The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-08-08
Munchausenisms.

b very AGll now anu tIen IOT in nuUE : 4
ment. The most famous and systematic origina
tor Of this sort of stories is supposed to be an IN
diyidual called the Baron Munchausen, aud In
name has become u synonym Tor literary Efforts o
this character. The term ean0rd, from the French
is used To signify an improbable story, and III
origin, which may be new TO some Ot our readers
excellently illustrates the meaning OF the word
4 Oking Frenchman once sent to "A newspapei
n statement ofan experiment which he lately made
proving the wonderful yoracity Oiducks. lie lac
u flock, he said, Of twenty Of these fowls ont
day he killed one Of them. and cutting IL into very
small pieces. fed IL feathers and all 20 the othernine'
teen. who ate IL up in n few minutes. lie then
killed another, and cutting IL into small pieces,
fed il u the other eighteen, and II was quickly de
vOured. lie killed another and led IT to the sew
enteen remaining ducks, and still another which
ne fed to the sixteen and 50 continued until final
ly there was but one duck left, which duck ol
course had eaten the other nineteen. CdHdTd be-
ing the French word Tor duck, any cxagserateds to'
~ wac subsequently called .'eanard,' or n '.duck
story" "a in this country We speak vi u 'hsh sto-
w." or a s.snake story
Ii j. sometimes very well to cxnggerate a little
for the sake Of bringing r~idiculcupOn those whore
late slough yarns and imagine that the listeners
Will believe them. Some one gives the advice:
Wilmer you hear a tale that Is = - tLumper.r
shes ~ sarpsise, bat aim AZ something higher
hBi match Il via a boiler hb and plamT~r-
lis the h-t method u eoni,und a har-
The people Of Ga-cony, France, it is known,
have a worldwide reputation for ~bGnsting, from
whence comes the word gasconadc. \ GascOn
was once Wanting his eyesight TO n citizen of Par
is in the Rue NOtre Dame. ''Zounds," said lie,
.sfrom this very spot | zee II mouse running ut the
top the lower" ''IdOnot see ii yet, = said tire cit
izen. quietly, ..but | hear it trot.
\ Traveller was relating improbable fcats per-
formed by Chinese j~ugglers. and spoke of one who
set n ladder on end in an open SPACE and walked
the rounds To the top. Il have seen a greater
feat than that" remarked n bystander: ~ have
IN farrlcr 80. IN tho fnn nf n ladder in fte
same way, and then lac pulled the ladder up after
him.
An EnglisLman WIS once making some extrnor-
binary statement as to the speed of II horse which
Lc owned. .sAIy dear SIR said an American,
THAT il rather less than the average speed of our
rUadsters. | live at my country seat near Phila-
dolphin, and when 1 ride to town in a hurry in the
morning, my shadow doesn't keep up with me,
but generally comes into the store L minute or two
after my arrival. One morning my horse was
restless and | rode him rs hard as / could several
times around n large factory, just to take the old
Harry out of him. Well, sir, he went 50 fast that
l saw my back before Inc the whole time, and
| was twice in danger of riding over myself"
Another EnglishInan 1T is said, having heard
a great deal about the Yankee propensity of ''brag-
ging," thought he would make an experiment in
that art himself. lie walked up to n market wo-
mans stand, and pointing to some large water
melons said: .What, don't you raise any bigger
apples than those in American ..Apples," said
the woman disdainiully, ''anybOdy might know
YOU was an EnglishInan. Them's huckleberries. :"
The above will be- sufficient to illustrate tie use
Of Munchausenisms as n method of repartec. But
another purpose to which some glib talker has
~professed to put such stories il of quite different
character. He says he finds them very effective i'm
opening oysters. He places the oysters in a circle,
and seating himself III the center, commences some
very surprising narrative. One by one they begin
To cape open with as~tOnishment, and a. they open
their mouths, he has his knife ready, whips them
out. salts, peppers and swallows them.
We call to mind several stories which we i'm
agine would be of service To the gentleman above
mentioned, and a brief statement of them might
not be inappropriate here. The first viii refer To
n very heavy fog which once visited the StateofM Mas
sachusctts, which probably somcwla urpassedth the
fOgs Of the city of London \ young man was
sent out into the meadow TO nail ON u few courses
of shingles on n barn the roof Of which was near
" finished. s.At dinner time continued the far
mer who is responsible for the story, ..the fellow
came up and ser he .Tiiat's sn almighty long barn
Of yOur'n.' Sez /, mot very long We'll, seq
he, sI've been TO work all this forenoon and havn't
got one course laid yet Well seq l., you're u
lazy fellow, that's all I've got to say. SO after
dinner | went down to- rec what he'd been about,
and I'll be thundeTed If he hadn't shinglei more
than a hundred feet right out into the fog 9"
The second will lie a very rich Farm, concerning
which the narrator says: IL went over with
two friends. and Jones took us ON Il four acre lot
ne Mtu Just lrcTsticI II liinNluZ- We al NcuI
to the centre of the lot. and me there made n sin
gle hill, and showed u n cucumbcr seed. Now,
bows, said lie, when | put this seed into the ground
YOU must run for the fence and get out as soon as
YOU can. No sooner had he dropped the seed
than be and the others started of rs IL i bull dog
had been after them. I was 80 surprised that |
forgot the warming until l saw n vine pushing up
from the ground and making for me-. Then ! ran
a. II for dear life, but before | got To the fence the
vine caught Inc and began to sind around me like
n snake. ! was very much alarmed and put my
hand tn INV pocket for nv jack knife, with which
to cut myself loOse but Ia my horror | could not
it on account of a cucumber winch hung there
and which was growing like blazes."
The next story shall be of very large tree in
the State Of California. \ man went tO the woods
tn cut it down. lie had chopped about ten days
lie thought be would take n walk about the
tree, Just tO see how much he had cut what was
his surprise, when he got To the other side, To find
man cutting Ola the same tree. say, said
the Californian, how long have you been cutting?
Just three weeks, said the stranger. The tree
50 large that they had not heard the sound of
each others axes.
There i. something very comical about these
iancies. The Kilkenny eats have passed into a
prOyerb. Even that tale is almost matched by
Dne more recent Of a hen which went to lay in a
patent hens nest, in which the eggs drop down
through n trap door, and - deceive biddy that
she keeps on laying. This particular hen went
on the persuader, as the invention is called. AMI
never came off again. The owner visited the
persuader at night. In the upper compartment
he found Il handful Of feathers, "A few toe nails and
a bill. In the lower compartment We're three
dozen and eleven eggs. The delicate constitution
Of the hen had been unequal To the effort and,
fired by young ambition, she had laid herself all
away.
The man with the wonderful mechanical leg,
which would never stop walking, was a very
queer invention but it II hardly equal To the per-
suu .T xrbnrn fIers ice German LEGEND xVhn a. vIntr
his legs in the war, was furnished with two
india rubber ones. On putting them on he felt
80 happy that he sprang into tine air; but when
he clmedown he bounded back higher than before;
and 20 every time lc came down he re-bOunded
back with greater velocity, until, rs days and
and months passed ON, and he returned
from his aerial trips at longer intervals, he bound
III above the clouds ana came down upon all parts
4 the earth. IL issupPosed that he is still bound
ing and rc-boundinS among the orbs of the uni