He Fell a Victim.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 91

He Fell a Victim.

A well-known humorist tells the following: story, evidently meaning it to convey a warning : — "When I was a boy in Geneva," he says, '"I was once taken through an asylum that was not far from the town.

"Many strange, many terrible things I saw in this place, but what affected me most deeply was the sight of a young man, of intelligent and refined appearance, who sat with his head in his hands, mumbling over and over again, without a pause :

" 'I can't strap it round my waist, and it won'o go in my pocket. It isn't a motor horn, because it won't blow. It isn't a lamp, for it won't light. I can't put it on my feet, and it will not go over my head. It is neither a fountain pen, a pipe, nor a balloonist's barometer. It looks like a golf glove, but it is not a tennis racket. I can't ' *

"Turning away, I asked the keeper the younij man's history. " 'Ah, sir, a &ad case,' the keeper said. 'One year ago that there joung man was prosperous and renowned — the finest puzzle inventor and decipherer for miles round. But las 1 . Christmas his young lady friend g-ave him a present made with her own hands, and in tryin' to determine its name and its use the poor fellow became what you see.' "