WHAT DID HE DO.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1586, 22 April 1887, Page 3

WHAT DID HE DO.

John Waterhouse was a man of raady resource and great originality of mind. When I first met him he was a medical student at Edinburgh Uuiver-

sity, and had distinguished himself in the classes. The circumstances of the meeting were so characteristic that I will now relate them.

It occurred somewhere in the early part of the year 1874, when both the political parties were preparing for the great election. A public meeting in favour of Mr Gladstone's government was arranged to come off in the Music Hall at Edinburgh, and as Scotch feeling ran very high on this subject, the great building was densely era tamed by an enormous crowd. Curiosity had led me to be present, but I had taken the precaution to come late so as to obtain a place in the door-way, and be able to beat a retreat whenever I wished. From this coign of vantage I could hear the speeches of the successive orators, and could look with pity upon the crowded thousands densely packed in the main body of the building. The meeting had been an enthusiastic one. Every point which told against the opposite party was applauded to the echo, and not one dissentient murmur had been heard until the most important of the proceedings had been reached, when the chairman had to submit the first resolution to his audience. Then, in the midst of the hush with which everyone listened to his words, a stentorian voice in the middle of the hall suddenly roared out:

" What did Gladstone do in the year '66?" From every part of the great meeting there came angry cries of" Silence!" " Order!" " Turn him out!" but in spite of these hostile demonstrations the inquisitive gentleman was still heard to be loudly demanding an answer to his question. At last matters reached a climax. There was an eddy in the great crowd, a confused struggle, and then a current which set in towards the door, on which the noisy politician was borne violently forward and ejected from the room, still bellowing his thirst for knowledge as to the movements of the great Liberal statesman in the year named. Some little time afterwards, becoming tired of the proceedings, I left for home. When I descended into the street, the very first thing that I saw was the gentleman whom I had seen borne past me, standing with his back against a lamp-post, puffing away very contentedly at a cigar. " Excuse the liberty I take," said I, going up to him, " but would you mind telling me what it was that Gladstone did do in the year '66 ?" He looked at me for a moment, with a most comical expression on his face, and then, putting his arm through I mine, turned down the street with me.

" You're a Radical like myself," said he, " I know you by sight. To tell the truth, I have not the least idea what Gladstone did, nor do I care. I wanted to get out into the fresh air, and, as it seemed impossible to do it by fair means, I had to get them to put me out, which they promptly did." We walked home together, and that evening began a friendship which lasted several years.