“On arriving at the hotel that evening we found that in some unaccountable manner Mr. Kern had rounded up ten Hoosiers, whom, it seemed, he had run into at different times and places in England. Mr. Kern furnished the refreshments generously and soon there was created a ‘Banks of the Wabash’ atmosphere in Ol’ Lunnon. Most of the inimitable stories he told were jokes on himself and good-natured jests about English manners and customs. I wish I could remember some of these, but my recollection is only of a most unusual and pleasant Indiana evening in a far-away country, provided by a gentle and genial man, who thought enough of his Indiana friends to keep track of them even in the great city of London.”
On leaving London the travelers went to Liverpool and thence to Dublin and then on to the Lakes of Killarney, where they spent three days. Then on to Cork, back to Dublin, then on to Belfast, the Giant’s Causeway, Londonderry, and finally to Movelle, where they took passage on the Columbia, a slow steamer, for home.
Some of Kern’s most amusing stories of the trip that he loved to tell in later years were drawn from experiences in Ireland.
While the travelers were going through the Killarney country in a jaunting car drawn by an old horse that made frequent pauses until prodded by the driver, it occurred to Kern to play a joke on Smith, who had not failed to observe, especially in England, a tendency to make the tourists pay. Leaning close to the ex-attorney-general, Kern whispered, “Do you notice how often this horse stops?”
“Yes. What’s the trouble?” Smith asked, instantly suspicious.
“We are paying by the hour,” whispered Kern, wickedly.
“Just watch me stop that,” growled Smith.
A moment later the horse again stopped to rest.
“What kind of a horse is that?” roared the ex-attorney-general.
“It’s a scan’ry horse,” answered the driver in soft tones.