Personalities.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 357, 12 March 1903, Page 2

Personalities.

HE CAME BACK! Duval, of Florida, was wSml the son of a poor Virginian, a man wSHf of stern, strong, taciturn disposition. The boy was a huge youth of fifteen. At the cabin fire at bed time, according to the custom of putting on a large log to keep it ia, the old man said, between tbe puffs of his pipe, • Tab. go out and bring in that big log and put it on the fire.* Tab went out and looked at the loaf. He knew that it was of no use explaining that it was too heavy, and le also knew it would not be prudent for him to return without his having it on 1 is shoulder. His little sister passed him, and she was not at all surprised at his asking her to bring out the gun and the powder-horn, for ho was in the habit of shooting. She brought the gun and Ttb started off He found his way through the woods into Kentucky, and there he found work. He was very successful, and after eighteen years he was elected a member of Congress. By that time he was a man of immense size and strength, and, going to Washington, he thought, he would go round by the way of his old home to see the old folks, who had long since given him up for dead. - Eatering the little cabin deor near bed time, ho saw the identical log of wood he was sent for. He shouldered it, pulled the latch-string, and, with his load, stood before the old man, pipe in hand, just as usual. ' Here's the big log, father!' he said. 'Well, you've been a long time getting it!' replied his father, laconically. «Pat it on the fire and go to bed.' PRINCE IN A BOILEL. That it is easier to get into a boiler than to get out of it is a fact which was impressed very strongly on the husband of Queen Wilhelmina of Holland the other day. While strolling throngh the large government building in which engines and other machines are constructed the young prince saw a large boiler, which was being made for the new packet boat Java, and, desiring to ascertain the exact manner in which the various parts were rivetted together, he got into it. For some minutes Le examined it closely, and then turned to go out, but; discovered to his dismay that the cover had been placed on the manhole of the boiler. His predicament was soon made known to the officials, and strenuous efforts were made to remove th« cover, but they wore utterly in vain, and theprinos was obliged to remain in his uncomfortable position until a large hole was cut in one of the sides.

Through this hole he came smiling, and at once assured the anxious officials that his detention in the boiler had not done him any injury. ONE OF BOUGEMONT'S PRACTICAL JOKES. One day Rcugemont proceeded to the Point Neuf in company with a friend. On reaching the bridge he drew from his pocket a ball of string, one end of which he gave to his friend to hold, and crossed .over to the ether side, unwinding the ball as he went. As previously agreed, both now appeared very busy with their ends of the string and the parapets of the bridge. The traffic being stopped, a crowd of people soon gathered round, who were firmly persuaded that the two gentlemen wore public surveyors, taking measurements in their official capacity. The colossal, imposing figure of Rougemont, with his long, flowing beard, and his grave, dignified deportment (always assumed when playing his maddest freaks), confirmed the public in their opinion. All waited on each side of the string—porters and painters, men of business and officials, elegant equipages, and strolling vendors of ices with their hand-carts—until the gentlemen had finished measuring. At length Rougemont saw that the joke had been carried far enough. He therefore politely requested a gentleman standing near him to hold the string a moment, as he had to speak to his colleague. The gentleman willingly consented, and Rougemont went across to his colleague, whom he relieved of his end of the string, and both adjourned to a neighbouring cafe, whence thsy watched with intense amusement the crowd. that stood and waited with the utmost solemnity for several minutes longer, until it gradually dawned upon them that they had been fooled. When this had become clear to all, they were seized with violent indignation, and ran off in quest of the perpetrators of the hoax, who meanwhile had made their escape, and were now planning some new mystification over a bottle of wine.— * B. P.

BISMAECH AND HIS BELLS. It may not be generally known how Bismarck went to work to compel his landlord to fix up bells at his lodgings ' when he was a Prussian delegate to the Federal Diet at Frankfort He had taken apartments in the house of a patrician of this free city who held the Prussians in great repugnance, and when Bismarck applied to him to have a bell fixed, up in his servant's room he answered that that was not in the agreement,- and that if Bismarck wanted a bell he must get it fixed up at hie own expense himself.. A few days later the whole house was turned topsy-turvy. A loud report of firearms was heard to proceed from the delegate's room. The landlord, frightened to death, rushed to his lodger's apartments, and bursting, all out of breath, into Bismarclc's study, found him seated before a great pile of documents at his desk, and calmly smoking bis big pipe. There was a pistol lying on the table, still smoking at the barrel. 'For the love of heaven, what has happenedP* 'Nothing, nothing,' answered Bismarck, quietly. 'Don't disturb yourself; I was only calling my servant. It is a very harmless signal to which you will have to accustom yourself, for, no doubt, I shall want of ton to use it again.' The bell was fixed up next day. THE KING'S BE ICELETS. j The wearing of a bracelet by a man seems a little odd to modern ideas, yet it is done by some very great personages indeed. In earlier times it was a mark of Boyalty among the nations in the East, and its use is recorded in Biblical pages. Hence it is not so strange to find that among the ornament a that King Edward donned on his Coronation day was a pair of bracelets. These English bracelets, or •armilJse,' are of the finest gold,; and • adorned with bands of pearls at the edges. [ They are beautifully chased, and ornamented with the rose, shamrock, and thistle, and open by means of a hinges. Our old Anglo-Saxon kings wore these baubles, and in some of the old chronicle, they are termed ' givers of bracelets.'