Too Tall to Swallow.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 87

Too Tall to Swallow.

Writing of "Luck in Story-telling," Mr Marshall P. Wilder says: "I can recall from my own experience only one case of sheer luck in story-telling. While dining in an Englishman's place one summer some peaches were served. As the English climate is too cool to ripen peaches, these had been grown on the side of a wall and unrler glass. They were superb in size and colour, yet they had small stones and little flavour.

'" When my host told me of the care that had been lavished on them, my mind went back to the peach season at home, so I said to him: 'Peaches that would make your mouth water and send- tears of joy chasing one another down your cheeks are to-day piled high on barges beside the wharves of New York and selling at a dollar a basket, with from 100 to 200 peaches in each basket.'

'" I made this truthful , statement in a matter-of-fact way, which was all it called for. But my host leoked at me in amazement, tnen laughed heartily, and said, 'Well, you Americans have always been remarkable for the stories you, fell f ' "