A German Failing.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 29 September 1910, Page 4

A German Failing.

The Germans are a great nation, but among their many admirable qualities they do not include a sense o! humour. Berlin provided the other day a delightful incident in wiiic.li -this failing was displayed. On the motor cars ol the Imperial family rode trumpeters, who disperse tllic traflic with bugle-blasts. These blasts are quite familialr to the people ol Berlin. and civilians ami soldiers come quickly Lo attention when the approach of a Royal car is thus heralded. The othei day an urchin was playing on a toy ■trumpet on a second-floor balcony, and accidentally made the familial call. Instantly the pavements were lined with loyal subjects anxious to greet Royalty, and an oliieci who was (mossing the street clicko-ii his heels and sprang .stiffly to attention in the middle of the thoroughfare. Three minutes passed, but no car appeared. Then a second blast by the youngster revealed tho truth. ' Horrified at such presumption. the ollicer rushed for a policeman. and returning with one. indicated tho house and ordered him to do his duty. The policeman saluted, rushed upstairs, and confiscated tho trumpet. At latest advices the boy's parents wen anxiously awaiting the legal consequences of this toy-trumpet- treason. Another, good stoiry at the expense of Germany conies from Paris. A Gorman commercial traveller waited on a French mustard-maker, and showed liini samples of mustard pots one of which was in the form of a pig. The manufacturer, wishing to get rid of his visitor, and not dreaming that his words would, betaken seriously, said: "Your pigs have 110 common sense. If, instead or giving them a cover at once insignificant and inartistic, you had given them a helmet, your mustard pots would have had some success." Tho German, losing sight of the joke in his eagerness to get an rtrder, asked how many such pots the manufacturer would take. "Fifteen thousand," was -the reply. "You shall have them. said the traveller. In due time the nigs arrived, adorned with Gorman helmets. The article had a largo sale, so largo that German visitors to Franco began to protest, and in the end diplomatic protests were made to tho French Foreign Office against this serious insult to the German Army. An enquiry was ordered, and the offending pig was revealed as a German product.