Witty Speech by Max O'Rell.

Manawatu Herald, 23 November 1895, Page 3

Witty Speech by Max O'Rell.

Max O'Rei: delivered a witty speech at Torquay. Devon, at the annual conference of the Institute of Journalists, which was held this year in the West of England. He said: •• Why I, a Frenchman, should be called upon to propose the sentiment "gains et Felicitas," the borough motto, in the presence of so many masters of the English tongue, I fail to understand. (Laughter). There • it* — .-* 1'" """"* Mween an it thugfeat aisenuw ... Englishman end a Frenchman. When an Englishman speaks French it matters not how well he speaks it, if he comes aoross a Frenchman who is able to talk a few words of English, he takes care hot to speak French. (Laughter). He knows that when a man speaks a language not his own, he is more or less likely to make a fool of himself. (Laughter). And with his great native British common sense he naturally prefers that that man should be the other. (Much laughter). It is not so with the Frenchman, as you see. (Laughter). I was a journalist once myself, a good many years ago. I was on the staff of a Paris paper. The paper died. (Laughter). The motto of the borough is :— " Salus et Felicitas "—health and happiness. Per* faapi I have been selected to propose ' the f entiment because I look healthy, and because I assure you I am happy. (Applause). I am healthy because once a year I come to rest in Torquay ; and lam happy because I married a Torbay lady. (Loud applause). And, gentlemen, there are a good many Torbay ladies who are still unclaimed blessings. (Laughter). No matter where you go, in any part of the world in which the English language is spoken you will find the Devonian appreciated and successful. It was so in the olden times. Who dis* covered Amerioa ? The Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed from old Plymouth on board the Mayflower in 1620. They were piouß people, and on landiugatNew Plymouth they fell on their kneeß. Then they fell on the Aborigines. (Loud and continued laughter.) They found that America belonged to the Indians, but they were ready for them. They felt constrained to move against them with their guns with a view of increasing the number of absentee landlords. (Laughter.) If you were to go to New Plymouth, a little town upon, the east coast of the United States, and visit the museum, you will be shown, among different curiosities, the identical teapot in which the Pilgrim Fathers brewed their tea on board the Mayflower. It does not disturb the faith of the superintendent of the museum, nor the faith of the inhabitants of New Plymouth to tell them that tea was introduced into England until - years after the Mayflower left her shores. (Laughter.) Great and thoughtful men were the men of the Mayflower. Their ship was loaded not only with the high and pious principles upon which to found big cities, but also with furniture to meet all the possibilities of the future. (Laughter.)