THE GENEROUS SARDINE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 135, 4 December 1909, Page 10

THE GENEROUS SARDINE.

Mr. Patrick F. Murphy, during his stay in Paris, was the lion of the city. Suca after-dinner speaking had never been heard there before. Mr. Murphy, it was unanimously agreed, was better than Depew at his best, says the New York Press. Palis was above all amused by his circus story. This story was reproduced in Figaro, and even in the serious Temps. As Mr. Murph/ told it at a dinner in the gray old Rue de Varonne, the most aristocratic street in the aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain, it ran: — "One summer afternoon the frog, the duck, the lamb, and the skunk set out together for the circus. Down the dusty and sunny road they passed in single^ file. In due course they reached the village green. There in th© middle of the green stood the circus tent as white as snow in the sun. They gave a 6hout of joy and ran forward. "The frog reached the doorkeeper first, j As he had a greenback, of course he was passed right in. "The &ick had a bill, so he followed the frog. "The lamb had four quarters. He trailed after the frog and the duck. "But entrance was sternly refused the unlucky skunk. For he had only a scent with him, and that was bad. "The skunk, cursing and growling in a low tone, turned away. He slouched slowly back along the road he had travelled so gayly a half-hour before. Hundreds of animals, chattering and laughing about the delights of the circus, passed him unheeded by. But the sardine noticed his forlorn look and stopped : '"Hello, what's the matter?" said the sardine. "The skunk told him. " 'Well, old fellow, I know just how you must feel about it,' said the sardine, sympathetically, 'for I belong, you know, to the smelt family myself.' "Then he laughed and slapped the disappointed skunk heartily on the back. " 'But you are all right now,' he cried. 'Come back and go in with me. Ire got a box.' "