Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-04-11
II Was Alive.
THE FINEST EXHIBIT AT THE PAEIS En-
POSITION.
From st, Nicholas

From st. Nicholas
An interesting feature of number o
the foreign sections at the Paris Exhibi-
tion was the soldiers who had been sent
there by their respective governments,
nominally 10 guard the exhibits, though
| principally rs 4 sort of ornament, they
being simply required to stand round and
be looked at by the curiosity-seeking Wis
itOrs. Some economical governments,
thinking that wooden soldiers would an
swer the same purpose at a less expense
accordingly displayed figures represent
ing soldiers in the various uniforms, ard
people in the different costumes OF the
country. These figures were sometimes
quite well made, and were placed in such
positions as often to appear very life-likc.
We have more than once seen people op-
en- their mouths to ask their way of one
of these wooden soldiers; and we our
selves on one occasion deeply apologized
to a wooden Chinese mandarin, whom
we mad carelessly run into and almost
thrown off his balance
Seret. Jones of the United States Ma
rine Corps had doubtless witnessed
similar laughable mistakes, and this is
probably what suggested to him the idea
of playing 4 little trick at the expense of
the visitors.
At all events, one fine afternoon, as we
were passing through the American Sec
ton, we found the Sergeant standing per-
fectly straight, and absolutely still, near
one of the showcases. Rather perplexed
at his attitude and at the seriousness of
his expression, we sought post OF obser
walton and waited.
For q yvl.ila M pna ppticnI him Iut
he continued immovable, some one pres
emily stopped before him and stared
Then two, three. four, six idlers stopped
to see what the first idler was looking al.
There stood the Sergeant, grave, silent.
and motionless. An incrcdulous smile
appeared on the faces of the observers,
and their number doubled, trebled, quad
rupled. The Sergeant had not moved
Some one ventured 10 touch his hand,
another followed, and presently dozen
curious people were feeling him from
head to feet. Not mucle relaxed-hc
had not 50 much as winkcd. An exhibitor
who was dusting the contents Of his
showcase seeing what was up, sauntercd
carelessly along and carefully busted of
the Sergeant. This settled the question
beyound doubt; it was a statue There
Wiz nov dooul ''' pco1i' ol All hitlpl-
alitics gathered about this marvellous
piece Of workmanship,
"Cest bien unc statue -
"Quel meryeilcuN travail "
"Awh wet ally, now You know, those
Yankees are Jolly clever people r.
"Wal, reckon there amt ANYTHING
can beat this in the whole show -
"Chin ting chop stick young hySon
peking yang t7e kiang
"Amiodo naga sakito kio yeddor'
"Stamboul maho metal ya tibe loub-
lou"
Came from three hundred throats in
twenty different languages
The last man had barely opened his
lips to have his say, when the look OF ad.
miration suddenly departed from the
three hundred faces, and the three hund-
red throais simultaneously sent out a guf-
faw which fairly shook the vast cdiiicc,
and attracted hundreds of visitors from
all sides.
The statue had turned ON lis heel and
quietly marched on.