Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-05-07
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

The relation of ingenious and preposterous sto-
RES may not be the most profitable occupation in
which one could be engaged but it is one Of those
exercises of grotesque fancy. (which may serve very
well now and then for an hours entertainment.
The most famous and systematic originator of this
sort of stories is supposed to be an individual CALI
ed the Baron Munchausen, and his name has be-
come synonym for literary effort Of this charac-
ter, The term 'canard, from the French is often
used to signify an improbable story and its origin
which may be new to some Of our readers, excel
lently illustrates the meaning Of, the word. a
Frenchman once sent to newspaper statement
of an experiment which he had lately made, pros
wing the wonderful voracity of ducks. He had q
flock, he said, of twenty of these fowls. One day
he killed one of them, and on cutting it into very
small pieces, fed it, feathers and all, to the other
nineteen, and it was quickly devoured. He then
killed another, and cutting it into small pieces, fed
it to the other eighteen, who ate it all up in few
moments He killed another, and fed it to the
seventeen remaining ducks, and still another which
he fed to the sixteen and so continued until final
ly there was but one duck left, which had, Of
course, eaten all the other nineteen. Canard being
the Fsench word for duck, any exaggerated story
was subsequently called a ''canard'' OF q ''duck
story" as in this country we speak Of fish sto
ry" or "a snake story o''' .s..,.; - g
It is sometimes yerywell to exaggerate little for
the sake of bringing ridicule upon those who re,
late tough yarns and imagine that the listeners
will believe them. Some one gives the advice !
Wbene,er Won henr a tale that "a a attunner - :
show surprise, bu, aim ., sOmethihs higher Inn
And match Il with bolder fb and pumper, 81.
TITS the best method 10 confotnd liar.
The people of Gascony, France, it is known,
have worldwide reputation for boasting, whence
come the word 'tgasconade." A Gascon was once
vaunting his eyesight to citizen of Paris in the
Rue Notre Dame. 'Zounds, "said he, "from this
very place see mouse running at the top of the
tower" 81 do not see it, said the citizen, quiet
ly, 'but hear it trot- , @y,DH"lJt' =
A traveller was relating some improbable stories
of feats performed by Chinese jugglers, and spoke
of one who set ladder on end in an open space
and walked the rounds to the top. "Ihave seen a
greater feat than that remarked a bystander; u
have seen juggler go the top of ladder in the
same way, and then pull the ladder up after )"
An Englishman was once making some extraor-
dinary statements as to the speed Of horse which
he owned "My dear SIR said an American,
that is rather less than the average speed Of our
roadsters. I live at my country, seat near Phila-
delphia, and when ride to town in hurry in the
morning, my shadow doesn't keep up with me, but
generally comes into the store minute Or two af
ter my arrival One morning my horse was rest
less, and I rode him as hard as could several
times around large factory, just to take the old
Harry" out of him. Well, sir, he went SO fast
that saw my back before me the whole time, and
I was twice in danger of riding over myself
Another Englishman, it is said, having heard a
great deal about the Yankee propensity for 'brag-
ging," thought he would make an experiment in
that art himself He walked up to a market wo-
mans stand, and pointing to some large waterme[
ons, said: "What don't you raise any bigger ap-
pies than these in American "Apples!" said
the woman, disdainfully, anybody might know
you was an Englishman. Them huckelberries p
The above will be sufficient to illustrate the use
of Munchausenisms as method of repartee. But
another purpose to which some glib talker has pro-
fessed to put such stories is Of quite different
character. He says he finds them very effective
in opening OYSTERS he places the oysters in cir
Gle, and, seating himself in the centre, commences
some very surprising narrative One by one they
begin to cape with astonishment, and as they open
their mouths he has his knife ready, whip them
c t, salts, peppers and swallows them.
re call 10 mind several stories which we imag-
inc would be of great service to the gentlemen a:
bove mentioned, and perhaps brief statement Of
some of them might not be inappropriate here
The first will refer to very heavy fog which once
visited the.S State of Massachusetts,, which proba-
bly, somewhat surpassed the fogs Of the cityl of
London. A young man was sent out to the mead
ow to nail few courses of shingles on barn, the
roof of which was nearly finished. "At dinner
time" continues the farmer who is responsible for
the story, ''the fellow came up and sez he, That's
an almighty long barn of your'n.' See l, Not
very long We'll, sez he, I've been to work all
this forenoon and haven't got one course laid yet.
WELL sez I, you're lazy fellow, that's all I've
got to say So after dinner l went down to see
what he ID been about, and I'll be thundered ct ne
had mt shingled more than hundred foot right
out on the fog. " -:
The second will be of very rich farm, concern
ing which the narrator says: II went over last
Summer with two friends, and Jones took US on a
four acre lot he had just prepared for planting.
We all went to the centre of the lot, and he there
made single hill and showed US cucumber seed.
"Now, boys" said be, "when put this seed in
the ground, you must run for the fence and get
out as soon as you can" No sooner had he drop
ped the seed than he and the others started off as
if bulldog had been after them. I was so sur
prised that forgot the warning until Isaw ayineI
pushing up from the ground and making for me.
m 49, .a. M e Cor door EHa hnt hofnno Il osof ko