IRON DUKE’S POLITRNESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1933, Page 19 (Supplement)

IRON DUKE’S POLITRNESS.

It waS announced the other day that a thief had taken from a private house some jewellery, including a gold watch “made for the jise of a blind person and said to have been owned by the Duke of Wellington.” Why was the watch supposed to have been made for a blind pOrsOfi? Because it had a hand outside. Now the Iron Duke was not blind, but he was polite. He had the watch made so that he could know how long an interview had lasted without openly looking at his watch. At a dinner-party given in London more than 40 years ago the gentleman who then owned the Duke's watch pulled it from his pocket and told its story. TO his Surprise a fellOw-gueSt produced its twin. Somebody had seen the Iron Duke’s watch at the Watchmaker’s, admired it, and told the craftsman th make him another. It Was his great-nepheW by marriage Who carried it at ' the dinner-party when, by SO strange, a coincidence, the two watches met again. It seems a pity that the Duke'S Watch should not be in a museum as a memorial to politeness. > A NOISELESS HAMMER. For seme of us half the joy of using a hammer’ is the noise it makes. A German inventor has produced ti new instrument for driving in nails which may not be popular with boys but will doubtless be appreciated by grown-ups, for it wOrks without noise. The nail is placed in a metal chahnOl through which it slides as pressure is applied with the aid of a handle. M ' • WORSE OFF. • Briggs, the Englishman, was staying at a hotel in the north Of Canada. Owing to the intense cold, Briggs was unable to go to Sleep, and, feeling it very badly, he rose just before dawn and made his way downstairs to try to find a fire. As Briggs descended the stairs he was met by a trapper Who had been Out early attending his traps. Icicles were hanging from tire man’s moustache, and his furskin coat was covered in snOw. ‘ Briggs threw him a pitying glance. “By jove, Old Chap,” he said, “What room did you sleep in last night?”