ONE OF SOTHERN'S JOKES,

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 37, 12 August 1905, Page 13

ONE OF SOTHERN'S JOKES,

"F. W. W.," writing in the Denver Post, recalls an amusing anecdote of the elder Sothern, who was an inveterate practical joker. He and some strolling players were in Nova Scotia taking their vacations. They stopped at a little inn, and, one day, the boniface coming in and seeing them enjoying themselves, observed, facetiously: "Oh, I see; birds of a feather flock together." The actors, not liking the interruption, were quiet, and the pause was a trifling embarrassing, when Sothern, standing up and with a solemn, countenance, observed, "Whab do you mean by birjJs of a feather?" The 'host looked staggered, and replied: "Why, have you never heard of the old English proverb, 'Birds of a feather flock together' — " Sothern having winked at 'his associates, they all shook their heads. Whereupon the spokesman, 'turning upon the man, observed, "You must have been mistaken ; there never could have been such a proverb as 'Birds of a feather.' The idea of a whole flock of birds having only one feather. The thing is ridiculous. Besides, the poor bird that 'had that feather must have flown on one side, consequently, as the other birds couldn't fly at all, they couldn't flock together. But, even accepting the absurdity, if they flocked at all, they must certainly have flocked together, for no bird could possibly be such* a fool as to go away into a corner and try to flock by himself." Not only was the landlord completely crushed, but Sothern made the incident part of "The American Cousin," in which he made himself famous as Lord Dundreary. ____——