Mt. Pleasant Pyramid | 1915-01-15 | Page 7 | Asked Speaker for a Song

ASKED SPEAKER FOR A SONG And Bibulous Gentleman Escapee" Anger of Dignified Head of British Parliament. Mr. Balfour is credited with know ing more good stories about the Brit lsh house of commons than any othe member. One of his best is the fol-lowing, fol-lowing, which he told at a publ.'c dinner din-ner some time ago: "I remember hearing of a distinguished distin-guished gentleman," he said, "who reported re-ported in the press gallery just about one hundred years ago. He had had an excellent . dinner, washed down with excellent wine. He was bored with the debate. He was wearied with the superfluity of rhetoric which prevailed pre-vailed just as much one hundred years ago as today. He got bored, and he got up and asked the speaker for a song. "The speaker of that day was Mr. Addington, a gentleman who was nothing, noth-ing, if not proper. The whole house, except the speaker, was convulsed with laughter. "The sergeant-at-arms was appealed to. He went to the gallery and he inquired. in-quired. The culprit retained the presence pres-ence of mind to point to a respectable Quaker sitting below him, and this unfortunate gentleman was actually taken into custody."