“Well one day our master, Mr. Price, gave the English gang a great entertainment at a sort of Tea Garden place, near Paris, called Maison Lafitte, and we were coming home along the road before dark—it was a summer’s evening—singing and shouting pretty loud, I dare say, when a fat, oldish gentleman rode into the midst of us and
pulling up said, taking off his hat—‘I think you are English Navigators.’ ‘Well, and what if we are, old fellow, what’s that to you?’ ‘Why, you are making a very great noise, and I noticed you did not make way for me, or salute me as we met, which is not polite—every one in France salutes a gentleman. I’ve been in England, I like the English,’ by this time his military attendants rode up, and seeing him alone in the midst of us were going to ride us down at once but the old boy beckoned with his hand for them to hold back, and continued his sarmont. ‘I should wish you,’ says he, quite pleasant, ‘whilst you remain in France to be orderly, obliging, civil, and polite; it’s always the best—now remember this: and here’s something for you to remember Louis Philippe by;’ putting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out what silver he had, I suppose, threw it among us, and rode off—but, my eyes, didn’t we give him a cheer!”
ADVANTAGES OF RAILWAY-TUNNELS.
We cannot help repeating a narrative which we heard on one occasion, told with infinite gravity by a clergyman whose name we at once inquired about, and of whom we shall only say, that he is one of the worthiest and best sons of the kirk, and knows when to be serious as well as when to jest. “Don’t tell me,” said he to a simple-looking Highland brother, who had apparently made his first trial of railway travelling in coming up to the Assembly—“don’t tell me that tunnels on railways are an unmitigated evil: they serve high moral and æsthetical purposes. Only the other day I got into a railway carriage, and I had hardly taken my seat, when the train started. On looking up, I saw sitting opposite to me two of the most rabid dissenters in Scotland. I felt at once that there could be no pleasure for me in that journey, and with gloomy heart and countenance I leaned back in my corner. But all at once we plunged into a deep tunnel, black as night, and when we emerged at the other end, my brow was clear and my ill-humour was entirely dissipated. Shall I tell you how this came to be? All the way through the tunnel I was shaking
my fists in the dissenters’ faces, and making horrible mouths at them, and that relieved me, and set me all right. Don’t speak against tunnels again, my dear friend.”
—Fraser’s Magazine.
DAMAGES EASILY ADJUSTED.
It is related that the President of the Fitchburg Railroad, some thirty years ago, settled with a number of passengers who had been wet but not seriously injured by the running off of a train into the river, by paying them from $5 to $20 each. One of them, a sailor, when his terms were asked, said:—“Well, you see, mister, when I was down in the water, I looked up to the bridge and calculated that we had fallen fifteen feet, so if you will pay me a dollar a foot I will call it square.”
LIABILITIES OF RAILWAY ENGINEERS FOR THEIR ERRORS.
An action was tried before Mr. Justice Maule, July 30, 1846—the first case of the kind—which established the liability of railway engineers for the consequences of any errors they commit.