ANECDOTES OF THE SIEGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 5, 25 February 1871, Page 16

ANECDOTES OF THE SIEGE.

The London ‘‘ Athenaeum” has a jolly correspondent inside of Paris, who furnishes that paper with the following, among other items and anecdotes : The Britanny men are dreadfully shocked at some things in Paris ; several of them stood, almost with tears in their eyes, opposite a hideous caricature of the Pope; a gentleman saw at a glance what was the matter, bought all the copies of the print, and immediately, tore them into fragments, v The following is original of its kind : A patient of Dr Blanche, the famous physician of. the insane, havingrecovered, asked permission to. write ;to his family. •* Make haste, then,” said the doctor,

‘‘for the balloon starts to-morrow.’’ ‘‘The railway, you mean,surely,doctor?” “Ah! I forgot to-'.tell you that sinceyou were ill Paris is beseiged and cut off from all communication.” The poor man turned fearfully pale. I thought I was cured, and you tell ,me such stories as this !” Dr Blanche was compelled to take his patient to the fortifications to prevent a relapse. Here is a rampart story ; A Zouave determined to visit his fiancee , and got out without accident, but on his return was seen and fired at, but not hit. The gunners in Fort Issy, hearing the firing, began throwing shells ; and Fort Vanvres followed the example. The enemy is said to have suffered severely, all because a Zouave went to see his sweetheart at Meudon.

The Mobiles do their best to make their encampments gay ; some of their huts are covered with comic inscriptions such as—“ Wanted, a good cook ; she must know how to take care of children.” “Ho Prussians admitted ; the concierge is on the first floor.’ “Wanted a maid-of-all-work,” etc. On the Boulevard de Batignolles a regular concert is established, which opens every evening between 7 and 9 o’clock; the ini pressario and conductor is an old pupil of the Conservatoire, a comic singer as well as a musician ; another performer was lately a singer at the El" Dorado, and rouses the audience into enthusiasm with the “ Cri de Yengeance.” At the termination of the performance a collection is made for the wounded. Over the cooking-place of one corps hangs a fine cat skin, with the'inscription, “ Au bon lanin-saute.”

Horse beef gives rise to hundreds of jokes. “It is proposed to tax horse flesh! By the hour or by the distance ?” “ Horses were formerly stimulated by the spur, now it is by mustard.” “Gallon! un chapou au gros sel.” “ Garoon! un filet de cheval sans sel.” Comic definitions and dictionaries have long been the rage. Here are two at the present moment: “ JFusil —Une arme qui font partir les braves, et qui fair partir les poltrons !” “ Mitraileuse —Un ogre {orgw) de barbarie !” The number of hospital beds is, fortunately far larger than the number of wounded, and this gives rise many jokes, One ambulance is actually kept open, it is declared, by spoiling the only pa tient in it with good things, and so retarding his convalescence. A lady meets a friend in the street and says : “ Ah ! you are an officer; I hope if you are wounded, ) T ou will come to my ambulance.” “ Very sorry, madame, I cannot oblige you, but I am booked six deep already.” Ambulance work is not so much to the taste of some ladies as that of the vivandiere. A well-known actress offered her services'as cantiniere to a volunteer corps. “Are you married?” was the first question. “Mon Dieu ! non !” and now she dines at Brebant’s daily, with an infirmary apron on. Hospital anecdotes are plentiful. A young Mobile had his leg broken, and it was set by a terribly slow practitioner When the job was done and the surgeon’s back turned the Mobile said to his next bed-neighbor ; “ I have got a ball in my hack, too, ,but I,not going to tell him : il m’a trop embete.”