The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-10-17
THOUGHT THEY WE'RE GLASS.
A Corean Princes First Sight of Pateat-
Leather shoes

A Corean Princes First Sight of Pateas-
Leather shoes
Curiosity is as rife among courtiers
to-day as in the time of ''Gulliver's
Travels" at least among those on
whose ears European tongues fall
strangely. A recent traveller was made
TO realize this during q ceremonious
visit he paid 10 the royal prime minis
ter of Korea That cordial dignitAry
came down the steps Of his residence
to greet the young Englishman, who
arrived in huge sedan chair.
"As / always complied with the
habits of the country. ] proceeded to
take off my shoes before entering the
house. but the prince, having somehow
been informed that such was not the
custom In England. insisted on my ABB
staining from doing so. had already
taken OF one shoe and was proceeding to
unite the other when, catching me oy
the arm, he dragged me in You can
imagine how comical and undignifed
] looked. with one shoe OF and the
other onl Still managed to be equal
to the occasion and held long talk
with the prince, his courtiers standing
around, in q room which he had fur
nished in the European style. as he
Sondly supposed, with two Chinese
chairs and q table
suddenly q youth. a relation of the
prince. ran into q room and whispered
something into the royal ear. whereat
the royal eyes glittered with astonish-
In
there was q stamped out of the room
on the part of the courtierk A minute
after. amid the deepest silence, was
brought triumphantly into the audi
ence-room and deposited in the middle
of the table-my shoe which had left
outside.
ut appeared that this special state
Of excitement was produced entirely
by the fact that my unfortunate foot
gear was made of patent leather, and
that, being almost new, IL shone beau
tifully. Neither prince nor court had
ever seen patent leather before, and
much ravishment mingled with child
ish surprise. was on the face of every
body when it was whispered round
that my shoe was covered with coat
ing of glass The prince examined 10
carefully all over and then passed Ii
round to his courtiers, the greatest ad-
miration being expressed at this won
derful object
II, on my side, took things quite
philosophically, having recovered from
the first shock; and. taking of the
other shoe, put 1t also on the table,
gracefully and quite In the eastern
fashion, begging the prince TO accept
the pair as gift Fortunately. how
ever. he quite as gracefully declined
the offer, though as long rs our inter
view lasted ] noticed that his eyes
were constantly fixed on them
80 great an impression did they
make that when IL was time to go the
prince himself accompanied me to IN.
coor, while a page put on and laced
my dazzling foot gear. Chicago Newr
A cure for the bloomer craze has
been found at last. II is the invention
of a shrewd Vermonter, and in the sew
eral instances in which ii has been tried
II has worked almost as magically as
magic. The inventor bad wife who
rode bicycle and who insisted on
wearing bloomers every time she went
out for spin. Neither protests nor
appeals nor threats could induce her 10
wear another costume. So one day tina
husband, with a patience that would
have caused Job 10 open his eyes, sat
down and made pair Of boomers for
every hen In the poultry yard, aud,
drawing them on the hens. called his
wife 10 look at them They looked just
like she did, he said. when she was ON
the wheel in costume. little more
graceful, perhaps, but not . bad repro
duction. There were some sharp words
for q moment. but the woman hasn't
worn blooIners since. What's more,
she now declares that she never viii
wear them again Try IL and see