PERSONAL ANECDOTES

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 31, 5 February 1910, Page 14

PERSONAL ANECDOTES

CHANGED HIS MIND. ; ; A would-be author ..called on Mr. Fields one day at his office in the oldtime publishing house of Tjcknor and Fields. Evidently the young man did not like Mr. Field's appearance, for this was the conversation that took place:— "Is this Mr. Fields?" "It is, sir." "Mr. James T. Fields?" "I am he." "Well, then, I'd like to see Mr. Ticknorl" BIRDS OF A FEATHER. The secret of Dante's struggle through life was in the reckless sarcasm, of hia answer to the Prince of Verona, who asked him how ho could account for the fact that, in the household of princes the Court fool was in greater favour than the philosopher. "Sihrnilanty of mind," said the fierce genius, "is, all the world over, tho source of friendship." COURTESY. Captain Jerome, while visiting Colonel Higginson, took a derringer from'the table, and asked: "This thing loaded?" But before the colonel could reply, the weapon was discharged, the bullet tearing away one of the fingers of the visitor. The colonel, who is widely known on account of his extreme politeness, bowed gracefully, and rejoined: "Not now, my dear captain." UNINTENTIONAL IRONY. The Rev. F. B. Meyer, speaking at a Hackney (London) meeting-, said he once attended a prison service at which one of the hymns was: "We are marching on the good old way, The good old way our fathers trod." Archdeacon Sinclair capped this with a story of a bishop who opened a prison service with the observation that he was delighted to see so many present. STUNG!" The journal? of Berlin relate nn amusing story of the ho nip life of the Crown Prince. The Crown Prinop, as is known, lwis a love for aviation, and hsu mado several asernts. The Crown Princess recently called his attention to an appeal in a newspaper much read at.Court. The Crown Prince was advised by his loyuf subjects not to ny-ike such osrei'ts, t.!ve risk run being too great for thfi| future German Emperor- The Crown Princa reflected for a moment, and then he pro mised the Princnse that he would make no more ascents. Some time later he learned that the Princess inspired the appeal. A MEXICAN CUSTOM. Not only the houses of the Mexicans, but whatever you admire is yours. If you express a sentiment of approbation of anything, the owner at once says: "Senor, it is yours." But he simply intends something flattering, and you are. therefore, not expected to accppt anything that is offered to you. An amusing story is told of Sir Spencer St. John, the Enarlish Minister, which illustrates how this national courtesy often provokes embarrassment. Sir Pprnccr. who i= a gnllnnt old bachelor, was promenading with some larliee in tlio pnrV;'. ivlion ho. met n. ■nurseErirl witli n 'bright-eyed bnbv. The Indies stopped to admire the littlo one. nnd Sir Rpenopr asked whose child it was. "Senor, it is your own." replied the nuree, with a curtesy. Pir Rpenoer has never inquired ne to the parentage of pretty children since. XO PLACE IN IT. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Oatt, the American Suffragist leader, apropos of woman suffrage, Raid:—"Men of that eort—men of that stupid sort—treat us women like little children or pet animals. They make no account of us whatever. They are like old Calhoun White, the negro. Old Calhoun walked down the main street one morning in his best black broadcloth suit, with a white rose in his buttonhole and cotton gloves on his large hands. 'Why, Calhoun,' said the barber, 'are you taking a holiday ?' 'Dish yere,' said the old man in a stately voice, 'dish yere am mah golden weddin', sah. Ah'm sallybratln' hit. , 'But your wife,' said the barber, 'is working as usual. I saw her at the tub as I came out. Why isn't she celebrating, too?' "Her? , said Calhoun angrily. 'She hain't not nuffin , to do with it. She's ma fourth.'" AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE. A correspondent of the "Figaro" (Paris) states that when Mme. Sada Yacco, the famous Japanese actress, received the news of the assassination of Prince Ito at Mito, where she was playing with her troupe, she burst into tears. "In my frequent quarrels with tray 'husband," the actress said, "we sometimes asked Prince Ito to judge between us. One day, when we had a more than usually violent dispute at Ohigasaki, the Prince came in unexpectedly, and I asked him to decide on the question. But he declined, while proposing the following solution: "Go down into the garden, ooth of you, and fight it out like wrestlers. the one that wins will naturally be the one who is in the right." No sooner said than done! In a trice Kawakami and I were in wrestling trim. My husband was just recovering from a serious illness, and, being very weak, I soon threw him to the ground. This amused the Prince enormously. PRESENCE OP MIND. Bismarck and a friend were out hunting one day, when the friend incautiously walked off into a morass, and, feeling himself gradually sinking, called out to Bismarck, "For God's sake come to my help, or I shall be lost in this quicksand." Bismarck saw the danger was great, but he retained his presence of mind. "No," cried Bismarck. "I will not venture into the morass, for then I should be lost, too. It is evident your end is inevitable; therefore, to relieve you from the cruel agony of slow death. I will shoot you." And he coolly levelled his rifle at his floundering friend. "Keep quiet," cried Bismarck; "I cannot take correct aim. Remember, that in order to put you at once out of misery, T must shoot you through the head!" The shocking- brutality of this suggestion drove all fear nf the morass out of Hip friend's mind. The unlucky man thought only of dodging Bismarck's bullet, and with this in mind he struggled so violently that finally, by almost superhuman efforts, he succeeded in laying hold of the root of an old tree, and thereby he rescued liiircsrlf. "It was ynur presence of mind that saved mc," he confessed to Bls=