The Language Puzzled Her

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 361, 20 April 1889, Page 4

The Language Puzzle d Her

A FiiENCir lady, who had learned ' English as she is spoke ' in a French school — where she wa^ counted wonderfully proficient in our language— married an Englishman, and settled in England Brought face to face with the practical requirements of everyday life, her Eng'ish proved less comprehensive and accurate than inie'ht have been wished, and it was evident that her vocabulary had been painfully collected from a dictionary rather than trom living speech. On one occasion sho wished to direct a servant to kill a chicked, and after plucking it to bring her the feathers. The form which her directions took was ' Die me that bea?b and bring me his vestment." Perplexing as the servant must have found this order, his astonishment can hardly have been equal to that of a carpenter, to whom was addressed a still more amusing blunder by this lady. She had an interview with him with inference to some alterations she thought of having made in her dwelling, but his estimate was so hign^bhab she de-* termined not to \ aye the work done. In a short time, however, she found her«elf so incommoded .by tho state of the house that sbhe decided it would be necessary bo have the alterations made, even at the iigure named by the carpenter. She accordingly bent for him, and once more carefully explained what she wished to have done. To her surprise, the man promptly named a price for the work which was considerably in advance ot his previous estimate, and his feelings may be imagined when, in her consternation, her peculiar English be trayed her into saying, ' Why, sir, you are dearer to me than when we were first en^ gaged !'

destruction of a Training Ship. This' Clyde training ship Cumberland was destroyed on fcho morning of 18fch February by fire. There were on board ab the time of the disaster 360 out of the 400 boys on the roll, 20 boing absont on leave. Captain Deverell, the commander of the ship, occupied with his wife, his little daughter and two female servants, a suite of seven cabins in tho poop, and thore were also on board the ship tho following officers : — Donald McVicar, Niven McVicar, and Messrs Nutt and McTaggart, seamanship instructors ; Maddick, carpenter, who was on watch ; Bums, schoolmaster; the baker and the coolc. Tho firebell was rung shortly after midnight, and Captain Doveroll hurried out of his ioom to ""discover the canso of the nluvm. On reaching the top deck he was dm on back by a dense volume of .smoke issuing from the hold. Ho at onco gave orders for everyone to leave the dock except tho officers and fifty boys who, when tho firebell iang, had manned the three pumps. Still tho smoke poured up in a sufiocafcing fume, and again the bugle was sounded ordering oveiybody to lea\e the deck except the officers. Scarcely ten minutes had been passed since the alarm bell rang, and already the crew wore powerless to stay tho progre&s of the flames. The lead pipes melting, tho gas had gone ovt, and amid tho darkness and the pinoke it was useless to try to save tho vessel. Accordingly, Captain Deveiell gave an oider to' lower tho boats, and iho three cutters, the tralloy, the gie, the dingy and the launch, the latter capable of holding 300 boys, were promptly launched and got ready. The captain's wife and child and servant?, in their night clothe?, neie placed in one of the boats, and then without tho slightest flurry the boys marched down the gangway into their boat^. Like their .superior officers, the lad.s weio unable to get more than a pair of troupers, to put on, and thus in their flannel night shirts, bcire fooled and bare headed, they were all compelled to lea\e the ship in tho cold night air. Fortunately tho training brig Cambria, in which tho boys cruised in tho piurmer months, is laid up in tho Gareloch during the winter, and thither the boys, weie taken and sheltered till past 9 o'clock, when they wcie rowed ashore to the schoolhouse, which had been kindly placed at their disposal. At one timo it was foaiod that if tho lire reached the two "asomoters in the bow an explosion would enMie, but evidently the gas had all escaped, for only a slight jot of flame rfliob out. Though the hull burned steadily it was aquarter to-! o'clock before theniainmastfell, and tho other masts stood tor moie than an hour after. The yes-el continued burning the whole of nexl iMond.'.y. The flames of tho burning '-hip illuminated the Filth of Clydo for miles >round, and the heat was very intense. Tt i^ stated that some of the boys were injutod in their attempts to ex tinguish the Hames, and were put under the care of Dr. Reid, the chip's surgeon. One of tho oilioevs, Mr Ci~oss, had a narrow escape, and was lescned fiom a perilous position by hisfriends, who smashed in the door ot his cabin. The ship's cook, named Broad, escaped with some difficulty. He had to crawl on hi-> hands and knee? through a dense volume of smoke, from hi-* berth to the .ship's side, an unsuccessful efiorfc having been pieviously made to lescuc him thiough a poit hole. The officers have lost most of their personal effects. Captain Doverell lost not only his furniture and his own and hi? family's clothe« and jewellery, but aNo some valuablo silver plato that was presented to him when he left her Majesty'" =hip Wollesley. Altogether he estimates his loss at XI, IOO, of which only £300 is insured. The Cumberland was valued at about ■€22,000, and wad insured by the Committee for the Admiralty. From an investigation that was made on the first alarm there i& little rea°or to doubt that the ship was wilfully set on fire. Some of the boys bad got possession of the key of the tailors' store-i oom, which was in tho lower p-irt of the vessel amidships, and it is believed thar they set fire to the bedding deposited there for tho use of the sea-goincr boys. The otifling smoke from burning stiaw was the main hindrance to overcoming the fire. At the outset four boys — James McE"ey, 13; William Lewis, 14 j, ; "Robert Ranlrinc, 14 J , ; and Jacob Napier, 14— weie tat. en into custody on a charge of being concerned in setting the ship on fire.