HE'S ONLY A FOREIGNER.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 93, 19 November 1879, Page 2

HE'S ONLY A FOREIGNER.

It is said that history repeats ifcself, and those who have uead Mark Twn-in's " Knt e,rtaiuin!; Article " will remember that passage m which the reviewer of his wock is made to" nen the following criticism: "He is vulgarly ignorant of all language-?, but is frank enough. to criticise the Italian's use of their own tongue. He says they spell the name- of 'fclieir 'great pain tax ".Vinci, 1 * tuit pronounce it " vincltv," ur\d then nAd*, with a naioHe possible only to helploss ignorance, "foreigners alwiys spell bettor than the;i pronowice." The extract was forcibly brought to ray tnind vvhile dining at. a .hotel , not a hmttlreri mile? Krora tbo Square. The lnndlovd, n burly Boniface of some seventeen stone, who professed to be one of tiie elitiie, rather pi;Mec| himself up.m bis classics and pronunciation. The subject under dismission' wjs the ull-imooi'tttnt. one of ecTueation, the speaker was a German, and m the course of his remarks happened tq' make use of tho word " committee," but. Pronouncing it committed. One of the audience did not qtiiie caU'h the sense of fcb'e speaker, ami tisktrl t\>va ropefition, when Boriiface came fo resmicj', iin'l with a pluck of the sleeve-, (vn>-l a temporary e^iip^e of the left . optic, he whidporarl, with a.pifcyin-j shake of the bend, "Oh, lie's only * foreigner ; he mo.im committee !" The explanation, elicited a burst of l;iujjhter all round .the table, m wliioh mine host took the lead, never dreaming Mint tha company were not laughing with him, but at him.