The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-12-02
AN EXPLORERS WHIMS.
sir Richsrr Burton Was Great Deal of q
Crank.

sir kichar' Burton Was a Great Deal of u
Crank.
Sir Richard Burton, the English
explorer. was a man who had ways
Df his own. According 10 his widow
ne spoke twenty-nine languages, and
never pa .sed day without reading
IL least one OF them, 10 keep his
lnowlCdge fresh lie was loved and
trusted by servants, children, and
animals. A British sailor was put
htO prison at Trieste, where Burton
vas Consul. The next day Sir Rich
ard received "A very dirty-lOOking
note, addressed on the outside to
THE Council" The seal was Jacks
lirty thumb Inside was:
"BURTIN. / am hin trobel. Kun and let
ne haout. TIN TEoUNcER.
The Consul was delighted, and
promptly secured the mans release.
His tastes we're simple, as is prob
ably true OF most men who have been
great travellers.
His wife used 10 busy herself,
Martha like, making his room COM
rtable, but If she put anything
pretty into IT., it was at once put out
into the passage. He liked large,
plain deal tables, and plenty Of them;
one for each piece or work on which
he happened To be engaged. For
pen-wiper he tied a red bandanna to
the table leg. His chairs, too, were
hard, and he slept on IA small iron
bedstead, with All iron-wove mat
tress and no Sheets but plenty of
white, soft blankets
lie would never have blinds or
shutters drawn, as he wanted the
last Of the twilight, and the first
CLEANS OF dawn. He would bring in
"A single wild flower and put il in
vase, but if some one brought a
bouuet or hot-house flowers, he found
d way TO get rid Of it,
He had a nice ear for music, but
loved only the minor key. "He
would 20 to the opera to hear a new
prima donna, but he could not abide
amateur music, and if anybody pro-
posed music OF an evening, and girl
got up and nervOusly warbled a bal.
lad about banks and butterflies, he
used to put his hand to his stomach
and walk out Of the room"
He rubbed his old clothes, eSpeci-
ally his boots, OF which he some
times had hundred pairs in the
house. once he lost fencing-shoe
and went 10 his bootmaker to get him
to replace IT.
NO" said that worthy, "but
will make you pair"
That did not suit Sir Richard and,
as his wife says, he carried that shoe
all over the world, and every boot
maker he saw he asked TO make him
the mate TO it: but not one Of them
ever would. For eighteen years he
did this. There is a superstition
among such people, it appears, that
if a man makes an odd shoe he will
die.
For food the traveller liked com
mon things, but was fond of French
cooking. French cooking, English
materials, and a good cellar" he used
to say, "ought to heep anv man
alive for hundred years Wher-
ever he went, he was accustomed to
eat the native dishes. Dried cod fish
and sauerkraut were two of his deli
cacies.
One thing he could not bear and
that was honey. He could hardly sit
in the room with it, though it might
be in some secret drawer or cupboard.
He OWNED its presence as some per-
sons divine the presence OF cat
Sometimes after dinner his wife
would say to him, What make you
look so Ouncomfortable?"
There was honey in the room," he
would answer. "and / knew they
would think l was mad if l asked to
have it removed; but l felt quite
faint"