AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS- 1878 515 



so much at such times, I had taken the large apartment 

 temporarily relinquished by our American minister, Gov- 

 ernor Noyes of Ohio, in the Avenue Josephine ; and there, 

 at my own table, brought together from time to time a 

 considerable number of noted men from various parts of 

 Europe. Perhaps the most amusing occurrence during 

 the series of dinners I then gave was the meeting between 

 Story, the American sculptor at Rome, and Judge Brady 

 of New York. For years each had been taken for the other, 

 in various parts of the world, but they had never met. 

 In fact, so common was it for people to mistake one for 

 the other that both had, as a rule, ceased to explain the 

 mistake. I was myself present with Story on one occasion 

 when a gentleman came up to him, saluted him as Judge 

 Brady, and asked him about their friends in New York: 

 Story took no trouble to undeceive his interlocutor, but 

 remarked that, so far as he knew, they were all well, and 

 ended the interview with commonplaces. 



These two Dromios evidently enjoyed meeting, and no- 

 thing could be more amusing than their accounts of vari- 

 ous instances in which each had been mistaken for the 

 other. Each had a rich vein of humor, and both presented 

 the details of these occurrences with especial zest. 



Another American, of foreign birth, was not quite so 

 charming. He was a man of value in his profession ; but 

 his desire for promotion outran his discretion. Having 

 served as juror at the Vienna Exposition, he had now 

 been appointed to a similar place in Paris ; and after one 

 of my dinners he came up to a group in which there were 

 two or three members of the French cabinet, and said: 

 "Mr. Vite, I vish you vould joost dell dese zhentlemen vat 

 I am doing vor Vrance. I vas on de dasting gommittee 

 for vines und peers at Vien, and it 'most killed me ; and 

 now I am here doing de same duty, and my stomach has 

 nearly gone pack on me. Tell dese zhentlemen dat de 

 French Government zurely ought to gonfer ubon me de 

 Legion of Honor." This was spoken with the utmost 

 seriousness, and was embarrassing, since, of all subjects, 



