoli Peninsuiu, stripes are cut off by the regimental An officer must understand his sergeant -major and the next senior profession, he must know the why non-commissioned officer. and wherefore of things: it is not sufficient to give three days C.B. to Private Smith for having a dirty rifle FISH YIELD LEATHER. on parade. Private Smith must be made to understand, first, why his Valuable Product From Sturgeon rifle is dirty; second, the importance Found in Great Lakes, of its being kept spotlessly clean; and, last, that he is being punished in It is a curious fact that many sorts order that it shall be cleaned pro- of leather are got from sea creatures, perly in the future. some of which are very beautiful. The skin of sharks is a beautiful bur- "Telling Off." nished grey or bluish color. The sur- There are two way of "telling off" face resembles finely gained leather, a man. The mediocre officer finds since it shows many tiny prickles all fault in this way: "Oh! you've got a set one way. They are quite invisible dirty rifle, have you? Very well, to the naked eye, but there are so ; Sergeant, take this man's name." many of them and they are so finely The offender gets no chance of mak- set that one distinctly feels the 1ing his excuse, good or bad, and he roughness of the surface if he rubs1 is phis ext, as he thinks, unjustly his hand over the skin in the direr He goes to his barrack -room and tion opposite to that in which the sulks. The good officer hears what prickles point.the defaulter has to say, reasons This property of shark skin renders with him, points out what happens to it especially valuable to the mann- men who get "slack," and gently facturer of eha reen. g Since the skin i that he firmly impresses upon him but fi im r s is at once tough and easy to work it y P p can be used for many purposes where decorative effects are desired. In spite of its lumpy armor, the sturgeon furnishes a valuable and at - has got to be punished, that he must make the best of it, and that he must not at any time let the offence oc- cur again. In nine cases out of ten tractive leather. It has been found i inthe man appreciates this kind of "tell - that when the bony plates are re- ! his rifle as and appears on t should be,parIf paradewith moved the patterns remain on the I sometimes the case, the dirty rifle skin, just as the patterns of alligator f appears again, then the man must be scales remain on alligator leather— jumped on "`hard and proper." a circumstance that adds greatly to The ideal officer must have spirit the value of the product. From the and character, cleanliness in thought sturgeons that abound on our Pacific ' and action; he must know his mtn as Coast and in the Great Lakes we get 1 the flying man knows his engine. If a tough leather that is used for the these traits are blendeki with a thor- making of laces to join leather belt- ough knowledge of the soldier's pro- ing for machinery. It is said that fession, there is not much that is lack - the lacing frequently outwears the ,ing, The officer who is careful in all belting itself. circumstances, who is just, but firm, There is found in Turkish waters 1 with his men, who listens to griev- a strikingly unattractive fish called antes which axe not "grousings," and the angel -fish, classed among the lit- seeks to remedy them, can do as he toral sharks. The fish yields an ex- likes with his men, no matter what tremely high quality of green leather, the circumstances may be. much esteemed in the Ottoman do- There are many well-meaning minions. young officers who suffer from forget - SUGAR CARDS IN ENGLAND. fulness. There was a subaltern crossing the Mediterranean on his way to the Dardanelles, who prided Issued to 25,000 Members of a Co- operative Society. Sugar cards have been issued to the 25,000 members of the Sheffield and Eeclesfleld Co-operative Society, says a London despatch. Before su- gar can be bought at any of the stores the card, which bears the member's name and number, must be presented, When the quantity bought weekly is half the normal quantity in peace times a record is made on the card. Non-members are not supplied. The system has been adopted by other societies and is proving most successful in husbanding supplies, Speaking of the likelihood of the card system being extended to other articles, T. Walton, the general man- ager, said, that his board felt that it would be necessary before very long if supplies diminished as they were doing week by week. Cards for all food might soon be in use. Sixty miles of thread woven from the fibre of a species of Italian nettle tinned the major, suavely and politely, r weighs but two and a half pounds. "your men have hal " 111' sapper all p ONE SHO_, 2,300 CASUALTIES. Description of the Famous German 16 -inch Howitzers. In the recent fighting around Ver- dun no ordeal was more terrible for the devoted French soldiers than the bombardment by the famous German 16 -inch howitzers. These guns—which, by the way, each requires twelve railway cars to transport them—fire a shell which weighs near, yhalf a ton, and which, stood on end, reaches higher from the ground than the ordinary mantel- piece. It takes twenty-six hours to set up each gun, that is to say, to assemble the various parts, six h. ars to adjust the range, 200 men to serve it, and each shot cost $2620. The gun crew, who fire the gun from a distance of 300 yards, have to wear special protectors for ears, eyes and mouth, and to lie flat on the ground to save themselves from in- jury during the terrific shock of the discharge. The gun itself is mounted on a foundation twenty-six feet deep, and in this foundation are special mines which the engineer in charge is sworn to explode, and so destroy the goo should there be any danger of it being captured. As c- 'dunce of the enormous dam- age this gun can do, it may be men- tioned that one shot at Liege killed orwounded 2,300 men, and the fort- resses of Namur and Maubeoge each surrendered after only two of these gigantic shells had struck them. JAWBONE OF RICHARD II. Westminster Abbey Story Says It Was Unearthed by Schoolboy. Many strange stories are centred in Westminster Abbey, but the fol - owing, which the Church Family Newspaper says has been hitherto un- published, is one of the most remark- able. Ninety years ago, a boy ab Westminster School, which adjoins the Abbey, burrowed through the andstone forming the foundation of* ne of the walls. Inside the cavity he alt a skeleton, from which he sus- eeded in removing what turned out. o. be a human jawbone. He book it home to his father, who visited the Abbey, and formed the opinion that his son had raided the tomb of Richard IL himself on his Sandhurst education, 1 on his knowledge of soldiering, and many other things which he did not possess. He was a gay, light-heart- ed boy, who looked upon everything as a good joke—and the men of his draft called him "Albert,' Now one s night, after a long afternoon's duties, o as officer of the guard, "Albert" turn- f ed up to first dinner looking particul- arly beautiful. The meal started t with "Albert" in fine form; as he said, he and his men had done a good day's work, "earned a day's pay to- day—what" "Albert's" whiskey and soda had . just been brought to him, when, 1 whether by design or ill -luck, his t major et an opposite table caught his eye, and, with a murmured apology to his neighbor, pushed back his chair m and came over to the young subal- tern's table, "Earned your dinner, n eh, young man' said the major, I t should smile," replied "Albert," who s cultivated Amerioan slang among t other habits. "And, of course," con- r The bone remained in the family abeled "Jawbone of Richard II." un- 11 late in King Edward's reign, when the then owner sent it to the King With an explanatory letter. The hole ade by the by had long since been closed up, 01,11 its whereabouts could of be traced, but after many formali- les Richard's tomb was opened, and, urs enough, the jawbone of the akole- on was found to be missing. It eves °placed, and a parchment manuscript. ecording the circumstances was de- osited in the tomb. "I trust that during your visit to this country you will be able to as- sure yourselves of the whole -hearted vigor with which my whole Empire is performing its part in this stupen- dous war, and its determination to make every sacrifice in furtherance of the cause which I and my allies have at heart. "I would also wish to express my sincere hope that the two countries, with their great resources and their immense possibilities, will understand that it is for the benefit of both to establish close intercourse. Every na- tion can learn' from another and give to another; the better bhey know each, other the more true that becomes, and I earnestly hope that our two coun- tries will give of .their best to each obher. Community of interests in this respect will go far to strengthen the bonds which at present unite the two nations." Felt it Coming. Whenever ,Robert's mother went away on a visit the little fellow was so badly spoiled by a doting father and grandmother that upon her re- turn it took several applications of the rod to mend his ways. Ono ds!', whey she had been absent for a Week, :, neitatber nslted Roe, rt when his mother was corning home• "011, she'll be back very soon now," he replied, "I'm beginning to get pretty bad!" The Indomitable was making a re- cord passage from the other side of the Atlantic, and it was a case of "all hands to the pumps"—or, rather, "all hands to the furnaces"! Volun- teer stokers were called for, so as to get the maximum speed out of the Dreadnought cruiser, and the Prince was among the first bo offer. his ser- vices. They were readily accepted by the astonished admiral. The Indomitable was ploughing .through the "Herring I f Pond"at the rate of twenty-six knots when the royal stoker went on duty. There was no time for- formalities, and no man more interested in keep- ing up the vessel's speed than the Prince. The day before he had des- cended in ordinary attire to look at the s stokehold; this time he went down in s overalls and a cap -cover ready for the Practical experience. - Once below the Prince' was directed e to the 100 -ton bunker in the far cor- ner of the stokehold, and was given a piece of chalk with' which to mark up each skid as he filled it. = m Having filled five skids, representing e fifteen hundredweight of coal, and made four marks, drawing the fifth s diagonally through the other four, t the Prince stood ready with his shovel P till he knew which furnace was to be coaled next. Then, without any awkwardness or misfires, he shot his six shovelfuls of coal into one furnace, and six shovel- fuls into another. He also tok a brief turn at raking out the red-hot ashes, with the hot blast on his face. S Kept as Souvenirs. Though quite in earnest about it all, the Prince smiled when his work li was done, and, wiping the dripping ci perspiration from his brow and beard, th t NEWS. FRO ENGLAND NEWS BY MAIL ABOUT JOHN BULL AND DIS'I'UOPL3.. Occurrences In the Land Thet Reigns Supremo in the Conanler. tial World. The churchyard at Meopham, Kent, is so full that several tunes lately human bones have been uncovered. The death has occurred in Sunder- land, of Mr. R. H. Gayner, 000 of the oldest shipowners in thea north of England. St.' Anne's Home, Streatham Hill, where 11,000 refugees have been dealt with since the war, has now been •closed. The outer gallery of St. Paul's Cathedral, which has been closed for several months, has now been re- opened to the public. The Prince of Wales' Fund has reached a total of $29,329,085. Of this sum $13,765,000 has been allocated to date for distribution for ,relief, Sir George Sheraton Baker, judge of the Lincolnshire County Court, was fined $5 for insufficiently shaded lights on the night of a Zeppelin raid.. A ward in Dollis Hill House Mili- tary Hospital, Middlesex, is to' be named after Gladstone, who frequent= ly slept in the room when a guest of Lord Aberdeen. Sir Frank 'Bowden, who has, pre- viously contributed. largely' to the funds, has cleared - off the whole debt on the General" Booth Memorial Hall,' Nottingham. The Parish Council of Busham, near Rochester, through its chairman,. Mr. John Benjamin, has been fined $25 for neglecting to shade the lights dur- ing its deliberations. At a meeting of the Essex War Agricultural Committee, Lady Petre, president of the Women's Committee, reported that 2,187 women farm work- ers had been registered. Wounded soldiers from Henley • Park Military Hospital formed an arch with their crutches at the wed- ding at Brookwood, of Miss Edith M. Dixon, a Red Cross nurse. Damage to the extent of $50,000 was caused by a fire at'the premises of Messrs. William Greenwood, jr., spinners and manufacturers, of Oxenhope, near Keighley, Yorkshire, The death is announced at the age of seventy-one of Mr. L. M. Colmore, For seventeen years a Birmingham stipendary magistrate and, chairman of the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions. Corporal Burt, V.C.,- was . recently at Hertford Castle presented by the mayor with a gold watch and chain, $750, and an illuminated address sub- scribed for by the townspeople of Hertford. The London County Council Educa- tion Committee has expressed approv- al of the scheme for training women or the boot trade. The women will be baught clicking, sewing, finishing and lasting. To qualify women now engaged in the leather trade as forewomen and supervisors in factories,. the Leather- ellers' Company is arranging for pecial courses of practical and theoretical instruction. A new automatic telephone ex- hange has been opened at Ports- mouth. Ib is the largest of. its kind n the country, having 7,000 lines con- nected, or 5,000 more than any auto- atic exchange previously in exist- nce. During his Majesty's visit to Alder - hot he started 700 soldier competi- ors ina cross-country race, the com- ebition forming a regular part of the physical training of the. troops. The race was won by a' team of the Dur- ham Light Infantry. BERLIN FOOD PRICES DOUBLE. ome Have Even Trebled Since War Started. A comparison by Vorwaerts of Ber- n, Germany, of food prices in that ty now and in March, 1914, shows ey have doubled and in many cases rebled since the war started. Potatoes cost 8 cents for a small sack of ten pounds, as compared with 5 cents in March, 1914. Sausages, which were 22 cents a pound have risen to 36 cents, while the hanefrau has now to pay 72 cents a pound for am and 4 cents for a herring which st her less than two cents before the ar. • remarked in the hearing of the stok- ers at hand: "This is warm work! I don't think I'd care for it as a regular job. His Royal Highness was now black- ened with coal -dust from head to foot, for the grime takes effect very quick- ly in the stokehold. h A member of his Royal Highness' co staff pocketed the Prince's piece of w chalk as a keepsake, and the men made a hurried scramble to, pick up fa bibs- of coal that had fallen from his 16 shovel. These fragments they still fr hold as mementoes of the memorable ch 0 as as le P ri the garb of the loyal amateur sboker; co that photograph, needless. to say, is co one of the most treasured souvenirs Almost the greatest risehasbeen in ts, Margarine has: gone up from cents to 36 cents a pound;; butter om 34 cents to 61 cents; Dutch eese from 24 to 56 cents; flour : is on incident. Moreover, the Prince's shovel was burnished, and was given a place of honor among the Indomit- able's treasures.. On reaching the deck the Prince was photographed with his staff in dearer, porridge costs twice much, and rye ,flour is half again dear.; The most astonishing rise in cocoa, from 28 to 88 cents a oundi. while'chocedate powder has- sen from 24 to 54 lents. Coffee now sts 56 cents instead of from 32 to 42 nts two years ago„ Sugar is only about a cent dearer, ntinuing to sell under 0 dents a and' 'That is accounted for by the et that Germany, which formerly ported a large amount of beets, can longer do so. • Where the Exercise Goes.' "Don't you find gardening a splen+ did exercise?' "Yes, for the man I hire to do the digging." There's only the difference of Otis letter between sham and shame, of the Canadian trip, co This is but one of the "exploits" the o King has to his credit, Besides hav- ing worked in the stokehold, his Ma- eic jesty was the first monarch to take a no trip in a submarine beneath the sur- face of the sea. This occurred in Weymouth Bay on board submarine D4 nearly four years ago; since then he Ring has descended a mine, and earned at first hand something of the itman's work. It is better to be dependable than Inuit .Tourist(to guide) t --."'That's a t vary imposing statue, guide," Cxtiide—� 1 "Indeed, you are right, sir; most peo- P pie are imposed on by it. They' think it's marble, but it's only' painted wood." b •