Show I Old General Got No Aid from His Aide I EN Luke E Wright told at n din GEN ner in Washington h war story from Manila There was once upon a time he began a gallant old general This general leading a splendid charge In his youth got a bullet in his chest and t12 sabre cuts across tho head In after life relating over the nuts and wIno his many battles it was this particular charge that he always do crlbed most flamboyantly The older the general grew the more splendid the charge became the more awful was tho slaughter that ho visited upon the enemy the more horrible wore tho wounds that ho received re-ceived For corroboration ho would always turn to a grizzled veteran on his left his aidedecamp The aide decamp would nod his gray head In acquiescence silently Taller and taller grew tho generals gen-erals stories of the charge Higher and higher grow the mound of enemies ene-mies slain by his sword More and more numerous became the bullets thrusts and slashes sustained by himself him-self At the end he always appealed to the grizzled aid i and In silence tho aid nodded confirmation The general one night gave n largo dinner party The wine was no less abundant than superb and at dessert the old warrior let himself out upon i the charge as he had never heretofore I done Four horses wore killed under him Three lances passed through his I right arm tlve through his left Nine I sabres crashed down upon his I head simultaneously The bodies of I his slain formed a wall wellnlgh Impassable Im-passable about him And It seemed that there was hardly a muscle In his person wherein a bullet failed to Imbed Im-bed Itself You remember all this dont you Do Courcoy ho said In conclusion The silent and long suffering aid at last spoko up No general ho shouted In a loud Indignant voice No of course I dont remember It How can you expect me to You know as well as I do that the cannon ball that killed your fourth horse struck the breastplate of a cuirassier behind us and then bounded back and took my head off |