Dutch
farmer members from the Back-Veld were stretched out at full
length on the benches in the lobbies, snoring loudly; in fact, the
whole place was a sort of Parliamentary Pullman Sleeping-car.
That splendid man, the late General Botha, told me that late hours
in Parliament upset him terribly, as he had been used all his life
to going early to bed. Though the exterior of the Capetown
Parliament buildings is nothing very wonderful architecturally,
the interior is very handsome, and quite surprisingly spacious.
The Governor-General gave two evening skating and tobaggoning
parties at Rideau Hall every winter. He termed these gatherings
his "Arctic Cremornes," after the then recently defunct gardens in
London, and the parties were wonderfully picturesque. In those
days, though the fashion now has quite disappeared, all members of
snow-shoe and tobogganing clubs, men and women alike, wore
coloured blanket-suits consisting of knickerbockers and long
coats, with bright-coloured stockings, sash, and knitted toque
(invariably pronounced "tuke"). The club colours of course varied.
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