A Story, of Marshal MacMahon.

Otago Witness, Issue 2083, 25 January 1894, Page 49

A Story, of Marshal MacMahon.

Among the old campaigning habits of the marshal was that of early rising in the morning in order to brush his uniform, a duty which he never entrusted to a servant. One night, shortly after he became President of the Republic, there was a fete given in the Palace of Versailles, and when it was over the marshal slept at the prefecture. The prefect, who tells the story, went to bed in his clothes in order to be ready for any emergency. He slept, as it were, with one eye open, and just at daybreak he heard sounds in the court as if someone were grooming a horse. He instantly ran to his window, and to his intense surprise saw the marshal in his shirt sleeves standing near the balcony of his room in the prefecture, brushing away energetically, but carefully, at his uniform. The prefect relates that he resolved to imitate the President, and he also began to -brush his uniform coat, taking care that he should be heard and seen by the veteran. The latter at once called him to his room, complimented him on his orderly habits, and some time after introduced him at a State ball to a great foreign prince as one of the most valuable of functionaries, owing to his strict military habits and his love of early rising.