1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



61 



A Student's Joke. 



J. E. Dodson is an Englishman. 

 "When I was at school at Harrow," he 

 Baid to a reporter, "Campanini, then in 

 the height of his fume as a tenor, sang 

 for the first time in the city in Italian 

 opera. If I mistake not, it was 'Trova- 

 tore. ' At the end of Campanini's great 

 aria in the third act there was a storm 

 of applause. All the front seats in the 

 balcony v.ere occupied by students, and 

 it was noticed that an almost invisible 

 wire was strung from the middle point 

 in the gallery horseshoe to the top of 

 the prompter's box at the middle of the 

 stage. What caused most people to no- 

 tice the wire was the sudden appearance 

 on it of a floral car of huge dimensions, 

 over which hovered on spirals several 

 stuffed doves. This car rode gradually 

 down along the wire until it was in full 

 view of everybody. Campanini's face 

 was wreathed in smiles. He bowed now 

 with his right and again with his left 

 band on his chest. As the car approach- 

 ed the prompter's box the singer moved 

 forward to remove it from its trolley. 

 Then was the keen zest of the occasion. 

 Not only was there one wire — there were 

 two. The second was attached to the 

 car, and also to the hand of a particu- 

 larly stalwart undergraduate. With 

 marvelous rapidity the car shot back to 

 the balcony. The smiles, I may add, 

 did not tarry on Campanini's face." — 

 Boston Transcript. 



A Fatal Omelet. 



Ignorance of cooking is not often the 

 direct cause of a man's death, but such 

 an instance is related by Miss Edith 

 Liohel in a recent volume entitled, 

 "The Story of Two Salons." In*the 

 time of the French revolution one M. 

 Oondorcet, upon whose head as an aris- 

 tocrat a price was set, sought refuge, 

 with a friend, M. Suard, who bade him 

 return at nightfall, when means of es- 

 cape would be provided. 



Unhappily Condorcet, being unable 

 to exist without tobacco, went into a 

 tavern to buy some. Still prostrate from 

 fatigue, he thought he would take ad- 

 vantage of this opportunity to get some 

 dinner and ordered an omelet. 



"How many eggs do you wish to be 

 used?" inquired the landlord, who had 

 been e^'ing him suspiciously. The inno- 



cent Condorcet was at his wits' end. He 

 reflected on the size of the ordinary 

 omelet. 



"Twelve," he boldly replied. 



His fate was sealed. None but an 

 aristocrat could be so ignorant or so ex- 

 travagant. He was arrested and led 

 away to prison, from which he never 

 emerged. 



Dining Ahead of Time. 



The Marquise de Foutenoy tells this 

 story of Sir William Harcourt : It seems 

 that on a Monday night during a very 

 busy Loudon season, after consulting 

 his list of engagements, he went out to 

 dinner. He fancied he observed on 

 making his entrance to the drawing 

 room that his host and hostess looked 

 at him with surprise, and even embar- 

 rassment. But he did not think any- 

 thing more about the matter and enjoy- 

 ed himself very much. Tuesday he kept 

 another dinner engagement, which was 

 entered in his book. Again he noticed 

 an almost frightened look passing be- 

 tween his host and hostess when his 

 liame was announced. Again the em- 

 barrassment proved transitory, and Sir 

 William had another thoroughly enjoy- 

 able evening. The same thing took 

 place on Wednesday and Thursday 

 nights. But on Friday, while keeping 

 the last of the engagements of the week, 

 Which were marked down in his book, 

 he found that the butler who was to 

 announce him M'as an old acquaintance 

 and had formerly been in his service. 

 The man started back and gazed at him 

 open mouthed. "What's the matter, 

 John?" asked the statesman. "Didn't 

 you expect me to dinner?" "Yes, Sir 

 William," explained the butler, "but 

 it wasn't tonight. It was for Friday of 

 next week. " Investigation of the en- 

 gagement book explained the mystery. 

 Each page noted a week's engagements. 

 Sir William, in his haste, had turned 

 over two pages and had thus been keep- 

 ing engagements which fell due a week 

 later. 



Wouldn't L,et Them Be United. 



When McKissick's cavalry were in 

 winter quarters in front of Richmond 

 in 1864, the following amusing inci- 

 dent took place: Lieutenant Jack Palm- 

 er was k cturing Tom Rodgers for hurt- 

 ing his horse's back. As was his cus- 



