AMERICAN COLONELS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4479, 28 July 1875, Page 3

AMERICAN COLONELS.

(From the Glasgow Mail.) At the close of the great civil war American society was overrun with persons with military titles. They were all by common assent called colonels, and by degrees civilians began to be so mixed up with them that it became a standing joke for every man to call every other man “ colonel.” When dining one day with Mr. Bateman, he told us an amusing story of this American custom. We had, of course, called him “ colonel” during the night, and apropos of colonel, he said “ I’ll just tell you a story about colonels. Well, one day I was going up the Mississippi in a steamboat, and the captain said to me, ‘ Colonel, you’ll preside at dinner.’ I said I had no objection, and I took the head of the table, and rather hard work it was I assure you, especially as there didn't happen to bo any ladies present that wanted small ‘ helps.’ Among the dishes was a fine prairie hen, and just as I put my fork in it I caught the eye of a friend at the bottom of the table (who really did happen to bo a colonel), and I said, ‘ Colonel, can 1 help you?’ Bless mo, if every man at the table didn’t reply, ‘Yes, Colonel, I’ll trouble you.’” Wit, genius, and pleasantry went along with “ the colonel,” and his friends will not readily forget him. He was called away in the full tide of professional success, as it is rumored that the “ Hamlet ” of Mr. Irving has alone already realised .£40,000.