An Honourable Retreat.

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 77

An Honourable Retreat.

Bismarok used to relate an incident which his grandfather witnessed when serving un- , der Frederick the Great. It affords good ' reading in the present time in view of . mistakes and rumours of mistaikes, degradations and equivooal promotions, of which tales come through from St. Petersburg. During some manoeuvres an ensign made a mistake, and the old King, in a flaming passion, pursued him with a stick, intending to publicly chastise him. The ensign lit cut for all he was worth, and nimbly leapt a ditch which 'the King \ could not negotiate, but was left fuming ' oq the wrong side. Later the- colonel of the regiment reported to the King that the ensign had tendered his resignation. "I am sorry, sire, for he is a. really fine I soldier," said the colonel. i "Send him to me," replied Frederick. ; The ensign came in, expecting to be beaten j or perhaps sent to prison. ; "Here, sir, is your captaincy," said the ! King. "I meant to give* it you 'this morn- , ing, but you ran so di d hard I oould i not oatoh you." — St. James's Gazette. I An Amateur Defective. { Sherlock Holmes has a promising rival ■ in a barber known io the Philadelphia .Record. He astonished one of his customers the other day by asking him if ho were not left-handed. Tho man admitted that he was, and suggested that the barber fcad probably seen him hand up his hat. "No,"' said tho barber; "'I have other ways cf finding out such things. I see, too, that ; you are v 'bookkeeper." | *' Yes," admitted the customer, " your j guesses ore. correct. How do you know?" | "It's easy," said the barber. "In dhampoo- | ing your head I noticed ink on your hair j at the left temple. This ink, I concluded, i must havo got tJicre from a pen resting on j your left ear, which indicated that you were , a iperson vho used a pen a great deal, as only i such persons use. their ea.rs as penracks. • "That didn't convince me that you were a bookkc par, however, because a literary man migh^ stick his pen behind his ear for i convenience. I learned of your profession , ; when I applied riie lather. This made the j ink on yc-ur hair wash out, and I discovered two shades of ink — red and black. Nobody but a. bookkeeper u?&s red flnd black ink, so it was easy to class you a* a bookkeeper. "I knew you w&ie loft-handed because the ink was on (he left fide' — the side that a lefthanded writer would invoiuntarily use when sticking his pen back of his car." "Wonderful, woaderlul '." said the customer. "Now, suppose you stop talking for j a while, and finish shaving me." t