A Foolish Bet.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2915, 4 June 1888, Page 3

A Foolish Bet.

Disastrous results very frequently aro tho penalty paid by certain foolish persons, fflio, for a wager, undertake to drink or eat exorbitantly, or to swallow substances that aro not meant to be swallowed, and which subsequently cause tho swnllower much inconvenience, if not sometimes more than this. In tho case of a young man residing at Chalons, in Franco, who, we read, lately bet that ho would swallow a pigeon's egg without breaking tho shell, hut a few days afterwards tho k. young man experienced violent pains in W tho stomach, the said pains increasing so alarmingly that on the eighth day lie called in a doctor, and confided to him the folly of which lie had been guilty. Tho doctor administered a strong emetic, tho result being that the egg came back; but on falling to the ground the shell broke, and to the of the patient, and those gpwith him, out of the broken shell came a little pigeon, as lively and healthy as if it had been hatched in the usual way. Tho warmth of the young man's stomach had produced the unexpected result; and if anyone doubts tho truth of the story, say those who vouch for it, they can go to Chalons and see the pigeon ho hatched.

" Our Troubles." " Away out in a Riverina paddock some rabbits were lying under a salt buslidiscussing thosituation. "Things r are getting pretty sultry," said a young rabbit. " This carbonic acid gas makes it quite unsafe to go down a burrow at all." " What do you want to go down burrows for ?" retorted an old grey beard, as he languidly kicked some poisoned wheat out into the open,where a wild pigeon ate it;" 1 don't see any necessity to burrow in this climate, Camp out, man, camp out 1" " What about this rabbit-proof fence'?" said the flfeoitgone, "Dig under it," replied ™Vhe old fellow, " Then there,s one of those infernal cats they turned out, lias mad'j his appearance out my way," said another. "Oh, he'll soon drop down to living on young lambs," said the old boy—"young lambs are a lot easier to catch than rabbits," The conveisitio:i died out for a while until one woke up: "I see Pasteur has oll'ered to give that £25.000 to a hydrophobia hospital," " I would'ntbo in any hurry, if I were Pasteur," said the old rabbit. "To begin with, he might never earn

it; and if he did, I don't think the

cornstalks are such fools as to haul over £25,000 to n Frenchman, They'll chouse liira out of it some way, you see. Besides, I think I know enough to deal with any microbe that was ever foaled," "In what wayf asked the others, The old rabbit looked round his audience before lie answered, " You know the working of this microbe«por ]" lie said "Itis to give us a ud of rabbit-smallpox—something that will spread all through us, But there is a simple remedy—compulsory vaccination ! Let them bring along their microbes," "—Sydney Bulletin,