"THE IDEAL GENTLEMAN."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8130, 2 May 1906, Page 7

"THE IDEAL GENTLEMAN."

MARK TWAIN'S COACHMAN. At the oonolusion of his Sunday talk with the people in the Majestic •Theatre in New York tbe other week, Mark Twain said he had been asked by telegram to give his idea of a real gentleman. "1 hav<* not answered that telegram yel," said the venerabie lecturer; "it seems to me that If any man has just, merciful and kindly instincts, be would be a gentleman, for he would need nothin else in this world.' , At this moment Mark Twain turned to a box and asked his daughter bow long he bad been talking, and tbe answer came buck, "Thirty-five minutes." He looked surprised and started to walk off the stage, but the audienae would not allow him to do so, and he returned, saying sbriously, "All rißht. I can stand more talk of my own thun anybody I ever knew." Returning to the question of a gentleman, Mark Twain said be was reminded of bis late coachman, old in years,but young in heart as any youngster present. "He came to us,"jsaid Mark Twain, "thirty-six years ago. He was my coachman on the morning 1 drove my young bride to our new home. He was a young Irishman —slender, tall, lithe, honest, truthful, and he never ohanged in all his life. He really was with us bot twenty-five years, for he did not go with us to Europe, but he never regarded that as a separation. As our children grew up he was their guide. He ws a all honour, honesty, and affection. He was with us in New Hampshire, he was with us last summer, and bis hair was just as blaok, bis eyea were juat as blue, bis form just as straight, and hie heart just as good as on tbe day we first met. In all the long years Patrick never made a mistake, he never needed an otter, he bever reoeived a command. He knew. I have been asked for m$ idea of an ideal gentleman, and I give it to you—PatTick MoAleer." So great was the orusb outside the theatre waiting to hear the venerable lecturer, that a miniature not took place. Well-dressed men and women were clubbed by the police, a few persons were overridden by mounted constables and windows were broken.