SOME HENRY LABOUCHERE STORIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 737, 16 January 1915, Page 6

SOME HENRY LABOUCHERE STORIES.

IN HIS YOUTHFUL DAYS*

There are many stories told about Mr. Labouchere, and a number o! them have been printed again now that he has passed away. Hero is one of his early youth, which shows how cool a hand he was in a difficulty When a lad at Cambridge he was fond of running up to town, and one day he ran into the arms of his father. "What, Henry ! How .is this ? I thought you were at Cambridge," said Mr. Labouchere, senior, severely. 'Who are you?" asked young hopeful. "What business is it of yours to ask why I am in tho Strand'?" "What business, eh—' what, my son, too !" "Old gentleman, you must be mad. I your sonl Too ridiculous !" "'AN EXCELLENT DINNETt."- !

And with an irritating laugh tho undergraduate passed into tho court,; jumped into a cab, and dashed for a train wh'ich would shortly leave for Cambridge, never doubting that his outraged lather would be on his heels.i Reaching his college, i the young gentleman donned his student's garb,, and true to his prevision, Mr. Labouchere pere, in about an hour and a half, was heard grumbling and panting outside his son's door. " Wh a t,' dad ! what a pleasure !" Mutual explanations followed upon the old gentleman's account of the "young, jackanapes" whom he had mistaken for his own son—''and," added tho son, "I was carried to tho Lion and given a most excellent dinner, of which, after my adventure, I stood in real need." ( IN A NEW YORK COOKSI-lOP. One of the best anecdotes he used to t°ll was that about an adventure he 2iad while attached to the British Embassy at Washington. Mr, Labouchere, then a young cadet, ono day found himself penniless and hungry in New York, and waiting for a remittance. Looking into tho window of a cookshop, he selected a dinner witl\out knowing how ho should discharge the bill. Seating himself,' he was, he noticed, attended with much ceremony by the landlord, an Irishman by his accent, who hustled the waiters to supply the visitor's wants. But the landlord positively; refused to take the modest order of his guest, and pushed before him dainties instead, together with a bottle of vintage wine, accompanied by many strong recommendations aa to its sterling qualities. i "THE GREAT O'MEAGHER,'' {

"I thought the man a fool," commented Mr. Labouchere, "particu-i larly as I saw, now, why I should decline to pay for things I had not ordered. However, I ate and drank, and felt much better. A line Havana followed, nl«o presented by ' mine host,' and I felt better still. The landlord talked about Ireland, a country of which I knew little cared less." Then the young attache asked for his bill. i"13ill," said the landlord, "sure I couldn't g'ivo a bill to the great o'Meagher, the great Oirish patriot. When I saw you honouring my poor window with your glorious face." continued tho affected landlord, "1 felt that 'if only The o'Meagher would enter my rooms the greatest honour I could do myi self would be to give him my best." Labby finishes the :-tory—"l shooM him silently by the hand, and, watchn ed by the admiring waiters, I' strode with the air becoming to ai well-dined patriot into the street, taking to my heels round the first corner lest the landlord should observe his mistake—and me, too." , HIS FIRST ELECTION., I His reluctance to receive outside assistance appears in the story of Mr.; Labouchere's very first election. His uncle, Lord Taunton, then wrote and asked if he could do anything to assist him. ' If," Labby wrote in reply, '"you could put on your peer's robes and coronet, and wallc arm-in-arm with me down the high street of the borough, it might do some good. Otherwise Ido tiot think that your aid would be of much avail." And there is no denying that Mr. Labouchicrc got onvery well without avuncular suppdrt.-j "Westminster Gazette." 'hW