“‘Then here is my own cross for you; I make you chevalier.’
“‘Your Majesty names me chevalier because I have lost one arm! What would your Majesty have done had I lost both arms?’
“‘Oh, in that case I should have made you Officer of the Legion.’
“Whereupon the old soldier immediately drew his sword and cut off his other arm.”
There is no particular reason to doubt this story. The only question is, how did he do it?
A stranger in Boston was interested to discover, when dining with friends once, that the dessert he would have classed as cream layer cake at home was known in Boston as “Washington pie.” And the next time he lunched at a restaurant, he ordered the same thing; but the waiter put before him a rather heavy looking square of cake covered with chocolate, instead of the cream cake the guest had made up his mind to enjoy. A puzzled expression came over his face as he said reprovingly, “I ordered Washington pie, waiter.”
“That is Washington pie, sir.”
“Well,” expostulated the disappointed man, “I did not mean Booker T.—I want George!”