Sketcher.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 352, 5 February 1903, Page 7

Sketcher.

DUMAS. STQIK CH. FORMENTIN tells the folilxlr lowin £ story. He says that at 'Jgrfk the VilJers-Colterets Museum, among other relics, is to be seen an antiquated pair of boots. They are much worn; there is a large hole in the left sole, the heels are almost gone, and their uppers are lamentably split. These old boots, carefully saved by loving haHds, will recall a little-known incident in the life of the great Dumas. Round his statue on the day of the celebratioß, orators, writers, and others spoke of him as a great writer, a fertile novelist, and a powerful dramatist, but they never mentioned him as a politician. Emfs* Po««9Tf, rite*' Nsw Boowf, Shortly before 1848, Dumas, who, al-

though he was employed in the office of the Duke of Orleans, was a Republican at heart, determined to go for Parliamentary honours, so he put himself forward as a candidate for the' Department of the Tonne. One Soe morning he arrived at the Hotel de I'Eou at Seas. As usual, his pockets were nearly empty, but his boots were brand new. At his-first meal at the I table d'hote he met a gentleman who greatly took his fancy; he was a young nobleman at that part of the country, Count Billebaultdu Chcffault, the son of 1 the first president of Burgundy. Barely twenty-five, of an independent and original nature, generous and unsuspecting, ha enthusiastically took up the cause of the new-comer, whose greet name and reputation appealed to his literary and artistic tastes. Dumas explained his projects to the Count, who immediately offered his services, and the novelist was only too glad to have an intelligent and useful companion to accompany; him on his electioneering tour. Young Du Chaffault was the son of a serious and severe magistrate, and although his political opinions were, perhaps, not altogether to the taste of his naw friend, still he, or rather his father, had horses and carriages, etc., which, under the circumstances, Dumas could appreciate.

On Toub. Well, they started on their electoral tour. The opening of the campaign was not precisely a triumph. The peasantry rather distrusted this broad-shouldered .fellow, with sueh delicate hands and-feet, whose wonderful candour was not sufficiently convincing to their democratic simplicity; The electors were a stubborn lot, and a certain cobbler on more than one occasion worsted him in an argument. With his young friend, Dumas hurried from commune to commune. His confidence held out, but his boots did not; they became terribly shabby, and let in water t\s„-a sluice-gate lets it ont. One day the Count made him a friendly proposal. He said that a genuine, serious candidate could not show himself in public in such shocking boots, and as he himself was wearing a perfectly new pair he would offer them to him. Dumas accepted them, and was about to throw his disreputable footgear out of the window when his friend took them from him and put them on one side.

'The Best Cook in the World.' Next day, elegantly shod, Alexandre Damas held' a meeting at an inn at Theil-sar-Vannes. The proceedings were noisy, for the hostile cobbler was there. The candidate was called a false Republican and an aristocrat. Ha was reproached with putting too many of the 'Upper Ten:' in his books, and with not being of plebian descent. Then Damas got angry, and, shaking his formidable mane and tapping the heels of his new boots on the improvised platform answered,' Yes, lam the son of General Comte Damas, Marquis of La Pailleterie, who felled one of the enemy's cavalry with a blow of his fist, and his horse with a stick; and lam pround of it! Bat lam also the child of my works. My books, if placed one on another, would reach higher than any of yon. And as you reproach me with having white hands, I will show you that they can work. As the best cook in the world I invite you to a lunch cooked by myself. . . ." With these words Alexandre Damas took off his coat, turned up his cuffs, borrowed an apron, and, seizing a rabbit which was banging in the window, skinned it, out it up, and, standing by the stove, cooked a most perfect rabbit stew. Unfortunately, although this culinary masterpiece appealed in a measure to tie electors of Theil, as a candidate for Parliamentary honours he was not successful This is a true story, and was related to M. Fof meutin by the son of the Comte du Chaffault, who so generously assisted the great writer, and it is in his mansion in i&o Site Dasaonfc d'Urville that the journalist saw, amid many valuable curios, the famous historic)! boots.

ELECTRIFIED HOUSES. An instance of non-familiarity with simple scientific fact is illustrated by sn article that goes the rounds of the press once or twice annually, namely, the story of the electrified house. The article usually states that eoma one has discovered that everything he touches in his house, the radiators, picture frames, banquet lamps, etc., give him an electric shock. Hence, he fears there is some connection between the arc-light wires and the water pipes near his residency, says 'Cassier's Magazine.' The electric light inspector is, therefore, summoned, and reports that the wires of his company are intact and that the electricity must come from some other source. It does not dawn on any of the people consulted that the discovery of the phenomenon is unconsciously performing one of the simplest and oldest of electees fcatie experiments, the she filing of his shoes over the dry carpet raising the potential of his body to several thousand volts, which discharge at every opportunity. One may even get electric discharges from his knuckles to the brass lock on the hand-bag which he may be carrying while walking on a stone pavement during cold, dry weather.

MA.SSAGB v. WALKING. ' I met Maud X. walking to-day,' said one of her friends, ' and I was so surprised.' ' Why ?' queried her companion. ' I suppose, in spite of her horses and carriages galore, that she must take exereise like che rest of us.' ' Never on foot, though,' .returned the first speaker. ' She rides her horse every day, works in the gymnasium and is massaged, but she sever goes afoot, she says. She does not like it, and it is really funny to see her on the street taking little short steps like a Chinese woman; you can see she is. not accustomed to it.' It is tiue that a number of rich women never walk at all, and rely chiefly upon massage to keep them in good health, and, what is even more important in their-eyes, to work off any accumulation of superfluous fl-sh- There is a great difference in smart women in this respect. Some lead what might truly be called a strenuous life. They rise early, do their own message in their matutinal tubs, and take vigorous constitutionals in the way of walking and riding, all in addition to the fine lady existence incumbent upon their position, while others rely on the moat up to date, modern methods to keep them healthy, and are bathed in tonics, massaged in lieu of exercise, and liva in the open air in their carriages. LAMPS THAT EVER BURN. Marvellous accounts are "given by mediasral authors of perpetually burning lamps found in ancient tombs. When tie tomb of Pallas, son of Evander, who is mentioned by Virgil, was discovered, about the twelfth century, by a countryman digging near Rome, it is said that » lamp was still burning over his head, which must have been lighted more than 2,000 years before. Baptista Porta, in his treatise on natural magic, relates that about 1550 a marble sepulchre of the Roman period was discovered in an island near Naples. On opening the room a phial containing a burning lamp was found. This lamp became extinction breaking the shial and exposing the lamp %b the open »ir; the lamp emitted a tplendid frame, i