The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-09-13
kMORTIFIED AMERICAN. ,
His Unexpected Meeting with Lord
Salisbury.

Il am very glad to find that my old
friend Salisbury is doing so well, said
Brooklyn gentleman one morning re-
Gently as he looked up from his paper,
to friend who sat with him on the
piazza OF his summer residence on
Staten Island.
what Salisbury do you refer top
asked the friend Surely you don't
mean the Marquis of Salisbury. the
Prime Minister OF England?"
THAT is exactly who 1 mean" said
the former. why, have I never told
told you about my meeting with Lord
Salisbury at Cologne? 1t was an in
promptu affair, bit it made deep i'm
preston upon myself and upon my
family, and | believe that his lordship
was also impressed at the time. And l
believe that her ladyship-he was ac-
companied by his daughter-was salso
impressed. have frequently related
the details of our meeting, and I have
no doubt that Lord Salisbury has done
the same thing: shouldn't wonder if
he had related the matter at the dinner
table of Queen Victoria herseIf-that is.
provided his lordship'S noble legs have
had the opportunity of disporting them
selves between the royal mahogany.
"Some ten or fifteen years ago" CON
tinued the gentleman, business took
me to Europe for few months. |
took my wife, my daughter, and one of
my sons with me. One pleasant after
noon-l think it was in Augustine ar
rived in Cologne and stopped at hotel
which was not far from the magnificent
cathedral for which that city is famous.
We left our apartment early in the
evening intending to take stroll. but
as we were descending the stairs my
wife spied the open door of an ordlnar-
lily furnished parlor. She looked in and
said: That's the public parlor. Let us
go in.' We entered the room and found
that the windows commanded a superb
view of the cathedral. Noticed on the
hoor carpet bag and one or two UNI
brellas, but | supposed that these had
been left there by some guests, and the
idea that the room could possibly be
anything but a public parlor did not
then enter my head
I'VE gazed at and admired the vast
and stately work of architecture for
some moments. Then we heard stems
and looking around saw a gentleman.
apparently of middle age, and accom-
panied by a young lady They were
evidently English. And l observed
that the gentleman looked at me stern
ly, and it flashed through my mind
that he might imagine that we were
monopolizing the window aceommoda-
tons of the room. We accordingly
moved aside, leaving the strangers at
liberty to select the window which they
preferred. Still the gentleman looked
sternly at me, while his companion
looked laughlngly at my wife and
daughter. We must be more out
spoken in our politeness, thought |.
Approaching the gentleman. I bowed
and invited him to step to the window
and look at the cathedral. 1t would be
impossible said /, to find anywhere in
Cologne better view of the cathedral
than is to be had from the windows of
this parlOr.' Even this failed to induce
the strange gentleman to part with any
portion OF his s'ern glance. In the
my wife and daughter and
son had turned their attention to the
olnglady. My wife approached
her IN Dotherly way and extended to
her an invitation to view the cathedral,
but received no response But the !
strange gentleman had evidently grown |
weary of merely regarding me sternly. |
and he responded to my pressing invi.
tatien. He responded by announcing
that the room was a private parlor
which he himself had engaged. and
thereby indirectly invited myself and
my family to leave the apartment as
soon as we could conveniently do so.
Then it flashed across my mind that in
European hotels like the one in which
we then we're there we're no public par
lors, and cursed my own stupidity in
not having remembered the fact before.
Il apologized for my mistake, and
said that finding the door open l had
taken thu partmentfor public parlor.
My wife apologized, my daughter apollo
yized, and the apologize fever even
seized upon my son. But we did not
apologize as fully as we had intended to
because neither the strange gentleman
nor his companion made the slightest
to our explanations. They
continued to gaze st us-he sternly and
the haughtily. Apologizing under such
Observation-Disclosures IlOI
pleasant. We could do nothing conse-
luently, but beat retreat, which we
lid with our countenances sufused with
bushes and our bosoms filled with
notification. The possessor of the
public parlor watched us, still
With stern expression, until we were
,ut of the room. We had forgotten for
he time being all about the beauty and
of the great Cologne
athedIal
II hunted up the landlord and asked
lin to tell me the name of the gentle
nan into whose private parlor we had
tumbled. Why, replied he, in an awe
truck whisper. that gentleman is my
ord, the Marquis Of Salisbury, great
statesman | had
Ieard of the Marquis. who was then be-
inning to cut considerable figure in
english politics. The fact that his
Ordshlp was man OF some distinction
i'd not in the least tend to lessen the
notification and anger which l felt.
spent the remainder of the evening
nth my family in our apartment. In
act we locked ourselves in with the de-
that on that evening at
east we should not render it necessary
or the American Eagle to again hang
is proud beak in shame owingsto our
ignorance of European customs. After II
linking over the mattar nararuIIxy