The Man Who Took the Bloom Off.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 72

The Man Who Took the Bloom Off.

A MAI'.K TWAIN" STORY. Mark Twain telU th* following i-tory: — '"Oiico I was ret cued in pri\ato aiuhence by an Emperor. "Last neck I was trllmg n jealou" person ' about it, aiid I could t-en him wince under it. s>oo it bite, kjo him -uffer. I ie\ealed tlif> whole eri-odo to him with contidprable elaboration anil uii-o attention to detail. When I was through he ;uked me what impreyed me most. "I said: — 'Hi-, Majesty's delicacy. They told hip to be •■lire* and back out from the prosonre. an 1 find f he doorknob the best I rnuld: it w-rw rot allovablp to face around. Now. the Ktnporor liii^-.v it would be a diffi- , cilt omW) foi mo, b-c.".use of lack of praci ticf": and «o, v.hpn it \\a» time to nort, he 1 turner!, with exceeding delicacy, and pretPiidPtl to fumble with thinprs on his desk, "> thnt T tould f*rt out in my own way, without hi- f-ppina mo' '"It wint hcitif ' It was \itrol! T saw the fmy nnd (U-criiDt'i incut ri'-c in the man's ■ fa< o ; [if couldn't keep if down. I ha« him tivmcr to fix H]) snnipthirnr in his mind to tako thr> bloi/in ofT that distinction. I enjovpcl that, for I judged that -he had his work cut out. "He strugprWl alcna inwardly for quite a while ; t!>e;i he fcaid. with the manner of a pprson who has to saj eomtjtlnner and hasn't anvthiiitr. relevant to «iv — 'You said he had a handful of special brand cigars lying , on the tablet'

" ' Yes ; I never saw anything to match them.'

"I had him again. "He had to fumble around hi his mind ac much as another minute before he could play ; then he said in as mean a way as I ever heard a person say anything : — ' Ha could have been counting the cigars, you know.'

"I cannot endur© a man like that. It 19 nothing to him how unkind he is, so long as h^, takes the bloom off. It is all he cares