"BURNABY OF THE BLUES."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 23, 20 February 1909, Page 3

"BURNABY OF THE BLUES."

Till-: STItOXCiICST -MAX IX THK Bl! IT IS 11 ARMY. Close on twenty-four years ago—on 17th January, IfWjj, to lie exact—Colonel i'lcd lAirnaby fell at the Uatlle of Abu Klea. Stories of his soldierly qualities, his absolute fearlessness, a«id h,i daring have often been told; and iliusc wiio would- read more of how "liuriiaby of the Blues" (Ist Life Gil.iid-i gained' the imputation of 'uiMig Lin- giealcst of lloiuelioliH'avalrr toloue.= and the title of a "latter-day I'aladin should obtain a kti| of tile "Life oi Colon; I liuniaby,' by Air. Thomas Wrignt, published "by Everett and Co.

Apart, however, from the story of Burnaby's military achievements,' Mr. \\ right has added considerably to the interest of his book by telling a number of anecdotes, which tend to illustrate the personal cliaractei'istics of the famous soldier.

FEATS OF STKEXii I'll. 'As 'many readers are probaoiy aware, Colonel llurnaby was a .man of enormous physique and strength, "lie was lift -tin in height and -itiin round the chest. A regular attendant at the fencing school, lie became one of the ' most expert men of his time with the foils, llu could run along a bar like Blondiu; hold -with arm outstretched a billiard cue with the butt iu the air and the poinC between his li is t and 1 second lingers; and vault, using only the left hand, over a ibilliard-tablc. Owing to his passion for and skill at boxing, his military friends called liini ■■lleeiwii." He outdid every competitor with the diiniib-bells', and there is, we believe, .still preserved iu one of his clubs a glass case containing a huge dumb-bill and a written challenge to any .man to hold it at arm's length for the space of sixty seconds.

UFTKI) A MAX IX EACH HAXD. j The anecdote sibout Burnaby carrying a couple of jionies, one under each arm, uip a llight of stairs 1 at Windsor is quite true and fairly well known. Here is 'another story, however, illustrating Burnaby's strength, not quite so familiar. During his electioneering campaign in Birmingham in 1879, he went to Wolverhampton to address a meeting. The meeting was held in the Agricultural Hall; but as his intonation differed from that to which many of his hearers were accustomed, they fell foul of htm, audi greeted! his references to fndia and Ivandiahar with interrupting ejaculations of "ll'yar, h'yar! ladidaw." ' "Having fixed his eye on a couple of , the funny ones, Oiurnaby called out, Tass those two men up to the front li'vah, 'will you'i' "Sport having been scented, the two unfortunates wer.e immediately hustled forward, looking very uncomfortable. Burnabv leaned over the platform, and, having obtained' a linn grip of each l>y the collar, he lifted them up, held them out straight, and carried them so suspended'.to the back of the platform. Depositing one in a chair, he said, 'Vou sit there, little man!' and then, carrying the other, still at the end of his extended arm, three yards farther he dropped hi,in into another chair with, 'And you sit there, little man!' The effect 'was electrical, the cheering loud and l long. BURNABY'S OX-lA' PCX.

''it was Burnaby's-iboast that he never punned, but one evening, when ho was one rif the guests at a dinner given by the Fishmongers' Company in their hall, near Jxmdoii Bridge, lie fell sadly. "'Youought not to be here,' observed another guest. 'Your place is with the fowls of the air, not'with the fish of Hie sea' (alluding, of course, to Burnaby's ■passion for ballooning). '"I don't nihil!,' he replied, shamelessly, 'where thfy put ,me, so long as they don't make game of me!"' rh;rtek.\"-sihllix<! boots.

llurnaby w;fs somewhat indifferent to personal appearance. ''He was the most slovenly'rascal who ever lived," says his devoted friend, Mr. (iibson Bowles. "When in uniform lie looked like a sack of torn on a horse. To mention only one fact, instead of ordering his bonis from a fashionable Army bootmaker, like the other ollU-ers. at three guineas a pair, lie got tliein made in the regiment at Us."

DALLOON'INC WITH "TOIiY. M.IV; Here is a story which illustrates his coolness. In IsiiT he -made a balloon ascent with' Captain (afterwards Sir) llenrv Col vile. who. it may lie remembered, was killed in a motor accident in 1!)(I7, and Mi. 11. W. Lucv. "Toby, M.l\," of I'uueli. The ear being small. Burnabv removed part of his bulk, lor the convenience of his friend!-,-'by sitting on the edge of the basket as it travelled ■through the air at the rate of forty miles an hour. and. it being a very hot dilv, took o!V h'.s gigantic coat and hung it 'ou the anchor a» if 1m had been m a niessroom. merely remarking, "l'here is one comfort in being above the clouds, that a man can sit in public in his shirtsleeves."

COMPiJMISXT KXTHAI )U1)I XABV. It was during the. return journey of his famous ride to Khiva that, alter "passing lvassala, be was the means of doing a. small service to a pretty Kirghiz, widow, and through the medium of Xazar, his Tartar servant, he entered into conversation with her and tried to pay her some rompliinents. Xazar's ideas of poetry, however, were limited to songs about (he beauty of a sheep and file delights of roast mutton, >o liurnahy doubled not that when he observed with emotion that she was the most beautiful of her sex. Xazar translated it. "Thou art lovelier tluin a sheep with a fat tail."

THE TKAtiEPY OF THE GOUSE AX'D | AI'l'LE-TAUT. I When it was deeided tliat IWirnaby should enter the Army—he was originally intended fur the miuistiy—he was sent froiin Harrow to Oswestry to study. "Here he displayed a prodigious appetite. Oil one occasion, when oil a walking tour in Wale's, he entered an inn with only hilf-a-crown iu his pocket, aindi enquired what he could have for dinner, and the charge. 'Phi l landlord replied, '(loose and apple-tart, half-a-cvowsi.' The goose, a respectable one, with the usual savoury etceteras, mid the apple-tart, made by no niggard hand, were brought forward; but when the landlord looked ire half au hour later he found that Burnaby had eaten the .whole o ithe goose and the apple-tart as well.'*—Tit Hits.