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Show OLD WORLD HAPPENINGS London, Oct. 2L Te discussion incident in-cident to the prouent unpleasantness between Italy and Turkej of the un-preparednebs un-preparednebs of the Turkish fleet has recalled an unusual difficulty experienced experi-enced by the founders of tho original Ottoman navy. They were hampered by the fact that there were no words in the Turkish Tur-kish dlctionarv for the various ropes and sails of the warships of that day. An Ingenious officer solved the problem prob-lem by tying dUfcrent vegetables to the various ropes and spars of the rifiglng, and the sailors received orders or-ders to "Hoist the tomato'" "Let go the potato1" until a more formal vocabulary vo-cabulary could be supplied. Novel as ihis procedure was. It was not an innovation, as It was exactly the method adopted by Almolda, the Portuguese admiral and discoverer, when he was outfitting a fleet for just such a descent on the Turkish colony oi Mazambique as tho Italians made on Tripoli. . It was at tlic beginning of tho sixteenth six-teenth contury, and Portugal still lucked a navy, and tho Portuguese tongue was devoid of naval terras. This fact did not daunt the doughty Admiral Almeida, and, hanging up fetrings of garlic and onions on the port and starboard sides respectively of his ships, he instructed his helmsmen helms-men to "garllq" pr "onion" the helm, as necessity commanded. The report of tho British Prison commission just made public indicates that crime is on the decrease in the kingdom, as there is a fall of 14,000 in tho number of prisoners. The commissioners com-missioners donouncc short sentences and plead for longer terms with a view to successfully reformatory effects. ef-fects. The report bears testimony to tho good moral effect of lectures and concerts in the prjspn. "When Andrew Gibson , for thirty-seven thirty-seven csrs the driver of an omnibus in London, throws down his 'reins some night near the end of the present pres-ent month, the last horse drawn bus will have finished its final trip through the streets of the world's metropolis. Gibson shakes his gray head sadly over the prospect and declares that the London of the motor bus and, taxi-cab taxi-cab is not as happy as the London of the dnys when people weie content to move slower. He said. "When 1 started drhlng folks seemed to have more time and thoy were more con-1 tented. Passengers of today never I think of passing the timo of day with the driver, or asking questions like they used to." At the heydoy of Gibson's Gib-son's career the two omnibus companies com-panies of London owned 31,000 horses After an uninterrupted existence as a hostelry for over a ccntur and a half, Long's hotel on New Bond street has closed ltj doors In name at least I it was one of tho oldest hotels in ! London. It was at Longs that Bron and Sir Walter Scott met for tho last timo in 1S15 "He dined or lunched with me." wrote Scott, "at Long's hotel ho-tel in Bond street. I never saw him so full of gaiety and good humor, to which the presence of Mr. Matthews, the comedian, added not a littlo Poor Terry was also present " The hotel is frequently mentioned in the literary memoirs of the day. Joseph Verey, friend and curler of Mark Twain during nine of the European Euro-pean tours made by the American humorist, has been rescued from want by a. society of professional humorists. humor-ists. Verey folt the pinch of poverty from the loss of his savings, which had been unwisely invested, and he was in actual want when discovered in obscure London lodg'ngs. When his plight was made public a num ber of admirers of Mark Twain interested in-terested themselves In his behalf and i socured him a position as lecturer to a local society for the encouragement of humor. ' i Just prior to his late misfortune, tho former curler was engaged as I pheasant raiser by King Alfonso of , Spain On one of tho visits of the ! royal family to the hatchery, Verey j entertained them with stories of his travels with the celebrated Ameiican humorist. He has an endless store oi recollections of his famous emnloye". ' He gave the following Interesting ac-. count of Marl: Twain travel habits ' "Mr. Clemens hardly ever talked to anyone. Once I traveled from Cologne Co-logne to Dresden with him, and he only spoke about two words with me. What I was Instructed to do. was to engage the other people in tho compartment com-partment in conversation and ask them about everything. Mr. Clemens used to sit and listen. "He must have had a wonderful memory We used to go to museums for hours He would not say a word, but he would listen while I asked questions ques-tions and engaged people in conversation. conversa-tion. "I never heard him make a joke, not oven with his own family He never made one with me. Tho nearest near-est approach he got to one was In a letter to me about the uncertainty of his planB. He wrote, 'Ifs aro bad prophets ' "He was a great listener. He would take it all in and nover say a word himself." , The Amorican writer and Verey understood un-derstood each other perfectly. Clemens Clem-ens discovered Verey in Paris through tho hall porter at the author's hotel, who gave Buch a glowing account of the courier that Twain determined to have him at once "George. I must have this Verey at once," he said. George demurred, as ho could not leave his post but the humorist agreed to put on his apron and look after the door while the porter summoned Verey. The courier : was engaged at once and served Clem ; , ens in that capacity as long as he was needed. fin |